Monday Beach Blues

Happy Monday peeps!

Today's my first day back at work. As usual, sorry for the week long hiatus. I was too busy breathing the warm, salty air at the beach, basking under the sun, frolicking in the sand, and of course stuffing myself silly with good food.

After such a great experience at our first YTL resort in Gaya Island (I know, I know, I still owe you a blogpost for that holiday), we were so impressed with the resort and its hospitality, that we vowed to try all other YTL resorts for our future vacations. Hence this time around, we decided to visit Pangkor Laut Resort for the year end holidays.

As expected, we loveddddddddd the resort. The kids enjoyed themselves and we were more than happy to let them run, swim, snorkel and eat to their hearts content. If you ask us to compare between Pangkor and Gaya. Hubby and I are probably on the fence. But from the top of my head, here are the pros and cons of both:

• The size of the resort for Pangkor Laut Resort was bigger, hence more turf to walk and explore. Despite it being bigger, everything was accessible by shuttle, even their private beach - Emerald Bay. On the other hand, Gaya Island had scheduled boat transfers to their private beach - Tavajun Bay. Therefore if you missed one, you had to wait for the next.
• We experienced a more personalized service in Gaya Island. Perhaps because we were there during the low season? However, the dining concierge at Pangkor Laut Resort more than made up for it, by arranging for a private gazebo for our anniversary dinner.
• When we celebrated Ian's birthday, Pangkor arranged for the waiters to bring him a cake and sing Happy Birthday. For Aiden's birthday, Gaya arranged for that plus more. We had a guitar serenade too!
• Our Hillside Villa at Gaya was bigger, and it had a more modern layout. Our Beach Villa at Pangkor was smaller with tired looking furniture... but it was at an awesome location with a killer beach view, and an outdoor bathtub too. Gaya had a significantly bigger kids bed in the room. At Pangkor, the kids struggled to sleep together, and Ian actually fell off the bed on our second night!
• The waters in Gaya were better than Pangkor. (Well, Sabah waters are obviously better than Pangkor waters.) At Gaya, we were able to do some pretty decent snorkeling even from the beach right in front of the resort; better if at the private beach. Pangkor on the other hand just didn't have that luxury. You would have to pay a bomb (~RM250 per person) just for a boat ride to the Pangkor public snorkeling area. (We went to the public snorkeling area just the week before, for just RM70 per person!)
• The nature walk at Gaya was not suitable for kids. Pangkor on the other hand, allowed kids to join the nature walk, and even allowed us to turn around half way in case the kids couldn't handle it. (But we did finish the whole course.) Their nature trail is safe enough for you to track on your own too.
• Pangkor's spa experience wins, hands down!!! It wasn't just about the massage (I swear, Tari has the hands of an angel), but also the complimentary 45 minute 4-step preparatory Bath House ritual - I'll blog about it in a separate post! As a memento of the experience, I was also given the kain batik that I used for the massage, as a keepsake.

Pros and cons aside, I don't think I can do justice to Pangkor Laut Resort with just one post written over the Monday blues. So let me just start by sharing a couple of select photos we took over the course of our holiday.

Check out Ian's happy grin!

My three boys.

Gang spec hitam.

On the left was the beach, and on the right was our Beach Villa!

The jetty in the background.

While waiting for our room to be ready.

Checking out the Sea Villas.

Officiated my kicks.

Our beautifully decorated bed.

Cute elephant, for Ian's birthday. (Our bed was decorated again the next day, for out anniversary, with two swans!)

Beautiful Emerald Bay.

Photo taken by Aiden!

Our private gazebo in the background.

No candlelight dinner for us. It was a loud dinner for four instead!

Decadent chocolate cake, courtesy of Pangkor Laut Resort.

Nature trail walk.

We all made it out in one piece!

Digestive Health

Right after Ian weaned off, I scratched my head mercilessly about which formula milk was best for his toddler years. Transitioning Ian to formula milk was no walk in the park. His biggest struggle was constipation, as his body tried to adapt to the more complicated protein structure commonly found in formula milk. Since his bowel movements served as a major clue to how his digestion was going, we became quite worried every time he fails to do number two. I’ll save you from the gross details, but it was definitely not going well.

Several dramatic bowel movements and numerous formula milk brands later, Ian finally settled comfortably with Friso Gold. With Friso Gold, not only does he have a good appetite, but all those previous constipation drama, flatulence and fussiness went out the window! 

So what makes Friso Gold so easy to digest? Scientifically, here is how it works. If you had paid attention during chemistry class, you would be able to imagine how a protein native structure looks like. If you didn’t… *chuckles* the protein structure looks like a spiral molecular arrangement. Friso Gold with LocNutri^TM is designed to protect this spiral structure from being damaged caused by heat from the formula production process. If unprotected, the protein structure will be damaged from high heat, causing its spiral molecular chain to increase. This makes the protein harder for toddlers to absorb, leading to protein indigestion and stomach discomfort.

So did my scientific narrative crash course make sense? *giggles* If not, the video below will probably explain it way better than I ever can. Watch it for yourself:

When your child has good digestive health, they can easily absorb all the nutrients they have taken, which ultimately makes them stronger from the inside. For more information about the importance of good digestion, you can refer to: http://www.friso.com.sg/health-and-digestion/about-tiny-tummies/the-roles-and-functions-of-the-digestive-system.html.

Two years and counting - that’s how long Ian has been with Friso Gold; the brand that finally survived our grueling digestion criteria. The Friso Gold brand is soooo engrained in our family, that every time the familiar Friso Gold advertisement jingle comes on TV, Ian enthusiastically points to it and says “Ian’s milk!” Thanks to Friso Gold, I am confident of his strong digestive system, which in turns allows me to tolerate Ian being adventurous and exploratory with his daily meals.

To be part of the Friso Gold family, request for your free sample at http://www.frisogold.com.my/try-friso-gold.

#FrisoGoldMY #FrisoGoldMalaysia #LocNutri #preservesnutrients #easydigestionforstrongerinside

Our 11th Anniversary

Eleven years ago today, Hubby and I got hitched.

I'm not one to get mushy and such on this public blog. Instead, I wanted to share a few photos of our wedding for this blogpost. Well imagine my shock when I looked into my computer directory and found that all my wedding photos had been wiped out! There must have been a fatal error when saving files due to moving hard drives over the years.

Thank god I remembered burning our wedding photos into a CD over a decade ago. Turned my house upside down to look for the said CD. Oh the irony - in a world of USB sticks, cloud sharing and such, it took a piece of CD to save the day.

Anyway, I finally found the CD *ohthankgod* so here are some photos from our wedding reception in KL. (I had my nikah, khatam Quran and then a reception in Ipoh as well, but that was mainly attended by my Dad's friends, hence have been excluded to save you from the agony of scrolling through photos of random old people!) *chuckles*

First photo in the VIP room.

OMG check out my stick thin figure.

The beauty of having so many siblings *giggles*

Makan beradab.

Pretty Misha Omar.

Hey, dummy cake!

Sultanah Nora graciously allowed me to use her diamond encrusted tiara for the night.

One with my Papa.

Mini BBGS reunion!

Last but certainly not least, my girls for life. *hugs*

Happy 11th Anniversary dear Hubby. Here's to celebrating many many many more anniversaries in the future. Love you always! 

Aladdin Reloaded - A Musical Comedy

So yesterday, I brought Aiden out for his first night out to the theater. Well truth be told, I didn't buy the tickets. I actually won two tickets via a competition organized by Tiara Jacquelina on her Instagram. (It was one of those late nights when I was scrolling lazily through IG trying to fall asleep, then I found her post and was the last lucky #10 to answer some questions and scored those tickets.)

I used to love going to the theaters. I haven't been to one for quite a while (blame the post-babies syndrome). My favourite show was Actorlympics (with my favourite being Jit Murad & Rashid Salleh). However, bringing Aiden out to the theaters was a whole different ball game. I had my reservations i.e. Would he understand the show? Would it get too complicated for him? Would he get bored and fall asleep?

Well, guess what??? I'm extremely glad I took the plunge and took him to the show. He enjoyed himself so much, he requested for me to buy more theater tickets for a repeat experience!

Here are some photos that I took during the night. (Photos are okay, but no recordings allowed.)

Aiden got so excited when they announced at the start of the show, that kids were allowed to act rambunctious and be as loud as they wanted. 

Aladdin on the flying carpet.

Bravo to the Genie of the Ring.

Striking a pose during intermission.

Finally, Aladdin gets to marry the princess after The Genie of the Lamp gave him a cheque for 2.6 billion.... (and I'm not kidding you, it was actually part of the play)! 

Simple set, but the catchy songs and slapstick comedy made up for the lack of it.

I must say, I enjoyed myself as well. I came with medium expectations, but left feeling so fulfilled and impressed with the cast. Their jokes were utterly hilarious, I laughed my head off; references to Bersih, GST, 1k hairstyles, 2.6 billion debacle... you've got to appreciate the humour! Although Rashid Salleh was remarkable as Widow Twanky (and I'll always have a soft spot for him!), my favourite was The Genie of the Ring, played by Tria Aziz. Their younger cast members were especially talented, and they delivered their jokes and punch lines so effortlessly, that even Aiden laughed his head off too! He especially loved that the show was so interactive, with the cast members asking questions to the audience, and even coming down from stage to interact with the crowd. Super proud that Aiden was captivated from start to finish. He was so pumped up after the show that despite it being close to midnight, he was wide awake enough to ask for a photo with the cast and then supper!

Kudos to the extremely talented cast and crew.

The cast taking one last photo before they left the stage.

A photo with the main cast members. After the photo, The Evil Wizard Abanaza (Peter Davis) pointed to Aiden and asked in his 'evil' voice, "Who stole your tooth?" *chuckles*

I highly recommend the show for kids in primary school and above. Good thing we left Ian at home, because he wouldn't understand a thing. The show isn't about beautiful sets and costumes, but rather about the comprehension of the story line and admiring the cast in delivering their lines.

Would I do this again? A resounding yes. But with better seats, of course! (Aiden wasn't happy with our balcony seats as he couldn't get any candy that was thrown from the stage to the audience.)

If you're struggling to find activities for your kids to do during this school break, and you feel that this show is your cup of tea, you have TWO days left to catch it. Go get your tickets now! (Yes, you can thank me later.) ;)