We were to be in town for just over two weeks, as an opportunity to relax, eat and enjoy some time with Oma and the rest of the family.
And soon after arriving, we got straight into all of the above!
We spent Christmas Day at the mall... after a buffet lunch of course.
And celebrated that Claire's officially taller than mum (particularly if they swap shoes!)
Whilst in town we managed to squeeze in five visits to the cinemas... The kids' favourite - Jumanji. Parents' choice - Wonder. The Greatest Showman was a close second for both awards.
We discovered Sumo Boo... Huge mound of fairyfloss on softserve icecream with nutella dumplings. Enough said!
We imagined what life would be like had we had two pairs of twins... Terrifying!
Much nicer!
One day we visited a new 3D Image museum in the old-town...and spent some time wondering around.
The 3D place was quite cool, with some interesting photo ides.
For New Years' we had a traditional Indonesian feast of Tumpeng... eaten the traditional way from banana leaves with your hands.
While in Semarang, we also tried out the indoor Speedway... Where Claire had her first (second and third) try at racing!
To break up the trip, we took a day out to visit Solo and Salatiga... Primarily for eating, but also to visit the Regancy, traditional batik stores, and more eating.
After leaving Semarang and heading back to Sydney, we were soon joined by most of the family, here to spend a couple of weeks in Sydney assisting with Shelda's move to Uni. For Australia Day we had an asian-Australian picnic in the garden. Whilst they were here, we did manage a proper Australia BBQ once!
The next highlight for the month was a chance for the girls to burn some energy, make some noise and destroy something. Atena & Warwick are about to demolish their house, so the girls helped them start the process.
Claire left a nice note on the wall... She may have exaggerated a little on the passion around this hole!
And then lastly, but definitely not least, after returning to Sydney, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that Ie Mer was getting engaged to Freddy (who we'd met while in Semarang). So mum headed off to the airport for a short trip to Indonesia to celebrate with Ie Mer.
And before we go...since the girls are so insistent on getting their own rooms now... here's a photo of them beautifully sharing a bed together...
