Christmas is coming!

We decorated for Christmas on Friday. Raquel was so excited. We bought a tree in town and she couldn't wait to put it up that night, and did a wonderful job of helping:).

Window clings from Grandpa and Grandma (Dylan helped her space these and her ornaments out a bit more after this:). Unfortunately the snowman only survived until the next morning when Raquel woke up before us (as usual) and loved him to death. There were pieces of him all over the floor. It was kind of like it snowed:)

Jesse Tree - finally!

I started making this before last Christmas, but never finished it. Now it's done except for the ornaments, so I've been making one every day as we go along. (It's only been three days, we'll see if I keep up:)

Each day we read a different Bible story, starting with Creation and ending with the birth of Jesus, with all the stories in between highlighting how the Old Testament is all about preparing for Jesus. In each pocket is an ornament to hang on the tree, a piece of candy and a card telling us what to read.

The first three ornaments have been a globe (I did the Indonesian side of the world for now:) for Creation, an apple and snake (that ended up looking more like a worm) for the first sin, and a rainbow for the story of Noah.

We drove up Mt. Telemoyo on Sat. with our friends the Pries. We are going to miss them as they are going back to Germany in a couple weeks for four months and then on to Kalimantan.

When we got to the top we couldn't see anything as the clouds had started moving in. This picture was taken about halfway down. Thankfully we made it off the mountain before it started pouring, but we still had about a 20 min. drive back home in a downpour. We hadn't brought ponchos, but Raquel slept through it anyway.

Raquel acting like Mr. Bean when he was taking measurements to put a window in his wall.

Pretty Christmas dress from Oupa and Ouma

Bouncing while waiting for a dental check at her school. It was the first time she had ever been to a dentist, and she did a wonderful job. The other kids in front of her were crying, but she just marched in, sat down and opened her mouth as wide as she could. They actually had to tell her to close her mouth a couple times after they were done:)

Singing in the Rain

Well rainy season has definitely begun. Almost every day we have at least a couple hours of torrential downpour. Here are some pictures of Raquel and I during one of the first storms. The novelty has worn off now, especially today since I forgot to put my poncho in my bike before school and got drenched on the way home, but I am very thankful for the cooler temperatures the rain has brought.

After riding her bike in the back yard after a rain storm, the wheels on Raquel's bike were too muddy to be allowed in the house. We gave her a hose and a scrub brush and she was entertained for over an hour:)

Field Trip

Last Friday Raquel's school went on a field trip. One parent was required to go, so I tagged along to her first field trip to Taman Kelinci or Rabbit Park. There actually were some real rabbits in cages, but the main attraction, I think, is a playground and type of ropes course for kids complete with a zip line. The sheet Raquel brought home said to bring a drink, snack, change of clothes and shower supplies. At the last minute I threw a change of clothes in my bag trying to imagine why she would need them.

When we first arrived I noticed some water buffalo cooling off in the river behind the park. Little did I know that those very same creatures would play a critical role in the days events...

We started the morning off by sitting with all the other kids and parents and singing some songs, then the kids separated into their classes and went off to play some games. (Raquel's the last one in the line (the white one:)).

Ropes/obstacle course

After the games and a snack, the powers that be began explaining our next activity. I was listening very intently to try and understand our instructions. My Indonesian isn't that great and when I thought I heard the words 'memandikan kerbau' (give the water buffalo a bath), I thought I must be mistaken. However, soon after that everyone got up and marched down the hill to the river. Plastic cups were handed to all the children and an assembly line of teachers formed to shuttle the kids back and forth across the dirty water to the water buffalo so they could throw water on them. Unfortunately, the buffalo were not entirely thrilled at the prospect of thirty 3 year olds using them as target practice and didn't cooperate all that well and kept running away (can you blame them). Raquel was afraid to go across and wanted me to go with so I tried. The video below this post shows how close we got, but the buffalo got away.

She did, however, get to ride on a bamboo raft with her teacher and other classmates.

After that, I realized why we were supposed to bring an extra set of clothes. The kids were soaked with the filthy river water, so we went back to the park, all the kids stripped off their clothes and, using the water provided in the blue barrels and a hose, proceeded to 'memandikan' themselves:)

A fun (and interesting) day:)

Pics of Raquel and one of something entirely different

All ready for a neighborhood wedding (we need to get her some nice shoes. Her feet have grown so much since we've been here!)

Going on a date with Daddy to eat ice cream and color.

Getting ready for rainy season

In other news, a baby cicak met it's untimely demise on our front door jamb. He went unnoticed for sometime, until the other day one of our pembantus spotted his rather well preserved skeleton. Unfortunately I have no sympathy- there are twenty more to take his place

Our little fish

Raquel has always been scared of water. A couple months ago she fell into the deep end of the pool which didn't help matters. Since that time she would refuse to even let us hold her in the deepend, let alone try to swim by herself (with water wings). We kept trying to encourage her to try it out. Last Sunday before we went to the pool (our Sunday afternoon tradition) Raquel told me that she was going to let me hold her in the big pool. I didn't think she really would, but told her I was happy anyway:) Right before we left for the pool I was looking at my sister Kristen's blog and we saw a video of my niece, Mya, swimming. Inspired by this, Raquel again resolved to go into the big pool that afternoon.

Much to our surprise, she did it! -and hasn't looked back:)