Sunday we hopped on yet another train and begin our five hour journey to take Ethan and Kenna to camp. I must say, the five hours flew by compared to the 15 hour ride a couple of months ago! We got there and were met at the train station by one of the counselors who piled all the kids (Ethan and Kenna and our friends three children) in the car and, after a quick stop at McDonald's for lunch, took them up the mountain to the camp grounds.
Our team decided to take this opportunity to have a team retreat in the city near the camp, so all the adults (minus one parent who rode with the kids) piled into a taxi with all our luggage and followed the kids to McDonald's. We looked like a circus act trying to pile three six foot and taller adults along with three other adults and five suitcases into a small SUV. It's a good thing we're such great friends. We took turns sitting on laps for the hour ride from McDonald's up to the camp grounds!
By the time we got to the camp (we had to eat at McDonald's because we couldn't eat and ride…not enough room) the kids were already signed in and playing and chatting with old friends.
Kenna loved playing four-square. It really helped her to relax and settle in. This is her first year at camp and her first time ever being away from us for more than two nights and certainly a first for being five hours away!
Once we finally left the camp, we all got checked in to our hotel rooms and headed out to find a place to eat supper. We found this great restaurant that served "food from around the world." It was really good and had a great atmosphere. We sat for hours just talking and sharing stories. We are so blessed to have such great friends!
The next morning we opted out of cramming into a taxi and decided instead to enjoy the day on "becaks." We were able to "rent" these guys for the day and they drove us everywhere we wanted to go. It was great.
One of our stops was the Sultan's Palace. The Sultan is still alive and living in this palace. It was pretty cool to see the history of this country. When we got there the musicians were playing their traditional music.
Our last stop of the day was a silver shop where everything in the store was made by hand and the workshop was attached to the shop so you could see how everything was made. It is such a tedious process, but the finished projects were absolutely beautiful!
This also happened to be mine and Kenny's 18th anniversary, so after the silver shop we took our becak back to the hotel to get freshened up and then we headed back out for a nice dinner. We ended up back at the same restaurant we ate at the night before. Ironically enough, about thirty minutes later the rest of our crew showed up there as well! We were able to celebrate our anniversary with our best friends…what a great day!
The next day we hopped back on the train and headed home. Saturday we will fly to Bali for our meetings and Ethan and Kenna will meet us there. When we get back from Bali, we will have three more weeks before we hop on yet another plane and head home to the US. Time continues to fly by!
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