Skip And Have Fun!

It was just another Thursday at The Ica Lawendatus' home. When the parents "advised" their kid to skip school to have fun and off to... LEMBANG! 😆 Why? 1. Because it was a weekday. 2. We assumed that the traffic wouldn't be crazy. 3. There wouldn't be any crowds in recreation sites or basically anywhere. 4. ... That's just how the Mister is, telling our daughter that school is not important 😅 I'm against skipping school btw. I think never in my life have I ever skipped school. Not even when I was in Hauptschule In der Krim, Vienna. I started to skip classes when I was already in Uni 😆 

So as I've mentioned before, obviously it was SiBapa's idea. Usually I said no right away whenever he encourages our daughter to skip school. But when the school announced that sadly this week is School From Home again, I thought "Oh what the hell! Okay why not!" Since the chance of our girl paying attention during online classes is less than 80% anyways... Skipping school is better than having her constantly checking on instagram and twitter behind my back. So... Let's go! 

My first choice was actually Bandung but SiBapa said there's nothing interesting (anymore). Not like in Lembang. There are so many places to visit, things to do like adventurous stuff. SiBapa told me to google it and to ask whether the maids wanted to come along or not. So I spent Wednesday afternoon googling about Lembang. SiBapa was right. There are lots of nice places! First thing first, I told kiddo about the plan. She was thrilled. Mostly about the no school idea 😝 But yeah... She was excited. Just like Dewi. It took less than a minute for her to reply my message with "Dewi mau Bu ikut" And many thanks in advance for Bapak, Ibu and Kukka 😆 Sadly though, as I've predicted, Yuli couldn't come. Not only because of her daughter but also because her mother in-law is currently spending the night at her house 😅 Yuli was very sad about it... But yeah... Even my Precious Godsend said that it was too bad Mba Yuli couldn't come along and that we shouldn't forget to bring her "Olé-olé" 🥰 That's how Kukka pronounce "oleh-oleh" btw 😊 

The trip to Lembang took about almost 5 hours. We left home around 8am. The traffic was okay. SiBapa's choice of road trip songs was nice. I had on-off naps mostly because I prefer to look out the car window. Lots of interesting stuff to see out there... Inevitable drama between SiBapa and our driver was probably the worse part of the trip 😂 But that was totally predictable. The situation went calm(er) when we arrived in Bandung. SiBapa told stories about his life in Bandung to Dewi. We all laughed about the fact that Dewi wasn't even born yet when SiBapa and I were already in highschool 😂 I think things got a bit emotional for SiBapa when he saw how Bandung now looks like... Anyways... The first thing we wanted to do in Bandung was EAT!!! 😂 Thankfully I wasn't the only one who was hungry. I was starving! SiBapa took us to Ampera, his favorite restaurant. He told Dewi to try the spicy sambel which made Dewi became all sweaty 🤪 Meanwhile I ate like a pig and could hardly breath afterwards 😂 After lunch we continued to Lembang and finally arrived in... De' Ranch

I remember I was very excited about the horses 🤩 At first SiBapa said that I shouldn't ride on a horse. Can't really remember why... Maybe he was worried I would fall down or... Oh I don't know 😆 Have a seizure while riding on one? But thankfully he said ok. Dewi didn't want to ride a horse because she was afraid. I can't remember why though... She usually says yes to almost everything. So when she politely declined and would rather take pictures of us I was a bit surprised. I enjoyed the horse ride very much. The last time I was on horse was probably in Puncak when I was still...a kid!?! 😄 

Anyways my horse was big and tall. His name is Al Cantera 😎 During the horse ride the mamang and I had a nice conversation about the horses, De Ranch and the visitors. I almost cried as I listened to the mamang's story. He told me that since the pandemic his income becomes very low. The mamang mentioned a specific number of how much money he brings home on weekdays and weekends, before and after the pandemic. I was speechless. I didn't know what to say... In my mind I was like "What??? We have more than that in our coin jug!" Maybe if the mamang didn't tell the story the way he did, I would burst in tears on the spot. On a horse. On Al Cantera's back! "Yaah sekarang mah pulang bawa segini aja udah alhamdulillah neng heheh..." Yes... He chuckled while I tried very hard not to cry 😢 All I could say to him was "Oh... Gitu ya mang..." again and again. After the ride I thanked the mamang and wished him well. With all my heart... 

The next cute thing in De' Ranch were the bunnies in Taman Kelinci. They are surrounded by wired fence and we can play with them. The bunnies were "SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!"!! And big too! They practically followed us everywhere! Some even stood up on 2 legs 😄 At first My Precious Godsend hesitated. "There's so many poop!" she said with an icky expression 😑 I think I said something like "Sepatunya nanti bisa dicuci! And the poop is not smelly! Come here!" She did. And I think she had fun playing with the bunnies 😊 While I was playing with the bunnies I thought of our furry boy at home 😺 I wondered what if Moochi was here. Would he be like...intimidated by the rabbits? Since they are as big as him 🤭 

After De' Ranch we visited the Floating Market Lembang. I don't know why but I felt like I've been there before... But it was pretty much unlikely. So I thought it was just another annoying déjàvu which I should ignore. My Precious Godsend and Dewi enjoyed the Rainbow Slide very much. You can totally see it on their faces 😄 

Next stop was Taman Rekreasi Air Panas Alam Sari Ater. Lots of people were enjoying the hot water. Some I assumed they were there to have fun while some... I don't know how to say this 😄 But I saw men who were standing and/or sitting topless right under the hot waterfall with... Serious expressions? At the end I assumed they were there to meditate or perhaps for medical reasons. Or maybe they were seriously having fun 🤪 Anyways... While in Sari Ater I was actually already very tired. I mean why wouldn't I be? I woke up at 4:30am, didn't sleep in the car, horseback riding, played with rabbits, bloated stomach, ate like a pig... this and that. So when I had my pictures taken in Sari Ater my expression already looked...weird 😅 Had a couple of minor ones in the car like cold tingling all over my body and a bit of teeth clattering. 

But the trip was worth every drop of sweat in the midst of cool fresh air. Alhamdulillah the 3 of us had another chance to spend time together. Plus Dewi. My Precious Godsend had new experiences. We brought Yuli olé-olé and a pinecone for Moochi to play with 😸 So yeah... It was another fun and blissful day for The Ica Lawendatus.

 Alhamdulillah 🥰