Bali for Christmas Break 2015

Headed out very early....our flight left at 6:30am

Just hanging out at the airport

We made it to the Westin! Fresh juice and cucumber water waiting for us!

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This was the kids waiting area in the lobby

They upgraded our rooms to a huge suite. There was an entryway and living room in-between our rooms

These little pods were everywhere-even on the beach!

Tommy holding down the fort

The boys spent everyday in the ocean

Cooper liked to dig in the sand

All of the boys searching for shells

Ashton and Weston were great swimmers and snorkelers

Cooper and Nixon waiting to leave Water Bom

Me and the twins getting chased by waves

Ashton, Weston and Nixon hanging out at Water Bom

Weston and Nixon swimming in the shallow part of the bay

Weston, Nixon and Ashton drying off (Cooper was sick in the room)

Ashton and Weston dug a pretty cool canal

One of the restaurants at the resort had a kids area. There were "nannies" (that is anyone helping you according to Nixon and Cooper) there to help get drinks and dish up plates. Tommy and I had a table just a few feet away.

Taking the bus/taxi to shop

Cooper and Nixon sound asleep on my lap in the taxi

Even thought the boys had their own room, everyone always ended up with us for movie time

A mom and her boys

The hotel grounds

We ate lunch on the beach almost every day

Weston riding the waves

Can't get much better than that!

Glass bottom boat ride

We saw a lot of fish

Nixon and Cooper are literally asleep sitting up. The sun, the rocking of the boat and the sound of the ocean put them right to sleep!

Daddy and Cooper

Nice view boys!

Water Bom Bali

 We traveled to Bali for Christmas vacation this year. We left the morning after school let out and got back just in time to celebrate Christmas Eve at home.

We chose The Westin Resort and we were very spoiled. Our rooms were upgraded when we arrived and we were very happy with that! Not to mention the service and amenities. 

We all got used to ordering lunch to the beach and of course unlimited drinks! One of the selling points of the Westin was that kids eat for only $15 per day. On arrival, if you have chosen this package, the kids receive a wrist band and they get meals and drinks (all you can eat) for that small price. The boys often ordered 2-3 orders of chicken nuggets each per meal, so we definitely used those wrist bands!

Most of our time was spent at the beach except for the one day we ventured out to Water Bom the water park. It was super clean and had a lot of fun rides and splash areas. We made it all day and then as we were packing up, Cooper decided to throw up. He was down for the count so we loaded up on plastic bags for the 45 minute taxi ride back to the hotel and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, he threw up 2 more times in the taxi. He was sick through the night and the next day just wanted to sleep. Nixon ended up getting a bit of a fever the last day we were there, and then threw up at the airport while we waited to board and again on the flight home. Oh the joys of kids! 

We made it back to Jakarta and we were happy to see Subagio our driver waiting for us. But he had bad news. The traffic was horrendous and it took us over 3 hours to get home (1 hour of that was spent trying to get out of the airport parking lot). 

We were happy when we finally got home and into our own beds! Bali was really pretty and it was nice to take a break on the beach. We are happy that we get to give our kids such unique experiences!

Yogyakarta and Borobudur

bbq restaurant Tommy found for lunch---little did we know there would be a flash flood and we would get stuck for a while.

The water was flowing rapidly down the street-and coming up from the ground at the restaurant.

We opted to take a train to the temple and save our energy for walking around

  

 

  

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Strangers stopping the boys for pictures

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency

Fresh fruit drinks and flower necklaces while they got us all checked in

One of the pools

Breakfast buffets are the best

Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday when we returned 

We pulled the boys out of school for a Thanksgiving vacation (since they go to international school, they don't get those days off). 

We headed to the airport early Thursday morning and hopped on a plane for Yogyakarta. When we arrived, we had the taxi take us to a bbq restaurant that Tommy had found. With our suitcases and carry on bags in tow, we went inside and ordered our lunch. About 30 minutes later, a huge rainstorm hit and water started coming up from the ground and into the restaurant. Then, through the roof. The street out in front was flooded so we had no choice but to wait it out hoping the roof wouldn't collapse on us!

The owner of the restaurant was very kind and helped call us a taxi to get us to our hotel. He then helped us get our luggage outside and into the car.

When we finally arrived at our hotel, we hurried and checked in and then headed to the pool to swim. 

We hired a driver to take us to Borobudur Temple on Friday and it was so fun! It was terribly hot, but the temple was beautiful and the boys liked all of the stone and art. We spent most of the morning there and then headed back to the hotel for lunch and more swimming. 

Saturday our flight didn't leave until 4:30, so we swam and relaxed until the car took us to the airport.

It was a fun and quick getaway and we are happy that we got to take the boys on this adventure. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Sunday and enjoyed a traditional dinner together! 

Now we are counting down the days to our Christmas vacation in Bali! 2 weeks to go!

Marine Ball 2015

Relaxing while getting pampered

 

Dressed and ready to go!

We took a break halfway through to go apply more lipstick, snap some pictures and grab some twizzlers ;)

Selfie

Fun, fun girls to dance with :) Notice Joey in the back checking his phone (probably his fantasy football stats ha!) he and his wife are our next door neighbors.

My sweet friends. We are literally all next door neighbors.

My new dancing friends from the Australian embassy. They are who we brought with us to the event and ended up having such an awesome time with these girls!

 The ball this year turned into a really fun all day event. Me and a couple of friends rented a room at the Grand Hyatt (where the ball was) because traffic here is so unpredictable (it took Tommy 3.5 hours to get home from the embassy last friday night). 

We left our houses around 1 all dressed in comfy clothes and headed to the hotel. We ordered room service once we got there and then just relaxed. 

Hair and make-up came and took over getting us ready. It was really nice and relaxing. Around 4:30, some more friends came up and then soon after that our husbands. We all took turns changing into our dresses (tuxes for the guys) and headed down to the ball. 

Dinner was good, but the dancing was better. The DJ was great and I danced until well after midnight. 

Our nanny did great back at home with the kids and they were all tucked in and sleeping when we got home.