I couldn’t figure out what to buy for my girls this Christmas. I’m sure my eldest is bored of receiving books as gift from me. My 2nd girl wanted something we couldn’t afford to buy. Thanks to the recent family holiday, I found the perfect gift for both my girls. The had so much fun playing congkak at the Kid’s Club that they did not want to go home until we let them play around round of congkak. So congkak it will be as their Christmas present this year. I still have no time to go hunt for one though. I still have 10 more days to go.

Guest post by Felicia Pittman

It had been a tough couple of years since my dad passed away. The sudden shock of it left me suffering from the ripple effect. Waves of every emotion shook through me for the first year and still to this day. As the old saying “Timing heals everything” echoed in my head, I took a leap of faith it was true and decided to turn my childhood home into a cabin getaway. The Charlotte property was a comfortable distant trip of two hours away from our home and the setting was peaceful and private. My husband set out to remodel what was necessary and we kept my dad’s vegetable garden in the back as a memory to him. We had the cabin completed just before the November chill set in. We decided to check direct tv charlotte and decided a basic package was perfect for a vacation home. Besides, the plans I had for my upcoming visits to our cozy place had very little to do with watching tv, but I did have kids and a husband to think about. If they need me, I’ll be in the garden!

Oh ya! I forgot to mention that we went for a family holiday 2 days before my birthday.

We were at Tiara Beach Resort, Port Dickson.

Even though I did not get to play in the water coz I have to take care either one of my babies, I am very happy to see the rest of my family members enjoying themselves. And I got the rest that I long for. No waking up to the thoughts of house chores to rush too and what to cook.

When I was studying in Penang, I often hike up Bukit Jambul. I am missing it a lot! One of these days, I hope to put on my zamberlan hiking boots again and hike up a hill. Any hill will do but the best will be hiking up Mount Kinabalu. I hope I won’t be too old by then. Still got another baby to raise before I can “close shop”.

2011 is here. No travel plan this year though. Last year’s travel plans did not materialize because of hubby’s busyness with work. Business is not that busy. It is just that we do not have staff to cover for hubby when he is away. Maybe we will try to go some where near and new with the help of BIL’s portable gps this year. It will really be a challenge to travel with so many kids. I can’t wait for the day when we can leave all the kids behind and go for our 2nd honeymoon. This year we are going to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary but we will be stuck at home minding our beautiful children.

My girls are in Cameron Highland now. They were there since yesterday and will be back tomorrow. I called them every day; day and night! My mom told me that my eldest vomited twice on the way up there due to the winding roads. Just now I got a call from my eldest girl, almost in tears telling me that she is scared that she will vomit again tomorrow on the way down from Cameron Highland. The car that they are travelling in is as good as the fort lauderdale car rental but I guess she must be looking at the side view during the journey. I too will get dizzy when I look at the side so I told her that if she cannot sleep, to focus in front only and not to look at the side. My mom told me that they might let her sit beside BIL who is driving since my sister is sitting behind with her baby. After this, I doubt she would want to go Cameron Highland or Genting Highland again.

Next week will be our real long school holiday. I can’t remember what happened during last year’s school holiday. We weren’t at the Outer Banks vacation rentals. I think I was home bound because my No.4 was still under 1yo. So, no vacation for us.

This time, I will surely feel the pressure of this long school break coz my eldest is going to Year 2, my 2nd girl to Year 1 and my firstborn son to kindy next year. Lots of preparation and 3 children at one go is sure gonna send me bonkers!

Don’t think we will be going for any holiday vacation though. I don’t have the energy to do that.

This year is such a holiday blessing for us. You will know the reason soon. hehe. In July we went to Genting Highland, just last week we were in Port Dickson for a church camp and this coming October if God willing we will going to Cameron Highland to visit a missionary family. It may not be a Branson vacation. To me, as long as we leave our hometown as a family, it is a holiday.

This year, if God willing we will leave our hometown 3 times to go a weekend vacation. This will be a record breaker. Since I am married to my husband, we never get to leave our hometown more that twice a year due to his busyness with church and work.

Our family weekend vacation to Genting Highland is confirmed. We will be up there end of this month. This weekend vacation is sponsored by my dear advertisers. I have been saving up my USD for this trip for quite a while.

I was just telling hubby that after his mission trip to Sabah this September, we should make a weekend trip to Cameron Highland to visit a missionary family there. We have been telling them that we will visit since they left Kupang and started serving in Cameron Highland. This year is the best time coz come next year, we will be homebound.

So I suggested we go in October so that I can have time to accumulate my online income for this trip. At first I thought this weekend vacation will be cheaper than Genting coz we do not have to pay for accommodation coz we will be staying in their house but hubby said otherwise. We need to spend double that our Genting trip. Oh! The other half is to give them as love offering. A VERY expensive accommodation! I don’t think I will have enough for the other half and that I have to leave to hubby.

Last night, hubby suggested that we sign up for church camp which will be held this August. We will have the church camp at Port Dickson. Yippie! Another family weekend vacation for us.

I read that a few of my fellow blogger friends are flying away this Chinese New Year. Not sure whether they are heading to Poipu vacation rentals but I read one of them will be celebrating Chinese New Year in HongKong Disneyland.

I realised that KL people and the rich prefers to go for vacation to celebrate their Chinese New Year. One thing that is obvious is they have very small family. I can imagine how “quiet” their Chinese New Year celebration is going to be unlike those with big family like mine. Furthermore, the rich prefers not to distrubute their wealth with others. Many times I heard them saying, “Better I use my money by going for a holiday with my family than give to others.”

I guess they never experience the joy of giving.

Since hubby can afford to take over the household expenditure, I am planning to save my online income for family vacation. I pray that soon, God will provide an honest full time worker to work at hubby’s shop and by that time, I will have saved enough for a holiday destination locally; maybe even buying medical travel insurance for the whole family.

Both hubby and I have worked so hard last year and we deserved to take a short break soon. If God says so lar.

November and December is a wedding month. Whenever there is a long school break, there will surely be lots of wedding invitations coming our way. Psst…thank God we do not have many friends who are not married. If not, I am sure our bank account will be emptied (coz we do not have much money in there. hehehe). Our wedding invitations come from close relatives only. This year we had 2. We attended the first one 2 weeks ago and another one in 2 weeks time. Not so sure whether I want to go coz it was not easy dining with a fully breastfeed baby!

Yes, I have already started to think about going for a holiday. I plan for a least one holiday trip after my newborn baby is 4 months old. Well, there are many places that I would love to go. Maybe places where there are beautiful beaches, or historical places, or entertain resorts like Genting Highland . The most important thing is that I can really relax and enjoy myself. Yes, the baby would have to follow too as he is fully breastfeed. As for now, I would have to try and enjoy my confinement “stay” at home.

I was so bored waiting to pop; I made myself occupied by planning for a holiday for my children. No overseas holiday yet, still can’t afford to call the Argentina travel, local destination it shall be.

At first I was thinking of going to Genting Highland since I can get free accommodation and free theme park ticket. But then my mom said that the weather might be too cold for my newborn. Then my mom suggested we fly to Kuching since they are having promotion. That is a great idea coz my girls has been pestering me to bring them sit aeroplane.

With the current promo, with only RM650, 5 adults and an infant can fly to Kuching; that’s return ticket. So, I got the date and time confirmed with hubby (the one who will be sending us to the airport) and my sister who is living in Kuching.

I almost wanted to make the reservation then it strikes me that my baby has no name yet and identity card number! Baby is not even out yet!

hahahaha…too excited lar…

We did not go to Tiara but to Glory instead. Big mistake! The stupid (pardon me for my language, i was really upset) lifeguard made this sensitive pregnant mommy cried. If you know my other personal blog, hope over there to read the whole story.

I hate being denied of something that I really want to. I can’t accept NO for an answer when I was so sure I can get it.

I tried to be a strong girl. I tried my very best to hold back my tears but I can’t. I am overly emotional when I am pregnant.

I felt like I wasted my money there.

We are going for a holiday this weekend! With hubby’s busy working schedule, I thought that we will never go for any holiday this year.

So, where are we going? Would love if we can afford Westgate. But we have to settle with a 2D1N stay at Tiara Beach Resort, Port Dickson.

It is my children’s choice. Children can never be separated from water and sand. Good for me too coz I can’t do much walking. If I am not pregnant, I will surely pick Genting Highland due to it’s cool weather.

A week has past and my home and my life is back to normal. Friends has been asking me, “How’s My Chinese New Year this year?”

Well, this year has been the most relaxing CNY for me with only 2 days of visitation; about 10 houses only. Since I am in my last trimester, I get tire easily so hubby went easy on the visitation; actually he is lazy too.

I did not help at all for the food preparation and spring cleaning. It makes me feel guilty but I have no choice. I have strained myself too much 2 weeks before the CNY baking pineapple tarts that old injuries emerges. So, I better rest my body, if not, I will be lying on bed on CNY day.

I feel that this year ends very fast. It is an exiting year for me with many ups and downs. In all this I saw God’s faithfulness. I am looking forward to next year because there are more challenges awaiting me in which I am trusting that God will hold my hand throughout next year too like He always do.

So, how are you going to usher the New Year? Hubby will be attending the Watch Night service in church. I am not so sure whether I will be going because my eldest is still feverish. We will have steamboat at my parent’s home tonight.

After that, I think I’ll just stay home and think about my New Year Resolution. One of them will definitely be a family vacation; maybe we can’t afford the Vegas vacations but anywhere locally is fine with me as long as we go as a family.

Disney cartoons are not just for kids. I know of a couple that loves Disney Characters. They are going to get married soon and they decorated their room with all Disney Characters. From the pillow case to the comforters, from the wardrobe to their mirrors, all Disney. For them, the best honeymoon would be the Disney cruises or a visit to the Disney World. When they have kids later, they could bring them along to visit those places on their n-th honeymoon.

We are back from our short break in Port Dickson. We were at Tiara Beach Resort. The children had a lot of fun playing in the water but nothing much for us except the foot reflexology that we tried for the first time.

I always hear that foot reflexology is painful so, I expected the worst. The pain is bearable to me but not hubby. He didn’t know that it will be painful!

The room is clean but not as luxurious as vegas hotels. The only set back is the air-cond temperature which cannot be controlled. I woke up with leaking nose and had to switch of the air-cond but the windows can be opened.