Birthday Getaway

 I turned 28 this year. Lyndon surprised me with a kid free trip to Bintan, Indonesia. It's an island off the coast of Singapore. It was about an hour or so ferry ride from Singapore. Lyndon likes to make a big deal out of my birthday because he can remember my birthday, our anniversary, and valentine's day and he can make a big deal out of those days. So I let him. We have not been on a trip without kids or being pregnant since our honeymoon in Greece! It was a much needed vacation for both of us.


Lyndon never told me where we were going until we got on the ferry. I kind of figured it out because Lyndon told me that we would not be flying so it only left a couple of options. We had a blast! I remember now why I married this man. And hopefully we have many more trips just the two of us. It was so fun. We jumped in the pool with our clothes on the first night we were there, after the pool was close (we are such rebels), went bike riding all around the resort, searching for shells and shark teeth at low tide, sang karaoke for like three and half hour straight, went kayaking on the South China Sea. It was so nice. We actually did not do that much relaxing because the resort had so many activities it offered. And we both agreed that we would regret not doing these things and just lying by the pool or on the beach, but we managed to squeeze some of that in too.  



This picture reminds me of one we took on our honeymoon where Lyndon is holding on to the EU flag. He still is as handsome as ever. 

Not even to the resort and already letting lose. We totally did the Titanic pose too. 


Our boat was named the Queen Star.
We stayed at Bintan Lagoon Resort because it was the only one that had a queen size bed. The other places only had two twin beds and we have already done that on our travels, so not doing that anymore. It's not really comfortable to push twin beds together and trying to sleep on them as if they are one. Someone is always getting pushed to the edge, or down the middle. The Ferry dropped us off right at the resort and we just walked on into paradise. I'm making it sound a lot more dreamy than it really was. It was pretty dreamy, but mostly because it was a romantic get away with my love and my birthday. As long as there were no dead mosquito with blood squirted out of them all over the walls (like on our honeymoon) I was good. 







The beautiful beach and area where later we went kayaking.
The last time I went biking was when we were engaged, so it's been a while. I was nervous, but ended up kicking Lyndon's butt up all the hills. I looked back at one point and he was walking up the hill with his bike. It was so much fun. It was liberating just riding through the Indonesian country side. And it was one of the cooler days we have had over on this part of the world. It was perfect. We sweated, but not because it was hot. Because we were working hard. 



There were a couple pools by the entrance filled with these huge carp. Everytime you would get close to the pool the carp would swarm up to where you were because so many people feed them. It was quite a sight. One pool had carp that looked like the fish out of Fantasia, if you can remember that from way back in the day.
Birthdays deserve special birthday drinks. 
At the entrance to the restaurant we ate at for my birthday lunch.

"Oh Cecila! You're breaking my heart. You're shaking my confidence daily......" Lyndon sang that song all the time when we were dating/engaged. And if you know that song, you it is pretty risque. I had him stop singing because it is such a terrible song to sing out loud all over the place, especially in the Plothow's house and BYU campus, haha. Anyway, while we were singing karaoke we played a game with each other where one person would pick another song for the other person to sing. And when I found this one I could not resist. Lyndon was pretty happy to have "permission" to sing it again (really he has permission to sing it anytime, but just not in front of the kids). 
Getting my "Uptown Funk" on. Lyndon said that was his favorite song I sang. He said I had the Shania Twain down really good too. It was so much fun. I thought my "Clumsy" was pretty great and "Hey Ya" and Britney Spears. Like I said earlier we sang karaoke for over three hours and we were the only people there and there were every song you could possibly imagine. Best birthday ever! 





They had traditional dancers and musicians in the lobby and at dinner every night. 

Highlight of the trip was riding elephants! I was so excited! I saw it on the list of activities offered and we booked it instantly. 


When I headed off into the jungle the sun was out.....

....and this is what it was like when I got back. The weather here changes so quickly. I did not even realize how hard it was raining until we got out of the jungle because the trees actually do provide a lot of cover from the rain. 

The elephant I rode. Heart eyes for forever. The elephants there were Sumatran Elephants from Sumatra, Indonesia. They are a bit smaller than the Indian Elephant. The males are the ones with the long tusks and the females have nubs. It was so interesting riding him. I could feel all the muscles in his body moving as he walked. It was so cool. I loved it! 
Lyndon is sweet, and wanted to wait till I got back so he could take more pictures of me riding the elephant before he went. Unfortunately because of the weather they took no one else out that session and we were leaving that afternoon. Boo! But He did get to touch them. 
Their skin is really leathery and their hair is extremely course, like a brissel brush. 







My favorite picture of the bunch. The elephant nailed it perfectly. 


Not to happy about being soaked through (not really), but I was really sad about leaving. I was not ready to get back to real life. This trip is exactly what the doctor ordered and I highly recommend going away on a trip with just you and your honey to anyone. It's important to keep the relationship with your spouse spicy (?), interesting (?), good. I am trying to say that this is the most important relationship you have and you need to take care of it and it has to be tended to. This was really good for our relationship. I have not had this fun with Lyndon is a long long time. We are in a really busy stage of our life with our three kiddos. And sometimes we need more than a date night to spend some time together. We started our family immediately after we got married, which I do not regret at all, but our life has been non stop busy. It was really nice to kick back and relax with each other. Thank you for making this the best birthday of my life Lyndon. I feel refreshed and ready to tackle all the joys and challenges this year is going to bring. 

Comments

  1. This totally made me smile the whole post through! I want to go on a trip with daniel! you two are adorable. hopefully our paths cross sooner than later...
    big kiss!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should! You guys certainly deserve it. I like Lyndon a whole lot better now that we have taken it, haha. And can you believe our babies are one?!

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