DS's 1st Holiday... and DN's 4th!

Phuket was great. I always love love love going to Thailand because the people are just so genuinely friendly. And the food is so good! Now I have three babies - Der Nen, Der Shyen and Food. -__-"

I'd say we're definitely braver with #2. It took us 1.5 years to gather up enough courage to go on holiday with #1. This time, it only took us 2 months. *pat on the back* I figure there's no better time to travel with DS than now because she's still on 100% breastmilk. Just call me "meals on wheels". It's either now or after she turns 1 because once she starts weaning, I'll have to worry about mashing fruit and veg on the go!

We all enjoyed ourselves on this trip. My mom loved the food, PF loved the excuse to drink more beer, DN loved the swimming pool and 24-hour Disney channel and DS loved hanging out in the pouch all the time. What did I love?

These pictures. :) (Bear with me, there are a lot!)

DAY 1

DN loved watching the planes. One of these days, we'll drive to long Changi Road, park by the side and watch the planes. I used to do that with my parents and LOVED it.

DN tried to put his hand around his sister's shoulders but she refused to budge. He settled for putting it ON her head. Haha!

DS was such a breeze on the plane, both ways. Pity she didn't get to sleep in the bassinet for that long. Turbulence.

Ding dong! Room service!

DAY 2

DN making chocolate chip cookies - one of the Kids' Club activities at the resort.

He loved it!

DAY 3

Just-out-of-bed hair.

 DS ended up being carried A LOT because we didn't bring her bouncer.

Er... he's playing with tow gay here.

Sharing beef kway teow soup with DN.

DS waited patiently in the stroller as we ate lunch. Awww!

Father and daughter both trying out their "act cute" poses.

DN impersonating Jar Jar Binks

Free ice lollies by the pool!

You are feeling sleeepyyy...

Zzz...!

JUST LOOK AT THAT!

DAY 4

Checking in. 

DS was such a magnet.

DN and his Trunki. (I wish they made one in my size!)

Sawadeeka!

PF and I have very different holidaying styles. He's really suited for chill-out-and-go-brain-dead type of spa holidays and I'm the duracell-bunny-on-speed-and-a-coffee-drip type of holiday maker. I mean, I'm here for only x number of days, so pass me the baht and call a tuk-tuk, we're going canoeing, rock-climbing, golfing, spa-ing, shopping... and THEN lunch! I'm the ultimate kiam ka na (stingy sour prune) too. When shopping, I almost get into fights over 10 baht. And usually by that time, my husband would have slunk away in embarrassment and would be of absolutely no use if I'd gotten my eyes scratched out. Of course, I then go back to Singapore and realise that I was almost blinded over 40 cents!

So that's me on holidays before kids came along. It's really different when you have kids huh? Goodbye duracell bunny, hello slow loris. No more cheong-ing until 11pm, or making full use of happy hour. You've got to think about naps, insect repellent, tea-time snacks, regular bowel movements and spare toys in the diaper bag. Not glam, not glam.

All this just means taking things really slow on holidays, MAJOR changes in one's holiday expectations and lots of beer on the plane. And in the hotel. And at dinner. And heck, how about one before dinner? You know, to dull the pain!

This was the first time I'd seen PF drink so much beer on a holiday. It all started on the flight to Phuket - a beer with his tray dinner. On Day 2, it was beer from the minimart (Phuket Lager!) and beer at dinner. On Day 3, more beer when the kids were sleeping. No beer on Day 4 because his hands were full carrying all our barang-barang, and he konked out on the plane after lunch. He drank more beer on this holiday than on all our other holidays combined! When you go on holiday with two kids under four, life's more bearable through beer goggles eh?

It was also funny that as the holiday progressed, the list of things that we'd forgotten to bring got longer and longer.

1. DN's anti-allergy medicine (Ack! Had to buy Zyrtec at the airport.)
2. DS's bath net
3. Cable for downloading pics from the camera
4. Plug Adaptor
5. DN's multi-vits

... and so on and so on. The days were peppered with, "Aiyah! We forgot to bring that!"

But all in all, it was good fun. I got to spend quality time with my mom, set my throat on fire with Tom Yum Goong, enjoyed our own private lap pool and basically did nothing constructive or useful. Quite shiok! ;)

Off we go!

So much has happened the past few days, I haven't had time to blog. Sorry! And this is going to be a short, short post because we're rushing to the airport!

Yes! We're going on a beach holiday! Yay!

With my mum! Yay!

And two children! Argh... shoot me now.

Well, it was an offer too good to pass up (free accomodation + Silkair promo) so the whole motley crew is going. Hopefully we come back relaxed and chilled out. Wait, what am I talking about? We're going with a 3-year old and a 3-month old. Hopefully we come back sane, with all our luggage and the same number of children we left with!

In the weeks and days leading up to this crazy adventure holiday, we've done tons of stuff.

1. Made DS's passport (thank God for online applications)
2. Bought DN his own Trunki (more about that later...)

Enjoy this photo as we enjoy ourselves in Phuket! We brought DS to get her photo taken for her passport and that's how they took her photo. She still can't sit on her own, or hold her head up for long for that matter. Had to crop myself out of this picture though because my chest was too rude for this family-friendly blog!

See you all on Friday! And raffle results on Friday too. :)

We're back!

Total distance travelled within Western Australia : 1,200 km
Total pieces of unworn clothes : 15-20 (overpacked again!)
Total number of meltdowns : 1.5 per day (average)
Total number of IT gadgets PF brought over : 1 mini-laptop, 1 baby monitor, 1 DSLR camera, 3 SD cards, 1 portable harddisk, 1 emergency handphone charger, 1 battery charger unit, 8 rechargable batteries (he's a walking, talking IT Show)
Total number of photos taken : Don't know... too many to count! 800???
Total number of family photos taken : ONE.

And this is it. Humph.


Taken on the last day of our holiday... sunset at Bathers Bay, Fremantle








I'll blog about our holiday, but I'll backdate all the posts so make sure you scroll down. :)

Yes, I'm anal that way... and proud of it! (Funny Bee will understand.)

Last Day :: Fremantle - Perth City - Singapore
Wow. That's it. 8 days gone just like that. It me longer to blog about the holiday, LOL.

0800 :: All of us are up and we scramble to down breakfast, do some last minute packing and check out by 10am.
1045 :: Drive to the Fremantle Chocolate Factory nearby to pick up some souvenirs. (We're 100% Singaporean la!)
1130 :: We're back at Harbour Town again. (Sorry, 110% Singaporean!) PF and I shop with a vengeance.
1415 :: We rush to the airport for our 4.30pm flight. Somehow, we manage to squeeze 5 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of slippers, 2 shirts and 1 hoodie (Harbour Town spoils) into the bursting bags.
1630 :: Ta-ta Perth!
2130 :: Touch down, we're home. :)

There was an apple on DN's Kid's Tray and he ate the whole thing with gusto. Ah-hahaha! His face is so funny.






Plane rides are boring for me, what more a toddler?! We walk up and down the aisle, go say hi to the stewardesses, go say hi to other kids, look out the window at the emergency exit and...

...take goofy pictures!



Not surprisingly, DN enjoyed his fish fingers and chips.



Except for the apple bits, I think this is quite a nice picture, heh.

DN : "But Dad, I AM smiling!"

Day 7 :: Fremantle - Subiaco - Whiteman Park

0830 :: Up!
1030 :: Drive to Subiaco for a walk around. Dang! Everything is shut. -_- The Singaporeans are flummoxed. Holland Village is extra busy on Sundays! Mustafa is open 24 hours a day!
1145 :: We're back in the apartment and DN naps.
1400 :: On a whim, we head to Whiteman Park for the Classic Car Show.
1530 :: The Ongs are hungry so we wander around and we find this! I also find a cafe and buy an iced chocolate (yum!) and am tempted to buy a kangaroo burger. (Goodness! I can't believe I actually thought of it, they're so cute.) Anyway, DN has a swell time at the playground.
1700 :: We manage to peel DN away from the playground and head back to Fremantle. He naps in the car.
1815 :: After feeding DN dinner, we walk to the Fremantle Harbour in search of some fish & chips and stumble upon Bathers Bay. :)
19oo :: Dinner at Cicerello's.
2030 :: Story time & bed for DN. PF and I then try to squeeze 3 bags full of stuff into 2 bags. -_-

We met someone at the car show who collects these vintage toy cars. He buys them and restores them. Sweet.

The playground had a huge tent over it. So even thought it was blazing hot, the kids could still play comfortably and safely.



Hee hee!

The seagulls were swooping in on leftover fries.

DN doesn't like to wear hats, but he's okay with his hoodie. Funny!

I like this pic. :)
At Bathers Bay, we hung around and waited for the sunset (which DN is pretending to admire).

We took off his shoes and let him run around in the sand. He loved it! The sand is so soft and fine. Not like the mucky, clumpy sand we have here.


One of the basins in our apartment is massive.

Day 6 :: Fremantle - Perth City

0830 :: Up! (and I don't know how, but we manage to flop about in the apartment for 3 hours!)
1130 :: Walk to the Fremantle Markets. We buy some peaches, plums, nectarines, a smoothie and a hotdog. Hmm... turns out less than what we expected. More like a pasar malam with tacky souvenirs than a place for independent artists/craftsmen to sell their wares. (Honestly speaking, I have more fun at Daiso.)
1500 :: Drive to Harbour Town and DN naps for half an hour on the way. The nap's long overdue (his first of the day) and he's super cranky when we get there. DN is a light sleeper and we've never been able to transfer him from car seat to stroller successfully without waking him up. The poor guy's tummy is also not well and he pukes in 2 stores. On the carpet. In front of other shoppers. Oh.
1700 :: Back in the apartment. DN takes his (long-deserved) 2nd nap from 5-630pm. We cook his dinner and stay in tonight. DN feels much better.
2100 :: Story time & bed for DN.

Lunch :: AU$11.50 (smoothie, hot dog)
Dinner :: AU$13 (subway, chips)

* we're really eating junk on this trip. we miss our rice & noodles. :(

How does a bored tot entertain himself in a boring apartment? He plays with the pots and pans of course! The first thing we had to do was remove all sharp items and cleaning agents from the lower cupboards and drawers.

The act of childproofing is now second nature to me. When I visit friends' houses, I feel like Bionic Woman. My eye becomes a "power eye" you know? I see those red circles that zoom in on toddler hazards (mobile phones on coffee tables, wine glasses on floors, and in DN's case, opened containers of biscuits) and a teh-teh-teh sounds off in my brain.

ps : can you see his furry feet? they are actually socks! (from his grand-aunt in shanghai) i love them. it's a lion's face and the furry bits is the lion's mane. haha!

Day 5 :: Margaret River - Bunbury - Fremantle

0800 :: DN is up and again, starts terrorising his parents and egging them to wake up.
0945 :: Check out of cottage and visit Sunflowers Farm for the last time.
1130 :: We drop by Margaret River Nuts and Cereal and Margaret River Chocolate Factory.
1230 :: The night before, PF comes up with a brilliant idea of visiting one more winery before we leave Margaret River and buy a bottle of wine for us to enjoy after DN sleeps! So we go to Ashbrook Estate and buy a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. *hic*
1300 :: Start drive up to Fremantle. DN naps from 1 - 2pm in the car.
1400 :: Lunch at Bunbury. On our way out of Bunbury, we spot a Sheridan outlet and we happily traipse in and spend AU$250 on bedsheets!!! The sales lady knew we were Singaporean when we walked in! Aiyoh.
1600 :: DN naps in the car for 1 hour.
1900 :: Arrive in Fremantle. The apartment is GREAT!
2100 :: Story time and bed for DN.

Farm Entry & Animal Feed :: AU$19
Lunch :: AU$20
Shopping :: AU$60 (nuts & cereal), AU$60 (chocolate), AU$27 (red wine)
Groceries :: AU$47.50 (chicken steaks, water, chocolate, broccoli, onions, potatoes, sausages)
Petrol :: AU$36

That's Alf the Alpaca. He's now eating the remains in the bucket - oats and grain meant for our feathered friends. Alf's a greedy pig!



I forgot what this guy's name was. But he's also a pig in alpaca's clothing.


Look at his funny face! Heh heh.




DN met a kamikaze sheep. *bleat*


"We are orphaned lambs (baby sheeps) (sic). We are too big for milk now. So you can feed us if you like but please don't feed us lettuce! It makes our tummies sick."

I love how every pen had signs like these. Nice that they gave the animals voices. :) Most of the animals had names too. The rabbits didn't have names. Go think about that. ;)

Rabbit with no name. Maybe if he and his friends thought about family planning, the farm will start giving them names. Haha!

The sign on this guy's pen said, "We are Chinese Geese. Our wings didn't come out that right, but it's okay, we don't fly anyway."

I'm thinking, "Why Chinese???" -_-

DN was afraid of this pony. He only got 1 carrot then DN scurried away. I like him. He's got short little legs. (I understand his insecurities.)

Another one of my favourite pics of the trip. :)

I like this one too. :)














That's our apartment in Fremantle.











There were foldable doors at the bedroom so we could close it off after DN slept. It was like an Ikea showflat. Everything was spanking new! Even the floor felt newly waxed. (We confirmed that when we checked out. We were the 2nd ones to rent the place!)















Except for the 1st night at Hillarys, we rented self-contained units all the way. This way, we could still cook some of DN's meals and eat in on some nights. This kitchen had everything - pots, pans, microwave containers, cutlery, cooking utensils, dish cloths, oven mitts, cooker & hood, microwave, kettle, toaster, detergent and sponges. EVERYTHING.