Returned from our vacation last week and today is the 2nd last day of the two weeks break, but I have not had time to properly blog or blog-hop yet because:

- I had loads and loads of laundry (pre-trip and post-trip) to wash and hang dry, fold and keep
- my fridge is almost empty (except for some frozen finger food in the freezer) hence the urgent need to go grocery shopping
- my cats have not been given baths since April
- I have not watched the (downloaded) final episode of Survivor China. I was away on cuti-cuti break when that episode was aired on tv, but the hotel that we stayed in did not have ntv7!! *sulk* I found out who'd won the million dollar$ from watching the reunion episode last week
- I was busy helping Giselle collect materials to make dresses, befriend forest and city animals, fight monsters and dragons to find her true love in the Nintendo DS version of Enchanted
- all vacation-related pictures are still sitting patiently on my laptop, waiting to be reviewed, selected and uploaded to imagecave/multiply/flickr
- I am trying to finish reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and Ayat-Ayat Cinta because I didn't get to read them during the trip
- we still have some mini-outings and errands to run before the school holidays end
- the house is super messy with the kids' books and toys

In short, we managed to have quite a good break although not as relaxing as I'd hoped it would be. But it was fun fun fun nonetheless, given that it was somewhat a last-minute-go-ahead decision.

More stories (and pictures) later-laterlah, ya? In the meantime, here's a sneak preview.





Can't believe the school holidays are almost over.

It was one of those rare weekdays (what more on a school day) where I actually got to go out for a treat.

I managed to force convince my mom to help handle Sofea, in between schools, from 12:05 till 2:15, so that I get to meet my ex-lunch buddies for lunch. Well, actually it was more of a 'so that they get to take me out for a belated birthday treat' kind of lunch. ;)

Sudah berapa kali diajak keluar tapi selalu tak jadi. Asyik kena cancel je... takde transportlah, famyBoy not in townlah, Aidiin tak sihatlah, dan pelbagai alasan yang sewaktu dengannya. All valid reasons, though.

Anyways, last Friday, after entah berapa bulan, I finally got to have 3 hours of ME time; which did not involve going to and coming back from the school, serving lunch, constant follow-ups and reminders "Kakak, cepat sikit mandi!! Nanti nak solat, and nak makan lagi!!" and sending Sofea off to kafa.

I arrived at One-U around noon, walked over to the restaurant and waited eagerly for my lunch ladies to arrive.

Zan and Mdm S had to wait for Mdm Y, who had a last minute conference call. Mdm Y called me while I was at the restaurant and asked me to order, anything, on their behalf. "Apa-apa pun takpe. Pandai-pandai youlah.", she said. Alahai... 'specific' sungguh mak buyung sorang ni.



Tak sah visit kalau tak makan benda ni

Mdm N and Kak (Hjh) R arrived shortly after I placed my orders for one Homemade Pesto Spaghettini (my favorite!) and one Banana Smoothie. We chatted for a bit and I received a call from Zan reminding me to order dulu because the 3 of them were verrrrrryyy hungry and they didn't want to wait too long for the food when they arrived at the restaurant. So I ordered 2 additional pasta dishes, one salad dish and 2 desserts.

About 30 minutes later, our table was full (crowded would be a better word) with big plates of pasta and surrounded by very chatty (and hungry!) ladies. Seronok bersembang dan bergelak-ketawa ramai-ramai gitu. It reminded me of my working days, during one of our 'fun place' lunch outings.

Without any doubt, I had a wonderful, wonderful time. What with the super-yummy food, and the even yummier company. By the way, between the six of us, we managed to consume (sehingga licin pinggan) the following:
- Spicy Seafood Spaghettini with Coriander
- Duck Confit Spaghettini with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Coriander
- Thai Beef Salad Medium Rare Pan-Seared Steak with Mango Salad
- Homemade Pesto Spaghettini with Chargrilled Chicken (2 kali order!)
- Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce & Vanilla Ice-cream
- Mango Cheesecake with Lemongrass infused Mango Chutney

Are you drooling yet? :)

Thank you, ladies, for the delicious lunch @Delicious. *waves to Zan*
Makcik kekenyangan gilerrr... even until late evening that day. Burrrpp!!


Note to self: Next visit, must try the Pecan & Hazelnut Pie if they have it.

Has it really been a whole week??

It rained the first two days so we didn't get to do much outdoor activities during our recent visit to Terengganu.
Which was okay for me since I had a bad episode of the sniffles. Tension sungguh mokcik dengan hingus yang asyik meleleh dan bersin yang non-stop.
So I was mostly in bed, under the covers, curled up with a good book. Once a while I got up and fixed myself a hot mug of Nescafe.
If it had been just me, alone, *that* would've been an ideal vacation already. :)

But kids tend to equate hotel-stays with swimming pools, and because they've been to Terengganu before, my kids expected daily walks by the sea.





"One week ke, Ibu?"
"Nanti Kakak boleh build many, many sandcastles. Bestnyaaaaa!!! "

"Kakak and Aidiin boleh main kat swimming pool every day kan, Ibu?"

"Ibu don't forget swimming suit Kakak, okay?"

"Aidiin taknak masuk dalam laut, Aidiin takuut, nanti Aidiin 'ggelam."
"Aidiin nak tengok waves saja."

"Aidiin nak main kat pasir dengan Kakak."

"Nanti Ayah bawak kita makan keropok kat beach?"


Ahhh...kids. Who can blame them.

I did feel much better after doses of Clarin@se (bless the newly-opened pharmacy near the hotel), so we did get to do the daily walks by the sea and sand-playing for the remaining days. The kids got to do their water-splashing at the pool, and most importantly (for moi, hee hee) the keropok lekor eating under the coconut trees.




Helmy took a couple of hours off on one of the days and we drove to KT. I wanted to go to the infamous Pasar P@yang. We reached there quite late though and most of the shops were either closed or almost closed. Managed to get some kiddy kaftans at the very last minute. Sofea had been asking me to buy her new ones since the ones she currently own are already senteng. I thought the batik-like shirts for little boys looked cute, so I decided to grab those too. Konon-kononnya nak minta bargain lebih sebab beli banyak.




And that was all the shopping I did! Apart from some keropok ikan tamban, that is. We decided to check out the newly-opened Giant Mall and Mydin Mall in KT. I bought tissues and we had dinner at the spanking new Pizza Hut outlet before driving back to Pak@.

---

It's Monday, and it's back to the normal routine. *sigh*

The yucky part about long vacations is the post-travel part, i.e. unpacking and laundry seminggu yang bertimbun itu. And the usual houseworklah of course.

Even yucky-ier is the fact that I'll be a single parent this week (at least till Thursday) coz Helmy has gone back to Terengganu last night to finish off whatever's left of the project he's been working on. I think there'll be at least another 2-3 trips for him before the handover.

Oh well. C'est la vie. Tapi saya masih nak pout jugak. *pouts*

I'll see you when I see you, okay? Banyak gak nak kena catch up nih.


p/s: I posted more pictures here.

We will be spending time in that Pantai Timur state for a whole week starting tomorrow. wooo hooooo!!

Like the previous trip, famyBoy has to be on-site for work, and famyGirl & famyKids insisted on following get to tag along and lepak-lepak at the hotel, go splashing at the pool, devour keropok lekor and sotong bakar at the warung under the coconut tree and play with the sand at the beach. :D

It's almost 1:30 AM and I am not done packing yet! So I'll make this a teeny tiny entry...

Have a good weekend, folks. :)