The trip started off with fun at the Singapore airport. They actually had liquor taste testing at the Duty Free store. Here we are trying the different flavors of Absolute and Bailey's. I love taste tests!!
Laine and Joe ordered a "Waterfall" in the airport restaurant. It's a towering flaming drink! The only problem was the bartender only had one tall bottle so she decided to "build" another tall bottle out of spoons and glasses. We watched with fascination (secretly making bets when it was going to crash and fall). See photo below titled "before."
Guess this would be titled "after." Laine is choking on her drink because she is laughing so hard! We provided at least 10 good minutes of solid entertainment for the staff and patrons of the restaurant.
If we were sending out Christmas cards this year, this would be the photo we'd use. It was taken on Christmas Day after watching the most incredible native Balinese dance at Pura Luhur Uluwatu which is perched 330 feet up on a dramatic cliff side. Uluwatu is also a surf Mecca where to get to the surf you have to go through sea caves. Apparently, it is not for beginners because you can get pounded against the rocks.
Here is the Nikko Bali Resort, the hotel we stayed at. It was wonderful. I'd love to go back. The food, service, rooms, everything was top notch! It is on a cliff overlooking the beautiful waters of the Indian Ocean.
We decided not to wake the kids up the first day and went down to the buffet breakfast without them. Little did we know that they ordered room service and were enjoying it on their balcony overlooking the water. Can you spell "spoiled"?
Here is the oldest temple in Bali at Uluwatu. It is thought that this temple and it's statues inspired much of the temples and statues that followed and are such a rich part of Balinese culture.
Sunset at Uluwatu. Joe took this beautiful photo. He's an amazing photographer! You can tell that he loves taking photos.
One of the many statues that grace the island. This one was at the entrance to our hotel.
On a rainy day Laine, Joe, and Jamie rode what is called the "Flying Fish." It was really fun to watch. The lighter the occupants, the higher it seemed to fly! Here Laine and Jamie are airborne!
Christmas lunch consisted of native Indonesian fare at a restaurant in Tanjung Benoa. There was even a Christmas tree near our table for us to enjoy. Our driver, Ketut Kardiana, was born in Tanjung Benoa and lives with his wife and daughter there still. To have a driver in Bali for an entire day was only $60 US. There was also a one bedroom room for rent for $100 a MONTH!! 
Joe is getting started on his tattoo! Laine is watching with butterflies in her stomach. It was nice of her "big bro" to go first! They both got tattoos. Laine's dream was for all of us to get them, but Van and I decided that it was a better bonding experience for the kids than for us - LOL! I guess they will always remember the tattoo they got on Christmas Day in Bali!
Sunset from the observation tower at the Nikko Bali Resort. The colors were so amazing! There is nothing better than a tropical sunset to make your heart smile.
Van, doing what he needed to do on vacation. Lay back in the cushioned lounge chair, on the beach, with a hat to shield the eyes, and a good book. He was in heaven!
Ah, the beginning surfers before taking their first lesson. Insurance required that they all wear helmets. You can understand it when you see all the surf boards flying through the air. I hurt my arm earlier in the week when I suggested we do the "Briggs Family Train" down the water slide at the hotel pool. Van was behind me on the train and we got separated half way down. Unfortunately, he caught up to us right as we entered the pool. He careened into me and I hurt my arm!
Joe taking a tumble, but that is good because it meant that he got up! The Rip Curl Surf School guarantees that you'll get up, or they keep giving you lessons for free until you do. The school was at Kuta Beach which had great waves that were breaking pretty close to shore. The only problem was the garbage floating in the water that kept sticking to your body. It was gross! 
Laine's up, then she's down!
Laine and Joe after a successful day surfing!
Brother and sister "high five" each other congratulating themselves on a fun filled day of surfing!
Laine practicing her lessons at the beach at the Nikko Hotel the next day!
This Russian (yes, there were a lot of Russians at the resort) got water in his ear and was jumping up and down in his Speedo to get it out. I couldn't resist a photo! 
View from the beach looking toward the new St. Regis resort. On either side of the hotel were Balinese families living in tin covered shacks. Their livelihood was from fishing and gathering and farming the seaweed that washed up on shore. The seaweed is used for cosmetics and is a valuable natural resource. They gathered seaweed all day and into the night.
This old woman was amazing. She was bent over all day long harvesting seaweed and when she smiled, she had two teeth. Her eyes were wise and knowing and truly a portal to her soul.
The seaweed farm near the resort. This is a younger version of the woman above. In my imagination, they were related.
Joe decided to let Laine "shave" his head before we left for Bali. Here he is sporting a peeling sun burnt head! Go figure! 
Close up of the rice growing as the sunset was reflected in the water. It was so amazing to see rice paddies! 
One of our favorite spots was Ubud which is a Mecca for crafts. We bought a painting, wood carvings, and marveled at the rice paddies which were the most beautiful green you can imagine. 
Statues at Benoa. They were lined up on the fence pillars that were on a wall surrounding a hotel.
Laine and Joe "captured" Van and held on to him so they would be washed ashore with a big wave. They tumbled about, got sand in every orifice possible, then washed back out. This went on until they were completely exfoliated! It was much cheaper than the spa treatment!
Another photo of the spa treatment above. I had to put the camera away and join them they were having so much fun!
Ketut (our local driver) took us to the Blue Marlin Cafe where we had a table on the beach, watched a dinner show of fire jugglers, and got to pick how much fresh seafood we wanted by the kilogram. We went into the kitchen, picked it out, and they grilled it. It was great fun and it was a beautiful, star-filled night with a cooling light breeze. It was perfect. 
There are more scooters than cars in Bali. We marveled at the number of people that could fit on one scooter. Here is a family of 4! Whenever the Balinese people see a camera, they smile. This Dad even pulled up his visor on his helmet so I could get a good shot. We were driving in the van with cameras and heads hanging out the windows. 
Sacred cow (Balinese people are Hindu) near a soon to be sacred temple. They were just building this temple so we had the opportunity to go up on it and look around. It was very beautiful and was done with great craftsmanship. We were not allowed to go into any other temples. 
Suckling pig at Ubud with the whole crew. There were three families from Van's work in Bali. We spent the whole day together and suckling pig was tops on the agenda. We were seated at a table that is a couple feet off the floor and the pig was AWESOME!
These kids were in a "pack" down the road from where Laine and Joe got their tattoos. They were so happy and such "posers." It made us happy just to take photos of them.
Lots of Balinese women carry things on their heads. It's amazing! Here is one of the masons who was working on the new temple. She had a bucket full of grout. I can't imagine how she could support it, let alone balance it. 
Here are the boys that were part of the cliff dance. Each one of them made a separate sound that when combined with all the others was like listening to an orchestra. It was the highlight of our trip and we saved it for the last day there - Christmas Day.
Sunrise from our deck at the hotel. It was always cloudy when we woke up, but it cleared up later in the morning on all but one day. 
This young mother and her little daughter were near the seaweed farm. The cute little girl was amazing with her ski hat on. It wasn't a cool morning by my standards - it must have been a fashion statement for her. 
There was a Balinese Santa Claus in the surf shop on Christmas Day! He seemed a little short surrounded by Laine and Van. 
Laine not really sure about how much excitement there is in feeding camels. We were on the half-time break from our camel excursion. The funniest thing was that the guide said "let's GOT it on!" when we were ready to go. We cracked up at that and used it many times later in the week! I never thought we'd be riding camels on the beach for Christmas Eve.
The camels wanted us to know how they felt about having such large riders upon their backs. They took one look at us and starting making the most horrible noises! This one looks like he's dying!
The lounge chairs on the beach at the Nikko Bali Resort. They were as wonderful as they look!
Each morning at the beach, the men dug holes and buried the seaweed that washed up on the beach during the night so it wouldn't rot and stink. It looked like a lot of work, but I was glad it didn't smell in paradise. However, it does give you a new appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes to give you that perspective of paradise. 
We see many strange things being transported on scooters in Malaysia and Indonesia, but this was truly funny. It's a pot-belly statue covered in plastic. We haven't seen that before! 
All the children in Bali were beautiful and had the warmest smiles imaginable. It was truly a blessing to see the people of Bali smile. It was contagious. This one sported a Harley hat!
It rained pretty hard one day and the streets were flooded. Yes, it does rain in paradise, but fortunately for us, it wasn't very often. 
The water lilies at the hotel were beautiful! The would only open up fully in the early morning.
Laine in her Balinese sarong doing some bartering with a local woman over a dress that caught her eye after our snorkeling expedition. 
We went snorkeling on a day trip to Mushroom Bay. There was a storm rolling in, but it didn't rain as hard as it looked like it was going to. 
Sunrise from our porch at the hotel overlooking the Indian Ocean. It was so nice to hear the waves crashing onto the shore all night long. I slept really, really, well the whole week.
Here is the pool from our balcony. It was fun with the water slide, swim up bar, organized games, and full-pool basketball. I was in the finals for the chip the tennis ball into the open umbrella competition. I was narrowly defeated in the finals! 
Part of the dance at Uluwatu involved fire! It was amazing to see them dancing barefoot through the flames. Joe took this great photo of one of the dancers leaping bare-footed through the flames. It was a classic dance of good versus evil. There was no declared winner.
Another character from the dance. 
Two princesses from the dance. The way they moved their eyes and hands was unbelievable. 
There were monkeys all over the place at Uluwatu. Our driver told us to make sure we took off our earrings because they'd pull them right out of your ears! We saw one lady crying "ouch" as a monkey tried to make off with her hoops. 
Scooters are used in many ways. Joe got this photo of a wheel barrow being pulled behind a scooter.
Another view of the lounge chairs in paradise. I honestly can't wait to go back. Just looking at the photo relaxes me. The white umbrellas came in handy when you got your quotta of sun and needed a little shade.
Here is a view of the country side. It was incredibly green (as you can imagine a tropical place would be) and there were beautiful flowers everywhere.
I have a bunch more photos, but the blog is giving me fits because it's so long. So, I'll close for now knowing that the Briggs' spent the most exciting, wonderful, fun, and fantastic Christmas ever in Bali. We hope that you and your families will have the best New Year and that every happiness you could imagine will come into your lives in 2009! We are enjoying our journey and marveling at how much of the world is really out there for us to experience.
