Our little cute mei mei was growing more adorable by the day. How was that even possible?
She enjoyed pulling her tutu skirt, Jie's hair, mama's clothes (which she clung on for her dear life whenever she had to bathe)...
We loved her chubby cheeks, arms and thighs...oh and her fleshy rotund tummy
Gor gor enjoyed building structures. Ha, I had never thought of stacking the colourful half spheres in this manner. They could actually be stacked the other way to form a triangular tower and be kept together neatly as a sphere. A most interesting toy.
Mei mei was wearing the superhero series...introducing the Bat Girl. I started singing the ditty "Bat girl Bat girl..." that Zhang Hui Mei sang and the children were very amused. When we went on the road trip to KL with Ah Ma Ah Gong, Tong and Jun went to take Ah Ma's car. When this song was played on the radio, Jun started making up his own lyrics and changed the words to "bad girl", "bad MM" ...faint...
Tried making takoyaki balls using the muffin pan and oven...ha...well, I thought they turned out OK. I was getting more adventurous in cooking and trying out all kinds of recipes...
Sent the photo to the Lulu Sisters and Partners' chatgroup and Xiaoyi asked if they were yummy so I took a photo of Xun gobbling one up!
Throwback to when Tong was tiny and loved his planes...
To KL
We drove to Malacca and had dim sum for brunch.
The most famous street in Malacca - Jonker Street
It was a juxtaposition of the old and new businesses, with many shops selling chicken rice balls next to yuppie cafes that boasted of Instagram-worthy photos. Just opposite this from where we took this photo, there was a humongous H&M store which had 3 levels...There were many B&B inns too to cater to the young crowd, there was a distinctly different vibe from the one we experienced when we came years ago...
Then we had a little jaunt to explore this quaint place. There were many interesting murals on the walls...ah...so we must do what the typical Singaporean did - to take lots of photos...
Loved their tee - On the Road with a smile
Who's the witch?
Aiya, the one who was born in the year of the bull did not take a photo here
Ha, we saw another car with the same car plate number as Ah Ma! In fact, ah ma just saw two other cars spotting the same number at Bedok Mall last night... hmmm a sign that Ah Gong would strike lottery soon?
Ha, taking a short siesta
The little imp pretended to be hard at work..
Sauntered to the riverside...
Checking out interesting curiosities
Went into a free museum that had such an air of oldness...it was as if the place had been frozen in time in the 60s...though it was sweltering hot outside, there was a languorous feel to the vast halls...I remarked to Xun that architecture took into account the cultural, local environmental and climatic features in the past...therefore they built buildings that complemented the natural surroundings, e.g. the airwell in the middle of the house that introduced a passage for the air to be circulated so that there was a placid coolness in the house... however our modern architecture was more utilitarian than anything else...Loved the antiquated items in the museum. Xun bought a cute jade tortoise!
Had the famous Malacca chendol...too full for chicken rice balls...so we continued on our journey.
Checked into the Airbnb apartment above Setapak Mall. A very lovely place and rather affordable too. It was some S$70 for the entire house for a night? So we could all stay together and have lots of space for the kids to run around...and not worry about the ruckus that they were making. Dinner was at Sakae Sushi, to the children's delight!
Our bedroom!
All snug and ready to go to bed...
Day 2
Ah Gong, AH Ma, Xiaoshu and Xiaoshen went to Chin Swee Temple and Genting Highlands.
Ah we also took photos against the pagoda as backdrop when we were there.
Did not recall seeing these statues though...
Just outside the casino
We went to watch "Pikachu Detective"! It was a really good show. The kids had so much fun and the tickets were so affordable (at 15RM for adults and 9RM for kids). We should make more trips to the cinemas in Malaysia. Luckily, mei mei slept through the entire movie. She was such a contented and easy baby...
Next up - the indoor playground at Molly Fantasy Arcade. We were worried that the big ones would find it boring...Tong did whine a little in the beginning but they spent a good 2 hours there in the end after all. Gasp...and the price....8RM for 2 hours per pax...oh my...Did you see Isaac's name? He made the letters with the soft foam boards.
They were hiding underneath all the balls...
Jun made a fantastical gun out of the pipe connectors...
Papa acting all coy
He happened to sit in front of the flower so I took a photo without him realizing that he had become a flowerhead. ha. The highlight of the day was playing at the Pokémon machines for the munchkins. It cost 4RM per round...they managed to collect some powerful pokemons...Jun was the designated pokeball chooser and he was really blessed. Out of the 20odd pokeballs he helped to get, only 2 were the ordinary ones! Jie was the designated key stone selector, it was some key stone which allowed the pokemons to evolve. I learnt some fun facts...like Evee could evolve into 7 different types!
The temporary ice-skating rink was so unnoticeable that we walked past it without realizing. This activity was more expensive...we still had to buy socks and gloves though it was not real ice and was hardly cold...
The big ones played ice hockey and Jie was steady, well her hockey training had paid off
The train ride was really slow...haha...Tong might be getting too old for such childish entertainment...
Dinner was at A&W...yumz, was glad that it was opening branches in Singapore again,
Mummy took the opportunity to go and cut her hair while the kids stayed with Ah Ma in the apartment. Ha, however, I was asked to hurry back as Mei was crying ballistically
Day 3
We had breakfast at a bakuteh store
I loved the dazzling rainbow paints
It was very beautiful
Instagram-worthy photos
There were about 270 steps to climb!
The stairs were rainbow-hued, they certainly make a pretty backdrop.
Tong said that Xiaoshen told him that these were limestone caves.
I loved how majestic and awe-inspiring the natural landscape was. Peering into the brightness of the sun overhead...
Ah Ma did not come up as she found it too challenging. The statues were sparsely scattered at different location in the cave. Mainly small simple ones, unlike the towering statues we saw at Chin Swee Temple. According to Ah Gong, the boss of Genting Highlands built the temple in the mountains to pay homage to the gods there. The story went that he encountered many difficulties while building the casino and things went smoothly after he erected the temple.
Daddy and his darlings
Our little angelic girl bathed in a warm glow of sunlight...she certainly had ethereal beauty of heart, being such a sweet and understanding girl who helped out a lot at home with the baby and being very spiritually sensitive...I did not ever recall wondering about death when I was a small girl...Yet jie had sobbed several times over her fear of living in eternity in heaven, worrying about her inability to grasp the inscrutable idea of living forever in a new body in perfect bliss with Jesus...
Did you know that this was the first time we were travelling with Xiaoshen? ya...she could not join the previous trips...so this was our first overseas family trip!
Ha, asked the kids to run from one end to the other so I could do this amazing landscape shot...took many tries to get this single photo...
The most comical incident: We were preparing to descend and moved towards the side so we could hold the railing. I actually walked right into a monkey which took my glasses away in fierce defence for stepping into its personal space. Ah, I promptly snatched it back, phew, imagined if I had lost my glasses. I wondered how in the world could I have missed that big monkey...I supposed I was so focused on getting to the railing that my brain must have obliterated other details!
In Ah Ma's car, Jun was recorded as singing "Eat bakuteh and go Batu caves. If never eat Bakuteh, cannot go Batu Caves." hahaha what an absolutely silly ditty.
Next up, we went to a French-themed resort that had beautifully landscaped gardens and imposing castle-like structures...
It was like we had stepped back in time to the olden days...
Looked like the black and white houses that Singapore had? They were hotels and the resort was pretty self-contained in the sense that it had eateries, an arcade, different sights of interest like the adventure park, rabbit park, Buddha structure, and a guest could get to these different spots via the hotel truck-bus.
Nowadays, they clamoured to have their photos taken.
Well, it was a nice stroll in this quaint place...
Ah, after lunch, we had ice cream!
Check out the pouty lips that had been stained a bright blood red by the watermelon-shaped ice cream! haha he gamely puckered up his lips for Ah Ma and Xiaoshen to take photos. Ah, we did not take photos of eating coconut shakes. It was at this immense standalone restaurant that sold coconut icy shakes mostly! The ice cream there was cheap. What cost S$1 at our petrol stations also cost $1 except it was in ringgit, which meant it was one third of the price we were used to paying. Wooohooo for excellent exchange rates!
We went to a mall to shop. It was a place where locals patronized and we snagged some wonderful bargains - like a pair of sturdy white sports shoes for Tong (who had this 'incredible' ability to wear out his shoes really fast) at 10RM. We also bought lots of groceries...pasta, softener, diapers...
We had wanted to eat at KFC but it was too crowded by the time we gathered there. By a fortunate stroke of serendipity, we found this restaurant opposite our hotel that sold really yummy Chinese food. With our tummies filled and warmed, we headed home to rest. Almost nearing the end of the adventure...
Day 4
Left the house at 10ish and drove to this renowned Dim Sum place in KL. Imagine our consternation when we saw the queue. Gosh, there was a snaking queue of people holding tags waiting for their turn. No way would we wait in line...
Went a little further up to a quieter side and chanced upon this meatball noodle stall. Perfect for the little ones as they loved noodles! The meatballs were tasty and they were generous with the chicken too. We ordered more fried dishes (wantons, fishcakes) to share and the food was absolutely delicious.
One more pit-stop for the drivers to rest and we had Baskins Robbin ice-cream while being irritated by the persistent flies (and one even followed us to the customs in our car, heh heh)… we were out of Malaysia by mid afternoon and home before 5pm. Unpacked, did chores...and would you believe it? Papa actually took them to swim (ya coz Jun was complaining that he did not get to swim in KL as mama did not pack swimsuits there and we did not have time to even swim. We did not get to catch a second movie as what we had wanted...and the kids wished they could have more time at the arcade.)
Update: Back in Singapore and the kids were now officially addicted to the Pokémon machine game. Ha, Tong remembered that there were Pokémon machines at Bukit Panjang Plaza so we headed there today and indeed, there were two machines. Each play cost S$2, as compared to 4RM in Malaysia. Oh well, I betted that we would be going to the library more often now coz Tong would probably use that as an excuse to visit Plaza. heh heh heh.
Thankful for the balmy weather and marvelous companionship. We thanked God for blessing us with our extended family.
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