short vacation to Pangkor Laut Resort

when my cousin came back from the US last month, we planned for a short trip to a beach resort. our initial plans were to Phuket, Krabi or Pangkor Laut Resort. since our kids had to tag along and our husbands were unavailable during this period, we chose PLR for convenience & safety reasons. we booked for a 3 days 2 nights stay at PLR @ RM799 per adult and kids @ RM499, from 18-20 May. there were altogether 4 adults & 4 kids, including my cousin's sis-in-law family. 

we hired a 9-seater van with driver to drive us from KL - Lumut jetty - KL. the journey took us 3 hour 30mins single way + 30 mins boat ride. 

we arrived Lumut jetty at noon and were asked to wait in PLR's waiting room while waiting for our boat.

all our belongings are being taken care of. we had to take a short walk across the road to board the boat.

ziyi's first boat ride experience. the life jacket reminded her of Dora's cartoon 

lobby area

our room, both ziyi & nathan (my cousin's son) were busy playing with the stones available in the room near the bath tub.

we added extra day bed (the one on the right in this pic) @ RM180 per day but it was not used at all. 

the kids need to be entertained with iPad 2 and cartoons on the portable DVD player so that we adults could have a peaceful meal.

the koi pond near to the coffee house

2nd day - went to the beach after breakfast. scenic view at the beach

we were one of the firsts to arrive at the beach. we need to take a 15mins ride on the resort's shuttle van 

ziyi tried to build sandcastle here

need to refill her watering can

the kids were busy running around and doing their own version of chicken dance

the 3 days trip were too short for us. didn't really get to enjoy much, we should have extended an extra night! 

my review for this resort: 

a very nice resort indeed, with 5 star service from all their staffs. food was average, we had 2 buffet breakfasts, 2 lunches (ala carte) and 2 dinners (ala carte). not a very child-friendly resort and we realized we were the only family bringing kids! 

must bring lots of mozzie repellents. we used cream, roll-on, band & ultrasound type. kiasu hor? there were also a lot of flies everywhere at all their restaurants. very irritating during our mealtimes. 

compared to Tanjong Jara Resort in Terengganu, i still prefer TJR. however most people will say PLR is a nicer resort. individual preference i suppose. 

ziyi trapped in the toilet?

there were times when ziyi is not listening or obeying my instructions and i would usually give her time-out. she won't sit/stand still at a spot so i will have to lock her in a room, so to speak. 

every evening after picking her up from school, i will send her up to my room to bath her. however, she is always very demanding and make unreasonable requests which i do not have the time and patience to attend to her. but this little monster wouldn't listen and she'd end up crying and crying in the bathroom. when my patience level exceeded my limit, i will let her cry in the bathroom and close the door for about 2 mins and she'd be yelling "mummy help me, help me!!!"

the other day when hubby was at the car porch, our neighbour asked if ziyi was trapped in toilet! hahaha.... the hubs didn't know about the "trapping in the bathroom" incidents but he guessed it could be me disciplining the little monster. he explained to our neighbour that the "monster mummy" was trying to discipline the little monster by giving her time-out in the bathroom!

i must now be very careful with what we do / talk when we are in the bathroom because the sound proofing is so bad that we can even hear them flushing the toilet!

brushing with toothpaste

i have never trained ziyi to brush her teeth using toothpaste until recently when someone mentioned to me that she should be ready for brushing with toothpaste. can you imagine a 2 yr 11 months old child has not used toothpaste before? i am glad her teeth are not rotten yet!

to start with, i bought her an "edible toothpaste". First Teeth Baby Toothpaste from Guardian Pharmacy recently. this 40g tube of toothpaste cost me a whopping RM25.90, the most expensive toothpaste i've ever bought! 

ziyi hated it when she first used it and swallowed it down too! lucky this has no fluoride and safe to swallow. after a few tries, she finally mastered the skill to hold it in her mouth and gargle with water before spitting them out.

winter melon with coix seeds soup

ziyi's weekend meals are mainly home-cooked food. i always make sure she eats her lunch and dinner at home before leaving the house. she either eats porridge or rice with soup. i came across a blog that recommended winter melon soup with coix seeds (china barley). both ziyi and i love this soup very much and i'll definitely boil this soup again and again.

my first mother's day gifts from ziyi - 2011

i've decided to bake some cupcakes for mother's day this year. it was also an opportunity for me to try out the chocolate cupcakes that i've been planning to bake for ziyi's birthday next month. after researching for few recipes online, i finally ended up with a moist chocolate cake premix. chanced upon the premix when doing my baking ingredients shopping recently. so i gave it a try. i turned them into cupcakes with ganache topping. ziyi was so excited and she joined me in the kitchen throughout the cake making process. surprisingly the cakes turned out yummylicious. even ziyi approved it!

this is the photo frame she made for mother's day with the help of her kindy's teacher.

a swiss roll that we made together at Sunday School

and a bookmark too

we had a simple steamboat dinner at home with the in-laws and ended with moist choc cupcakes as dessert. 

i am glad everyone enjoyed the cake!

Aquaria - father and daughter trip (2nd May 2011)

i had to work during the labour day weekend at KLCC Exhibition Center. i made hubby brought ziyi to Aquaria on monday. the entrance fee is only RM35 for adults and kids below 3 years old are free. so we only needed 1 ticket, too bad i had to be on duty and couldn't join them.

hubby said he had a hard time snapping ziyi's pictures as she didn't want to stay still for the camera. i have no pictures of them when they were inside the center. we made the right choice to bring her to see fishes rather than animals, otherwise she would freak out when she sees huge and tall animals.

entrance of Aquaria and ticketing counter

i managed to snap few pics at the entrance

they spent about 1.5 hours in Aquaria and then came looking for me to join them for lunch. we walked over to KLCC mall for Japanese food. i was not so keen on Japanese food as i am not sure they are safe to be consumed. but hubby insisted on trying out Umai-ya when we walked pass the restaurant. they were having 20% opening promotion and i saw the restaurant was packed! i thought what the heck...let's give it a try. but i dare not order my favorite food - unagi (eel) and salmon sashimi. 

luckily i fed ziyi porridge at home before leaving for work. so i only ordered a garlic fried rice and chocolate ice-cream for her. nevertheless, our lunch at Umai-ya was good. 

after lunch at about 3+ pm, hubby sent ziyi home as it was time for her nap, while i had to continue working :(

i took a train ride home in the evening and was quite impressed with our own LRT train. when was your last ride on Malaysia's public transport?

watercress with honey dates to nourish your lung

my auntie mentioned to me the other day to boil this drink to help nourish our lung. apparently it is also good for heavy smokers, body heatiness and bad breath. more info can be read from this site.

this is the sweet version of watercress soup. my beloved grandma made this for us, upon request. she used 2kg of watercress (cleaned thoroughly) + 15 pcs of honey dates, boiled for 4 hours using charcoal fire. 

hubs and i love it so much that we finish drinking this big pot of concoction in 1 day!