Water, Air and Popcorn

Not sure what to write about except that we're all doing well and are staying healthy. Aunt Sam left last Monday morning and we're slowly getting back to our routines (not like we swayed too far out of them while she was here, though). Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to a huge shopping area (cheap prices, cheap items) in Jakarta and bought a Christmas tree. We have absolutely no storage for a fake tree, but you can't have Christmas without a tree, and it was high on the kids' priority list of things we needed this year. Last year we borrowed, but that opportunity hasn't surfaced yet. Now that we have it, we're all ready to decorate it...but we realize we should probably wait until at least after our "International Thanksgiving Family Potluck" on Nov 27. After that it's officially allowed.

While I was in this shopping area, I kept thinking "Sam would love that shirt" or "Sam would have loved this ...[whatever it was]..." and thinking she should have stayed a little longer. That thought changed when this morning, at 5:30, the power went out and stayed off until approximately 4:30 pm. I kept thinking all day "I'm so glad Sam's not here to experience this!" Thankfully outside it wasn't as hot as it can sometimes be, AND we were able to spend the day in the mall. We ate lunch, ate frozen yogourt, watched "This Is It!", the Micheal Jackson movie about his "This Is It!" tour rehearsals. I don't particularly like Micheal Jackson, but I was quite impressed by the movie and what an incredible performer he was. It would have been some concert.

Tris spent the day in Jakarta and we all returned home at around the same time. I went out again to a second mall in search of a bigger air bed for our next set of guests, Tris and Sunny, to sleep on. It's our dream to one day have a regular bed, but an air bed it'll have to be in the meantime. After much searching, a bed was found, and my friend Amy and I also found a Dairy Queen/Orange Julius! Needless to say, date night at Orange Julius is on the dating roster. How romantic!

Last night was interesting. Tris and I got into the pool around 5 pm, with some dark clouds looming. Storms here come in fast sometimes, and after just a few laps I popped my head out just as lightening flashed and within only a few short seconds, thunder followed. Tris was waving to me " get OUT of the pool!" and we were out before the next flash. We had originally planned on walking home, but the lightening and thunder were on top of each other and so we didn't want to become roasting sticks. A very kind staff member took pity on us and drove us home. The storms here are awesome, there's no other word for it. I think next time I see dark clouds like that I'll just choose the gym, or even better, a movie and popcorn at home.

Thanks for reading.