We are becoming familiar with many new holidays since being here in Abu Dhabi. We ended up getting a full week off of school/work for Eid Al Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), which commemorates, according to one website, the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael. That's right, Ishmael, was the one to be sacrificed in Islamic tradition, not Isaac as the Bible says. They celebrate by doing their washings, and prayers and then they sacrifice a sheep or goat and feast on a third of it, give a third to family and friends and a third to those in need. We celebrated by taking a little trip to Sri Lanka. It was a whirlwind, but we definitely made some great family memories!
The drive from the airport in Colombo south to our villa was an amazing introduction to the country. The driving there is SO crazy. In this video, there is a median, but when there isn't, you play chicken with oncoming busses. We were so glad to have gotten a driver to take us around everywhere.
First stop... Galle in the southwest of Sri Lanka. First the Portuguese and then the Dutch inhabited Galle. The Dutch built a fort here the remained after the English took over the country.
Just moments after getting out of the car, we had fun with monkeys!
A mosque... I thought it was a cathedral, but no.
Charming
Bennett also had the snake on his neck, but it got deleted. :(
Dutch Hospital that now has fancy restaurants in it.
The tricked out Tuk Tuks make me smile.
Cathedral
Clock tower
Our tuk tuk driver.
Buddhist temple. I love that there's a mosque, cathedral and buddhist temple within walking distance of each other.
Our family is too big to fit in one tuk tuk.
These trees are amazing!
"Clossed"
I hardly have any proof that I'm part of the family, cause Matt doesn't take pictures. So glad he took this one so we could remember all the driving we did in Sri Lanka.
Chit-Chat anyone?? Suspiciously much like a Kit-Kat.
After Galle, we drove another couple hours to our villa on Hiriketya Beach near Dickwella in the far south of Sri Lanka. Amazing surroundings, and amazing weather!!
Oliver and I slept here.
Some pretty magical sunsets that I could never quite capture.
Eldon thought the neighborhood dogs sleeping on the beach were funny. I did too.
Matt slept with the three older boys in the king size bed. Wasn't quite large enough for the 4 of them. Something kinda magical about mosquito nets.
There are peacocks EVERYWHERE. SO SO SO SO many! There were 5 or 6 in the villa yard and we initially thought they were pets. Turns out, they are wild and everywhere. Sri Lankan pigeons.
They loved the pool! You can kinda see the beach through the trees.
The beach behind the villa.
Surfs up!
Look at that water!
My Merman!!
My heart!!
Made for interesting diapers.
Taking it all in.
A lot of the waves were scary big, so Eldon spent much of the time on the sand.
Hi!
Giving dad the bird?
They had a crib and everything!
Fresh lotus flowers on our breakfast table every morning.
Bennett looks crazy... let's just focus on the beautiful view from our dining table.
There was a gardener that came every day to rake the blossoms and fallen palm leaves up every day. He had lots of coconuts to deal with, but the boys preferred that he would leave the coconuts for them to play with.
Monkeys in the morning. Our cooks would throw all organic garbage in the corner of the yard, and the monkeys would come every morning to eat our scraps.
The villa, and the resident villa dog, Timmy.
Look at that face. I truly think he was the favorite part of the trip for the boys.
Finally got one opened!
Matt thought fishing on the rocks was a good idea. Not a good idea.
"Fishing". Didn't catch a thing. Just risked his life.
Just before Matt got washed over by a gigantic wave.
The boys and I stayed a safe distance from the gigantic waves.
Truck full of fish.
Many shots along our way to our safari:
Like I said... LOTS of peacocks!
Beautiful rice fields.
Lots of water buffalo, domestic and wild.
I love the old men's button up shirts and sarongs.
Fresh bread in bags made of newspaper from December 2015
Harvesting the rice.
Our driver, Hemi, taking Matt to get some road trip snacks.
Ice cream near the elephant orphanage.
We went on a safari in Uda Walawe National Park. Everyone thought we were crazy strapping our baby in with a carseat. He slept much of the time, though.
Ready for adventure.
I spy...
Can they see me??
These trees are so beautiful!
Such amazing colors!
See the little monkey?
Weirdest turtle I've ever seen.
Can't see them too well, but there are at least 7 crocs there
We are in a dried up reservoir. Didn't anticipate there being a dry area in Sri Lanka.
The mountain range is beautiful.
I think they are so cute.
Traffic jam trying to see the mama and baby elephant above.
Still not over these trees.
There were so many peacocks. Seemed like an infestation.
The ride back to the villa still seemed like we were still on a safari.
BIG bats
Blurry drive by shot, but so pretty.
The little houses people live in. Some of them are purple, pink, aquamarine, etc. I love how everything is so colorful!
Another house.
Last night at the villa...
Games!
Our cooks. The guy in the grey shirt was head chef. He worked as a cook for the American and British armies for 4 years in Afghanistan. He is pretty amazing!
Crab
Some surprisingly yummy Sri Lankan veggie.
Potatoes
Yummy rice.
Last breakfast at the villa.
Look at that fresh fruit and smoothy! The stuff on the white stuff in the brown bowl is water buffalo curds that is kinda yogurty and served with honey.
We took and 8 hour road trip from the extreme south to pretty much far north in Anuradhapura which is an ancient capital of Sri Lanka.
Snacking in Anuradhapura. There were monkeys in the tree waiting for an opportunity.
Herds of monkeys everywhere, including our own.
Oliver was strapped to my back and just after I took this photo, a monkey charged us on took Oliver's cracker!!
We had to take our shoes off at this sacred and very old Buddhist stupa called Ruwanweli Saya. Our feet were BURNING on the hot pavement. This stupa was built in 140 BC.
Not sure what that wetness is...
He looks warm.
We went to see the oldest planted tree in the world (Jaya Sri Maha Bohdi). Planted around 288 BC. We had to ask where it was cause they built that shrine on top of it, so really you can only see its branches sticking up out of the top of the shrine. Apparently Buddha attained enlightenment under this Bohdi tree.
This monk was mesmerized by our blond kids. He asked Lincoln what his favorite color is and he said orange which scored us a visit to his dorm in the monastery where he treated us to fruit, gave us his business card, and gave each of the boys an orange buddhist bracelet.
Ruwanweli Saya stupa.
Monkeys and more monkeys.
Whose kid is that scaling the ancient ruins?? Can't I just get a nice shot?????
This cute lady used body language to tell Matt that she was very hungry and needed money. We were suckers and gave her some money, but look at the little cutie!!
Another of SO many stupas in the area.
How do they carve stone like this????
Stairs near the moonstone that I accidentally deleted.
Our cute driver, Hemi with us at the ruins. He was always kissing on the boys. He was so sweet!
Look at all those bricks! We learned our lesson this time and wore our socks.
Abhayragiri stupa. This thing is beyond words huge!! Kinda cut Lincoln's feet off. Built around 80 BC.
The Buddhists wear white when the come to worship.
Samadhi statue
Kuttam Pokuna, ancient bathing pool.
Sanctuary at Tissawewa hotel/restaurant where we ate a bit.
Hemi showed us this cinnamon tree at the Sactuary of Tissawewa and then we call got bitten by ants.
We stayed in a bit of a dive next to the airport, but it was clean and they made us yummy curry at 11 PM. We were the only ones that stayed in the house/hotel that night. Fancy mosquito nets!!
Can't forget our swagger wagon that we spent far too much time in. We had a blast!
A much needed snooze on the flight back.
