Bali-Day 4

Day 4 was a beach day, several people had told us that the beaches in Bali were not that impressive. We started at Nusa Dua Beach, and we went in the early afternoon so it was low tide. There were lots of tide pools with a ton of starfish and crabs.

The first area we went to of Nusa Dua was okay, not the nicest beach, but just around the point was a long stretch of beautiful beach with white sand.

Still low tide.

And then the kids wanted to take a jumping picture on the beach...let the outtakes begin.

After a bunch of jumping around it was time to go; the sun was setting.

Good thing day 5 was yet another beach day!

Bali-Day 3

Day 3 in Bali was special and really cool. We took our kids and visited a local orphanage. I didn't take many pictures, but the orphanage was amazing and overwhelming because there is such a need there. We ended up taking a couple of the kids with us to go grocery shopping for them. Grocery shopping for close to 90 kids! It's amazing and only through God's grace and donations that this place is able to operate.

Dan did a quick checking out of some teeth, I know he wished he had access to dental instruments to render care to some of these kids that needed it.

This little guy stayed with us the whole time, he made it hard for us to want to leave. The crazy thing is most of these kids are not orphans but their parents cannot afford them but will come visit them, so most of the kids are not eligible to be adopted.

We stayed at the orphanage for a while then went back to the resort we were staying at. I can't lie, it felt odd to go from this situation where there is such a need on almost every level back to our luxurious circumstances. I've reflected on this visit since we went and hope it had an impact on our kids as well that they understand how blessed they are and that, if they have the opportunity to help others, they should always render service, that it's the way to happiness in this life! This day I will always remember!

Bali-Day 2

Day 2 was our last day in Ubud before we moved to Nusa Dua, one of the coasts, so we tried to pack it in. We started out at the sacred monkey forest. Now we had been warned by several different people how aggressive the monkeys are, that they will attack you, that they'll take anything that you have, etc. So, Danielle and I were a little nervous, but we still wanted to go. No one seemed to be coming out of the park maimed or otherwise injured soooo, off we went, and other than having two waters bottles stolen and dumped out, there were no issues.

You walk inside the park and there are monkeys everywhere!

They are definitely not leery of people and if you have something they want, yes, they will come up and take it.

This little monkey wanted whatever Avie had in her hand, I don't even remember what it was, but it kept coming after it!

And this one was thirsty because it got two of our water bottles.

The forest itself is beautiful.

Then Dan decided to buy a banana and hold it over his head to see what would happen.

He had a taker...that didn't get down. That monkey was quite content to sit on Dans shoulder and eat his banana.

And then of course the kids wanted in; one of the workers helped Rayce and Avie feed the monkeys.

Rayce was so funny, the look on his face the whole time was unsure.

I think he was afraid to move.

We ended our time at the forest and went to lunch with some friends that were in Bali as well and headed back to our hotel to get ready to check out, but made a quick stop at the rice paddies.

I think they're so awesome to see!

After we left our hotel to head to our new one we made a quick stop on the way to a place called Gunung Kawi. I really wanted to go here and I'm so glad our driver was okay with a slight detour because it was so worth it!

Gunung Kawi is a temple structure dating back to the 11th century.

Huge statues were carved right into the cliff face.

That was it for day 2, at this point I'm loving the jungle and want to stay.