Langkawi family holiday (Part 1)

We had planned for this trip way back in July together with Hubby's parents and two of his sisters. It was over the Hari Raya Haji long weekend which was good for us so that we didn't have to take leave. Of course Hannah was pretty excited to be going with her cousins and also at the prospect of swimming! For little Heidi, it was her first time on a plane. Our flight was at 1.15 pm so we arrived at Penang airport around 12 noon to check in.

Heidi was a good baby on the plane and did not make a fuss at all. It was good that it was a short trip so once we had settled into our seats, we gave her a bottle of milk and once she had finished, it was almost time to land!

Upon arrival, we rented a van which could fit 12 of us comfortably for RM350 for the 3 days. All in all, it was quite reasonable as the van used diesel which was much cheaper than petrol. It also gave us the flexibility of going and coming at our own time.

We had booked the trip via AirAsiaGo and we chose this hotel called Langkawi Lagoon Resort which was supposed to be 4 star. It was also conveniently located near the airport which was good for us travelling in a big group. However, a few weeks prior to the trip, I checked out some reviews on the hotel and found that it was not really good, so we were definitely quite apprehensive approaching the hotel. Upon arrival, we thought that our worst fears were confirmed as the facade of the hotel looked in need of a serious makeover and the lobby was quite small. But upon walking to the entrance to the pool and beach, the view of the sea and the hotel's private beach was really nice.

The hotel also had accommodation with chalets perched on the water called Sea Villas. Our package did not include those rooms however, we just had the normal deluxe hillview rooms.

We were hoping that our rooms would be clean and comfortable, considering the bad reviews we had read about the hotel. We had booked 4 rooms, and the hotel was nice enough to give us all the rooms on the same floor with 2 pairs of rooms next to each other. For once, the actual room was nicer than the photos shown on the internet so we were pleasantly surprised. The room was large, with a chaise lounge that could sleep an extra person. There was also a kitchenette which was useful for us travelling with little ones and the bathroom was marble tiled up to ceiling height. 3 rooms were ready when we arrived, only Hubby's parents' room was not, so they waited in our room while their room was being prepared.

You can read my review of the hotel on TripAdvisor here

After putting down our luggage, we headed out to look for a quick bite, and guess where we ended up? McDonald's! It was the easiest and quickest option considering that the children were very hungry. There was one located at Pantai Cenang just next door to Langkawi Underwater World.

Heidi also had her late lunch there - milk!

After that, we headed back to the hotel for some rest and for the kids to go swimming. Heidi really liked the big bed in our room, I suppose because there was plenty of space for her to roll around! She couldn't stop smiling :)

And of course, what Hannah really enjoyed was the swimming! Below are some photos of her enjoying the pool with her cousins.

Heidi was looking at the pool and all the while lunging towards it, and we could see that she really wanted to go in too! But since she just recovered from cough and flu, swimming was a no-no for her, so she just had to be content with dipping her legs in the pool. She enjoyed that pretty much too, kicking her legs about.

After a fun time of swimming, we headed out again to Pantai Cenang to have dinner. We found a seafood restaurant and ordered some dishes with rice. We did not order any fish at first, but my father-in-law requested them to steam a fish. We were told at first that the price was RM10 per 100g which is very pricey, but it would not be an issue if it was fresh. When the fish came, it was quite a disappointment as it was overcooked and tough. We complained to the restaurant so they gave us a small discount of the original price of RM100.

Heidi was fast asleep throughout dinner as it was past her bed time, and Hannah was also almost ready for bed as she did not have her afternoon nap.

Part 2 of our trip will be in the next post.

Wikki Stix

Recently, Think Thank Pte Ltd in Singapore which is the product representative for Wikki Stix, sent me an email to write a product review on my blog as they are launching Wikki Stix for the first time in Asia (including Malaysia). Wikki Stix is an award winning educational and kids crafts toy made in and hugely popular in the USA.

They sent me a sample by mail for Hannah to try out and it looked like this:

Essentially Wikki Stix are pieces of yarn mixed together with non-toxic patented wax in 27 colours. It's non-toxic, gluten free and 100% made in the USA. It can be reused again and again from one surface to another. When I opened the package, this was what was inside:

Hannah was naturally curious when I told her about the "new toy". Inside the package was a connect-the-dots picture so we used the Wikki Stix to create a picture of a Christmas bell. As you can see, it is flexible to create all kinds of shapes.

And here are some other creative ideas:

Hannah decided to try it out for herself after I showed her initially how to play with it.

She thought it was rather fun! And the fun part about it for me was, it did not mess up my house! Just a quick wipe and everything was clean.

Wikki Stix can also be used as a teaching tool for learning numbers and the alphabet. It is also used to teach children how to spell, read and learn shapes in a fun and safe way. It can even be used to teach math - how to add, subtract, multiply and divide.

For all my readers, Wikki Stix is offering a special 10% discount for products purchased on their online store at http://www.wikkistixasia.com/. You just need to enter the coupon code BLOG1012 upon check out from your shopping cart.  Delivery is free worldwide with no minimum purchase. For more information, you can also check out their Facebook page at Facebook/WikkiStixAsia.

Wikki Stix is now available at the following stores in Malaysia:

Books Kinokuniya – Kuala Lumpur
Lot 406-408 & 429-430 Level 4,
Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur City Centre,
50088 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603 2164-8133
http://www.kinokuniya.com/my/

CzipLee Bangsar
1 & 3 Jalan Telawi 3,
Bangsar Baru,
59100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 603 2287 7699
http://www.cziplee.com/

Kraf Kydz Enterprise
http://wikkistixmy.com

Mama Paradise / KidsnMum
No 2-29-2 Sinaran Satu, Persiaran Anggerik
40460 Shah Alam, Selangor
Tel: 603 5131 8917 / 6016 311 8917
www.kidsnmum.com
www.mamaparadise.com

Flu bug

Little Heidi has come down with the flu. She was supposed to have her 6 months injection last Thursday, but a couple days before that she had a mild fever and runny nose. Despite all that, she was still her cheerful self when we took her to the hospital to see the doctor.

Her fever recovered subsequently, but her nose was still runny and on Monday afternoon, she started having a yellowish discharge from both her eyes. This caused her eyes to become quite red and swollen. So back to the doctor we went.

Doctor said it was an eye infection so she prescribed some eye drops to administer morning and night. Yesterday was her follow up check up so we were back at the hospital again. Adventist really earned a lot of money from us this week. Eye infection gone, but nose still runny and cough becoming worse. So she has to go on nose drops and the inhaler, which she totally hates. But doctor said the louder she cries its better because the crying helps to inhale the medicine in.

Despite all that, she is still our happy little baby. Here are some happy photos of her:

 

The wording on her shirt describes her perfectly - "My smiles keep me out of trouble" :)

 

She has also recently "inherited" some new toys which she was very excited to play with. The first was a musical drum from her Jie-Jie Hannah. She liked the lights and sounds coming out of it.

She also received a walker from Ko-Ko Sean (thanks Chia Yin!). When she first saw it, she was so excited that she lunged towards it from my arms when I was carrying her. So we let her have a try and she did like it very much.

She was busy checking out all the little toys attached to the walker.

Get well soon little Heidi! Mummy, Daddy and Jie Jie Hannah are praying for your quick recovery.

Heidi's firsts

Heidi turned exactly 6 months old yesterday so it was her "half birthday" :). She also had her first taste of porridge yesterday cooked by Hubby's mum. She didn't eat much of it because maybe it was something new to her and it might take her some time to get used to it.

Prior to this, when she was about 5 months plus, we let her have a try of cereal. At her 4 month checkup, her paed mentioned that if she looked interested to eat solids, we could already let her try to have some. I am not too familiar with baby cereal because Hannah did not really have much. She "graduated" straight to porridge and then rice. So after looking around, I found this at Cold Storage.

She seemed to like it, probably because it was something different than her milk. However, as expected, most of it ended up on her face and bib rather than in her mouth :)

Heidi also attended her first wedding of a family friend of my in-laws. So before leaving the house, we got the girls dressed in their pretty frocks and took some pictures.

My girls and I:

She behaved quite well during the wedding lunch, had a nap and was her cheerful self as usual, despite me forgetting to bring her milk!

Heidi also sat for the first time on a kiddy ride when we took them to Queensbay Mall. But I think she is still a bit young to appreciate the rides, not like her big sister Hannah who insists we must go for those rides the moment we arrive :)

Heidi is as always her happy cheerful self once she is well-fed, well-rested and comfortably changed. We have plenty of her smiley pictures so here are some of them.

The picture above was taken at Penang Bowl which was also her first time at a bowling alley - we were there to have lunch :)

Happy half birthday to our littlest princess! Daddy, Mummy and Jie Jie Hannah love you lots!

Back home

So we have been back for a week now. We arrived on Monday night and Tuesday I was back at work and Hannah was back at Amah's house. Fun has ended and it's back to real life. Haha. Anyway, we were both glad to be back mainly because it was a bit too long away from Hubby/Daddy and little Heidi!

On the day that we left (last Monday), Hannah was busy helping to pack her things. Most important was the bag that contained all the goodies - chocs, lollies, cookies. By the way, there is another story about that bag, but will elaborate further later :)

Our flight was at 11.40 am but we had to be at the airport 2 hours earlier to check in, and I also wanted to claim my GST vide the TRS (Tourist Refund Scheme). In order to achieve all that before our flight, we had an early breakfast at the McD's near my sister's place. Coincidentally, that was also the same place where we had our first meal when we arrived, so the first and last meal that we had was McD's :).

At the airport, we were nice and early, so we could sit down and chit chat before going into immigration. There Hannah found something to entertain herself. Playgrounds seem to be the staple at most airports these days. There was a nice big one at Changi too.

One final picture before going in (or so we thought):

We didn't know that even after we had entered the waiting lounge, they could still see us from outside the glass panels. Hannah was excited to see her Nanna, Gong Gong and Ee Ee from inside and ran to meet them.

And then it was really time to board the plane. I was a bit sceptical on how Hannah would take the long haul flight as it a day flight. When we came, it was a night flight so she slept all the way. Amazingly somehow the hours seemed to pass pretty quickly and in between 2 meals, a short nap, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and some video games, we arrived in Changi. The transit was not too long, only slightly more than an hour and we reached on schedule in Penang.

In Penang, after going through immigration, we went to pick up our luggage. We had checked in two pieces of luggage, a bigger bag with all our clothes and some souvenirs, and another smaller bag with all the food in it - all the chocs, lollies and cookies. After waiting for sometime, all the bags had come out, including our bigger bag, but there was no sign of the smaller bag. The airport staff checked and told us that the bag was not on the flight, and probably had been not loaded on the plane from Singapore. It was quite disappointing after many hours of travelling to be informed that your luggage was missing, and Hannah was quite disappointed too, when she found out the missing bag contained all her goodies! So anyway, I filled up the necessary paperwork and asked the airport staff to deliver the bag to my office the next day if they managed to find it. They were quite efficient as it turned up intact the next day at my office before lunch time. So Hannah was happy again :)

Back to the night before, Hubby and Heidi were already waiting for us by the time we got out, thanks to the baggage delay. It was past 9 pm by then, and Heidi would usually be asleep in the car. However, we think that somehow that day she could sense something different, so she did not sleep until we were both in the car and then only she slept when on the way home. It was as if she was just waiting to see us before she slept.

It was a good trip and a fun holiday but it is always good to be back. Thanks to my family for having us and taking good care of us while we were there - we will see you soon in December! :)