A few nights ago, I was talking to hubby, telling him how blessed we are that within less than 6 months, we got a chance to go on vacation with both of our big families to places we've never been in Indonesia. You see, neither of us have been living in Indonesia for the past 20-something year. And we live far away from our parents and siblings, making it really hard to see each other.

Last December, we and hubby's family (hubby's mom, dad and sister) took a 2-night trip to Belitung, one of the beautiful islands near Sumatra. Aina was ecstatic to be there, just because she's a big fan of Laskar Pelangi. The island was gorgeous, and it felt even better when the trip was spent with our family.

And then, this past week, we got a chance to go vacation with my family. my mom, aunt, cousins and their kids, my brother and his family who's visiting from Melbourne, and my 89-year old grandma tagged along! We went to Lombok and stayed in a resort villa (so it's friendly to my old grandma and a 1-year old infant)... we went swiming and snorkling in the crystal clear water of Gili, went surfing in Lombok, and swimming around the pretty villa. Aina and her cousin had a blast. They hardly see each other (in fact, Aina had never met my brother's daughter prior to this trip), but they got along really well.