Mummy's entry - Disneyland

We arrived Disneyland about noon. It would have been earlier if we didn't have to wait through the traffic at the parking lot. Think we were stuck about half an hour or so at the entrance and SIL (sister-in-law) said that the amount of cars then were considered mild already! We were there on a Saturday. We were supposed be there the day before but SIL had to work and luckily too that we didn't as the weather was pretty hot as was mentioned by another mommy blogger, Anna (we were supposed to meet up but didn't get to in the end). The weather while we were there was perfect although you can get burnt standing under the sun.

We parked at Goofy parking lot, hehe...they named their parking area according to the main Disney characters. It's a pity though that they didn't dress the parking attendants accordingly. I guess if they did, alot of people would be hanging out at the car park just to take pictures with them.

Luckily we parked near the walkway towards the area where we had to take the tram (not sure what they're really called) so we didn't exactly walked that far.

A point to note, when we were at the parking lot, I couldn't tell exactly where Disneyland was or how big it was. Once, we were brought in to the entrance of Disneyland, I thought that was it but I was wrong. There were two theme parks, one Disneyland and the other was California Adventure Ride. Since time is of essence, we only bought tickets for Disneyland. If I stay in LA, I would definitely bought the annual pass....this is really worth it! But we only got the day pass and luckily, the girl enters for free.

Once we entered, there were already heaps of people everywhere. Being first timers, we didn't know where to go or what to do first. So, we listened to SIL and took the train ride first to get an overview of Disneyland. This also we had to queue! Every ride at Disneyland, you definitely have to queue. Most of the rides have what they call a fast pass whereby you get the tickets for an allocated time so you don't have to queue that long. We only did this for the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Before we went on the train ride, we noticed Mickey and Minnie Mouse were out to take pictures with their fans. I was told before this by hubby that it is not easy to take pictures with these Disney characters, we have to go searching for them. So once we saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse together and also Donald duck on the other side, we chose the former and wanted to line up as well but was told that they will be going off soon and to catch them later. So we went to Donald Duck instead. While lining up, I heard the ushers saying that Donald Duck has only got several minutes left before his show so they stopped new comers from lining up. We were already part of the line so we were safe, or so I thought. Next thing I knew, the usher told us that Donald Duck had to go soon and said don't worry, he will come by to say goodbye real quick. So hubby was preparing to take our pictures while I was carrying the girl waiting for Donald Duck to come to us.

I'm not here to stereotype us Asians (especially when I'm one!) but really, what happened next is really something questionable about the well-known kiasu-ism (hokkien: selfish) Asians are known for. This guy with his girl came out of no where and he wasn't even in the line and cut ours and greeted Donald Duck! Hubby wanted to knock his senses out but hey, we're in happy land so we just gave him the stare but it didn't work. And what's worst, after he had his share of Donald Duck, he didn't leave and was part of our photo too....I'll show you who this a**-h*** is below (the one at the other side of Donald Duck)....not that I want to but he became part of our photo! sigh! And just our luck that we kept bumping into them throughout Disneyland.

After this, we went for the train ride....

a view once you enter after the main entrance of Disneyland, you will only see the pumpkin Mickey now since it's Halloween time!

an overview, we took this while we waited for the train

After the train ride, we stopped at where we started as we left the stroller there. One thing I noticed too, there are strollers parking area throughout Disneyland, something you don't see here in Malaysia. And even if there is in Malaysia, I don't think you would want to. ;) ... Some people even leave their stuff behind on the strollers! I was joking with hubby that even if we were to take a stroller home, no one would noticed! ;)

There is a new ride at Disneyland called the Finding Nemo ride. Too bad that there wasn't any fast pass to this and the queue was so long! We wanted to go for this first since it's new but the long queue put us off and we decided to skip this till later. So we went for the Dumbo one instead. Yes, it's more for the girl....we queued up like 45 mins just for the less than 2 minutes ride! Oh well, at least she enjoyed it....she didn't understand initially why we had to line up and kept fussing and whining that she wants to sit on the dumbo ride. When I explained to her that the people before us have to go first, she didn't like the idea and gave me her sulky face.

entertaining herself while we queued under the hot sun for the Dumbo ride

taking a picture on the stand-alone dumbo, the pics while we were on the ride were in SIL's camera so we don't have any yet

After the Dumbo ride, we went on the carousel. This girl loves the carousel and luckily, the queue wasn't that long. We only waited less than 10 mins.

We had lunch after this and went for our Buzz Lightyear ride with the fast pass that we got. It's so cool that we didn't have to queue!

The girl didn't want to use the gun to shoot so I just let her be and I shot as much as I could! :D

On our way to catch the parade, luckily this girl allowed us to wear the "dog strap" on her but she wasn't use to the "tail" so she would want to hold on to it too!

We managed to catch the parade show after this and boy was it hot standing under the sun. They had two parades that day, one during the day and one during the night and we managed to catch both. The night one was better coz you get to see more lights and also, it was way cooler!

After this, we decided to go for the Nemo ride and it was good timing too coz the girl was very tired by now and she fell asleep while we queued! We queued for 1 hour and 15 minutes!

the submarines of the Nemo ride

Rye Li got up after an hour of zzz, just in time for our ride.

this is what you'll see in the Nemo ride...well one the things anyway!

The Nemo ride is for about 15 minutes and yes, it was worth the wait for us first timers. If you ask me to line up again in the future, no thank you! :D

By the time we got out of the Nemo ride, it was getting dark and we decided to see a few more things before we go home. We went to Pinacchio's house and sat for that ride. After that, we happened to pass by the Small World ride and since it looks good, and the queue wasn't long, we went for that too. This is really a kids' ride as they had displays of little figurines representing most countries of the world while the song "It's a small world" keeps repeating and repeating. While you line up outside, you can already hear the song, so you can imagine by the time halfway through the ride, the song just gets to you or on your nerves! ;)

The girl with her Ah Mai (sil) in the cup of Alice in Wonderland

We happened to come across a stall selling Turkey leg which hubby was dying to have before we headed to Disneyland. And he got one....it was so huge, all 4 of us couldn't even finish it!

We rushed through Toon Town and saw all the main characters' houses. We didn't bother going in nor took any pictures (shows how tired we were already!). On our way out of Disneyland, we stopped by the stores to get some souvenirs. I wanted to get a personalized Mickey Mouse caps for the girl and my niece and nephew too. And luckily I did as while they were waiting for me outside, Mickey Mouse came out to take pictures again. When I came out from the store, I couldn't find them and found them to be lining up at the side, second in tow. I quickly rushed to them, gave Rye Li her cap and she willingly put it on and we took a family picture with Mickey Mouse! This ended the day very nicely indeed.

And when we exited Disneyland to the carpark, the fireworks went off and we got to view them at the carpark. I wish we had more time to cover the rest of Disneyland but this is sufficient for the time-being. Somehow, I got this feeling that the next time Rye Li will be there, it won't be with us, probably with her boyfriend! Hehe!

Mummy's entry - Port Dickson

We went for another holiday over the weekend at Port Dickson (PD). No, this wasn't the holiday I wanted and some of you may ask why so soon when we only got back to KL on Wednesday. Well, my department hit our budget for Quarter 1 and we had an incentive trip to claim. Since my boss is due to explode (deliver) end of the month, she suggested the weekend of the week we were back. I only got to know of this weekend getaway towards the end of our US trip through MSN chat with my boss and colleagues. My boss said that I can bring along the family which my immediate response to her was that it is okay, I had enough of them during this trip. Hehe...but since everyone else were going to bring their partners, how can I just leave mine behind right?! ;)

So off we went to PD on Saturday. It was just for a night so thank goodness there were not many stuff to pack. I haven't even unpack fully our luggages from the US trip.

We stayed at Legends Water Chalets. It's fairly new and also our first time there. Initially, I thought off letting the girl have her fun of playing in the pool but since there were many people at the resort and also, hubby was lazy to take her to the pool, I let her play in the bathtub of our room.

The concept is similar to that of Avillion's but once you enter the room you're right in the bathroom. You have to go through the bathroom to the room. They have a bathtub as well as a shower place that you have the option of drawing open the roof so you can practically shower under the sky.

Since our US trip, Rye Li has associated "hotel room" to that of "big bathtub" and hence, she wants to swim in it when she hears we are staying at the hotel's room. When she found out that we're going to PD, I told her that her papa will take her swimming in the swimming pool but her response was "don want, i wan chwim big bahtub in otel oom" (don't want, I want to swim in the big bathtub in the hotel's room).

While we were in Las Vegas, I didn't allow her to swim in the pool cause the water was cold even though the weather was hot during the day time. So, I let her swim in the bathtub of our room instead. This was where she got the habit. And when we were in San Francisco and Napa Valley, although the hotel's pools were heated ones, I didn't allow her as she was already sick and that the weather was cold. So, she got to swim in the bathtub while she had her bath. This girl likes playing with water, if only I can find a teacher that teaches toddlers how to swim.

Anyway, following are pictures of our PD trip. Will post Disneyland soon....tough to update this blog with heaps of pics. ;)

Hanging out at the balcony:

Hanging out in the room:

by the day bed

on the glass floor in the bathroom

totally confident by now to stand on the glass floor alone, it's kinda scary at night when you had to cross it to go to the toilet

first thing we saw when we got out from the balcony the next morning

Getting ready to go out for dinner

Making a mess on the bed

With Chloe, my colleague's daughter who's 7 and half months younger than Rye Li (most babies are bigger than Rye Li)

A group picture with my team, included the babies too.

Mummy's entry - Las Vegas

This is going to be a long post (with heaps of pics)! :D

We left LA 12 plus in the afternoon, the girl woke up late. We had to wake her up as we didn't want to be too late. Afterall, the drive will take 4-5 hours at least with stops in between. She behaved pretty well in the car, surprisingly. She did get bored which I let her play with her toys or gave her some snacks. She also slept for over an hour, perhaps 2 in the ride (she's getting more sleep than usual and adjusting very well to all the changes).

was kept entertained in the car with her toys

about to reach LV

reaching towards our hotel

We arrived Las Vegas 5 plus in the evening. The hotel we stayed in, Monte Carlo Hotel, was very nice and the room we had was also very nice. It was a bedroom suite since there were 3 of us adults and one kid.

After we checked in and settled down, we took a stroll along the strip, this is the main or happening area at Vegas. The place is huge!

We realized that each hotels have its own theme and all of them will have the usual casino inside, with a shopping lobby, restaurants or food court and other entertainment stuff. Our hotel has all these too and even if you don't leave the hotel, you will be just fine.

We were looking for a place to have dinner but we couldn't decide so we walked and walked. Luckily, the girl was alright with her stroller (if not, I'll surely be suffering from sore arms and back aches now!). We walked all the way to Caesars Palace Hotel, went through it...saw some interesting stuff and decided to head back. By now it's 8pm and we still haven't decided on what to eat. We saw some nice eateries on the way back but we noticed there were all adults and we thought having Rye Li around would be more of a nuisance to them so we walked on. In the end, we settled on McDonalds. Haha.


The weather was hot when we reached there, became cooler when we had our walk but after our dinner, it became colder (maybe coz I had ice cream!) but bearable. When we got back to the hotel, I called room service to get some hot water for the girl to make her milk (the room do not have coffee/tea maker facility - the first I came across for such a nice hotel!) and they wanted to charge me US$4-85 for it! I said it's alright and they suggested I go downstairs to the McDonald's to get some which I did. The girl there was surprised that I asked for some and said it will costs US$0.65 and I agreed (I got no choice!). But in the end, she said it's alright when she passed me back my hot flask, think she didn't feel right charging me. We realised then that everything in Las Vegas is about money....and definitely not baby friendly. Well, at least they have a play pen for babies to sleep in.


Hubby had to work the next 2 days (this was why we planned this trip) so it was just me, the girl and sister-in-law (sil). Thank God that I had sil around or else I will go mad with the girl alone. Haha...I shouldn't be complaining as the girl is pretty well behaved already but she became very attached to me at times and insisted that I do everything for her only, like push her stroller, carry her, change her, feed her, etc so it can be pretty tiring. And when sil tried to intervene, she protested. This girl bullies her Ah Mai at times and when she wants something, she can be so nice to her Ah Mai.

While hubby was working, us girls walked and walked again along the strip. We didn't go that far, just through the shopping malls. Out of all the hotels we went to, I love the Bellagio the best. The decors inside is beautiful and the garden they have inside is really pretty (they change it throughout the year to suit the season and it was autumn and halloween theme). But the best of all is their musical fountain outside. I don't mind just hanging out there the whole day - we managed to catch 3 'shows' while we were there....each time to a different song and different patterns. And it is free to everyone...I was telling sil that I'm surprised it's free coz if it would be back home, we definitely have to pay to watch it. She said that the casino makes loads of money which was why they don't mind spending so much to please it's customers! Makes sense!

the biggest chocolate fountain in the world in Bellagio Hotel

the flowery ceiling at the lobby of Bellagio Hotel

At the center court of Bellagio Hotel....with its Halloween theme

real apples flowing out

at night, the musical fountain is even more beautiful!

our first time trying out this ice cream, nothing to shout about but we found out the girl prefers choc to strawberry

We also shopped in Vegas surprisingly. Hehe...they have outlets too and we got some stuff...I'm so grateful that it's not summer, imagine the summer clothes that I would buy!!! You definitely need loads of money to come to US, I'm already thinking of the big debt I'll be in when I get back from this trip! sigh!

playing around at the Levi's outlet, not easy shopping with a toddler




posing with her new shoes

On our second night, we had dinner without hubby (he was having dinner with his boss) in the buffet restaurant in the casino of our hotel as we had free coupons for 2. Hubby was joking that we probably have to pay for Rye Li since everything needs money (even the gym) but luckily, kids under 3 years eat for free. Anyway, not that she ate that much also.


On our way back to our room, I took some pictures of Rye Li in the casino, something we will not be able to back home. This girl willingly posed for me with a smile too...by the 3rd picture, the security guard came and I apologized to him (he said it's alright) and we quickly got out of there. I think he was there to say that we are not allowed to loiter about rather than taking pictures since there were no signs saying that we can't take photos. This is also another interesting fact I noticed at Las Vegas. There is no dress code in the casino and anyone (even babies and kids) can walk through the casino but they are not allowed to loiter around at the games area. I had to be 21 to enter Gentings back home! Also, the casino was not as smoky as I thought it would be. I was warned that it's very smoky and it's not a place for kids so I was expecting Gentings kind of smoky but compared to Gentings, the casinos at Vegas can be considered very mild already. Haha. Anyway, as much as we had to go through the casinos at times, I made sure it was very quick (except for that photo-taking session) for the girl's sake.

On our third night there, we had dinner with hubby's boss at a very nice Italian restaurant at Mandalay Bay Hotel. I was worried initially that she would misbehave and spoil our dinner and again, she surprised us by behaving very well (I under-estimate my daughter at times). She sat in between sil and I on the couch and let her play there, giving her things to play with and bread to munch on. I think she was very happy with the fact she doesn't need to sit on a hi-chair and she can do whatever she wants there. We ordered a child's meal for her, chicken fingers and when her dish came, we were shocked with its size. It's more like an adult's size back home! This girl only had 2 little bites of the chicken but happily helped herself to the fries. And we introduced her to ketchup this trip and she loves it! She would ask for "sos" (sauce) and dipped her fries in it and just licked the sauce off. She gained a few bad habits from this trip!

trying out the long breadstick

the girl's meal!

helping herself to the fries and sauce only

a picture with the boss at the Shark's reef aquarium

We drove back to LA the next day, stopping by another outlet on the way and the girl was alright with the journey again. Of course, she did get cranky when she was tired and especially towards the end after the long ride which I had to result in tempting her with sweets which worked! ;)

this was how I kept the girl quiet in the car....a lollipop! ;)

would you believe that this is the biggest thermometer in the world? it's on the way to LV! if hubby's boss didn't mention it, we wouldn't even realised what it was!

Mummy’s entry – It’s good to be back!

We’re back in KL and I have to admit that it is good to be back home. Being away for nearly 3 weeks has taught me a lot in many ways in the aspects of being a mom. Will elaborate on this below. Overall, we enjoyed the trip very much with the exception that we felt 2 and a half weeks were kind of long, especially with a baby! ;)

I will be posting more on our trip along the way when I’ve the time (so please bear with me). Updates on Las Vegas will be soon after this once I’ve uploaded the pictures (I’ve actually finished typing out on this a while back during the trip but the downloading of the photos took some time that I didn’t manage to download most of them on time). We took so many pictures for the whole 2 and half weeks we were in US and yes, the bulk of them are all the girl’s pictures. I will remind her for the rest of her life how she enjoyed the trip so much. Haha.

In summary, we were at LA for 2 nights before we headed to Las Vegas for 3 nights and then spent 4 nights at LA in which we went to Disneyland for a day and then we were at Monterey Bay for 2 nights, San Francisco for 2 nights and then a night at Napa Valley. The remaining nights were in LA before we headed back to KL.

On traveling, the girl is a natural born traveler. I am very proud of her in terms on her behaviour on the flights (both going there and returning) and in the car (we traveled around by car). She behaved way better than I expected and adjusted very well to the different environments around her (way better than I).

The poor girl fell sick when we were at San Francisco, no thanks to me as I had a sore throat from the lack of sleep and exhaustion. She had it worst as she also got the flu but luckily, she didn’t get a fever nor was her mood affected by this. She was still her usual cheekily self. However, her cough was so bad that she vomited twice, once at the hotel’s bed during the night while she slept and the other, when we were at Timberland’s outlet in Napa Valley. We managed to get some medicine recommended by sil’s friend’s dad who is a paed which helped the girl but still she had her cough although no more vomiting.

During the night of our second last day at LA, the girl coughed out her phlegm which had blood in it. We were worried sick about it and thought that it could be due to the medicine. When we wanted to purchase the medicine at San Francisco, the pharmacy said that they couldn’t sell it to us as it was one of the medicines that were recalled back 2 weeks back. Somehow, the Targets at Napa Valley also had it on their shelves and sil managed to buy it. The medicine worked for Rye Li but due to the blood in her phlegm that night, we had doubts on the medicine and went online to check it out. Luckily, it wasn’t one of the medicines that were recalled although another medicine under the same brand was recalled. And what they had to say about the medicines that were recalled was that it can pose danger when there is an overdose and this can lead to death. Nothing else of any other dangers were mentioned.

Also, while we were checking online, the girl coughed again badly and this time she coughed out some milk that she had drank earlier which shows no sign of blood. This reassured us a little and also the fact that Rye Li is still her usual self. And whatever phlegm she managed to cough out after that shows no trace of blood. But we felt that we should take her to see her doctor once we landed in KL on Wednesday. We took her to see another paed (her doctor was not in) and he said that she’s just having the common flu once he managed to check her. He assured us that the blood could be due a blood vessel that burst while she was coughing so hard which was also what we thought it was. He also said that the medicine was alright to use and only to give her if she coughs badly, no need 4 times a day. He told us to let her heal on her own if can. Since then, we have yet to give her the medicine as her cough is getting better.

Okay, now here’s the part where I’m going to sound like a bad mom. This holiday has exhausted me, both mentally and physically. It is not easy traveling with a toddler. Full stop. Yes, I mentioned above how good a traveler Rye Li was but I was not prepared with how I will be coping with her 24 hours constantly, with her demands most of the time. These 3 weeks, since my confinement time with her when she was born, has been the longest time that I’ve spent 24 hours with her daily. It could be due to the fact of the changes in the environment that she became very clingy to me. She wanted me most of the time, to push her stroller (no one else can push but I), to carry her when she didn’t want to sit on the stroller and of course, when she was tired and cranky. Her papa and Ah Mai (sister-in-law) tried to help most of the times to get her away from me but still after a while, she would want me. Of course I love the fact that she wants my attention and when she sees me after I was out of her sight for a while, she would give me a big smile and go “MUMMY!” and run to me with open arms. But when she got so demanding, it really got to me.

And since she is already talking, I had to response to her all the time, if not, she will repeat calling me till she gets a response. This got to my nerves, especially when I was so tired. When I’m in a good mood, I will entertain her. But when I’m tired, I will ignore her and tolerated her calling me literary hundreds of times. I regret to say that there were a few outbursts from me to her. No, I didn’t ask her to shut up although I so badly wanted to nor did I smack her (although I did warn her several times when she was naughty). It was just a loud rude response like “WHAT RYE LI, WHAT DO YOU WANT?” etc. Her papa will take over when he knows I’m already in one of those “dangerous” moods.

Honestly, towards the end of the trip, my only comfort was when I was in the bathroom having my shower. My showers never felt so good before, so good that I didn’t want to come out from there. Hehe, ok, it’s more of coz the weather was cold and a hot shower was just so welcoming! And perhaps with the fact that I don’t have the little one calling me Mummy every 2 seconds. ;)

Please, again, don’t get me wrong. I love Rye Li to bits and she means the world to me. I guess I am used to the full time working mom situation that when I have my kid 24 hours for the longest time, it just gets to me. Weekends are fine….although I do have outbursts when she’s testing my patience when I’m just in one of my foul moods. Haha.

I really do not know how SAHMs (stay at home mom) manage this, let alone those with more than 1 kid without any help at all. Whatever it is, you moms have my total utmost respects. I guess when I am put into this situation as well, I would eventually learn how to deal with it. But for now, I am happy to be back home like how it was. Me working during the day and Rye Li is at the daycare.

For the record, when I sent her off at the daycare the next morning, it was such a relief. But by lunch time, I actually missed her and was looking forward to seeing her that evening. Ah, motherhood! You just got to love it!

I need another holiday to recuperate…without the girl and hubby (why hubby too coz the girl relies on either one of us to be with her at nights). But in reality, this holiday I want will not be happening for a longest time. Rye Li is just darn lucky that we cannot leave her behind. So, I just need to constantly remind myself that I need more patience! :