Grown Ups Having Fun!

Sometimes it seems like the kids are having all the fun, but sometimes the grown ups get out there and make their own fun as well!  The high schoolers have been planning get togethers every weekend with girls and guys (pictures strictly prohibited) and we can't be outdone by a bunch of teenagers.

When we found out that the karaoke clubs had reopened, we didn't waste any time getting a fun group together and spending an evening at Happy Puppy!

It was a terrific group of people, including a real guitarist and singer/songwriter.  The rest of us were just having fun...I'm sure we sounded amazing!

When Happy Puppy closed at 10pm, we took the party to Brett and Sandi's house because he has a full-on music room and real equipment.  The fun continued!

Their kids were asleep upstairs (or so we assumed) but they let their parents know the next day that we're not as talented as we thought :)

November Pokeeno night! It was hard to know where to sit because I love all of these ladies and we had a fantastic evening together.

We decided to give high tea at the Raffles a try on a Friday afternoon and it was a terrific find.

We got selfie sticks as a free gift and I was pretty entertained for the rest of the day!

The food was so gorgeous and inventive.

The chefs came out to meet us and one of them had a terrific sense of humor.  These "prescription chill pills" had to be his idea.  They're actually tiny cheesecakes bites!

Love the selfie stick!! ha!

And for a typical Jakarta day, we got in the car on a very stormy Friday evening and realized it was 1.5 hours to get home.  Thankfully, we'd been to a bazaar and had wine in the car and were able to stop and buy cups from a kaki lima on the side of the road, so the ride in Jenny's party van was much more fun!

Bali Buddies

Farrah invited us to join her in Bali with all the kids while Brian was traveling.  Naturally, we were excited to go on a long weekend when the kids all had a day off school and Matt will never say no to surfing!  As usual, first stop was Don Juan's.

For some added fun, Alice and her daughter Georgia joined us and Kayla came solo.  It was Kayla's first time to Don Juan's and she's now a fan for life.

Then we just had an entire weekend to relax, play, surf, and spa! We stayed at the Padma Legian this time because they were running a great deal and it's been highly recommended.  The kids gave the slides 5 out of 5 stars.

The pools were really beautiful. Unfortunately, the only pool with an ocean view was closed.  That was my biggest complaint about the resort - it's right on the beach but that's the only place with a beach view.  Seemed really odd.

We did of course enjoy the beach because it was just steps away, but I love to see it and hear it all day as well.

It was one of the rainier trips we've had in Bali.  Most of the time it rains in the evening and overnight, but this was more classic Jakarta rainy season weather - big downpours in the afternoon and light rain overnight. We had great porches to enjoy in the rain, though.

The skies cleared after the rain and Mt. Agung came out to greet us.

The kids had a ton of fun together.  Ben and Alex had their own room and it quickly became the clubhouse for everyone to hang around in together. Tate slept with them and Macy and Georgia managed to talk their moms into switching rooms so they could have a sleepover.  The best part?  The entire group was tired and happy to be in bed by 9pm! Adults included!

Saturday morning was really gorgeous and we all enjoyed the pools and Matt got to play golf. As the only guy there, he was pretty free to go and play wherever he wanted!

Kayla has been to the Padma at least 10 times and clearly the staff remembered her! They were so excited to have her back.

We did corral the kids occasionally for some food but they were a pretty self-entertaining group.  It was a great resort for them to run off and play.

As I had my morning coffee on the porch, I noticed that most everyone was wearing their hotel slippers to breakfast.  I finally tried it and I have to say, it's pretty comfy.  I went full out on the comfort at the pool, much to Farrah's chagrin.

The big pool was really beautiful as well.

Matt took all the kids surfing at the nearby break and everyone had a fun time, even Alex who absolutely didn't want to go but ended up catching the most waves!

The second evening, the kids all stayed and ate at the resort and several us of went next door for dinner.  We stopped for some cool pictures on the way back.

Sunday morning was pretty relaxed and we spent some time playing at the beach.  We all had flights at different times so we slowly said goodbye as each group left.

We were happy to be able to stay through lunch and enjoy the sunny day. Once it started raining, then it was much easier to pack up and say goodbye!

Thanks for a wonderful weekend!  And kudos to Matt for being so outnumbered all weekend and having so much fun.

Never get tired of seeing the volcanoes as we leave!  See you again, Bali!

Bali Melbourne Cup

Even though Jakarta was slowly returning to "normal", no Melbourne Cup events were planned and it's one of my favorite days of the year.  When an Aussie friend asked if I wanted to join her in Bali for a party there, I jumped at the chance! My sweet friend Jenny went with the group as well and was my faithful roomie for the trip. Our 7am flight made for an early morning but all smiles because no one can be unhappy on a flight to Bali.

The W hotel was fabulous and gave our group of 8 a lovely experience with ocean view rooms.

The bonus of an early wake-up is that we were already at the beach at 11:30am and enjoying a tasty lunch with a view.

The three of us that arrived early spent the afternoon in the pool and at the spa, then met up with the rest of the ladies at sunset.

Jenny, Katrice, and Asha

Beautiful Seminyak beach!

No trip is complete anymore without at least a few swabs.  They were so kind to come meet us at the beach bar so we only missed a few minutes of the sunset.

 Most of our group with Titus, the general manager.  This was such a fun group from 7 countries - Sweden (Jenny), Australia (Katrice), Netherlands (Asha), UK (Claire and Stephanie), South Africa (Cindy), Indonesia (Esti) and of course, I was representing Texas.

We were rather excited to find out Monday night was buy one get one free and ordered all of our drinks before it ended at 8pm!

There were some Indonesian groups there for work events and a real breakfast buffet with people!  It felt like a normal hotel stay!  The W is usually very popular and swamped with guests, so it was fun to enjoy it for the first time with a light crowd.

On Tuesday, we spent our morning getting all made up for the big event - the Melbourne Cup brunch at Ivy Lounge.

My horses did just well enough for me to win back my bet! That's just enough fun for me.

After the race, the entertainment started and it was awesome.  A very skilled saxophonist...

...and a really terrific singer. They were such a great pair.

Our group of lovely ladies.

Maybe Donald Trump? Maybe not? Either way, he was flattered that I wanted a picture with him..ha!

Indonesian Jason Momoa? The crowd here was endlessly entertaining! Definitely a different group than the usual Jakarta expat wives.

The entrance to the W is a perfect photo op, even if our shoes didn't quite last for the picture.  We actually cut off another group doing their own photo shoot but we promised them we'd be fast! We were finished before they even got themselves set up.

We wandered over to Potato Head for the sunset, which never really happened, but the rain held off long enough for us to enjoy the evening.

We had a great evening talking and laughing together on the balcony level of the hotel and even got free Swedish massages!

Wednesday, Jenny and I didn't fly out until 6pm so we had a blissful day sleeping in and relaxing by the amazing pool. Several of the ladies went shopping but I couldn't leave this perfect spot.

What a fun and memorable getaway! I loved making some new friends and sharing fun times together outside of Jakarta.  Matt and the boys had a lot of fun together while I was gone but I was pretty happy to get some hugs when I returned.