TWO DECADES BABY!!!

We're officially in our 20's!!!! YAAYY! We had the most WONDERFUL birthday!!! SUCH a perfect day! Here's what we got up to..!

We woke up early(ish) and got ready for a beach day! Before we left we started our the day how any birthday should start.. With presents! Thanks SO MUCH G'ma and G'pa, Uncle Matt, and Sue & Sir for the lovely cards and pressies! AND a huge thank you to Sarah for our beautiful flower delivery!! We really were showered with love from the start of the day to the very end, so special!

We left (a liiiittle behind schedule) to pick up Sully and start the day's adventures! 

We pretty much planned the day based on what free stuff you can do/get on your birthday - and we made out really freakin well!

First up was a free brekkie at IHOP! 

The three of us absolutely went to town! We demolished this WHOLE MEAL in 8 minutes flat. Kind of scary. Kind of impressive.

Number two on our list of freebies were ferry tickets to Catalina Island, a beautiful little island off the coast of LA that we'd never been to before! We got to the port no worries and hopped on board!

(Han was pretty proud of her artistic skills on that 2nd pic!)

The hour-long boat ride sped by and before we knew it, we were there!

It was soooo beautiful! Sort of had the feel of a cross between Sydney and the south of France, it was the most glorious getaway from the city that we could've hoped for! 

We started walking around the little beachy town, exploring and window shopping, and we'd only been at it about 15 minutes when we ran into these three hilarious, good-looking, and veeery drunk guys..!

Their "island names" were Ruffles, Thunder, and Ninja hahaha they were super nice and they gave us their Wicky-Wak hats. After heaps of laughs, we went our separate ways (they were headed to breakfast.. At 12:30pm) with the assurance that it's a small island and we were bound to run into each other again later. 

We were planning on rock climbing or zip lining or parasailing but the beach was so stunning and it was such perfect weather that we couldn't resist the idea of a cocktail on the beach! We were laying out and catching up when a waiter from the beachside cafe came over to us..

Waiter: (looks at the funny hats) "ohh I see you got your Wicky Wacked!"

Han: "Yeah, we did!"

*we all laugh*

Han: "Hey do you have a drinks menu?"

Waiter: "Sure, I'll bring it right over!"

.......

Cool! Thank you boys for those hats! In no time (actually that's a lie, it was at least 45 minutes later) we were sipping on daiquiris and mojitos, yum!! Thanks Sully!

A little while later, our friends bumped into us on the beach! We learned Ninja's signature look, heard the stories behind their nicknames, and were given nicknames ourselves!

From left to right: Ice, Pearly Whites (aka Teeth, aka Jaws, aka Chompers. Nice.), and Sugar & Spice (aka Gucci, aka Sporty Spice. ???). Too funny! 

The time flew by and we didn't have too long before we had to catch the ferry back! We said goodbye to the boys (again) and went off to the ice cream parlour to get our free bday ice cream! Rocky road and Dulce de Leche, soo good! 

Next up we went to Luau Larry's to try their signature drink (no luck this time, the hats failed us.. That and the waitress was a girl so of course she asked for ID. Ahh well.) we still had a delicious fish and chips to split before going to the dock to get back on the boat! 

When we got back to the mainland we went straight to Silverlake, near Downtown LA, to a little place we'd scoped out on Sunday called ALCHEMY TATTOO!!!!

WE GOT INKED!!! The tattoo artist, Wyatt, was super nice/patient with us (he was also gorgeous, ohmygoshh) and worked with us to get it exactly right. Even though it's probably a bit of a shock to all our wonderful family reading this (it was certainly a massive shock to Mum! Hehe sorry..!) we've actually been thinking about this tattoo for about 8 months now - since we were apart from each other in college. We decided on a little "&" on our left wrists in a really pretty aqua/turquoise colour and Wyatt took us back to get em done! We were kind of terrified, SO glad Sully was with us for moral support!!! Luce went first and was done in no time!

Han was up next and 5 minutes later we both had tattoos! 

It was painful but really not unbearable - although we wouldn't have wanted anything bigger - and we couldn't be happier with how they turned out!! We're SO in love with em, such a special way to mark the start of a new decade and declare that, no matter what, we'll always be "Hannah & Lucy"/"Lucy & Hannah" 

We'd planned on going out to a lovely Spanish restaurant for dinner but it was so late and we were all so tired by the time we got home that we decided on pizza delivery instead! 

So we finished the first night of this new, exciting decade with pizza, champagne, choccies, and a chick flick - oh and, of course, each other.

Somewhere, beyond the sea...

Saturday was absolutely beautiful!! We went on a boat tour around the islands near Koh Samui and luckily the sun was out and it was a picture perfect day! 

After about an hour we stopped at an island to kayak and snorkel. We were using "Triaks" so it was us with Will in one and Dad, Claire and Eddie in the other. Surprisingly enough, we held our own with the rowing (or is it paddling?) and kept towards the front of the group! We went under a ledge of a cliff and through an amazing grotto/cave that was like something out of a movie! So cool. After a little while we both started getting really tired so we asked Will if he could be our cheerleader and cheer us on.. He said sure and after taking a few seconds to think of something, he came up with a cheer for Hannah: "Come on Hannah, you can do it! You're the best and you know best!" We both had the biggest smiles on our faces and requested a new cheer for both of us! Will's second cheer was: "You have the strength, you have the courage, you can do it straight away!" So adorable! We paddled until we arrived at a little beach and then we all got out to snorkel for a while! The water and the fish were beautiful and we also swam through a little cave (and Lucy got really scared!) Once we'd had our fun it was back to the boat! We had an amazing lunch onboard and played some cards with the fam and then we stopped at another tiny beach where we could get off the boat. When we got to the beach it was completely packed with other tourists, so we decided to walk up to the lookout and lagoon on the island. The walk ended up being much more of a climb because the stairs were more like a ladder - so steep!! We went up and up and up and couldn't believe that the kids could climb so many steps! It was worth it though when we got to the top because the view was breathtaking :) 

We looked out and could see the most beautiful lagoon and decided that even though it was a bit of a detour, we really wanted to walk down to it and have a swim! 

But when we got there the walkway was completely fenced off and a bunch of signs said "No Swimming" NOOOOOO! Drenched in sweat, we climbed backwards down the stairs ladder-style and finally made it to the beach! Phewww! We swam and ate ice creams and waited for the little speedboat to go back to the big boat. Then it was straight back to Koh Samui and back to the house where we had yummy take-away and packed to leave on Sunday!

Sunday was a traveling day - back to Singapore! We woke up early and headed to the beautiful outdoor airport..! It was all very smooth traveling and before we knew it, we were in our hotel which is so lovely! It's in Clark Quay and all of the buildings are beautifully decorated with pastel colors and lights :) AND to make it even better, there's a shopping mall under the hotel... Dangerous! Haha, but it was great because we headed down to the mall for lunch and got some delicious Udon noodles for an early dinner. Later on Nanna arrived - so good to see her! And we all got early nights in preparation for some fun days in Singapore!