the rat catchers

rats are a common pest here but we rarely deal with them. i think we have a good dog :D
but we had a rat the other night and the kids were way excited about getting rid of it. hazel had come into the kitchen and witnessed it on the counter top and went "flying" back to the rest of us to tell her scary story! so the brothers got all brave and they got their boots and soccer gloves on and grabbed their broom sticks to go looking for the little guy. they set up a blockade. it took some time to find where he was hiding...but when they did...the video concludes...but you might hear paul say in the background "i'm scared!" and you might notice the angle from which this was filmed...yes...i martha...was on top of our counter :D not that i'm terribly scared...i just wanted good footage :D

ha...but later when they were going to bed, paul says, "man...i really wanted to catch that rat. can we do it again?"

Kid adventure day

I recently took 6 kids out on an adventure day. i think i needed it more than they did! we had a great time and enjoyed a few different spots in our area. this one is called the LOVE HILL :D there is a story that goes with it...but it's kind of long...but a boy turned into this very large,
long lizard and he now lives here in the swamp

there was a museum of all the fish in the swamp, and this little swing set...basically the kids thought they were at disneyland!

they even posed for a picture for me :D on top of the hill...
and then we saw boats!

Sooo...do we do this boat ride?

On our little adventure, i noticed we could take a boat ride. we had just checked out all the fish that were in this swamp in a little museum of sorts so the kids were very excited to go and see them out in the water. but from the looks of the fish...i didn't want anyone getting too close...they looked like flesh eating fish to me! but we decided we would take a boat and have fun. i was nervous being the adult and all but was confident things would go fine. then we saw the boats....
THEN i told the boat driver..."i'm scared. maybe we shouldn't do this" and he said "no worries" and i asked what boat? because in my mind...i wouldn't get in any of them! but then he pointed to this one and began scopping all the water out of it! do you see him in the photo? ha! ha...ha.......ha...he was was serious.

even the kids are watching him in disbelief...are we really going in this boat?

but yes! we made it out on the water and it was a nice ride...nothing happened other than all the kids trying to see what was out on one side of the boat at the SAME time...so we had to have lessons in taking turns so the boat didn't flip! ha!

this is harvested from the swamp...then dried and turned into rattan furniture...and i am sure then exported to the world

The boat ride

Hazel and Bethanie

Pak Agung. He helps us get around Indonesia in a little "less stressed" state of mind :D

Our crew for the day...but josh is hiding...

So while on the boat Pak Agung helped all the kids to stand on the front of the boat. While this sounds bad...it was very much a highlight of their day....Titanic scenes