Happy Birthday Ben!

This week started with a wonderful “Father’s Day” brunch at the club with our friends from Chile, and Jamie who we knew from Morenci. Diana was able to try a few new things like barramundi and grilled chicken, and seemed to really enjoy smooshing her food around. She also likes gnawing on cucumber slices, so we’re making some headway on the vegetable front. Ben’s birthday was Wednesday, and as per Indonesian (or maybe just Tembagapura) custom, he hosted his co-workers for dinner at the café here in Hidden Valley. There were also some presents to be opened and brownies to be eaten, so it was a fun afternoon. Diana enjoyed being cooed over at the café, but it is hard for her to sit in one place for very long these days. She has mastered the Army crawl, although she looks a little more like someone crawling through the desert looking for water. But once she gets her eyes set on something across the room (a toy, the vacuum, my foot) she goes for it. She has suddenly developed a big interest in stuffed animals as well, and particularly likes Ben’s childhood rabbit puppet because he can wave to her and clap when she does something exciting.

We’re planning a little trip to Timika for this weekend to get some sun and give Diana another chance to swim in the pool. Plus it gives us a chance to practice packing, kind of a dry-run for this summer. We finally got our e-ticket information from the travel agent, so things are starting to feel real now. We’re in the list-making stage (list of things to bring to the US, things to bring back to Indonesia, things to buy, things to do), so that’s exciting. Weather here has been pretty grey (we’re in the “rainy season” now, which means maybe 10 or 15 minutes of sun everyday and cloud/fog cover the rest of the day), so we’re looking forward to our weekend in the sun, and a trip back to the US where it (hopefully) doesn’t rain as much.