Girls Weekend out-- Bali style

This weekend Abby and I joined our friend Meredith and her baby girl Adrienne for a Mommy Baby weekend in Bali. We flew out Friday mid-day. The girls were great even though we had a two hour delay in the airport. They hung out in Adrienne's sweet stroller. Abby chewed on random toys and Adrienne had someone entertaining to watch.

It is a quick little flight to Bali. Flying in the views of the volcanoes and beaches was amazing. The airport itself looked like it had been plopped in the middle of an ancient temple. (you disembark the plane right on the tarmac and walk across it to the terminal)

This huge statue was at the main roundabout as you left. I loved his sarong. You have to put on a sarong to enter a temple here. You can either just buy one and carry it around with you or they rent them. I just loved that even their statues had sarongs.

We were picked up by our hotel (it was fun to see our name on a paper haa!) and on the way out of the airport I saw a Baskin Robbins and new I would like this place :) We are staying the first few days in an art enclave in the mountains called Ubud. The ride up through the main city of Depensar and then on through the jungles/ rice paddies was gorgeous.

I tried to make myself not cry with regret for not bringing my nice camera (I was afraid I would end up leaving it on a table or having it stolen-- REALLY regret it) Abby zonked out so I could try and catch everything. The furniture stores on the sides of the roads were crazy! They are really into doors here.

I am trying to figure out how I can buy things and have them shipped back to Dili. Everyone I have asked makes it sound like a common occurrence and relatively easy so we'll see. I want to use one of their doors as a head board from Chris's and my bed. We arrived at our hotel after the spa had closed so we missed our first appointment but the staff was so nice about it. They showed us to our amazing little villa.

It was situated right next to the Spa and our balcony looked over the pool. When you walk out the door if you look to your right you saw this:

Abby liked sitting on the planks that rested above our own little pond at the entrance.

If you look to your left you saw this:

Abby really looked like she wanted to get in haa!

Words really cannot describe it and unfortunately neither will my pictures this time! We had a delicious dinner and the staff whisked the girls away so we could relax and eat (This happens most places in this part of the world but Abby is such a Mommies girl that she usually only lasts about 5 minutes). We had fun trying to figure out how in the world to eat the fruit in the welcome fruit basket. Finally one of the kind workers showed us how each was supposed to be eaten.

The next morning the girls woke us up nice and early and we thought it would be interesting to go on a tour of the rice paddies. We called the front desk and within five minutes there was a personal guide at our door. He took us through the rice paddies that were right behind the hotel and explained the growing and farming process.

Thankfully Meredith was walking first and spotted this Spider:

If I had seen it first there would have been a lot of shrieking.
Then he walked us through a gorgeous corridor of bungalows and art studios.
You can totally tell artists live in these homes:

who needs a canvas on an easel-- your house works as one!

This art studio reminded me of our artist friend Chris Bodily:

I think if he came here he would never leave.
We went through this huge corridor filled with yoga studios and gorgeous little homes.

I peeked in one of the hundreds of bungalows for rent and this one had its own rice paddy instead of a garden

The stairs were a work of art themselves and the walls were amazing the way they laid out the rocks that grow moss in a pattern.

Walking back up to the hotel a school had just let out for break and there was this group of young boys.

They were excited to take a picture with Abby and I. The people are so mild mannered and kind here. Everywhere you look there are gorgeous old statues, moss and overgrown vegetation. Every structure has its own little "temple" that they place offerings at at least once a day with incense and flowers. So the whole city smells beautifully. Abby was happy the whole time just chillin in the front pack.

When we got back from our walk they were waiting to serve us breakfast. After Abby and Adrienne were very cooperative and slept while we enjoyed our massages. They of course provided a darling women who sat in our room to make sure the girls were safe and happy. After being massaged to pieces we headed into town for some shopping, to see the temples and the monkey Forest. You can pay two dollars and walk through this crazy Forest full of huge tress and teaming with monkeys. You can feed them bananas but have to be careful because they will run off with sunglasses, water bottles, even earrings. I really want to bring the boys back. I think Sam would be terrified but Liam would love it. The shopping in Ubud is crazy. They are known for their silk and lace and the prices are ridiculously cheap. You can barter, which I am horrible at, so I turned that over to Meredith. The girls were getting hot and fussy after a while so we stopped to eat at this darling cafe Wayane. They also offering cooking classes and I really want to come back and take one. Again the food was amazing and so cheap. They held Adrienne the whole time and would take turns playing peekaboo with Abby.

Our hotel picked us right back up and it was naptime again for the girls and hot stone massage for the mommies. Neither of us had experienced one before. It felt like having warm butter melted all over you... really amazing. We had to cool off after being melted and the girls loved floating around in the pool. These flowers (gardenias?) are everywhere and smell so good. It made a perfect girly touch for Abby (because her tutued swimsuit wasn't enough)