Legoland Malaysia – waterpark

Day 2 in Malaysia saw us having a lazy start to the day, the boys had slept from about 5pm the night before (Master 1 from about 3pm) so were awake at about 8am. We mooched around until about 9.30, when we headed over to Legoland. As the parks only open at 10, we planned to grab a quick breakfast at Medini Mall, right opposite the entrance to the main park before heading in. Dinner the night before had been a few sweet rolls from a bakery near the hotel. The only food place within walking distance, so we decided good ol’ Burger King would fill the gap & guarantee the boys ate well. Their coffee was crap, but the food as you would expect from any Burger King anywhere!

KFC to the left, BK to the right…

Poser of note

This clown!

Master 1 discovered coke zero!! Oops

Before entering the park, I made a stop at the ticket counter to pay for Master 1. 11 ringgit to get in to the water park, but it did include 2 swimming nappies. The change rooms/locker area was large. We got away with using a small locker & just stuck the pram up on top of a row of lockers. I left my phone in there too so not a lot of photos while in the park. The floor was tiled but they did have numerous dryers blowing across them to keep them from getting too wet. But you have to watch your step as it was extremely slippery if you happened to follow someone in who was dripping wet. We hired 2 towels for 30 ringgit each, plus a 30ringgit deposit per towel. Make sure you keep the receipt, otherwise you will be going home with 2 boring white towels!

Once we were all changed, we headed over to the Build a raft river. The older boys left us in their wake as they charged off down the slow flowing river. They didn’t bother trying to build a raft! Master 1 loved the big building blocks and continued to enjoy these the whole day. Both my elder boys can swim, and there were numerous lifeguards on duty at all areas so we gave up trying to keep them with us & settled for keeping them within sight most of the time. There were also life jackets for anyone not comfortable in the water. They knew not to leave under any circumstance, and if they couldn’t find us at any point to just find a dry place outside to sit down & we would find them. Master 5 was in bright green & Master 6 bright orange, so were easy to spot! The park is relatively small too, and was relatively quiet. No queuing for the slides!

Build a raft river and Duplo Splash Safari, Master 1 & Hubby in front of the elephant

Wave pool. About 1.4m deep at the back wall. Very Gentle waves

Wear bright colours!

Loads of seating by the wave pool.

Joker Soaker in the background. Boys spent a little bit of time here

The Duplo Safari again. A couple of slides for those that couldn’t use the big slides. Master 1 with Hubby on the other side of the elephant. 

Joker Soaker,Master 5 in the green near the top of the structure

This was popular!

Master 6 tried every slide, Master 5 only the slower ones! A couple of them required a large tube to go down. Master 6 & I went down a few times on the Brick Blaster but needed a third person to go down the Splash & Swirl with us. We convinced Master 5, as it was a tube you climb into, with a bottom, and relatively gentle. He loved it so decided to try the Brick Blaster with us…this one involved a couple of sections where the tube goes quite high up the side of the ride, he DID.NOT like that one!

We spent about 4 hours there as we had to head back to Singapore for our flight the next morning. We wanted to get back into Singapore in order to get  decent nights sleep as we had to be up at 6am the net day. We easily could’ve spent another few hours there, but the boys were happy to leave as they had been on everything numerous times.

We didn’t stay at the hotel, but it was in between  the 2 parks so we got a few piccies on the way passed

We loved these signs!

So well done

These Lego figures were all through both parks

Lego is not cheap in Malaysia, apparently as there is one supplier who has monopoly over all Lego prices! We allowed the boys these, they could make their own minifigures…33ringgit for a set of 3, or 55ringgit for 2 sets of 3.

We left LLM at 3pm & headed for the Tuas checkpoint. I had read something about having to pick up entrance cards before hitting the toll counters by pulling over somewhere but I only remembered once we were AT the counter & handed entry cards to fill out! The same cards we had to fill out on the plane before landing in Singapore. If I had thought about it, I should’ve tried to get more cards while on the plane! It would’ve been quicker! But it wasn’t a problem, it just took about 10min to fill all of them out before we could get through. Then it was a quick peak in the boot before we were on our way. Despite what the traffic looks like in the photo below, it took us about 3min to get from here to a counter, 10 min at the counter itself, 2 min to get boot checked & then we were off.

heading back into Singapore

We stayed at Hotel 81, a chain of hotels that we have used before. Very simple but relatively well priced. Of course, the street was crazy busy due to the time of day we arrived, and the fact we were in quite a popular area! We dropped off our bags & headed back out to find dinner. The boys settled for McDs, while Hubby went out later looking for something more curry-like for us!

And before I knew it, it was time to get up & head back to the airport! We loved visiting Legoland & I cannot recommend it enough…but wait until the kids are tall enough!

 

 

 

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Legoland Malaysia!!

We recently took a trip to South Africa to visit family and friends and decided it would be great if we could stop over in Singapore, head across the border into Malaysia and take the boys to Legoland. As we only had a 2 day stopover, I knew it would be tight but I was determined to make it work. I took to the “blogisphere”* and read all the reviews from families with young kids that I could find. All very helpful, knowing kind of what to expect & to look out for. Although, admittedly, I did forget a lot of the tips until I experienced the situations for myself, and then I was “ohhh, yeah now I remember someone said this or that about this”.

So, without further ado, here is our experience of Legoland Malaysia aka LLM(& maybe a tip or two if you are planning a visit).

As we were going to RSA for my father’s birthday, the timing of our LLM trip was not something we could control,if you like. Thinks like day of the week/weather/tourist seasons etc etc didn’t even come into play. We were flying back to NZ on a specific date so that was when we were going to LLM. When I later went to look into weather & what not, I realised that we would be visiting during Singapore’s school holidays, albeit the last few days (not the Malaysian ones though, so that was a relief) and everything I read about the best time to go said to avoid school holidays and high season! Which I assume to be Nov/Dec/Jan but don’t quote me on that.

Anyway, we arrived in Singapore from Cape Town at 06.10am on a wed, after an almost 14 hour flight, Master 6 slept about an hour on the shoulder of the stranger next to him, while Master 1 dozed here & there and Master 5 slept exactly 0 seconds the whole way! Needless to say we were all a little tired when we landed! After working out that we had landed at terminal 3 and had to make our way to terminal 2 to fetch our hire car, we strolled between the 2 easily. Only about 10min or so, we didn’t bother with the skytrain.

After picking up the car, working out that the GPS they gave us was faulty, replacing said GPS we were on our way. I chose the self drive option as it just made sense when lugging around 3 kids, 2 backpacks,1 large tog bag and 3 carry on packs! Oh, and a stroller. It meant that we could come and go as we pleased, not having to wait around for buses/taxis. I had planned on driving but Hubby basically said “good luck”, so I made him drive! It was pretty busy in Singapore itself, but the drivers were strict rule followers, and once we got onto the highway, it was easy going. I had expected the border check point to be busy, as I had seen & read some horrifying accounts of how busy it was. We went the Tuas check point way as it is supposedly less conjested than the main Woodlands one. It took us all of 10min to clear both sides! We had a singapore cash card already loaded with cash, from the car hire place, to pay the toll & then just purchased a Malaysian touch & go one on the Malaysian side. Both can be topped up easily. Everything is very well sign posted so it was very simple! They do make you open the back window to check passengers, but you don’t have to leave your car until the return journey, where the driver has to open the boot for a quick inspection when entering Singapore. Presumably to check you aren’t bring ciggies & alcohol over the border.  Also, on entering Malaysia your car needs to have the tank 3/4s full to avoid a $500 fine. LLM exit is well sign posted so no hassles there either. All in all, it took just over an hour from Singapore airport to the car park at LLM.

1 down…

2 down…

3 down…bliss

As we refused to pay the almost NZ$400 per night to stay at the Legoland Hotel, I had booked us into a 3 bedroom apartment for a mere NZ$89! Albeit a 10min drive from the park, KSL resort. Comfy beds & lots of space for the 5 of us, although no wifi or eating places within walking distance. And we were on the 20th floor, with windows that swung right open! Luckily, the kids were too tired to do anything but sleep from the time we arrived until the morning!

eeeeeek

Great views though

Lounge…no wifi 😦

Anyway, back to LLM, we arrived just as the park opened at 10am. I had purchased our tickets the week before, online. They seem to always have some special going on so I got ours for buy one get one 50% off. And Master 1 was free into the main park and 11ringgit to get into the waterpark (which included 2 swim nappies, which are compulsory) Because of the special, I bought separate 1 day tickets into the main park & waterpark. I thought it would be better to go into the main park on our first day, due to being so tired, keeping us more alert on the second day when water would be involved! When using these tickets, it has to be booked for a certain date, with no refunds if the parks close due to bad weather. I believe they close the water park completely if there’s thunder, but again, don’t quote me. It did indeed rain around lunch time on our first day but the rides carried on & it was a welcome relief from the relentless humidity! The combo tickets didn’t fall within the promotion so they worked out a bit more expensive but I would go for those if we ever found our way back to Malaysia again. They allow multiple entry into both parks & to move freely between the two. Our single day ones only allowed one entry into whichever side we had booked for the day.

We shuffled our baggage around so that I had all the valuables in one of our carry on packs, which came into the park with us, and left the rest in the boot of the car. If anything was stolen from the car, it wouldn’t be a disaster as everything important was in a secured locker within the park.(40 ringgit for the day) We took in our own stroller but I believe you can hire one inside the park. It came in handy for a tired Master 1 as there wasn’t much for him to do that first day. Parking was 10ringgit and a 2 min walk to the entrance

No queues when we were there, but I bet it gets busy during peak season! 

While it was raining, Master 1 got to play here…not much else for him to do during the day as he didn’t meet age/height restrictions

Hubby & I took turns riding with the older two boys, Master 6 was far more adventurous than Master 5 so he got to ride twice on most of the faster rides.I think the longest we waited to ride anything was 5 min. Most of them we walked right onto! I read a lot of reviews, with most people saying that the roller coasters were pretty tame & more geared towards the kids. Well, duh, it IS Legoland! But we found the faster rides quite hair-raising! Hubby refused to go on The Dragon as well as the Adventure Island water ride…admittedly he made his decision after seeing Master 5 & I completely soaked at the end! I’m glad we kept that til near the end as it’s no fun walking around with soggy underwear, despite using one of the body dryers!

The Dino Island water ride

The roller coasters were just enough to make us scream, but not to lose our lunch.

A view of the biggest of the rollercoasters, with the waterpark and hotel in the distance. Taken from the Observation Tower

The Aquazone WaveRacers were a hit with the boys, great to cool down too as you get a bit of water sprayed on you. Most rides had a height &/or age restrictions. Both my older boys could ride everything, although a couple had to be with an adult, and a couple we said that Master 5 was actually 6 as he will be 6 in 4 months and is practically the same height as his brother. I have lost count of the number of times I was asked if they were twins! He didn’t go on the big roller coaster so I didn’t feel the need to not allow him on the “lesser” rides because of 4 months.

Master 5 taking things very seriously

The regal Master 6

Hubby indulged in a curry while in the park, which was apparently delicious, but the kids & I stuck to drinks and then icecream as it was just too hot! We didn’t get to any of the 4D shows as it wasn’t really something the kids were interested in.

A very peeved Master 1

Master 5 enjoyed Merlin’s Challenge with Hubby, very tame fastish train like ride. And the older two had a go on the Dublo train but apparently it was boring (although I secretly think Master 5 enjoyed it immensely!) We skipped the Lost Kingdom as the ride didn’t appeal to any of us! We ended with the Rescue Academy & Driving School, with Master 1 napping, and Hubby helping the boys “put out a fire”. This one made Hubby work hard, moving a fire track & then pumping water for the kids to squirt the fire! My camera had dies by this point so no pictures, which I am gutted about as it was great fun! The Driving School was hilarious. Master 6 was so serious & followed all the road rules, Master 5…not so much! I am pretty sure you would fail your license for ramming cars purposefully! You could purchase a drivers license afterwards but we didn’t bother.

About half way through the day, we stopped in to see the Star Wars miniland… O.M.G…blown away! It was incredible. Room after room of large displays of Star Wars lego, with moving bits and all! This was by far Hubby’s favourite park of the day (it was airconned too, which helped!) Master 6 refused to have his picture taken, I’ve forgotten why!

The pictures don’t do it justice really, this is just a sample of what was on display!

As it was still raining after the driving school, and the older two were starting to unravel, we skipped miniland. Which was just as well as Master 6 had a complete meltdown on the walk to the car, I forget why exactly!

Of course, our GPS was not equipped with Malaysian addresses so we got lost, returned to the Legoland Hotel and got a taxi to lead us to the resort we were staying at…well worth the 32ringgit! Note to self, make sure directions are printed off & don’t rely on just reading the email on your phone when it’s time to drive, especially if your battery dies….

I will blog about the Waterpark tomorrow…

*that’s a word now,right??

 

When dad takes charge of the haircuts

JPEG of the week…so far

3 hours into a LEGO marathon, this mum is just as obsessed as the kids!

Sugarfree peanut butter cookies

What to do when the kids want to bake but they really, REALLY don’t need anymore sugary treats? Google sugar-free cookies of course. But most required ingredients I’d either never heard of, or packed full of artifical sweetners,ew gross!

So after trawling a number of recipes, with the boys breathing down my neck, I decided to just throw stuff in a bowl and hope for the best.

With my two little helpers we cranked out a batch and they semi-passed the taste test. Master 4 and I liked them but fussy Master 5 did not.

We used:
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup dissicated coconut
1 egg
Mix together. Form into balls, gently press down with fork
Oven 180deg C for about 10min

Mummy brain…

Now, for my South African & American readers I should call this post “mommy brain” instead ,although I do sometimes feel my brain is indeed mummified! As in pulled out through my nose with a hook thingy & discarded! I’m betting you all know what I’m talking about, even if you yourself have yet to experience this affliction I’m sure you’ve witnessed it in a friend or your own mother. Yes,my friends, your own mother because it it something you never fully recover from!

It starts the minute you realise you’re pregnant, or probably beforehand but it’s put down as mere tiredness etc until that life altering moment! It starts with little things like forgetting where you put your keys or forgetting a coffee date to walking, with purpose, into a room only to have no clue as to why (and even how sometimes) you are there! And let’s not forget the time you make yourself a coffee, sit down to browse the internet only to realise when you take your first sip that you didn’t even boil the kettle first. True story!

After baby arrives, this brain affliction is amped up to the next stage…”baby haze”- if it has nothing to do with the baby’s immediate needs or if it’s not a matter of life or death, it gets completely pushed to the deep recesses of the brain, more often than not to be lost forever. Just try and remember anyone’s name now! Even your own! But if someone asks about the baby, well you could recite his whole day in minute detail. Although that could be because the minutes kind of meld into one another  and your brain just has a default day it allows you to recite. Now that I think about it, that’s probably what it is!

As you come through that first 6 weeks of haze, you may naively think that you will regain your former self. I pause here to allow myself, and you, a minute to laugh hysterically! Know now that there is now going back, you will forever have “mummy/mommy brain”! Your kids will never be called by their given name the first time round, you will call them their sibling’s name EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. And if there are pets in the house, you will consider it a triumph if you manage not to call the kids by the pets names! There are days when you will even have to ask THEM what their name is. Nothing takes the sting out of a telling off than rambling off a list of names & STILL not getting the right one, followed by a defeated “what’s your name again?” Then the kids are laughing at you, you leave them strangling the dog and slump off to make a coffee, hoping that by the time you get back they would’ve tired of that and moved on to the next activity. Allowing yourself a minute to compose yourself and prepare your arsenal of names for round 2!

Trying to get a full sentence out of your mouth first time also becomes a struggle. Names of everyday items suddenly vanish from your vocab just at the point you need them. Your tongue trips up and you sound like you’ve been hitting the liquor cabinet, all the while being fully aware of what’s happening and not being able to do ANYTHING about the train-wreck that is about to spew forth from your mouth! I can’t count the number of times I’ve been trying to tell Hubby something and he’s had to stop my with a “what the hell are you trying to say?” or “will you spit it out already!” with me exploding “if I could get it out properly don’t you think I would?! I can’t do it, I just can’t do it!! Stop being so mean!” At which point he either bursts out laughing or rolls his eyes, shaking his head with pity. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m pretty sure I had a list of other things I wanted to put down here but as I didn’t write it down, I can’t remember *sigh*

Now, I realise I have made light of this but people, this is a thing. AN ACTUAL THING! So next time you find yourself facing a rather flustered, tongue tied mum/mom, smile in understanding and fetch the poor woman a drink!

A Slice of Life

Returning…of sorts

Eeek, so it’s been awhile since my last post! Amazing how time seems to gallop away from you when you’re having fun.

Since my last post I’ve grown baby number 3, sent Master 5 off to school, had said baby, navigated through homework and over-tired kids,& tried to stay relatively sane ever since(with a lot of help from my mom!)

I reckon now is as good a time as any to get back into blogging, especially with the addition of another baby boy!  I have tried to load a few photos but it doesn’t want to work, so before I throw this phone against the wall, I’ll sign off and try again from the home computer another time…

Ooo, look, I worked it out…

Gingerbread Men

The boys have been asking to make “shape” cookies for days, so today seemed like the perfect day to break out the cookie cutters & get down to business. They both agreed that gingerbread men would be ideal.

I chose a recipe here, then realised that I would need butter, of which there was none in the fridge! So I took a chance that peanut butter & a little oil would be a good substitute. And no brown sugar, so white it had to be. What’s a good recipe without a few substitutes, right?

Smile for me boys!

150g of butter was called for so I started with half peanut butter & half oil. It ended up being far less a dough & more a crumbly mess so I added a little more oil until I got the desired consistency(about another 1/4 cup). But we got there eventually. Rolling & cutting was altogether a different story. Needless to say there are no pictures of this process as my hands were deep in oily dough!

I did, however, snap this mid bake

The best part of baking….

The worst part of baking…waiting & watching the clock

The end result…nothing special, but at least they kept their shape & tasted like a cookie, albeit not a gingerbread one!

The House…Part 3 (rebuild)

Despite our good intentions of regibbing ourselves, we eventually decided to get someone in to do it for us. Totally worth the cost let me tell you! I did, however, staple waterproofing paper to ALL of the walls, interior ones too. And the dramas with the staple gunS! Yes, 3 staple guns were involved! The first one was Hubby’s, one he’d had for years. Which I managed to break in less than an hour!Needless to say it wasn’t a good start. I then bought a replacement one, it wasn’t the cheapest on offer but definitely wasn’t worth much more. Hmmm should’ve asked the Bunnings guy about staples because who knows stuff like each gun has a specific type of staple?? So I just bought the size that was on the packaging on the gun. Turns out you have to get a specific brand too! Geez, I was spitting mad when that one wouldn’t work! One last trip into town before I totally threw in the towel on the whole damn thing! Luckily there was a very helpful man on hand who pointed me in the right direction for both gun AND staples!

I even put in the insulation myself! Measuring, cutting, placing! Lets just say it was itchy work, even with gloves on!

 

A 2 man team took just a couple of days to get all of the gib up…it would’ve taken us weeks I’m sure!

Kitchen. Yes, that is a blurry child running across the bottom of the photo!

Lounge

Hallway

3rd bedroom

What a difference it made, it was starting to feel like real house again.

Next up were the gib stoppers (Strait-line Plastering, I highly recommend them,found on Builderscrack.co.nz). It took about 5 days for them to get the plastering done & dried enough for me to paint. And to get the gib cove up. The guy who did the gibbing measured up the amount of cove we would need so I just ordered it all through our builder. When it came to all the walls being up, the gibber asked what size cove I got…uuuuuummmmmmmm, there are different sizes?? Of course, the cove I got was too small! Due to the house being older, the walls are slightly taller than an average new-build these days. Only by a few cm’s but enough to make the standard size cove look ridiculous & not adequate to cover the gabs between wall & ceiling). So back to the builder who was, thankfully, able to return & reorder the cove in time for it to go up!

Lounge. You can see the larger cove at the top of the walls

Boys room. Plastered & cove up

Oh, let’s not forget the electrician who came in between & putting in of insulation & the walls going back in. And what a mess electricians make! A friend of a friend who was amazing, making sure he stayed within our minimal budget (who knew electricians were so pricey??). He wasn’t the messy one, but his young apprentice was a tad on the lazy side. Dropping wires etc & leaving them all over the place. Despite there being a bin/cardboard box to dispose of such crap! Hubby was quick to drop a very obvious hint about it which made a difference for about an hour! The brush & pan were never far from my hands! We still have outside lights that need to be connected, & proper fittings for all the overhead lights inside (currently just bare bulbs) but we aren’t in any rush just yet. Maybe in the new year when things have settled down after baby boy’s arrival….

Yay, painting time!!My father-in-law and one of my brothers-in-law came to help me paint while Hubby was at work. It was exciting to see the colour go up on the walls, but oh how tedious!!! I did the ceilings, I even researched the best methods! I certainly don’t envy painters their job!

We were under pressure to move out of our rental place by this stage so we were trying to get everything done so that Hubby could get the plumbing done, and the builder could come in and do the skirtings & window/door surrounds. Which then also needed painting! (Farm we were on was being leased out & included the cottage we were renting. It had been okayed that we could stay on until we were ready to move into the new COMPLETED house. But of course, the farm worker they had suddenly walked out on the job so they had to organise someone else pronto. The people they hired needed accommodation, so guess who had to move out pronto?)

Kitchen.The only photo I could find of just the painting…see, no window surrounds yet

And then Hubby made an executive decision, while talking to the landlord of our rental on the wed (11/6) that we would move out on the sat(14/6)!!! Then came home to tell his stressed out, over-it-all, pregnant wife! Let’s just say there was swearing and tantruming, and possibly some tears involved. While he could get up on Thurs morning & head off to work for 10 hours, I had to look after a 3 and 4 year old, paint, clean, pack up the rest(most) of the rental & organise to change the date for the carpet layer to come…on top of the usual day-to-day running of a family!

Geez I was spitting mad! Luckily the kindy the boys attend could take them on the Friday so I could at least attempt to get things done. Unfortunately there are only so many hours in a day and, despite there being 3 of us painting, it didn’t quite get done. The cove & skirtings could really do with another coat of paint and some of the window surrounds need a tidy up after all the gap filling I have done since. And most of the doors need doing too, but they can wait just a little while longer, until the sun becomes more reliable & Hubby can unhinge the doors for me to paint outside.

Hubby was able to organise 4 of his mates to come on the Sat morning to help move our stuff (we have only moved 2.5kms down the road). Alot of the stuff had been packed but there was still loads to do, which I thought I would easily be able to do on the Sat morning while the guys were loading/unloading. Rookie mistake! The guys arrived on time, which in itself must be a first for these very helpful men. I was still in my PJ’s, rushing around getting things organised into piles of what was to go on the trailer & what wasn’t, namely the clothes that I was going to change into once they left. Luckily I checked before they left because in all the chaos my clothes had somehow made it thrown in somewhere! Rescued in the nick of time. When they left I was still dizzy from the whirlwind they created in their wake! (Thanks to those strapping young men;-) )

I was able to get everything hoovered/cleaned while they were unloading at the new house and by 11 we were officially out of the rental. Keep in mind we still didn’t have lighting, although the electrician was able to do a quick job to get us electricity before we moved in, or carpets or a kitchen! So we put a sheet on the floor of our bedroom & put mattresses down for all of us to sleep on, camping style until the Tues when the carpets went in. We put the lounge furniture in so we could at least relax warmly for the weekend, before having to move it all into the kitchen area the night before the carpets went down.

First night in the new house. No lights, carpets or kitchen!

Lounge. Before carpets, busy hanging curtains in front of the fire

I love my curtains!Hubby was studying for an exam the next day!

Carpets, oh what a difference they make!

I, too, felt like running down the hallway on the new carpet!

And then the wait for the kitchen…because the benchtop had to be made & ordered we had to wait almost 2 weeks before we finally got our kitchen. A guy Hubby has worked with numerous times on job sites, we highly recommend him. A perfectionist! In the mean time I became the master of the gas BBQ for dinner!

Midway…

Almost done…

Completed but still a tad on the messy side…

I quickly snapped a photo just now…

Still a tad messy! Boxes of baby stuff that are awaiting a space in storage until needed! Floors will eventually be redone too

We are still not finished…will we ever be?? But those things will happen as we go along. All 3 bedrooms are complete (well, except for touch ups to skirtings etc) and that is the most important thing 🙂

If you made it to the end of this post, well done you! It didn’t start out as a long post but I got carried away. Thanks for sticking with it! I may do a photo-only post of before & after shots next…if I can be bothered