Art studio

The kiddos just started at this new art place.  SE was especially bad the last few classes at Globalart where she refused to do anything for painting - claimed it was too hard.  Waste money only sigh (RM130 for four 2-hour lessons a month plus various other charges).

So on to this place.  Fees are slightly higher at RM150, but I expected more actually.  Globalart was poky and no-frills, no air-con soit was a bit hot at class.  Art Studio in contrast has a nice spacious wooden floor and it's air-conditioned.  They teach drawing as well as colouring and arts/craft.  The framed art on display are all different, in line with their stated motive to develop creativity in kids.  SE loves looking at these and I have to drag her away to go home!

Ooooo!

So far all good signs!  I'm not expecting the girls to be great artists - I myself have few creative bones in my body!  Improving their technical skills is one goal since there's art at school and acing a subject (or at least not struggling at it) is always nice.  Them having fun is another.  And getting them off electronic gadgets for a couple of hours is a third.

Let's see how this goes.

SE: Ahh so tired

JE:  Get up get up

 

Ah Kong's birthday 2019

Celebrated Ah Kong's birthday at Extra Supertanker @The Club.  Food was overall good.  Limited pictures of food as usual haha.  Good thing they have large tables so we could all fit into a single one.

Yum yum

Everyone sing!

Grandparents and grandkids

One for the album

Although SE refused to stand on tiptoe, as I kept asking her to, resulting in the half-hidden face.  Happy birthday to my dearest father!

Melaka Zoo

Since we were in Melaka already and the tickets were a lot cheaper than KL (Adults at 16.90 and kids 6.75 vs 45 and 18 respectively at KL), we headed to the zoo.  Hubby couldn't believe we had to go to the zoo hehe.  The kids were keen though so the zoo it was. 

Welcome to the zoo

It was definitely worth the money.  There was plenty to see. 

Wow look at that!!

C'mon let's go see what's on the other side!

Take a picture of us with the deers

It was a hot day but the place was shady.  And there were multiple places to stop for drinks and ice-cream.

Wow giraffes!

Let's duck-walk!

Got really tired after some time haha.  If only our weather wasn't so hot...

Resting our tired legs

That night headed to the Portuguese Settlement for seafood.  Which was all right in terms of taste and price.  Not a must-visit but not bad.

Bellies full

Melaka trip Day 2

... continued.  We TRIED to go to the night market at Jonker Street.  Sigh.  It took ages driving there as the roads were packed.  After that it took ages to find parking with available spaces.  Eventually found a parking lot but had to leave the key with them.  Thought we'd just go walk a short while.  But the night market was packed too.  Oh well, decided it wasn't worth it.  Grabbed a few things and left.

Passed by the 'satay celup' shops which had long queues.  Ended up at a nearby food court since it was already late and we were hungry.  Luckily food was pretty good.

We managed to buy these chocolate buns 

(Expensive at RM4 each, good thing the kids liked them)

The next day, Monday, we headed to Jonker street again.  Phew it was much better.  There weren't all that many people and we enjoyed visiting the various shops.

Little shopaholic

Rest and drink, drink and rest

There's a new Mamee shop which was rather interesting for a first visit.

Noodle cushion inside the Mamee cushion cover!

Items sold were cheaper than normal market price too.

Yay Mamee!

We had my usual laksa and cendol at Jonker 88, and sampled various street food:

Sausage

Ice-creams

JE added to her collection of fluffy bunnies:

Fluffy, Pinkfy,  Purplefy, Scruffy, Darkfy, Fiffy, Miffy and Leafy

The day was definitely more civilised hehe.  No problem getting to the 'satay celup' shop.

I have a Doraemon satay!

SE is terrible at eating spicy food though.  Despite the hot water provided to wash off the sauce, she only managed TWO sticks.  Had to adjourn to the food court of the previous night.

Yum finally food I can eat. This is nice

To be continued...

Melaka trip 2019

Had a 4d3n trip to Melaka this school holiday (haven't had a 3n one since I joined my new company so this was nice!).  I was happily planning mainly what to eat hehe.

First stop, Xiang Ji satay house for pork satay.  The meat isn't marinated - SE complained "The satay tastes like MEAT!".  Have to dip into the sauce for flavour, which SE refused to do since she's scared of spicy food. The Muar-style otak-otak was quite good.

Who wants to share this otak-otak?

Then we checked into the apartment.  Which was selected as usual for its facilities:

Check out this playground!

Does my hair touch the ground?

The kids would spend lots of time in the water play area:

Wheee!

I noticed quite a few new apartments in Melaka.  Yay, more options for us.  Though the kids requested specifically this same place for next time haha.

(To be continued)

Breathing again

Work-wise, my crazy schedule has finally ended.  The project is finished.  And it feels SO good not to be constantly worrying about way-overdue deadlines plus the many things that I still hadn't managed to get working.  For 3 months there, my days were just going into night and back into day with no relief from the pressure.  Well the next project is coming soon and I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will be better the second time round.

We usually have lunch out when we're free.  Revisited Fifth Palate cafe again recently.  I was very appreciative of the fact that, this time, my mind was at peace.

Wait let me finish first

Don't disturb me Jojo

SE draws for fun, JE doesn't.

Jumpstreet again

Whenever hubby is asked where he wants to go on a non-school day, it's always to eat something and in a mall.  The kiddos however, aren't all that interested in food.  JE in particular would always ask if we could DO SOMETHING FUN!  Example Kidzania, or Funtopia, or Jumpstreet (activities which are expensive and boring for us adults!)

They finally got to go to Jumpstreet, the trampoline park.

We're finally here!

*Happy*

Rates are normally RM28 per hour.  We were exhorting the kids to do whatever they wanted in that one hour.  When it ended, waited for someone to come shoo us out.  But nobody came.  Then only we realised it was RM45 unlimited time that particular day.  Hubby didn't realise he was paying premium price and I wasn't there when he was paying haha.  (Hmm they've started to charge RM5 just to go into the area - that's RM15 already for me, hubby and maid...)  Since already paid, what to do, might as well stay longer! 

They played dodgeball.  The objective was to throw the ball to hit a member of the opposite team, then that person would be out.  SE's strategy was to stand behind this slightly-plump girl:

Nobody hit me, I'm hiding. Hehehe

The strategy worked so well that she was the last one standing in her team.  Against I count 8 members of the other team.  Hahaha.  Actually this girl doesn't really play, she hides.  Should the ball roll nearby, she picks up it up and HANDS IT TO OTHERS.  That's why I was so tickled when she ended up alone facing so many in the other team.

One against, oh, 8

Obviously it was a pretty short-lived last stand!  She played multiple games.  Most of the time NOT being a good sport:

Hmppf. No like being out

We ended up spending almost 4 hours there.  Yep, real tiring for the adults!  Hopefully the kiddos have had their fill and won't ask to go back for a long while.