Family holiday..

I am trying to plan a family get-together for a very long time, tapi sangat la susahnya. What with 7 siblings and weird working hours and commitments, it is next to impossible just to get us all together, even during Raya!


These are my obstacles:


1) Dad is aging and visually impaired due to retinitis pigmentosa so I have to find a proper place that is OKU friendly. He wanted to join us in Kuantan hari tu but Mommy pujuk tak payah ikut. I doubt that he would enjoy water park kan! I felt bad that he couldn't come along..


2) Abe Muttaqi, my ever so matured nephew is studying at a boarding school in Kota Bharu. He is attending a chinese school with weird holidays yang tak serentak dengan other mainstream schools. So susah sangat la kan. Plus, he is sitting for PMR so I must plan a holiday during the first quarter of the year 


3) Kak Ninie, my sister has 3 kids, Umar, entering Form 1, Sarah, going to Standard 6 and Uzair, Standard 4. Obviously kids these days are fully occupied. Their weekends are filled with tuition, Cambridge English class and kelas mengaji Quran. Furthermore, Sarah also has UPSR exam by the end of the year. So kena plan baik2 punya.


5) Abe, my elder brother is a pilot with hectic working schedule including weekends. He sometimes misses family dinners and events sebab yang paling kukuh ialah.. "sorry aarr.. saya kena fly.." okay, fine.


6) Having 3 doctors in the family also doesn't help with this planning at all. What makes it worse is one of us is a houseman in Temerloh doing shift work while the other is a Masters student in HUKM. Nak apply cuti amatlah susah sekali!


So silalah imagine kepayahan saya nak plan time and venue for our family holiday.. Haiihh... Someone should pay me to do this mind boggling work of figuring out the perfect place and time for this much awaits holiday!

Hectic!

What a packed weekend it was. As usual, I was oncall on both long holidays, the Sultan's birthday and Christmas. So I decided to take this time off and spend the entire long weekend wisely.


I don't know why but my daughter and her Papa share this odd tendency of falling sick during holidays. Both of them were unwell on 2 of 3 planned weekend getaways. Seriously, it is really beyond my comprehension. Membazir je spend beratus2 ringgit as at the end of the day, we just stayed in the hotel room and do nothing except watching TV and melayan anak yang fretful or the father yang letih, sakit badan or demam. Luckily, we haven't gotten as far as out of Malaysia coz I cant imagine having to waste thousands of ringgit on a spoiled vacation!


Anyways, we owe Hana a true time in the sun coz she was really in ill health the last time that we went to Kuantan. On top of that, the weather was definitely not on our side as it was raining cats and dogs throughout the day. So bye-bye to the beach and the pool.


Jadi, weekend kali ini haruslah digunakan sebaik2nya untuk bercuti sakan. Well, I might exaggerate a bit as we only stayed in PD for a night. It was almost fully booked the time that I called for reservation 2 weeks before due to long weekend.. Pfffts. Why PD...again? I guess the distance is a major factor here. In an hour we already reached the destination tak payah nak pit stop bagai. Senang and cepat kan!


We chose Grand Lexis previously known as Legend International Water Homes.. ehem, coz me and hubby kononnye baru dapat bonus. If not, do not expect us to go to 5 star resort ya!  I booked a deluxe room for the price of RM522 (govt rate super peak season), supposedly equipped with a king bed and a pool. Keeping in mind that we might have to stay indoor since we are still not fully out of monsoon season. 


Well, to my delight, the new deluxe room garden view has 2 king beds instead with a more modern design which I love so much! The last time I came with my friends, this place was still under construction. The room amenities were commendable, with its own pantry, complete with microwave and plates, a separate washroom with a walk in wardrobe (very important) so you can wreck and shamble this area with your clothes without compromising the cleanliness of the bedroom. 

The room

 Hana was super excited! She jumped and ran here and there, asking apetuh apetuh repeated when she sees weird stuffs like the pelampung or the bedside lamp. 

Budak girang
(p/s 1st time using this Malay word!)

Next is the MANDI time, yehhooo. Surely, Papa yang terlebih excited than his anak! 'Swimming' sampai tak ingat dunia using his new powered goggle that I bought for his birthday. The water was freezing cold that after half an hour, Hana was biting and shivering. I quickly put her under the hot shower which she seemed to enjoy the hot drizzle more than the pool -____- Cheh!

Ribena kids!
Note to self: must get Hana a goggle as she insisted on wearing
ours pastu marah bila super sized goggle tak stay kat batang hidung kecik dia -___-

Later that evening, we went to the playground and allowed Hana to let loose for a while before off for makan2 at a near by seafood restaurant. 

Sorry, I really couldn't remember the name of the place but it was pricey and not tasty at all. The prawn rasa hanyir and luckily we did not order lobster! Initially, we wanted to go to Teluk Kemang, about 20km away for a taste of real seafood as recommended by Pak Guard Lexis but Hana was too sleepy whereas hubby was not feeling well (see, I think hubby is allergic to vacation!). 


By 9.30pm, we headed back to the hotel, initially planned to take another round of skindipping in the pool but way too tired to do so. End of day 1 and we finally hit the sack by 11pm.


P/s Hana always have night terror if she is overtired. That night she woke up twice screaming and crying for no reason. Alhamdulillah, I recite ayat kursi and 3 Qul, hugged her and she slept soundly after that..