Just Around Spooky Alley: Another weekend in Paradise

Being in this part of the world we are trying very hard to visit as many destinations in this area as we can. Soon we will start the planning for our return to Canada and we don't want to feel we didn't visit and see enough places. Two weeks ago we got to travel to one of Mike's must see destinations - the Maldives.

The trip from here is very easy. After a direct four hours flight and a 30 minutes speed boat ride we arrived to our island and our hotel. The Four Seasons offers a lot of privacy as the resort is on its own island. We had a wonderful room a few steps from the beach. The hotel was not busy which meant we had the stretch of beach to ourselves most of the time. A real paradise. Luckily we were on the snorkelling side of the island and spent most of our time snorkelling and playing in the sand. The water was truly amazing and clear. The snorkelling was perfect to do with the kids as the coral cages were so close to shore and easy to get to with young children.

Our room was perfect. I think I have mentioned before that I really like to travel and be in smaller spaces with the kids. I love how cozy it was and how much time we have in the kids' company. At home we are lost in all the rooms! The hotel was so good to the kids and had all the necessary amenities for them in addition to giving them plenty of gifts. Actually I feel we were all spoiled because the amazing service at this hotel was definitely a highlight of this trip. The staff went above and beyond.

Anyway, enough chatting here is whats most important - pictures!

Snack time before boarding our flight

Thank goodness for popcorn for keeping these guys busy

Especially this one

Ready to board

Ahhh...finally gorgeous water. It does not get better than this

On the boat and ready to get to the hotel

Arriving to the hotel

Our welcoming committee

The lobby

Presents!!

New backpack!!

I would say they were treated better than we were!! Yummy desserts. Of course we didn't let them eat them all - we had some too.

Right away, we hit the water.

There is nothing better for kids than water and sand.

Love how much C loves to snorkel. He is up for any activity.

Best buds.

View of the pool (which we also had to ourselves most of the time). This is the kiddy pool, the big infinity pool is in front all the long chairs.

One last dip before bath time and dinner (this is the pool at our room)

Perfect view of the sunset

The big one and little one having a nice moment

Trying really hard to get a group selfie

Every afternoon they had hermit crab races. Everyone was assigned a crab and the winner got a prize.

Adriano's almost made it to the finish line first. So funny!

M and M

Beautiful sunset. The feeling of being in the middle of nowhere. Peaceful.

Our first night, Italian dinner

A Maldivian historic home. The boys were excited to see something cultural.

I love their love for learning about different countries and cultures.

Breakfast time, our favourite time.

Getting ready to feed the turtles.

These are injured turtles, mostly with decapitated limbs because of fishermen nets. They are captured and taken care of at the hotel and then put back in the ocean when they are ready.

He spent most of his time filling and emptying buckets with sand and asking me to get him more water "mai".

Such a nice feeling to swim in clear salt water

He finally can float on his own with the floaties...I am sure the salt helped.

The villa we wish for...haha...at least we got a peak at what it looked inside.

As if it was our place...lol...who wants to join us next year? It has four bedrooms and definitely requires a bigger group than ours.

View from one of the rooms.

Another beautiful sunset.

And the swing again. I am not sure why I bothered cleaning them up before dinner, there was sand everywhere and I am sure you can guess they ended up playing in it!

He didn't seize to amaze us on this trip. He started saying more words, he did everything the "guys" (as he calls them) did. He was cuter than ever.

Fearless and ready for anything!

Second night, Indian dinner (and actually third night too...it was too darn delicious)

This is why I love small spaces. So cozy and lots of family and brotherly love time!

Not quite, but almost...we celebrate 10 years in October, but there is no harm in starting the celebrations early.

C's first surfing lesson. He did so well.

And these two made great spectators. A did not want to try.

But M on the other hand was very willing...lol

Getting ready to do a little bit of kayaking.

Best naps are those taken on daddy. I have so many pictures like this one with all the boys. I think daddy enjoys them the most as it gives him a reason to nap.

Not napping, but resting.

Playing with his friends the hermit crabs.

This doctor cleans your shades. His name is Dr. Shades!

Smoothies...yummy.

Anxious to open our anniversary present - a nice seashell frame.

This sunset was special as we took a dolphin cruise to see the dolphins.

On the rooftop of the cruise boat.

Best view in the house (we were the only ones on the boat - our own private cruise)

Anxious to see the dolphins.

And they appeared so quickly and did a beautiful show for us. The sunset made it difficult to capture them on camera but I hope the experience will stay with us forever. It was breath taking.

The best lamb biriani ever!!! Which is why I had it two nights in a row. C also insisted on me having it again. He confessed it was because he thought the presentation of it covered with a bread interested him.