Thanksgiving in Bali

So, Thanksgiving Bali edition started out with just two little piglets, Andrew and Andrea. Two piglets became three, as Danielle, my older sister decided to jump on the band wagon. Then came Chris, Ma, Ayah, Ash and TADAAAA! - Riani. Wait that's not all - Martini and David decided to come along as the whole clan was only a hop and a skip away from Lombok! We had faces come from Vancouver, L.A, Seattle, Kuala Lumpur and Lombok.

The two weeks was filled with food, food, and more food! Ok, there might have been some dancing, beach time, singing, motorcycle rides and some laughs. It was just such an incredible feeling to have family here in Bali. 

As you can see from the photo below, we spent most of our time on bikes. Sometimes, when there wasn't enough bikes to go around, we managed to squish one more full sized adult onto the back of a pair! There was a morning where we had 5-6 bikes and had created our own motorcycle gang :) If you're wondering whether or not anyone got into an accident - it would be the one piglet wearing the white helmet below. Kurt and I were feeling so very proud that all of our friends who had visited - had left unscathed. Andy wasn't going to let that statistic slide - and so he crashed my bike. Although he will argue that my tires were bald, and the roads are bad (all of this is true) I have been riding my little scooter just fine for the past 6 months! As we were all ready to head to Ubud, poor little Roo came home all banged up as he had crashed the Ducati (or so he thought my scooter was, the way he was riding it!) and had ripped up his arms and legs :) I wish we had a photo of the back pocket of his shorts - as his wallet had LITERALLY saved his ass from getting devoured by the tarmac. We were just glad he was alive and secretly enjoyed that he was receiving his own punishment by being unable to swim for the rest of the trip!

(MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE SMARTEST IDEA, BUT THEY LOOK SO SNUGGLY!)

For those of you who don't know who Ma and Ayah are, don't ask - it's a long story! Let's just say that the Townshend girls have adopted a pair of Malaysian parents :) They and their son, Ash (who is a rock star by the way!) came to Bali for the Thanksgiving celebration. This photo taken below is actually a day after Thanksgiving - as I missed the real dinner due to an unfortunate case of food poisoning. This night was incredible. We ate, danced, ate and ate some more! Ayah graciously treated us all and Ash performed for the whole gang as well! Such a memorable night. Ma has an embarrassing video of us all dancing to Dangdut somewhere.

(A WONDERFUL DINNER THAT AYAH TREATED US ALL TO!)

It seemed like the whole trip was about food. OK - maybe it was. This is probably one of my favs. A little homemade coleslaw, gluten free bread - filled with chicken satay (OMG so delicious) and sweet potato chips! A complete Paleo meal and absolutely scrumptious! I cant even say how many restaurants we went to. If we weren't eating barbecue fish by the beach, we were eating tacos at a Mexican joint. The backdrops were amazing. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner wrapped in the arms of the rice fields.

(EVERYTHING WAS ABOUT FOOD. THIS WAS AMAZING SWEET POTATO CRISPS & A GLUTEN FREE SANDWICH, STUFFED WITH CHICKEN SATAY!)

Nothing like some romance on the beach ;) Kurt and I took Andrea and Andy to Uluwatu for the day. This place is spectacular. Cliff bars, white sand beaches and cool water. This is probably one of our favorite places to go. It is quite the haul on motorcycles though, which is why we don't make it out there very often. It takes about an hour from our house to get there - which can be quite sore on your bum ;) We spent the day splashing in the waves and eating delicious food along the way. Andrew, however had to suffer as he was not allowed to play in the water (still healing from motorcycle wounds!) sad panda.

(A VISIT TO ULUWATU WITH ANDY & ANDREA. IT IS OUR FAVORITE PLACE TO WATCH THE SUN DISAPPEAR INTO THE OCEAN)

Ladies night! The best kind of night. Danielle and Riani decided to take Arty and I out for dinner. What a nice treat. They took us to Metis, a beautiful restaurant that over looks a rice field. Arty and I have known each other for 16 years now and i feel so lucky that she is still a part of my life and my family's life too. I had the lamb, which if you were wondering was to die for. Riani picked out a nice wine for us and we had girl talk - the best kind of talk :) Was so nice for the "big sisters" to take out the little ones :) Thankful for big sisters with big bucks! :p

(BIG SISTERS DECIDED TO TREAT LITTLE SISTERS TO A GREAT DINNER!)

I don't really know what I did to deserve such good friends and such a wonderful family. Everyone flew across the world to be with each other. It is such a beautiful thing to witness so much love in your circle. The world never seems intimidating to me when i know that i can call one of them and they'd be on the next plane out.

Really though guys, thanks. Thanks for coming to see where I live. Thanks for loving me and for spending your Thanksgiving so far from home.

Love you guys and see you all in 2014!

Happy New Year!

Love,

Stel