Sanur...swimming and Tanah Lot Temple

Our first stop in Bali was Sanur for three nights.

When we got to the hotel the night before at 2:00 AM we had no idea what to expect. The grounds looked beautiful at night but the next day it was even better! We had set our alarms so we could make sure to get breakfast and it was such a wonderful surprise to be walking through the hotel and seeing the beach for the first time. Well worth the flight chaos!

Our hotel was set up like a traditional Balinese garden/house. It had tons of fountains, sculptures and seating areas and was beautiful. The lobby (the picture below on the right) was all open and most of the buildings were similar. We really got the Bali feel walking around and the kids always found a new sculpture to investigate.

We had a sleepy boy at breakfast...

And one was wide awake and really excited about going swimming later...

Our first day was devoted to lots of swimming and relaxing before we were picked up that afternoon for a tour of a nearby temple. Our hotel had two pools, an adult only one and this one where we spent most of our time. 

My little fish were overjoyed to be back in the swimming pool and they both were swimming around and under the water constantly. They are such water babies!

After swimming at the pool for awhile we decided to check out the beach. One of the reasons I picked Sanur was the reef offshore that helps break up Bali's known strong currents. It was perfect! You could see where the waves were breaking out there and it was so calm and peaceful at the coast which was great with the kids.

It was so hot on the sand though and just hot outside as well. We were shocked at how hot and humid it was in Bali! The kids wanted to go look at some of the fishing boats and of course didn't believe me it would be hot....well, it was and she had plenty to say about it.

We ordered some drinks to help cool off and Graham received the most sophisticated apple juice of his life. He was very stylish. I had to double check that it was just apple juice with the water and tasting because I didn't know why else they would bring it with a lime and in such a fancy glass. It was just apple juice!

We decided to not push things and just do room service for lunch and nap times. We had a nice patio out front of our room where we were able to eat our meals and also John and I were able to sit at night and spend time together while the kids were asleep. Graham went down for his nap and John and Peyton went exploring and played at the playground and games around our hotel. 

This picture of Peyton cracks me up....

We had to wake Graham up later to go meet our driver who was taking us to Tanah Lot Temple for a tour and to watch the sunset. So, we loaded everyone up and off we went. 

It was a lot longer drive than I expected but a fun one seeing more of the bigger cities and passing through all these different areas that I read about while planning our trip. Peyton of course fell asleep in the car which meant she was a little on the cranky side when we got there. We wandered around and didn't cross the water to go to the temple but look at the various other temples along the shore and just took in the beauty of the rock formations and ocean. I was kind of overwhelmed with how many people were there and wasn't really sure what we were supposed to do.

The kids enjoyed climbing up the rocks and being explorers.....and Graham also enjoyed being the local celebrity and had tons of people trying to get their picture with him. Many, many people around the world now have a picture of my son....

My original plan was to sit on a grassy area and watch the sunset and then go to a restaurant on the way home but the kids were starving so we ended up eating at the restaurant there. It was a little overpriced and not all that great of food but the views were beautiful. 

We headed back to the hotel that night with two very sleepy kids but a wonderful first day in Bali. The views, scenery had exceeded our imaginations and the people were so friendly and welcoming. One of my favorite memories of the day was when we got out of our car at the temple and were waiting in the market area for the driver to drop off the car and return, there was a shop keeper who patted next to her and Graham just sat there with her and she was talking to him and he was just sitting there taking it all in. I wish I had enough time to pull out my camera. It was so sweet. 

Are we there yet?

So we left for our trip to Bali with so much excitement and ready to go! We got through the Dammam airport with some annoyances but smoothly and we were off, made it to Abu Dhabi.....and we made a make shift tent out of my abaya to help shield the kids from the light and the intense cold at the airport. Who knew an abaya could be so useful :)

The kids stayed asleep and we made it onto our plane to Kuala Lumpur. The kids were sleeping when they should, being happy and we were doing great. We flew Etihad Airlines for the first time and overall it was a good experience. Peyton liked the eye masks and socks that came in the travel bag. She cracks me up!

We were really impressed in how much easier it is getting flying with them both as long as they are both not asleep. There were sometimes when we had two sleeping kids and I was so thankful to be flying with John and not solo!

Then we landed in Kuala Lumpur.....and things didn't go so smoothly.....

Apparently the guys in Saudi should have tagged our bags all the way through and they didn't but the people in Kuala Lumpur did not know that. We had a 90 minute layover and had to be processed through passports, claim our bags and run to the ticket counter only to find out we didn't make it. Bummer! Oh well....I am sure there is another Malaysian Air flight to Bali tonight....NO! The next one was for 10:00 AM the next day. We pleaded to find another option and they directed us to the office. We waited and waited and waited and found out that they could get us to Bali that night but at midnight....six hours later than we were supposed to :( They booked us on a flight to Jakarta and then a flight from there to Bali. We managed to get hold of the car company we hired and told them our new flight times and off we went to Jakarta.

We bought the kids fun lollipops for being so patient waiting around....happy kiddos but sticky fingers/faces...

When we landed we had to go through immigration and get our visas which was a long process. Graham had meanwhile fell asleep on the plane and was in the baby carrier which was so incredibly heavy. We finally finished with getting our visa for Indonesia which the only positive is that I have read that the visa line in Jakarta is much smoother and quicker than Bali so at least we didn't have that step to do when we arrived in Bali. We then had to walk to the opposite end of the terminal in the non air-conditioned airport and...I am still carrying Graham who at that point leaked through his diaper and essentially peed all over me...nice! I am now wearing a 30lb child, a sweater and have pee all over me and am running through a hot airport. We make it to the transfer desk and they mention something about having to claim our bags, go through customs and recheck them and I start to cry. I really started to cry. It was Kuala Lumpur all over again. John explained that they were checked through, they said no and so he ran to the baggage area to see what to do. He found a baggage handler, brought him back to the transfer desk who explained our bags were checked through and we got our tickets and ran to our next flight. 

We made it on our fourth flight (third airline of the trip) and were finally on our way to Bali. The flight had no one on it and so Peyton made a tent on her side....

 

And Graham was out cold on my lap.......

The kids were doing great and we landed and were ready to get in our car and go to the hotel. I was so nervous that our bags wouldn't make it due to the confusion but thankfully they were there. We almost make it out of the airport when I realized we left something on the plane. John runs back and thankfully the cleaning crew brought it to baggage claim for us and we were finally on our way out. I just kept trying to not cry again.

Our driver was wonderful! We hired a driver from the company Bali Baby Hire that has drivers, baby supplies and everything else you might need to make your vacation in Bali more baby/child friendly. We had the same driver the whole trip and the kids loved him. We had rented car seats from them as well which was great so we didn't have those extra bags to deal with. Highly recommend their company, it was so nice to have a good driver who was used to kids/families to drive us around!

We finally made it to our hotel and checked in and we all easily fell asleep....

Of we go to....Bali!

Tonight we leave for vacation to.......Bali! We will be gone for 10 days and are so excited about exploring the island. We will be staying in three different areas in hopes that we really experience all of the island during our time there!

We had planned a trip to Bali for October 2012 but after decided to buy the house we decided to put all our money towards that instead of travel for the rest of 2012 which made planning this trip super easy. I did change one place that we are staying at but the rest of it was already researched and planned and so I just contacted the same hotels and went from there. I have put so much research into this trip and so I am excited to finally see it materialize.

We leave the tonight and fly from Saudi to Abu Dhabi (late at night which is no fun) and then onto Kuala Lampur (only seven hours which should be mangeable for my frequent fliers) and then another flight into Bali (3 hours). We arrive around 6:00 PM on the 19th!

Our first stop is Sanur, a beach front area, where we are staying at the Segara Village for three nights. Our plans include visiting the Tanah Lot temple at sunset, going to a cultural dance in a nearby village and just lots of walking along the beach, visiting markets and relaxing!

What I have loved about planning this trip is the abdance of kid friendly resorts, restaurants, services and how much room you can get for so little. All of the hotels we are staying at have seperate living spaces and free breakfast and are so much cheaper than hotels in the Middle East! When we travel with kids we always try as much as possible to get a room with either a balcony or seperate area for John and I to hang out and have a "date" when the kids are asleep and it was so much easier than normal for this trip.

We are then going to go to the tiny fishing village of Amed for two nights. On our way we will stop at another temple. We are staying at the Life in Amed Beach Hotel. The main reason we are going here is for the scuba diving for John and to experience a more laid back couple of days. We are hoping to get a boat ride one afternoon and explore the sunset. I have read that you can go snorkeling just off the coast and so I am going to attempt to take the kids to look at coral and fish. Most of all we are going to relax, enjoy the peacefulness and watch the fisherman and chill. We have a cute cottage with an upstairs and downstairs and am looking forward to spending time on the balcony hearing the ocean and enjoying quality time with my spouse :)

Our final stop is the cultural center of Bali called Ubud. We are staying here for four nights at the Greenfields Hotel. I am so excited about this part of our trip! 

  

While in Ubud I am scheduled to take a Bali cooking class that also has a market tour one morning which I am really looking forward to. I also found two meditation classes and some yoga classes to do. I am more excited about the meditation and looking forward to it! We will be mostly wandering around and exploring this area on our own, looking at the arts community and some of the smaller temples around as well as exploring the rice terraces. We are hoping on one day to visit a nearby waterfall and I have scheduled a tour to the nearby elephant safari park to ride elephants and interact with them.

We are so thankful for the chance to go and experience Bali. It has been one of the places at the top of my list to go and it is almost surreal that we are able to do this! Praying for a great family vacation with safe and smooth travels! Stay tuned for pictures and a recap when we return!

Another new system...

Seems like these past few months have been full of trying to find new ways to do things to help our house run more smoothly. Most of them have been implemented to help with parenting Peyton and consequently they are used with Graham. Parenting a strong willed child is a challenge.....parenting by itself is a challenge. I feel like with Peyton I am constantly having to be on top of things, consistent and looking for ways to help us achieve success as opposed to always entering into power struggles. I so very much want and desire that her strong will stays intact and that she grows up to be independent, strong willed and a force but that I have given her the tools to still be successful in relationships and in life. 

Anyways....after a couple of rough mornings getting her ready and off to school I knew I needed to come up with a better system. My goals were to give her the power and responsibility to do things on her own while still making sure that there was a guide/system to get the things done I needed her to do. So, I created a morning and evening checklist for her that is hanging up in her room. This gives her the steps to follow and also the responsibility and ownership to work through them on her own. 

 

She responded really well to them, was excited and worked through them in the morning and evening. She often even has Graham following her and doing everything in the morning routine which certainly helps me. 

Everything was going great for a couple of days and then I encountered the problem of getting her started on the checklist and we had a ROUGH morning getting her to school. She is always pretty slow in the mornings getting going and always very particular about what she wears...this itches, this hurts, the sleeves are too tight....which can lead to rushed mornings and I get so frustrated. So, after another morning of feeling rushed, and losing my patience which leads to me yelling and her getting upset, I sat down and try to brainstorm what was our problem. The major issue was that we were not leaving ourselves enough time and that I felt that I was constantly nagging her to get started. 

So, I came up with the clock.....

 

The clock is in our playroom, next to the TV. It has the three tags next to the times for when key things should be starting. I kept the start times on the hour to make it easier. I contemplated getting a digital clock but I figured this would help in exposing her to telling time and could serve two purposes and I had this sitting around and didn't want to buy a new clock. The three activities are the morning routine, evening routine and then a TV off time in the afternoon which is designed to help her prepare for evening activities without a hassle.

I explained it to her and she was somewhat receptive but not impressed that I found another "rule" or system to help guide us. And this morning we started with the morning routine. I also went ahead and set the timer 15 minutes before to help her start looking at the time. I told her when the timer went off to look at the clock and that the small hand would be at 7 which meant to start the morning routine. I left her to finish her breakfast and cartoons to finish the dishes. The timer went off and she didn't move, I came in and reminded her that the timer went off and offered the solution to pause the cartoon so if she was done her routine quickly enough she could finish it and so she agreed and off she went. She did GREAT! There was no whining, she did it on her own and quickly and it was so much smoother than normal. Certainly a big help. I did the same thing in the afternoon with setting the timer 15 minutes before to help her transition and then again in the evening and it went really well. 

I know we will still have some rough days but I am hoping this is something that can give her power/ownership and help guide us through those times better. I certainly do not have this figured out in any way BUT I do always want to share things that work and don't for us in hopes of helping another parent out there. I certainly do not come up with all of this on my own and am so thankful for the blogs, Pinterest boards and friends who help me find solutions for my parenting techniques! 

Surfs Up Party!

Graham celebrated his birthday all day on Friday! We started with waffles and a cupcake in the morning and he opened his presents from us and then we had his birthday party that afternoon. 

We had a Surfing/Beach birthday party for him! One of his first words was "beach" and he LOVES the beach! And considering we live down the street from one we have spent tons of time there over his first year. So, my plan was to have a fun/casual BBQ at the beach....then I started planning more and more and realized we should have an indoor back up space in case of the weather so we moved it to our Yacht Club/private beach area on camp. And then moved it inside for sure when we were hit with a cool front/wind storms over the weekend. I was pretty bummed we were not going to be able to be outside and let the kids just play in the water and sand and have to have more traditional/indoor birthday party but I had no other option and it all worked out.

View of the room with all the decorations, minus the cake.
 

Surfboards I made out of foam core by a food area

Favor bags filled with shark squirt guns, sunglasses and some gummy bears

Snack area, complete with a watermelon carved like a shark

Tables with decorations. I spray painted containers and filled with sand for some and also did some pictures of Graham from a beach session I did with him in fun colored frames from Ikea

Gold fish in little bags and shark fruit snack at the Snack Shack table

Flip flop nutter butters

Cupcakes with graham cracker/brown sugar aka sand on top and umbrellas

Amazing cake that was as delicious as it looks, made by my friend Lindsey Perry

My friend Lindsey is a self taught cake decorator and is so talented! Last year she had just had her youngest and there was no way I was going to ask her about making a cake for Graham but this year it all worked out! I send her some pictures of ones we liked and she helped pull them together into one. It was perfect! And it was delicious as well! Such a talented friend!

 

Since my original plan was to just use the beach and sand as entertainment, I had to come up with some games/activities in the few days before. We had a fishing game with fish cut outs that had paperclips on them and homemade fishing poles. It was fun and kept them entertained enough! And we had a coloring sheet as well as a make your own "Surf Shell" necklace out of fruit loops which provided a snack and entertainment.

Fishing game

Coloring activity and making surf shell necklaces out of fruit loops

We had so much fun celebrating with friends. Graham is so loved and so blessed to have so many friends and families that love on him. He was one very happy and celebrated little guy. We just had a great time catching up and spending time with everyone!

Lighting the candles

The birthday boy!

Graham was so excited about the party and then all the kids did play outside for a little bit before getting too cold. There was so much going on that we didn't get to presents at his party! My plan was to open when we got home but we had some friends over for pizza and more celebrating and he was so tired he just went to bed! The next day though we took our time and got to open everything throughout the day. It was actually kind of nice to be able to explain who got him what, play with it for awhile and then come back and open something else. He was a very spoiled little guy and has tons of new toys to play with!

A truly great day of celebrating our little guy!