The In-Laws' Family Day in Kuantan

Ever since Hubby and I tied the knot, I have always heard stories about how active my MIL's family are when it comes to organizing family gatherings and family days. But funny, they've never organized one ever since I joined the family.

So when my SILs excitedly told me about the upcoming family day at a resort by the beach in Kuantan, I was both excited and intrigued. Why intrigued? Well, my dysfunctional family is huge. (With 5 mothers and 1 father, how can it not be huge??!!) So how in the world would my MIL's family be able to top that off? And how close are they as a family to ensure that everyone participates in the family day? Heck, even my Dad can't get all of his kids in one room at the same time!

My MIL had specifically told us to arrive in Kuantan early. Solely because the telematch starts sharp at 2pm and we (my FIL, MIL, Hubby, SILs, Aiden, Bibik and myself included) are all to be in the red team (wow, they're competitive as well!). However, Hubby had a lot to do in the very limited time he is around in Malaysia so we had to make a detour after Aiden's gymboree class to MidValley. While Hubby was running errands around the mall, I brought Aiden and Bibik to Mothercare. The good thing about the Mothercare outlet in MV is the amount of toys they have on display on the floor.

Aiden was so excited that he wanted to try everything! From the stuffed dinasour to the buggy car and finally he settled with banging on the keyboard above. And he really enjoyed himself. Remember this post - I wanted Aiden to take up the piano just like Mummy did? Insyaallah!

By the time we left KL it was close to 1pm. There goes any telematch plans out of the window of the car. We cruised into Balok at about 4pm - just in time for the end of the telematch. The red team lost miserably (due to the dismal number of members!) and everyone had jumped into the swimming pool to cool off.

And I was utterly shocked at the number of people we had in the family day. Considering I have never failed to visit Kuantan every single year during the Eid celebrations, I still couldn't recognise nearly half of the family members who turned up! So I told Hubby:

"Yang, you jalan lah dulu, salam orang. I tak kenal semua orang nie! Sape jer you salam, I salam, okay???"

Sad ain't it?

Because it was nearly dusk and also because everyone wanted a piece of Aiden, I didn't even get a chance to whip out my iPhone for a decent picture. Suddenly it was time for Maghrib prayers and then dinner. For dinner, everyone had to dress up in red and black. Unfortunately, I could have sworn my MIL said red and white and so I was the only one who was not in sync with the theme that night. Besides the fabulous barbeque they had set up outside the resort hall, there was also a karoake competition, a costume competition (for the kids), a colouring competition (for the elders), a mandatory performance from each family, and of course, what dinner would be complete without a lucky draw!

My MIL had excitedly entered Aiden's name in the costume competition for the kiddos. I had hunted high and low for a costume suitable for his size, but found none! In the end I had to settle with dressing him up in his tuxedo (yet again). Well, at least it is red and black!

Aiden had to parade down the aisle with all the other contestants. Bukan calang calang contestant okay, one even came dressed as a fairy! Dahsyat jugak orang Kuantan nie!

And it was this smile that earned Aiden.......

..... the consolation prize!

Nevermind Aiden, next year hopefully you would be able to fit into a Transformers costume or a Thomas outfit and you'll definitely win hands down!

As for the other competitions, our family was soooo unprepared for the family performance. (I think MIL wasn't even aware about the existence of this activity.) All the other families were really sporting - among the performances presented were a hilarrious mimic of the Chicken Dance and a lip syncing performance of the Wondergirls' Nobody! As for us, in a span of ten minutes we decided to sing, none other than the over glorified 'Burung Kakak Tua' folk song!!!

I still laugh whenever I remember all 9 of us singing Burung Kakak Tua! Not only were we out of tune, we had the whole hall laughing at us! However, I seriously believe that we should be given an A+ for effort.

As for the karaoke competition, none of my SILs wanted to contribute their voice, so in the end it was Hubby and I who had to represent our family honour. I have had multiple trainings in singing during the multiple events that my Dad organizes in Ipoh, but Hubby.... erm... was a completely different story.

Finally the last lucky draw prize was given away (we won 3 hampers in total as a family), everyone decided to call it a night and the less adventurous headed back to their rooms. The more adventurous ones stayed back and gossiped till early morning.

Back in our room, Aiden excitedly tore his prize open.

Now Aiden has his own swimming float, albeit a tad too big!

The next morning before breakfast, the whole family gathered early in the morning at the field for senamrobik.

And this is actually only half of the family crowd. Most of the participants were women (all the men were either still snoring away or too shy to join in).

Aiden joined in too, although only by the room door.

Aiden is so lucky to be in such a huge and boisterous family.

Yeay for Family Day. Looking forward to the next one!