Week 248 and Week 160.5 - New Year's at Telunas Beach

Greetings from chilly Minneapolis!  I am super jet lagged and thought it would be a good time to catch up on my overdue New Year's post at Telunas Beach - our favorite beach holiday that is a little slice of Midwest hospitality in the middle of remote, beautiful Indonesia!

We organized the trip with the Levines in early September - something I would not do on my own but I was glad that we did -as we got the best rooms on the Telunas Beach side.

I will let the pictures tell the story.

Long bumpy boat ride from Batam to Telunas:

First beach day:

Char and the Levine kids went to do the ropes course while I stayed beachside with Sophia.  Here they are with the other kids on the island:

Juliet and Char:

They were best buddies on the trip - Juliet let Char be the alpha:

Daddy and Sophia:

Todd was a game photographer:

Naked Juliet:

Great shots - thanks Todd:

Jared's first fish:

Beach campfire:

The view outside our room:

Beach fun again:

There was a sandcastle making contest.  Charlotte wanted us to make Elsa's palace but we ended up with a dinosaur head.  She was pretty unhappy and directed Sophia to destroy what we had made.  She had a meltdown.  The kids were too young to do this.  But there was candy at the end so everyone was happy eventually:

Groupish shot:

Levines' final sand castle:

Sophia ran into the room so she could retire on the patio:

Boat ride fun:

Sunset New Year's dinner:

Family shot:

Cheeky in the room:

We took a boat ride to do a hike to a waterfall - it was a little slippery and tiring and treacherous for our under 5 set.  Charlotte got a slight injury as Matt put her on his shoulders and a thorn on a branch cut her cheek and face.  She is fine now but man it was a rough trip!

She was an enormously good sport:

Sophia describes the expansive beach to Char:

I jumped off a pier - and it was fun!

We spent two nights on the Telunas Island side - it was swish but we thought the beach side was more idyllic for our little ones.  Here is the Island side room:

Jared celebrated his 8th birthday (and Todd's 40th too!) - here is a photo of Jared and his cake:

Beach time:

We buried our new friend Hanlie's son in the sand:

Monica and I:

Spaghetti face:

Poolside:

Todd, Jared and I kayaked from Telunas Island to Telunas Beach - also a new experience for me but very fun:

Matt and all the girls:

Drakes:

Families:

Sophia is a goof:

Boat ride back to civilization.  Matt forgot his wedding ring but got it back from one of his hockey friends who was also staying at Telunas and taking a later boat that day.  Great service from Telunas!

Am Sol sent the girls off at the ferry terminal - on her day off!  Such a sweetheart:

Week 247 and Week 159.5 - Christmas part 2

Ok sorry - I am going to lame out a bit on this entry.  I really want to do a proper entry on our amazing vacation - but I am super spent on the boring aforementioned expense report purgatory I have just escaped from.  I am going to America(!) on Monday and hope I have more time.  All the photos are uploaded - I just need a chunk of time (and a hearty internet connection) to get it done!

So this post is kind of all things Christmas vacation that wasn't idyllic beach in remote Indonesia.  Sorry to disappoint but I have been up late every night and our beach holiday deserves a proper entry!

It is of note though the morning we left to go from SG to Macau (last Sunday) - we nearly missed our flight because the girls were so whiny and whingey for wearing cold weather clothes in Singapore.  I mean an hour of whining!  These girls must live near the equator when they get older.  Luckily the weather in Macau was not so cold when we arrived... but the DNA has been imprinted and these girls are warm weather girls!


Christmas Eve in Macau - where in the world is Matt?  Manila this go around (but he made it back with Santa on the evening).  So we took Char's Capoeira teacher Titan and his lovely girlfriend Raca out for dim sum.  Their first time - I was surprised (as dim sum in HK/Macau is the equivalent of In-N-Out burger in California... it must be done!).

Someone is missing from this Christmas Eve picture:

Obligatory Dreamworks photos:

Christmas morning there was some present opening.  They are getting very into it:

Even Dawan gets into the fun... sort of:

The day after our sumptuous Christmas dinner at MGM - we celebrated Emi's birthday with at Oliver's house.  He happened to whip us up a turkey lunch effortlessly as I would whip up soup out of a can.  A great boxing day:

Here we are staying at Jisun and Hanli's at Robertson Quay, Singapore-  thanks for letting us stay - it was perfect!

Skyping Grandpa:

Char's photography skills are improving:

After Telunas, we were back in Singapore!  Uncle Steven got these dresses for the girls and treated us to local food and ice cream at his restaurants in Clarke Quay:

We were happy Chris and Jacob could join us too!

I want to bring Sesame and Green Tea ice cream to Minnesota!

I love this photo - they look like teenagers!

Uncle treated us to a boat ride where we took some fun photos with Auntie Linda:

Marina Bay Sands:

We visited TT - he strikes a Susie pose here:

We took Julia and her lovely fiance Richard to dim sum before we left to Indonesia (we love our dim sum!):

Char has a great smile here:

Week 246 and Week 158.5 - Christmas part 1

Sorry sorry sorry - I actually missed an entire week of blogging.  I was off the grid so to speak on our (now) annual trip to Telunas Beach.  I dare say that I did not miss you, dear Internet, but I will attempt to do 2 blog posts this week to catch myself up.  Admittedly even this post is going to be scant at best.  I am leaving to go to America in a few days and have some administrative issues with my Macau company to clear up before I go (I know that sounds exciting and official but really it is doing a year's worth of expense reports).  So I have been up till midnight most nights taping receipts to paper.  Oh, the glamorous life of a business owner.

So I will leave you with just a few shots till a few days from now when I am not snowed under receipts.

We spent Christmas day with the lovely Webers at MGM.  There was a magician and Santa Claus and sangria and mojitos.  I sometimes wonder if the kids will grow up thinking everything is a special event that has magicians and Santa Claus- perhaps something to consider when we repatriate.  Anyway - here are a couple of shots from the nice (and gluttonous) day:

I love this photo - Sophia reminds me of an older soul than she is:

This was from last month - but here is our 'official' photo from the American Chamber of Commerce Ball. Prom 2014 baby!  I did not realize that these girls were also going to be in the photo with us: