Colonial Williamsburg with the kids: the best living history museum for homeschoolers

Earlier this year we traveled to Washington DC, where my oldest son participated in the National MathCounts middle school math competition. While DC has plenty of sights and museums to visit on its own (it’s a treasure trove for homeschoolers, especially) we couldn’t imagine not renting a car and driving down to Williamsburg, Virginia.

Williamsburg is home to one of the largest living history museums in the US, Colonial Williamsburg. While we’ve been to quite a few living history museums in the US (from the Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts to the small Tinsley House homestead right here in Montana) Colonial Williamsburg has been on our radar for a long time.

We spent parts of three days there (and I say parts, because in those three days that we were down in that area, we also visited original Jamestown settlement, and Yorktown battlefield), which completely didn’t feel like enough time for any of us.

Living history museums are quite different from your regular run-of-the mill museums, because instead of looking at the artifacts and reading little signs that go with them (and we’ve done plenty of that too!) you are immersed into the time period almost entirely. The houses and buildings are preserved in the same manner they looked over 200 years ago, all of the workers there wear historically accurate clothing, they demonstrate essential life crafts that were popular in the day. Our kids loved visiting and didn’t want to leave any of the three days! The especially enjoyed watching and trying their hand at weaving and book binding.

Here are our top 10 tips for visiting Colonial Williamsburg when you decide to go:

1. Study the time period before you go! All 3 of our older kids had a blast researching Colonial times extensively, reading on the subject, and getting excited about our visit.
2. Plan to arrive early! You will want to spend as long as possible there. Obtain a schedule of all the live demonstrations, talks, or parades when you are purchasing the admission tickets or download their app in advance and plan out your visit that way. The app has handy maps, hours that various shops and merchants are open, etc.
3. If you are a homeschooling family, be sure to ask about Educator discounts. When we were buying our tickets the lady informed us that buying teacher annual pass for both my husband and myself was cheaper than just buying the regular 3-day adult pass (that we were planning to purchase)! All I had to show was my educator ID from the local superintendent of schools.
4. Wear comfortable shoes! You will be doing a lot of walking (and the town is not super compact) so you’ll want to make sure you are prepared.
5. Dress up in period clothing, if that’s something that appeals to you. It definitely adds to the experience and it was one of the favorite parts of the visit for my daughter.
6. Don’t forget to prompt kids to ask questions of the cast who work there! They are very knowledgeable. A lot of them are historians by trade and volunteer at the museum. They can share little tidbits of information that definitely enhance your visit. If your kids are timid (mine aren’t but they did need to be reminded to ask the cast when they would try to ask me to the side), think about preparing a little “conversation script” for them beforehand.
7. Bring water and snacks with you to spend more time visiting various live demonstrations rather than waiting in lines for food. There are plenty of historical taverns right there on the premises where you can eat lunch or dinner, but especially kids sometimes get hungry in between meal times, too. Some of taverns there are only open certain hours and require reservations, so plan accordingly.
8. If the timing of your visit is flexible, plan to visit during their homeschool days. Our visit time was fixed, so unfortunately we weren’t able to take advantage of that. During those days they offer discounted admission tickets to homeschooling families and a lot more of the hands-on demonstrations that make history come alive in unforgettable ways.
9. Have your children prepare some sort of presentation after the visit! It helps them remember the most special parts of the visit as well as enhances their presentation skills.
10. And the last tip is very applicable if you have a daughter (or several) who love American Girl dolls as much as mine does! Have your daughter read all of Felicity Merriman’s books beforehand. They are set in Colonial Williamsburg (which was Felicity’s hometown). If she has a Felicity, allow your girl to bring her special friend with her on this visit! Everyone in Williamsburg recognizes Felicity and my daughter just loved carrying hers around and “showing Felicity her hometown”. It was so sweet to watch her!

Have you ever been to Colonial Williamsburg? What did you like/not like? What were your favorite live demonstration? Please let us know in the comments!

 

 

Our Top 10 favorite travel products for family trips

With all the traveling we do, we have our favorite products that we keep going back to time and time again. Today, I wanted to share our list of favorites with you, my readers, to perhaps give you some Christmas gift ideas for a favorite traveler in your life, or a necessary nudge to indulge yourself before your next trip (wink, wink).

1. Packing cubes. We usually try to have everyone pack their own carry-on bag, but when that is not feasible and we have to check luggage, packing cubes come to our rescue! These things are so super useful when traveling as a family. Each person gets a cube or two for their clothes, so things are easier to find while traveling with multiple children. We own several sets, so we are able to color code the cubes for boys/girls.
2. Organizing pouches. These come in handy while trying to keep a printed version of our travel itineraries, confirmations, and tickets handy, since electronic versions aren’t always easily accessible while traveling internationally. I also carry one for receipts, one for small local coins and bills, and one for small brochures, memorabilia, etc. we might pick up while walking around a destination.
3. Electronic accessory organizer. I like to keep all the chargers and cords organized. With 6 people’s devices on a long trip, cords and chargers would otherwise just end up mangled somewhere in a backpack. This thing keeps everything nice and neat.
4. Lightweight backpack. We like this specific one that folds up into a small pouch. On the way to a destination we can just throw it into our suitcase, and it comes incredibly handy for carrying around snacks, water bottles, sunscreen, and souvenirs purchased during a day of sightseeing.
5. Multi-device charger and a multi charging cable. When everyone brings their kindle (for reading) and a tablet (for playing on the planes) and cellphones for parents, and various cameras, this definitely becomes necessary. We like to bring a charger with us with at least 4 USB charging ports, and we rotate which devices get charged when. Also, bringing just one or two of these on the trip, rather than individual chargers and cables for everything cuts down not only on the forgotten chargers at the hotel rooms, but also on the necessary number of outlets in said hotel rooms, which are quite often lacking in number.
6. Noise-canceling headphones. My husband swears by these (not only do they look cool, but supposedly quality compares even to Bose), I just stick with my regular Apple air buds. And for the kids we bring simpler over-the-ear style headphones, as they are smaller and lighter.
7. Sunglasses and compact folding umbrella. Rain or shine, you’ll be prepared.
8. Portable car booster seat for children. While traveling with the small ones, you have to remember to follow the car seat rules of the countries you are in either for riding in a rental car or even a taxi. This traveling booster is so small and light, it can fold up and fit into the outside pocket of a child’s carry-on suitcase. The mechanism on this seat allows the seat belt to be lowered for the child (instead of raising the child up as is usaully the case with regular booster seats). This is what keeps it so small and portable.
9. Underwater camera. In addition to our DSLR camera and cell phones, we always take our underwater camera. It works beautifully not only under water, but also by the pool, on the beach, in the rain or snow, or anywhere else where you might not want to expose your DSLR to weather elements. The quality of the photos is very nice for a compact camera even after several years of active use.
10. Travel electronics plug adapter/converter. With this product you’ll always be prepared to charge up your favorite devices no matter what style plug the county you are visiting has.

Do you like to travel as a family? What are your favorite products? Be sure to leave your suggestions in the comments.

Drive Through Zion National Park

Earlier this year, on our drive to California we decided to make a small detour to Zion National Park. We were going through Saint George anyway, so Zion wasn’t too far out of the way for us. Plus, we always enjoy visiting National Parks to soak in the beauty of God’s creation. Our schedule only allowed us a brief drive through the park and we were able to squeeze in a quick hike, but we definitely enjoyed our time there! I didn’t bring my big DSLR on that trip, so these are just my iPhone photos, but I hope they will give you a glimpse of how beautiful Zion really is and inspire you to make even a quick stop in a national park during your travels.

Quick tip: if you have a 4th grader (including a home-schooled one), be sure to get the 4th-grader in the park National Parks pass that is valid for up to a year and allows your family admission into any of the national parks in the US. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures and let us know in the comments what your favorite national park is!

This was baby Richard’s first hike, he was only 2 months old!

 

Homeschooling for a traveling family: why it works for us

We love traveling. Ever since Stan and I got married, we were traveling. Internationally, domestically, without the kids, with the kids… We’ve done it all.

If our kids would have been attending a traditional school, traveling wouldn’t have been completely impossible, but it would be quite a bit harder to arrange with only school vacation times to work with. Not to mention that traveling during school breaks is usually quite a bit more expensive since that’s the time when so many families choose to travel.

With 4 kids in tow, we try to save on travel wherever and whenever we can. And if that means traveling off season to the places where we can find the cheapest tickets, then so be it. My husband’s work schedule is also very travel-heavy and so a few of the family trips we’ve taken revolved around the destinations necessary for his work, but we’ve made it into family vacations as well.

Homeschooling not only gives us flexibility in choosing our travel dates, but also allows us to choose what and when to study. We always try to do a unit study on the destinations we are going to be visiting. Kids read extensively on the subject before the trip, map things out. Not only do they learn a lot about history, geography, and culture of the places we’d be visiting, it creates excitement in them and helps them to look forward to the trip. We usually allow them to choose 2-3 attractions each (museum, cultural sight, park, castle, etc), depending on how long we would be at each destination. During our trips they keep travel journals, chronicling their adventures from their own perspective.

We have done 3-8 big trips (international and domestic) each year that we’ve been homeschooling (the past 10 years), plus multiple smaller, more local trips. Each of those trips helped us create memories as a family while allowing all of us to expand our worldview.  It exposed all of us to other cultures, allowing us to learn something from the locals at every place we visited.

Do you homeschool? Does your family travel? What are your favorite destinations that you’ve done as a family?

Kopi Luwak Tasting in Ubud, Bali

On our recent trip to Bali, one of the things my husband was really looking forward to was the volcano hike in Kintamani. While I was looking forward to relaxing for a couple of days at the luxurious villa, as well as spending some time by the ocean, one thing I really wanted to do was a coffee plantation tour. When we visited Costa Rica ten years ago, we went on a coffee plantation tour there, and it was very memorable for us, so I wanted to visit one in Bali. Plus, Kopi Luwak was calling my name again 🙂

Oh and by the way, what is Kopi Luwak you ask? Why, it’s THE most expensive coffee in the world! Due to its “delicate” processing nature and relative rarity (it’s only produced in certain parts of Indonesia), it usually sells for anywhere between $100-$500/lb! In Indonesia itself, of course, it’s somewhat cheaper, so we thought we would indulge again. We first tried Kopi Luwak when we visited Jakarta in 2016 with our three older kids (we let them try it too 🙂 We didn’t dislike it then, but certainly couldn’t figure out what the buzz was about around its very special taste.

To give you a bit of background, kopi luwak is made from 100% arabica coffee beans. Coffee cherries are eaten by civet cats (small nocturnal animals that live in Indonesia, scroll down this post to see a picture of one!) While the flesh of the coffee cherry is consumed by these animals, the seed (coffee bean) passes through their digestive system intact and somewhat ferments in the process. Their “scat” is then collected, washed in hot water, the beans are roasted and ground. Supposedly, these civet cats pick the best and ripest coffee cherries, which affects the quality of the coffee beans, and the fermentation of the coffee beans during the passing through their digestive system gives them that much milder, flavorful taste.

Our guide took us to OKA agriculture Bali north of Ubud. While it’s not a real coffee plantation (their plantations are further up north in Bali, towards Kintamani), it was a great place for a coffee, tea, and cocoa tasting, as well as for trying out Kopi Luwak again. And this place actually gets great reviews on TripAdvisor as well!

They have a couple of civet cats there for people to actually see what these animals look like, at least. Richard loved watching them for a while, but after they fell asleep, he quickly lost interest too.

The guides explain the process of collecting coffee beans and roasting

They also have several cocoa trees right there on the premises, and they do roast cocoa beans. Since Stan loves extra-extra dark chocolate, straight cocoa beans were right up his alley! He loved it and ended up buying half a kilogram of those to take home with us.

This lady was roasting coffee and cocoa beans right there in a heavy cast iron skillet to demonstrate the process of color change in the coffee beans from when they are first collected to what they look like once they are roasted.

Unroasted coffee beans are very light in color

Some of the spices that they grow and sell there as well

“Scat” of the civet cats, that later is washed and roasted for kopi luwak

Everything is so beautifully green there!

Our tea/coffee/cocoa tasting is ready 🙂

They gave us 12 tiny cups of various concoctions (lemongrass tea, coffee, cocoa, ginger tea, and various other kinds) so we could try everything they grow and sell there.

Watching our Kopi Luwak being prepared right in front of us

Our Kopi Luwak tasking came with these little banana-coconut pastries, that were actually quite good!

There are a lot of photo op places around the property

Green mandarin oranges

Green cocoa pods with lots of yummy cocoa beans inside

Have you been to Bali before? What were the highlights of your trip? Please share with us in the comments.

7 favorite geography/history/strategy games for homeschoolers

 

Our family loves to play games.

A lot of games…

Especially on the cold winter days when it’s fun to just snuggle by the fireplace around a great game. We own dozens and dozens of games, but some of them we keep going back to over and over, more so than the others. It’s also fun when these games are educational and help kids learn useful facts!

With Christmas just around the corner, I wanted to share with you just 7 of our favorite board games that we love to play often. Maybe some of them will make it under your tree as a family present as well 🙂 And here is a little secret I wanted to share with all of you: you don’t actually have to be a homeschooler to love board games. Make time to play with your children on the long cold weekends. It will help create special memories for sure!

Without further ado, I bring you 7 of our favorite history/geography games:

1. Settlers of Catan

With so much strategy and replay value as well as extensions and expansions available, you’ll never want to stop playing! Our two most favorite expansions are “Seafarers” and “Cities and Knights.”

2. Splendor

Collecting gems and enticing nobles has never been this historically fun! The game is designed for up to 4 people, although we’ve played with 5 quite a few times, with just a few slight rule modifications.

3. Tsuro: the game of the path

Follow winding pathways of the game while building your own unique Asian-style labyrinth, and try to stay on the board without anyone else bumping you off! This is a great game for a larger crowd, as it can accommodate up to 8 players.

4. Ticket to ride and expansions

I have also posted links above to our favorite expansions. This game is great at teaching geography and has tons of replay value. In fact, the more you play, the better your kids will know all the different cities in all the different countries. It is also a great strategy game.

5. Empire express and Eurorails

Empire express is great for younger kids. It teaches strategy, geographical locations of cities and states, as well as where the various natural resources are located. Eurorails is aimed at the older crowd, with game generally taking longer and focusing on European geography, cities, countries, resources and trade routes. All in all, both are wonderful in you can find them!

6. Carcassonne

A game of medieval castle-building, monastery supplying and road developing kind. Wonderful game for all ages!

7. Lost cities

Fairly fast paced game for just 2 players. Build and fund expeditions from the deserts to the arctic. Great either for one-on-one parent-child play or even a quick date night game for parents 🙂

What games does your family like to play? Which of these games are on your Christmas list this year? Be sure to let us know in the comments! Happy Shopping!

Throwback Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving from warm, sunny countries!

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving holiday with the extended family and friends this year here in Montana, I couldn’t help but look back on where we’ve celebrated a couple of years back. We love our time with the family, but with several day off work, sometimes we try to squeeze in a trip right around thanksgiving.

3 years ago at Thanksgiving we were in Panama, celebrating with my mother-in-law and father-in-law and our then 3 kids at the Intercontinental Resort, eating ceviche instead of the very traditional turkey and trimmings.

2 years ago we were on the Asia-trotting trip with the children, visiting Jakarta (Indonesia), Singapore, and Phuket (Thailand). Some of the photos from that epic trip can be found in this post. Thanksgiving put us in the midst of the Mai Khao Beach at the Holiday Inn Resort in Phuket, where we enjoyed the most succulent mangoes ever that the kids still remember and talk about often.

Where do you all like to celebrate Thanksgiving? With it being the family holiday, do you prefer to travel to see family, stay local, or visit exotic countries?

And Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Our final stop in Bali: Holiday Inn Resort-Bali Benoa

Our final two days in Bali we spent at the Holiday Inn Resort -Bali Benoa. Staying in the chain hotel, we thought we would save some bucks and spend our hotel points we’ve both accumulated a lot of! Both Stan and I enjoy IHG Spire Elite status level, so we were able to get one of the the nicest rooms in the hotel as a complimentary upgrade to our reservation: full ocean view, top floor king room. We were also greeted by a friendly staff upon arrival with a welcome drink and a 10% discount on their spa services, which we were definitely planning to utilize before our long trek back home into winter. 🙂

Hotel has several lovely infinity pools, some of them overlooking the ocean.

Resort pool all lit up at night

Outdoor play area and pool for the little ones

This pool is very shallow (less than 30 cm! deep) designed for the hotel’s littlest guests. It features a water slide and a bucket of water that dumps on the unsuspecting pool visitors once it’s full. Richard thoroughly enjoyed playing in this (and all of the other pools at the hotel).

Several infinity pools overlooking the ocean

lovely view from our room

One of the days the cleaning staff dressed up one of our towels with Stan’s sunglasses

White sand beach

This hotel doesn’t have a super huge beach front, but it was nicely combed and groomed every morning. Even with all the effort from the staff, we noticed that some trash still lined the shores quite often during the day.

We wanted to get a couple’s massage while there, but scheduling one proved to be harder than we thought. Even though the spa facilities at the resort are quite large, the number of therapists they have there at any given time is quite limited, so if you are planning to use their services, I would encourage you to book early. They were able to accommodate us after all, but it took some effort and phone calls.

Dimply lit couple’s massage room at the Tea Tree Spa

Gorgeous white marble hallway in the spa reminded me of the tribute center from the “hunger games” movie

Lemongrass tea as a welcome drink before our massage

Even though the 90 minute massage felt quite relaxing (we both opted for the Royal Javanese massage), at times one of us felt like the therapists could have had a bit better training. Also the atmosphere was not quite the same as at some of the other spas we’ve experienced with no natural light (their spa is in the basement of the resort, designed to be secluded from the noise of the hotel) or nature sounds (like birds, waterfalls, ocean breeze) that we’ve had the privilege of enjoying previously at some other facilities.

Playing at the Kids’ Club

One of the things that makes Holiday Inn Resorts so child-friendly to stay in with family throughout the world is their kids’ club and the offerings of various child-friendly activities. Although usually it is designed for older kids (ages 4-12), this particular resort does offer babysitting services at an additional cost, for children younger than 4. Baby Richard loved playing at the Kids’ club while we enjoyed the massage at the Spa, and he was well supervised. The cost for babysitting is very reasonable, as well.

Hotel boasts 1 restaurant and 3 bars on the property. All of the meals were lovely, breakfast was buffet style and had quite extensive offerings. During lunch/dinner the staff were generally very friendly to us (even though baby Richard made a huge mess of his meal every single time!) and always had a high chair ready to go for us when we arrived.

Such a lovely color on that dragonfruit!

Enjoying the drinks by the sea with the lovely ocean view

Welcome drinks

My morning coffee overlooking the ocean

Dragonfruit juice just has such an intense lovely color!

Pistachio dessert

Beef rendang is the best dish we’ve had in Indonesia, hands down!

Smoked salmon and beet appetizer

Richard thoroughly enjoyed his kids’ meal

Too tired to play!

We took a long walk along the beach on our last day there, which was pretty relaxing.

Coconuts by the ocean!

Enjoying the swim up bar 🙂

Overall, we would recommend Holiday Inn Resort Bali Benoa to those who are thinking of visiting. It’s very family-friendly and we had a great and a very relaxing time there.

Urban Oasis: Bebek Tepi Sawah Villas in Ubud, Bali

After our delightful time in Kintamani, Bali, hiking Mount Batur volcano and relaxing at the Hot Springs thereafter, we headed down to the middle of the island, a town of Ubud. Ubud is known as the center for traditional Balinese crafts, and cultural exhibitions in Bali. There are also a lot of family-friendly options to explore there, such as:

— Ubud Monkey Forest

— Bali Bird Park

— Puri Lukisan Museum (art museum known for Balinese arts)

— Rice fields trekking

— Goa Gajah elephant cave

— Ubud art market (filled with traditional Balinese arts and crafts)

— Puri Saren Royal Palace

— Tegenungan waterfalls

Since we were traveling this time with just baby Richard, and without the older kids, we opted not to do a lot of those fun things, but save some for the next time we are in Bali! We mostly hung out at our beautiful villa, swam in the pools and enjoyed their lovely offerings.

In Ubud we stayed at the Bebek Tepi Sawah Villas, which was exquisite! Since we were there during the low season (October-May is considered rainy season, although while we were in Bali we were blessed with beautiful weather and only got 1 rainstorm, and even that one was during the night/morning) we practically had the place to ourselves.

We stayed at their most luxurious Campuhan villa, which had its own yard, fishpond, and an outdoor seating area/traditional Balinese hangout space.

Our room

Carved decorations in our villa

Huge en suite bathroom with a tub and indoor/outdoor shower, as well as another fish pond. That pond had lots of little fish in there as well as 3 crabs. Richard loved watching them!

Our outdoor seating area

private yard at our villa

Both swimming pools were just right out the doors of our villa. They were so serene with hardly anyone but us splashing in them 🙂

Bebek Tepi Sawah (name of the villas) is translated as “Ducks at the edge of the rice fields”. The whole hotel was decorated with ducks and there were quite a few mini-rice fields on the property to enjoy strolling in as well.

This seating area in the midst of the rice fields usually has to be reserved 24 hours in advance. One night, while we made a reservation for 7 pm and showed up on time, there was another couple already being seated there. Turns out 3 other couples made a 7 pm reservation for the same table for the same night! Oh well, language barriers 🙂 We got to eat breakfast there next morning.

The property is filled with beautiful fragrant flowers everywhere!

Our little “duckling” also enjoyed the walks by the edge of the rice fields 🙂

Bebek Tepi Sawah Restaurant is the neighboring property to the villas, and they have several locations all over Bali. We dined there twice (we ate the villas property restaurant the rest of the time) and enjoyed it. The servers were all very smiley and helpful (one of the times they took the baby for us so we could eat in peace and carried him around showing him various fish and flowers all around the property). The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating, and we ate outdoor both times – 1 time at the western-style seating table, and 1 time at the Balinese-style seating table. There are a lot of duck dishes on the menu (namesake nod!) so be sure to try those.

Bebek Betutu I had, which is Balinese smoked duck with the sides of rice, vegetables and 2 sambal (sauces which were really spicy!)

They also had a lot of other Indonesian, Asian, and western options on the menu as well as some vegetarian dishes.

Another beautiful pool with fountains sat empty most of the time as well. Richard loved splashing there!

There were a lot of exotic tropical trees on the property. This starfruit was hanging low right in our yard.

Our welcome drinks upon arrival to the villas.

They also had afternoon tea included in our rate. I got excited at first when I saw that when we made reservations (you all know how much I love afternoon teas!). Sadly this was a non-traditional version of an afternoon tea (served at the property restaurant daily 4-6 pm) which literally consisted of 1 cup of tea and 2 small spring rolls. Not sure who thought it was a good idea to pair spring rolls with tea, but at least spring rolls were crunchy and delicious!

While in Bali, we got to enjoy quite a few plates of nice ripe fruit.

Pineapple pancakes (part of breakfast)

Eggs Benedict served at breakfast were good for the most part, but severely lacked in Hollandaise sauce.

While in Ubud we did visit 1 art gallery, the royal palace, and the Art market to buy souvenirs for the kids we left at home 🙂 By the way, if you decide to buy souvenirs in Bali, expect to use your stellar negotiating skills or overpay for everything! It seems like when you first walk up to a seller, they give you a price at least 5-10 times higher than what they actually expect to get at the end, so be sure to take than into account and negotiate!

While in Bali, Richard learned to love mangosteen. While we were at the art market, we were able to buy a small bag of those for him from one of the produce stands nearby so he could enjoy those longer!

One of the delicious desserts we’ve had there with fresh mangoes!

Fresh pineapple and papaya juice. We decided to branch out but went back to mango juice right after this, since freshly squeezed mango juice is simply the best!

Salmon dinner at the Villa Restaurant was delicious!

Baby Richard happily eating mangosteen

Breakfast coffee at the rice fields

Several cocoa trees on the property

We also enjoyed 2 couples’ massages at their spa. I would recommend scheduling those in advance as they do not always have therapists there at all times. It was a good massage and a very beautiful relaxing atmosphere.

Overall, I would highly recommend Bebek Tepi Sawah villas, spa, and Restaurant to anyone planning a trip to Ubud.

Destination: Kintamani, Bali (and a review of Villa Jempana)

We just returned from a quick vacation in a beautiful paradise, a.k.a. tropical island of Bali. Our three older kids stayed at home with grandparents this time, only baby Richard came with us – this was his first international trip (and halfway across the world, no less!)

Our very first destination in Bali was beautiful village of Kintamani nestled in the foothills of majestic Mount Batur Volcano.We were picked up at the airport by a driver arranged by the villa Jempana owners where we were planning to stay. The drive up north was slow (traffic!) but lovely. Kintamani is a picturesque community tucked between Lake Batur and the volcano. It is highly dependent on tourism (volcano trekking and hot springs are the two main destinations), as well as agriculture (a lot of cabbage, tomatoes, onions, chilies, and eggplants are grown here and are distributed from here all over Bali and some of the closer Indonesian islands). The weather here is a bit cooler than the rest of the island due to higher elevation, but during the day it gets plenty hot.

When we arrived to Villa Jempana we were met by a lovely family showing us our luxurious place to stay for the next couple of nights and a watermelon juice as our welcome drink.

We enjoyed just looking around the villas for a while and smelling beautiful flowers that are in abundance at the villas.

Villa Jempana is run by a wonderful family who make you feel like cherished guests. They attended to our every need during our stay and made sure we had anything we needed.

The deluxe villa we stayed in was beautifully appointed, and had everything we needed for a pleasant stay.  It was decorated in the traditional Balinese style. The bathroom is spacious, and the room has space for a whole family, if needed.

The meals were cooked on demand and we could choose to eat in their restaurant, or by the lovely infinity pool overlooking Lake Batur, or even in the room (if we wanted extra privacy).

Our lunch – local fish from Lake Batur

We ate outside as much as possible since the weather was lovely and we had (a very messy) 10-month old baby with us. Our favorite was Indonesian breakfast of noodles with fried egg on top, accompanied by the fruit plate and freshly squeezed mango juice. While we were there we had mango juice so many times, we used up all of their mangoes!

Villa Jempana currently consists of 3 villas (regular villa, deluxe villa, and a 2-bedroom villa) and they are building two more.

During our stay all 3 villas were full and the ongoing construction didn’t bother us at all as it wasn’t too loud.

Other guests were quiet and only came out for an occasional swim in the pool or to enjoy the serene vistas of the vegetable gardens surrounding the villas and the lovely views of the lake. The family running the villas grow their own tomatoes, onions, eggplants, chilies, which they use in preparing meals for their guests, when those vegetables are in season.

Even before arriving we knew we wanted to hike Mount Batur volcano, but while researching the issue, we found out that the guide is required to accompany us. We were somewhat concerned about finding a reliable guide for our volcano trekking, but Indah (owner’s daughter) quickly put our mind at ease, saying that her father (Mr. Kadek) used to be the head of the local volcano trekking guide association and could easily arrange us a guide for the hike.

We were met the next morning by a guide who drove us to the beginning of the hiking trail and skillfully led us on a hike to the top, helping out when rocks were slippery and allowing us to take breaks as needed (much better than a commercial tour for not too much extra cost!).  He also carried our backpack with water (my husband had our baby on his back, and I didn’t feel like carrying anything since the guide offered to help.) Afterwards, he found a place to stop at our request to buy coconuts from a local stand and safely delivered us back to the villa.

View of Kintamani from Mount Batur

Volcano crater at Mount Batur

In the afternoon after our hike we wanted to relax with a massage and a Hot Springs swim. Mr. Kadek drove us to Toya Devasya and his niece Ayu, who also works as the villa, came along with us to watch our baby while we got a massage! That was so lovely to be able to relax after a hike and trust that our baby was well taken care of during that time.

Several pools at Toya Devasya overlook Lake Batur

After our swim and a dinner at Toya Devasya Mr. Kadek came back to pick us up and drove us back to the villas. As it was after dark, we really appreciated not having to worry about finding a taxi or walking back with our baby.

We really enjoyed the infinity pool at the villa

Majestic view through the doors of our villa. Mount Agung volcano is visible in the back.

Next morning after we checked out, Mr. Kadek himself (the owner of the villa) drove us down to our next destination in Ubud, stopping on the way (at our request) at the coffee plantation/coffee tasting place. He stayed with us the whole time and drove safely to make sure that we got to our next hotel safely.

Overall, we had a wonderful experience at Villa Jempana and would highly recommend it to anyone who is considering visiting Kintamani. Our only regret is that we didn’t plan more days there to simply relax and take in the beauty all around us. We will definitely be back again with our 3 older kids next time!