road trip with the toddlers

Wow. I can't believe I am saying this - the toddlers! Yeah, lil Em now is a new-tod. She's behaving like one too. Walking around without a care in the world, putting less things in the mouth (something I'm very relieved about definitely). Wants EVERYTHING the sister has. Is fascinated by the sister but yet, will not hesitate to retaliate if she has to. She's a fighter this one, a survivor. Maybe it's the 2nd child/youngest syndrome, I don't know cos I'm the eldest; I always get my way :-D.

So, anyway, before I derail to the North Pole, I wanted to tell you about our little road trip. I mentioned that we left for Melaka to attend a wedding right? Yeah, we did. It was a dinner/dance thingy held at a school hall. The dinner was on the Saturday evening but I had planned to eat the famed chicken ball rice for lunch so I wanted to leave early.

But....we only left the house at 3pm!! I honestly cannot remember why but we did. Ash had her tennis thingy in the morning. I needed to get lil Em's lunch cooked. Lil Em needed to nap. So, ding dong here and there, we ended up leaving late.

We spent the night at Renaissance. A huge big gigantous mistake. Don't ever go there. The place is ancient and the service is crappy. Plus, you have to pay a bomb for all of these. So, don't bother. The only reason why we booked us there was because it was near to the dinner venue, otherwise, I would've been happy to go some place else.

So, anyway, the ride there was not as good as I had hoped it would be. Lil Em didn't sleep all the way. She only slept about 1/4 of it and stayed up the whole time. Thankfully, she only made a fuss when we had already arrived in Melaka town. We would have reached our hotel sooner had it not been for all the traffic lights. Did you know, I think Melaka need to be renamed and be called the Traffic Lights town or something!

We had very little time between wanting to relax and going to the dinner. As soon as we got to our room, strip the kids, bathe them both and then took turns showering. The reason was of course Lil Em - so that she doesn't bring down the lamp and set the room on fire for instance. She is so inquisitive that she simply cannot sit still. We can't put her in the playpen either cos she and the playpen, it's her arch enemy.

Everything was smooth sailing until it came to bedtime. The girls, esp lil Em could not get a good-nite's sleep. They slept really late despite being tired. I even remembered to bring along lil Em's bolsters and we made sure we asked for a cot for her. Everything was supposed to be just like home. But, not for my highly sensitive girls. They really take after their father in this department - can't sleep anywhere, must sleep in own bed, own house etc...Definitely not me, when I am tired, I will just sleep even if there's a fire!! heheh..

I don't know how many times they tried sleeping but failed. I don't know how many times I woke up just because they did. Was not a good night at all. The last time when we went on a road trip with Ash, when she was around Em's age, we didn't bother asking for a cot. We got her to sleep in the bed with us. Needless to say, hubby and I couldn't sleep at all that night because we weren't used to her sleeping with us then (at home, she slept on her own in her cot) and we were afraid we'd crush her into a million pieces. This time however, we were ready; we got Em a cot and was anticipating a good night's rest. But, we didn't get any at all :-(.

The next morning, we sprung out of bed and went downstairs for breakfast, mostly half asleep. At least I was. I couldn't keep my eyes opened and the first thing I asked for when seated down was coffee. I know, I am such an addict. It's not good you know.

After breakfast, we went down for a swim. Rather, Ashley did. Not swimming but the idea of being in the kids' pool was enough to make her happy. She brought along her float but was contended being at the edge where her feet touched the floor. Lil Em didn't get to do anything of that sort. Why? Well, because I didn't get her a swimsuit, thats why. Oh, it's a long story and to make it short, I just didn't. Tell you another time.

We asked for a late check-out knowing that it will take twice the time with 2 girls. Luckily we did too because we were indeed late. So, off we went to grab what I wanted for lunch - the chicken rice and headed back home.

I must say, we did pretty well considering it was our first time with Em. Would we do it again? I don't think so. Maybe not until she's slightly older, like maybe end of the year or beginning of next. No doubt our lives are much more manageable now that she's walking, sleeping through and basically, is every bit of a one year old. But, for long distance travels, I'll give it a pass for now.

Oh. and another limitation (on me that is) with 2 very young kids is that I wasn't able to get many photos of them and of us as a family. We, the hubs and I, we had to watch out for them constantly. Maybe when they are older, I'll be able to do more with my camera but as of now, I'll be glad if I can get a shot of a naked man sun-bathing!! muahahaha...:-P.