Our Beach Vacation

Family shot (I was there - taking the photo)

Monday around 12:30 our family (along with Josh's parents and sister visiting from Venezuela and California, respectively) piled into the minibus with all of our "stuff" and headed off to the beach.  We anticipated about a 4 hour drive.  Mitchell mentioned "in passing" (for real) that he'd thrown up that morning in school.  I thought, "Hope that was a one-time deal!"  

Julia looking pretty in Mommy's hat.

Literally as we climbed into the vehicle, it began to rain.  Surely, I thought, it can't be raining at the beach - after all, sometimes when it rains here it doesn't rain at my helper's house and she doesn't live that far away.  About 15 minutes into the drive, Julia suddenly threw up all over herself, Daddy and Grandpa.  We pulled over and I jumped out in the rain to do damage control.  That done, I stepped into the nearest warung to see if I could buy anti-motion pills (which I'd opted not to bring from home) for the kids - but they were out.  Surely we didn't need them anyway...    

Sandcastle time!

Not sure how much time passed, but while the rain continued and the traffic was stop and go, we had a good time in the car, listening to music and chatting about the various aspects of life we were seeing from the vehicle.  THEN - someone from the back said, "Mitchell is throwing up! Stop the car!"  So Josh found a place to pull over beside a rice paddy.  Mitchell was using a bag, so there was no mess.  Jodi simply tied the bag up and placed it neatly beside a tree with everyone in the nearby house having come outside to watch.  Jodi and Mitchell got back into the car, we waved and departed once more, the rain continuing.  

Jodi riding the waves in.

Jodi being "dumped" on the beach by the waves!

We made pretty good time and arrived at the beach at 4:00, 3 1/2 hours on the road so we made good time despite the barf breaks, one potty stop (short since no one really wanted to use the squatty potty at the gas station) and one VERY close call with a bus.

Trying to find a place where the waves were better...

We unloaded into the 3 rooms we had reserved (waiting for the rain to let up a bit first) and made plans for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Once dinner was over, we settled in some more and bathed the kids and got them to bed.  We had to do a last minute switch since Mitchell was running a fever around 101 degrees and I wanted him in with us for the night. (The fever didn't come back after that night - nor did he throw up again.)  Suddenly the lights went out!  I got out my cell phone and Josh did too and continued using the built-in flashlights.  The power wasn't out long, probably 15 minutes.  When Josh and I started getting ready for bed, I noticed as I rinsed my toothbrush that the water was not coming out as quickly as before.  By the time Josh wanted to rinse his brush, the water was gone - no showers for us!  He did let the front desk know and there was water again in the morning.

Enjoying some fried rice and fried noodles for breakfast on the beach.

We had water the rest of the time at the beach.  We also had random power outages the rest of the time, both day and night but none lasting VERY long.  The hotel didn't have a generator so they provided one candle per room to give us light. 

Julia jumping over waves as they came in.

One night I sprayed the room for mosquitos so Katrina wouldn't be bit up at night.  Josh had to clean up 12 dead or dying roaches.  I stopped spraying after that.  

Check out the trash behind the boys - 

there was more trash on the beach closer to the hotel.

Early morning building sandcastles with Grandma.

Basically it rained almost the entire time we were there, with the exception of mornings before 10:00.  We took walks in the mornings and the kids were up early each day so Grandma could take them down to the beach.  Afternoons and evenings were spent reading and playing cards. 

Spencer trying to get to the "sweet spot" to catch the wave.

Thursday we celebrated Josh's mom's birthday and had managed to smuggle a cake, candles and gifts along with us.  We drank a lot of tea, Dad read a lot of stories to the kids, they played many rounds of "Trouble" and WE played a lot of rounds of "Gang of Four".  

My wonderful husband and children!

Holding up the boogie board

The LAST morning the sun was shining!!!  We played on the beach all morning, stopping to pack around 11.  We left for home around 1:30, after a brief "snacky" lunch.  The trip home was much nicer with no throw-ups, no close calls and good fellowship in the car!  Katrina slept most of the way home so that was a treat!

Grandpa being the mobile holder - 

keeping the kids occupied while it was raining outside.

Katrina just kicked and kicked when Josh put her feet in the water. 

PS- Jodi also posted on her blog about this vacation - for her take on it and MANY more pics - click here!

Doctor or Dentist???

***This photo below is my friend, NOT me!  I've had a bunch of letters from people thinking it's me.  It even fooled my parents for a few minutes.

Here is a letter one of my colleagues wrote to her friends last week.  I wanted to share it to give you an idea of what we do when there's a medical issue here:

Today,  around 8:45 AM,  I went to our teacher's house to water her plants and misjudged where her new air conditioner unit was located and got a big cut to the bone on my forehead

 Mia (her 5 year old daughter) was with me and thought I was dying by the amount of blood gushing from my head and started screaming.  Everyone came running out to help me and I was able to walk home (about 200 meters) and wash up a little before throwing up and almost passing out.  There were other missionary ladies here to clean it out and decide where best to go.  We don't just run to the ER.  So, it was decided that we'd go to a local dentist.  She had sewn up a head wound about 20 years ago just beautifully.  When we got there she looked at us as if we were crazy and called around to her other doctor friends and found one that is known for her fine stitching.  The only problem was was that she was on a different island but was boarding the plane in Jakarta and would call us around 2 PM.  When she finally arrived, she had us drive to her house and she proceeded to stitch me up.  I was very thankful for the shot(s) to numb it!  The doctor, at some point, showed Doug (her husband) and a co-worker who'd been with me the whole time the actual skull. The doctor put in 8 inside stitches and about 10 outside stitches.  All costing the equivalent of $70.  Doug called the air conditioner men right away and they reinstalled the a/c unit about 7 feet higher.

Other than that, our family is doing pretty good.  Jensen (another daughter) may have a mild form of Hand and Mouth disease so we are watching that closely.

What my friend didn't say is that they did try to go to the place where Spencer had his stitches done a while back and it was a horrible experience - very busy, disorganized and a bit scary, so they left, concerned that any treatment they did get would not be good.  While my friend did get good treatment from this doctor (in the back room of her home), we discovered that she's moving to another region shortly, so she won't be a long-term person to go to for stitches.  Apparently she's a plastic surgeon - something she's done a lot of is creating eyelids for Asian women who want them!  That's why she's so good at facial stitches!   Praise the Lord she was there and was available!  My friend's wound is healing up really well and you can tell she did a terrific job.

Another thing that I do (not everyone does this but I love doing research) is that I go online to a number of web sites and see what there is to learn about the problem.  I also have a number of friends in various disciplines of the medical field so have some resources to email or call if I need to.  

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