Into the Wild!

We live in the middle (perhaps a more loose term than accurate) of a rainforest jungle so, of course, life would not be well-balanced without the every-once-in-a-while trip to some natural surrounding. This time around it was the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (better known around these parts as FRIM), a close relative to a protected natural area (since it's being studied). From the perspective of a five to eight year old it's doesn't quite matter what it's called, or what the specific function is, as long as there are some trees around and a water spot, both of which are available here. 

We headed over with our friends Karl and Payal and their daughter Tara, Irini's best friend. Normally the girls would be hanging out, sharing homes and living rooms and going to gymnastics together. This time they shared nature instread. It took Tara a bit longer than our girls to decide to get her feet wet but once she got the hang of it all the girls had a blast and a halft. Amalia, the more adventurous of the three, made her way climbing over boulders and under bridges, snooping around and all over the place. In the process, of course, she discovered all sorts of things, from small fish inside a crevice, to water sliders to spiders' webs and, finally, to the find of the day: Three frogs (or were they toads?). She sat just a foot or so away from them and they seemed to recognize that she was just hanging out and so they sat there too. Then, walking down the pathway Irini and Tara ran back with delightful news:  They had seen a monkey!  It turned out it was a pretty big male and it moved away when it realized that there was a crowd taking interest. What a wonderful adventure!

We then spent a bit of time at a different part of FRIM, working on some monkey bars and gymnastics bars set up under some trees for children like ours. No one was there so why not spend some time working on flips and this and that. B

By the time we left the girls were tired, the water was finished, our bodies were caked in sweat and we were aching for a cool environment and some food. The cool environment took a while to develop, as the car moved along. The food was provided in the form of a small Indian open-front restaurant that we like to visit.... chapati, dahl, aloo gobi... it must have taken about two minutes to scarf it all down before heading home.  All in all, a great morning!