Fabulous Bali!

We've returned from a great, relaxing vacation. Bali is a beautiful place and the Balinese people are lovely. They are so nice, in fact, that it took me the first couple of days to figure out if they were sincere! But the smiles and generosity never stopped all week long. Each waiter, hostess, shopkeeper couldn't get enough of the kids. So glad our kids are friendly and rarely shy. C probably enjoyed their affections the most as he suffered no language barrier. He had Balinese people tickling, hugging, snuggling, and smiling at him nearly every minute of the trip. And he soaked it up! As we waited to board our flight on the way home a group of employees from the airport shops carried him around and entertained him for about 20 minutes.

Our flight left Perth at 9:30pm rather than at 5:15pm as our tickets read so after checking our bags we went home, had dinner, gave the kids baths, and then returned a little closer to departure time. Here they are preparing to fly, in their jammies.

When we landed in Denpasar, Bali, a quick clothing change was needed because their winter pajamas had them covered in sweat!

We had a couple great adventures outside of the resort but spent most of the time relaxing right there at our accomodation. C got into the spirit of vacation and took long, restful naps. We let him sleep and one of us stayed in the room with him each time while the other took D down to the pool. Then, when C woke up, we would rendez-vous poolside for more swimming, lunch, and exotic drinks! I think our kids may be part fish. It's so much fun to watch them in the water.

C loves to be in the water without the swim ring but is far too wiggly for me to keep a hold of him all the time. Sometimes my arms need a break so he happily floats on his own. And don't worry, we kept lots of sunscreen on that bald head of his!

Our most exciting trip outside of our resort was a trip to The Elephant Safari Park in Taro, Bali. I expected to see a large number of elephants. I even thought we may get to ride them. I had no idea the animal interaction we were in for! Crikey! Check these out!

C was asleep in the backpack in this photo with T and the tiger. There was a second tiger cub asleep on the floor. They were beautiful.

Prior to our cuddle with this baby orangutan he snatched our water bottle right out of my backpack and drank the whole thing. Truly a cheeky monkey!

This lion cub was so sweet you could almost ignore his GIANT paws. He was napping the first time we stopped to pose with him, but the 2nd time around, he was bright eyed for photos with D.

The first tiger cub that was so still with T, let out a slightly frightening noise as D approached so we placed her beside the sleeping cub. She gave him a little pat and we were on our way.

The lions' enclosure was right up to the window of a nice restaurant the park. When we were first seated, the lions were all lounging in the shade. But a short time later, this female came to the water to drink and we were able to get some wonderful photos.

Here are all 4 of us at the safari park. I swear I intended to get more photos that included all of us but that is much more difficult than one might think.

After seeing many animals we found that the safari park also included a few carnival rides and a water park. None of us had bathing suits but we couldn't not partake! So in went T and D while I dug out a (lucky) spare change of undies and shorts for D. T visited the gift store before hand and found himself a lovely pair of zookeeper style shorts to swim in and a t-shirt for D to wear home. C and I sat on a deck chair and I just let him stretch his legs after being in the backpack all day.

T and I enjoyed 1 night out, hiring one of the resort's babysitters to stay with the kids. We did a little shopping and had an amazing seafood dinner on the beach. Other nights, the hotel offered "Themed Buffets." We went for Italian night, Mongolian BBQ night, and Aussie BBQ night. It was great to have such tasty and quick options. Everything was delicious!

The resort also had a spa villa that provided an array services. I went for the full 3.5 hour package including massage, body scrub, manicure, pedicure, and aromatic flower bath. It cost about $40. However, Balinese massage is a little different than what I'm used to. More like a mild beating. But I must say it was invigorating! I wasn't at all sleepy afterwards. And it was a first for me having muck rubbed all over me from head to toe, and then, once the muck dried, having yogurt spread on top of that. I felt like I was on some prank show. The Balinese Punk'd! Note: there are no photos posted of this experience.

I should also mention, I had an hour long reflexology treatment by the pool that was fantastic and T enjoyed a hot stone massage at the spa villa.

Our flights to and from Bali were filled with young Australian families. On the way home we sat behind Jesse and his little brother Tristan. Jesse entertained us much of the way with verbal abilities close to those of the D's. But my favorite part was watching him "eat the air" that shot down from the ceiling. I asked him to do it again so I could take his picture.

So that's the scoop on Bali. Only thing I'd change is to have our friends and family there with us! On multiple occasions T and I mentioned various people who would have loved the activities/foods/sights in Bali. Just wanted to let you know we were thinking of you, even as we vacationed! I'll get more photos uploaded to Winkflash if you want to see more photos from the trip. There are plenty more!