Back to the KL Bird Park!

We had such a good time at the KL Bird Park last year, we thought it would be nice to visit it again this year. Our little girl is older now, and I think she enjoyed it a lot more this time. She got to walk around with the birds; luckily she wasn't afraid of them.

Southern Ground Hornbill- we stood in front of it for ages listening to it 'call'

This lot came by- squawking excitedly; they were hilarious!

We got to feed the ostriches this time! Luckily we got there bright and early, before the food ran out. If we had gotten to the ostrich enclosure after the big group of school kids, there certainly would not be any vegetables left. One gigantic ostrich was clearly dominating the feeding- it was rather scary trying to feed it (trying not to get pecked by that huge bird)!

Aren't the birds just lovely? :)

Dinosaurs at the Science Centre!

There are dinosaurs in town! This is a great exhibition- highly recommended if you have kids. We got there really in the morning, and we had a fun time checking out the various exhibits. We virtually had the dinosaurs all to ourselves; we were clowning around making silly poses and we kept trying to walk in front of the motion sensors, triggering roars and movement from the dinosaurs. Yes, they can move and roar! Cool, huh.

The last dinosaur shown above is supposed to be the velociraptor- made famous by the movie Jurassic Park. Apparently it has been proven that they were actually covered in feathers. Errr.. they actually look cute now, don't you think? :)

Aquaria!

Visiting Aquaria is always a fun experience. It can get quite tiring since the kids are still so young and we have to carry them so that they can see the marine life. And negotiating the crowds with the stroller is quite challenging too!

But just look at God's amazing handiwork! :)

Happy 3rd birthday to our little boy!

In a blink of an eye, our little boy is 3 years old already! Sniff. Time really flies. People tell me to cherish the precious moments now, because they fly by all too quickly. I know, things can get tough sometimes- toddler tantrums, potty training, etc. But I am fully aware that I will miss this when the kids get older. Talk about premature empty nest syndrome!

Happy birthday, my darling little boy. May the Lord watch over you and bless you always. Mummy loves you very very much, and always will!

This was supposed to be Elmo, but I think it looks like Telly!

Trip to Kuantan- Day 4

Time always flies by when you're having fun. Before we knew it, it was time to go home!

We spent our last morning in Kuantan taking a walk down the beach, right up to the end where there were these huge rocks and a wooden platform. There were many monkeys roaming the area, so we decided against walking up onto the platform, since we had 2 toddlers with us. The long walk down the beach was tiring enough anyway, since No.2 refused to walk on her own and wanted to be carried. For some strange reason, she developed a dislike for sand. Only a couple of months ago when we went to Putrajaya, she loved the sand!

After one last dip in the pool, it was time to pack up and head home! Goodbye Kuantan.. we shall certainly see you again!

Trip to Kuantan- Day 3

Our 3rd day in Kuantan was also my birthday, and it was nice celebrating it while on holiday. We had breakfast at the famous Restoran Hoi Yin just outside the hotel- the curry laksa was really delicious! After that we went to a shopping mall to hang out for a bit; although there wasn't that much to see.

We had dinner at the hotel's Italian Bistro, since that was more convenient. I can't remember exactly how the food tasted, mainly because I had to wolf it down (that's always the case when we dine with the kids), although I did recall my main course was a little on the salty side. The soup, which I ordered for the kids, was actually quite nice, but it was difficult to get No.1 to eat it because it had all kinds of bits inside (which is a no-no for him).

I also received a lovely surprise from Hyatt Kuantan. What happened was this- earlier on when I was still planning this trip, my friend (who has business dealings with the hotel) put me in touch with Diana- the Marketing Communication Manager, to see if she could offer special rates for my room booking. I recall mentioning to her that I would be celebrating my birthday during my stay at the hotel. In the end, it turned out that the rates offered were the same as what I could get online, so in the end I made my booking directly with the Reservations person that she linked me up with, instead of going through her (Diana is based in KL, by the way).

And guess what- Diana actually remembered that it was my birthday- she sent me an sms wishing me happy birthday, and presented me with a yummy birthday cake, with compliments from the hotel! What a lovely touch. I was most impressed by this wonderful display of hospitality. The funny thing was nobody mentioned the huge box sitting on the table; and it was only later at dinner when everyone started asking each other- 'Did you see that big box in the room? What was that? Did you buy a cake? No, did you?' Hubby went back to the room to check, and found out that it was a cake indeed! Hilarious.

There were 3 guys seated at the next table, and they presented me with a 'gift' as well. One of them asked the kitchen for some oranges, and proceeded to perform a juggling act! He was actually really good as well, haha!

What a memorable birthday indeed! :)

Trip to Kuantan- Day 2

We spent the whole of our 2nd day at the hotel. Mum and mum-in-law went gallivanting about town for almost the entire day, although they did manage to make a pit stop at the hotel to bring us some food for lunch and tea.     For some reason, despite all the time we spent at the hotel, we ended up spending very little time at the beach. Maybe an hour in the morning, and another hour in the evening, I think.

Going to the beach with toddlers is really tiring! It's so hot, and cleaning up the kids and their toys afterwards is always so messy. Sand and more sand everywhere.

We didn't even leave the room for dinner; we mainly ate leftovers from lunch/tea.. now what did the children eat? Hmm I can't recall... heh. Hubby did manage to go out for supper at the famous Satay Zul, and brought back some satay for us.

:)

Trip to Kuantan- Day 1

We were all set to make a trip to Kuantan in April; but due to the whole fiasco with the maid, we were not sure whether it was still a good idea to go (i.e. without a maid to help out). Thank God we were fortunate enough to find someone who was available immediately (although it did cost us a lot of money). My mum is the kids' primary caregiver, and she insisted that she needed help to manage, so we went ahead to hire another maid, even though we were quite prepared to manage without one. 

Anyway, back to the Kuantan trip. And so, with God's providence, the trip was back on! 6 adults and 2 children- hehe. The drive there wasn't too bad, although certain parts of the highway had very windy roads and that was rather scary. The kids managed to get some sleep during the journey, and later when they finally reached their restless and cranky 'threshold', we arrived at our destination. Phew. 

Our 'home' for the next few days was the beautiful Hyatt Regency Kuantan. I decided to upgrade to a Seaview room, and wow, that was a really great decision. Check out the views from our balcony! We also got a good discount, since I re-booked one room under my mum-in-law's name (thus earning us a senior citizen's discount), and another room under my mum's name (apparently government pensioners get special rates too); so that was a nice surprise! The downside was we had to wait for AGES for the check-in to be sorted out, but since there was potential to save $$$; I waited really patiently...

Dinner that evening was at the famous Pak Su Seafood. The food was nice, but the whole experience left a really bitter taste in our mouth, as we were unceremoniously ripped off. My mum ordered a fish; we were told it would be 2.4 kg, and at RM150 per kg, that's already a whopping RM360- and that's just for the fish! When she went to pay the bill, she was told that the fish turned out to be 3.6kg, and so of course she protested! We should have been informed what the final weight of the fish was, BEFORE they went ahead to cook it. It was certainly unethical of them to do what they did- after all, having already eaten the fish, who could argue with them exactly how heavy it was to begin with?!?

Anyway, I happened to see my mum at the counter (she snuck off to pay the bill) and went to see what was going on; and when I found out what happened, I joined in to support her by kicking up an even bigger fuss (my mum was actually quite prepared to relent after a while). The culprit offered an RM30 discount; I said no and told him that I wanted to speak to the boss. He disappeared for a while, and then came back out, offering RM80; and I said no, round it up to RM100, which was the final discount we got in the end. On hindsight, I probably should have roped my Dad in for the 'fight' as well; we probably could have gotten a bigger discount!

Lesson learnt- ALWAYS verify the weight of fresh seafood before you commit to your order. As for Pak Su Seafood- NEVER AGAIN! >.<

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

We had no choice but to fire our 2nd maid in early March. I won't go into all the details here; since it won't do me any good dwelling on the matter.

In a nutshell, she found herself a boyfriend, slept with him, had a handphone, made calls to her friends from our house phone, snuck out and locked my mum and kids in the house, etc. AND she actually had the nerve to stage a suicide attempt in my house! Frankly, I really felt like slapping the living daylights out of her!! Words really cannot adequately describe how I felt about the whole thing.

We're really devastated that our maid experience so far has not been good; honestly, we really do treat them very well. Sigh.

For now, at least it's good riddance to bad rubbish!

Lion and Dragon dance!

A lion dance troupe performed at our condo during Chinese New Year, as has been the practice for the last few years. This year, there was an additional dragon dance, since it is the Year of the Dragon; and that was really quite special! 

We took videos of the performances and our little boy loves watching them over and over again. 

One thing that really irked me was the naughty children that was virtually 'torturing' the poor lion. Some kids were throwing oranges as the lion danced on the poles (so dangerous!); and the worst thing was the parents did not do anything to stop them! As you can see from the photo above, they walked right up to the lion and started manhandling the poor thing. All this while the performers were trying to keep up with the performance and all. Tsk tsk. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the lion dance troupe refuses to come back next year! :p