Beautiful Bali

In June, SBE and I traveled all the way across the world to the Indonesian island of Bali. We took a poll and realized that while other people had traveled more hours due to plane delays and such, Orlando, Fl is just about as far as you can get. But there are no complaints here. S and I knew the trip was completely worth it when we were greeted exuberantly by his friend Masha, the bride were were celebrating. Then we woke up and had breakfast overlooking the ocean with palm trees swaying in the wind. Beautiful Bali is right.

View from Breakfast

Jet lag set in pretty quickly, so S and I spent the first day hanging out at the hotel, swimming in the worlds largest pool (I think literally). It had a main pool just outside of the lobby, but also had pedestrian bridges over the water, which winded into a few canal-like waterways. We had a great time just slowly swimming along the edges, imagining the type of guest that chose the pool front room. Later we discovered it was mostly families with kids. Makes sense, right? The kiddos could so swimming whatever hour they wanted and the grown-ups could sip the appropriate beverage while still keeping an eye out without leaving their porch!

View from our room

 Once it was type to go exploring, S and I hooked with the other members of the wedding party for some poolside hangouts and rides on the jet ski. S had big plans of trying to get me back from throwing him off the jet ski almost a year ago when we were in Pensacola. Sadly (for him) the water was just a bit too crowded to really lose the governor on the machine. Still, it was a great time and really helped us get to know the others in the wedding celebration. I had never met them before and S only knew a few from New York. After the jet ski experience and asking the locals about the "Fly Fishing" we headed out for wedding prep a la Rehearsal Dinner. (The Fly Fish, by the way, it not at all what you might think. Its not fishing at all. It is a giant inflatable that is pulled behind a speed boat. The driver of the fish guides the inflatable in a manner that allows it to catch wind and fly into the air. It looks terrifying.)

At the Rehearsal Dinner

 The Rehearsal Dinner was beautiful and very traditional to Bali. We had some incredible bar-b-Que (though obviously very different from what we were used to) and listened to Balinese music played by a live band. The band was later upstaged by the groom's parents, who sang and danced to the whole wedding party at the end of the night.


M&D were an excellent host couple. While any of us would have traveled to Bali as an exotic vacation, they went the extra mile to ensure their guests were well entertained throughout the week. Part of this meant treating the wedding party to a full day tour of the island. Some parts were a little frustrating because we were stuck in a van with some ridiculous traffic for so long. But again, you're in Bali. There is no complaining. After spending the morning watching a traditional Balinese dance (complete with gods, monkeys, and tigers) we traveled up the road, through some rice paddies and winded up at a beautiful lunch place over looking Mount Batur. S and I had previously though about riding our bikes up and down this road and were thankful to experience it in a bus prior to making that decision! It is very steep, windy, and very, very narrow. How beautiful is this place? And lunch was a buffet with some pretty delicious items and a round of Bitang for everyone.

Overlooking Mount Batur

The Monkey Jungle. Aka: Jumanji

Then. . . . then we went to the Monkey Jungle where monkeys roam free. Play the video above to see the scene as S and I are about to walk up the stairs. We got separated from the rest of the group because we went the wrong way initially so we were trying to meet back up. In order to meet our friends, we had to walk up this set of stairs while the monkeys cascaded down. I tried to pretend like I wasn't nervous but I stood as still as possible while muttering to myself "don't make eye contact. . .don't make eye contact. . . don't make eye contact"! Anyway, the point of this Bali tour was to show just how diverse this island is. We had been staying down in Denpasar and traveled through Ubud (monkeys) on the tour.

 The second half of the week, we headed to a different side of the island: Seminyak. We walked a long way on the beach after checking in to our new hotel and receiving our leis  and complimentary Bali Beverage. It is such a beautiful and calming place. So many different cultures and languages too. 

Enjoying a long walk on the beach

Post-Wedding Surf Celebration

Post Snorkeling tour of Turtle Island

Even after the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen (I mean, M&D danced across steppping stones of an infinity pool just outside of the chapel that overlooks the cliff side ocean and fireworks shot off as they were announced as Mr. and Mrs. H) our friends hosted a post-wedding party that included surfing, food & drinks, and lawn games! My favorite things! Except that I am terrible at surfing. At first I thought that I was going to be a natural. I jumped on my board, paddled out to the first break, waited a few minutes, turned around and paddled so hard with the wave I thought  was flying. I went so fast and so far into shore that I temporarily forgot that I was going to have to paddle back through those waves if I had any hop of catching another. Turns out that I am a one wave wonder. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. I felt like I earned the extra beers, hours of ping pong and darts, and an extra handful of french fries. Damn Right. 

Honu: Spirit Animal

Nope, still not that comfortable with lizards

S and I had a couple of days after the wedding celebrations and event to explore the island on our own. We decided on a snorkeling trip with a visit to a place called "Turtle Island". We were thinking iit was like a turtle sanctuary. Boardwalks through the marshes, turtles in a semi-natural habitat, an occasional information stand designed to increase knowledge of the turtle power. Nope. Not the case. We arrive and are immediately escorted to get our picture taken next to the token giant letherhead turtles (which would cost money to keep), then a tour of little boxes with turtles swimming around in groups based on size. Then there were caged birds, bats, and . . . . lizards. It was an interesting experience. We had a great time laughing through the awkward moments that required us to say "no, thank you" 100 times until we finally said "we are not interested in buying trinkets from your shop" which felt really rude but it was the only way to get the message across! It was such an awesome experience. 

S and I spent the last night in Bali with our new friends watching the sunset at a place called Potato Head  (with about half of the people staying in a 10 mile radius; it was packed). I know I have titled this post "beautiful Bali" so I should find a new word to describe it. . . . breath-taking? Delicious? Wait. Those aren't the same? They should be. We finished the night at Naughty Nerrie's for Ribs and Martini's. I know, bizarre pairing. Butt it was incredible! Ribs so tender the meat falls off the bone. Martinis so well poured the server asks you to take a sip so that they can refill the glass before they leave the table. AM-AZE-ING. This trip was such a wonderful pre-wedding honeymoon. And yes, I forgot to mention that everyone asked us if it was our honeymoon and/or called me by S's last night. Not yet, ladies and gentlemen, not yet. 

Sunset at Potato Head

Waiting for our airport shuttle

So long, Bali!

Gone Fishing

RBDII took CMD and me fly-fishing on Henry's Fork of the Snake River outside of Idaho Falls, ID for our birthday. My favorite little town among the many we pass driving from HQ to the various fishing areas is Last Chance. It is a beautiful area and always time well spent.

We also participated in a charity auction for the Henry's Fork Foundation where the bar-b-que was delicious and the bourbon plentiful, leading to a pretty major auction win for me ... a brand new dog!! She'll be coming in December :-)

Incredible country

CMD in max relax mode

Stalking the big one

Even I got a big one .. after a long stalk!

CMD is everyone's favorite float partner

The Dalton Anglers

Waiting for my real life to begin....

Who says you need an incredible vacation to have something to blog about!? Not me! As Aunt T (FTD) likes to say, P man's whole life is one big vacation.  So true.  His people are out of town currently and so he has only me, his dad, and his sister to keep him entertained - tough life.  He runs around the house saying "where T go? where yay yay go? where uncle mack go? where grandad go?" He seems to have grasped that Uncle RBDIII is in Massachusetts and not California and so now he sits on the New England States on his rug map when he wants RBDIII.  Pretty cute.

At any rate, summer is officially over and our family has started SCHOOL!!!!  Ok, so, not real school, just pre-school two days a week.  But, I drive CARPOOL.  Ok, carpool only with P and L - but still, I drop him off and pick him up! Can you believe it? I'm such a great mom.  Also, I go to meetings.  Meetings....plural.  As in, I just found out I have another one on Thursday and I am supposed to bring breakfast.  Which is awesome, because I can hardly get my family of 4 fed before we have to get out the door so I'll keep you posted on how that goes.  I know you can't wait.

Nothing else to say here, just waiting for our adventurers to get back so we can celebrate sweet L's first birthday!  Shoot me an email if you need our new address to send gifts.  She shares all of her brothers everything, so I wonder what she wants!?  Just kidding about the address...its the same as it has been for nearly 30 years....my parents.  Anyone out there want to sell us a house?  I read an article in the NY Times this weekend about a family who all shared one home, decided they liked it, so they pooled together to pay off the mortgage and are now adding a downstairs wheelchair access wing for when the grandparents get older.  What do you think LTD, RBD Jr. and BML?  Could we make it!??

Enjoy the punctuation on this one.  And, while you're at it, if you have toddlers, or know one, and are on twitter you should follow @honesttoddler.  Hysterical.

Here we are! P man's first day of school.  

Independence Day

I love the 4th of July.  Love it.  I still always say it is far and away my favorite holiday, though with all of us being separated such a distance Thanksgiving and Christmas are catching up since that is when we all see each other.  Anyway, my memories growing up of the 4th are of big block parties, tons of kids running around way past our bedtimes, feeling pretty independent while closing the night with spectacular fireworks.  Then I spent several summers at camp CGA and learned to associate the day with lawn games, dressing up in as much red, white, and blue as possible, and finally jumping in the lake for a bath after shoving watermelon in the face of every person I came across in the great watermelon wash.

Boy have things changed.... not necessarily better, not worse, just different.  I'm the PARENT now!  Weird.  My boy stayed up way past HIS bedtime and while he had a blast, BML and I were exhausted!!  We started our day off with some good old fashioned crafting...I'm pretty sure this was an idea on pinterest.  P and I painted our hands and feet and made flags, he thought it was so much fun to be able to paint "mamu's" feet and made that request several times that day.  We both had paint all over us for the bulk of our celebratory day.

*side note: I'm attaching pictures at the end because they are just on my phone and its easier that way, so scroll down for the cuteness.

About 20 minutes later, Aunt T and Yay Yay came in from their 6am bike ride and watermelon 5k ( T will tell you all about that I am sure).  P showed off our drawings and we all got cleaned up to head out to brunch at KeKe's.  Have those of you who live here been to KeKe's???? It is incredible.  SO delicious, so clean, so fast, and kid friendly.   P loves to sit outside on the little chairs built especially for him and sweet L.  I think pancakes were the order of the day.  Aunt T is in the photo, not Mamu...some people get confused. :)

Next activity!  Make your own ice cream in a bag.  This one once again took about 10 minutes - 20 total if you count eating and clean up time.  Since P is constantly moving I do not know how he refuses a nap, its only 1pm and I can't wait for bed.  The ice cream turned out pretty great, just mix half and half, sugar, and vanilla in a small ziploc, then place it inside a large ziploc, layer with ice and rock salt, toss around for 10 minutes and magic!  Ice cream.  I was pretty impressed with us, it was delicious.  P had to wear oven mitts to throw the bags around, it got pretty cold.  Then, I melted some chocolate chips in some coconut oil for our very own homemade magic shell.  I know.  Amazing.

Next up - the neighborhood parade.  The only people who were definitely counting on were Grandad (Geendad, the Judge), LTD, Aunt T (FTD), P man, little L, LDL, BML, and Captain and Pax.  Thats a parade in itself!  We decorated L's radio flyer and put silly bows on the dogs, and dressed the family in their color appropriate outfits and went to set out around the lake....when the tv started screaming about a thunderstorm brewing that would spew hail and thunder and lightning and everyone should stay indoors.  Not us!  We amended our parade plans to just around the creek - there would be no rain on our parade! (Are you so proud of me Mom??)  Some of our new friends met us with their baby and 2 yr old and our neighbors came along too with their newborn with his precious 4th of July ballooned stroller and off we went.  It was quite a parade.  Watch out next year for an evite...or I'll class it up with a paperless post.

Are you tired yet?  I am.  Wrap up our parade with a delicious flag cake made by LTD and BML, FTD, me, and P man were off to the neighborhood 4th of July party!!! No pictures, it was incredible.  So fun to see all of our new friends in the area and all of their kiddos.  Our family left a little early so we could make it back to 1127 to watch fireworks with LTD and the Judge and so little L could go to sleep.  They were  amazing, but the most fun was watching the wonder in P mans eyes as each firework exploded above him.  Maybe that was why the 4th has always been my favorite, that at the end of the day, you are a hot, sticky, sweaty mess, but each moment was full of wonder, and independence, and a little bit of magic.  P finally had enough and put fingers in both ears saying "all done! all done!"  And we all passed out about the same time.  Happy.

* second side note: I have no pictures of our parade, the party, or fireworks.  But I bet someone else does...or I'll get them from yay yay and post soon.

baby, you can drive my car

I am going to blog backward since who knows how much time I will have and yesterday NEEDS to be blogged about.

After lunch yay yay (LTD) went out to the garage to gather some things and PDL followed immediately after her.  I went out with L to gather him up since he was just in his socks and it was almost nap time.  I put L in P's radio flyer car just to see his reaction which I was sure was going to be no no no no no! up! up! up! but instead he grabbed the handle and took off running down the driveway.  hilarious.

P drove L all the way down to the lake so that she could look at the ducks - we saw in P's words, baby ducks, a mamu duck, and a yay yay duck.  He even turned the car toward the lake so L could see the ducks.  He was also intent that she listen to the radio as she was riding so he stopped every 30 seconds to turn it back on.

Be sure to stay tuned for the video shot by LTD ( yay yay) while she was walking backward toward the lake...

yep, thats yay yay....falling off a ledge and almost into the lake.  P thought it was hysterical.  It was.  :)

Long Time Gone

This post may not be a whole lot of fun, but it has been a long time coming.  Every time I sit down to write someone (P man) wakes up, or the internet is working, or the internet is working but I can't access my computer with my pictures on it.  Forgive me.  It's true, living at 1127 definitely has its perks, but it also has its fair share of trouble too.  I mean, what do you expect when there are 5 adults, 2 kids, & 2 dogs all living under the same roof?  Not to mention the bazillion people in and out and around of the house all day every day.  Throw in a toddler who won't sleep, dogs who are sick sick sick with the rest of the crazy that surrounds us and you can imagine that life is a little hectic here.  In a good kind of way.  Most of the time.

Milestones of our family that I may or may not have already told you all about:

P man: no longer uses a pacifier, and demands to sleep in a big boy bed.  I have two major goals to accomplish with him before this summer, potty training and riding his balance bike.  I haven't concluded yet which adventure will be easier to accomplish - depends on the day.

MLL:  almost 6 months old.  I probably won't be writing again until she actually is 6 months old, so I'm updating you now :)  She's a happy, easy going baby who rarely cries and is always smiling.  She especially smiles at her brother and when no one is looking he can be caught making funny faces in her direction.  Though he really hates it when she grabs a hold of his hair (who can resist!?) Speaking of P's hair - I have yet to go ANYWHERE since that kid was 9 months old without someone commenting on his hair.  And as far as I can tell, everyone had white blonde hair like his when they were young.  Thats the word on the street anyway.

We spend most of our days in the back yard or taking a very slow stroll around the lake close to my parents house.  Sometimes we only make it around the creek but it takes P an hour to do that and its mostly nice to get out in the sunshine.  We are also still swimming at least 3 times a week so I am thinking of putting the kids in swimming lessons (amend my goals to potty training, bike riding, and swimming).

Everyone is still busy adjusting and making friends.  We'll be church hopping soon to find a church home (suggestions??), I'm going to a Bible study, an occasional girls group, date nights, exploring parks with different friends and trying to be somewhat helpful in maintaining the house hold. Its a full time job.  P still loves to bake so we try to do that on occasion but he is less than helpful now that he has discovered that cookie dough tastes delicious.

I'm starting to get a bit anxious living in transition mode since most of my things are still packed away in storage.  BML saved some of my sanity by setting up a small little office space just for me that is far enough away from the action that it takes someone at least 3 minutes for someone to find me - so that's some good quiet time :)  I think we'll start to move our stuff into different storage with more access soon since it is on average 77 degrees here each day and I still have Annapolis winter clothe hanging in my closet.

Aunt T, LTD, MLL, and I are headed up to Pensacola Beach / Gulf Breeze this weekend for our cousins baptism and to see family.  We're looking forward to the time together, but we all will miss the boys!  Especially P...we'll miss everyone, but especially P. :)

I'm attaching some pictures of everyone from LTD's computer - is anyone out there on instagram?  we just started - i put pictures on there fairly often and would love to see some of yours!  Leave your name in the comments (ha, like anyone ever comments :) ) or search for us!


p.s.  how awesome is CMD for doing IMPROV!!??  I about wet my pants just thinking about it.  i could never do what he is doing....we're pretty proud!

p.s.  attaching pictures is frustrating me.  i will try again later.  maybe.

Long Winters Nap

Well, hello there readers. I know, I'm sorry. I bet you dont even recognize me anymore. Maybe with some time, you'll be able to forgive. I sure hope so.

So, since the last time I wrote to you, I have had a number of adventures. The week before Thanksgiving I said "see ya later" to LA, and headed to Orlando, if only for a minute. LTD picked me up at the airport and we headed immediately to Pensacola, Fl. That's right, I was in Orlando for exactly as long as it takes to drive from the airport to the city limits. I dropped LTD off in Pensacola and continue to drive to Fairhope, AL for a friends wedding. If you have never been to Fairhope, and I don't know why you would have, you should go. It is a lovely town, and I had a lovely time. Since I'm updating for a number of weeks, I'll keep things fairly surface oriented, not too many details. But, at the reception for this wedding, they had these grilled cheese sandwiches. Now, I know, you're wondering how a grilled cheese sandwich could possibly make a non-detailed post. Well, they were delicious. Little triangle pieces of bread with ample amounts of pimento cheese slathered in between the slices, the chefs generously applying butter as they brown to perfection on the grill. You're mouth is watering, I just know it. Anywho, after the festivities, I picked LTD back up from Pensacola and headed to Orlando.

Once back in Orlando, it was time to celebrate P-man's birthday(the L clan was in town for Thanksgiving). The kitchen was decorated the night before with streamers and balloons, most notably a life-size(I guess life-size for a fictional character is hard to gage, but it was large) Elmo balloon. I didn't really know how much the kid loved Elmo until this trip, but he loves Elmo, a lot. For the big day LDL, BML, LTD, Pman, Goose, and I all made the trip to Disney. Originally, I didn't think a 2-year-old could really enjoy Disney. I was later told by a family friend whom I was recounting the story to, "Aw, no man. Kids love that [stuff]." Which, of course is the truth. Pman loved riding Pooh, and pointing out all the animals, even the ones only he could see(they weren't imaginary, he just saw them when others couldn't. The kid is impressive. BML and I took his on Dumbo, which was a lot of fun, however, we did get a few looks as maybe an "alternate lifestyle family." As LDL mentioned in her post, Pman also loved Jungle Cruise, although it was the site of his one and only meltdown. Granted, it was nap time and the line was pretty long. It was also fairly evident it was coming as he started to get a little loopy and decided that taking a sip of his water and spitting it all over himself was funny, which, of course it was. The Country Bear Jamboree was also a bit hit, but P missed some of the show because he was very taken by Buff, Max, and Melvin- the lovable animal heads on the wall (buffalo, deer, and moose respectively). A very successful day to day the least. And tiring.

We were minus RBD3 for Thanksgiving, but still managed to have a decent time. The food, was, as always, quite delicious and provided me with meals for a number of days to come. I don't know how many of you have had LTD's chocolate meringue pie, but, well, let's just say it would be featured in my "last meal". This is generally not a real healthy eating time for me. I have a problem with holding back when there are all sorts of deliciousness around me. So, I didn't hold back. And I was ok with that.

My next adventure was accompanying LDL, Pman, and Goose back to Annapolis to help pack up for their big move to Otown. More than once, I was called "Daddy" by strangers referring to my wrangling of Pman. It was too early to try and correct them. I was a little nervous about how the plane ride would develop, since I dont fly with 2-year-olds very often. But I learned quickly that for these 2 hours(or so) the best thing to do is to give him whatever he wants. Which was really just food and "birds". And ice.

While in naptown, my responsibilities were pretty much just either to play with Pman or to pack. These often overlapped, and really the majority of the time was spent playing. There were at least two games he enjoyed very much. The first, was me carrying him as we ran in the field behind the house. This got tiring quick. Not because I didn't want to do it, but because I physically got tired and could no longer do "more". The other started as an accident, I think. P was balancing on my stomach when he drooled on me. I laughed and said something along the lines of "ew, P, dont drool on me." So, of course, he loved this and thought it was hilarious. After playing and packing for a few days, I drove the volvo down to Orlando to begin the L clan moving process.

Next up is Wilmington, NC. Another wedding. I rode with a few people, which was a little ironic, since I pretty much had passed Wilmington on my drive down a week earlier. I had been to Wilmington once before for a 4th of July weekend. I vowed never to come back. Not because the city isn't great, because, it really is a cool place. But, because, well, nevermind, it's not important. The wedding weekend came and went, with all the functions being fun, and once again I left saying, "never again."

Before Christmas, 1127 saw the return of FTD and RBD3. We all had a great few days, which included a lazy Christmas day the like of which haven't been seen before at our house. One of our main goals was to make sure the house would be ready for the arrival of the L clan. 9 family members sleeping under one roof. I believe everyone was quite dobie (I hope everyone passed the reading comprehension portion of the last post). We really spent the next few days just hanging out and being together. I know it had been, but it never really seems that we've not all been together in recent memory.

New Years Eve came and we had a nice family dinner before a few people headed out and a few people headed to bed. It was good to see some friends before heading back to the West Coast in what would be a few days. Oh, at this party, there was some incredibly good food. Chicken and pulled pork sliders, really good sushi, and my favorite bacon-wrapped dates. I probably had 20. I don't think I'm really exaggerating much at all.

Well, I think you probably saw the pictures of the walk in which P made us all wear hats since it was so cold (60 deg). It was a pretty great send off to cap what was a wonderful 6-weeks bouncing around the southeast. I forgot to write about a Christmas party, which was great, but the best part was that it ended with viewing some old family videos with great friends which led to gaffawing as they always do. Shortly there after I FB'd (I would actually like to see everyone's reaction to that to see who immediately understands, and who never gets it) that "I'm sorry you didn't have my childhood." I was obviously meant as a joke, but I just can't imagine anyone having it better than us.

Fin.