One of the things that I enjoyed while packing our things for our move was coming across old photos. We don't keep hard copies of photos much these days since they are mostly stored in our computers but I think it's also great to have many of them printed and kept in photo albums. Sometimes it's just good to do it the traditional way, huh?

 Anyways, baby photos of the kids, family vacations and camp outs made me smile. I am so missing all those activities we used to do when the kids were a lot smaller!  They were with us in every trip.   We should do a camp out somewhere soon. Maybe we should buy Big Agnes Copper Spur UL1 before we set out on a trip. I can almost imagine the four of us in a tent, making a campfire by night eating barbecue. Sometimes time with the family don't have to be expensive. It's the time spent together that counts-- their memories last a lifetime!

We've always promised the kids to take them to Sunway Lagoon Club. And so we took them there for a dip in a pool a couple of weeks ago.

   

 We're actually been paying the monthly fee to use the facility but since we're too busy, we don't go there regularly. Thanks to the kids for always bugging us to go. At least we can make use of the facilities.

   

That's Samatha up there enjoying the kids' pool. 

 And getting a bit more cozy at the jaccuzzi. 

 

 It is just so refreshing. I hope we can visit more often next time.

When my husband and I were newly married, we would go to Singapore at least once a year just for a visit.

Last year when my parents came over for a two-month visit, I took them to Singapore for a couple of days. That was the last time I went to Singapore. But I really loved our time there. Since we were there for only a couple of days, we hit Sentosa Island and Orchard Road. These two places are not-to-be-missed places while in Singapore.

Sentosa Island is tagged as Asia's favorite playground. You can spend a day there and realize it's not enough to cover everything.

   

Things you can do and visit in Sentosa Island include:

1. A visit to Universal Studios
2. Hang around either of the beaches, Palawan Beach and Siloso Beach.
3. Visit Fort Siloso
4. Visit the Underwater World
5. See Singapore's icon, the Merlion.
6. You may experience the Song of the Sea as a finale of your visit in Sentosa. It's a spectacular waterworks show in the evening.

Things to do in Orchard Road.

   

1. Go shopping.
2. Go shopping some more.

 LOL.

It's pretty much a haven for shopaholics.

If you're looking into what you can do for a family trip this school vacation, you may check out www.dialaflight.com and plan a trip to Singapore.

I might do just that since I am missing Singapore so much.

The hubs came back from his one-week out-of-the-country trip. We thought of going out to spend time as a family before I went to church for the students' practice for the Awards Night.

To my favorite mall, Sunway Pyramid, we went!

I've been wanting to go to Delicious and I thought of giving myself a treat. I think I deserved it, after losing 4 kgs in 2 months.

I ordered cottage pie... and coke, obviously. It's my cheat day, remember? I haven't been drinking coke for the past 2 months and I thought... yeah well, one can of coke can't hurt.




Schenker's order was toasted ham and cheese sandwich. It came with fries and salad sticks.






And because I declared it a cheating day, I ordered this for dessert.

Delicious Berrilicious Chocolate Pavlova (RM13.50!)


While I enjoyed my dessert, the kids enjoyed the time with their father. He-he.

Showing my outfit for the day, too... with the best accessories one can ever have: My children.

Delicious Sunway Pyramid rating:

Food: small portion, big money
Dessert: to die for
Customer service: Needs improvement (we called for service for so long before somebody came to us.. while we were calling, saw them just talking). Also, served by a not-so-friendly waiting staff.

It's probably because we went there in the afternoon and mostly, during those times, one can get very bored/ready to nap. They are probably in their best moods either in the morning or in the evening. I have yet to experience.

Honestly, I don't mind going back there for Delicious dessert. There were quite a few that I wanted to try. Maybe, on my next cheat day, I might. And if I do, it's gotta be at a different time. (Gotta give customer service a benefit of the doubt).

Kids and I woke up earlier than my husband. Kids were so excited. A day before that (in Samantha's case, daysss before that), the kids prepared something for their father. We let the dadsidoo sleep in first, of course.

When he woke up, we asked him to sit on the sofa. Then one by one, Schenker and Samantha came to greet their dadsidoo a Happy Father's Day greeting... with all the thank-you-greets on how they're thankful for their daddy for taking care of them, for loving them, and for being a great dadsidoo to them.

Took my family to Sunway Pyramid, again... coz remember, I posted about giving my husband a treat to some raw oysters? And Shogun Japanese Buffet Restaurant was a great place for raw oysters... and of course, for some salmon and sushis and some other good food. The only thing with Shogun is that they don't serve Tabasco sause with raw oysters. And so I had to make sure I brought my own Tabasco sauce before going there. LOL. For me, raw oysters without Tabasco sauce and lemon squeeze is not raw oysters at all.

In case you wanna know, buffet price list for Shogun is 60RM for weekdays and 68.80RM for weekends, for adults.

Took the hubs to Daniel Hechter afterwards. He chose two shirts. :)

Father's Day has always been like a birthday day for all the fathers. I am just a bit sad that I couldn't spend time with my own father on Father's day... but inspite of the distance, I still thought about him... think about him... everyday. How I miss my father.

I hope the kids appreciate and cherish the times with their father. My husband has been a great dad to them and he tries to really spend time with them, get involved in everything they do, and just be there for them.

I am glad I am married to a guy that places family on his top priority list.

I love you, Shanks.

Schenker and Samantha love you, too.

I must admit that growing up time, my dad wasn't around all the time for us. But the time spent with us were precious and priceless. My father is a man of integrity. He has that kind of respect from people he meets. He is a man of few words... but when he speaks, his words are full of wisdom. Writing about him makes me nostalgic for him. But really, there were times when he wasn't there for us... and I was longing for a father figure and I grew up like that.

I only got to spend time with my father that much after he retired from his job as a soldier. That's when I got to really know him. Those were the years I cherish the most. Those were the years of discovery. Those were the years of bonding as father and daughter. I truly thank God for my father. He had to work hard to keep us all and to provide for all our needs.

That's my father. He's always been wanting to keep us all by his side. But circumstances don't allow that to happen. My oldest sister lives in the north of the Philippines with her family. My second sister lives in Hawaii with her husband. I live in Malaysia with my family. My brother lives somewhere nearby. I guess it's a consolation enough that my youngest sister chose to go back to the Philippines to live with my parents.

They have done and sacrificed so much for us.To bring my parents to Malaysia and to take them to nearby countries like Thailand and Malaysia is the least I could do to show them my gratefulness. But I know that in my own little way, I could make them smile :)

And now that I have a family of my own, I am super grateful to God for giving me a husband that is a great dad to my kids. He spends a lot of time with my kids, inspite of his busy schedule. Whenever he's not responding to work calls, I guess you could assume he's spending time with his family.

I appreciate the fact that he's a hands-on dad to both my kids. My kids are indeed blessed to have such a loving and caring father like my husband.

Father and daughter at Cameron Highlands Tea Plantation

Father and Son at the Strawberry Park in Cameron Highlands

Father and kids at the Great Ocean Road, Melbourne, Australia, in October 2011.

Father's Day in June 2010

I am grateful to God for blessing me great dads.

My kids have prepared something for their father. I told them to keep it a surprise. But the moment my husband entered the door, Samantha blurted out: Tomorrow is Father's Day, right?

LOL!

Anyways... have you found any gifts/presents for your dad and/or husband? I am treating mine to a raw oysters tomorrow.... errr... at Shogun Japanese Restaurant in Sunway Pyramid. ;)

To all the dads out there... Happy Father's Day to you'll!

Yesterday, I and my family went to Sunway Pyramid for a family time as part of our planned family holiday activities.

We went to Sakae Sushi for lunch. I have been craving for Ramen soup and some sushis. It's a good thing the kids love sushis too.

Apparently, the restaurant has improved so much technology-wise. We ordered our food using iPad2. All their tables are equipped with this technology for easier and more convenient way of ordering food.





The kids, however just took their sushis from the "running" server which was placed at the center of the resto so everybody can have access to the food.











I am glad my family loves Japanese food. Japanese cuisine is not cheap. But we do go from time to time, especially when I am craving for sushis dipped in a soy sauce with wasabe sauce.

I am happy to see my family enjoy the treat. After all, they deserve to get a treat from their mum who just had her pay day. *Grin*

Today, I went with Samantha for her Ballet and Drama lessons. The hubs was going for a meeting so I had to accompany her.

It's my first time to do this year. Since the start of the year, I have just been staying at home on Saturdays when Samantha and her father would go for her extra lessons.



There's one hour free time in between her lessons so I took her for tea at Carpenter's Daughter Artisan and Bakery. I think it's a new coffee shop. Samantha said she wanted to drink tea. The shop was pretty impressive. I was especially fascinated with the cupcake, I ordered one! It was great-tasting, too. I had cappuccino while Samantha had English tea. Well, by now she should know how to make herself English tea. ;)

Loved the ambiance of the place. They do serve other stuff, too. I need to go back there to explore more dishes.

Carpenter's Daughter Artisan and Bakery, by the way, is in Taipan, USJ 10.

I had a rough day at school yesterday. So I took a half day off just to go home, slept it off first, got up, process everything and talked to friends.

Some friends invited me for a board game in Taipan, at Giggles Boardgame Cafe. I decided to go because I thought it would be a good breather for me.

When they all left and my husband and son came to pick me and Samantha up, we decided to go back to Giggles Boardgame Cafe.

I am so glad we did.

We had a blast!



This was not my first time to go to Giggles Cafe but first time with my family. I think it's really good for interacting more with friends, bonding with family, and teaching kids the art of sportsmanship (winning and losing is not the rule of the game -- having fun is).

So yes, we'll definitely go back to:

Giggles Boardgame Cafe,
No. 1-1, Jalan USJ 10/1D,
UEP, 47620 Subang Jaya.

It's been a long time since we didn't visit Cameron Highlands. But glad we had a chance to do so this week. We drove up to Cameron Highlands sans the kids. :D

It's the first time we did a spontaneous trip. We didn't book any hotel rooms for us. But we went anyway. It's good to be adventurous sometimes. It's exciting.

The first thing we did was check out hotels in Tanah Rata. That's the center of Cameron Highlands. We usually dine at Rosemary's. But sad to say they're no longer there. But we saw there was another western restaurant, Belle's Cafe, right below Planter's hotel. We had an early dinner there.

Checked out some hotels and finally settled on staying at Bala's Chalet Hotel and Restaurant. Amid the lush greenery lies this beautiful and cozy chalet. It's quite worth staying there, knowing it's peak season and yet we were charged for only 180RM per night. If you are tight in the pocket, though, just skip having meals there.

The next day we went to have breakfast at the Cameron Valley Tea house. Had a nice hot cup of masala tea with ham sandwich plus a gorgeous view of the Cameron Valley (Bharat) Tea Plantation.

One thing I love about Malaysia is that we have so many holidays. Malaysia is so culturally and ethnically diverse. We have at least 3 major groups living here: Malays, Indian and Chinese. Amazing how inspite of the long years of mixture with other cultures, each group still maintain its tradition, culture, language, etc.

My family is not Chinese but when my son knew we would have school holidays because of Chinese New Year, he suggested we celebrate the holidays, too.

And so today, we decided to have a party. I tell you, my family loves to party. You should know that by now. LOL!

Schenker said he would be in charge of the party. So he decided who to invite and what to prepare for food. So he invited our Brazilian friends and his best friend and his family who are living in our area to join us for barbecue.

I cooked some fried chicken and nuggets, bought some frankfurters to grill and bought some ready-to-eat satay from the outside shop. My son's friend's family brought a couple of pizzas and some firecrackers. My kids were so excited to play with the firecrackers! We usually don't allow them to play firecrackers but since we're celebrating Chinese New Year, we let them.

Chinese New Year won't be until Monday. But we did the party today. I am telling you, I even prepared ang pows (red envelopes with money inside) for the kids! Really a Chinese-y night we had. I guess this is going to be a tradition from this year onwards. LOL.

To all friends and family celebrating Chinese New Year 2012, Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Traveling has always been my passion and desire. Little did I realize that one day my dreams would become a reality. I have travelled to lots of countries, but just last year, I was able to travel to Melbourne, Australia, and go on drive on the Great Ocean Road and take the 12 Apostles Scenic Flight and yes, take aerial photography of Port Campbell Bay too. Isn’t that awesome !!!

It was indeed an amazing experience.

How did we get there ? We used a family car hire, and of course a GPS, and we keyed in the address to Port Campbell. Port Campbell is the hub of the Great Ocean road, and lots of people stop-by to spend a night camping or staying at motels, but since we had a nice car, we spent the night in the car. It took us about four to five hours to get to Port Campbell. The route took us through Geelong, then to Port Campbell through Princess Highway.

The two beautiful hubs at the Great Ocean Road are Port Campbell and Princetown. They are both hubs for accommodation, meals and leisure.

We enjoyed spending our time at the world famous Twelve Apostles. They were absolutely stunning. I was so glad I and Schenker took the scenic flight to see an aeriel view of the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge and Loch Ard Gorge which is exactly a replica of a sea horse.

We hung around a day just spending the day enjoying the magnificence of God’s creation, breathtakingly gorgeous , needless to say. The ocean was simply so blue, a true reflection of the beautiful sky. What made it really special was I spent the beautiful day with my family enjoying precious moments one would always cherish.

We had a total weekend madness last week. It was filled with family activities. And to think my husband was away in Penang for a work meeting. So my husband had to arrange transportation for us.

Usually we go to Subang Parade for family fun on weekends. We would never give MPH bookstore a miss. The kids would be pulling us to go there.

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Yesterday was Malaysia's Merdeka Day (52nd Independence Day). So the kids' break was extended for one more day. The weather was nice. Cloudy, but not rainy... so we took the kids to Sunway Club. It has been awhile since we didn't use our club facilities.

The kids had fun in the pool. We had lunch there as well, at Pahm's Restaurant. Then I took my mom to a steam bath. Sunway Club changed it into steam sauna. Last time was dry sauna. I think I prefer steam sauna better. It doesn't really burn the skin. But of course, I liked the dry sauna as well.

I took with me a big bottle of soon-to-be-expired yoghurt. I splashed it all over my body and hair, too. So now, a day later, I still smell like yoghurt. Delicious smell though.

I have heard that saunas can burn fats as well. So I'm planning to go to the club once a week just to do a steam bath. That's of course aside from the colon cleaning I'm doing now. It would be good to burn fats from the outside. I have started taking detox tea by the way. I wanna get rid of the toxins in my body.

Mom enjoyed the sauna too. I am glad.

Here they are, relaxing after swimming.