We are enjoying being down home in Mississippi, spending beautiful spring days working in the yard and driving to nearby weekend engagements. A Sunday missions emphasis in Aberdeen allowed us to visit my sister-in-law, Rosamond, in Tupelo and my nephew Randy and his family. Rather than indulging in proud pictures of my azaleas and cherry blossoms, we wanted to share more photos from our Indonesia trip.

One of the highlights was a picnic to Rembangan, a beautiful park and swimming pool high in the mountains above Jember. Our children cherish the almost weekly family-day outings to this location when they were small. It was one of the highlights for the return of Lori and her family. They discovered the friendliness and hospitality of Indonesians there such as the family pictured enjoying a picnic.

The children were intrigued to find that the most convenient transportation around town was a cycle peda-cab called “bejas.” Though many familiar drinks and food were not available, they reluctantly came to enjoy a delicious soft drink prominent in Asia, Pocari Sweat–in spite of its less than appealing name. It was great for rehydration in the steaming tropics, but everyone still preferred fresh coconut. Sam tried splitting one with a machete at one of the street-side stalls.

Our travel to the mountains passed numerous scenic areas where the kids wanted to stop and play such as the water fall cascading down this rocky precipice. Sam and Gloria were climbing to the top as soon as the car stopped. Meanwhile, Lori discovered the coffee plantation on the other side of the road. Being a coffee aficionado she had to have her photo made with beans growing on the tree. We have always wondered if our location was called Java because of the coffee or coffee is called java because it is grown there.

On one of the stops Sam discovered a ten-inch Emperor Scorpion at the base of the tree but was discouraged from trying to capture it and take it home! Frequent forays into the market resulted in interesting discoveries such as this bucket of eel. It reminded Lori that we often had squid and frog legs for dinner. On the way home on Korean Airlines we remembered this sight and chose barbecued eel as the option for our meal–it was delicious!