Boxing Day at Coral Beach

We started the next day with a walk by the beach and then a quick dip in the pool. Continuing with the mucking about of color values in the camera, here is a doozy of Girl-chick:

and another of the Tater:

No swimming was actually conducted at this beach  - too icky.
We went to the pool instead.

In the afternoon, we booked a ferry ride across to the island.
We did have to wait though:

and wait some more:

So we let the kids play with the camera. This is what life looks like to a three-year-old:

Eventually the ferry got to the jetty and we left on a boat ride:

And then we got to Coral Beach!!
We dashed into the water, safely equipped and all,

Some of us drank beer in the ocean and and some of us sat under the shade:

I think the Girl-Chick missed home so much she started making sandballs:

and at the end of the day, Tater had the biggest boo-lip ever!

Christmas at the beach

Yes, I realize Christmas is well over and it's a full force January winter storm out there but this was the first available chance I got to update since Christmas Day - we were at the beach for three days (without 'tinternet - gasp!) and then I was sick and then we were in Amsterdam for five days (also without 'tinternet!! HORROR)

So, continuing where we left off...

We woke up very, very early in the morning on the 25th because we wanted to hit the road early...
Like 0530 early.
Luckily we were forgiven by first one child...

And then the other...

because it was Christmas and there were some little presents to open!

Santa left a note indicating that the big things were at home in Canada because there was a miscommunication and the stuff was on another sleigh waiting at the Central Depot...

At near enough to the time Uncle Alvin said we should leave for the beach, we did...
And we snoozed,

and we vidioted

We drove by miles upon endless miles of palm oil plantations

until we got to part one of our destination:
THE TAIPING ZOO!

Now, please, the kids have never been to a zoo before because the nearest one to us is a decent five-hour drive away so this is a first for them. (It was all rather depressing though)

We rode a Zoo Train:

and we saw elephants:

tigers:

and birds - oh my!

We saw young love in action (everybody, awwwww)

and then we went back to the tigers because Girl-chick is obsessed with cats, the bigger the better:

There were indeed monkeys at play at the zoo (what kind of zoo would it be without them??)

And then we headed off to the beach where we sighed with relief and got in the pool...

Flying in the trees

That's exactly what today felt like.
We had another early day (but we were late (but so were everybody else!)).

Uncle Alvin took us to Skytrex and it was awesome fun!

We saw this really cool tree (this is for Gilly):

 We were loaded up into harnesses and given a quick tutorial and then we were ready to go. Tater stuck to Uncle Alvin:

She got on the line and got stranded because she wasn't heavy enough:

She wasn't scared. She still laughed and smiled and giggled. And she was saved:

Girl-chick thought it was awesome fun!

Sungai!

Today an old friend from school took us to Kiara for a picnic and a paddle in the little stream.

We played here, paddling in the stream:

Da Man went for a wander and saw these cute little monkeys (silver-tailed macaques) up in the trees. Not so cute when the dropped down out of the trees en masse and looked like they were poised to attack:

He came back to where we were to muck about with camera settings instead:

 Here are some of the more unusual things we saw:

See the 'No Kissing' sign?

We saw a little tree decorated for Christmas. We're not quite sure who did it because it was the lone tree done amongst a stand of trees.

We also fed a pond full of red-eared sliders:

Thank you Aunty Michelle for a wonderful day!

Another quiet day

We took the kids to the mall again today. Late-ish. Because we were going to keep it quiet but still wanted to give them something to do. We took the bus again because that is an experience in and of itself.
We stopped at the Christmas trees at the Gardens Mall to get the obligatory shot:

But really all they wanted to do was run around the gazebo:

We dropped them off at Kid's eWorld, an indoor park with lots of kids on school holidays. Reports have it that they built with giant blocks:

And slid into a ball pit:

Later on that night, Da Man and the mothers went off to Petaling Street to have a look at the local sights, sounds and smells:

Lots of "genuine, imitation" going on here:

The chicks stayed home with me and then Uncle Alvin had to go to the shop for a special appointment with a customer so we went with him and the girls were allowed to pick out a soft toy each.

Sans enfants

Today we ditched the kids, Da Man and I, to wander the city and run errands. The kids hung out with Nanny and UncleKev in front of an electronic device:

We went to yet another mall, with the typical fountain in the front:

They had the UN Buddy Bears on display out front too. This is the Canadian bear (we're still not sure how it is representative of Canada):

 It was a kind of typical mall experience, lots of stores with things people really didn't need, at shockingly exorbitant prices people couldn't afford (and yet like sheep, they emerged with bags full of stuff). The giant Christmas tree display had a carousel and a Hello Kitty ride in it which I am certain Girl-chick will love when she spots it, if we ever take her there:

Then, we stumbled upon Tokyo Street:

I wasn't going to go in but I got convinced and lookit all the fun things we saw!
Cute little shops with Japanese things in it, a dollar store called Daiso where I bought a lot of neat little things.

We also saw pastries in the shape of animals!

And little Christmas signs:

The kids were glad to see us at home later that evening; they were well-rested and ready for the evening.
We met up with cousins to use training chopsticks:

Meet up one last time with our Aussie cousins:

Lick the mango off the dessert dish:

Run around on the bridge outside:

And get photographs taken by Chinese tourists who'd never seen white kids before:

AuntyElaine took us on a car ride to take AuntyRufina home and we had two giggly girls riding in the back of the SUV, to be followed by two giggly little girls dressed in pyjamas, being tickled close to midnight.