We couldn't really afford to go away this year for Xmas despite plans to go to UK (still planning that one sometime soon).
Trips to Thailand with my brother, trips to Philippines, 2x trips to Cambodia and the list goes on already in 2012. So let's stay at home for Xmas itself this year and have a party with the girls at the condo. Yes we are hosts for Xmas 2012, with about 25 visitors coming to us for food, fun, party games, and the occasional celebratory something or other with more alcoholic content than a Coke Light (ha ha!)
But to break the year end up and celebrate South East Asia style - we popped on a ferry and went across to Indonesia. Staying at one of our all time favourites that you have likely seen before - Bintan Lagoon, on the Island of Bintan, Indonesia.
All a bit exciting this trip as we were able to catch the ferry straight to the hotel on the new Mozaic Line. Absolutely superb. Board the ferry and next time you seen your luggage is in the room. Immigration and Customs in literally in the hotel itself, how cool is that.
So we arrived fresh as daisies. Chilled out a while awaiting the room to be ready, quick change and off to the pool and here we are!
Well here is Mary. Me and the kids and in the pool already and Mary strikes up an Audrey Hepburn pose poolside. Hope I don't look like George Peppard yet, not quite the A-Team on the go, although I have to admit it I do like it when a plan comes together.
The usual fun in the sun, and in the pool of course. Amy as you can see is just getting more and more confidence in this swimming gig, although still jacket for the deep pool at the moment. Lesson start in anger in 2013 for this young lady. She is very good already though.
Should have some guys with cards standing poolside for this one AmyBoo. Daddy would give you a 10, as would Mary and Ollie I am certain. Beautiful technique and smiling the whole way down!
Lot's more from day one - some natural.
Some cute.
Some lovely family.
Some of the food.
A lovely Kennett Sandwich.
A pose or two of course!
Oliver shielding his fair white skin from the intense sunlight.
Complete cr*p - underneath this towel he's got his iPAD playing which he could not see without the towel. Don't we love it when our kids enjoy time with us on holidays!
Hmmm - OK then with that in mind, it's time for a drink - it all kind of goes a bit weird from here on this day!!!!
WTF!!!!!!
Look I didn't spill a drop!
Mary catching up now! Colada on the go, good effort babe!
Oh no she is SO like me this one!
This is a worry, we're all at it!
Even number one son hits the cocktails hard.
What happened then? Well it all goes rather rather crazy!
Huh - is that you Amy or is this all a hazy, tippsy dream???
Yep it's her alright! OK maybe not so bad then!
Mary where's Ollie? Is he OK? Why's Amy so sad??
Ollie, Ollie - what on earth you doing you loony - and why am I under water with you? This is freaky!
He can breath under water, it's official. Come on Mary and kids I gotta get going. Perhaps the heat has got to me, not this evil local beverage Bintan!
Hold on a minute did I just see SpongeBob Squarepants? You gotta be kidding me.
I'm losing it!
How many have I had?? I got to get off these Bintans, these are making me see things now.
I hate SpongeBob Squarepants, why not Marilyn Monroe as an apparition not this yellow thing. I think this may be a long night with little sleep!
Best we go off to a rather expensive meal at the Japanese restaurant in the hotel, Teppinyaki style.
Expensive yes, good - actually fantastic.
Here's Amy, bib on about to devour some Wagyu!
Ollie trying to work out where he really should his hot towel!
WRONG!!!
That's better - at least you can feed your face now - and boy did he/we!
And THE MAIN reason why we came in the first place.
"Daddy I want to eat at fire!", "Daddy I want fire", "Daddy I want to go to the Japanese restaurant with the fire". So we went to the Japanese restaurant with the fire. Pretty impressive it is too.
I missed the main bits as the chap literally has the entire grill in flames. You get massive heat from it and maybe a little scorching. When you receding hair line like me, this restaurant is bloody scary. Not my first choice, but when 4 year old demands, hey ho go with the flow.
I needed a trim anyways!
OK let's get to the slide on day No2, the deep one first - so jacket on again for the wee one. Ollie though decides he is a torpedo with his uber cool new polarised swimming goggles. Looks more like he's going clubbing than swimming. Cool dude!
But then if we migrate to the shallower pool, up to Amy waste - well it's "gloves off" - she'll do anything the bro can do. Watch out Ollie you sure got competition here mate!
A nice one for Mary and I from the kids - I can't remember if Ollie or Amy took this, I think Ollie. Nice one mate!
A one minute relax moment away from the "Dad", "Can we have", "Mary", "Can we get a drink", "Can we go to ....", "I'm hungry", "I want to go to the toilet" and so it goes on 24x7. But a quick, sigh, deep breath, a glance up and oooooh how beautiful is that. Drifty drifty for a fleeting second and then - BOOM - "I'm thirsty again, can we get a drink, I also want to go to the big slide, can we go to the beach too afterwards ............!" Ah think drifty thoughts .................................
First of the first day. Yes the world famous, it is indeed, it's here, the shout, the chant - can you hear it???
"Facebook, Facebook, Facebook!"
But a cracker Mary!
This one is funny. May not look like it but it is.
Notice we are leaning ever so slightly to our left? Just a little right?
Well because the camera was actually perched on top of a floating Amy life-jacket in the pool. I put it on there on timer to take a picture of Mary and I. We're all ready, 10 second timer starts and then the bloody slide right in front of us gushes a load of water out and starts the lief-jacket spinning away - so naturally we're leaning to stay on shot. Ha Ha - mind you came out really well methinks!
Bounce time!
Amy goes bananas on the the normal one and Ollie goes for his bounce and spin thing. He's got quite good at this now even managing 2x 360s on one bounce this trip. Looking good kids.
Then after MUCH persuasion we get Amy to do the following having watched Ollie do it alone. You could tell she was desperate to have a go, and finally after much chat and push she went for it. It goes like this:
Ollie comes back in and the deflate, with his sister watching and waiting.
In gets Amy with Ollie in now fully deflated ball.
Man starts to inflate said ball now containing Ollie and Amy.
Nearly there, nearly there!
That's it we're done - now what's next I hear you saying ...?
Yep run or crawl forwards on to the water - woo hoo, go for it kids! The one time we had peace on the weekend as you couldn't hear them from within side the ball. Kids you wanna go again immediately afterwards, please!!! Ha Ha!
They had a ball (scuse the pun), they really did. Giggles and squeals of delight. Great fun. I'm actually in the water taking these, and helping every now and then to push them safely back to the middle of the pool. OK OK pushing them upside down so they spin to a pile in the middle of the ball laughing! Hey it's my job!
These two are great as I got them to lay on the bottom of the ball and look in to the pool, and I ducked under and faced up, great shots! Brother and sister having such fun together!
Hold on a second it's DOUBLE FACEBOOK.
A single and a double. Sounds like a drink - I'll have a double Facebook please, hold the ice.
Nice though. This is outside the newly named restaurant, Rice. You'll see more of that in a moment. Pictures paint a thousand words, check this place out!
Open air alfresco dining and dining. What you don't see yet is the view we'd see if we spun round. Yes we're messing around again with camera on timer on the bar.
No need to say too much other than this is the view from outside the bar where we are above looking along the length of the restaurant itself. See there's outdoors, indoors, slightly covered (us) and roof-top function area. So cool. And back by chill-out tunes pumping from the stereo.
Let me turn left and show you the beach view from the similar vantage point. It does not get much better does it. This is 75 minutes ferry ride away from Singapore. Beautiful!
Fingers too tired now. So just FB FB FB, ha ha! Lovely photo Mary, Lovely!
The first sign of Christmas (bearing in mind this is the 22nd December) - with a tree behind the kids and a real ginger bread house all lit up with icing snow etc. Wonderful.
The other thing I love in this picture is the slate to the left, and the open thing beneath. That is the kitchen. A thing of beauty for us foodies. This is a belter!
Last night and personalised leaf placemats await us. Although I think we had the wrong table as our said welcome to the Kenneth's ha ha! Mind you when you have lived here a long time you get used to be called Brian Bennett, Mr Bryan, Brain, Kenneth, Kennett Brain and the list goes on. Still though what a lovely gesture!
Inside at night. The huge kitchen off to your right and a majorly long ice tray in front of me with all sorts of meats, seafood, lobster and stone crabs.
Here we all are enjoying the final meal. Not going to comment here on this as that should go on my foodie. But suffice to say the actual place is so so bloody good and nice and funky and the staff are lovely that you do let them get away with the food. It ain't all that. But when you look out to the view, you just kinda forget, know what I mean!
Any way I think we looked gorgeous! Nice Mary, just beeeeautiful!
Hmmm well OK maybe some of us are stretching that statement, maybe for the next picture she'll strike a better pose?? Maybe, just maybe!
Nice one Ollie, looking very handsome Son. Very debonair! Good looking lad is he not.
OK greying, few kilos over weight, wearing black to hide it in, but not looking bad. Loving life as you'll see I think.
And back to Amy, is she going to do a nice pose, possible, maybe, and click - oh bugger!
Oh NO it's catching! What happened to us??
One more go, oh SH@*T, bugger. Where's the lovely one of my little girl. OK Amy, promise Daddy, one more and make it a nice one - "OK Daddy."
It's official, I give up!
Ha Ha!
To close some randoms from the trip - some great fun was had - thanks to my Mary and my Kids!
Did I say it was Xmas? OK OK one of the guys at a token Christmas Tree shot or two! Ahhhhhh! See it is Christmas, even if you are wearing shorts and sweating like a p*g as Amy would say!
A walk across the green to the restaurant, Rice.
You can see it top right in the distance, right on the beach and next to the massage huts in the middle. Oh deep deep joy! Love this place!
I love this picture below.
NO NO NO - not because the kids are walking away, leaving Mary and I peace and quiet, beautiful views, each other and a calming drink. NO. That thought had NEVER crossed my mind.
What I was thinking was that I love it because even though you can't see their faces, you can see it is Ollie and Amy, in love as best mates.
The fact that Mary and I were left alone for 10 minutes or so, alone did I say, peaceful, staring at the beach, sipping cocktails, exchanging the occasional word in calm collected silence is neither here nor there there. I still love that photo for the other explanation.
It's true.
I promise.
Honestly .................
Sorry did I mention the lovely view below and the peace and quiet we got whilst having a drink???
I just mentioned that to Mary - what do you think without the munchkins for 10 minutes?
Happy?? Not sure what her response was, she didn't answer, she did this below!
Joking kids, we're joking! Promise we're joking!
The kids soaking the sights up of beautiful Bintan beaches as the sun sets and cast a variety of colours. Oranges, yellow, golds, blues, purples.
Truly amazing isn't it kids?
Kids!
Kids????
KIDS! PUT THOSE FLIPPING iPADS AWAY!!!!!!!!
Joking of course Ollie and Amy, Mary and I had a wonderful time thanks! We really did.
Loved every minute.
So to finish - it may not look like Christmas here, but it is all the same.
To all our family and friends across the Globe we wish you all a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS, and a MASSIVELY PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.
We miss you all and love you all.
You are always in our thoughts.
xxx
xx
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