Family Museum Tour

I promised you that I would write a journal about our museum visit last week.. well, here is the link to the journal.. Museum Tour

Holiday journal is coming up..

Our family holiday journal -for the Idul Fitri holiday- is coming up.. so please stay tuned.. :-)

By the way.. if anyone of you have any suggestion for a good translation tool for my blog, would you please let me know? So I don't have to worry too much about writing each post in two languages.. ;-)

Thank you so much.. :-)

Ariq's E-Diary

I have great news!

Ariq has started his own blog.. so, I'm including his blog on my list.. :-)

He is currently still writing in Indonesian, but I'm pretty sure that soon he will start writing in English too, so.. watch out for his new posts..!!

pssttt... Ariq really loves receiving comments on his blog posts.. and if you write short comments in English, he tends to reply in English too.. :-)))

Short Children Stories

A conversation with a friend late this morning gave me an idea of some very short stories to start introducing children to reading and English.

I will however need one (or more) great children story illustrator(s) to help me make the story more interesting and educative for children. If you think you can make my stories look, feel and sound (when read) better with your simple and fun illustrations/pictures, by all means, please let me know, so I can include your pictures in the story.

I have to tell you straight up front that this is not a paid project. I am really doing it for the purpose of sharing with other parents on how to start introducing children to reading and English through interesting stories.

Please look for my very short children stories in my blog 'Orcalion's Storyland'. I will also put a link on my blog 'Space for Sharing'. I am sure that once you have read one of the stories, you will agree with me that participating in making these stories better would need no financial motivation.. ;-)

Thank you and enjoy!

Scary Saturday

You might refuse the idea of preparing a self-made ID card for your children to be carried with them every where they go, because some bad people might misuse them, so you teach your children to memorise your address and phone numbers for emergency cases.

Then, you might regret telling your children your mobile phone number because they are calling you all day long, every time you are not at home.

One of these days.. you might feel as lucky as I am for doing the things you are doing, after reading my story that happened last Saturday.

Spaghetti Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients:
300 gr. minced beef
1 kg red tomatoes (peeled and grated/blended)
500 gr. onions (very thinly sliced)
9 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
2 spoonsful of grated carrot (if preferred)
salt
black pepper
oregano
olive oil
parmesan cheese (cheddar if preferred)

How to Make:
1. Boil tomatoes for about 1 hour. Put a little bit of salt, pepper and oregano while cooking. Remove from heat and let it cool

2. On medium heat, stir fry onions with olive oil, add garlic once the onions are soft.

3. Add mince beef to the stir fried onions, add salt, pepper and oregano to taste. Stir fry until the meat is fully cooked.

4. Add tomatoes to the stir fry and add salt, pepper and oregano if needed.

5. Serve while hot

Hilda Boswell Group in Facebook

Support the reprint of Indonesian version of Hilda Boswell's Treasury of Children's Stories

If I Had Wings..

If I had wings..

I would have run and taken off

If I had wings..

I would have asked the wind to lift me up

If I had wings..

I would have raced the planes across the sky

If I had wings..

I would have closed my eyes to feel the clouds on my face

If I had wings..

I would have flown to where you are, and kiss your smiling face for the first time..

-21 March 2009-

This poem is for my newborn nephew (my cousin's son) who arrived to this world this morning.. :-).. Rashall Maliki Nugraha..

Day Trip to Ancol Beach

Last Sunday we finally decided to go to the beach, Ancol Beach, to be precise. As it was a long weekend, and Ariq did not have school on the Monday.. so yes, we thought it would be a good time to go on a day trip.

At first we were planning on staying overnight at the hotel as we had a free voucher, but when we called to make a reservation, the hotel was already fully booked for the weekend. So, we stayed at my parents' house instead and planned to have a day trip on Sunday. The kids wanted to go to Fantasy World (Dunia Fantasi), with all the rides and everything.

So, on Sunday, the kids were already excited about going away for a day. It was no problem at all getting them to get up, have breakfast and have a shower. We left the house at around 9.15 a.m. The streets were still empty and we got to the beach in less than an hour! When we anticipated about 2 hours drive.

As it was still early, first we drove to the beach area where we could a traditional boat ride (without engine). The sea was still calm and the waves were low. We were basically making a big circle in the shallow water (not really shallow for my swimming expertise, though). We crossed the path of a jellyfish about the size of fist. The guide/owner of the boat, picked the jellyfish up with a small net and put it in a bucket filled with sea water. It was really a good idea to keep the children on the boat busy and calm during the ride.

The first thing I found out that day was that my 2.5 year-old son had much more confidence than his 6 year-old brother. He would just walk around the boat as if he was walking on a steady surface! I remember his brother when we first took him on a boat ride, he wasn't afraid to hop on the boat, but he would just sit still, not walking around.

After the boat ride, both boys saw the people playing on the beach. They wanted to play on the sand too and get wet in the waves, of course! Gladly, I had thought about the possibility, so I brought a bottle of antiseptic shampoo and body wash, some towels and a few sets of change of clothes for them.

As their dad played with them, I took pictures and videos (don't worry, I will put them up here). They were sooo happy that I was glad I was prepared for this, rather than telling them that they could not play on the beach.

After they were done, and showered, we were ready for lunch. The closest outlet was McDonalds, so, there we went. As we were walking away from the beach, people had just started coming and the place was getting really really crowded. Again, I was glad that we arrived early.

It was about 12.30 when we finished lunch and we were considering going home straight away. Ariq, my 6 year-old however, still wanted to go to the Fantasy Land. After considering for a while, we decided that we wouldn't know when we would be coming to the beach again, so, we thought that we might as well do what we wanted when we still had all day.

So, we went to Fantasy Land. Aza, my 2.5 year-old, had a little sleep in the car on the way from the beach to the Fantasy Land area, due to the traffic inside the beach recreation area. The beach was close to the entrance, while Fantasy Land was towards the exit.

When we finally reached Fantasy Land, Aza woke up. We sat him on his stroller, but once he felt refreshed he chose to walk. First, we went on the merry-go-round, then the giant wheel. After that, we went on the doll palace ride. The doll palace was little kids favourite place, it had dolls dressed in different outfits from cultures around the world and there were songs which the dolls move to. The decorations were colourful and some of them were glow in the dark materials.

After that, Ariq wanted to on Crazy Ball game. The two of us (Ariq and myself) were put inside a balloon that was inflated by air. Then, we were floating on a river for about 10-15 minutes. It would've been cool if the weather was not so hot!

From the Crazy Ball, we went on the mirror house and took pictures with some fixtures outside the mirror house (horse, carriage, etc.), then Ariq wanted to go on the bumper car ride. The one that he could go on was the kiddie one, so he was the only one who could go in there. He went on three times! (Gladly in Fantasy World the ticket was all-in, so we didn't pay for individual games anymore).

While I was waiting for Ariq outside the bumper car ride, Aza wanted to see the carnival. Every weekend the place has a carnival walking around the area. Aza enjoyed it very much.

When Ariq finally came out, it was 5.30 pm and we were ready for early dinner before we drive home. We were thinking about having dinner at the most famous seafood restaurant there, 'Bandar Jakarta', but when we got there, it was really really full!

Next to it was a new restaurant, a Thai restaurant with the steamboat menu. As the place was quite new, it wasn't as busy as the next door place. We decided to give it a try.. knowing our taste buds, hot clear soup wouldn't be a total disaster, even if it didn't taste so well..

We were glad that we chose the restaurant. The fact that it was steamboat, we pretty much did not have to wait for the food to be served. We also could choose a table with a pretty scenery, looking out to the beach. And the kids.. well.. prawn balls, squid balls, tofu, were familiar enough for them to quickly enjoy. Plus, we were tired and starving too. The restaurant, 'Seaside Suki' turned out to be a great choice! Their steamboat was delicious! We finished everything we ordered.

During dinner, my husband's bike riding friends arrived after riding for about 3 hours, from home (which is pretty much the neighbouring town from South Jakarta, while the beach was in North Jakarta). The kids wanted to play on the sand after dinner, so I thought we could give their dad a chance to catch up with his friends.

Once the kids had enough, we still had a set of change for each of them and the restaurant had an outside bathroom that was wide enough to give a child a shower. So, I gave the kids a shower (The kids' nanny came with us that day, and she was having fun while I could still catch a breath with her around). Once we're done, we finally got in the car and drove home.

Aza fell asleep right away, Ariq, however, was still up unti we got home and had all the pictures and videos copied on to the laptop.

What a nice day! I was really tired, but as the kids kept saying how happy they were that day, I really believed that it was worth it!

Ariq's Herbie Stories (Introduction)

Ariq always wants me to tell him 'scary' stories (sometimes he wants some funny ones too) at night. I can't remember exactly how, but one night, I remember one movie the we used to have (when we still needed to use wall-projector to play movies).. The movie was Herbie, the car that could move by itself..

So, now, I have to make up a new Herbie story each night.

I'm really hoping I can come up with a new name for the car (that Ariq would agree to), so that I don't have any legal issues!

Anyway.. I will share with you all the stories I have come up with.

Aza Really Missed Swimming..

All through rainy season, Aza kept asking me to go swimming, which I kept refusing because of the weather.

This morning, the sun was shining brightly, so after Ariq was dropped off at school, I thought, it would be nice to take Aza for a swim.. (which made him excitedly jumping around the house!)

We quickly got ready, and left the house for the swimming pool.

Here are the videos of Aza having a great time :-)

My Favourite Places..

The end of the year is coming up and I just added a new link list in this blog, which is 'My Favourite Places'.

This list consists of my favourite places in all the countries I have so far visited. Even though there are not many, and some places are still not listed (and I am still looking for the appropriate websites for this blog purpose), I hope you can find some use of the links.

Some of the links are in Indonesian because I cannot find any official website in English, but I will share with you my own experience and knowledge about the place as posts in this blog, so you don't have to worry about not being able to understand the content of the related websites.

Have a nice end-of-year holiday...

Scary Aza...

Aza likes pretending to be a ghost...

and Ariq is scared of ghost..

so... this is what happens...

Do not be fooled by this little boy.. He is whining not because he is afraid.. He is whining because he DOES NOT want to be HELD!!! He seriously thinks that he can float by himself!!!

I really hope he can swim well very soon, otherwise he will feel frustated! Haha..

Aza wants to do a DIVE!

Get Along Times..

I know that kids need to learn to work out their differences and manage their emotions, but I always love it best when they get along well together...

Aza's first creation..

These do not look much yet.. but he did these completely on his own.. So, I think he deserves the credit to be put in this blog..

Very soon, I will create a blog for each Ariq and Aza, before they can manage their own-made (which I am sure will look much better than this one!)

Way to go, Boys!

Ariq's poodle

We Looooovvveeeee Sunnies..

Aza


Irfan

We may be small.. but we sure are good looking!!

Ariq and His Space Station

Not sure why he is holding the postcard from his Aunt Sinta as he is showing off his new space station.. maybe just because he loves both items the same way?? Hmm..