Sunday, December 14, 2008
Back from Langkawi
We went on a family holiday on Thursday and returned home yesterday afternoon. The Ong family, comprising Eugene's parents, brother and sister and their families, and us, spent our first family holiday together in Langkawi for 3 days and 2 nights. The kids, and adults, had lots of fun on the beach, in the sea and pool. Lots of energy was released those 3 days and gave us, especially the kids, time together to bond. We stayed at the Mutiara Burau Bay Resort. Their accommodation was chalet-style. The chalets were cosy but rather small and cramped and old. Needs refurbishment.
We rented a van for those 3 days and went out for meals and some shopping (duty free alcohol, snacks and drinks, ikan bilis and cashew nuts). The weather was good i.e. top-grade sunshine and occasional soothing sea breeze.
The highlight of our beach experience was the discovery of a sizeable area of sea bed near the shore during low tide that was concentrated with hundreds (or maybe thousands) of hermit crabs. Kids and adults alike spent over an hour scooping them up, marvelling at the beautiful patterns on the shells and the crabs peeking out of them. We even managed to catch a few small crabs, one of which gave me a shockingly painful pinch with both its pincers.
We had lunch one afternoon at Palmville Seafood Restaurant in the Pantai Cenang stretch of shoplots. The food was quite tasty and reasonably priced. Too bad we didn't manage to take pics of the food. We were all so hungry that the dishes were polished off rather quickly!
On our second and last night there, we went to Perdana Quay for dinner. We decided to check out Pulau Pulau Seafood and Steamboat Restaurant. They have steamboat at RM38++ per adult (half price for kids) but we opted to order dishes. We decided never to go back there again if we go to Langkawi in future. Service was terribly lousy and so was the food. We made up for the lousy dinner with dessert at The Loaf, the much-publicised bakery cum cafe of which our former prime minister is a shareholder. They have a branch in Kuala Lumpur at Pavilion mall.
Will post some pics of our holiday later.
We rented a van for those 3 days and went out for meals and some shopping (duty free alcohol, snacks and drinks, ikan bilis and cashew nuts). The weather was good i.e. top-grade sunshine and occasional soothing sea breeze.
The highlight of our beach experience was the discovery of a sizeable area of sea bed near the shore during low tide that was concentrated with hundreds (or maybe thousands) of hermit crabs. Kids and adults alike spent over an hour scooping them up, marvelling at the beautiful patterns on the shells and the crabs peeking out of them. We even managed to catch a few small crabs, one of which gave me a shockingly painful pinch with both its pincers.
We had lunch one afternoon at Palmville Seafood Restaurant in the Pantai Cenang stretch of shoplots. The food was quite tasty and reasonably priced. Too bad we didn't manage to take pics of the food. We were all so hungry that the dishes were polished off rather quickly!
On our second and last night there, we went to Perdana Quay for dinner. We decided to check out Pulau Pulau Seafood and Steamboat Restaurant. They have steamboat at RM38++ per adult (half price for kids) but we opted to order dishes. We decided never to go back there again if we go to Langkawi in future. Service was terribly lousy and so was the food. We made up for the lousy dinner with dessert at The Loaf, the much-publicised bakery cum cafe of which our former prime minister is a shareholder. They have a branch in Kuala Lumpur at Pavilion mall.
Will post some pics of our holiday later.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Busy week with kids and family
For the past nine days, I was back home at my parent's house spending time with family. My older brother and his family are visiting from the States and the house was abuzz with trying to keep up with breakfast, lunch, dinner, feeding the kids, managing their crankiness and keeping them from mischief and fights. There was never a moment that you could hear a pin drop. Many things we said to the kids were with exclamation marks, and most of the time, they were repeated at least thrice. The wooden staircase in the house got a good workout with the kids stomping up and down it all the time.
Chestnut and Jenna were 'tortured' by Caitlin and Kinglee, her 3.5-year-old American cousin, during bath time, while training them to get used to their leash and during short walks for toilet training.
Caitlin, being the 'big sister', found a groupie in Kinglee who literally followed her around, copying exactly everything she did and said. Caitlin was totally irritated with her sweet little cousin's adoration resulting in us adults having to sort them out almost all day everyday. Kids these days are a handful. My bro and I commented that we doubt we were ever like that during our time. We were more 'blur' then I believe.
As my parents' home is hardly child-friendly, keeping Ryan, my 1.5-year-old nephew, from touching my dad's breakable collectibles and endangering himself, was another energy-sapping task. This little boy is more curious than the proverbial cat and likes poking his fingers into places he's not supposed to, and turning things upside down to see what's interesting underneath. Life at his grandparents' house was so interesting with so many adults and kids and stuff to explore that his routine was thrown out of sync. This usually greedy, good eater decided exploration was better than food and sleep for once.
As for Kinglee's baby sister Kingmei, she's the most well-behaved, mainly because she's only 7 months old! She could be rather loud at times but always gives you the most adorable smile when her eyes meet yours. Caitlin loves her a lot and enjoyed cooing, playing peek-a-boo and 'This little piggy' with her.
Food was abundant throughout the day, typical of my mum who shows her motherly love by keeping our tummies filled all the time. A mixture of home-cooked and outside fare filled the dining table all day. It sure felt like Chinese New Year with so much food during and in-between meals. I guess it was called for since we are a 'complete' family only every few years when my older brother and his family visit from the States.
Speaking of food, I'm hungry now and am craving for some Seremban beef noodles. Too bad I'm back in KL. It's almost dinner time and Caitlin and I are waiting for Eugene to return from work before we go out for dinner. Not cooking tonight. Had not been the past 9 days which is a good break, and I will not be till the weekend as we'll be taking a short holiday somewhere up north.
I'll blog again next week I guess.
Chestnut and Jenna were 'tortured' by Caitlin and Kinglee, her 3.5-year-old American cousin, during bath time, while training them to get used to their leash and during short walks for toilet training.
Caitlin, being the 'big sister', found a groupie in Kinglee who literally followed her around, copying exactly everything she did and said. Caitlin was totally irritated with her sweet little cousin's adoration resulting in us adults having to sort them out almost all day everyday. Kids these days are a handful. My bro and I commented that we doubt we were ever like that during our time. We were more 'blur' then I believe.
As my parents' home is hardly child-friendly, keeping Ryan, my 1.5-year-old nephew, from touching my dad's breakable collectibles and endangering himself, was another energy-sapping task. This little boy is more curious than the proverbial cat and likes poking his fingers into places he's not supposed to, and turning things upside down to see what's interesting underneath. Life at his grandparents' house was so interesting with so many adults and kids and stuff to explore that his routine was thrown out of sync. This usually greedy, good eater decided exploration was better than food and sleep for once.
As for Kinglee's baby sister Kingmei, she's the most well-behaved, mainly because she's only 7 months old! She could be rather loud at times but always gives you the most adorable smile when her eyes meet yours. Caitlin loves her a lot and enjoyed cooing, playing peek-a-boo and 'This little piggy' with her.
Food was abundant throughout the day, typical of my mum who shows her motherly love by keeping our tummies filled all the time. A mixture of home-cooked and outside fare filled the dining table all day. It sure felt like Chinese New Year with so much food during and in-between meals. I guess it was called for since we are a 'complete' family only every few years when my older brother and his family visit from the States.
Speaking of food, I'm hungry now and am craving for some Seremban beef noodles. Too bad I'm back in KL. It's almost dinner time and Caitlin and I are waiting for Eugene to return from work before we go out for dinner. Not cooking tonight. Had not been the past 9 days which is a good break, and I will not be till the weekend as we'll be taking a short holiday somewhere up north.
I'll blog again next week I guess.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Additions to our family
We'll be having additions to our family soon. It will happen next year after we move to our new home (which currently is giving us headaches with some snags with the defects...sigh, I foresee a battle with the developers).
We had been planning for just one but it looks like we may end up with two. One is female and the other male. They are named Jenna and Rusty. Jenna is a mongrel my dad found with her other four brothers and sisters. We adopted Jenna and her brother Chestnut while dad's neighbours took in the other three pups.
At the same time, Eugene's friend's miniature schnauzer gave birth and we've booked one male pup. Caitlin has been dreaming of having a schnauzer for the longest time so it's her dream come true. She had decided last year that she would name her schnauzer Rusty if she ever got one.
Since we now can't care for the pups at our apartment, my dad is looking after Jenna with his own pup Chestnut at his house. Meanwhile, Rusty has yet to grow old enough (only 2-3 weeks old now) for us to collect him.
Caitlin with Jenna
Rusty
We had been planning for just one but it looks like we may end up with two. One is female and the other male. They are named Jenna and Rusty. Jenna is a mongrel my dad found with her other four brothers and sisters. We adopted Jenna and her brother Chestnut while dad's neighbours took in the other three pups.
At the same time, Eugene's friend's miniature schnauzer gave birth and we've booked one male pup. Caitlin has been dreaming of having a schnauzer for the longest time so it's her dream come true. She had decided last year that she would name her schnauzer Rusty if she ever got one.
Since we now can't care for the pups at our apartment, my dad is looking after Jenna with his own pup Chestnut at his house. Meanwhile, Rusty has yet to grow old enough (only 2-3 weeks old now) for us to collect him.
Caitlin with Jenna
Rusty
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