We Love Jakarta

KidCity Transmart Cilandak

Written by welovejakarta on April 20, 2016

Lately I’ve been stuck as to where to take Samudra in my spare time as I feel like I have exhausted so many places in the past two and a half years and I have been feeling in desperate need to see something new. At just the right moment, a message was posted on a Mum’s group forum on Facebook last week, and after seeing pics of dinosaurs posted, we decided we had to go check this place out.

After a beautiful (and extrememly hot!) early Sunday morning walk around Ragunan Zoo, checking out the elephants and monkeys as always, we decided to head the short distance to Carrefour Transmart Cilandak to cool down and check out KidCity.

This building has recently been renovated and everything is still fresh, shiny and bright and I felt a sense of excitement to be checking out somewhere new… but my reaction was nothing compared to Samudra’s as soon as we walked through the lobby doors into the small mall. Samudra looked up and saw a sign with a dinosaur and some flying dinosaurs hanging from the roof and started jumping up and down and squealing with happiness! It was so adorable really.. So we had to practically run up the escalators to the second floor…

KidCity was heaving with people on a Sunday morning and it was a sensory overload with so much noise and bright lights flashing and the sounds of dinosaurs roaring. It was such a great atmosphere and just watching Samudra’s reactions was absolutely priceless as we walked around. The theme of KidCity is ‘Dino in Paris’ and the place is decorated in a French theme and even has a mini Eiffel Tower to sit under.

Unfortunately I didn’t have my proper camera with me (it’s been waaaaaay too long!) so I only have some terrible phone photos to share but you can get a feel for what the place is like. It was super fun to go along with such a hyper excited child and Samudra was in absolute heaven with the dinosaurs there.

You need to purchase a card for at the Kashier to be used at the little snack shops in the area, as well as another card at the Moulin Rouge counter to be used for any rides or games your kids may want to play on, these can both be topped up with more cash at any time. There’s a soft play area for the smaller kids and a roller coaster for the older kids as well as a few other rides, and lots of games down one end for the older kids to play on.

The floor below KidCity is full of restaurants and a few little shops and then Carrefour is on the bottom floor.

Going by Samudra’s reaction, any kids that love dinosaurs, noise and rides will love this place and I can’t wait to take my little one back again soon for some more laughs and fun.

Check it out:
KidCity – Transmart Carrefour
Lantai 2, Jl Raya Cilandak KKO, Cilandak Timur, Jakarta Selatan 12560

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The new KidCity in Cilandak

There are little cafe windows for snacks and drinks

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Standing under the Eiffer Tower

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The roller coaster which has a short section outside of the building

The crazy roller coaster

The Paris Swing

Such a fun atmosphere

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All aboard the Mini Train

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Playing with Dinosaurs

Samdura’s first time in a racing car

Kids soft play area

Scary Dinosaur! Samudra’s favourite

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We Love Rachel House

Written by welovejakarta on April 12, 2016

Sometimes life really does work in amazing ways, leading us down paths we wouldn’t usually follow and meeting people that really change the way we look at things. A few years ago, I was contacted through this blog by the lovely Lynna at Rachel House and we met to try and find a way that we could work together to share stories of the beautiful children that are cared for by her incredible team.

Rachel House is a palliative care service which provides home care for children with life-threatening conditions who are unable to afford medical treatment. Hearing stories from Lynna and her team about the conditions that some terminally ill children live in, and many that have already lost both their parents, really broke my heart and had me unable to hold back my tears. I really wanted to be able to help but still wasn’t quite sure how I could make a difference.

Fast forward a year or so to 2015 and I found myself walking past a book shelf in our home office when a photo I had never seen before fell down infront of me. I quickly looked at it and saw that it was a picture of what looked like a sick child with some bandages on. I didn’t think much of it and put it back on the shelf between some books.

A couple of weeks later I received a call from Lynna again and we decided to meet yet again to discuss the possibility of making some short films for Rachel House. The aim was to share the stories of the children and the team that cares for them, and show this to a wider audience. My husband and I met with Lynna and after a long discussion it was discovered that Putra had taken photos at Rachel House when it first opened and the photo that had fallen off the shelf was of Bayu, the first child that was admitted to their inpatient facility, and who also passed away not long after as she was really unwell. I took that chance encounter of the photo falling infront of me as a sign that somehow Bayu wanted us to help Rachel House and so we agreed to do so.

Through this project we met with some gorgeous young children with various life threatening illnesses who moved me to tears with their sweetness, as well as the Rachel House nurses and carers who do incredible work looking after these children and their families. They have also trained up members in the community to also help with additional care of these children.

We ventured out to Kalibaru in North Jakarta and met with a lovely family who have a young son, Rian, who uptil 2015 spent most of his days lying down at home, barely able to move, after sustaining an injury when he was a toddler. Thanks to Maulana who is a community worker that volunteered to help with Rian, and the nurses and team at Rachel House, there has been a significant improvement in Rian’s condition and he is now able to move his head on his own.

I took Samudra with us on one of our visits and he played with Rian and gave him some of his animal toys, and the smile on Rian’s face to have some company and a little friend to play with just melted my heart.

We also got to be part of the most touching experience, taking Rian on his first ever outing, to the pasar malam (night bazaar). The smile on his face and the shine in his eyes will stay with me always and I feel so happy that we were able to make a small difference in his life.

If you would like to know more about Rachel House you can visit their Facebook page: Rachel House – Children’s Palliative Care Indonesia or their website http://www.rachel-house.org/

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Rian arriving at the night bazaar with his Mum, brother and Ibu Yuswati.

Rian is so happy to be out in the action.

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Rian with his mother.

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Watching the colourful rides.

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Samudra getting a hug from the lovely Ibu Yus.

Samudra so excited to see all the lights and rides.

Riding in circles on the little train.

Enjoying the atmosphere.

Samudra gave Rian a toy which made him so happy.

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Lights on the ferris wheel.

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Getting crafty with GummyBox!

Written by welovejakarta on April 7, 2016

I have been looking at a big plastic bag sitting on my kitchen table for the past couple of weeks and longing for some spare time to actually open it and enjoy the contents with Samudra. With work taking up most of my time, I’ve had to learn to live with my guilt as I know Samudra would be so happy to see what is inside, and I wanted to spend some proper quality time doing this together.

Earlier this week we finally took it off the table and I opened the plastic bag for Samudra and he immediately started singing “Happy Birthday to Mudra….” as he was so excited to see the package… Followed by “what’s dat mumma?” (repeat twenty times while I am opening the box). I saw postings on Facebook for GummyBox products a few months ago and thought it looked like such a great idea to get kids creative juices flowing, and had heard such great reviews about it and so couldn’t wait to try it also.

We opened the box and Samudra tipped the contents out and once he spied the orange workers jacket he insisted on putting it on. The box came with three different activities for children to be creative with, and I can’t decide who was more excited to discover what was inside!

As he was already wearing his cute little jacket, we decided to do the ‘My Safety Area’ activity first. So we stuck up the construction signs and marked out our space with the barrier tape and put together the traffic cones and made the play table his little safety area. There’s also a little Construction activity book but I think Samudra is too young to appreciate that one as he was already starting on the next activity.

The Building Cards were great for Samudra and although he didn’t strictly follow the card slots for putting the cards together, he was quickly joining the cards and pulling them apart again, and the concentration on his face was adorable. There are also crayons in the package for kids to decorate their own card to be used in the pack. This was a colourful and fun way to see him putting his little mind to work to see what his imagination could come up with.

Our last activity for the morning was the ‘Marble Run’ which included 4 cardboard building structures which Samudra decorated with the gorgeous sticker packets which he loved doing. As he’s still a little young, I helped him to construct the set and he had a great time rolling the included balls and marbles down the bridges into the goal box.

I absolutely love the packaging from GummyBox and the activities that they have inside and think it would be a great idea to get lots of kids together for a play date to be creative and use their imaginations while learning about different themes, and I also think these boxes would make great gifts for children.

Check out their subscription packages available on their website so you can receive a new box every month with free delivery within Indonesia, as well as a limited time offer on trial packages.

Go to www.gummybox.com to see the range of products available and enjoy the hours of entertainment and happiness they bring!

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Samudra thought it was his birthday when he saw the GummyBox bag

What’s dat mumma? what’s dat mumma? Open!!

Taking off the cover…

This looks exciting!

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Construction time!

Setting up the safety barrier

Busy deciding where to keep the barrier going to

Unrolling more barrier tape

Finished!

Working out how to put the building cards together

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Checking out the beautiful patterns

Singing while playing

Samudra’s building

Activity Books

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Peeling the stickets for the Marble Run

Decorating the buildings

Having fun with the stickers

Finished and rolling the marbles through the buildings

Hours of fun!

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Easter Fun at Veranda

Written by welovejakarta on April 3, 2016

So I’m a little late with this post as Easter Sunday was already a week ago today, but we had such an amazing time last Monday at the Yummy Mummies play date. This is the first time I have celebrated Easter in Jakarta in the six years I have been here, and this year I saw only one small Lindt easter egg in the supermarket for a whopping Rp 200,000! At such ridiculous prices and so little on offer there’s never a chance to recreate the Easters celebrated back home, where we all ended up in chocolate induced comas before the day was out.

The gorgeous Jacintha hosted the catch up in the gardens of her apartment at Veranda in Cipete and what a stunning oasis this place is! Lush green lawns and trees, beautiful swimming pools and turtles, a playground and so much space for the kids to run around. I never knew such a precious gem existed in this city and it’s easy to forget where you are as it’s so peaceful and charming inside the compound gates.

There was a huge spread of Easter themed delicious food and the kids had fun decorating hard boiled eggs and Easter shaped cookies, before the highlight of the day which was an Easter Egg hunt in the gorgeous gardens. This was a chocolate free Easter catch up and was so much fun for the kids, as they collected beautifully decorated hard boiled and also plastic eggs in their sweet little baskets.

A huge thank you to Jacintha for hosting and to all the mummies for the delicious spread of food and fun catch up, and for bringing the Easter spirit to Jakarta for the kids… I’m still having to hide Samudra’s plastic eggs around the house for him to find!

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Such amazing food! Especially love the carrot looking sandwiches from Uppercrust

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Preston decorating Easter cookies

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The kids exploring the gorgeous pool area

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Checking out the turtles

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Samudra putting eggs in his Easter basket

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Searching for more eggs

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Looking for Easter eggs in the gorgeous grounds

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Found another one!

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Mummies and kiddos on the Easter egg hunt

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Baskets full of eggs

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Checking out their baskets

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Love these kids so much!

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A cute little meltdown after all the fun

Searching for more eggs down the lovely garden pathway

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Having fun cooling down in the pool

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Wishing I could jump in too!

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These two were having a great time playing together

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Samudra and Katya enjoying their Easter finds

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Kids love Kuntum Nurseries

Written by welovejakarta on March 16, 2016

I wrote about our visit to Kuntum Nurseries last year but as we just visited it again last weekend on our way to stay at Novotel Bogor, I thought I would write about it again as we love it so much.

If you have young kids and you’re heading to Bogor for a day trip or longer, I highly recommend this gorgeous little sanctuary. It is best to go as early as possible, around 8.00am, so you can have a chance to look around before the sun gets too hot for the little ones, and before any school groups have a chance to arrive and cause chaos overfeeding all the animals and making them sleepy.

The entry is Rp. 30,000 per person and milk and food for the animals is a small additional cost. Samudra loved feeding the goats and sheep but was a little intimidated by the cows this time, although he did manage to feed a calf a whole bottle of milk by himself.

The rabbit enclosure was sweet as miraculously we were the only ones in there and many rabbits ran up to Samudra wanting to eat and he was in heaven! I think the animals in Kuntum are the most well fed and well cared for animals I’ve seen over here and it really is a lovely little environment where the kids can get up close to the animals and feed and pat them.

Since our last visit the grounds seem to have changed alot with many new little buildings now in the gardens to sit and relax in and the vegetable gardens look incredible. It’s a great spot for the kids to play around and use their imaginations running along all the little pathways.

We were so excited that Samudra would be able to visit his favourite spot again, the horses at the back of the property, as he has always adored them and giggled as soon as he sees them. Not this time though, as soon as he reached the end of the track and saw them he screamed “don’t want that horsey ride!”. Sigh.

I’m sure we’ll be back again in the next couple of months and hopefully by then his new found fear of ‘horsies’ will have subsided.

You can find Kuntum Nurseries at Jl. Raya Tajur No.291, Bogor Tim., Kota Bogor, Jawa Barat 16145, Indonesia

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Happiness feeding goats milk

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Surrounded by super cute bunnies

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So sweet

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Making friends with the little rabbit

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It’s a moo moo cow!

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Here, have some grass

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Tip the bottle upwards! Poor calf trying to climb out of the enclosure to get a proper drink

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Eat some more!

A crazy beautiful tree and my baby

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Samudra used to LOVE riding around this beautiful trail

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A weekend getaway to Novotel Bogor

Written by welovejakarta on March 10, 2016

Last weekend we decided to take another break from Jakarta and head back to our new favourite retreat, Novotel Bogor. We first stayed at the hotel in October last year very spontaneously after doing some recce for a commercial shoot, and instantly fell in love with the place.. and have been wanting to return ever since.

As traffic was and is always completely horrendous on a Friday night after work, we didn’t leave the house until almost 10pm so we would miss most of the traffic escaping the city. We ended up staying in a very cheap hotel for the night in Bogor city as we would be arriving so late and leaving first thing in the morning, but at least we would be waking up early and already be so close to our destination.

A super early morning obligatory and fun trip to Kuntum Nurseries (more about that in my next post) first and then we headed to Novotel to bliss out. As soon as we passed through the security gates and into the shade of the trees and the lush green grass, I felt like I could breathe again. It felt awesome and refreshing to be back!

This hidden away hotel is so gorgeous and the grounds are amazing. There is so much open space for kids to run around and bridges over the little flowing river for kids to have fun adventures in, as well as a lovely swimming pool, kids playground, play room, gym, and more. Samudra’s favourite was the free horse riding we had last time we went and this was his highlight as he kept asking for more rides, but during our weekend visit for some reason he was terrified of the calm horse and didn’t want to go anywhere near it. Very unusual for him as horses have been his favourite since he was a baby.

Putra and I took turns to have an hour to ourselves and booked in massages in the spa. The massage itself was pretty amazing but the masseuse would not stop talking once she realised I was married to an Indonesian and had a million questions to ask, despite me closing my eyes as a message to please stop talking and let me relax in peace.. ha!

As it usually does, the rain decided to pour down in the late afternoon for an hour or so which was so peaceful so we played in the kids toy room to keep Samudra amused and then retreated back to our room to order some food and wine and just relax.

Last time we visited we booked a room with a gorgeous garden view and jacuzzi on the balcony which we wished we had ordered again this time and will probably order if we return there again soon, although it’s way more expensive than any accommodation we usually choose to stay in. It just gave that extra bit of space to relax in and beautiful atmosphere and we loved all just sitting in the jacuzzi watching the rain fall amongst the trees.

I highly recommend the Novotel Bogor if you want to get away for the weekend and just relax, not rushing about to go sightseeing, but to actually unwind and enjoy the tranquility of the place. The staff are so lovely, the food delicious and the property is just perfect for a weekend getaway. Best thing is it only takes 45 minutes to get back to our house on a Sunday if we leave before the mad traffic rush back to Jakarta in the afternoon.

Happy adventures!

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Colouring in at the kids club after breakfast

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Getting ready to go early morning horse riding

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Samudra so happy to be sitting on the horse alone

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I want to be a cowboy!

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The smallest love of my life

Exploring the play area

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Playing in the playground

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Happiness

Playing on the swing while having the playground to himself

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Samudra loves the see saw!

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Serenity by the pool

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So many little enchanting paths to go walking along

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Running around the beautiful gardens

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Stunning lush gardens

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Kissing a statue

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Playing in a becak

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Snuggling up in the big comfortable bed after a super fun day

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Happy New Year Jakarta!

Written by welovejakarta on January 15, 2016

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Choosing some instruments for song time

Welcome to 2016! Yes, it’s already nearing the end of January and time seems to slip away so quickly that I haven’t been able to catch up on all the photos and stories that I have wanted to share with everyone since I last posted. Infact I don’t even know where to begin from where I last left off….

2015 was an incredibly busy time for us work wise, with back to back projects being shot, days filled with meetings and squeezing in every possible spare moment trying to make some quality time to spend with Samudra. We travelled alot. Outside of Jakarta, and had so many fun adventures, that my camera got left behind, wanting to savour the moment and only taking out my phone every now and then to capture snapshots in time… then my phone got stolen on a night train journey to Jogja and my stories got put on the backburner with no photos to accompany them. I still have some photos sitting idle in folders on my hard drive, so maybe I can slowly wade through them and share some memories as the year goes on… as well as sharing new photos and memories as they unfold.

We said so many goodbyes to our dearest friends in Jakarta, many of whom have moved on to new posts in different countries and that was incredibly difficult. I cried for days having to say goodbye to Samudra’s first love, Yaya, and her family who moved to Bangkok in December. The thing with being an expat in a foreign land is that life is full of sad goodbyes and see you next time… and then there’s always many new people arriving and new friends ready to be made. Time. I just need more time. To work. To be a mum. To make new friends. To spend time with old friends. To see my husband outside of work. To exercise. For ‘me time’ (whatever that is). So 2016, I will try my best to also be here and share our experiences for friends back home to see, for newbies arriving in Jakarta to get ideas of what to do, and to share memories with friends we have here.

Today was the start of trying to make some sort of new routine for Samudra to start the year and make new little playmates too. We headed into Kemang to join the gorgeous little Songtots class which was so adorable! We sat in a beautiful room with new friends and sang songs, played instruments and danced around the room pretending to be dinosaurs and swayed beneath the floating colourful scarves. Samudra usually has a very short attention span and even he surprised me by staying with me throughout the class, shaking rain makers and clanging sticks together, laughing and having fun. It was a beautiful way to end a week full of meetings and spend some quality time with my boy. I highly recommend this cute little music class, run by the lovely Lucy if your kids like to dance and sing and move their little bodies around! Oh, and then I also highly recommend a walk up to Levant French Bakery after class to indulge in some delicious snacks before heading home again…

So here’s to a wonderful new year ahead, to new friends and old friends, laughter, adventures and more confusion in this crazy and colourful city.

Stay safe everyone and see you again soon xoxo

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Spring has Sprung!

Written by welovejakarta on October 3, 2015

Certainly there are only two seasons living here in Jakarta – super duper unbearable to be outside hot season, and super duper hot with half your house underwater due to flood rains season. It seems that something was in the air though after Christmas, and bringing in the New Year of 2015 in January.. because suddenly it’s like spring has sprung in Jakarta and there is an influx of new life amongst the expat community! I mean, there are babies absolutely everywhere you look in Jakarta, it’s like a city made up of kids, the kampungs are full of laughter and life with little people, but the expat community is not THAT big here and it seems every second mum has either just given birth or is due by the end of this year. There is a whole new generation being born here and they are so adorable, and now when I look at Samudra he seems so huge in comparison. I remember when he was a tiny baby, crying all day long, that I sometimes wished he was bigger and would stop crying and that seemed like a whole lifetime away, but in a short two years I realise how quickly that stage goes by in the grand scheme of things and how they really don’t stay little long at all.

It’s so lovely to have this new addition of little babies to our playgroup, most of them will never know the quiet of being an only child, and will have to get used to the noise from the chaos made by toddlers at our gatherings (and outdoors with all the divine local children). It’s such an amazing group.. and I thought I would post some black and white photos from our catch up yesterday – trying to instill a little quiet and order into what was a very happy and noisy morning catch up. I love it.

Super cute baby boys

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A huge welcome to zen baby Arlo

Samudra playing with ZZ

Twinkle twinkle little star

Tummy time for ZZ

Three new bubba’s

Just chilling and taking in the chaotic atmosphere

Fun times at playgroup

Beautiful sweet little Abigail

The best kind of chaos

Hello Arlo

Mumma don’t leave me!

Attempting another group shot..

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Playgroup at our house

Written by welovejakarta on September 30, 2015

I always feel so happy when we are able to join for playgroup as it means that Samudra gets to spend some time with his little buddies, and I get to meet and spend time with lovely mum friends here. Every time I see a Facebook post of a new mum arriving in Jakarta and sounding a little lost, I write to them and ask them to come and join us sometime so they can meet some new friends. I know the feeling of being a new mum in Jakarta and not knowing where to start and what to do, so I like to make people welcome so they know they’re not alone. Once you make one friend, the circles here are so small that it’s easy to meet lots of parents with kids the same age as your own, and it’s always lovely to make new friends, especially as there is always a mass exodus of expats in the middle of every year and it’s like you have to start all over again..

We held the last Monday playgroup at our house which made me doubly happy as it meant I didn’t have to battle the traffic outside the complex, and Samudra got to play with and share his toys with his little buddies. What better way to start a week than blowing bubbles, chatting, watching the kids play with sand and play on the slide and having fun..

If you’re looking for mum’s and babies or toddlers to meet up with, drop us a line and we’ll make sure to invite you to the next catch up.. the more the merrier!

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Beautiful Jasmine and Emma

Emma playing with pebbles

Jamie trying to catch bubbles

Having fun on the slide

Neil playing with sand

Having fun outdoors

Cuddles with ZZ

Group shots are so tricky..

Beautiful baby Maya

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Jamie Turns ONE!

Written by welovejakarta on September 29, 2015

I feel so blessed to have met so many gorgeous mums and kids here in Jakarta and it’s always so fun to get together and see the kids play and celebrate milestone birthdays together. This was the first time I have ever visited Pluit in the six years I have been here and it seemed so lovely and I was happy to visit a new part of this huge city. From the apartment windows we could see the water and boats sailing by, yachts moored outside of mansions and it was a completely new side of Jakarta for me to see and I loved it. How nice to be able to wake up every morning and look out at the ocean as the first thing you see, rather than the sights and sounds of the crazy traffic.

Little Jamie was absolutely adorable as he got his hands stuck into the bright blue icing of his birthday cake – oh to be a kid again! We had such a lovely morning singing Happy Birthday and playing outside in the playground.. there was even a breeze blowing through.. a breeze in Jakarta! I couldn’t believe it.

So Happy 1st Birthday little Jamie and thank you for inviting us to celebrate your special day with you, and a huge congratulations to Jolien and Bas for making it through the first year with big smiles on your faces. Let the adventures continue together to be even more funas soon as he starts walking on his own!