With all of the busyness of unpacking and getting ready for the holidays, I had not yet packed for our trip home! I typically start early and slowly add everything we need to our bags. This time I was looking for our winter gear and throwing stuff into the suitcases the night before we left.
I was so thankful that the taxi showed up on time for our 2:30am departure from home. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and the airline was not even open for check-in when we arrived!
The flight was unremarkable, except that it was 6.5 hours long, and the food was bleh. With a quick layover in Japan, we didnât do much but take advantage of the wi-fi and let everyone know that we made it to Tokyo. Jackson was amazed with the bathroom! Lots of automation in there!
After a 10.5 hour flight, we made it to Chicago. Again, the food was bleh. But the flight was fine. I was excited to have an Italian Beef sandwich while in Chicago, but the airport sandwich left a lot to be desired. We had a long layover here, so we indulged in Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds! We had a few flight delays, and since it was snowing, we had to get âde-icedâ before we could take off. Two hours later, (and after 30+ hours of travel) we arrived! Itâs good to be âhomeâ!
We had our Cub Scout Award Ceremony. Jackson has earned Fur, Feathers, and Ferns, Fellowship and Duty to God, Bear Necessities, Bear Claws, and his Whittling Chip! He has worked very hard to complete these requirements and is well on his way to earning his Bear Badge. I even got to help hand out the awards to the Pack!
Sitting with Santa
After the awards ceremony, we moseyed on over to have pancakes with Santa! Jackson told Santa that he wanted 100,000,000,000 Robucks!! Santa assured him that he had plenty of room on his sleigh for all of that! đ We had pancakes and waffles for breakfast, visited with friends, and Jackson even made a paper ornament for the tree.
Pancakes with Santa
We then headed to the pool for lessons, and a fun surpriseâŠthere was a bouncy slide that went directly into the pool! Jackson stayed focused on his lesson, and then broke loose to enjoy some fun with his friends. What a great Saturday!
It has been a real challenge to unpack my house, and prepare for Christmas, while working full-time!
Iâve been making lots of lists to ensure I completed my top priorities on time. All of the boxes are unpacked and out of the house. I donât have everything placed where I want, but Iâm ready to move my focus to Christmas.
Lego still need to be put away
We got off to a bumpy start: the community water pumped died, so we were without water on Saturday morning. Then, Jackson attempted to plug the âstrip plugâ into the wall, with an adapter. He blew out the power to the entire house and burned up the strip plug. Luckily, the movers stood up my âbigâ tree. It is an older pre-lit tree and the lights have died. I picked up some 220v lights in Lithuania, so I wrapped those around the tree, and plugged them right into the wall. No transformer or adapter needed! Win! I put the ornaments on the trees, set up the nativity, and hung our stockings on the window grills.
Stockings are hung
Next up was the baking. Jackson and I rolled out, baked, and decorated 9 batches of cookies. We gifted the gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies to neighbors, teachers, coaches, the bus driver and the bus monitor. I put the cookies in clear cellophane bags with red ribbon. I baked peanut butter cup cookies for the neighborhood cookie exchange. I think we ate all the cookies while visiting – there wasnât much to exchange at the end! I also made white chocolate-raspberry scones early one morning – they were AMAZING! I put the warm scones in little kraft boxes with tea bags, gingerbread cookies, and jams â tied up with red and white striped ribbon with nutcracker tags – to make cute little âtake awayâ afternoon tea boxes for colleagues. I also roasted some almonds in cinnamon and sugar. I put those in clear cellophane bags, tied them up with a red ribbon, and attached a gold tag for my office mates and the Marines.
Neighborhood Cookie Exchange
I somehow made time to whip up a batch of Pizzelles for Jackson (special request!), wrap up the Christmas gifts that will go under the tree, and I even purchased a few gifts to bring home. It was a mad scramble, but I (mostly) pulled it off!
I mentioned previously that this year is filled with milestone birthdays. Mom just turned 70!
I worked hard to create a birthday card for her. It did not turn out as planned, but she appreciated my efforts!
I was so proud of myself for acquiring the ‘assets’ – the pictures to be used for the card. I created the card – front and back, set up the card with cut and fold marks (to show me where to cut and fold the paper after printing), and even exported the file into a pdf, so I COULD print it.
Everything seemed to be going well, but when I cut on the cut lines, my card was much smaller than the envelope it was going into! (and I cut off the fold marks!) I don’t have a ‘creasing tool’, to crease the paper where it should be folded, so I folded as best I could. đ
Next time I will fold before cutting the fold lines off. (and I’ve even ordered a little scoring tool to help with this process!)
I did get it in the mail and it showed up right on time!
Our First Thanksgiving in Jakarta was an adventure. I am so excited to have a full sized oven, gas stove top, and a full sized refrigerator and a stand up freezer. Iâm not as thrilled that our shipment is still not here, so no nice dishes, no pie plates, no stand mixer.
I worked to stock the cupboards to ensure that I had enough butter, sugar, flour, and Crisco. I almost forgot the cloves. I did forget the ginger.
I was fortunate to get my hands on mushroom soup, fried onions, Crisco, and a turkey. And I had brought a can of Libbyâs pumpkin in my suitcase.
On Monday I put the turkey in the fridge to thaw.
On Tuesday, the nanny made the tart shells.
On Wednesday, I turned the shells into chocolate tarts. The butternut squash was baked, there was a last minute run around town looking for sage and cloves. But the ginger was missed. Without the ginger, I did not get the pumpkin pies made, but the crust ingredients were assembled. The turkey was dry brined.
On Thursday, Jackson was supposed to be in school, and the nanny was going to help me. He got sick, so I told her not to come. I was left to fend for myself. It was then that I realized that my casserole dishes are not yet here. I would have to improvise on the squash, green beans, and corn dishes. I had to get the ginger and get the pies made. Without glass pie plates, I turned to my mini tart pans. I went to roll out the dough that was prepared the day before. It crumbled into dust! I added water trying to save it, but success was not on the menu.
I forgot to hit âstartâ on the timer, when the turkey first went in. Iâm not sure how long it roasted at 500 degrees, but the house started filling with smoke, and the turkey was brown all over. (a little too long, I think). I turned down the temperature and covered the bird in foil. I also added more water to the bottom of the pan.
I mashed the potatoes, made the gravy, heated up the side dishes, and released the cranberry sauce from the can.
We sat down to dinner around 5:00pm, Jackson gobbled up the turkey, and even tried a few bites of the other food on his plate. Then the doorbell rang. It was the cable company, coming to install the fiberoptic cable! (I did reach out to set up an appointment and said any day this week would be fine. I certainly did not expect them at 5:15pm on Thanksgiving Day!)
As a child, I camped with the Girl Scouts and with the YMCAâs Indian Princesses, but I have never camped as an adult. I was a bit nervous. Jackson has camped with his dad a few times, but he was also both excited and nervous.
We got up at 4:30am on Saturday morning to finish our packing and load up the taxi. We had bags for swimming, rain gear, food, and general stuff. We took two foldable camping chairs and a foldable wagon. (Items my generous colleague lent to us) It seemed like we had everything but the kitchen sink!
We met the group at the meeting location, but one of the busses was delayed. We waited on the corner of the street for about 30 minutes before we could load our gear. Once on the road, we drove about 4 hours out of Jakarta to a campground called Caldera River Resort. (The highlight of the journey was a bathroom stop that had a Starbucks nearby! I dragged Jackson down the hill and grabbed a cappuccino before the busses took off again!) We drove up and down and all around the mountain/volcano and upon arrival at the camp, we drove down the hill to our tent location and the bus got stuck in the mud!!
Thankfully, our tents were set up and âbedsâ were made. (We had foam mats under a sheet, a pillow, and a top sheet.) The group met up under the dining pavilion for a potluck lunch. There was a wide variety of food items, consisting of American, Indonesian, and Chinese cuisine. After lunch, the group walked over to the rafting site. Everyone was outfitted with a helmet and vest and hopped into their rafts. It was so much fun to see each raft (about 10!) launch into the river. Jackson LOVED this and canât wait to go rafting again.
After rafting, everyone changed into dry clothes and headed over to the âFlying Foxâ and had a turn at zip lining over the raging river!! The kids put on helmets and harnesses before walking over a suspension bridge and clipping onto the line from a platform where they jumped (or were pushed!). They zipped across the river and a worker pulled on the (rope) brakes for them.
While the Webelos and Arrow of Light kids made dinner, Jackson wrapped up his Bear Claws requirement. (he can now have his pocket knife with him at scouting events) For dinner, we had hot dogs and a beef soup. It was camping food, but no one went hungry. Luckily, there was support at the campsite, and a helper washed all of the dishes for us. đ One of the volunteers borrowed Jacksonâs pocket knife to peel the vegetables, and when washing the knife, it slipped and went down the drain of the outside sink!! Of course, I said it was âfineâ, but it was Jacksonâs first knife, and he had literally JUST earned the privilege of using it!!! I did not want to have to tell him that it was gone. As it turned out, his knife was returned to him, and it was another knife that went down the drain!!! EEK!
After dinner was cleaned up, I showered, and Jackson fell and hurt his arm. As I was trying to navigate the rustic shower facilities, a little girl yelled in âIs Jacksonâs mom in here?!â I shouted back that I was, and she let me know that he was hurt and in the dining pavilion. I dried off as quickly as I could, trying not to step in the muddy areas, and trying not to get the bottoms of my pants wet â and ran to find Jackson. He was OK, but his arm was sore.
After putting up my shower stuff, we sat around a lovely bonfire and roasted marshmallows and made sâmores. Jackson has not been a fan of sâmores in the past, but this time, he decided he liked them! He had two, and even made one for me! The fire was large, and in comparison, the marshmallow roasting sticks seemed short. It was hard to get the marshmallows roasted, as we had to stand too far back to avoid being scorched ourselves. We had pink Haribo marshmallows and thick Hersheyâs Nuggets, but the kids didnât know any different. They just enjoyed the excitement of the evening.
When the fire died down, it was time for bed. We climbed into our tent, turned on the battery powered fan, and tried to go to sleep. Sleep did not come easy. Jackson wanted to go home. (I wanted to go home), and we heard a little voice outside of our tent saying âI want to go home!ââŠit seemed everyone was ready to go home, and yet we had to spend the night sleeping on the ground. We were next to the raging river and we could hear it roaring all night. There was another group at the campground. They were adults, on what seemed to be a team building excursion. They were in the bungalows near us and playing LOUD disco music. Then the rain came. Jackson had to use the bathroom. I stepped on my glasses trying to get out of the tent. Jacksonâs arm was hurting, and he needed some Tylenol. The battery on the fan died. I was imaging that spiders and mosquitos were in the tent with us. Finally, morning came, and we got up and started packing our gear.
Breakfast was quite lovely. The moms, along with a few Webelos, made eggs and bacon on camping stoves. Jackson made his own PBJ sandwich. I tried instant coffee, and it was not too bad. The helper washed the dishes. The group went for a muddy hike through nearby rice fields.
We finally packed up the buses and made the 4-hour drive home. What an adventure!
This year we celebrated 247 years of the Marine Corps. The Marines in Jakarta planned a fancy ball to celebrate, and the tickets were sold out before I even arrived in Indonesia. My office was kind enough to save a ticket for me so that I did not miss out.
This was not my first Marine Ball. In fact, my first one was in 1987. đ
Iâve been lucky to attend a few more since then. They are always special, memorable, and a fun time. The ladies are typically in ballgowns, and the men are in tuxedos. I did not bring a gown with me (and my shipment is not yet here), but I did have some fancy clothes that I had planned to wear on the cruise in August. It is HOT here, so they worked out just fine. I took some time off from work and went to have my nails done at a local salon.
When it was time to leave home for the ball, I took a taxi, and really had no trouble at all. I arrived during the cocktail hour and received a rose at check-in â all the ladies did! Drinks were available for purchase, but there was only one bar, and the line was a mile long, so skipped the drink and I mingled with my colleagues until it was time to go in for dinner. The ceremony was moving, as always. The Marines presented colors, meaning they brought in the U.S. flag, and special guests sang our national anthems. Then the Marines had the cake cutting ceremony, where the oldest Marine and youngest Marine participate â each getting one of the first pieces of cake and then we toasted the Marines with champagne. We heard speeches from the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, the U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN, a Marine Lieutenant General who was the Guest Speaker, and we even watched video remarks from the Marine Commandant.
I was not in the office on Bosses Day this year, so my greetings were a bit delayed. However, I did make this cute card and some chocolate chip cookies for my new boss.
He was tickled. He had never heard of bosses day, so was not concerned at all about me being late with my wishes.
We spent Saturday morning at the Jakarta History Museum. Jacksonâs favorites were the prisons. One prison for the women and one for the men. The womenâs prison was smaller, with no windows. The menâs prison was larger, and with barred windows.
My favorites were the furniture and textiles.
It was a fun morning and then we went to a local historic restaurant called Batavia. We cooled off in the air conditioning and had fresh squeezed orange juice and a fried noodle dish to share. It was delicious, but I was envious of those who ordered the almond croissants. They were huge and fluffy and looked fabulous! Some folks in our group ordered coconut water – in the coconuts!
It was Uniting Nations week at school. Everyone was asked to bring in a food item that represented their home country, to share with their classmates.
Tollhouse Chocolate chip cookies are my âgo-toâ, so after stumbling through the neighbor treats, I felt ready. We also had rice crispy treats, deviled eggs, and pumpkin muffins from the other Americans in his class.
In my attempt at learning Adobe Illustrator, I studied a lot of tutorials, downloaded some âassetsâ, and whipped up this map of the United States, with a few of Jacksonâs favorite things. I think it turned out so cute. The cookies were a hit. And Jackson was so happy that I was able to join the potluck. It was a really nice day.
