We started the day without much planned. But it seemed a bit of a waste to while a festive holiday away. So on a spur of a moment, we went out in our Malaysian dress to celebrate Hari Raya.
We went to two starkly different venues.
Firstly, we visited some friends in a low-cost housing neighbourhood. The splash of colour with bright Baju Melayus was a contrast to the otherwise dim and dank corridors. The food and merriment in the living rooms was warm and welcoming. We sat on the floor and traded greetings and stories over rendang and sirap, and the kids were each given some duit raya to mark the occasion.
Boys in batik sharing sweets
After returning home from the round of visitation, Mummy suddenly had the bright idea of joining the Hari Raya Open House at the palace. After all ... it is the palace. What more exotic place to celebrate ... with the King, no less?
The line outside the palace was long but moved relatively fast.
It's been a while since we paid a visit to Kidzania (Mummy needed a looonnnggg break after a few early visits). But with Girl #2 turning 2, we decided it would be fun to bring her there ... never too early to start exploring career options.
Not quite tall enough for over the counter transactions
A knee-up from a friendly Kidzania staff
Best activity ever ... despite being under the height limit, she was allowed in with her older siblings and dressed in the cutest oversized lab coat ... and who ever says no to Vitagen!
Brick-laying is a very handy skill
The older kiddos got to do their own thing too
And little one wanted to join in some of their action ... say "Cheese!"
So the eldest turned 12 and wanted a Paris-themed tea party.
As part of the decor, decided to make Eiffel tower standees for the table. Have never tried something like this before, and it was surprisingly not too difficult.
Thought I'd share the process here, in case anyone else would like to give it a go.
Step 1: Googled an image of the tower and recoloured it according to theme. I needed 2 towers for each standee.
Step 2: Got the image printed on A3 sticker paper and stuck on foam board.
Since we didn't have any big holiday activity planned, we decided to make a day trip down south.
It was a relatively economical, yet activity-packed, much-needed break.
Sand, Sun & Surf
The kiddos wanted some beach time, so we left early in the morning to Port Dickson.
It's been a long while since we've been to a Port Dickson beach. In fact, I don't think the kiddos have ever been.
Based on a friend's recommendation, we packed some buns/pastries and made our way to a stretch of public beach at Tanjung Kemang.
It was a public beach, but we were pleasantly surprised at how clean it was.
We bought some (overpriced) beach toys from the nearby stalls as our own had become too brittle as they were left out in our sandpit.
We got to make use of yet another new picnic mat Mummy bought (Mummy loves picnic mats!), and it was so comfy to lie down and chill as the kiddos played in the sand and sea.
Proud of boy who overcame nerves and language challenges to finish top 10 in his Chinese storytelling competition :-) Think mummy was more nervous, actually ... video ended up all over the place.
For the past year or so, the 2 older kids have earned some pocket money for themselves through voice-over jobs.
It all started with some Facebook casting calls. Didn't think much about it, but thought of trying the kiddos out for fun.
So Girl and Boy went for castings with two different recording studios.
Girl had her first job in February 2015 for some Disney Princess TV ad. It was an exciting experience. She managed to get parts in 5 different scripts. The director was very patient in guiding her line by line, with the proper inflections and diction.
We only managed to catch one of the 5 ads she did, though. And that entailed sitting in front of the TV for a while, with camera ready to shoot.
"If I were a Princess ..."
Boy had two V/O jobs in end-2015 and early-2106. One was a TV ad for a Baby toiletry brand, which we managed to find a recording for many months later.
Another was a CNY radio ad ... we were sitting in a dentist waiting room when we heard it come on the speakers. Mummy acted like a sua-ku dungu when I dropped everything and raised my phone up to the ceiling to try to record the ad.
Where all the discussions and directing go on
Second job was with a female partner and required more coordinating
Then the two of them had a recording for an educational programme — reading words and phrases to teach kids English.
So the recording experiences have been quite varied.
And there have been jobs that they have tried for but didn't get.
And while they won't get rich through it, they've been enjoying the ride.
Hopefully there will be more such opportunities to come.
Boy #2 has a minor underbite issue — his lower jaw protrudes out a bit more than normal, and his lower row of teeth would be in front of his top row.
It wasn't particularly noticeable, but we thought we would get it looked at. Our orthodontist, Dr Bernard Low, said conventional treatment is usually for older kids, but he was willing to take the chance and experiment with this 6-year-old.
This was one attraction that we almost didn't go to, but am so glad we did!
It was lots of fun for the whole family. There are four towers at each corner of the maze, and part of the fun was trying to find your way to each of the four towers through the maze. There are secret doors and water guns for some extra squirting fun.
We divided our troop into three teams to compete against each other, and we had to take group selfies at each of the towers.
The free outdoor area is just as fun, with smaller puzzles to solve and logs to climb.
During the March holidays, we decided to venture out of Malaysian borders to go Down Under, spending about a week at Perth and Margaret River with our extended family — all 18 of us!!
We had oodles of fun exploring part of Western Australia. If you are planning a trip there with kids, hopefully our experience may give you some helpful ideas. :-)
We did so much and took so many photos ... so we will be updating this blog as Mummy gets down to editing the photos etc. Do check back again soon for latest updates.
Pit Stop: Busselton
We took a 3-hour drive down from Perth, stopping at Busselton for a lovely picnic lunch under a shady tree by the coast. There were some cafes by the beach, and we ordered take-out from them.
Mummy had ordered a gigantic picnic mat from an Australian online store earlier, so we could fit the entire clan on it. The sun was hot, and there were lots of seagulls trying to get to our food. But the kiddos enjoyed chasing them in the heat.
The Museum gives you fun and interactive lessons on economics, banking and financial planning matters.
It's air-conditioned with several floors of exhibits, and the kids were kept busy running up and down, looking for special country rubber stamps to mark their "Asean Passport".
Best of all, it's free. Our foreigner friend who was with us kept asking, "Are you sure it's free? This sort of place would be so expensive in my home country!"
There's a special Children's Gallery where you can go through a RM1 million tunnel, be a bank teller of a day and try your hand at special kid-targeted exhibits.
Even mummies and daddies need a break from the kiddos. So off we went to the lovely town of Ipoh for a short getaway.
Why I loved this little holiday ... besides the fact that it was with my BFF ...
It's so near (just an hour's drive away) — no need to hop on to the plane
It has lovely natural caves and hot springs
It has a mixture of old and new buildings
Good food and everything conveniently nearby
We booked our stay at the relaxing and exclusive Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat by the Sunway Group. And it was everything we had hoped for ... and more. It was relatively pricey, by Ipoh standards, but sure beats going all the way to Bali for some villa luxury.
Boy #1 is starting school in the morning session now. Thankfully he can wake up and get ready for school in the wee hours of the morning without too much drama. And yes, he is prefect for the year!
In his prefect uniform, eating breakfast.
He also added a new accessory — glasses. Various ones commented that he seemed to squint every now and then. And he said he sometimes has trouble reading the black board as he sits right at the back. So we went for a test at Y. K. Leong Optometry.
Power is mild. Partly hereditary, the optometrist said. I was tempted to hold off on the glasses, but Boy seemed excited to get a pair. And he's been so good with using them. I think he feels a bit lost when he doesn't wear them.
Hopefully his power doesn't increase, and the other kids take after Mummy's 20/20 eyesight :-p
