The long overdue family road trip

Warning: Image heavy post!

The last time I remembered doing a road trip like this was when I was really little. I remember that it was a road trip to Desaru with all my aunts. I even remember that one of the days fell on my birthday and I received a Tweety Bird soft toy then. The last holiday that I remember having gone with my parents and both my sisters was the one where we went to Indonesia and that was ages. Also, I remember that the last time I went Genting Highlands, I was still a wee little girl. Small enough to be still riding the 20 sen kiddy joy rides while my father was next door on the jackpot machines!! :P 

This trip kind of took 3 months to plan and coordinate. I brought the idea up during CNY this year and was surprised that everyone did take to it. Big sis was the one who made the hotel bookings and so off we went! :P 

We drove off at about 645am (It was supposed to be 630am but the people who were supposed to give us a ring when they drove off didn't. :{) and met up at the first rest stop when we passed the Tuas customs.

Improvised the "in-flight entertainment" with the iPad! :P The boys probably watched for about 30mins before we reached Melaka.

Our first stop was Melaka. We stayed at Equatorial again. However, with sis' corporate booking this time, we managed to get the premier rooms at the rates that we'd usually pay for the superior. It was really spacious and came with the day bed which, the children slept on that night. Having that extra bed really was a lifesaver now that they boys are quite big. It is quite a squeeze having all 4 of us in a king sized bed already! 

Day bed at Equatorial

As usual, we had brunch at Dim Sum Garden (at Bandar Hilir) and then did some shopping at Pahlawan before checking in. After a good nap, the boys went for a swim and then off we went to Bei Zhan (Jalan Kota Laksamana 2/17, Kota Laksamana) for dinner. This time around, with BiL around, we got to go to the Portuguese Settlement for a stroll. We originally wanted to have dinner there but it started raining at dinner time and so Bei Zhan it was.

 

 

Orange juice and the vegetable + pineapple juice. Signature juices at Bei Zhan. They have another potato + apple juice which I never really liked.

All the kiddos on this trip. One rose among the 5 boys. :D

After an overnight stay at Equatorial, we left for Genting after lunch. Lunch was at this nonya restaurant called Nancy's which I thought the food was just alright. Not exactly fantastic but expensive (compared to Bei Zhan). 

The drive up to Genting was really quite nice. As we made our way up the mountain, the air got cooler and cooler. I think hubby had a great time doing a Grand Prix up the last bit of the mountain! :P

 

This was a super expensive meal we had at the FOOD COURT at First World hotel. 5 bowls of bak kut teh + you tiao and rice cost us RM$100!!! And the soups came in rice bowl sized bowls!!! Also, it was just really very average tasting. So anyone heading to First World Hotel, here's the warning. Avoid this bak kut teh stall in the food court!!!

First World Hotel is a really cheap and tacky looking hotel from outside. Who on earth paints their hotel to look like this??? And its check in lobby is one crowded place. I felt as though I was in the check in lounge of an airport or something! However, I must say that the interior of the hotel is pretty decent and that it is really very convenient to be staying there. The shopping is there, the amusement park is also there. Can't ask for anything more.

We dragged the couch over and draped a sheet over. Small fry slept in the couch for the next 2 nights, giving us more space on the bed. :D He actually enjoyed having a "bed" of his own.

The 3 of them were the only ones that were still within the height limit for this ride.

They went nuts spinning the teacups round and round. Towards the end, I saw Kiefer slumped to the side, hanging on to his dear life! I was giddy just watching them!

This was the ultimate photo of the trip!! :P See my 2nd sis' face? Priceless!

Just the 4 of us here!

Trying to act out the scene from Jurassic Park I. The other boy just didn't go away tho' he saw us taking pictures!! Gonna crop him out when I photoshop this picture! :P

There was some clown-themed thingy going on at the park. I thought they looked horrendous tho'.

Small fry loved following his Josh Kor Kor around on rides.

His first time driving a bumper car on his own. He couldn't get the car to move in the beginning and kept wondering what we we trying to gesture to him. However, once he got it, off he went!

Can't tell that these 2 are just 6 weeks apart in age, can you?

Till our next trip again!!! 

  

Innocence..

Had this conversation with Kieran earlier at the supermarket:

K: Why must pay money? (pointing to the groceries)
M: Nothing is free.
K: But I am free!
M: puzzled for a while
K: I am free to play with you!

Such is the innocence of a young child. I sometimes feel bad that I have to show/ tell him what is like in the real world. I often wonder if I say tell him too much that we need money to pay for things, will he end up thinking that money is everything? Where is the balance? I see some children with absolutely no sense of worth (as in the worth of money). I do not wish for my children to grow up that way but yet I also do not want them to think that money is everything. Thus every time conversations that deals with buying things or going on holidays come up, I struggle with finding the balance of showing them that we need to save money for such things and yet not going overboard with stressing the importance of money.

And with the recent Japan disaster, we are also having a hard time stressing to Kieran that the earthquakes are devastating and it is sad that people are losing their homes and their loved ones. Kieran sometimes compares the pictures that we show him from the internet to the movies (like Independence Day) and goes "oohh!". We keep telling him that it is really sad that many children have lost their parents and that the earthquakes are real but I guess he is still too young to understand the severity. I know that he has empathy. I see it when he feels sad when he watches movies. However, I guess he still doesn't understand that disasters really do happen. I can also tell that he is worried about death. He keeps asking why people die. We tell him everyone will die one day. When we grow old we die. And then he'll ask if we are old already. To him, we are "old". I hope we are not frightening him too much. :( We just want to stress to him that he and his brother will have to take care of each other when we are all gone.

Adorable pronunciations by Kiefer

Before I forget how he says these words...

Mummy yuuk!! (*look*)
b-eu (*blue*) car
the notti (*MRT*) train

These are the cute little mispronunciations that I'm gonna miss as he improves his speech. Oh gosh! My boy is growing up too quickly!!





And here's the babe who is so happy that he got his car seat upgraded to a big boy seat! :)

- Posted from my iPhone

The night we saw Pele & Cantona!

Pele and Cantona were in Singapore on tour for the New York Cosmos. They were appearing at the Courts Young Lions vs Geylang match at Jln Besar Stadium. And somehow, hubby managed to get free passes to the match. Even better, we actually got great seats (i.e. one of those exclusive passes type of seats). From where we were, we had a great view of the 2 soccer legends!

Great view of Cantona and Pele at half time.

Hunting for passes to a photo opportunity with the legends at half time. Sadly, we could not find any!! :(

It was a fun evening for the boys as it was the first time they watched a real soccer match live. (I think it was a first for me too!! :P)

That was not cool!

I was fooling around with Kieran as we were stepping out of the lift. I tried to push him back into the lift (after an incident when he went into the lift all by himself and the door closed on him, he would never go or stay inside a lift all by himself). He quickly came out and said, " That was not cool!"

And I thought it was really cool that he used that phrase!! :D