Spring Break

Wow, what a trip! We spent a week on Lombok island in Indonesia. Lombok is about a 2.5 hour flight from us and just south of Bali in the Indian Ocean. I chose Lombok because it was a little lower key and looked really interesting. This was the first time we ventured out with 5 kids and I learned two things: first, it is A LOT of work--we had to scale things way back from my original ambitious agenda; and second, people stare at a family with so many kids, especially with one as young as Juliet (3 months--and at times I thought I was crazy too bringing her to Indonesia.) Despite some minor frustrations, limitations, and exhaustion, the trip was an overall success.

These are some pictures we took just before leaving for home.

The sunsets were gorgeous. Here is the view of the sun setting behind Bali off in the distance. You can see the looming volcano. Indonesia is a volatile land with volcanoes and earthquakes. Lombok has an even bigger volcano than Bali on it which erupted most recently in 1994. People hike to the summit and it takes 3 days. However, it is currently closed because it is spewing noxious gases and smoke.

We stayed at a nice resort on Seneggigi beach. Upon arriving at the hotel, we upgraded to a bungalow that was perfectly situated with a nice stretch of lawn in front and a secluded beach just for us. It ended up to be where I spent a good deal of time with napping youngsters so I was grateful for the close proximity to the beach and the nice view from the couch. We spent two days of the 5 day trip just playing on the beach and enjoying the pool. They even had a horse ride for the kids. Joseph found these local ladies on the beach to braid the girls hair and polish their nails right on our doorstep. The pool was great and warm as was the ocean--probably about 85+ degrees which is perfect in my opinion. Take sand and water mixed with amazing shells, interesting coral, and a couple of boogie boards and you have all the right ingredients for a perfect day.

Just down the beach a ways from our room, the kids found a rock cave. We had to climb over and around quite a few rocks and the kids were convinced that it was a secret cave they discovered. The sand all around that area was so cool--it was like mustard seeds and your feet would sink down into it up to the ankles. And sprinkled all along the sand and into the cave were absolutely perfect, huge shells--the kind you buy in shops. We had such fun collecting them to take home. In fact, we took home some of the mustard seed sand, a huge bag of shells and water bottles full of the Indian Ocean. Then when we got home, we made what I call "Lombok in a bottle" with an old fashioned cork bottle layered with the sand, shells, and ocean water. It was our cheapest and most prized souvenir.
Picture from inside our cave looking out.
Maggie is pictured below walking slowly back from the cave and gathering shells along the way.

We had the opportunity one day to go and visit a local school. We had a special delivery to make: a suitcase full of school supplies. For Christmas last year, my parents gave us a check with an important responsibility attached to it. We had to use the money in such a way that others would benefit from it. With all the deficiencies in this region, the only hard part was deciding who and where to help. We decided on a school in a small village in Indonesia. The kids thoughtfully picked out school supplies with careful consideration of their budget and what the school might need. It was a very rewarding and humbling experience to donate our things and then meet some of the students. It made the country and its people that much more real to step aside from being a tourist for the morning to participate in something more humanitarian. And the idea of making the world a little better where ever we find ourselves, however small it may be, is something we hope to continue.

There are a variety of ways people in Lombok transport themselves and their stuff: motorbikes with caged roosters tied to the side, cars, people on foot balancing baskets, dishes of rice, or pots on their head, or carts full of all kinds of things and pulled by a horse. Just driving around from point A to point B was a fascinating study of these various modes of transporting people and things, all happening at the same time on the same roads. We tried most of them, well, all except the on foot balancing way. Joseph rented a motorbike and took the kids on rides shopping in Seneggigi and onto the back roads to smaller villages. We rented a car and driver and drove through rice fields, cocoa plantations, and crowded city streets. And we also experienced the horse and cart ride to a small village famous for its pottery. They make the pottery out of clay from the riverbeds and form it into pots on a stationary wheel. Then it is baked in the earth to get a natural dark red color. The kids all got to take a turn making something on a wheel with some clay. I stayed inside the shaded area with all the pots. The picture below doesn't show the red color well. For some reason it all looks kind of yellow (white balance problem I think. )

The rice harvesting was concluding and the locals were drying the rice. We drove by fields of rice in the process of being harvested, a hot and tiresome job. After each rice kernel is extracted from the stalk, it is set out in the sun to dry. The roads were lined with rice drying in the sun. After the rice is harvested, they set fire to the piles of old rice stalks. It was fascinating to see this process going on throughout the island. The picture of the man harvesting and burning in the fields was taken through the car window so, again the color is too grey.

We spent one morning hiking down (a very easy hike as I was carrying Juliet on a front pack) to a waterfall. It was beautiful and cool, refreshing water coming down from the main volcano on the island. The kids enjoyed splashing around and playing in the rocks. Maggie and Xander worked diligently on a rock wall, a "dam" they called it. Abigail made an adorable fairy house, currently one of her favorite past times; and after playing in the water, Ella kept busy with some prized oreos. (We had to use various, innovative techniques to keep Ella happy and out of trouble.) Juliet stayed mostly on my belly in a front pack, but I did tire of that after several hours so I made her a bed, albeit uncomfortable, on a dry rock bed and under an umbrella to shade her from the mist and sun.

Another afternoon while I stayed with the napping little girls, Joseph took the older 3 to the Gili Islands. These are 3 small islands off the coast of Lombok with pristine white sandy beaches and good snorkeling. They visited all 3 of them but stayed the longest at the middle island and snorkeled off the shore. Joseph said it was the best snorkeling the kids have done to date. They saw all kinds of coral and tropical fish.