Happy Little Buddy

I didn't have an oversized Will Ferrill elf in tights when we started calling Axel Little Buddy. In fact, I don't know what I had in mind. Like most nicknames that emerge out of thin air, Axel one day mysteriously became Buddy and we have been trying to shake the name ever since. Though we call him Axel more now, I was worried for awhile that he wouldn't recognize we were talking to him when we called out his given name. In any case, Buddy aka Axel is a delight of a child. He has an amazing smile, infectious laugh and demeanor that evoke comment from most mothers "he is soooo good natured." Why yes, yes he is. We love the little guy and it has been fun watching him get big so fast. He weighed as much at six month as Stella did at a year. And he is tall too. And handsome. He started rolling just before we went to Bali, crawling a couple of months later, and taking steps by the time he was 10 months old. At 11 months, he is pretty confidently cruising the kitchen and going up stairs, though he hasn't figured out the down. He gets into everything, loves opening doors and cupboards and drawers, and can't stay away from the toilet, plungers, and toilet brushes. He is all Starr in looks and love of food. We think we'll keep him.

happy with a spoon

happy with Laurie in a backpack

happy after eating Stellas leftover donut

happy with Calder at the Olpins

happily sleeping in the jumper

happily wearing Stellas headband, courtesy of Stella

happy wearing nothing but a diaper, shoes, and a hat

happy posing for the camera

happy trying to get me to smile at him

happy in a sweater with rosy cheeks

sparkly eyed happy

Dance

Stella started taking dance this year . She is in a class called creative movement. was hoping for a hippie teacher and colored scarves waved to the beat of a bongo. But this is Heber after all. It would be more aptly named, intro to ballet for little tiny girls in pink tights. When I went to sign her up, the registrar told me she would need to wear her hair in a bun for class. Hmmm...we might not have a bun, but her hair will not be in her eyes, I told her. 

Stella has a lovely teacher named Miss Jamie who is amazing with a fickle group of three year old cuties. Stella loves it, even though she sometimes makes me walk her into the teacher and hangs on my legs and tells me I have to stay and watch. As soon as she starts class she forgets all about me and Axel waiting (or admittedly sometimes not waiting) in the hall. She was in a performance on the big stage before the nutcracker. Suzie Snowflake. She did a great job and loved it (though I had to pass her off into her teachers arms before she would let me leave backstage. She keeps asking when she gets to do another performance on the big stage.

Bali: The shortish version

Once we recovered from the crazy trip to Bali, we had a great time. We arrived in Denpasar at about 2am and after finally clearing immigration and customs found a cab to take us to the harbor where Love Song was moored. It was rather miraculous that we found Alan, flashing his headlamp in the dirty harbor at night.  We were relieved to be lulled to sleep on board Love Song and had a great week of sailing, hanging out, talking, and adventuring. After provisioning up at the bulk food store we sailed to Lembongan, a small island off the coast of Bali and stayed there for almost a week. It was fun to venture around the island on foot and on rented scooters. We hung out on the beach and enjoyed the food and wifi at the cafe's on the beach.  

After a week with the Simis family we took a cab to Seminyak where we rented a house from a friend of a friend in the heart of the busy fashion district. We had lots of downtime and naptime and ate really well at all of the fresh local restaurants. Calder found a dish --mi goreng (fried noodles with an egg) that became his go-to food for the trip. Though Bali is primarily Buddhist, unlike the rest of Muslim Indonesia, there were many things that reminded me of living in Malaysia as a kid. The language and food both took me back to our days living and traveling around the peninsular country. We spent several days hanging out at the beach in Seminyak, on padded lounge chairs we rented by the hour. We met up with the Simis's for an adventurous day in the lovely city of Ubud (cultural capitol of Bali) wandering through the monkey forest, learning about local crafts and culture, and gawking at impressive hand crafted furniture. The Balinese have a knack for design and everyone we met was overly nice. It was a great place to travel with kids. We bid farewell to Bali and the Simis's who were continuing on their way around the world, next stop Malaysia.

We had to leave a day or two earlier than we had hoped to catch open flights back to the states. We spent a quick night in Hong Kong and made new friends with the Bentley's who very kindly put us up in their apartment near the airport for the 10 hours we were in town. Someday we hope to go back some day for a real stay. 

The worst part about the whole Bali trip was coming home. Not that we weren't glad to be back home in our own beds, but the jet lag was a killer coming back this direction. After a day of rest we had to go back to work, but the kids were still on Indonesian time and night was day and day night. Try explaining to a 7 month old that even though he feels like its 1pm and time to play, it really is 3am, and time to sleep. We did have some memorable nights hanging out in the kitchen at 3am.  

Yoga at the beach in Lembongon

Calder and the kids walking the beach in Lembongon with LoveSong in the background

Scooter ride around the island 

Petrol

Swimming off LoveSong

Attempted family photo on the beach. We may not all be looking at the camera, but at least this one is in focus.

Morgan, Wyatt and Stella, just one of the boys, playing with the ipad

 The only other family photo that made it out alive: Monkey Forest

The Simis's--boys in biking gear for the scooter ride to Ubud-- at the Monkey Forest

Stella looking grown up at Joana's house (rental in Seminyak)

 More from the Monkey Forest

Stella got a pedicure. I think the girls doing it had more fun than she did.

Kid Pile-On

Sand Castles in Seminyak

Axel liked the beach

Lori Bentley and two of her kids seeing us off on the bus in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong 

3am, can't sleep, wishing we were back at the beach

25 Hours

Well, we made it to Bali. And miraculously back again. I thought I would break up the trip a bit, to get a better sense of how it unfolded for us. To document phase one of the epic journey: Getting there:

We left on a Tuesday night after work and we flew on four different planes before arriving in the wee hours of Friday morning. Even accounting for the 14 hour time change, that is a long time to be on the road. We had a late night flight to Kansas City (2 + hours). After a few lousy hours of sleep in a cheap hotel we flew to Detroit (2 + hours). From there we had a direct (16 + hour) flight all the way to Hong Kong. We enjoyed extra rows of seats (never happens anymore) and extra attention from the flight attendants who were wooed by the kids. Stella was in heaven with a season of Caillou and Dora. Even with a bout of puking (maybe from all the milk, cookies, and ice cream?) during the night we survived. We were lucky and ran through the airport (after a Cathay ticket agent took pity on us with two small children bleary eyed at 1am and gave us tickets without making us leave and come back through security). And then it was a quick 5 hour flight to Bali. Non-revving is never easy. Traveling internationally with children without a reserved ticket is pretty crazy. But we did it.

fresh travelers in the SLC parking lot

first leg: SLC to MCI

the pack mule checking-in in DTW

DTW to HKG: two rows, leg room, good TV

bleary eyed in HKG at 1am

YES! WE MADE IT! SO relieved to be on the last flight

HKG to Bali. This pretty much sums up our travel experience

Bali, here we come...eventually!

Ok, we're doing it. heading out tonight (Tuesday) on an epic journey. The itinerary goes something like this : SLC, MCI, DTW, HKG, DPS. I kind of think we might be little crazy. Standby travel half way around the world with two kids. We leave tonight for Kansas City, sleep for about 4 hours and then head to Detroit. Wait at the airport for five hours and leave for Hong Kong. Then hopefully catch a connecting flight that is scheduled to leave 1.5 hours after our arrival. If it pans out we'll be in Bali Friday at 1am. Otherwise we will GET to spend the day in Hong Kong. and try again the next night. I keep thinking of travel like I think of birth/labor. Not dwelling on it ahead of time and focusing on the fact that it is a finite period of time, that no matter what happens, it will end soon.

We will spend a week with the Simis family on their sailboat, and then stay in a house in Bali for a week. Once we make it and everyone adjusts to the 14 hour time change we should have a great time. And then the next day we'll head home. We are really excited! Send good vibes our way. We could use it! 

Nana

Stella has four grandmas. Grandma, Ma, Oma, and Nana. What a lucky girl. She loves them all and knows them well. She used to spend one day a week with Nana and Ma. She misses Nana now that she doesn't see her as often. This morning we stopped in for an early visit on our way to work and the babysitters and surprised Nana who was just getting out of bed. But don't worry, she assured us she usually is up earlier :) Axel was his usual charming, smiling self, and Stella gave really good hugs and ran around to all of her usual corners and toys. She loves to be center of attention and is practicing her cheesy smile. Axel is cutting teeth and loving that spoon. I love versatile baby toys. And on another note, Axel can now roll over. Congratulations, just in time for our trip to Bali. We're excited he is getting mobile, but really, couldn't you have waited another week?

Best Baby Ever

Little Axel has to be the best baby ever. He sleeps through the night (since he was 2 months old). He smiles all the time. He doesn't talk back or throw tantrums. He really is a dream.