Bali

I don't consider myself a resort person.  We enjoy finding vacations rentals or B&Bs off the beaten path to enjoy places a little more locally, but we've been to Bali several times (never knowing we'd live in Indonesia one day) so this time we were looking to relax and unwind.  A friend spoke so highly of this resort that we booked it and spent a little extra for the club privileges...we were not disappointed!  After the bungalow in Nusa Lembongan (which wasn't Ben's favorite) and the terrifying boat ride (which nearly killed Alex, although we know he tends to be a bit dramatic) these boys were sold in the first 5 minutes with fresh fruit juice and leis at check-in.  Once they learned the could order free fruit juice anywhere in the resort, they were in heaven.  (On a funny note - we came directly from the boat to this lovely resort.  The kids were in swimsuits and I still had on my feet!  At least I had a dress over my swimsuit.)

 

We went looking around the resort and the kids tested out 5 of the 6 pools.  The last one was adults only - brilliant!

 

The oceanfront pool was amazing.

Jimbaron Bay was pretty perfect.  At low tide, the beach was huge and at high tide the waves were great for beginning surfers.

Low tide was also pretty fun for body surfing.

This pool was by far the kids' favorite.  We spent many hours here enjoying the ambiance and fountains.

The free fresh-squeezed juice didn't hurt the experience, either!  Ben wasted no time learning how to order a mango juice or banana smoothie in Bahasa.

 

Ahh, just what we needed...fresh air, salt water, and sunsets.

We also spotted the resident monitor lizard several times (click the picture to zoom).

Unfortunately, Matt's flight was delayed so he missed all of our first day but was happy to start enjoying the experience with us the next morning.

The boys were huge fans of the breakfast buffet.  Maybe because of the bacon?  Or the endless chocolate sauce?

We rented some boards and got an instructor for the kids, then hit the waves for a pretty amazing family surf session.

The waves were perfect!  The kids did awesome for their first time surfing in the ocean...

...but there were still a few wipeouts!

Mama can surf, too!

I'm not great, but it's so much fun to catch a nice wave.

Both kids caught the same wave!

 

All those hours on ripsticks has definitely helped them with their balance on a surfboard.

So much fun!  

The next day Matt went surfing farther up the coast, so we met him afterward and checked out Tanah Lot, the temple on the water, on the way back.

At high tide it's an island.

We had a nice Balinese lunch in the rice paddies before heading back to our resort.

Absolute perfection.

See what I mean about this kid enjoying his fresh juice?  Run in from the pool, drain your mango juice, run back out to play.

We rented boards again and caught some fun waves, but it didn't match the magic of our first surf outing together.

Our last evening we were planning to walk down the beach and get some famous Jimbaron seafood, but it was so lovely that we only made it as far as the Sunset Grill.

A deck of cards and we were set for hours.

 Couldn't ask for a better way to end our week!

It did take some work to tame a week's worth of beach hair, though!

Goodbye, Bali!  We finally did see some volcanic peaks through the clouds and said a quick thanks to it for waiting to erupt.

It was an interesting flight back to Jakarta and we saw many more volcanoes on Java.  It's pretty amazing living in Indonesia.