Christmas in Bali {with three small kids}

We are very fortunate to live in a place where it’s easy to travel internationally. My husband working at a school and having lots of holidays is also a nice bonus.. We spent this past Christmas in Bali, Indonesia.

I don’t blog about all the trips we’ve done but I have shared a few over the years. If you like this kind of travel post, you can scroll to the bottom to find many more. I’ve also shared a few tutorials that are great for travel… here are a few to check out:

Electronic charger tutorial  Laptop case tutorial Travel Journal

Travel Portfolio sewing tutorial {individual} {family Size} Tips for Traveling with kids

Okay, here’s my Christmas in Bali..

First up, I’ll admit that we don’t usually travel like this {in this style!} You will see in my other travel posts that our accommodation is usually much more basic… But, for this Christmas in Bali, my mom did the bookings… and she found some really neat places!! {and footed the bill, thanks mom and dad!!}

Here’s where we spent the first week.

The open house looked out onto the pool, which overlooked the ocean. We were near Balian Beach in West Bali. 

What a place to eat Breakfast!

Christmas was a little different than normal… Presents wrapped in pool towels..

Games in a gorgeous Indonesian villa…

Fresh Coconuts to drink

Christmas Pjs {made by Grandma} By the pool..

Where’s Waldo book by the pool.

Roast Pig for Dinner… 

My brother and his wife were there too, they live in Saipan.

So nice to spend time with my mom. {and dad}

We did a few outings from this location. The Temple Tanah Lot, which is out on the water and you can’t get to it, but it’s pretty to see.

and of course every temple has interesting things to do… like hold a snack {for a fee of course}

After the temple we stopped at a place where you could see monkeys and also these large fruit bats. Of course you could pay to hold one and my son did. I was so freaked out the whole time, but he was so proud of himself.

We also took an hour drive and then hiked to this waterfall.

We also spent hours on the beach, because of course that is the purpose of a house on the water.

I got to take 2 yoga classes with my sister in law…

We then moved to the center of the island to Ubud, when I was last in Bali, 7 years ago I remember this being a quaint, quiet place… not so much anymore. It’s been build up a lot, but still worth the stop. We rented another villa there. This time we overlooked a gorgeous valley.

Our first day we spent time exploring the markets… and eating yummy food.

Then we saw a cultural dance show in the evening. Ubud is the cultural hub of the country so there are lots of dance shows and other arts.

The next day we did a downhill bike tour. After taking us to a coffee and tea tasting, we basically coasting downhill for the next 3 hours… It was really fun and not strenuous, which was good because we had the kids and my parents.

Another highlight of our time in Ubud was the 2 hour walk we took through the rice paddies. Just lovely! Rose took a nice nap on our hike {ha!}

Our final adventure there was a drive to the rim of an old volcano. Over the years there had been many eruptions and you could see the lava flows. The boys thought this was great.

Our last two days we moved to Kuta, which is the most popular place on Bali, but also near the airport, which we needed to leave in a few days. We stayed at a cheap bungalow place, but it was actually really quiet in all the action and had a nice pool.

We also spent a lot of time on the beach, and saw a gorgeous sunset.

New Years Eve in Kuta was really something. We partied hard until 10 {ha!} then lay down to sleep. My husband put in earplugs, but I lay reading and listening to the fireworks all around us. Our place was really quite, but when I went outside at 11:45 there we literally fireworks in all directions around us. SO crazy and fun!! It all stopped just after mid-night and I fell asleep. We headed home the next day. That’s it!

Traveling with kids can be exhausting, but its also just a great experience, I think it’s worth it. The boys do pretty well, and Rose is two.. so she’s the wild card! There were melt downs for sure, but we still all had a great time and loved the trip.

Here are a few other trips I’ve blogged about in the past. I know this isn’t a travel blog, but I do love taking pictures when we travel, and you always seem to like it when I share..

Boracay, Philippines

Chime Long Resort, China

China Adoption Trip

Some of these are posted over on our family blog – {which I’ve been horrible at keeping up lately}

Abu Dhabi, UAE {Part 1} {Part 2} {part 3} { Part 4} {Part 5} {Part 6}

Guilin, China

Hanoi, Vietnam

Palau {part 1} {part 2} {part 3}