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Legoland Malaysia – waterpark

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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!

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KFC to the left, BK to the right…

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Poser of note

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This clown!

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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!

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

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

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Wear bright colours!

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Loads of seating by the wave pool.

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

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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. 

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

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This was popular!

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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.

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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

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We loved these signs!

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So well done

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These Lego figures were all through both parks

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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.

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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!

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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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Body lotion paint

Now, first off, let me clear something up…I DO NOT like setting up painting activities for the boys. Why? Because of the mess! Oh, I have no problem if THEY get messy, it’s everything else in their vanicity I’m not so keen on. Things like chairs, table, walls, food…you get my drift. So I invested in a pack of paint pens last Christmas. You know the ones, paint only comes out of the relatively small round tip and, even if squeezed, is almost impossible to get anywhere but on the paper it’s meant for. Master 3 LOVES, LOVES these and paints me all manner of rainbows every.single.day. I don’t even have to worry about covering the table (or him for that matter) as it’s totally mess free. Master 4 isn’t at all interested usually, so it’s a great way to give both of them their own time too.

A few days ago, I stumbled upon this blog post and thought I’d give it a go…outside of course! Paint made from body lotion & food colouring. I also used her idea of giving them foil, wax paper & cardboard to paint on to add a little something different.

From experience, I know that food colouring can be the enemy…add 1 drop too much and it goes from mess-free to a stain that will NEVER,EVER come out. So I cautiously added drops to the vitamin E lotion I bought and never used. I thought I was so darn clever…turns out I was mildly wrong. Although, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been…

I did, thankfully, tape the materials down to the table as the wind was not co-operating (whose bright idea was it to try painting IN THE WIND??) and the boys went nuts.

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I gave them their own muffin tin of paint (to avoid World War 3), with a pastry brush ‘coz someone didn’t think to check we had any paint brushes before she went ahead with the activity! Now, I’ll be honest, it took me longer to tape down the paper in the wind than it took them to finish, but they seemed to enjoy it..

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Their shirts came off shortly after this & they continued body painting. It all came off but did leave a stain on them

This short activity was followed by a rather more satisfying time in the bath. And they smelled wonderful for the rest of the afternoon!

Note to self: Don’t use packing tape on a varnished table. Hubby went to dispose of the paper 2 days after this and managed to take off some varnish…oops 🙂 

Winter fun in the sun

So today was the day I decided to start trying out a couple of the activities that I had pinned to keep the boys occupied this winter. Granted, it turned out to be a bit of a cheat as the sun was out & we could be outside (less chance of a colossal mess) which suited me just fine.

I was trawling through the hundreds of ideas/suggestions & Master 3 came to have a look & immediately spotted a pin with earthworms on in! Typical boy! Of course we “needed” (his word) to have worms! As I was NOT going to go digging in the garden to find said worms, I decided to use spaghetti instead. 

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Happy to help. Excuse the rather large plaster, he bumped his head yesterday & “needed” a plaster. Worst purchase ever! I blame you, mom!

The boys were intrigued when I tipped the spaghetti into the sandpit but were a little confused as to why they weren’t moving!

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not quite the real thing

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oooo snails mum (he called them snails ALL morning)

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saving them worms from the sand & into the bucket

When I then tried to bury the worms in sand I was unceremoniously told to go away!Seeing as I was planning on doing housework that suited me just fine (no actual housework got done though, I have to admit. It was too nice a day to waste inside, any excuse really!) 

I came back out to them cleaning the worms. I asked them if they were cooking them but was adamantly told no, it was cleaning them in water.

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cleaning worms

When they lost interest in that I made some paint & set them up to paint spaghetti

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corn flour, water & food colouring = awesome paint that doesn’t stain & is easy to clean

We added a few other toys

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Dinosaurs, making footprints on the cardboard

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cars, to make tyre prints

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car painting

All in all a successful activity for the boys. The spaghetti did dry in the sun while they napped but I just put it back into the fry pan & into the sandpit. Nothing the rain won’t fix…or the rats/mice may have a feast tonight (ahh the joys of country living!) The paint I put as is into a zip lock bag to use again this weekend. Cheap, easy & safe enough to eat 😉 

Easter Weekend

We had quite a busy long weekend, unusually so as I managed to take off work the Sat & Sun. I know,right, having to work Easter Sunday!?! So we made the most of it!

We headed to Whakatane (Fuk-a-tah-nay, not wok-a-tane- for you non Kiwis) to catch up with some friends. The boys were in heaven…other people’s houses are always more fun than your own!

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rest stop in Te Puke

The boys were awesome on the almost 3 hour trip. I had every number of treat packed to keep them occupied if need be but they were quite happy to watch everything out the windows & occasionally engage in some singing!

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guess who learnt how to ride without training wheels!? He jumped on, told Hubby to push him & he was away! Hubby was so impressed he hasn’t stopped telling everyone he comes into contact with.

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I’m so clever

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and then there was the bike. Now calm yourself down,Master 3 wasn’t wearing a helmet as we were at the park & he was being taken slowly across from 1 side to the other by Mister 7, who was in full regalia from having ridden all the way from home. ‘Coz I know there are some people who don’t let their kids out of their site without a crash helmet on, we just do things differently(but safely!)

An afternoon at Ohope Beach….

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just chillin’

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water was a little fresh

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refused to lie down

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freedom

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not happy with the cold water

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I love it

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hard at work

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dig dig dig

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eating sand is good too

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my first soft serve…OMG mum this is amazing!!

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Kawerau hot pools….free & the pools are all heated & clean!

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After our swim, before heading the 3 hours home again…which involved little to no sleep

Easter morning…

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chocolate = must eat

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get in my belly

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hmmm give me lollies over chocolate any day

Gardening a.k.a looking for the Easter Bunny

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digging

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no Easter Bunny but I found a worm

Easter Monday – Raglan

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drawing in the sand with toitoi grass

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getting them both to look at the camera at the same time = impossible!

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sand, yum

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where can I dig a hole?

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a big weekend for us…

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sleeping in the car is awesome!

All in all a great weekend spent together…if only all weekends were 4 days long!! Today we are recovering, with the boys tired & miserable and very clingy. And 4 cups of coffee later I have resorted to a DVD & popcorn to curb the whinging for a little while. Now for the rest of the afternoon….

Road Trip part 2….

Of course it rained,in summer, while we were on holiday heading to the Bay of Islands! At least we were on a “travel day”. Hubby was keen to go on the 10 min car ferry between Opua & Russell as a way to see Russell (the place not a person, in case you’re confused haha) As it was raining we didn’t bother actually getting out of the car but it was a good way to pass an hour or so…

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On the ferry

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Fascinating

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View from the back of the car

We stayed in Kerikeri for 2 nights. A 4* motel with a warm pool…awesome! We booked a cruise to see the Hole In The Rock & hopefully a few dolphins. And we were spoilt! 10% off the price, TWO pods of dolphins, 1 BREACHING whale & actually sailing through the Hole in the Rock! Of course, being on a boat full of tourists had it’s drawbacks…read people with cameras ( I don’t know what happens but all of a sudden it’s pushing & shoving so they can get what they want with no regard for anyone else. An elderly man tried his best to literally push my mother out of the way, luckily she is well traveled & knew what to expect before he could finish his “maneuver, needless to say he was unsuccessful. One woman sitting near to us got smacked pretty hard on the shoulder by one man ‘coz she was “in his way & he couldn’t get a photo”!! A total disgrace to the human race really.) Other than that, it was a pleasant trip, the boys were well behaved & Master 2 even fall asleep on the way back.

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When we picked up speed…

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Windy…

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people with cameras!

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Dolphins!

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The breaching whale…Hubby was the photographer with the good reflexes to catch this…

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another Hubby special

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this is what the majority of mine looked like!

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Hole in the Rock

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going through the rock

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it was fun in the rock tunnel

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crashed out

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burning off some more energy after a swim

More soon……….

December in Photos

As I have been without a computer for what seems like a lifetime, there are loads of photos ready for a story. But I don’t have the amount of time I would prefer to tell them all so I have made an executive decision just to photo dump this post & maybe add a little explanation if needed. So here goes….

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Painting/decorating Santa pictures…

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…and hands of course!

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Using glue was Master 3’s favourite part

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Tipping out toys was Master 2’s favourite

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Kindy Christmas party

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Kindy Christmas Party

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Cuteness!

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More art days in the sun…with more painting of handsImage

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Musician in the making

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Bob The Builder

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Copying daddy??

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Christmas Eve cousin fun

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Christmas Eve fun

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Little on the cold side

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Christmas morning

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more cars!

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Santa got us bikes!

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Park

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weeeeeee

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Santa spoilt us…

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The face says it all

I’ll do a post dedicated to the road trip we’ve just done with my parentals up North next time…it deserves a whole post to itself.

Playland fun

Yesterday was our playgroups Christmas Party. We ended up at Chipmunks Playland & the kids had so much fun!

Master 2 loved launching himself into the ball pool

pure joy & excitement

The body language says it all…his 1st time on this slide & he flew so fast my camera didn’t like it. Every other time he came backwards on his tummy

Master 3 loving the speed

What’s a party without a cupcake?

When the waiting becomes too much!

Charlie the Chipmunk came to hand out gifts

presents!!!!!!!!

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee……….

3 hours of fun & running around, every kids dream morning I’m sure!

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

After about 10min of your actual tree being up this year it was packed off into Hubby’s man-cave! Even with cheap “it doesn’t matter if they get broken” decorations, Master 2 couldn’t help himself, smashing over the tree!It didn’t matter how many times I tried to explain how we are supposed to look after it he was just getting too much out of the attention he was getting! So away it went. I had planned on pulling it out again closer to Christmas Day but when I saw this idea on Pinterest, I loaded the boys in the car & headed for David’s Emporium to pick up a piece of green felt.

15 min later we had this…

 

 

 

Now if I could just work out how to get the blasted thing to stay stuck on the wall! Someone suggested that tape that you hang posters on the wall that can be removed without hassle, so I will give that a go tomorrow….

 

Sunshine!

Ahhh 2 days in a row of warm sunshine…pure bliss!

It’s always cooler in the bush, hence the warmer clothes

Happy birthday fabulous Hubby…yes, someone turned the big 4-0 yesterday. Not me silly, I’m FAR too young for that birthday just yet *wink*

Only Daddy was good enough to carry by this time. Needless to say Master 3 was having none of me taking pics! Home to nap was the next step

water fun in the sun

waterslide!

His face says it all!