Olivia's bikini ready!

So I might have mentioned that we have a new routine, one aimed at skinnying Olivia so that her joints don't scream so loudy when she gets up.  It requires that I get up at 5:45 every morning and get myself out the door with my two favorite canines.  We walk (and pee and poo--not me) for about 7 minutes to the tennis court in the outer compound, and then we 'run and play' for about 20 minutes.  Olivia LOOOOOOOVES to run and play.. she chases the tennis ball like a dog, and fetches (though might take your hand off if you actually want the ball back to throw it again, we're working on that concept).  Then she chases the ball like a cat.. which is pretty funny.  We do this until she can't anymore, then we walk (and pee and poo--not me) the 7 minutes home and O puts herself under the AC unit in the kitchen with her tongue lying on the floor.  For about 20 minutes.

What is Theda doing during the run and play?  Theda does not run and play.  Theda looks for cats, scares the daylights out of the people walking by (okay... including groups of security guards. really?  do I feel safe?!?), gets brushed (she is a shedding beast), and rolls in the sun. 

Some good early morning fun.

 But loooooooooook:

Doesn't she just look GREAT???

Go O!!!

L is for lasagna!

I think I need to work more with my camera, because these pictures do not do justice to my homemade lasagna (if I do say so myself).  This is.. 

 

nine layers of very thin homemade pasta

lots of homemade ricotta

parmesan

homemade red sauce

browned portabellas

... it was well-consumed, and it froze well too!

Almost home

We were very sad to be leaving Gili, but we coaxed ourselves back to the airport and onto the plane.  We had gotten used to doing a lot of nothing that included afternoon naps, so by the time we got back to Jakarta just after lunch, we were very happy to see Pak Sukijan (our driver) and very, very tired:

And then the luggage came in handy, and I was glad ot have packed all of Jaffa's bikinis. The best part was getting home to our wiggly girls who missed us--and we had missed them TONS!

Lombok's monkeys

The drive across Lombok took about and hour and a half.. and on the way, we went through a national park where monkeys (don't ask me what kind) were protected.  They were all sitting close to the road waiting for people to throw food to them.  They were really cute.. not too big, and very curious.  It was tempting to get out and ask for a snuggle, but we decided not to.

yikes, that's my boob!

teenager lookin'

Unexpected fun with friends

Somehow I missed that some of our good friends were going to Gili T the same week as us.  The van Berlos are Dutch though their kids go to the French school, and we often hang out with them on the weekends.  So one day mid-week we were standing at breakfast, and we saw them go by in a horsecart!  Yippeee!  We got together a couple of days and had a lot of fun.

We built sandcastles together.. here's Jaf with Meera and Jade

high five!

castle guard-monsters

And the next day we went out snorkeling in a GLASS BOTTOM BOAT!!

[we remembered life jackets this time]

The crew: Meera (age 7), Jaffa (age 6), Jade (age 4), Bas (age 5) and Eben (age 4)

there were some very strange fish in the ocean that day!

sunbathing... with SPF 50++

And they ate with us two nights in a row at Blu d'Amare.. fun for us!  Patiently waiting for their food..

 

and then yum.... gnocchi and pasta and choco-salami.. best eaten with your hands, and better eat fast with this crowd!

Finally, there were very scary sea monsters that came up out of the ocean and ate the mommies and grandmas on the beach.  I wonder who inspired that...

 ... it's fun to have these good memories of being together, and lots of stories for the other kids at school too!

G Trawangan Jazz Fest 2012

We made it to Gili just in time for the annual jazz fest.. hmmm... it was a bit, um, shall we say? hard on the ears?  It was mostly the sound system that made it so.. but we got lucky by being able to see some of the traditional music too.  Like the drumming.. it was beautiful.   Mem almost got a video of it!  Guess we'll just have to go back next year!

Memere snorkels!

Memere was really very brave this trip.  She tried sushi [previous post].  And, she tried snorkeling.  Count it as a new experience as she hasn't snorkeled since a shark tried to eat her on the reef around Mayotte when I was 7.  Here's how it went this time, with Zeric as her guide:

getting the fins on..

backing out in fins to deeper waters

masks on

fins up

and they are off!