Over the school holidays...

The kids had a long 3 week school holiday. For the first week, Hubby and I went to Sipadan for our diving holiday. We left the children with Grandma and Grandpa, so for that grievous offense, we spent the next two weeks redeeming ourselves by bringing them out and showing them a good time! :) Besides, Sis no. 1 and 4 were back from Singapore with their little boys, so there were plenty of kid-friendly activities on the to-do list.

First up was cousin Amanda and Amelie's birthday party. They are both sisters and share the same Birthday! Big Sis Amanda says that Little Amelie was her birthday present when she was born! Awww...

Anyway, we also celebrated Father's Day that day, a week early, because Big Sis was heading back to Singapore earlier and would miss the actual day. All the kids had a great time making fondant decorations for the cake and playing with water balloons at the patio. The adults indulged in food, food more food and also gossip.

We made a trip to Semenggoh, a wildlife forest reserve, specially dedicated to the preservation of orang utans. It was a short drive from town, and when we got there, we had to walk a bit through the jungle to reach the place where they feed the orang utans. We got there just in time for feeding, and could see the monkeys coming for food. The viewing area was quite a distance away, so we could only see them far up in the trees.

After the feeding, we went to another part of the sanctuary where the more tamed orang utans hung out (literally). Here, we could see them up close and the smaller ones were so cute! The large adults however are very strong and can cause serious injury if provoked! I think this is why we were not allowed to bring along any food or drinks.

After that, we went to visit Grandma's grave which was nearby. It was a hot day, so we rewarded ourselves with some ice kacang (sweet ice desert) and rojak before heading home.

There was also a trip to the Friendship Park to feed the fishes in the pond. The kids brought along their scooters, wave boards and roller blades and had a grand time falling all over the place!

We managed to squeeze in a movie session as well. We went to MBO Cineplex at The Spring. There were so many kids ranging  from 1 year to 11 years, that we split up into 3 groups! One younger and 'girlier' group went to watch 'Nanny Mc Phee', while another older and 'boyier' group went for 'Karate Kid'. Another group of three mummies, a maid and three babies decided to go shopping instead. There were altogether 23 of us! 5 mummies, 3 maids and 15 kids!! (note that all Daddies 'ran far, far' away!!)  :)

We also had swimming sessions at our condo and also at the Sarawak Club. Cousin Ethan also celebrated his birthday at the condo poolside. He turned 6 and this was the first time he's celebrated his birthday in Kuching!

All too soon, it was time to go home for the Singaporeans, and time to go to school for the Malaysians! It's always fun when they come home for the holidays. I think I'll plan for us to visit them instead, maybe the end of the year, when the school holidays start once again... that would be nice...