On the motorbike

This is how you zip around Bali! One of our maids offered me a ride!



We got to the shops in no time - zoom zoom zoom!





Shortcut through the rice paddy was very cool too:





I would hire one of these next time for us to go around (of course without the kids, I saw the locals with three kids on one bike!).

BARBACOA

Ok this was the reason why I dressed up. Us adults managed to go out for a very fancy dinner. Peter is so good, looking up all the reviews and finding places to go. This was no exception.

The restaurant was located in our area so only took us 15min or so in the taxi. It was newly opened so it was still rather quiet but boy it was just AMAZING! The atmosphere, the food, the staff everything was superb!



I loved the pretty tiling:







This is the menu - We thought everything was underpriced, they were all soooooo good!



Their signature dish, open fire cooked piggy:



We had a problem with our villa water and ended up getting a nights stay refunded from the owner. So we took the opportunity to order whatever we felt like. We were all too busy scoffing the delicious food so I didn't get many photos. It was all presented in such an appetising way! I wanted to try all the desserts but didn't have much room left. The "flan" was delicious, I should have had another one...

One of my favourites - Ribeye steak!



Couple photo time (slightly too dark...)





Group photo:



We ate and chatted and ate and chatted. It was such a relaxing evening. I LOOOOOVED it!

When we all ate way too much to even get out of our chairs, the owner Chef Adam (Australian) came to chat with us. He was very friendly and enthusiastic about his new restaurant.



We got a tour of the yet to open upstairs lounge/dining area:





He also showed us unique hookahs he was going to use. I found this image on their FB page - very funky ha!? (No it's not Isabel and I!)



We left the boys who went on bar hopping after dinner and went home to fast asleep kiddies.
It was certainly one of the best nights we had in a while.

I highly recommend you dine at this place if you are in Bali, Seminyak area. The restaurant website is still under construction but you can view its facebook page here.

Dressing up

I don't dress up often anymore, so I don't know how to look nice. At least I had bought a new dress for a rare occasion like this!

Christmas crafts and treats

Isabel and I planned a little Christmas afternoon for the kids (Isabel prepared mostly, thank you!). We bought some Christmas decorations during the previous shopping day so we used them to decorate the table which was rather nice.

The kids made their own stockings:



  



They also got to write a special letter to Santa:







Bali has lots of nice delis and we could buy almost anything we wanted. We could even buy some nice Christmas cupcakes for the kids!









Later on the kids found early presents on the balcony. We had a plan to go out for dinner just us adults so these presents came in handy to entertain them while we were out.

Morning routine

Every morning the kids had fun feeding the fish and Mr Snappy. Easy & simple fun :)

Waterbom park

We didn't plan much sightseeing or visiting places while we were in Bali but this was one of the places we wanted to take the kids to. However, we picked the wrong day... It was the day the locals celebrate the full moon and there were so many road blocks. It should only take 30 min or so to get there but instead we were stuck in the car for more than an hour :(

But it was worth it! Stunningly beautiful day and the kids had a ball. We parked ourselves in one of the gazebos near the kiddy play area which was perfect.







I didn't want Ashley to be in the sun too long so we chilled out most of the day there.







There were lots of slides and rides for the family to enjoy. The kids love these slides, especially Luca. He just kept on going! He even decided to swim without any floaties, such a wild boy :)













Lazy river:



Fish Spa:



The bubble pool:

     

The staff there were just amazing. They were keeping good eyes on the kids all the time. And they seem so happy to be working there!
The kids spent more than 5 hours in this water gym!!









I am sure Matthew was there too but my boys ended up following Peter everywhere!











Ice cream break:



There were many rides for us adults to try but we ended up trying Smash Down which you slide for 5sec at 70kph and Race Track for 9 sec at 50kph. Both went down crazy fast but my concern was losing my contact lens and losing my bikini while sliding down so fast!



To finish up the fun day we decided to have dinner at one of the Mexican restaurants in Kuta that Peter knew. We initially thought about taking taxis but because of the full moon festival and the distance (it was not too far from Waterbom by car) none of the taxi drivers wanted to take us. So we ended up walking there. We thought it was only a 20min walk...





On the way there we found the famous restaurant and Mr Gump!



    

We ended up taking the completely the opposite entrance to the road where the restaurant was which meant walking an extra few km :( but we made it!



Finally we could relax and enjoy our dinner:





By the end of the night we were all exhausted but it was certainly worth the visit. I think my boys will be happy to be there everyday. I wish the entrance fee was cheaper. It was almost $100 per family to enter.