Summer Indo Trip: Bali part 2

Ah... the days of summer.... with its sunshine, great company, places to go etc etc. Today seems like a good day to reminiscence, especially with the never-ending rain outside, and the fact that Skool had been cancelled for the 3rd time this week. Grrrr..... I should start singing "Rain, Rain, Go Away" in earnest. But in the meantime, here was Bali.... and sunshine.....

Given our geographical locations, the family does not get together that often. Even that time in Bali, Daddy was not there. But since 'most' of us were there, we took that last morning in Bali as a chance to take a few group pictures.

We also took a few pics with Sandy, which was nice. Because it turned out that both Mama and Kecil misses our Dog.

I would say we covered our itinerary for that day, which was to visit Tante Rina's other workplace, but from the pictures, I think it would look as if the photoshoot simply continued to a different location. Of course, we had Sandy was again part of the picture:

Kecil, her two Tantes and Sandy!

Kecil and the beautiful architecture that made up Bali

We stayed for a while for some coffee and muffins, then it was time to go to the airport, which was about an hour drive away. Here we were waiting for our ride:

It was good to visit Bali. It is kind of funny because despite Bali being famous for its beach, we didn't actually go to any beach while we were there as Ubud was more in the mountain area. Still... it was beautiful. Let's see if we can come back again some other time. Until then!

Skool ....

It was more than two years back when we enrolled Kecil in her old Skool. The Skool was small then, just as the Kiddo herself.

I remember how getting her into the uniform took a bit of an effort since we kind of got it as a 'hand-down', a gift that was (and still is!) very much appreciated.
The Skool had since grown by leaps and bounds, just as the Kid herself, and it was a great privilege, indeed, to be part of that growth, watching, supporting, being involved.

I do not 'own' the Skool's new location pic, but you can check them out here.
We really love Kecil's Skool. In fact, I would go out on a limb to say that it's probably the best school you would find around where we live. Kecil had learnt so much from them, not to mention having an amazing time overall through out her stay there. However, Mama and Daddy agreed that she would probably move to an international school by the time she reach grade 1. The said move happened earlier than expected due to some other factors, and we are quite a bit sad about it.
That being said, it is only right that we give the Skool credit for all the happy time we had with it and wish them the very best in their endeavour educating bright, young minds. We are definitely very grateful for all that the Skool had done to us and especially to Kecil.

Check out some of the highlights of Kecil's Skool years:

The very first field trip to the Beach

Kecil's first recognition as the 'Friendliest Student'

First time in the 'proper uniform'

Her 3rd Birthday celebration: part 1, part 2, part 3

Family Day

Halloween!

Why, there was even the photoshoot for the Skool:

There are many more post on Kecil's old Skool which are not listed here. Those can be found here.

It's been a good 2 years plus with the Skool. This study year, however, Kecil only spent a quarter in the Skool before moving on, which should explain the relative lack of pictures. We did, however, made an effort to take a few pics, especially in the days leading to Kecil's last day in Skool.

 And of course, on the last day, we took a few pics of Kecil with her teachers.

Thank you for everything, Teachers, Skool. Again, all the best for the future. Cheers!

The Lighthouse beach

Having no plans that Sunday, we decided to hit the beach, just for the fun of it, sans the dog. It was quite a sunny day, but we were glad we didn't bring the dog along because the beach was still very dirty from the last Great Downpour the previous week.

Not that it stopped Kecil from her primary objective of going to the beach, though: collecting shells, haha.... We did not spent too long there, but I guess it was nice to be out in the sun again, especially after that week of rain (oooo.... never ending rain....). Kecil was also intrigued by the lines at the sand:

We do hope that some cleaning would be underway soon to make the beach a better place, but I guess we'll still have to wait for the rainy season to be over first. We'll see, we'll see.

5 years old

In Mama's typical fashion, we have another belated birthday wish.
Sometime before her birthday, Kecil expressed her wish for MANY presents from her friends this year. Well... that, combined with the fact that the kids in the neighbourhood seem to enjoy each other's company so much, made Mama's mind to have a party of some sort this year, at home.

So... for starter, Mama tried her hand at designing a birthday invitation for Kecil. You might note that the celebration was not on her birthday itself, but on the following day, simply because Saturday means it would be easier for the kids to gather. We also changed the timing to morning 10 am, which was not reflected since the invite was printed pretty early.

Cupcakes by Redpinkheart Sweets

Given the plan for 'celebration' on Sat, Mama decided to order cupcakes this year (with pink frosting and Barbie topping as per Kecil's own instruction), which we then distributed to her classmates in school.

Ooo... these boys and girls were so eager to have some cupcake, I'd say.
Anyway... that was all we did in Skool (together with a birthday song), the following day, however, was time for some.... action.

Lately, Mama had been obsessed with the idea of a pinata, but I couldn't seem to find one in the shops around here. Well... there was one, but it was pretty generic, colorful, starshaped one. Whereas knowing Kecil... you know her taste runs for all kind of girly, pink stuff, right? So we decided to make one, or two or something for her birthday. And a better idea, why not make the whole party dedicated to the pinata? Starting from making, decorating, and finally hitting it? After all, she's turning 5 and her friends are even older than her, so they should be fine, right?

So we did. And we were fine, indeed.

Here were the kids, making their own pinatas. The idea of papier mache is not something that they are familiar with, so it was something novel, which is good. Then, although the kids did make pinatas, I knew they wouldn't be able to stand the waiting time required for the stuff to dry. Hence, the extra pinatas for them to decorate and hit.

We had 3 girly girls and 1 boy for the 'party' and they had a capital time hitting the pinatas, taking turn controlling the pinata and hitting them. Despite their apparent strength, the girls were not able to whack the pinata, though. Only the boy did, 'destroying' the pinata at first contact. Haha....

Later on, we had some pizza and the kids played around the house some more. All and all, I think we did good for Kecil's birthday this year. Perhaps it's time for Mama to start thinking of some other craft for next year. Haha....

Happy 5th Birthday, Kiddo!
May you continue to be blessed with great friends with whom you'll have lots of beautiful memories.

I have to apologize for the dearth of picture, but I was not quite able to keep my hand (and mind) on a camera while at the same time handling the kids and the craft-making. 

Hotels!

So, as you know, we went for the 17th Aug celebration last month (eek! last month!). The celebration was held pretty early in the morning, like around 9.30am? It was kind of funny how people started asking what time we started for Manila just to make it there so early. Well.... good for us, we didn't start early in the morning, we started the day before!
(Daddy had a meeting on Friday, so we stayed 1 night only to go back on Saturday, after the ceremony and catching up with some old friends).
The trip seemed to be a confluence of a few incidence of good timing. We mentioned about the Indonesian Independence celebration, then it also happened that Mama had a few old colleague in town, with whom we ended up having lunch:

We also took them around the hotel, just for fun. We hotelier love to do that, you know.
After they left, we simply spent the rest of the day enjoying the hotel facilities, including, of course, the swimming pool:

It struck Mama there and then, actually, that Kecil seemed very much at home in the hotel environment. She actually knew that a hotel would have a swimming pool. Back in the room? She was systematically checking all the hotel facilities: the toilets, the bath tub, the cabinets, the stationaries, the TV (oh yes, definitely the TV!)....
I guess she HAS been exposed to hotels all right. Take a look at those below:

From her baby days in Singapore, Kecil got to stay in various hotels, with Eyangs, with Tante. Why.... she even swam (and got showered in a wok) at a resort in Thailand, sans Mama & Daddy (who had to work then)!

Oh, and that crying baby? She did not like to shower in big bath tub. I guess that kind of explain why she took to the wok so well, eh?

Fast forward a year or two, the toddler Kecil still got more hotel trips to follow, in Singapore, Philippines, even in Indonesia.

As for the big kid Kecil... well... you know how it went on, right? Yogyakarta, Singapore, Manila, Bali.... whew... what kind of travel bug bit this kid?

Well... all in all, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that Kecil would know her way around a hotel, any hotel. In any case, we sure had lots of fun, and while the accommodation certainly add a nice touch, I would say that the amount of fun had more to do with the company we kept. Family, friends.... I'd say their company was the one that make all the hotel stays so special.

We never know where our wandering feet might bring us, but one can certainly hope for more fun in store in our future. Here's for more wonderful moments with great company, wherever those moments would find us. Cheers!

Summer Indo Trip: Bali part 1

You might think I've given up on this series. I haven't. So... just to show my determination to finish the series, here's another (a bit late) excerpt from our last holidays.

So, as you all know from our itinerary post, we went to Bali during the summer trip. In all truthfulness, Bali was only on our 'tentative' list, but after some persuading, we did go anyway, even if just for a short while (through 1 weekend).
As to why.... well.... let's just say a certain Tante 'demanded' that we visit her. Haha.... Well... it was fun, no doubt.

The Tante in question

It kind of help that Kecil's other Tante was also in Bali then, spending the rest of her holiday before heading back home to the land way across the ocean (or halfway across the world, rather!). Needless to say, both Tantes were very happy with the extra bonding time with Kecil.
Seriously, this Mama thinks Kecil has this two Tantes of hers wrapped around her little finger, in a good way, of course, just leaving Mama with the 'bad guy' role at times.

Anyway, given the short time we had in Bali, we did not do that much 'touristy stuff', but Mama did put her feet down so we got to visit the.... market. Ahem.

Let me explain my insistence. Bali is definitely full of beautiful things. Furniture, pieces of art...those are wonderful stuff, I'm sure, just not very convenient to carry, don't you think? This Mama was just looking for small stuff, still essentially Bali, but not so difficult to carry (nor too heavy on the pocket, either). As for whether or not we got what Mama wanted.... well... have you seen my garden of a daughter lately?

So yeah. We got them. It doesn't get more 'Bali' that those flowers.

Straight from the market, we went of to check out Tante Tara's hotel, which, by all account, supposed to resemble the site of the Lost King of the Monkeys, or something. Well... actually, following the trend of most resorts around Ubud, it was very lush. Like... VERY lush. Maybe a wee... bit too lush that it was kind of spooky.

Do you see the amount of moss on the rocks and statues? Yeah... very lush, indeed. And they even have monkey statues in the middle of an opening (which, Mama has to add, Kecil avoided at all cost!):

In order to go to Tante Tara's room, we had to go through a sort of a tunnel:

We almost couldn't go in because Kecil almost refused to go. But we managed. A good thing too, because the room was beautiful, complete with a 'living room' on a balcony:

Here was, of course, where we took that door picture of Kecil found in the top picture. Then of course Tante would like to be in the picture too.

This might sound cliche, but this Mama totally loves those double doors ubiquitous in Bali. They are usually beautifully carved wood, some coloured, some just varnished to show off the gorgeous wood grain. Too bad you need to design the doorway properly to accommodate such door, aka you can't just fit them into any door way without reducing their beauty.

Anyway.... in order to go back to the hotel lobby, we had to go back to that dark tunnel:

After which we all blinked to adjust back to the bright sun outside.

Mama personally thinks that the resort was quite nice, but she wouldn't want to check in after sun down either. I can so see how the environment can feel spooky in the dark.

Next stop, lunch at Tante's work place, yet another resort. Yeah.... our whole holiday seemed to be one hotel visit after another.  But it was really fun, and look at who greeted us at the resort:

Somebody really looked happy to see us

It was Tante, her colleague and Sandy, the resort dog.

The resort dog? Yes. a resort dog, a dog whose job is to be petted, just by behaving nicely and looking cute. I think she has the perfect job. Haha....

Now this is getting a bit long, so perhaps we'll continue in another post. Cheers!