... And The Earth Moved!

I finally felt my FIRST earthquake!!! It happened around 2:10 a.m., a 6.6 magnitude earthquake. It actually woke me up! That is not an easy thing to do! :) What woke me up was the sound of the windows rattling, and then I was feeling myself shaking. I didn't really know what was going on at first. Then it stopped..... for about 30 seconds!

Then another one hit. This time a 7.2! This time it occurred to me that the shaking and the rattling was from an earthquake!

Now before you all get worried, The center of the earthquake happened about 600 km (372 miles) from here. Look at the map below... The star is the center of the earthquake, and because I am getting so handy with a computer, I drew approximately where we live on the map.

About 20-30 minutes after I thought I was feeling another one. But when I woke up this morning Chris checked to see if there was a third one, and nothing was reported. That was weird! I guess I was dreaming......

I just wanted you to know, everything is fine here. You know, it's funny, most of the time when an earthquake hits in this part of the world, like 1,000's of miles away, I get many emails asking if everything is ok...... Well this earthquake, close to home, was even reported on FOX news, and guess what, no emails!!! :( Maybe my next post should be a geography lesson on where we live..... ;) Ha Ha, just kidding! I know you all love us!

Hope you have a wonderful "Earth Shaking" day!

Robin

Redpath Stampede

Every now and then, vendors to the mine will put on a shindig for the people who work at mine. There has not been one of these parties since we moved here, so the "Redpath Stampede" was our first to attend.

It was a western themed party.... I guess you could have probably figured that out by the title of this blog post :)...... so everyone dug around for their best western garb. It is really quite interesting what people can come up with for outfits in such a short amount of time here in the jungle. I definitely do NOT have western clothes hanging in my closet for a rainy day.... But it seemed like a lot of people did. Or else, they have been living in the jungle long enough, and have outfits of all kinds in their closets!

Here are some pictures of me with friends... My shirt, which looks pretty western, was found at our local "Wal-Mart", believe it or not!!!

Part of the entertainment for the night was a mechanical bull!! I kid you not!!! Now we sometimes have problems getting veggies and fresh milk, umbrellas (cuz it never rains here...), and important things up the hill....... But you need a mechanical bull, you get a mechanical bull!! So here is a guy enjoying the bull...

Cactus Jack... (I have no idea who this guy is, but Chris was talking to him, and he was having issues with a cactus.)

And finally, I got to meet the most famous person in all of Tembagapura!!!! Our very own Super Star!!! MICHAEL JACKSON!!!!

Those skin treatments really did work! HaHaHaHa! :)

It was another fun night in the Jungle! Who said we would have nothing to do over here?

Hee Haw Cowboy!

Robin

Happy 7th Birthday Gabrielle!

On to our next birthday....

This time up, Gabrielle! She originally wanted a "Fancy Nancy" themed party. But when she found out she had to wait a whole week for a party at the Lupe, and she couldn't have a cake from MOM, she chose to do a party, after school, at the school's playground. So 25 kids later, we had a party!!

Here is Gabby with her cake.... Her only request was she wanted "hearts". I think that was fulfilled!

Time for presents....

Blow out the candles... I guess there was only one.... :)

So after the party, we took Gabby and some of her friends out for dinner at the Lupe. We got all dressed up..... "Fancy Nancy" style!

Gabby with her friends.

If you celebrated a birthday at the Lupe, the waiters come out and sing "Happy Birthday" in English and Bahasa Indonesia.

A surprised little girl and her cake!!

Gabrielle had a great day, and a very Happy Birthday!!! She was a very happy girl!

Two down, Two to go....

Robin

Mersades 80's Party!

Well, it's birthday season time at the Zimmer's! We kick it off every year with Mersades birthday, which is September 14th.

With quite a few of Mersades friends going off to boarding school in January, this was the last year she could throw a big party with all her friends here. So what's a person to do in this jungle that we live in? We called the Lupa Lelah for help! (That's our local wining and dining restaurant.)

Mersades wanted an 80's themed party, so here's what she got.......

The birthday girl! Sweet hair!

Now when you have a party at the Lupe, they will do any decorations you want them to do. All you need to do is provide them with pictures. Here is what their very talented artist came up with. Just an FYI - The artist hand painted and/or carved the decorations out of styrofoam and then painted the other pictures on wood panels.

I love the boom box! It looks so real!

Here's a couple of more signs. The one that says "Happy Birthday Mersades" is one we took home with us.

My little 80's kids! Yes, that's the boys real hair..... and the girls too. ;) We had crazy hair day at school the next day. So killed two birds with one stone!

The whole family! Yes, that's mine and Chris' real hair also!!! Ha Ha :)

A close-up of the boys hair and the boom box.

Mersades with the decorations.

Mersades and the artist who created all the decorations.

Debbie Gibson showed up and partied with me!!!

Some of the girls who showed up.... I didn't get a picture with all of them, but the girls did a great job dressing for the occasion!

Mersades with the best dressed boys! Of course other than MY boys!

We even had our very own "Activities Director"! Pegged pants and all!

I gave the Lupe some pictures for ideas for the cake. Here's what they came up with... Of course, not as good as mom's....... But cute! And with the language barrier, pretty darn close to what I asked for!

The gang watching Mersades open her gifts.

Mersades with her cake...... Picture kind of got out of order.....

Now my little rebel....... Heaven help me!!!!!

It was a very fun night for Mersades and the kids, and even the adults that showed up! Next year...... A SLEEP OVER!!!

Kicking off another birthday season in high "STYLE",

Robin

Happy 12th Birthday Mersades!

Well, here it is..... The moment you all have been waiting for...... Mersades cake!!! Now don't get all excited.... I think it is my best work EVER!!!!

Happy Birthday My Mersades!!

We even hired a professional photographer to take pictures of this work of art! (aka Gabrielle!)

How she captured this work of art is amazing! I think I am now ready to take on "The Cake Boss"! :)

The Birthday Girl, and her photographer...

You all may be thinking, "What is going on?" Well we had a huge party for Mersades on Sunday, and this was just cake and presents on her actual birthday. The pictures from her party will be up next. But for now, time to get ready for school!

Birthday wishes to Mersades,

Robin

Summer Follow-Up

FINALLY!! I have been trying to upload these pictures for the last two days, and my internet connection would always cut-out before the pictures were loaded!

These are pictures of most of what we did this summer. I am sure I am leaving things out. I know I never got pictures of the kids with their grandparents.... How did I miss that one? I guess we will just have to wait until next year.

A summer full of fun!

Enjoy,

Robin