Thanksgiving in Bali

We had an amazing Thanksgiving holiday in Nusa Dua,-Bali, Indonesia. We spent our first day at the beach and fun resort pool.  Thanksgiving dinner was an Indonesian buffet with Balinese Legong dancing for entertainment. On the second day we took a road trip to Ubud. Our first stop was Monkey Forest, a forest with several temples and hundreds of wild monkeys. We were told there were over 600 living there and we think we saw at least half of them. The next stop was the rice paddy terraces. We ate our lunch at a small local restaurant with an amazing view.  The last day of our trip was spent back at our resort.  The girls didn't want to leave, they loved Bali, and so did we!

KUSU ISLAND (turtle island)

This was a trip we took back in November. We rode a ferry over to Singapore's Kusu Island and spent the day exploring with our friends.

 

 

 

 

Halloween and Deepavali

Halloween in Singapore

The girls dressed as an unicorn and a gumball machine this year.  We went to the SAIS Spooktacular and went trick or treating through our condo as well. Pumpkins are small and VERY expensive here, so we decided to make a jack-o-melon this year.

 

Deepavali (Diwali) is celebrated on Nov 2nd.  The girls have a day off from school for the holiday and they were encouraged to dress in traditional clothing on Friday. 
We went to Little India to have a look at the lights and festivitiesand eat a yummy Indian dinner. The markets were beautiful and the girls each got henna on their hands.

Girls rooms, etc...

The first two rooms of our new home are finished. I'm already tired of all the white - walls, floors, and ceilings! Joanah's room is super tiny with only bunk beds and a bookshelf storage unit. But, she loves her Chinatown dragon and her lion head. Jae's room is pretty tight also with her bed and only a small dresser. She picked some lanterns in Chinatown and we worked on DIY garland to go over her bed. 

The next photo is of a Singapore "to-go" drink. It's a clear bag w/a handle, drink of choice, and a straw.

The last two pics are of Jae at school. The first is a visiting artist and the second is her a capella group performing at a Friday lunch concert.

Phuket, Thailand

We had an amazing fall break in Phuket, Thailand. Two days were spent being lazy around the resort pool and on the beach.  We took a day long boat tour to the Phi Phi islands. The day began with Joanah vomiting in the resort van, but definitely became the best day of our trip soon after. We stopped to feed the fish out of our hands, did a lot of snorkeling, enjoyed the amazing views, made a stop at monkey island, and ended the day at "The Beach" from Leonardo Dicapprio's movie.  Another of our highlights was going on the Siam Safari Elephant Trek.  After a 30 minute ride through the "jungle", we were able to feed the elephants too.  We came home with amazing memories and some fun souvenirs too.