When my eldest sister, T, told me the a new Westin Resort was opening in Phuket and they were running some really good opening promo; I quickly went to make the all the necessary bookings.

We planned and decided to go a week before the school holidays, just so the flight was half the price (of the school holiday’s rate). T too was going with Tasha, and Annie, her helper.

♥30th August♥

We arrived in Phuket early in the morning. The Westin Siray Bay Resort is ~40mins from the airport, so by the time we went through immigration, collected our checked in bags, hired a taxi and got to the resort, it was late morning. We were lucky, our room was ready. T had to wait for hers, and it wasn’t ready until almost 3pm!

The room was sea facing, and had such a spectacular view. With 2 hollywood single beds + a complimentary child’s rollaway bed, it still felt spacious (although Daddy complained a bit). I forced the girls to take their naps (because I wanted to take mine too, since I was packing till late midnight, and woke up 5am that morning) once the Ooos and Aaaas died down in the room.

Zara slept in her rollaway, Daddy has the huge bed to himself and I shared mine with Zaria.

We woke up around 2pm, and the girls were eager to get to the pool. So off we went, and met Tasha there.

The rest of the first day was spent with the girls in the pool, and exploring the facilities in the hotel.

For dinner, oh, I must share this, because it still makes us pissed just thinking about it.

We (including T, Tasha and Annie) thought we’d go to a near by restaurant OUTSIDE the hotel and thought we’d walk.

It was dark, and we didn’t know how far we must walk. Half way walking, a driver in a Westin car asked us to hop on. He’d send us, for FREE. So, ok, we got him to drive us to the restaurant (which was less than 1km from the hotel).

This restaurant, Plaey Leam, is those outdoor type (like our Warong Tomyam); menu showing prices of Tomyam 450Baht; prawn cakes 400Baht etc etc. Reasonable right? So, we ordered Tomyam, prawn cakes, a fried fish, a vege, pineapple fried rice, drinks for everyone, I think that was it.

Before we settled the bill, the person in charged came over to tell us that the driver ordered fried rice, did we want to pay for it? We thought, ok, we’d pay, just as a treat to him.

Who knows, soon after, the man waved to the driver, and both of them went to the back, and less than 3minutes, the driver was out, stuffing something, probably fried rice (?), into the pocket!

And the bill came. Freaking ~5000Baht (~RM500). The driver’s fried rice was 200Baht! All the dishes was double the price of what was indicated on the menu, apparently, he gave us double the portion of everything. We complained, and he just gave us the grin, “This no expensip, this Thai plice.”

So we got blardy conned, by the restaurant, and the driver! Daddy was fuming; but T said, the consololation was the food was not bad.

♥31st August♥

After breakfast, we went to check out the Westin Kids’ Club. An adult have to accompany children below 4 (Zaria) but for children above 4, you can actually leave them with the staff, and they will have activities from 9am to 5pm to keep the kids occupied. There were also lots of arts and crafts to be done and most of them were free.

One of the staff taught the girls how to draw chicken, and Zaria immediately started working on her (four legged chicken) piece.

At 11am, thanks to my sis who prebooked our seats (only 11 seats per trip), we followed the hotel free shuttle to Phuket town.

We spent all our time shopping in Ocean and Robinson, and had late lunch; and then took the free shuttle back at 3:30pm.

Children didn’t want to nap, and preferred to do more swimming.

That night, we walked out to Look Mai, another restaurant near Westin (only 2 within walking distance). This time, we checked all the prices and made sure ‘small’ portion was ordered. The prices were definitely more reasonable, and the cooking more homely.

The girls wanted to watch TV when we got back to our room, but Zaria knocked off 5mins into the show (no nap == early bed time). Tasha came over to sleep with us, and shared a bed with Zara. Daddy moved to the roll over, and claimed it was more comfortable than the heavenly bed.

Do you find your weekends zoomed by so quickly? Every Monday I look forward to Friday, and then I just see Saturday and Sunday being fast forwarded and then I’m back to Monday looking forward to the weekends again. Gee….

This weekend, the girls had lots of play time with different children.

We had dinner with Daddy’s friend, and then went over to one of the friend’s house, the girls had a chance to play with Daddy’s friend’s 3yr old son, Jayden.

Then on Sun, a blog reader who wanted to buy over my Graco infant carier, met up with me some where in town. While we were going through how the carrier can be installed to the pram (I sold her my whole carrier/pram system), how to fasten the carier to the car etc, the girls spend a good 15mins playing with the lady’s 5 year old girl, who’s so friendly.

After that, I met up with Irene, and we hung out at a friend’s place. Krystal who’s in love with Zara and the girls, got on so well.

When it was time to go home, Krystal wanted to abandon her parents and come with me. She cried and cried when Irene pried her away from Zara. Soooooooo cute.

In the night, I went to Amah‘s house to check out her super-duper Alisan blender (an exact replica of my dream blender Vitamix). The girls had so much fun playing with Kylie and Kieren and also Jessie‘s kids. They complained why we had to go home so early.

See, that’s how the weekend was fast forwarded.

And now, I’m looking forward to this Friday!

We attended my cousin’s daugther, Monique’s, 2nd birthday party during the weekend.

After settling ourselves in the hall (and the girls each got a couple of baloons), Jelly asked Zaria, “You want your birthday party to be like this?”
Zaria replied, “No, this party is so fancy. Just like a wedding.” o.O”

In some way she’s true. Look at the photos.

Like a wedding, the dinner started after a ‘birthday’ march (I don’t know what else to call it). The children, with Monique leading, followed the Sikh Drummer into the hall.

Zaria didn’t like the drummer, and when he started playing, she ran back to our table, and told me, “It’s too loud! It makes me feel like vomitting.”

Jelly took her out, and she spotted Barney at the changing room! When the Emcee asked who wanted to meet Barney, looked at how she looked at the Emcee longingly.

All the children rushed out to hug Barney when he appeared!!

They just clung on to him.

Zaria and Tasha were like leeches on Barney.

During dinner, we were entertained by some singing from a band (actually, the lead singer is my nephew).

Then, two Belly Dancers appeared, and invited the kids up on stage to dance. Monique also has changed to her ‘dancing’ clothes.

Tasha and Zara went on stage to join as well.

I persuaded Zaria a few times, but she preferred to just watch.

After belly dancing, there’s magic show. The magician made a dove (or was it just a white pigeon) appear, and all the kids were facinated by the bird (not the magic act).

Then kids got to do limbo rock, and did The Chicken Dance. This time, Zaria joined in too.

You would think that’s the end of it.. and then one of the Belly Dancers started doing fire eating, and the Sikh Drummer reappeared assisting the Belly Dancer.

Zaria said, “How come like Genting one?”

After that, it was dancing all night long. We left after a couple of songs.

This is probably the most fancy birthday party we’d ever attended.

Thanks cousin, for the invite! The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

When Zaria was younger, I mean not even 1 year old, we found her having this liking to hold on to something to sleep, i.e. remote control (See photos from here and here). Now at 3yrs plus, she still likes to do that.

Unlike Zara, whose loyalty lies with her softoy Fifi and a piece of linen cloth, Zaria holds on to anything her heart fancies on that day.

Today, it was the party rattle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday morning, Zaria woke up declaring she didn’t want to go to school. Her excuse, “I know how to read already wut. I know all the names of the shopping malls. I don’t need to go to school.” o.O”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She got caned again in the night. She was eating dinner (carrots and potatos) using her hands, and I was telling her to user her utencils instead of her hands, and she didn’t like it.
When I took the last piece of fish cake from the common dish, she stood up and reached over to take it from my plate, then tossed it to Jelly’s plate, and told me, “You don’t eat!!”
When I told her sternly to put it back on my plate, she tossed it towards me, on the table, instead.
I smacked her twice.
Then I told her, “Now you are done with your dinner, go and wash your hands.”
Guess what she did? She walked over to the sofa, and wiped her oily hands on the sofa!! Just to spite me.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! 4 strokes went to her buttocks.

How would you have reacted if you were me?

Like the weather, she gets moody real quickly, and she calms down real fast too. After her shower, she came over to me with her upturned lips and said, “Sorry mummy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day before, Zaria saw Jelly packing clothes for her (to change at my sister’s place since we were going over); Zaria came over to me and said meekly, “Maaa, I don’t want to go to jail.”
She thought we were packing her bags to send her to jail because of her attack on her sister!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for Zara, here is how her eye lid looks like.

On Tuesday

On Wednesday

Getting better, and kids, they don’t bear grudges. They are best of friends still (for now!).

Remember this?
The little Denis The Menace struck again!

Yesterday, we were driving back from MIL’s place, and the girls were at the back seat, and as usual teasing each other. Next thing I know, a hard TWACK, a scream from Zara, followed by her wailing. I stopped the car, and turned back to ask what happened.

Through her wailing, Zara said Zaria just took the sun shade (retractable type, so it’s big rod-like) and hit her in the eye.

I quickly checked Zara’s eye, asked if she could see, see if there’s any cuts. Her eyes seemed to be ok, but her left eye lid was bruise.

I was fuming, I turned to Zaria, took away the sunshade from her, smacked her hand and shouted at her.
“WHY DID YOU HIT JIEJIE? LOOK WHAT YOU’D DONE? WHAT IF SHE GOT BLIND?”
She was just a bit scared with my outbreak, “But… but…”
“KEEP QUIET AND SIT AT THE CORNER”
She then said, “Don’t shout at me in my ears, ma..” and sobbed a little.

On the car journey, I told her if anything happened to Zara, I’ll have to call the police. Not sure if the police will need to put her in the jail, etc.

When we got home, I quickly did another check on Zara, Zaria just stood a side quietly. Confirmed, it was just the eye lid that got hit, luckily.

When I told Zara it’s not too serious, she asked, “How come like one eye cannot open properly?” I told her because one of her eye lid is swollen.
“People will think it’s my birth defect. But actually it was an accident.”
I reassured her the bruise and the swelling will fade eventually.

She called Daddy (who was out) to tell him what happened. Zaria refused to go to the phone to listen to Daddy lecture her.

I asked Zaria what made her hit her sister.
She said, “I said something to jiejie, and she made funny noise. I don’t like it.” o.O”
I told Zaria I was really upset with her behaviour, and maybe the police will need to put her into jail if jiejie’s eyes didn’t get well.
She said, “But I said sorry already wut.” o.O”
I asked her to stand at the naughty corner for 5 minutes.
She said, “But what if there’s coackroach?” o.O”
I had to shout, “GOT COACKROACH ALSO YOU MUST STAND THERE!!”

She was cool throughout, until I issued the ultimate punishment……..
No reading for her tonight!
Then she started crying.
However, when she cool down, she said, “Never mind, when you read to jie, I can listen.” o.O”

………………..

I thank God only Zara’s eye lid got hit.

When I told Daddy I wanted to meet my friend who’s back from Hong Kong for holidays with her children in Petrosains, he was skeptical about the place. I too was thinking what there was to do.

I was there with my nieces and nephew more than 8 years ago, and we really didn’t think it was nice. However, this was more of a trip to meet up with my friend, and not so much about enjoying Petrosains.

I met my friend and her sister at the entrance of Petrosains with her two sons plus her two nephews and her niece. 7 children and 4 adults all in, what a group!

We bought the family ticket, RM24 for 2 adults and 2 children, although Zaria is below 4, and is free, it still worked out to be cheaper buying the family ticket than individual ticket. We entered Petrosains after our lunch, and didn’t think we would spend so much time there.

Let the photos do the talking.

Six children trying to build a track with tubes so they can see balls roll through.

Zaria trying in vain to ‘catch’ a hologram car. She said, “It’s magic!”

There were lots of Information Panels, and computers throughout Petrosains, and Zaria loved pressing on the buttons and checking out what they each did.

Zara and her new friend trying to move around iron dust with magnets.

Look who’s an astronaut? You can actually take a photo of yourself, and see your face displayed as the suspended dummy astronaut’s.

Zara’s thermal scan.

Pulleys and tubes, and conveyor belts formed this play area for children (and adults) where they see how little metal beads travelled in a loop.

This is my favourite, the interactive art. Where the images projected on the screens moved and ‘reacted’ accordingly to your body movement.

Girls here were trying to make the butterflies stand on their shoulders.

Catching falling crystals.

Feeling the different viscosities of different oil.

My friend’s son trying to find out how fast the balls he threw travelled, and at what momentum they hit the wall.

Girls trying to race in an F1 race.

Zaria and myself driving our own F1 cars. I did extremely badly as the car was hard to control with such power. Zara told me, “If you cannot drive this car, then I think you cannot drive a real car”

Zara’s turn, she could hardly reach the pedal, but that’s not stopping her.

I don’t know how this work, but you put on a strap (with electrodes) on your forehead and try to use your mind to resist the ball from being pushed to you. My friend’s son (the champ of this game) and myself having a go here, he beat almost every contestant, including me, but I gave him a strong fight, lasting quite long.

Girls and me in a Hurricane Chamber, the girls didn’t like it, and when the ‘wind’ started being slightly stronger, they ‘escaped’.

My friend had to rush through some of the activities because she had a dinner to attend.

There are lots of other things to play with or try out which are not shown here. We tried the earthquake stimulator, helicopter simulation, etc etc. And before we knew it, we spent more than 4hrs in Petrosains!

The girls were exhausted and since we wanted to have dinner around KLCC, we brought them to Coffee Club at Kinokuniya to nap, while we had tea.

After a short nap, we brought the girls to the KLCC play ground, to play some more.

With all this time spent in KLCC, our parking came up to RM19! o.O”

Dinner was just us at Hakka Restaurant overlooking KLCC.

Glad the school holidays are finally over and the girls are back to school, and I’m back to peace and quiet, at least for the whole morning and most part of the afternoon.

Another few more weeks and I think I’ll go nuts, with all the bickering, the furniture moving and the big mess they created in the house.

Here are photo shots of the rest of their holidays :

Sent them to neigbour’s play group (thanks to my neighbour who accepted them), even if it was meant for kids for 1+ to 2+, just to keep them occupied and burn some energy.

Sent them to the gym.

And then let them play at home (their own games, their own rules),

We thought we’ll make our yearly Penang trip this year earlier during the June school holidays.

We decided that this time we’ll not stay in Batu Feringgi, but in George Town instead, so that we don’t waste time travelling to town for all the good food. We chose Traders Hotel as our base, since I thought this is a business hotel and it should not be as crowded with families on holidays.

It was definitely a good choice, Traders Hotel is so near to everything, provides very good breakfast spread, and although there were many families on holidays, it didn’t feel as crowded. The only complaint I have is the room is a bit small for our family compared to rooms in hotel at Batu Feringgi.

♥June 10 – Thursday♥

We left home late morning, and 1st stop was Tanjung Malim town for (so-so) duck rice. After that, instead of heading towards Penang, Daddy drove back towards KL by mistake. He only realised that when we were reaching Lembah Beringin. 45mins wasted journey.

It was in the evening by the time we reached St Anne, Bukit Mertajam, a place we try to come once a year to give our thanks to all the blessings we received.

Zaria would now request for her photos taken at places she likes. Here is one with her in front of the old church.

And another at one of the station of cross.

Girls like the taps at the St Anne’s Water, because they get to play with water without get scolded.

And even do some water fight.

It’s always a nice feeling coming to this church.

Since we didn’t quite like the sea food in Bukit Tambut last year, we decided to have dinner in Penang Island instead. We headed to our favourite char kuey teow stall (Jalan Siam and Jalan Anson junction), but were told they have sold out. We headed to Nonya Breeze instead for home style Nonya food. The food at this place is always satisfying.

Girls were all excited when we reached the hotel. When we got into our room, they immediately rushed to the bed to jump. Some thing they always do on hotel beds! We had to literally drag them out of the room to head across the road to have some Tang Yuan.

Daddy can’t understand the rave about this tang yuan stall (across Traders Hotel on Magazine Road). It’s good but nothing fantastic. I told him he was lucky I made them at home, even the ones with fillings, or else, this would probably the best tang yuan he’s ever eaten.

♥June 11 – Friday♥

After a really good breakfast at the hotel, we let the girls spend time at the pool. The hotel has 2 small swimming pools (one for adults and another for kids) but because there wasn’t a crowd, it was very enjoyable.

We then headed to Ah Leng char keuy teow (junction of Jalan Dato Keramat and Jalan Dunlop), recommended by Chubby Hubby, where the kuey teow is a little wet, like pad-thai. It was ok but not really our cup of tea.

Girls fell asleep in the car, and we headed to Pulau Tikus to search for the best Soya Sauce made in Penang, which is also recommended by Chubby Hubby (Kwong Heng Loong 廣興隆醬園醬油, 7A, Jalan Pasar, Pulau Tikus).

I requested to taste the soya sauce before purchasing, and the shop owner scoped some out from an urn and dripped some into my palm to taste. Boy, it was good. I bought 10 bottles of the best ones, and already regretting I didn’t get more.

You can buy the soya sauce in bottles.

Or you can bring your old bottle to the shop for refills.

After that, we headed to Lebuh Armenian to look at all the World Heritage buildings.

We saw 2 of the houses under Straits Collection, run by Bonton.

We then chanced upon the Khoo Kongsi, and decided to visit it (RM5 per entry for adults).

It is a nicely preserved, and a beautiful place. Even though I don’t know much about architecture, I like the place and the feel of it.

If you think the outside of the clanhouse, Leong San Tong, is beautiful, the inside is even more so.

Since we didn’t get to eat our favourite Chay Kuey Teow the night before, we decided to try our luck again and went there earlier. Such an unassuming stall, but the char kuey teow is super good. The man who’s frying is rather old, I wish him good health so we can continue to enjoy his char keuy teow.

If you think Lorong Selamat or Sister’s Char Kuey Teow is good, wait till you try this. And only for RM3.80 per plate.

Back at the hotel, girls had a wild time jumping on the bed and playing hide and seek in the cupboard, until they got tired.

♥June 12 – Saturday♥

We have struck a deal with the girls that after breakfast, we’ll head on to Chowrasta Market and swimming will come later.

Instead of going to the market building on Penang Road, we went to the stalls along Jalan Kuala Kangsar.

Saw this man selling King Crab (I heard that’s what it’s called) and Giant Snails. Something we don’t find in KL except in those expensive sea food restaurant.

I bought ham and chinese sausages from this shop last year, and I went back there again to get more since my MIL said the ham was rather nice (and the chicken Chinese sausage is rare to find any where else). Zara was giggling away watching the animated owner when he gave us recommendations and introductions of items he sold in his shop.

Found a stall selling Kueh Ketayap. She was almost done for the day, but decided to make more batter, so she could sell a few to me to try. The coconut was grated fresh on the spot. It was soooooo delicious, even when we had them in the evening.

I also saw a popiah skin seller making the skin on the spot.

Girls found the place extremely interesting too, although it was a hot day, they enjoyed themselves checking out all the different stalls.

We then stopped by at Toh Soon Cafe (Lebuh Campbell) for drinks. I absolutely love the ice coffee-C (coffee with evaporated milk) there.

And Zaria loved the ice teh-C.

Pity the girls have to endure the heat, but luckily they didn’t complain.

We had some light lunch and then headed back to the hotel for a nap.

Girls spent more time at the pool after their nap, and was really hungry during dinner. We had our last dinner at De Happy Seafood Restaurant (62, Macalister Road) near the hotel. It was not bad, although a bit pricey.

♥June 13 – Sunday♥

The hotel was extremely busy on our last day. We had to wait for 15mins to get a table for breakfast, as the restaurant was full.

After breakfast, I went back to Chowrasta Market to buy nutmeg and zhong (Mandarin : rice dumpling) while Daddy took the girls to the pool.

After I got back with my loot, we checked out and headed for lunch. We decided to go to Lorong Selamat for Char Kuey Teow. Big mistake. The place was very crowded, and we were told the wait is more than an hour, and if we weren’t willing to wait, we can go else where.

We waited, and true enough, got served only more than an hour later. And seriously, the kuey teow isn’t as good as our favourite stall (and RM7 per plate!). And the people in the coffee shop where the stall was located were extremely rude. We decided this would be our last time here. Next year, we should boycot this place.

Drive back home was rather slow as the traffic on the high way was very heavy. Maybe before Zara starts Std 1, we should try to go for holidays during school days instead to avoid all the expensive hotel rates and crowd.

Last weekend, Daddy was in the mood to go to the country side (that’s what he calls these places), even though I was not as keen. My excuse, HOT! HOT! HOT!

Just so he doesn’t say all I do is expose the kids to shopping malls, I went along. With an ice box in tow, we headed to Kuala Selangor…for lunch! Try asking him to go to PJ to meet friends, he’ll complain so far, waste of petrol, but….. Kuala Selangor…FOR LUNCH…. that’s ok.

The drive to Kuala Selangor was a pleasant one. Pleasant because we were in the aircon car, sleeping.. , while Daddy drove.

Somewhere on the journey, we stopped, because we saw this road shaded by trees which made the scenary look over-sea-ish. So we took turns to hop on down to take some photos.

When we arrived at our regular place for lunch, we were glad there’s no crowd.

Alas, the food wasn’t as good any more. Luckily the company was good, especially when the girls were in a good mood after their naps in the car.

So we’d decided if we ever did come the next time, we’ll go somewhere else FOR LUNCH. But.. the hiong peng here is quite good.

So we bought a few packs home.

Wanted to buy the Ikan Bilis, but when I asked if they were locally produced, I was told the fish were from Pangkor or Thailand. So, I didn’t get any.

Saw this stall selling Bubble Tea at the road side, near the Hiong Peng shop. With just a blender (powered by generator), some ‘powder’ or ‘flavouring’ and a container of water and ice. Who would order from him? Hmmmm..

Then we’re off, to a nearby fishing village (directed by a local) to buy some fish, and head on home.

Daddy couldn’t resist taking a photo of this tree on our way home.

Of course, Daddy being the adventurous one, wanted to make another stop at Batu Arang, and that’s like entering a time warp. Shops, buildings all looked ancient.

Even the play ground looks like the one we used to have when we were younger. You don’t see these kind of monkey bars made with metal any more in new housing area.

I stayed in the car all these while, just didn’t want to get baked under the sun.

Girls, like their dad, did enjoy themselves.

The girls get along so well sometimes, we smile just observing them play together, enjoying each other’s company.

However, they spend a lot of time squabbling too. Zara the annoying one, Zaria the easily annoyed. On days like that, I am the screamer mediator, the referee who tries to tone down their screaming and teasing.

On Sunday, Daddy however decided to step in, when the squabbling started just after we left the house for an outing.

Daddy said, “Since the two of you cannot get along, I think we’ll have to send you to different families. One to Karen yi-yi’s house, another to Teresa yi-yi’s house. OK?”
Zaria was the first to react, “If you say (said) that again, I’ll kick your teeth off.” (there was once, she even told Daddy, she’ll kick his penis if he scolded her again)
o.O”
Zara responded slowly and calmly, “I think you are an alien. You should just take a spaceship and go to another planet.”
Zaria chipped in, “Ya, go to another planet.”
Daddy said, “Are you sure you want me to go to another planet? Daddy is a wise old man. Without Daddy, nobody will give you wise advice.”
Zara replied, “Mum is even more wiser than you.”

Now you may think we should not let our kids talk back to us. However, Daddy said he prefers his daughters to respond to him intelligently, than to be so afraid of him they are quiet around him. I on the other hand, will not allow them to say use any derogatory words/phrases like, stupid, useless, you are nothing; but I don’t discourage them from expressing themselves even if they were showing dissatisfaction towards us. That’s our parenting style anyway. You may beg to defer.

On another unrelated incident, we were reading a book about dinosaurs, and after the book, I told Zaria, “I think I know what dinosaur you are. You are a cryasaurous.” Zara replied to me, “And you are a scoldasaurous.”
o.O”
I added, “What about you?”
Zara replied, “I’m the annoyedasauraus. I always annoy meimei!”
At least she admits.