Grand Mirage Resort: The Kids rated it 5 Stars!

Our first trip to Bali was fantastic!  We stayed at the Grand Mirage Resort in Nusa Dua.  It was a fabulous resort, especially if travelling with children.

Staying at a hotel is a big deal when you're a kid.  Especially when you can order food and drink whenever you want, and the biggest decision of the day is whether to play on the beach, or swim in the pool.  Because we live near one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, we spent most of our time by the pool.

Here's one of our favorite spots poolside.

The playground was just steps away from the pool.

The kids joined planned activities each day like kite flying, mask painting, treasure hunting, pool games, and the sand castle competition.  They gave great prizes to the winners too!  Everest won a kite, and McKinley a sarong or two.

The Kids Club and Rental Bikes.

We checked Hagen into the Kid's Club a couple of times so we could enjoy some big kid fun with the older two.  Thankfully, he loved going there, and the caretakers were so good to him.   It gave us the opportunity to go on the Banana Boat, and the Seawalker, which were both part of our all inclusive deal.  Oh yeah, almost forgot...he also stayed there while Mark and I enjoyed our one hour massages on the beach :)
   

The sofa was the perfect place for Hagen's afternoon nap.

Our patio overlooked the ocean and lush gardens.

There were many choices for dining and our kids got to practice their best restaurant manners! We ate at all of the restaurants, but our favorite was eating beach side at Jukung Grill where the kids could run off and play in the sand during the meal.  We also used the 24 hour room service quite a bit, just because we could! 

The Balinese dinner at the outdoor Rama Stage, was really special.  The buffet was so beautiful, and we were able to sample traditional Indonesian food of all kinds.  Towards the end of the meal, the activities staff gave the kids sparklers and escorted them to the beach for "carnival games" and prizes.  After the show, we had the opportunity to take photos with the performers. 

Another part of our all inclusive package was non-motorized water sports.  We ventured out onto the ocean waves in kayaks, and the catamaran.  The sea breeze was perfect sailing weather, and we all loved zooming across the ocean!

One of the best parts of our vacation, were all the friends our kids met at the resort from all around the world.  One day at the pool I asked Everest what his new friend's name was and he said, "I'm not sure, we don't speak the same language."  They played together in the pool all afternoon anyway!  McKinley met friends from Norway, Germany, and even Kuwait.  The girls played together so often, that we exchanged addresses and plan to stay in touch. 

At night we had a turn down service with sweet little notes telling us to sleep tight.

The worst part about Bali, was leaving Bali. 

Here was our early morning view, coffee in hand.

We had a couple of adventurous day trips away from the resort too, including a trip to the turtle farm, so stay tuned for that.  Until then...

A photo book from our trip:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

~A