Preston and I just returned from our trip to Jakarta and Bali, and we really had a great time. We had the chance to do some very cool things, such as going to the Taman Safari in Jakarta, a safari where you drive your car through the animal exhibits, and even feed carrots and bananas to the animals. (The zebras and other creatures will stick their heads into your car window for a treat!) That was a lot of fun, and one of the highlights of the trip.

In Bali, we went to some different temples, and even the king’s palace, where we walked around the grounds. One of the more interesting parts of our trip was going to the monkey forest. Just outside the forest, they sell bananas you can feed to the monkeys. One thing I failed to notice was that only the tourists were buying the bananas…for good reason. I was standing holding a big bunch of bananas, and the monkeys were all around me, begging for some. I was holding the bunch, taking my time, when a cute little monkey started tugging on my shorts, begging for one. I gave him one, and wham! The next thing I knew, I had another monkey sitting on my head, grabbing for the bananas I was holding. I yelled to Preston, “Preston, get a picture!” He thought that was so funny…so he did. I bent down to get the monkey off my head, and just as I stood up again, two more monkeys jumped onto me - one on my head, and one on my shoulders. I decided that having a large bunch of bananas in a monkey forest wasn’t a great idea, so I threw down the bunch, and bent over for them to get off me. I had enough of the pesky (albeit cute) little guys.

Lesson learned: don’t take bananas into a monkey forest.

The whole trip was wonderful, and I was so grateful to have my father-in-law be such a great tour guide. He knows Indonesia really well, so he took us to some of the most interesting and fun places. Despite the 30+ hours of travel time it took to get there, it was totally worth it. Indonesia is a fascinating and beautiful place, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to visit again next year after our little baby boy is born.