Cameron Highlands - March 2008

Port Dickson is popular for KLites' escapade. It's near to KL & it has beaches plus lots & lots of resorts. It sure is a perfect holiday choice for my family as it is rather difficult for HB to get his leaves approved during school break. But seriously... I have enough of Port Dickson!

At first I planned to follow HB's flight to Kuching, Sarawak. Changed my mind though, upon checking his detailed roster. The thought of me handling all 4 of my girls alone in the cabin freaks me out. Baby Nadeen will of course be depending on me for her milk. Balqis... I'm sure won't sit still & will be a nomad moving to & fro her sisters' seats. Wardah will ask me a zillion of questions non-stop. Yasmin, instead of helping me babysitting her sisters will surrender herself totally to what she is reading. Having picturing that vividly, it won't be a holiday for me. To the girls yes but a headache for me! No, thank you!

Plan A was not that promising. Next was to come out with Plan B. Had to make do with hubby 2 off days during the girls' a week school break. I recalled how Yasmin & Wardah had been wanting to go to Cameron Highlands. Wardah even exaggerated that almost all of her friends had gone to CameronHighlands for holiday.

The day arrived. The girls were very anxious of the trip. Woke up very early that very morning. We left after having breakfast at home. They kept on asking me the same question throughout the whole journey. Bet you are familiar with that same infamous question. "Are we there yet???"...

Told the girls to sit still once we started climbing. Even made Yasmin not to sit at the far back seats of our MPV. Everyone listened except for my chatterbox Wardah. After almost halfway climbing, she was quiet & complained of not feeling good. The next thing I knew, she vomited. Good thing she was ready with an air sickness bag (don't ask where that came from...). Glad that the other girls were okay. Balqis & baby Nadeen had a nap during our roller coaster adventure climbing up the hill. That was a relief!

Our first stop was BOH Tea Plantation. My girls first encounter of a tea plant. Balqis & baby Nadeen were too young to appreciate but it was a good education for Yasmin & Wardah. We were brought to the factory & witnessed how tea is processed. But what the girls, including hubby, our helper & I loved most was trekking uphill to a view point near the plantation. Such picturesque scenery... Too bad we had to rush downhill as it was getting cloudy.

The girls upon reaching the plantation. Wardah vomited again... right under the "Do not litter" signage...!

Viewing how tea is processed on TV before the tour

Shopping for tea. Guess who loves to shop most in the family...

HB serving tea. (Something he does not do at home...)

Yasmin taking a sip of the hot tea at the tea shop

The whole family at the tea shop

The girls & I, tea plantation in the background

Baby Nadeen enjoying the cool breeze

The climb up

Wardah was the first to reach the top

Yasmin resting after the climb

Quarter way up the hill. A shot taken by my helper. Balqis was 3/4 chopped

Everyone of us including our helper on the hilltop

The road to the plantation is very narrow. Hence it is advisable to honk to the incoming car

Tea Plantation

Role playing as tea pluckers. And on our journey back, Yasmin announced she wanted to be one when she grew up... hmmmm

The girls requested to visit a bee farm. I was rather concerned over baby Nadeen. But it was rather safe. In fact, she was with our helper & did not join us checking out the honey bees.

Bees building up their beehives

What attracted us was not really the bees even the beehives nor the honey. We fell in love over the strawberry plants & red, juicy strawberries. They were just there ready to be plucked. And that was exactly we did. Self-plucking our own strawberries.

Strawberry plants

Yasmin showing off the strawberries she self-plucked

Balqis attempted with a pair of scissors plucking strawberries

Balqis showing off her strawberries

With Yasmin & our strawberries. Strawberry plants in the background

Next we headed towards Brinchang, looking for Strawberry Park Resort. I made reservation a fortnight before. The resort is normally fully booked during school break.I made a wise decision for booking early & a brilliant choice of a resort. The Tudor design, the breath taking surroundings & most importantly the cool weather... that is what I call a vacation. The girls loved their rooms. The only turning off for me was that we had to share the same bathroom. 3 rooms apartment with a bathroom!

Yasmin & Wardah getting ready for bed. They both shared the same bedroom

Less than 10 minutes I found them dozed off

But Balqis in the other room was drawing instead of sleeping...

The next morning we decided to have our morning walk. These are our photos during our morning stroll around the resort. (hmmm... none of us had a shower yet!)

Here is a pose at our room balcony

After checking out, we tried out the canopy walk provided by the resort. It was quite scary but not to my 3 older girls.

We next stopped at a plant shop in Brinchang. The girls shopped for cactus plants as souvenirs to their friends. HB entertained them. He loves plants more than I do. I was frankly, sort of bored there until I started playing with my toy. My macro lens. I was like in heaven!

The many choices of cacti Yasmin & Wardah chose

This type of cactus was chosen by Balqis as gifts to her teachers

Some of the beautiful flowers I shot

Next stop was a Butterfly Park. I went crazy there shooting photos. A photo of the girls & hubby

My shots of butterflies. Did not use macro lens. What a waste! I left the lens in the car.

After a couple of stops buying food, we headed home. Everybody slept on the way back except HB & I. The girls were exhausted but they enjoyed their holiday. When asked which was the best part they liked about their holiday, all answered their trekking at BOH Plantation. I couldn't agree more.

Someone is 9!

Yasmin turns 9 today. Nope, I don't feel old at all... That's the advantage of not working & spending most of the time with kids. Hahaha! But the wrinkles near my mouth (too much laughing..) & above my eyes (too much frowning... as Yasmin put it her My Whole Wide World "a very angry one") might be the culprit for revealing my age.

Anyway, as we were already at my parents', might as well I plan something special for the birthday girl to have fun with her siblings & cousins. As she had already celebrated her birthday earlier with Wardah, I thought of letting them play around & discover their skill with butter icing.

Oh my... they sure did have fun. I just hope none of the girls would ask for another butter icing adventure next time. The situation was beyond wrinkles... I could have grown gray hairs!

Even their auntie got hooked up. Still in polling mood, she came out with the idea of decorating the parties' logo. Talk about that, congrats & best wishes to the winning candidates & parties.

Yasmin... Happy Birthday! Kisses for the birthday girl

Wardah trying out the piping bag

Ran out of piping bag did not stop Balqis from "exploring"

Yasmin & Nuryn

The birthday girl showing off her creativity

Chef Aiman at work

Not bad at all...

Yasmin made PAS. BN & PKR decorated by Auntie Inda. They failed on their attempt to pipe a rocket for DAP.

Yummy! Yummy!

It's polling time again...

Today is polling day for Malaysia. I'm going out to play my part as a responsible citizen. Who am I voting? That's my vote & my right to keep it to myself.

I did not change my address. Still using the same address when I first registered. So, I am now at my parents'. HB changed his. His poling station is no longer at my parents' but in Puchong, where we are staying. Unfortunately, he is on duty today & won't be able to play his part voting.It will be a full house today at my parents'! Fun but headache... with 9 grandchildren in a roof!

My girls are rather too young to understand about politics & elections. I did explain what I could to them. What excites them most is of course the campaign. Banners, posters, flags are everywhere... And their school is used as a polling station. Bet you can imagine the atmosphere outside their school... As Wardah put it in her sweet but sharp tongue, "Apa nak jadi dengan sekolah Wardah ni... Dah macam circus!" - "My school is turning to a circus!". Hahahaha! Putting up with that girl is never a bore...

To all, happy voting!

Nadeen's Baby Talk

I am pretty sure none of you understand what Nadeen is trying to convey. Well... as her mother I of course am able to comprehend the sounds she utters.. ;) Here is the translation of Nadeen's baby talk.

Hey! I am 3 months now. I love it here rather than being in that dark, confined place I was before. But what I like most is this family. I think I belong to this family. They are such an amazing lot. Always making each other happy... There are hmmm... how many of them ya? Altogether is about the same amount of these tiny little fingers of mine. Not both hands, just one. There is this lady who is so concerned of me putting those yummy chewy fingers in my mouth. I believe she is my Mama. That was what I heard she addressed herself. To me and to the other older girls. They must be my siblings.

The eldest is this girl who goes everywhere with her books. I wonder whether the book is glued to her hand... I wish I can read just like her. She of course sometimes reads to me. But a different book! Why does everyone has to read the same books to me..?

Next is the noisiest of all in the family. I wonder whether the mouth of hers ever stop chattering? Perhaps not... I witnessed her once talking with her eyes shut!! But she is fun to be with. Loves talking to me, making me happy & rocking me to sleep in my favorite rocker.

The youngest of all is always kissing me! I wonder whether she thinks I am one of her many dolls. There were quite a few times Mama was fussy over her kissing me, even hugging me. The next thing I knew, I was coughing & slimy liquid kept wetting my nostrils... But that did not stop her kissing me happily.

There is a man in the house too. But he is seldom home. Whenever he is home, he will normally bring the others out & leave me home with an older lady. I don't mind that at all. Without them I can have all the naps I need. One thing I realize though... my Mama is somehow always in a happier mood whenever he is around. Wonder why....?

This is one of the many happy moments in my life. My little Nadeen has started baby talking & it won't be long till she joins her sisters invading my peacefulness ;-D

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Shame on me!

The other day I was assisting Yasmin with her homework She was doing her Malay language homework & did not seem to have problems with it. Since baby Nadeen & Balqis both were napping & Wardah was at school, I might as well entertain myself. Signed in on "facebook" & started racing cars...! Though rather shameful to admit... I am positively sure there are lots of you people as "facebook addictive" as me!

After a few races, Yasmin had problem with "kata seerti" - synonym. She asked the synonym for "usaha", I managed to get "ikhtiar" somewhere in my head. Then she went on with "ikut". I failed to get a word... Told her to go to the next word. Next was "berkumpul". Seriously I couldn't think of one! (pssst... perhaps the racing had really gotten into me!!)

Know what Yasmin said? "Mama, why don't you type www.kata seerti.com?"..... Lucky me, she didn't realise that her mama was racing cars & also buying friends! She did type the url but couldn't find such site. I browsed in search & found one. For the record, the synonym for "ikut" is "turut" & "berkumpul" is "berhimpun". Why didn't I get that???