The Perfect Family Vacation

I met blogger Tasmiya and her family on Sunday. She is such a sweetie and her sons are too cute! She was telling me about her vacation with her extended family of sixteen to Malaysia. I was like in awe that they could actually work out an itinerary that suited everyone's taste buds.
For my family , I mean for my dad , the perfect vacation would be going to the jungle, camping out and hunting deers whereas dh will be contented to bask in the sun at the beach all day. However, dh is rather an obliging person, the perfect son in law and my dad somehow convinced us to go to Taman Negara/The National Park a few years ago. So we went in 2 cars, my dad's 4wd rangerover and our beaten up proton. It was 4 hours drive from KL to Taman Negara. Phew.
The resort at the national park was almost fully booked and there was only 1 chalet available. My dad did not want this to spoil his vacation so we all stayed in one big spacious chalet, my mum, dad , me , dh , and 2 small kids under 4. Luckily, my dad brought a tent along so dh camped outside in the verandah so there was somehow enough beds for us inside. Poor dh! He said he could hear all kinds of sounds coming from the jungle at night but I think he rather likes camping as he camped out in our aussie backyard once or twice with our 2 older kids.
We had to wake up real early, ie before dawn the next day so that we could watch the deers from the lookout hut near the saltlake in the jungle nearby. My mum babysitted the kids who were asleep while dh, dad and I went out. My dad was sure to give us a pet talk us before hand on how to walk in the jungle as not to startle any wild animals/tigers if we met any. Easy for him to say. Thankfully, we didn't meet any wild animals but we did see some deers at the lookout with the aid of flashlights. Their eyes reflected the light and looked somewhat red. Since it was the national park , hunting was prohibited so those lucky deers were not afraid of hunters hunting them down. Even when the sound of the azan broke out via the loud speakers from a mosque nearby, they were unperturbed. This was one of the highlights of the vacation.
We also took a boat trip up the river. I brought a life jacket for dd to wear and dh held baby son on his lap. (They just provided life jackets for adults). We saw some Malaysian tourists having fun in the river floating on rubber tyres downstream. There were also many Western tourists out and about. There were restaurants afloat on the river and also orang asli settlements. My dad said he could smell a tiger in the jungle nearby when we passed a certain section of the river. I hope he was kidding. Thankfully, we did not see a glimpse of any! They are really quite elusive animals .
All in all, it was a great family holiday and something new to experience !

Local Park

Some pics of the local park with glimpse of the local library. There were plenty of birds in the trees judging from the birdcalls I heard but I could not get a glimpse of them as they were well hidden in the foliage except for one who got a share of my nachos.

Magpies Pics

Some pics of the birds. They are not as photogenic as the rainbow lorikeets but wow.. they have such a superb singing voice. Second only to the Pied Butcherbird. I wanted to photograph a whole flock of birds but my toddler frustrated my efforts so these are the remnants.

Homework Reinterpreted

I 've getting more offers lately from dd and ds to tidy up their room. They even want to wash the dishes and help me cook! This is largely due to the reinterpretation of their homework sheet the past week. I have to sign on their homework sheet every time they help with the housework. I wish they had redefined homework a year ago so that I don't have to tidy up after my kids all the time.
Physical activities such as jogging, walking , and swimming are also part of homework so that they are encouraged to spend less time in front of TV etc. Another reason for this is to reduce childhood obesity which is becoming more prevalent in society. The school always encourage parents to fill the kids lunchboxes with healthy food like fruit and yoghurt instead of sugary stuff like chocolate and sweets. My kids don't really have a problem with their weight (although my sons have good appetites ), as they do a lot of outside activities such as rollerblading and rockclimbing with their dad during the weekends. We're also encourage to read books together. All in all, homework is aimed at bonding the family and is not supposed to be stressful for either child or parent.

Magpies in Backyard

Dd keeps feeding magpies in the backyard despite her mum asking her not to. (Okay her mum feeds them too). So there are always magpies roaming around. When we came back this afternoon , there was a whole troop of >10 magpies in the backyard as I had left pieces of bread. I went to get my digicam upstairs and when I came down , my toddler had chased them all away. (And he was afraid of the birds in the beginning of his life). Man! it is hard to take pics of wildlife.

Intruder Alert!

Dd installed an alarm on her bedroom door. I feel like a burglar breaking an entry every time I go to her room to clean up. How come I can't install one on my master bedroom door. That's because it is a silly slide door with no knob.

The Fire Talk

We went to the local library today as they had publicised that there was going to be a talk conducted by a person/s from the fire brigade. Goodness, there was a relatively huge crowd that congregated, mainly babies, toddlers, preschoolers and their parents/carers. It was half hour past the time and still no firemen. The librarians did all sorts of things to keep the little ones amused like singing songs and storytelling. In the end , my kids and I left as we had to get some panadol syrup at the pharmacy for dd who was not feeling well( but who insisted on going to the talk). When we were on our way back, I asked one of the mums if the firemen did indeed come and she said they came (late obviously) , stayed for 5 mins and had to leave again and she said she could even smell smoke in the air?! I wonder what an excuse firemen have for running late. "Sorry we're late, we had to extinguish a fire before we could come over. For heaven sakes, saving lives and property is far more important than giving talks, dang it!"

A Break or not

We just came back from a break in Gold Coast (GC just coz hotels in Sunshine Coast were overbooked this easter). Loads of washing to do plus the switch to the ceramic stove and oven is not working or something. Fortunately , we have an electric hotplate that dh has taken out from our store so guess I have to do most of the cooking on that and the deep fryer. This is one of those days that I wish Oz was like M'sia and have the abundance of street food. I miss my fave street stalls that sell crunchy tasty goreng pisang (banana fritters) and laksa just for RM1.50 per pack (dh's fave). *sigh* The kids will be at home for a week. Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

Baby In Arms

I went to see Mr Bean's Holiday with my toddler today. I couldn't watch it last Saturday with my older kids as I was helping a friend shopping for some stuff for her big day. The cinema has special sessions for parents with babies. Dear son was well behaved and was happy just sitting and watching the movie with a bag of popcorn and water bottle. I wish they have special sessions like this in KL.
Babes in Arms