To Bali and Back

Phillip and Cami have now been with us for a little over a week and we have already enjoyed so many fun memories. One of the highlights so far definitely has to be our long weekend trip to Bali. I thought our last trip to Bali was fun, well this one was even better. I have come to the conclusion that you would be hard pressed to find a hotel in Bali that wasn't one of the prettiest, friendliest and nicest you have ever seen. While I thought we had hit the jackpot at the LeMeridian (where we stayed last time), the Grand Hyatt (our hotel of choice for this trip) topped it. Beautiful beach, awesome pool area, great rooms and picturesque landscaping are just a few things that made this hotel memorable.

So how did we spend our days in Bali...

Saturday, we spent the morning at the beach riding waves and swimming at the pool. The kids (and adults) enjoyed going on the waterslide at the pool as well. We ate lunch at a seaside restaurant at the hotel and then Cami and I headed to my new favorite pottery shop while the boys took a rest. To finish out the day, we drove to a restaurant on the beach where you get good views of the Bali sunset and enjoyed a nice dinner.

Day two brought an adventure of another kind as we headed out on an elephant safari. After a hour and a half minibus ride, we arrived at an elephant park which is home to 27 Indonesian elephants who have been rescued from Sumatra as the deforestation of that area has left many elephants homeless. We left our ride in the bus for another ride on one of the elephants. The kids paired up with an adult and we hopped on the backs on the elephants for about a 30 minute ride through the "jungle" and into the bathing pool. It was a fun ride. The boys loved it so much that they wanted to go again. After the ride, we fed the elephants, watched a short elephant show that Luke and Isaac got to participate in and then had lunch at the safari restuarant before heading back to the hotel.

Once we returned to the hotel, Justin and the triplets headed to the airport to fly back to Jakarta for school and work on Monday while Cami, Phillip, Jack and I stayed in Bali for one more day in paradise. Sunday night the four of us went to the traditional Balinese dance show and dinner held at our our hotel. The outdoor facility was very picturesque (I don't know if I have used that would so many times in one blog post before) and we all (the adults) enjoyed the fresh grilled lobster and prawns (along with other Balinese and Indonesian foods) that was served on the dinner buffet. The dancing portion of the evening featured 5 short Balinese dances and a good helping of eye darting and finger waggling, two trademarks of Balinese dance.

Monday morning we spent relaxing by the pool and at the beach before catching lunch at the outdoor shopping area by the hotel and heading to the airport. It was a most fun weekend. So who is going to be next to come visit us and take a trip to beautiful Bali?