back in singapore

i'm back in one piece and i survived the road trip!!!

*phew*

actually, i was back a week ago but have been too busy to update this blog site.

in truth it was a relatively smooth journey only because of 2 reasons:

1) hub installed a cheap portable DVD player in the car and we used that to distract the fidgety kids

2) i'm still breastfeeding wen who was latching on to me like a koala on a eucalyptus tree 3/4 of the drive time.

heh. so whenever i sniff a whiff of stale boredom lingering in the air (usually a pre-cursor to another sibling brawl) i quickly pull out the remote control, press a button and hey presto...silence from the kids for at least half an hour. the best part? they usually drift to sleep midway through the movie and that would deliver a peaceful spell for the adults in the car.

having my folks around to help mind the kids was also a blessing (especially since wen's glued to grand-dee when she's not stuck to the human milk machine-cum-pacifier) as that gave me about 38 seconds to catch my breath before i started running after the energetic rascals again.

my girls, i mean. not my parents.

i can hardly understand the logic though. the little imps didn't eat very much yet they never seemed to tire. don't know where they get their fuel from.

all in all, it was a good trip. the 3 days at fraser's hill was a relaxing getaway from the smog infested city. the cool countryside fresh air was a welcome. there was much nothing to do and i'll admit that it can be utterly boring but taking care of the girls' needs chalked up most of our time.

both xian and wen enjoyed the horse rides - xian's old enough to sit on the horse on her own and we took them to the paddock twice. in total, xian enjoyed 5 rounds while wen had 4 rounds (the first day the hub sat with her, the second time it was my turn). thinking back, i should have allowed wen to go for another round since it costs only RM7.00 for 2 of us.

ah well. there's always a "next time".

there was also a large playground that kept them entertained for an hour...and that was pretty much it. the rest of the time we were back at the lodgings where we cooked alphabet soup or porridge, mostly for wen, before we drove around to settle our own meals at various eating places.

poor wen had to nurse a swollen eye though. we suspect she was bitten by mosquitoes while we stopped over at auntie mag's home for a stretch and quick lunch before we continued our drive up to the hills.

so yes, my little darling had a really puffy eyelid for 2 days - and that ruined many lovely photographs though it didn't stop her from horsing around.

we left fraser's hills on saturday, drove back to petaling jaya and checked into hotel armada petaling jaya where the 4 of us (kids, hub and i) napped before we attended marcus and amelia's wedding. it was a small simple affair and like most filial children, the traditional chinese wedding dinner was staged more for the benefit of the parents than the couple themselves.

on sunday, my dearest dad scheduled appointments with his old school chums and buddies who were residing in PJ/KL, including the famous karpal singh, a reputable lawyer who was one of the lead counsel appearing for the defence of ex-malaysia deputy PM Anwar Ibrahim in 1999. we spent half our sunday at mr karpal singh's home before heading back to the hotel in the late afternoon for a short rest (while dad drove himself back to continue his "discussions" with his pals) and then proceeded to mid valley megamall for dinner and some shopping.

the following monday we took a leisure drove out of PJ, stopped over at malacca for lunch and more shopping - the hub bought a new pair of sunglasses as wen had broken his old one during the trip, i got more t-shirts for the girls and we ended up grabbing groceries at jusco. then it was homeward bound and we were back in singapore by 8pm on monday night.

*phew*

incidentally, our ever-faithful 8-year-old washing machine had to work overtime for a few days before all our soiled, smelly clothes emerged clean and freshly laundered.

it was a great time for family bonding - with my folks and the kids. and we may even do this more regularly. my dad and the hub are already discussing a possible trip up sometime in december!

looks like i've to brace myself for more road trips :P