Goodbye 2017.

It's time to bid adieu to the year 2017.

2017 was such an eventful year.

It started out pretty sweet, but with kind of like a hanging end.

There was Prague-Vienna-Budapest which was the best thing that happened this year.

And then Wisana Village -where the kids go snorkeling for the very first time, and we celebrated first day of Ramadhan there. Odd much, it felt nice having sahur on an island far away:)

My husband started his masters programme - so our whole family is trying to emotionally support a soon to be specialist daddy.

Riz's goes to school, for real! for the first time- and we moved Tia to another kindy to accompany Riz, and it was a great decision. remember to trust your instincts at all cost.

Tiana split chin open, and had several stitches under her chin- that was an intense experience for all of us, man.

We managed to register Tia into the school we hoped for, Alhamdulillah. well, we had to work a little bit harder to get this one. And I, of course have my own reason as to why I chose a school half an hr away from home.

Tia knew how to read fully at the beginning of this year. 

My dad had a successful prostate laser surgery.

Riz was weaned of diapers and pacifier.

Sabbytia did amazingly (and surprisingly) well on etsy especially on halloween this year.

I pierced my nose. yup, I did. Because life is a roller coaster, amidst all the good things that happened, there are times when I have a jumble of feelings in my head, and I feel overwhelmed with my daily routine. Anyway, I love the tiny bling in my nose (for now). I took off both pair of earrings in my ears and I'm going to switch it with the tiniest stud when it's all healed.

I decluttered my whole house a few days before end of the year.....and got us a new sofa and a writing desk for the living room. This felt good.

So why do I feel like it has a hanging end?

-You know what they say about when you're a stay at home mom you're around all the chaos and yet you feel lonely? I wish I have more mommy friends, or just anyone I could hang out with without kids involved. What do you expect when you spend all your waking hours with kids and your husband isn't a talker?

-Which leads me to...I miss the husband. yes, we live under the same roof....but I'm hoping we'll communicate better this year and still appreciate each other. It's been 9 years together. too short to turn off the lights, really.

-I worked really hard this year.....but I am currently on a hiatus because Tia is starting school and it changes all my daily routine and I am so...so nervous. Trying to tell myself that we will be okay. 

Okay so 2018, I hope to turnaround all that is said above. Lets not get too ambitious, just start with that. Here's to a good year to all of us, may it be kind, and a much happier one:)

Cheers to all.

Sabby.

Travelling with Kids 2017- Resorts World Sentosa Singapore (Adventure Cove Waterpark)

On to Day 2! 

Our family has always been a big fan of waterparks, and this particular waterpark started off as our first favourite. Probably also because this was the first waterpark we experienced with a baby in tow some 5 years ago. Back then, we definitely couldn't enjoy the entire park. But we still enjoyed some splash areas and we loved that we could push the stroller around the park and there are a few convenient stops for babies. Read our previous experience with a baby here :D

We started off the day with McDonald's for breakfast. Gotta try the famous Nasi Lemak Burger. It was a bit too sweet and lotsa bawangs for me though. 

  

Riz was still unwell, look at his poor face:(

So. Where do I start? This visit was awesome because Tia was able to try almost every attractions in the map. I had fun, because then I got to try everything too! Daddy was more meh, no thanks. so he wandered and soaked around with Riz while Tia and I went trying all the possible slides she could. yayy.

Tia is actually a bit short for her age, so there are a few slides she couldn't try. For a 111cm tall 6 year old, she went on the Dueling Racer twice, Riptide Rocket (this one's crazy. Apparently the first hydro-magnetic coaster in Southeast Asia. almost gave me a heart attack weh)-TWICE. once with mommy once with daddy. lol. I tried the rest of the slides on my own while the kids spent their time with daddy *insert evil emoji here*

Our favourite in any waterpark is the Adventure River. Theres one in Legoland and also in Sunway Lagoon. We usually go on this thing two or three times per visit. We love 'swimming' and following the water stream and grabbing a tube whenever we see one. What we found really unique about the Adventure Cove's Adventure River is when we pass by the Ray Bay. There's a ledge we can plonk our kids to sit on and just watch the stingrays swim. 4-5 stingrays would usually come and say hello! Also when we pass Dolphin Island, we like to peek through the gaps to see people feeding or swimming with the dolphins- although they are not meant to be viewed. hehe.

For 3-4 year olds, The Big Bucket Treehouse is awesome for them. A lot of waterguns, sprays, big bucket splash, and miniature slides which Riz loved going on again and again. The water's a bit too cold- then again it's the same with the other waterparks. I wonder why. brr.

The Bluewater Bay Wavepool was something Riz enjoyed as well. He's a bit of a daredevil at his age- wanting to swim deeper in and giving me anxiety when the waves started T_T Wait til he's tall enough for the slides- i think he'll try it all! He waited at the Seahorse Hideaway while we took turns going on the Duel Racer because it was just next to the slide- This one is just better for babies and toddlers. I remembered Tia loving this one when she was 1, and then had a nap in one of the cabanas surrounding the pool (btw it's not free of charge anymore to nap there). Riz said, too boring!

I was hoping to feed the stingrays and Ray Bay but thought it was a bit to pricey for us - maybe next time!

Riz entered the waterpark with a slight fever but exited recovered :') I guess must be from all the excitement in the park. The locker room facilities are very nice, although I wish some tourists would be decent enough to cover up their privates. One woman came out naked from a shower cubicle and oh boy i had to go through the 'decency' talk with Tia *shrug*

Oh and snorkeling at the Rainbow Reef! This is unique, though I prefer real snorkeling better:P The water was super cold but it was soo pretty in the tank. kudos kudos anyway. Kids play in the sand next to the rainbow reef while waiting for mommy to snorkel.

Mealtimes - We brought biscuits if I'm not mistaken, for snacks. and then there are two stops- A restaurant which sells pastas, fish n chips and stuff like that. But we decided to go cheap and went to this one stall for hotdogs. I think it was also because the stall was halal. It wasn't so bad. 

A little mischief and some pep talk going on up there. teehee.

For dinner we went to Streats still. We exited when it was closing time. So it was time well spent! We made sure to bathe and change the kids first then walk back to the hotel, stopping for dinner on the way.

So this is why I think it's important to stay at Resorts World itself because by the end of the day, the kids were already too tired for us to catch an uber to go to a hotel out of the area. It was a wise decision. 

Photos are a little bit difficult to take but here's a video summary of the fun we had at the Adventure Cove Waterpark:)

That was day 2 in Singapore, stay tuned for day 3:)

Travelling with Kids 2017- Resorts World Sentosa Singapore (S.E.A. AQUARIUM)

Tiana and Riz turned 6 and 4 respectively last November and we brought them to Singapore to celebrate. The last time we went was when Tia just started walking, so that should be some 5 years ago! A lot has changed obviously, back then they were still building Marina Bay Sands. lol

It was Riz's first time out of Malaysia. When you have two kids, and when the mom quits her full time job..this is what happens. Your budget just gets tighter. Poor baby:( but always, always be grateful! at least we got to take him to Singapore on an airplane ride.

Here's what I can conclude though.....travelling with baby, toddler, or kids- each stage has its own challenges! When we were travelling with then baby Tia we talked about a lot of parent room hunting for diaper change and a bagful of diapers, puree packets and milk. You can read about our previous trip here. But when we travel with small kids...there shall be whinings, tantrums, and lifesaving snacks (aka tantrum-saving snacks) involved. It's tiring, but we feel complete nonetheless. We stuck together as a family at all times (like totally no way out, so there wasn't any choice. hehe)

This time we took the Resorts World Sentosa Mastercard promo package which included:

- 2 nights stay at one of the hotels and we chose Festive Hotel

- 2 1 day adult passes to S.E.A. Aquarium, Universal Studios and Adventure Cove waterpark.

---> SGD$706

We had to buy an extra kiddy 1 day pass to all parks for Tia which was another $110, but luckily kids under 4 gets to go for free so yay Riz! phew, just as we were about to feel the pinch!

We took the 8am flight out of KL. We fed the kids muffins for breakfast while waiting to board. Reached an hour after, and after settling the baggage we got out at around 10-11am. 

One main tip when you're travelling with a 4 year old is, although he or she may seem too big for it- PLEASE BRING A STROLLER. like a light umbrella fold one or those cool babyzen yoyos. trust me, that saved us some sanity especially because riz was a little unwell the first two days:(

We chose Festive hotel this time around because of the spacious family room. There was a loft bed, so Tia took that one. Personally, i feel that the bed was really too high up and although they have thought through the safety aspect of the bed to prevent falls...i still have the jitters when Riz climbs up and down the stairs to kakak's bed. It was fun nonetheless, but if you have kids 4 years and under, nobody's gotta sleep up there. hehe. There's another sofa bed at the bottom, so Riz slept there, and us parents took the main bed. The kids really loved the room and had loads of fun climbing around, and they also enjoyed their complimentary washbags - kids toothbrush, a water squirt bottle and an awesome LED lighted watch.

We rested for a bit, and fed the kids some Nasi Ayam Uncle Chin which we ordered and tapaued down from the flight:P  Then off we go to S.E.A Aquarium.

What Riz loved most about S.E.A. Aquarium is the shark tank. He just stood there gawking at various types of sharks swim by. The aquarium tunnel was very long, but crowded at the time we were there so....a lot of photobombs.

Best part was the HUGE 2 storey high aquarium wall. you get to see everything from there. The giant manta ray, the sharks, many kinds of other sea creatures. We waited for feeding time and watched the divers in awe. While waiting, there was a kids area where they can do some colouring while parents took a breather. It was hypnotising to watch. do spend some time sitting around here to just watch the fishies swim. If you have extra budget, have lunch at the Ocean restaurant. we did the last time around and it was definitely worth it. there was a dress code to follow when dining there.

That's about it. I planned so that we visit the aquarium on the first day because the kids might be tired from travelling and this wasn't such a tiring visit. Waterpark was done on the second day so that the hotel is just walking distance if we have to go back drenched wet. Universal Studios on the 3rd day, and then we booked another hotel on Singapore's mainland to stay the night after a hectic day of USS.

HALAL FOOD: I was a bit upset that the halal sign wasn't as many as i thought- we tried the Malaysian Street next to USS to see if we can get snacks for the kids- all the stalls sells pork or uses lard except for two stalls- briyani and nasi lemak. Before I knew, I ordered a claypot chicken rice from 1 stall, asked them to minus out the lard. he laughed at me and said okay. when food arrived, there were shredded pieces of bacon on the rice. geez. dahla currency was x3. grr. so yeah, if you're looking for halal food in the Malaysian Street, just look out for the two stalls mentioned above.

We later found this restaurant called Streats and ate there every meal time because they have yummyy halal chinese style dishes. Our favorite was their salted egg chicken with rice. hehe.

 That's day 1 for us in Singapore with the kids! stay tuned for day 2:)

Kids First Dental Visits

The other day, my kids had their first dentist visits.

YES! i know i know, first visit at age 6 and 4. Bad parenting yada yada. Truth is, we’ve been giving in to the kids’, or rather Tiana’s fear of going to the dentist. Sometimes I wonder, how do you know it’s scary if you’ve never been? It must be the big dentist chair and the equipments laid out next to it. Overwhelming for kids I guess.

For the longest time we’ve been looking for recommendations of a kids friendly dental clinic around KL, ampang and setapak. I’ve heard of colourful, kids friendly ones in Damansara and PJ but thought it’s too far out.

One evening as I was picking up Tia from her art class i passed by a dental clinic. big, spacious, lots of light and a christmas tree in the middle, cuz it’s that time of year. I walked in and asked how much to just check the kids’ teeth- rm20 and decided today would be the day that we do this! no negotiations. hehe

Random decisions are always good. No one saw it coming:P Tia was hesitant at first, didn’t want to get on the chair. and then Riz offered, “I am 4 years old and I’m brave. I’ll go first!” 

Bigggg sigh of relief for me.

I didn’t take any photos of him because the dentist looked at his teeth within a few seconds and said “so good! no cavities at all”. and then it’s Tia’s turn.

Dr Tan is very good with kids, despite having a plain office, nothing colourful. She explained what she’s going to do to Tia and talked about all her scary looking tools especially the drill looking one. She answered Tia’s questions very patiently too.

She found 2 cavities. sigh. and she asked Tia’s permission to take out the “worms” that are living in the holes in her teeth. Below was how i look like watching the dentist fix her teeth. lol

Tia went through the whole process of filling two teeth like a champ. Throughout the session, she will keep on asking if Tia is okay and that she’ll be done very sooon. After the whole session was complete, she commented “I love Dr Tan! can we come again?” 

There goes my attempt to cut down her sugar cravings by saying “dont eat too much sweet stuff again yea, otherwise you have to stay longer on the dentist chair!”*shrugs*

By the way, Tia has not lost any of her milk teeth yet. haha.

So if you’re looking for a kids friendly dentist in Setapak, try this dental clinic. nothing fancy but look for Dr Tan. she works there on Monday, Wednesday and the weekends. 

Oh as for pricings, it was rm20 for kids teeth check up, rm60 for each child tooth filling. (adults teeth filling starts from rm100)

And details of the dentist office we went to:
Precious One Dental Centre
PV 128
Jalan Taman Ibu Kota,
Danau Kota,
Setapak, Kuala Lumpur

Contact no: 03-41816183

Halloween Party 2017 -by Tiana Jezmine (1st blogpost ever!)

Lazy Sunday it was, and I was transferring photos from the camera to my external hard drive with Tia sitting next to me playing with one of her barbies. She asked me if she could whatsapp her grandma and I thought, man...somehow teaching my lil girl to communicate that way doesn't seem so right. I asked her why don't you call Opah straight away? and she replied "I like writing it down better".

So a random idea came to mind and I suggested, why not, since we have a blog and it's been deserted for so long- I'll upload a photo of you and why don't you type out what you think about the photo, what would you like to tell people about this photo of you?

(At least I feel a bit better about her communication skills- talk to people, don't just message. jangan ikut mommy hehe). 

Also, since she wants to write, just let her do it. Just like you and I, the more you write, the better your skills are. I mean, just look at my skills now-4 paragraphs of bad writing. lol. so over to you, my guest author: Miss Tiana Jezmine! This is a milestone okay, first blogpost hahaha (I promise to update about the actual event soon. I'm trying to keep her writing as unabridged as possible. warning- spelling mistakes up ahead!) Towards the end she got a bit bengong and ran off saying "I need a rest now. I will come back and do our singapore trip post!" 

Halloween Party 2017 

Guest Author- Tiana Jezmine

We celebrated halloween last week. I was poison ivy. i was so happy there. i remember there was a play ground.i saw the balloon PoP and candy fall down i grabbed so many ball candy wrapped up in Gold it was enough for my family.

CAT WALK

the cat walk was so awesome i love it i am tiana i am shy some time well not for halloween only when i was small of course but the cat walk was still awesome because i get to see people and pose.

MY COSTUME

the eye pice my mom did i use eye shadow and eye liner for the make up next the wig i borrod the wig from kakkak elysha next the costume the costume is made by my mom it was good i am a kid but i still love it next the tights i put a little bit of leafs thats all il do some later.

-Tiana
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Block, rojak, rusty.

I was reading this article about that girl Cassandra Hsiao who scored into 8 Ivy league schools, which was linked to her youtube channel. Very impressivelah this girl. She interviewed quite a bunch of artistes including Chris Evans, Aulii Cravalho, Lin-Manuel Miranda. 

This post isn't particularly about her, but about this particular interview with Lin-Manuel at a Moana press conference and his quote that caught my attention:

"When you start writing, you're turning on a faucet, when you turn on the faucet the water is brown, and its full of things in there that are clogged up and are not able to come out, and then you just keep on writing and writing till the water's clear and that's when you found your own voice, so keep writing." ~Lin-Manuel Miranda

Well, I am no writer. but I like to write. Even though it's just rojak language-d blogging. I'm currently having a writer's block too, and can't seem to write very well due to inconsistent blogging and reading. If I do blog, do bear with my lousy writing.When I read novels, I tend to write better. But I've got no time to read, heck I bought the latest Harry Potter (The Cursed Child) book and stopped reading at page 15, and that also while on the loo. haha. Missing the days I could lie on the bed the whole day and just read book after book sampai pening. But life goes on, and the kids, house and tutu business are taking all of me.

I have got lots to update, I guess I need to look into my time management a bit more thoroughly I guess. When I was working I could write a post a day because I'm in front of the computer the whole day and have the luxury of 1 hour lunch. Yeah, I do mean luxury. Nowadays if I have a luxury 1 hour lunch, one of the kids will push the other of the bed or something along the lines.

It's 2am and that's all I have on my tired mind at the moment. Til then, lots of love from me:)

Sunway Lagoon- Nickelodeon Lost Lagoon 1st Birthday Bash

The nickelodeon lost lagoon waterpark has turned 1year old and it is going to be a weeklong party with cupcakes, food, and drinks through out this march school holidays.

Our family was invited to the launch if this awesome birthday party to catch a glimpse of what's to come from the 18-26th march and it was a celebration indeed. Tia and Riz were particularly excited to meet spongebob and his friends, dora the explorer and the teenage mutant ninja turtles! So off we set out early morning to attend the launch.

Coincidentally, we brought the kids to Sunway Lagoon last month and that was our first time exploring the Lost Lagoon. unfortunately for kids under 1m tall there were only two attractions that they get to enjoy- the Splish Splash and the Spongebob Splash Adventure. However, they enjoyed it all the same, and that is pretty much the max a toddler or young kid can take anyway before a meltdown comes in the way! 

Splish Splash

This little area felt like a huge shower area with all the water sprays and jets! there were water guns, little fountains, basically everything which sprays water. the kids love it here, particularly riz who likes pointing the water gun to everyone he sees even though the gun is so much bigger than he is!

 

Spongebob Splash Adventure

This one has a huge bucket right at the top which will pour out i don't know how many gallons of water every few minutes! the splash is crazy. some sit and wait for it..i would hide.hehe. there are so many water slides which both kids enjoy so much. and we spend most of our time in this small area because it was so much fun there. It's good to let the kids wear goggles while playing here.

 

There's a special school holiday deal offered by Sunway Lagoon and this includes food and drinks as well! buffet huts are set up near the Spongebob Splash Adventure. There will also be cupcakes to enjoy, face painting and temporary tattoos for the kids, game stations and at a certain timing (4pm) everyday the huge bucket at the Spongebob Splash Adventure park will splash SLIME! we did not get to experience this one because the kids were already getting cranky so we had to make our way home around 3-ish pm.

For more information on this big celebration and its package you could check out this link here.