Dinosaur Park @ Dannok, Thailand

During the March school holidays, we decided to take the kids for a short day trip to check out the Dinosaur Park at Dannok, which is just across the Thai border. My parents came with us too, so there were 7 of us which fit nicely into Hubby's car

We had planned to leave early on a Friday morning, but even leaving at 7.30 am, there was already a long queue when we got to the border. However, since Thailand is one hour behind us, when we got to the Dinosaur Park, it was only 9.30 am and the park hadn't opened. The sun was also high above the sky when we reached, so we decided it would be a better idea to come back later in the evening since the park opened until night. We also heard that at night, the park would be all lighted up.

We then made our way to Central Festival Mall in Hatyai where we had a nice steamboat lunch and the girls had Dairy Queen ice cream. Only 10 baht for one cone, so quite worth it and the ice cream was quite delicious!

Many funny expressions of eating ice cream: 

After that, we walked around the mall for a bit. Heidi posed on this which turned her into a mermaid! Hannah had been here before two years ago and she posed at exactly the same spot! :)

After that, we paid a visit to Hubby's aunt and cousin at their cafe which was not far from the mall. We sat and chit-chatted for a while, had something to eat, and then it was off to the Dinosaur Park!

The entrance fee was 200 baht for adults and 100 baht for children 3 years and above. So for Helene it was free. It was actually quite impressive, with the dinosaurs being able to move and make sounds. Helene was rather afraid at first, but then after she got over the initial fear, she wanted to walk around and check the dinosaurs out for herself. Here are some of the many photos which we took:

Nearby, there was also an animal farm. Not that many animals, but since we were already there, we paid the 100 baht per person to go and have a look.We decided not to wait to see the lights at night as we wanted to get back home earlier.

All in all, it was a fun trip, but we got caught in a jam coming out from the border, despite not staying until late, so we only arrived home after 11pm. We may probably go again, this time at night so that we can see the lights!

Nanna's Sweet 16

I just realised that this blog hasn't been updated in over a month! Things have been quite hectic, and there's so much to blog about!

My mum is a leap year baby. So being born on February 29th, she only gets to celebrate her birthday once every 4 years. This year is a leap year, so we had a mini celebration here in Penang. My sister and brother-in-law, and some of my mother's closest friends came to Penang to celebrate with us.

It was quite an eventful weekend, starting on Friday and ending on Monday! On Friday afternoon, we had a family photoshoot at a studio. The last time we took studio photos my sister was not married yet and Helene wasn't born. So this time we wanted to take one with everyone together. We haven't got the photos from the studio yet, so will post them up once available.

On Saturday, we checked into E&O Hotel and we got a lovely suite, similar to the one we had during my sister's wedding. So this was our 2nd staycation :) Helene was too young to remember it the last time, so this time she really had a ball, exploring the place.

While the kids were busy exploring, Mummy and Daddy got to enjoy the view from the balcony and take selfies! Haha :)

 Happy Heidi!

Of course, one of the highlights of the room was the free standing bath tub.

That night, we had dinner at the old CRC. We had to share the place with a wedding so that may have affected the quality of the food a little bit. But it was still an enjoyable time.

My mum said that Helene is only quiet when she is asleep. When she is awake, her mouth is either talking or eating. And here she is enjoying her bowl of noodles!

The next morning, we had a small devotional in our room. We chose to have it in our room so the kids could sleep in.

 But there was no sleeping in for this little one!

After that, we all had breakfast downstairs and the hotel gave my mother a nice cake :)

Hannah was the only one who went swimming this time around as the other two were still having a bit of cough.

Hannah with Uncle Robert:

In the evening, we attended Hubby's cousin's wedding at Red Rock Restaurant. The girls got dressed up in their matching rainbow dresses. Several people did ask me if I had these dresses tailor-made, but they were bought from H&M! Love this photo of our girls :)

The next day, Monday, it was time to check out. That was my mum's actual birthday but me and my sis managed to find some time for our Haagen Dazs fix. It's a must for my sis as Haagen Dazs is not available in Australia (but I hear it will soon be).

We had another dinner that night with our extended families at the new CRC, and this time the food was really good.

I ordered the cake from Jan's and it was really good as well. Delicious butter cake with butter cream and deco only cost me RM82 for 1.5 kg.

 Mum also got a card decorated by her grandchildren.

There were lots of pictures taken with my dad's camera, but we still haven't the time to sort them out yet. But I'm sure it will be up on Facebook once we do! So here are some taken with my sister's iPhone.

Happy sweet 16 mum and may God bless you with many more years of love, health and happiness!