Bali Weekend

We called a Kirkham holiday and let the kids skip school on a Friday for a quick Bali weekend.  We left after school on Thursday and arrived late so that we could enjoy our entire Friday. The waves were good so we headed straight to Kuta for some surfing.

The volcanoes in the distance were pretty visible that morning.

I chose a book and a chair and Alex initially wanted to play in the sand but finally decided to get a surfboard himself and head out.

The waves were coming in really slow sets so for the first time the boys paddled out on their own and caught their own waves.  It was a really perfect day for them.  Matt had a nice wave himself.

I could hear Ben every time he caught a wave because his "woohoohooooo" was so loud!

He stayed out until his arms were jelly!

All my surfer boys...

The Intercontinental is our favorite place and we always have to enjoy at least one high tea.

Alex's favorite pool

And my favorite spot! It's no longer the sunset bar, but it's still my happy place to end the day.

The boys may be older but they still can't resist the beach.  They loved the river that formed at low tide.

Ben's favorite is definitely the breakfast and the big plate of bacon he always eats.

I always have to get my picture by the dragon!

Ben has grown since our first visit 2 years ago!

At high tide, the kids and I had a blast body surfing the waves on Jimbaron.

Lunch by the pool is always a treat.  Non-alcoholic drinks are free all day so we try every type of mocktail they offer.

It's hard to beat the massages in Indonesia.  A new place opened up across the street and we thoroughly enjoyed our hour-long foot massages!  It would be my last one before foot surgery so I soaked it in.

On Sunday, we took the 2pm flight home, which meant we could still have lunch poolside with one last frozen watermelon.  Such a great weekend to unwind and relax together!

BWA Golf Tournament

I was excited to take part in the BWA golf tournament for a second year.  It's always in October for breast cancer awareness and the money raised goes directly to fund mammograms for local women.  I played with Pam, Andrea, and Marisol and thankfully it's a scramble style so we were all able to make good shots for our team.

It was a 70's theme this year and we were some pretty amazing tie-dye divas! Andrea sourced our outfits and came up with the tie dye over the summer in the US, so we were looking pretty good.

I get pretty tired playing 18 holes normally but they have several fun holes to shake things up and keep it interesting, like the pool putt hole.  Pam made the shot for us! (check out my good form - Marisol is also my pilates instructor so I had to do things right!)

On a par 3, we could rent the instructor Tommy to shoot for us.  If we were willing to pay more, then we could choose the club he would use.  I paid extra to see how he could do with a kids iron and he made a perfect shot on the green!  I did not.

 

Pam had an awesome playlist for us all day and everyone loved our music.  Dance monkey, anyone?

 

Finally, at our last hole we could celebrate a great day!  I'm still not much of a golfer but I love a day on the course with these ladies!

 Matoa is not the lovely course we saw in Bali but it was a fun day.

I burned some serious calories in the heat!

Fall Break Part 4 - Margaret River

We spent the rest of our week down south in the Margaret River region, which is just spectacular.  Forests and vineyards and beaches...it's an absolute paradise.

We popped in some delicious wineries and stopped at the Margaret River Chocolate Company for the 2nd and 3rd times!

We had always stayed in the forest on previous trips to Margaret River, so this time we opted for the beach.  Our AirBnB in Gnarabup had amazing views and the little community was exactly what we wanted - quiet, walkable, with one great restaurant and one great coffee shop.  Perfect!

Within minutes of us walking out on the deck and wondering if we'd be lucky enough to see whales, we were greeted with an amazing show.  The big splashes were visible every day but for two of the days, several whales were just offshore and played right in front of us!

Gnarabup beach was gorgeous

I was really looking forward to lunch at Leeuwin Estate, one of our very favorite places with a beautiful restaurant.  We did a little tasting and selected the perfect wine for our lunch.

The boys spent half of their time on the amazing lawn at Leeuwin.  They made a friend from Singapore and the three of them played for ages.

We checked out the Big Ball golf, which was great fun.  Oversized clubs and balls and short holes made for a fun and fast-moving afternoon on the course.

We did attract the attention of some locals near the golf course.

One day we headed farther east into the forest to explore a little more on horseback.

Ben was the one who especially wanted this outing and he had a great time learning to trot.

Alex was a big fan of his spirited little horse.

We saw a few kangaroos in the woods and then got to ride through a huge family of them in the pasture.  It felt like Jurassic Park when they all got up and jumped away.

Again, a perfect day for the outdoors because Western Australia has a lot of perfect weather days!

We enjoyed more galahs and black cockatoos.

We had some more amazing sunsets.

We took full advantage of the fireplace every evening!  It was nice to cuddle up under blankets and get warm by the fire.

The swell picked up while we were there and we watched some pretty talented surfers catching huge waves.

Every morning, I'd walk to the White Elephant cafe for my coffee and some days I could convince other people to join me.  It had a natural wind block with a hill behind it and the morning sunshine felt amazing.

There was also a lovely lookout just above the cafe where we could watch the whales and the waves.

We visited the beach where Margaret River meets the ocean.

  

Finally, we soaked in our last sunset and had to head home.  It was such a refreshing and relaxing week!

Lucky for us, our flight was at 5pm, so we could leisurely drive back to Perth, make one last stop at Subway, and even hit up a mall and and Bunnings before getting to the airport.  Then it was back to real life in Jakarta.