John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo, Florida

It was a fine afternoon after our snorkeling session at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park at Key Largo, Florida.

Missing home and its beautiful underwater scene terribly, we decided to drive down to Florida Keys from Miami (and of course from NYC ;)) just to have a nice snorkeling session here.

And we made it :)..

heading back..

We took the snorkeling tour at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Garden.

It was only me and Bo, as Udi was so tired and decided to stay at our hotel in Holiday Inn Key Largo with Obi.

cheers from me et Bo :)

The session took about 2.5 hours and we paid USD 29.95 for adults and USD 24.95 for under 18.

We brought our own equipment so we didn't have to rent anything. But those who don't have them can definitely rent the equipments such as mask, fins, snorkel, and suit.

siap nyemplung :)

It took around 30 minutes to reach the snorkeling spot and we took the speed boat with other group as well.

And the view on the way there was beautiful :)

On our way to the snorkeling spot

Our group..

Clear turquoise water welcomed us as we got to the spot. 

I was feeling so excited to be on the sea again, although this one is surely different from home ;).

ready to plunge ourselves :)

It was beautiful indeed..

And there are so many purple corals ;)

My fave..

And Bo enjoyed it very much as well.

We talked a lot about Lampung and how we missed our hometown.

What have you seen today? almost everything here...

Underwater photos are coming..

For sure, it was a lovely day at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park ;)

the sunset...on our way back...

Join us on Skywatch Friday and enjoy  the beauty of God's masterpiece from every corner of the world.

WW: Palisades Interstate Park, New Jersey

Riding along the Hudson River

At the Palisades Interstate Park, Ross Dock, New Jersey

Let's rideeee :)

by the Hudson River

Love this place...sooo nice and perfect for family picnic :)

Happy me :)
Photo was taken by my senior, Uda Masni Eriza

The rocks

Come and join me on (almost) Wordless Wednesday :)

Bo @ Charleston...

Bo @Charleston ...

My baby is a big boy now...

Bo was wearing Gap t-shirt, Oakley pants, Rayban glasses and fedora hat from street fair at Grand Central NYC :).

I have tons of photos and stories to share from our #RoadTripUSA #summer #2015

Bear with me and I'll post more :)

Having fun at Legoland, Florida #1 (Photo Gallery)

"Everything is awesomeeee..."

"Everything is cool when you're part of the team ..

"Everything is awesomeeee...."

#singingmode ;).

Familiar with that song? 

I guess most of us are ;). Especially if you, or your kids or other members of the family loves Lego.

My son, Bo, is a big fan. No wonder he has been wanting to come to Legoland for quite some times. And we are visiting one in Florida.

So here we are now at Florida, the capital of sunshine ;).

And we concur with it, as the sun warmly welcomes us in this city.

As originally planned, we will spend some time here at Florida hopping on et off some theme parks.

First destination is Legoland Florida.

welcome to Legoland Florida

Needless to say, you will have all sorts of great attractions inspired by characters of Lego.
For sure, it's the biggest Legoland in the world. 
Some of the attractions include Lego the Movie, Duplo Valley, the Heart, World of Chima, Lego Kingdom, Lego City and Lego Technic. 
Not to forget those roller coasters and other attractions for all ages :). 
And of course, the Miniland... where you can see the miniatures of soooo many beautiful cities, including Florida, Washington D.C, and New York City :).

I will get back with more details about our visit for sure but let's check out some photos I snapped during our visit to this theme park. 

Enjoooy ;)

With Emmet and Wyldstyle :)

feels like karaoking and swimming at the same time :)

                                

in front of Times Square and Empire State Building :)

that pizza looks super delicious...

                                       

ready to race :)

                                    

A Stroll at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

cheers from Myrtle Beach :)

And here we areee ;).

Arriving safely (but tired) at the first stop of our #roadtrip in #summer2015.

Originally we wanted to stop at Baltimore, but it was still in the middle of the night so we continued driving to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

As I posted in my previous post, we started our trip Firday night from Astoria at 11 PM. Well, we went to the office first to get Obi's seat booster in our car which is temporarily parked in the office's garage. Once we got it set, we were ready to rumble. 

And the first stop is Myrtle Beach.

Beautifully located by the Atlantic Ocean, Myrtle Beach is a lovely beach in South Carolina with white and powdery sand, lines of resturants, great hotels and many other attractions.

Obi and I at the beach :)

It should only took us around 10 hours drive from NYC, but as we stopped at least twice for food and rest, we arrived at the beach at noon.

the rest area ...so greeny :)

mukanya capeeek ya...tired face but super happy :)

The first thing I do was take my sandals off, get in the water and feel the ocean ;). It felt good indeed.

Then as we were heading to Charleston, we decided to have a nice stroll here before we had lunch.

The beach was not so packed with people, so we could enjoy the beach and took pictures here and there ;).

let's enjoy the beach :)

abaikan kuku yang jeleeek hehehehe

The when hunger stroked, we determinantly headed to Hard Rock Cafe here at Celebrity Circle.

As I have previously posted, I'm a collector of Hard Rock Cafe memorabilia as well as a big fan of their cafetaria. So, lunch was super delicious, as I have caesar salad with grilled salmon. Yuuuum...

Hungry faces :)

Ceasar Salad at Hard Rock Cafe Myrtle Beach

Near the Cafe, there are several attractions as well, including Ripley's aquarium and science center. It looks great although we didn't stop at that time.

Next stop is Charleston :).

We just can't wait to see what this beautiful city offers.

Southern charm... That is.

We had 2 more hours drive from Myrtle Beach and we just, again, couldn't wait.

See you in Charleston :).

Pennsylvania State Capitol Building at Night

Pennsylvania State Capitol Building at night is indeed beautiful...

Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania.
Have you been to this city? 
Where the US Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were drafted?

Pennsylvania State Capitol Building

Well, after some times (more than a month, I guess >_<), I manage to write and post something about our trip tp Pennsylvania. Works have been crazy lately, even when we are supposed to have our summer break :).

So, a couple days off and two kids, we decided to go to the theme park.
One of the big ones near NYC is Hershey Park.
And as I have shared before here in this blog, I was taking a trip to Managua, Nicaragua for an official visit. And Bo et Obi were enjoying their break.
So, without further a do, that morning, I searched and booked for the hotel, got everything ready, and packed for a two-day adventure in Pennsylvania :).
It might sound crazy but we managed to have quite an adventure.

Destinations: Harrisburg and Hershey's Park.
How exciting :).
Even I couldn't stop smiling on our way there :).

As we headed to Pennsylvania rather late from NYC, we arrived in Harrisburg in the afternoon. 

It took around 4-hour drive from NYC. Getting out of Manhattan was an extra hour :).
But we just enjoyed the trip and made stops whenever we needed.

So, long story short, we arrived in Harrisburg at around 1 PM but the kids wanted to swim first. So, off we went enjoying cool water at the hotel and decided to see the city for dinner.

Just before dinner, we stopped at the State Capitol Building...

It was full moon and simply beautiful...

We missed all those details from this amazing beaux-arts state of the art and my hubby and I decided to return to this beautiful city again soon, to have a proper visit and historic tour. 
So many things to see and to d in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, but our visit was to take the kids to the Hershey's Park :). 

Do you wanna hear more story about this great theme park?
I'll be back :)

But meanwhile, let's enjoy Pennsylvania State Capitol Building at night :).

Do you like visiting historical city as well?

Randal Island in a glimpse...

A quick stop at Randall Island, Manhattan on one lovely afternoon...

Just before the weather got colder and windier again here. 
And it's almost the end of March :)

Join us on Skywatch Friday and enjoy the beautiful sky from every corner of the world:)

Stalking Bon Jovi in New Jersey :)

I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses...
For the night I sleep on a bed of nails...

Remember this song?
Yuuup, Bed of roses...beautifully sung by Bon Jovi..

Well, to get straight to the point, I am such a big fan....

I have most of their albums (in cassettes and CDs, back to the 90 ;) ) and I do remember those lyrics. I keep singing their songs whenever I have the chance in the band or wild karaoke night..

I remember when I was in high school, I gotta chance to actually see their live performance!  Oh my gosh. ..Bon Jovi performing live! Quite a dream come true :).

I was luckily saving enough money to buy the ticket, come to Jakarta, and watch their concert in Ancol. 
Jon Bon Jovi, Tico Torres, Richie Sambora, Alex John Such and David Bryan...welcome to Indonesia :)

the complete formation :)

I remembered singing along with the band for more than 2 hours and there was a guy, big, bouncer body and tattoos and hard look on his face. And guess what...by the time Jon was serenading us with Bed of Roses, he was crying like a baby! I was so taken a back and didn't know what to react...laughing out loud or crying together with him :).

What a great memory!  

So, while we're here in the US, I really hope we can see Bon Jovi performing live again. Meanwhile, he's also living in SoHo apartment here in NYC and his lovely hometown, New Jersey, is just an-hour drive from Astoria :). 

After searching in TripAdvisor, where I'm one of their senior contributors :), about all Bon Jovi-related places in New Jersey, I got this long list of places associated to this band. All set then...

it was such a ling list indeed. But our heart was set, so on one lovely weekend, we went to New Jersey and started our mini adventure ;0).

We started with the childhood house of Jon. Got its complete address,  put it on waze and voila,  we were right in front of it :) 

A lovely 2-story house in lovely neighborhood of Seryeville, New Jersey.

nice house indeed :)

Then, while Rudi, Bo et Obi were waiting in the car, I took the liberty to take selfie in front of it :). You know what they say...no photo is a hoax :). 

cheeeers...

We managed to browse around the neighborhood but the kids said they were hungry. So we were quite determined for the next destination.

 

Next on our list was Roadside Diner, where the band had the photo session for their album Crossroad. Located in Route 33/34 West in Wall Township.

It was surprisingly small and very intimate...love it! 

We were greeted by a friendly lady and we have many other customers as well at that time. 

the cover and the original diner :)

The interior of the diner was dominated by red, it matched my rocker hubby's jacket that day. So, I asked him to pose for us and he did :). 

While waiting to order, I took the liberty to look around and saw some memorabilia from Bon Jovi in this diner :). Including this precious old photo with the complete signature of the band. 

So, the kids wanted to have burgers, cheese fries and hot choco milk. 

Bo and Obi devoured those plates with no complaints.














I get all those fresh cut fries and big plate of fresh veggies plus pickles. A typical American plate that you will definitely love. 

We enjoyed the cheese fries  as well, with pepper jack, my fave :). 

french fries with cheese...

While enjoying our warm food, the weather outside was brightly freezing. 
So we really took our time inside this cozy diner and peeked the list again. 
And we took more pictures as well here and there, as always :).

Obi, Jon (on the wall) and I :)

in front of the diner :)

Of course we still have a lot on the list, but we decided to head to Asbury Park and see the Stone Pony, one of the clubs where the band was performing on their early career.

It was another 20 minutes drive from the diner but Asbury Park, by the North Atlantic Ocean, is beautiful. It was just the freezing wind that stop me from exploring the area. And the sleepy kids :)

If only the weather were warm...

So, we only managed to stay around for a while and took picture of the Stone Pony from outside. 




Well, we had to cut the tour short but we were quite content with our trip today. We might want to come back pretty soon and try the Soul Kitchen, Jon's restaurant that provides food for free. And I will definitely keep an eye for their next concert here in NYC :)...

DO you like Bon Jovi as well? Will you sing a long with me...

Shot through the heart, and your to blame, baby...
You give love a bad name ...