Bye bye 2015!

Another year is almost gone, Tiare is eleven, Antoine is turning six, and all the usual stuff

 Australia is still warm and slow. Nothing really happens, we work, meet with friends, watch the kids grow, as one would do in any country.
There are, of course, some typical Australian parts of our life. Like kangaroos in the wild, beach trips all year round, killer sun, embarrassing ex-prime ministers, surprisingly large aisles of vegemite in the supermarket, and aggressive birds.
And Australian teachers. Who cannot handle 26 well-behaved-children from a oh-so-quiet-suburb. So on top of working, parents are expected (and some are willing for some reason) to attend and animate reading groups, swimming class, computer lab, arts, blablabla. And fundraise, tend to the community garden, and take care of stupid silk worms over the school hollidays. *stupidest class pet ever*

Tiare has started water polo. Her team is good (they lost the first match but have been winning all since then) and they have fun, but again it's Australia. Instead of starting with 1hr a week of casual training and some competitions, because well... they're kids and we don't want to ruin it all in the first year (right?!) they have 3hrs of training + weekly competitions (usually 8am on a Saturday). In the first year.
I understand now why Australians like to have kids when they're older: you need to give up your life to be a parent here, everyone is their kid's coach, manager, and impressario!

Sometimes we like to "climb" Mt Cootha, just to make sure that he city center is still made of ~8 buildings. Check.

 

And Nico is keeping an eye on the kids, especially that pre-teen one

 

We've been bowling for Tiare's birthday party, followed by crazy girls karaoke

 















We've also seen the few exhibitions "in town"this year

 

Aboriginal art is still beautiful, and Antoine feels at home in museums. Maybe because there are so few of them in QLD or because the temporary exhibits tend to come back every year...

 

But mostly, we've given up on art and culture. We're embracing the outdoors and getting experts at spotting the best public BBQs. And thus we paid our usual visits to the beach and the kangaroos/ wallabies

And that's pretty much it for now!

Bali with kids, some pictures of places and fun stuff to do!

Here are just some bulk pictures, selected quite randomly on my computer, but that capture the spirit of a family trip.

With young children, it's difficult to be on a schedule: we already do that all year round, no one wants to be on the clock during a family break. Or I don't anyway.

There are some beautiful places in Bali, tourist-must-see attractions, amazing temples, gardens, museums. But there are also lazy ports and small villages hidden in the mountain. There are the famous rice fields that are so perfectly organized that they are breathtaking. Friendly locals who are worth chatting and sharing a meal with. It's easy to just do nothing, relax, and forget about stupid stuff, like the conventions that dictate what time dinner should be on a school night.

I'd say half or more of our trip was spent walking or hiking in no specific direction, laying down at the beach or near the pool and doing simply nothing. We also spent a good amount of time exploring night markets and eating delicious food.
I'll write a more serious, travel oriented blog when I find the time to organize pictures and thoughts, but here are some sightings from our trip.

Nutella crepes here!

Buy a party stick and take a bemo