Bali

We just got back from a couple weeks on the road. While I probably should be working on all the catch-up paperwork, I decided to take some time tonight and put together some pics for the grandparents out there (and others who may care too :) ).

After our trip to visit my sister in her country (that post coming soon), we traveled to Bali for some meetings with our company. It felt like we were going to land right ON the beach as we approached the runway. After the 7 days of meetings (no pics of that), we enjoyed 3 days of vacation.

Here are some sights from around town:

These little food or flower offerings to their gods were scattered all over the sidewalks and beaches.

The architecture was incredibly intricate

We spent some time by the pool - the boys enjoyed the giant chess set (tnx to Aunt Megan who taught them how to play last year).

On our first day of vacay, we went white water rafting. We had a blast (and don't worry, the rapids were pretty mild!).

However, we have to admit there was one injury that day......but it didn't happen until we were "safely" in the car on the way back to the hotel!!! Having safely navigated the roaring rapids, the boys were playing with the reclining seat in the van, and it popped up and nailed Ben in the head. The bleeding head wound sent the driver into a tizzy, and he wanted to take us right to the hospital. But we convinced him to just take us back to the hotel (did NOT want to brave an Indonesian hospital if we could help it!). Thankfully, we had brought out medical kit which included one of the official "glue sticks" our ER doctor friend in the States sent us a couple yrs ago. We were thrilled when it worked great, and we were able to avoid the cultural experience of getting stitches in an Indonesian ER. Thanks, Steve and Laura, once again for the glue stick thingys - they have saved us from stitches in random Asian hospitals FOUR times now!!!

All patched up! We put a butterfly over the glue to give it a little extra support since we were planning to surf the next day. :) And then covered it all with a Batman waterproof bandaid. We called Ben "Batman" for the remainder of the trip. Here is sporting his best monkey face.

The next day we headed to the beach to learn to surf. Some friends of my sister who live in Bali actually came with us that day, but we forgot the camera so these pics are from the following day when we went back for seconds. Thanks, D&K & little C for a fun day on the beach and the surfing lessons. :)

Check out those waves! Was so beautiful.

we sure got our $ out of the rented boogie boards

the boys also had fun "body boarding" - just riding the waves without a board of any sort. Thankfully, the bottom was sandy and smooth so no coral rash to report.

Batman tackling the waves

Go, Mikayla! She and Zach both got up on the very first try. I guess their wakeboarding experience helps. :)

Even Ben-jay got up on the surf board. There are no pics to prove it, but I (Jen) actually got up a little too. :) And Steve surfed it up too.

Zach was such a natural out there. And I love the scenery behind him too.

On our last day in Bali, Mikayla got her hair braided on the beach.

Love it

Our little girl is growing up...

We had a wonderful time in Bali and were so thankful for the couple days to relax as a family.