Journey to the Joy

Lately, I felt like God was smiling down at us. There were so many blessing and good fortune that we received. For example, our winning the cake decorating competition. Not to mention the gift that we received from my parents. And yesterday, for the third time in a month, the big family of Salemba (read: keluarga besar Salemba, red :)) invited us for a feast in a nature restaurant. Wow!!!

Because the restaurant was located near Cikampek, which means that we would pass the Wasterboom at Cikarang on the way there, we decided to go earlier and stopped at Waterboom to swim as Mama had dreamt of going there for weeks. And now was the time! Yippeee...

We started the journey at 7.45 that morning and arrived at Waterboom at 9 o'clock. It turned out that the Waterboom was not as big as I thought it was. But still, it was quite nice. There were several pools and many trees surrounding them, so the heat of the sun couldn't seep through. There was a miniature of pirate ship on the kiddie pool which the children enjoyed so much. Moreover, the slides on the kiddie pools were made of some soft fabric so it was very nice and safe.

Kakak and Izza were ecstatic. Although, being woke up the last and only had time for a bath, Izza should eat her breakfast there before swimming, she didn't fuss about it though her brother immediately jumped into the pool. After she finished eating, we begin our swim and play. And what a great time it was!

At first Izza was afraid to slide. But after watching her brother and trying a bit of it herself, she gained confidence and it wasn't long before she dominated the slide. Kakak at first was afraid to try the spiral slide, but finally he agreed to try it and, as we have predicted, became addicted to it. He slided again, and again, and again, until we decided to try another pool.

At the deeper pool, there was the biggest spiral slide, just like the one in Ancol. We decided to slide in pairs, Mama with kakak and Bapak with Izza. But then Bapak said that the slide was too high and dangerous for Adek, so they climbed down the stairs again. So it was only Mama and Reyhan. It's been quite a while since the last time I slide in this kind of slide, and it was great. We slided and screamed and laughed. But after that, when I asked Reyhan to do it once again, he refused. Apparently, once was enough for him. As for Bapak, he refused to even try it, saying that he couldn't stomach it. My Hero :P.

At 11.30, we decided that it was time to continue the journey to the restaurant, since Inyik has called and said that they're almost there (and also due to the fact that Adek's lips were blue already because of cold). So we showered, dressed and moved on. We arrived at the restaurant at 1 o'clock and immediately start eating. Good food, good scenary, good company and starved from swimming, all combined to a very satisfying and enjoyable feast.

After eating, the children were taken to try the water becak by one of my aunt, their 'grandma' (nenek muda. Hehehe...). It was supposed to be a 15-minute ride only, but it turned out to be almost 1 hour! They refused to stop riding the becak in spite of the heat of the lake. After a lot of persuasion, they finally agreed to land (and maybe because of they feel thirsty also, I think). Poor Bi Aan, must paddle the becak herself the whole time!

And then, finally it's time to go home. It was almost 5 o'clock when we left the restaurant and the children almost immediately went to sleep. I tried very hard to stay awake too, but then I just couldn't do it and dozed off for a while too. Poor bapak, who should drive the car by himself although he must have felt very exhausted too. I love you, Mas :D. At 6.45, we arrived at hone and ended our wonderful long weekend.