Bali: week three

Well, considering I spent the first week of our family Bali time in India, things aren't going too bad. After a rough weekend (because the housekeeper was off and I couldnt find the broom), I woke up today ready to tackle all things homeschool. I started out with re-teaching the big boys how to make French toast for breakfast. I've shown them three times already and every time Ronin swears he doesn't know how to do it. (insert eye roll here) I am genuinely concerned he is going to get to college and starve. But then blame me for not teaching him anything when its really his ears that need adjusting. Ok, so after breakfast we did some yoga which the kids laughed through and then made a really big (but fake, but kind of real) effort to meditate. Oh, these kids.. (insert another eye roll.) After some sit ups and fake pushups we headed to the pool. Asa was getting into being pushed around which is good because up until now he doesn't even get in. 

The kids then did math work online. And I swear, it makes me feel like my head might explode. you know that feeling when you have a kid saying your name over and over and over? Multiply that times 5. Because Asa loves to do it too. The pressure in my cranium builds up so fast that it wants to release any way it can. Whether that be spontaneous punching, or swearing or yelling. It comes out. Unless I get to it before and drown it out with a dirty Diet Coke. That helps too sometimes. 

So after a rocky start they ended pretty strong and I did get some one on one time with both Levi and Kai. They both struggle with math right now and have to have all my attention which means on any given day one of them sneaks away and plays or they get forgotten and math goes unnoticed. But today was a good day.

We took a nice quick trip to the art store for supplies since Cache was watching a building video and was suddenly struck with the desire to "make something". I love these moments except when we have nothing to make things with. I was relieved to have traffic running smoothly so the trip didn't take that long. We made it to the spray paint store, the art store and a home goods store where I stocked up on some pillows for the outdoor couch. They can be terribly uncomfortable without pillows so I was happy to get them.

 The afternoon was hot (one of our fans has broken) but the kids were busy drawing and crafting and building. Kai is becoming more patient with practicing his drawing. He usually tries to skip ahead by asking someone else to draw it, but after analysing the shapes he got going and didn't want to stop.
Ronin basically built himself a portable TV. Which to me is no different then his iPad but he said now he doesn't have to hold it, unless he wants to lay down, like so:

All my excitement over them getting creative flew out the window when I saw his creation. Just more stuff built around media consumption. Which is one of the major things I want to do away with being here in Bali. The internet is fairly spotty so I was thinking we would detox but that hasn't proven to be the case. Sigh. More work to be done.

In the late afternoon we took off to the beach. And it was a blissful (yet sandy) time. This little boy sells seashells down by the seashore... He played with his treasures for awhile and it was so sweet.

The sun set beautifully. The boys rented a boogie board and a surf board. They are practising and getting used to being in the salt water (something I still have yet to do)

Ronin is getting excited. He feels like he's getting better and more brave. Right now they are riding the broken surf and letting it push them to shore but I see he's getting braver and will soon be paddling out with the other surfers to catch bigger waves. We are hoping to get some lessons this weekend when dad gets back into town. Ronin now wants to go to the beach every day. Which is a relief since the first day we went he complained about how boring it was after only 2 hours.

 The sunset really was gorgeous. The only downside to this whole beach thing is its a very trendy spot on the island. So basically its chock FULL of 20-30 year olds on vacation. So were talking happy hour, G-string bikini, dreadlocked surfer dudes, 24/7. Not my idea of a kid friendly atmosphere. But hey... when in Bali, right? (I swear if I see one more flappy pair of butt cheeks I might have to go smack them!)

Anyway, I saw only two other kids on the beach and they definitely weren't two siblings. So I was the ONLY person with a family there. Let alone 5 kids in one family. But you know after being in Asia for 6 years, I'm kind of used to it. Its funny because in Utah, no one even bats an eye at how many kids I have.

 We ended the night with a trip to Babi Guling which is a a place for pork ribs but we got these lovely gelato bars. When we walked in the guy asked me where Patrick was because while I was gone in India they went there quite a few times.  How is it possible that after just two weeks this place is an old hang out? I can see already how Babi will be missed once we move.

The kids were covered with black sand from the beach so when we got home I told them to jump in the pool to rinse off before showering. They were more then happy to oblige. It quickly because a skinny dipping fest with everyone screaming "I feel so alive!!" I'm pretty sure our neighbours hate us. Yes, yes they definitely do. Luckily one of the villas is full of vacationing hippies who love to blast Led Zeppelin so we are both competing for most obnoxious neighbour. (I love LZ so turns out they are less annoying then  5 screaming skinny dipping children.

And thats the end of the day. A good day. A long day. Another day in Bali. Only three hundred and forty something more to go. What could happen??!