4th of July Fireworks

The sky was beautifully lit up during the 4th of July celebration here in NYC!

Even before the show :)

Happy birthday, USA

Join us on Skywatch Friday and enjoy the magnificent sky from all corners of the world!

WW: Freedom Trail at Boston, Massachusetts

Last East Break, we visited Boston, Massachusetts,  and decided to follow the Freedom Trail, 16 historical spots in Boston related to the fight for Independence of the United States.

Freedom trail..

It's one of the subjects at Social Studies that Bo is very fond of.
And indeed it was a fun walk.
Here are a few snaps from our walk.

the Bunker Hill Monument

The coin we bought at the Bunker Hill monument..

the site of the Boston 

The Old State House

Join us on (almost) Wonderful Wednesday and have fun with the links 

WW: Election Night

America has voted, people!

Join us on (almost) Wordless Wednesday and have fun bloghopping!

1.

You're first!

Exploring San Fransisco, California

"I left my heart in San Fransisco..."
High on a hill, it calls to me
To be where little cable cars climbe halfway to the stars
The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care..."

Saya asyik bersenandung lagu hits jaman jadul yang dipopulerkan Tony Bennet ini, sementara Rudi tengah berkonsentrasi mengendarai kendaraan sewa kami menyusuri .

Yuuup...saat itu kami sekeluarga sedang menikmati San Fransisco.
Sebenarnya perjalanan ini kami lakukan saat Spring Break bulan Mei lalu, and guess what,  I haven't shared our stories here :).

This wonderful city by the bay has been widely famous for its impeccable beauty.
Bo et Obi as well as my hubby and I really enjoyed our 3-day stay in this beautiful city. If you read the previous stories of our little spring break adventures, we have been flying to Las Vegas and driving up to San Fransisco, after spending some days in Page, Grand Canyon, Death Valley and later San Fransisco.

Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman Wharf, Pier 39, AT&T Park are only a few famous landmarks San Fransisco has. 

Saat kami tiba dari Death Valley, kemacetan  San Fransisco menyambut kami berempat. Karena lapar, kami sepakat untuk early lunch di Sausalito, salah satu kawasan elegan by the bay yang cantik, tapi tidak terlalu dipenuhi dengan turis.

At Salito's, kami menikmati aneka seafood dan roti khas SF yang enaaak banget untukku 😘.
Setelah perjalanan panjang kurang lebih 5 jam dari Death Valley menuju San Fransisco, rasanya apa saja memang jadi enak LoL.

Selesai santap siang, kami pun langsung menuju the icon of the city.
Apalagi kalau bukan si Jembatan Merah, Golden Gate Bridge.
Sebenarnya ini sudah kali kedua saya mampir ke kota cantik ini, namun baru pertama dengan komposisi keluarga kecilku. Yuuup...the Frakarsas is here :).

So, we strolled around the Golden Gate and truly enjoyed the scenery. The kids got super excited looking at this magnificent structure. Meskipun angin kencang, tapi pemandangan dari atas jembatan memang cantik sekali. Menyusuri jalan setapak di Marin Headlands scenic overlook, saya dan keluarga menikmati Golden Gate dari sisi lain. Sesi foto tiada henti judulnya :).

Selesai menikmati Golden Gate, waktunya beralih menyusuri downtown San Fransisco yang terkenal dengan cable car-nya. Tau kan cable car? semacam kereta dengan gerbong pendek di atas rel yang biasanya melintasi bagian kota tertentu .

Dan pengalaman naik cable car juga seru banget lho :). Sepintas memang ngeri-ngeri sedap karena tempat duduknya yang terbatas dan mostly harus bergelantungan sementara cable car-nya asyik menuruni city center San Fransisco yang berbukit-bukit. Asyik deeeh pokoknya :). Bo et Obi got so excited with the ride as well.

Done with the cable car, Udi took us to the most crooked street in the world alias jalan paling berkelok di San Fransisco as well as the Fisherman Wharf yang memang selalu rama dengan pengunjung dan turis. Di sini, kami menikmati New England Clam Chowder soup yang asli enak bangeeeet :). Plus beli banyak oleh-oleh tentunya.

Tidak jauh dari sini, kami pun asyik mengeksplorasi Pier 39 yang juga menjadi salah satu tempat favorit para turis. Pier 39 terkenal dengan kumpulan singa laut yang ramai dengan suara khasnya. Seru deh..karena mereka asyik berjemur menikmati matahari San Fransisco yang hangat sambil mengeluarkan suara 'nyanyian' khas singa laut yang lumayan keras. 
Oh yes..they are loud :). Again, Bo et Obi were so excited to see them.

Di kejauhan, kita bisa melihat Alcatraz atau The Rock, salah satu (bekas) penjara terkenal di Amerika dan bahkan dunia. Sayang kami tidak punya cukup waktu untuk mengunjungi temat ini langsung. I guess we need to go back here again :)

Selain itu, sebenarnya kami menghabiskan waktu di Muir Woods yang menjadi salah satu Taman Nasional di AS. Nanti saya share di post berikutnya yaaaa.

Saat memutuskan untuk terbang dari New York ke Las Vegas, dan kembali ke New York via San Fransisco, saya mengingatkan diri sendiri untuk mengambil asuransi perjalanan. Ini penting lho. Karena kita tidak pernah tau apa yang akan terjadi saat kita melakukan perjalanan, apalagi yang lumayan jauh seperti ini. Saya selalu memastikan ada perlindungan yang memadai saat melakukan perjalanan, baik jauh maupun dekat, termasuk untuk keluarga dan anak-anak. Dengan perbandingan asuransi perjalanan, kita pun tau apa saja yang bisa didapat dengan paket yang kita ambil.

Selain penting karena banyak keperluan yang tercover di dalamnya, memiliki asuransi perjalanan juga memberi ketenangan batin buat saya yang sering melakukan perjalanan dinas ke berbagai pelosok dunia dengan perjalanan yang cukup panjang dengan segala resikonya. Pernah suatu ketika, saya harus sidang di Jenewa dan karena pesawat yang saya tumpangi delayed dari Jakarta, maka saya harus lari-lari di Singapura karena mengejar pesawat yang akan membawa saya ke Amsterdam, sebelum melanjutkan perjalanan ke Jenewa, Swiss. Walhasil, koper saya pun tertinggal dengan cantiknya. Saat mendarat di Amsterdam, saya yang sudah diwanti-wanti bahwa koper tidak terbawa dari Singapura, terbantu dengan penggantian uang untuk baju sementara sambil menunggu koper tiba. Lumayaaaan lho :).. Dan ini semua ditanggung asuransi perjalanan.

Penting juga untuk kita melakukan perbandingan asuransi perjalanan supaya mendapat asuransi yang baik dengan cakupan perlindungan yang sesuai dengan keperluan kita. Dengan menggunakan website yang tepat, salah satunya futuready.com. Ada yang sudah pernah cek situs ini? Futuready adalah situ yang khusus dibuat untuk membantu kita mempersiapkan masa depan, terutama perencanaan dan jaminan keuangan dan kesehatan
Dengan segala kemudahannya, pasti banyak manfaat yang kita dapat, termasuk asuransi perjalanan terbaik pun bisa kita miliki.

Alhamdulillah, perjalanan Spring Break kami menyusuri sisi Barat Amerika Serikat kami berjalan lancar. Can't wait to explore more of this beautiful country.
See you on my next story :)

Spring Break 2016: Boat Trip at Lake Powell

"Mama, are we going to do that as well?" Ask Obi while pointing her finger to 2 ladies kayaking on Colorado River that afternoon.

"Oh.. We will, nak. As soon as you and Abang are big enough, we'll have another adventure and try kayaking, okay."

Spring break is way behind us but I still have so many stories and photos to share. I have just shared some parts of our trips in Page, Arizona, including to Horseshoe Bend and Lower Antelope Canyon. Another great activity that you can do here is taking a boat excursion of Antelope Canyon and the Lake Powell.

some of the lovely spots we passed..

And I have to admit, Page has a lot to offer and this time we also took the boat trip at Lake Powell. When we flew from NYC to Las Vegas, we saw Lake Powell from above.

seen from above..

After spending approximately 3 hours at the Lower Antelope Canyon (1.5 hours tour plus registering and waiting for our tour), we headed to Antelope Point Marina for a boat tour in Lake Powell. 

clear blue sky..

Antelope Point Marina is part of the National Parks and as we went there on Sunday, April 24th, we had a free access to the Park as it was part of the 100 years celebration of the National Parks. But we have an annual pass of the Parks by the way. Only with $80, you have a free pass of America the Beautiful, which allows you and your family ( of two kids or maximum 3 extra adults) to national parks and federal recreational lands pass.

We had our lunch as well here, in one of the restaurants at the Marina. Big juicy burger, fried calamari, hot chicken wing and a big bowl of mixed salad was delicious.

lunch timeeee

Then we waited for a while for our 3.45 boat trip. The ticket for this boat excursion is $28 for adults and $18 for kids (age 4-12). Children 3 years old and under are free. They have several departure times, starting at 9, 10.15 and 11.30 in the morning, then 1.15, 2.30, 3.45, and 5 pm.

The trip took around 1.5 hours.

The kids were given the safety vests before we were on board and while cruising, we were free to take pictures and move around on the boat carefully.

Along the way, we listened to the explanation about Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Colorado river and some more facts, while enjoying the beautiful sceneries.

Antelope Canyon seen from the boat..

Lake Powell itself is a huge man-made reservoir of Colorado River, named after Major John Wesley Powell. He was famously known as the leader of Colorado and Green Rivers expedition back in the 1869 onwards. 
And he's a hero.
He was an American civil war veteran and only had 1 arm! 
And look what he managed to discover with three canoes along those great American rivers.

back in early 1900, how did it look? Hmmm

After hours of walking under the sun at the Lower Antelope Canyon, it felt good just to sit down, relax, and enjoy the magnificent rocks and Colorado river.

The river ...

Bo et Obi enjoyed the trip as well. The cool breeze proved to be a great lullaby for Obi, who slept on her seat after cruising along Colorado river for 30 minutes. 

sleepy heads :)

We also saw many people kayaking and canoeing along the way. Too bad we cannot do that with the kids as they are still too young.

the panoramic photo of our boat tour..

It just felt incredible to be out here and wander the magnificent Antelope Canyon, Colorado River and Lake Powell.

Have you ever joined a boat trip?

How do you like it?

Lake Wallenpaupack in spring

We are welcoming spring in Lake Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania.

It was the beginning of the Easter break when we drove for about 2.5 hours from NYC to this lovely place near Pocono Mountain.

And as always, the incredible sky lures me and how I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to enjoy this breathtaking scenery.

Enjoy.....

You can also watch out this video made by my munchkin using his Phantom 3 Pro. 

http://youtu.be/SdWmNne75jI

Hope you all have a great Easter break and join us in Skywatch Friday if you love to see different skies in many corners of the world.

Fun at South Beach, Miami, Florida

I have to admit that I have soooo many to tell you from our last #roadtrip to the Southern part of the US. When I say alot, it means so many of them.

Well, we stopped at 9 cities and crossed 8 states here in the country. 

And I only have two hands to type, haha...

So, bear with me if I seem to be telling the story on et off, pieces by pieces, as I am trying (hard) to sneak around my crazily-tight schedule at the office (and the High Level Segment of the UN General Assembly is surely approaching.. noooo ).

So, I usually started with the photos.

Haha...tons of photos we took around the trip.

Don't ask my how many photos we took for those 10 days on the road but for sure we have used 4 memory cards (some 16 GB, some are 8 and 4) and transfered them 4 times before using them again.

I just don't know..

It's always be the same story for us wherever we go :).

Take tons of photos and let's see what happens. Either you keep them in the computer, publish them, put them in the blogs, or just simply keep them as they are in the memory cards :). Anybody wants to help me sort them out?

Well, anyway....long story short, here are the photos I have chosen today..

Jumping session at South Beach, Miami, Florida ;).

We arrived at Miami the day before we hit South Beach.

That morning, we started with our brunch in La Baguette, one of the restaurants along that famous promenade.

yummy choices..

It was quite a big brunch we had ;)

kids meal with chicken fingers..

But we just couldn't resist the temptation of dipping our bare foot to the powdery sand.

So we went to the beach first before enjoying our sunny side-up and toast.

And how fun it was...

jump high Bo :)

Obi was flying as well :)

We were jumping around, taking some photos here and there..and simply enjoying the beach to the max.

Well, not really to the max...

And I guess you know why :)

We didn't swim here as we needed to continue our journey to Key Largo where I have booked a 2.5-hour snorkeling session looking down the famous underwater scene at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Garden. We just couldn't wait but while we were in Miami Beach, why didn't we make the most of it ;).

But our hearts were content..

Walking along this America's Riviera truly gives us the warm feeling of getting closer to home :).

We took some selfies as well here by the beach

cheeers...

While Bo et Obi just couldn't resist and play in the water ;)

the water was sooo tempting..

And after enjoying the warm salty breeze at the beach, we took some time stroling around the famous promenade, South Beach.

Stopped and enjoyed Lummus Park...

Lummus Park

As well as the lovely and famous art deco buildings along the street :)

Look at the sky :)

Well.. Thank you, Miami..

It was surely fun to visit this city  and enjoy South Beach, Miami, Florida ;)

Have you ever been to one place that reminds you of hometown?