We arrived at our gate with plenty of time to spare and some amazing colours in the sky.

Once we had arrived, the first thing to do was to explore the villa! Off you go guys!

A diving platform over the pool??? Not yet kids! You still have your clothes on! We knew this was going to see a LOT of use.

The kids discovered lots of great places to hide and hang out together.

RJ made friends with all the local wildlife. Uncle Paul even taught him how to catch toads, and how to avoid getting peed on when you pick them up!

Coco was a small, very friendly monkey with a surprisingly happy grin. He loved it when we brought him young bamboo shoots to eat.

This male monkey had surprisingly long arms, perfect for grabbing onto the pony tails of little girls!

Oh Coco, what have they trained you to do? You poor (creepy), furry (creepy), little (creepy) person (creepy).

Safe under his mosquito net, RJ enjoys some early-morning entertainment before Mom and Dad wake up.

Somehow, we ended up at a villa with high-speed internet connectivity. Poppa, did you have something to do with that?

Each morning, we all got up and enjoyed coffee and conversation while we waited for our breakfast to be cooked. We were so incredibly spoiled -- it was wonderful!

Auntie Bron helps get Auntie Carrie's hair up. Carrie! Stop moving around!

The ladies at the villa took such amazing care of us. Every morning they laid out a fantastic spread of food with many of the ingredients bought fresh from the markets that morning.

Most of our meals at the villa were Balinese/Indonesian/South-East Asian recipes with lots of spices and bright, fresh flavours.

Grammy puts her feet up and enjoys a book for a few minutes, before we all head out for the day.

The tropical atmosphere suited Mom just fine... aside from the threat of mosquito and water borne diseases, that is.

Uncle Paul shows off some of his latest lets-feed-the-crazy-monkey pictures.

M. shows RJ how to cut the rope and win the game.

Sophie sits back and relaxes, being very good natured about the incessant click-click-clicking from her cousin with a camera.

Time for lunch! Auntie Carrie and Uncle Paul had problems with their flights from the US, so they weren't around for the first couple of days.

Auntie Bron and Uncle Troy chillaxxing by the pool with some awesome drinks made by Wasi and the ladies at Puri Angsa.

RJ and Mum hang out in the kitchen, making plans for the day. Most of the huts and rooms were open to the outdoors.

In one of the side gardens, they grow chilli peppers and once ripe, they leave them outside to dry on bamboo matts.

The main bedroom of one of the houses in the villa looks out onto the pool area from one floor up.

Most of the rooms and huts in the villa had traditional Balinese showers as well as modern fixtures.

This beautiful boardwalk actually covers a stream that runs across the middle of the property.

The warm sunshine by the side of the pool is much appreciated by Auntie Bron and Mum... The splashes from the people jumping in - not so much.

Preparing for a dive? Stretching? Dancing? ... Nah, probably just LR mucking around again.

Tee-Eye-Ohhh! Go LR, go!

P. and LR practiced all sorts of dives off the platform, including a bunch of tandem jumps.

Uncle Troy takes a giant leap from the diving platform! Look out below, this splash is going to be HUGE!

Poppa is under attack from RJ and M.!

The chessboard was a great way to pass the time between jumps in the pool. P. and LR had a truly epic battle!

Dad and RJ's turn to make a move! You're going down, P.!

The amount of delicious fresh tropical fruit that we got to eat was amazing. We were also lucky enough to make it over there for durian season!

Poppa has a big bite of tasty, tasty durian. Hey, that's a pretty weird expression you've got there, Poppa!

Auntie Carrie and Uncle Paul brought presents for RJ's birthday from America... as well as the best birthday card in the entire world. It was full of great ideas.

The view from our room in the evenings was just spectacular.

At night, the wildlife showed up and made itself at home: frogs, birds, giant geckos and some kind of weird mammal all wandered through the villa at various times.

Ahhh, Thanksgiving. Delicious as usual!

RJ needs to test the mud at the bottom of the pond manually... despite being told not to... despite the odd stinky smell... despite the availability of sticks for poking the mud... *sigh*

You hear the frogs? Yeah... I hear the frogs... You see the frogs? Nah... I don't see them... Wait a minute! Nope... Still don't see them.

RJ decided to go tree climbing afterward... up a fairly tall tree... on branches extended over large rocks... over a huge slope that dropped away under the tree...

Rach and Mum show off their mad cooking skillz! Turkey and cherry pie? Awwww yeaaaaaaahhhhh....

Anthony prepares for total turkey devastation. Meet... the... Carvinator!

Turkey? Gone... Four different types of pie? Gone... RJ (the bottomless pit) still has room for cherries, though!

LR teaches the east-coast kids the west-coast hopscotch rules... They're WAY harder than normal rules.

LR gets silly for the camera. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

We finally arrived in Shepherdstown to warm weather, cousins, and a swimming pool!

And water canons! The kids had a great time chasing each other down!

Run RJ! Bl. wants REVENGE!!!

Like the final scenes from a western... Everyone is gunned down and there will be no (dry) survivors.

RJ turns to the grown-ups and starts making threats... Mum is not as amused as he is.

B. takes RJ around to the frog pond and starts teaching some of his frog catching techniques.

The four cousins, Br., LR, Bl. and RJ, sit quietly by the pond, waiting for the frogs to return.

LR and Br head off to the veggie patch to find something for dinner.

The garden is amazing -- full of fresh veggies! The girls help Grandma Wendy find and pick the best corn for the night's feed.

The girls work together to bring back the giant bucket of veggies.

Auntie Robin and Uncle Jason made it to dinner too... Two days later, she wasn't this big anymore!

RJ emerges from the lake amazed at being surrounded by so much fresh water.

Bl. does his best fish-face for the camera.

Look out Mum! RJ brought the water gun along with him!

Auntie Grace and Grandma Wendy serenly bob their heads above the water.

Time for a boat ride! Immediately afterward, they recruited Dad to drive and forced him to go from one end of the lake to the other... and back again!

The sand isn't the same as back home, but it's still good enough to build sandcastles.

LR and Br. head down the slide together at the local park.

Bl. is wearing a hat.

LR forgot her hat!

Br. has her hat.

And RJ is willing to fling his hat away!

LR goes for a wild ride on the roundabout!

Hold on tight, RJ!

We stopped by the hospital to meet the new baby. Mum makes sure to get her cuddles.

She sure is a sweet little thing.

Even Dad got a chance to hold her.

A total of 5 very small fish caught over two nights -- the kids rated it a massive success!

We caught some very small fish and let them go again.

RJ spent some quality time with one of his favorite pals, the anthropomorphitronic T. Rex.

RJ and X go head-to-head for some competitive downhill sliding.

RJ and LR sculpting some clay creations during one of their school holiday activities.

We were visited by an evil scientist... The black lab coats always give them away.

It's a race and RJ got a huge head start. I don't think Poppa will catch them this time.

Mighty knights RJ and C engaged in a fierce battle to decide who would let the dinosaurs on the trampoline.

Local property moguls, LR and J, worked on their plans for buying up the city.

LR and RJ caught a frog in our pool. We haven't had rain here in over two months and he was looking pretty thirsty. We took him down to the nearby swamp where he can hopefully find a few friends.

Rescue 1 and Rescue 2 are on a mission to save the world!

LR shows us some of the features of Rescue 1.

RJ takes Mum through some of the critical features of Rescue 2.

Some emergency repairs are needed for Rescue 2.

RJ and LR went looking for one of our back-yard frogs.

We can hear it, but we can't see it anywhere!

Dad went to Canberra for two days. This is Parliament House.

Dad's cousin Jo took him to this place for dinner. They had the best hamburgers there!

LR explains the workings of the world to RJ.

Many days end with lots of bouncing on the trampoline. Get rid of some of that energy, kids!

Time for some stories before bed. Apparently, there's a hippopotamus on the roof.