The Rainy Season

Usually from October/November till April/May we have the rainy season here. This year it started very late and it wasn't until early December that the floods came. It's our favorite part of the year. Things are lush, fresh and green and most importantly the temperature usually drops a few degrees.

The kids of course love to play in the rain !

Isn't it great to be able to get wet and dirty, without having to worry about getting cold?

Ayla's First Day at NIS

Believe it or not, but our little baby already had her first day at school last week.
At the Dutch school they have a program called 'Kiekeboe', which allows children to enter when they are 1 1/2 years old.

For us living overseas, this is a perfect opportunity for the kids to learn the Dutch language and to pick up a bit of Dutch culture as well.

Noah went to this school for 2 1/2 years. He loved going there and it has helped develop his Dutch language skills a lot .

Initially Ayla will be going to school 2 mornings per week and gradually we will increase the number of days that she will be going to 4 or 5.

On her first day, I came with her and of course everything was fine as long as I was there. After an hour or so, I had to leave though and it was just her in a classroom full of strangers. No fun and she cried a lot. Fortunately her nanny Aminah stayed at the school and at some point the teacher called her in to calm Ayla down. Poor baby, but she will get over it and soon she will love it .....we hope!

First days are never easy, are they?

Noah's First Day at JIS

Yesterday was Noah's first day at JIS. He has been going to the Dutch school for 2 1/2 years, which was really good him and for his Dutch language skills. He loved going to this school and if it wouldn't have been so expensive, we would have kept him there for another year or so.

The start of the 2nd semester was a good time to move him to our school, JIS. The nice thing is the fact that he can ride to school with Sue in the mornings now and that she is in the same building with him.

We expected a difficult first day for him, because he is not always that good when it comes to changes. Also he kept saying that he wanted to stay at NIS and didn't want to go to JIS. We were prepared for a challenging day.....

To our surprise it was a very smooth transition and he had a very good day. He even told Sue at some point to leave.....'You can go now, mama'. I guess it did help that he has 2 friends in this class and that he already knew some of the teachers a bit.

Down Under

On New Year's Day we flew to Perth. We love going to Perth and especially the Margaret River area, which is about 3oo km south of Perth. Last time we went there it was 3 years ago with the Merritts and the Murgys. This time it was just us.

Since this is the middle of the Australian summer we were expecting hot weather, but when we arrived it was surprisingly cool. The first 2 nights we were at an apartment in Perth. The location was just perfect; near the river, close to a park and with shops and restarants around the corner.

We met up with Butch, Lorly and Mariska and also Tom Bartlett paid us a visit, which was really nice.

On Jan 3 we drove south to the house, called 'Casa del Franco', that we had rented near Margaret River. It was a beautiful spacious house with a huge garden, a great view from which we could spot kangaroos in the distance and with all the luxury items that we could hacve hoped for. (including a DVD player, which is absolutely crucial to have if we want Noah to be quiet for an hour or so...)

The house was in between the town and the beach.

The first 3 days it was pretty chilly and we even had the fireplace going. Noah loved it and wanted to chop wood with me three times a day or so. Later the weather became warm and sunny and we had some great beach days as well.

What did we do? Well....Lots of things! We took the kids to an animal farm, went to playgrounds, went to an indoor swimming pool (since the ocean water was freezing cold), checked out the kangaroos, took Noah into one of the many caves, went on walks and drives and of course relaxed and enjoyed the fresh air, the beautiful Aussie wines and the great cappuchino's in town.

It was hard to leave this place and to drive back to Perth. In Perth we did some last minute shopping before flying back to Jakarta the following day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY !!

The End of the Year in Singapore

On Boxing Day we flew out of Jakarta to spend 7 days in Sue's favorite city, Singapore. We have been here many times and have fond memories here, because this is the place where both of our kids were born. I have to admit that it is a very nice place to visit. Everything is so well organized and clean and the people are friendly(except for most cab drivers) , helpful and civilized .

It's a great place to visit with small children because of all the cool attractions for them.
When we visit SNG we like to stay in a serviced apartment. Nowadays we need a 2 bedroom apartment and this time we stayed at a place called Tanglin View. The apartment was ok, nothing spectacular but clean and decent enough. The grounds however were fabulous with awesome pools,fountains and playground for kids.

The first three days or so, it rained non stop and it was 'cold' for this part of the world. The day we arrived it was 22C. Can you believe that? Freezing! My wife made sure that our kids were well protected against this vicious cold and they never left the apartment without at least 3 layers of clothing on them....
Despite the rain, there were still plenty of things for us to do in Singapore and fortunately after 3 days the weather cleared up and we had some sunny days as well with more bearable temperatures.

We went to the Night Safari, The Bird park, Snow City, Sentosa Island with Under water world. And of course when you go to Singapore, there is shopping. Sue made sure to make the most of our stay and she had no problems doubling our lugage weight.....

Christmas in Jakarta

For the first time in many years we were at home for Christmas. It was actually very nice to celebrate at home, to have our own tree and be able to relax and to do our own thing.
Noah was thrilled to wake up and to find out that a very generous Santa had visited us. He just couldn't wait opening up the gifts, so at 6:15 we were all gathered around the tree unpacking our gifts! Ayla was just excited about Noah's excitement and Sue and I just enjoyed the happy faces!

In the afternoon we met up with our friends Scotty&Tika and Mark&Icha with their kids for a Christmas brunch at the Four Seasons Hotel. They had prepared a fantastic buffet with so much food. What a great way to celebrate Christmas. It truely was a feast and the free flow of champagne made the food even taste better....Or was that just my imagination?