Vacation

So good we had so much fun that Mommy very nearly forgot all about the photos we had taken!  …and that was like three whole weeks ago!

Our main prerogative was of course to see little baby Caitlynn (ain’t she sweet?):

But apart from that, we (both adults and kids alike) certainly had fun!

Here’s the customary shot right before we left Penang.  Everybody’s wide awake and all excited.

We made our first detour in Taiping and had lunch at one of Daddy’s all-time favorite chicken rice stall.

Hannah’s looking rather happy despite the fact that she can’t taste the chicken rice yet.

And Ethan is all smiles, because he too, like Daddy, LOVES chicken rice.

Next stop: Ipoh.  We broke our journey here and had a pit-stop for the night.  Took the opportunity to have the ngah choy kai too.  Somebody looks really hungry…

And here she is again….still yearning for food…

The following day, we headed for KL, and checked into our hotel, much to Ethan’s enjoyment.  Despite the fact that we didn’t get to stay on the 18th floor like he wanted, he adapted really well to the 17th floor too.

And this is one of the reasons why….actually this would be the MAIN reason.

Hannah wanted in on the fun too, but let me tell you, it was rather terrifying, because she tried to stand and play with the bubbles just like her brother!

The kids also got to meet up with their cousins…it’s so heartwarming how the boys can play together now.

It didn’t take long for Ethan to bond with Collin.  In the hospital where we visited Aunty Pei Gee and Caitlynn, both Ethan and Collin were busy *spreading* the cheer around.

And the following day, when we met up with cousin Jonathan, Ethan and Jonathan were like best buds!

Jonathan was wailing and complaining when it was time for him to leave!  And the sweetest thing was that Ethan ran over and gave the crying Jonathan a hug! (awwww…….)

We also had good food during our vacation.  The hotel room comes with buffet breakfast, and the spread is really good.

Poor little Hannah could only look on as we ate.  So I decided to introduce papaya to Hannah.  You be the judge as to whether she likes it.

Holidays always come and go in a blink of an eye, and before we could even say “IKEA”, we had to pack up and leave. (we did go to IKEA though…)

Here’s Hannah posing for the camera in her dress.  Ethan calls it “Hannah’s pretty dress”.

On the way home, my girl discovered that she didn’t have to look straight at the back window all the time.  She found out that, hey, if I lifted my head and turned around, I can see Mommy!  Peekaboo!

We certainly had an awesome vacation, and we can’t wait for the next one!

We made a 4-hour-or-so drive northeast to South Lake Tahoe for a one-night holiday last week.  Pete had taken the week off from work, and the decision to travel there was kinda impulsive.  We knew it would be our last vacation to somewhere in the States before we headed back to Malaysia next month, yet it would be our very first trip together as a family of four.

Thankfully, I managed to secure a hotel room at the last minute at a whopping 40% discount, and even better, it came with a king-sized bed with the famous Tempur-Pedic® mattress, which was absolute heaven for our weary bodies.  Unfortunately the hotel did not provide a crib for Hannah, so we had to bring her infant-toddler rocker for her to sleep on.

So how was our holiday?

Well, to tell you the truth, despite the rather long journey, and having to make a few pit stops for when Hannah needed a feed, or for when Ethan had to go to the potty, or errmm…for when Mommy had to go potty, I think we did pretty well.  Took us slightly longer than usual to get to our destination, but it was definitely very worth it.  Of course, we were entertained along the way by the usual chatters and singing from our very willing Mr Bulat (when he wasn’t asleep).

Let’s just let the pictures tell the story…

Here’s Ethan enjoying the sunset at the recreation park by the lake.  Our little boy kept whining that he wanted to “go home” but he seemed very happy when we stopped by the lakeside after dinner! LOL

A picture I took of Pete and the kids.  It was supposed to be just Pete and Hannah, but Ethan wanted in on the photo too, as you can see!

Before we left for home, we drove to indulge in the scenic view of Lake Tahoe.  Here’s a family picture taken with the picturesque Emerald Bay in the background.  Hannah was asleep…or so we thought!

She promptly awoke, I guess cuz she wanted to take in the spectacular view too!  She was all smiles, so we did what every smart parent would have done!

And then of course here we have Ethan wanting to leave the scenic spot because he insisted he had to go to the Men’s to wash his hands!

Oh yeah…I won’t forget pictures of the breathtaking view.

It’s summer now, so there’s no more snow where we were.  The temperature was also way warmer than I had anticipated.  I had packed a considerable amount of warm clothing, only to have them occupy luggage space instead!

This was the closest Ethan got to seeing snow:

Not bad for a 2-day-1 night vacation eh?