The trip sort of got off to a bad start. We took a night flight from Jakarta to Tokyo, but no one slept well so by the time we arrived in Tokyo (8 hours later) we were all already exhausted. Our layover in Tokyo was 6 hours - far too long and in the wee hours of the morning. J and I were able to take a shower in Tokyo though so that helped to revive us bleary eyed parents. The flight from Jakarta to Dallas (12 hours) would have gone fine except that the kids slept at completely different times, so we never really got a break from the kids. One of us always had to be "on", and the other one who should sleep couldn't really sleep. After a few hour layover in Dallas, where we had to go through immigration and where J got pulled aside (he's such a criminal you know) for having been to Indonesia, Philippines, and New Zealand all in one year (a certain red flag evidently), we were off on yet another plane to Minneapolis (2 hours). By the time we arrived in Mnps, we were beyond exhaustion. My poor father, who drove 2 hours to pick us up and who was excited to tears to see us all, had to wade through unintelligible conversation in the airport and a completely passed out family of 4 on the whole drive to Eau Claire (LC never woke up from when he fell asleep on the airplane, C made it about 3 minutes into the drive before he fell asleep, and J and I made it about 5 minutes...pathetic).
And this whole trip was in business or first class. I know, I know. Totally and completely spoiled, I KNOW! And yet it was still quite miserable! I can't imagine how much worse it would have been in coach. And no, we're not able to afford first class tickets to/from Asia. J racked up a ton of miles for his job and first class actually isn't much more than business class, and yet it's soooo much nicer: 5 course meals on real china, ice cream sundays that they make by your seat, Bose headphones, real quilted blankets, and of course chairs that fold completely flat to make a pretty comfortable bed. It was so awesome. This will probably never happen again, and it was almost glorious. "Almost" glorious because the damn kids ruin things every time! :)
C enjoying his first class seatThe kids and I stayed in Wisconsin with my mom for over 2 weeks, but J had to go to NC for 1.5 weeks of work (but his ticket was paid for so we couldn't complain too much). J stayed long enough in Wisconsin to get over the worst part of the jet lag and to help me get the kids over the toughest parts. He also stayed long enough to celebrate LC's first birthday party. My little love is a one year old already, I can't believe it! We had a very nice party for him and my dad and mom and cousins and second cousins and aunts and a friend from Peace Corps all came to help us celebrate. C seemed to have a good time playing with his second cousins (is that what you call them - they're my cousin's kids...?) and we had such a nice time catching up with family. My father's side of the family lives mostly in Wisconsin and I try to see them every time I go "home" to Eau Claire. They are a really incredible group of people and I always enjoy spending time with them.
LC blowing out his bday candles with a little help from his big brother
The weather was perfect the entire time we were in Wisconsin. It rained only once and otherwise it was sunny skies and in the 70's/80's. I couldn't have asked for better weather. We were quite busy during our 2 week stay. I thought we would do a lot of relaxing and this would be our "down" time, but instead we had a lot of people to visit with and there were a lot of activities we wanted to do.
Once we took a couple days to rest after our flight, we went to the farmer's market. I really miss farmer's markets. This has been surprising because in every other developing country I've visited or lived in, going to open air markets/farmer's markets is a part of life. I fully expected that we would be buying all of our produce from open air markets here. Instead, we get everything from the super market. I also did a lot of indoor shopping during our visit. Every time the kids took a nap and some evenings after they went to bed, I'd race around town trying to get some shopping done. We can actually get just about everything in Jakarta, but not in one place and not always for a good price. Plus, we can't get American medication in Jakarta and most of the clothes are made for tiny Indonesians. It's a bit cruel to go shopping here and find you're an XL, when you're really a S or M! So, instead of spending days driving through horrible traffic in Jakarta to get some of the items on my list, I saved it up for our visit to the US. And although this was still time consuming and ate into my relaxation time, it was a lot of fun. I went to Target like 10 times, it was awesome. I'd practically give my right arm to have a Target in Jakarta.
Before J left for NC we were able to take in a Cavaliers baseball game, the Eau Claire home team. The games are very quiet and hometown, and perfect for 2 small kids. C enjoyed running around the stadium and playing with the new camera his Peepa had just given him, and LC had fun "walking" up and down the stairs and charming the other attendees. And they even watched the game once in a while... C also got to go to his first circus! We had a great time watching all the performances, eating cotton candy and slushies, and going on pony rides. C's favorite performances were the acrobats and the motorcycle show. I thought he might be a little scared of the whole thing, but he was instead enraptured.
A main activity during our stay in Eau Claire was to spend as much time as we could outside. This included many walks around my mom's beautiful neighborhood and several visits to playgrounds. One of the things we hate most about Jakarta is the lack of green space in the city. Neighborhoods do not have community parks and playgrounds like many communities in the US do, nor do streets have sidewalks or any public green spaces. And with 2 young kids and 2 parents who really enjoy walking around outside, this is a problem. Fortunately we live in an area of Jakarta that has 2 outdoor playgrounds and 2 indoor playgrounds within a 5-10 minute drive of our house. The downside is that we have to pay to use them, but at least they're really nice (the outdoor playgrounds have water features like slides and sprinkler type equipment). But still, I really miss just being able to take a long walk in a quiet, peaceful, and nice smelling area (Jakarta does not smell good), and then to stop at the free playground on the way home. Therefore, while we were in Eau Claire we made sure to take a lot of walks and to visit the wonderful and free playgrounds that dot the city.
As part of our quest to be outdoors, we also went to a few outdoor concerts. This was among my very favorite activities during our visit to WI. The university puts on free concerts every weekday at noon during the summer, and again a couple times in the evening during the week. So we would walk over (my mom lives a block from the university) and plop down on a blanket, listen to some good music, and let the kids run around. Another venue, Phoenix Park, opened up a few years ago and they also hold evening concerts during the week in the summer. These free concerts are very well attended and there are a lot of families there. Many of the young kids go down to the area just in front of the band and dance and play with bubbles, etc. And C, being the Leo that he is, joined them in the fun. He's a pretty good dancer too! There is nothing even remotely like this in Jakarta...
C enjoying an outdoor concert with Peepa
We also spent a day at our friend's house on a small quiet lake about 45 minutes north of Eau Claire. The lake doesn't allow motorboats so it is so wonderfully quiet and peaceful. We took a canoe out onto the lake and looked for frogs on the lillypads, and just enjoyed the beautifully fresh air and peacefulness. I've grown up most of my life knowing these friends of my mom's, and they are among my absolute favorites. It was a glorious day to spend all day with them relaxing by their lake.
We also spent a lot of time visiting with a few of my friends from high school who either still live in the area or came home for a visit. It's amazing to think we've been friends for 20-25 years, and that we still enjoy eachother's company so much. And speaking of long friendships, I also got to see friends of my family who I've known since I was about 7 or 8. I love meeting new people and making new friends, to learn about their experiences and their lives, but there is something so special in being able to maintain friendships for so long and to have such history with people. I value these relationships so much and feel so lucky to have these people in my life, and that they're willing to make the effort to maintain a friendship with me despite my seeming desire to live so far away! And of course, it was wonderful to spend so much time with my parents and for them to see their grandsons as much as possible. We had a fabulous time together. And my brother even flew out from Washington state for a weekend. C and I hadn't seen him since C was 4 months old, so that was a very special weekend. The most important reason for this whole visit was to reconnect with our loved ones, and I'm so glad we did. It took an amazing amount of effort, but it was well worth it.
I still have to write a post about the second half of our visit when we went to Baltimore and DC. Who knows when that will happen, but hopefully it won't take me over a month like it took me to write this one!
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