The Beach!

After three months of working hard in language school, we decided it was time to do something special with the kids. They have been such good sports about us being in school, so on our last break before starting Unit 4 of language school we drove to the beach! It was great to spend some uninterrupted quality time with them and we all had a blast. The kids loved playing on the beach and it was Eva's first time experiencing sand. She loved it!

We went with a few of the other MAF families as well and at night we built campfires on the beach, roasted marshmallows, and went searching for crabs. There were quite a few crabs, both small and medium sized. We used flashlights to shine down in their sand holes and sometimes were able to see them hiding in there.

One of the days we were there was a national holiday in Indonesia. We didn't really think about what that would be like for us.....but we soon found out. The beach was crowded and once people spotted our blondies...well...let's just say that we were kind of in the spotlight. Everyone wanted pictures and we could see people spot us and start coming over from way down the beach. Most people were very polite about it and some were even trying to be discreet, like taking pictures of their friends with us in the background...it was kind of funny. Eventually though, on this day in particular, it started to get a bit overwhelming. We finally reached a breaking point when a man in his late teens/early twenties, cigarette in hand, came over and without asking, planted himself next to Callie and had his friend start taking pictures. She was trying to play in the sand and it was making her uncomfortable. I politely told him in Indonesian that she doesn't like that and asked him not to do it, but he wasn't listening. Then he went over to Blake while he was getting a bucket of water and tried to grab him to get some pictures......and MOTHER BEAR came out. I firmly told him that he MAY NOT do that. He started laughing...maybe because he was embarrassed or maybe because it was funny seeing a blonde white girl speaking his language, but either way we were out of there. Again, most people were very sweet and just thought the kids were super cute. They are not used to seeing blonde hair, blue-eyed kids. This was just one man that was not being respectful, so we left. The next days were much better and there were not many people.

We had a great time overall and wish we could have stayed longer!

 Matt, Blake, and little Ellie (our friend's daughter)

 People trying to take pictures

 

The kids sharing their sand toys with some adorable Indonesian kids