A wkend getaway to the Highlands....

For a long time we haven't travelled with the extended family and this Labour day we have made our way up in 2 cars to the Genting Highlands....that Sat morning we headed off early to avoid any possible jam....Ian was still zzzing when mama told him it's HOTEL time and his eyes immediately open to jump up for the trip! Was abit apprehensive of the LONG drive up to KL (to have lunch before Ian could take his nap) but it was quite gd....he was entertained by dayi in the car and when the adults were snoozing, Ian could just gaze outside the window and check the passing vehicles wo dozing off...it was a gd trip after all!
After 3hrs+, we finally reached a place for lunch and it was at this Nando's restaurant where they serve quite yummy chicken! Here we are taking a break from the long trip before we head up to the Highlands!

Here we are happily waiting to check into the Awana Resort and all are upbeat of the stay at the resort!

The resort stay comes with return skyride to the top of the hill and being PH it was super long queue for the skyride but it's worth the while with the nice ride up and the kids were happy to take the 'cable car' since we dun quite have it in Spore now

Here we are at 1 of the hotel's restaurant for dinner buffet and all of us were gulping up the food and fruit! Here's the family in red...in order not to lose each other in the busy place, oh boy there were like tons and tons of pple at this highlands

After the dinner, we were in for a fireworks treat! Yeah it was a labour day fireworks which was gonna be viewed at the outdoor theme park! Guess we were all caught by surprise that there was ever such a grand celebration at the highlands....guess we have this affinity with fireworks in Msia coz we chanced into it when we last went Melaka over the new yr wkend....but this fireworks just fell in front of us, as if we could catch them but it proved abit too loud for Ian who was trying to hide on daddy's shoulders!

The rest of us just enjoyed the generous fireworks in celebration of the Labour Day! Guess we were just happy with the pleasant surprise!

Day 2 - To the Strawberry Park and theme park!

Just driving ard, we found out there was a strawberry park at the middle of the hill (close to where we were staying!) and we could pick strawberries on our own...this is kindof a dream we wanted to do in Aust last yr but it wasn't in season...well well here we are!

This place had lots of strawberry stuff, even the fountain was full of strawberries.....and we must capture a family shot here hehehe

Here are the 'farmers' before setting off to pick their strawberries with their baskets and scissors....yes, scissors to cut off the fresh strawberries

Here's Ian with jiu2 in their strawberries picking and Ian's most happy to have the scissors to cut the strawberries...and jiu2 was teaching Ian to pick BIG red strawberries to bring home

And here we are for the strawberries picking as well and must say its quite fun just hopping from plant to plant just to choose ur red juicy strawberries altho we gotta pay them by the grams

Other than crazy over strawberries, they were selling lots of stuff that has strawberries on them and for 1, the kids were crazy over the strawberry UMBRELLAS!!! Yes....all wanted a hold on 1 of the brollies...wonder why kids are so crazy over umbrellas

After we deem strawberry umbrella was for gals, the 2 boys just went under Joy's umbrella to capture a shot and dun they look happy just holding the umbrella....

How could the boys just stay contented looking at Joy holding onto her umbrella and not them...sigh and they ended up having 1 umbrella each, complimentary of dayi and po2! And Ian had a HUGE umbrella coz they din have a purple small one....hhmm well we could use this umbrella to go out when it rains tho its kind of girly coz its abit lacey

Then we headed to the indoor theme park and after Ian's nap, daddy was quite fast in getting a ticket for him and off they went to the horsey rides....this was quite gd to start Ian off for the rides coz this was abit like those kiddy rides but since we paid a day price so he could take endlessly which was quite worth....tho the queue can be alittle long wait but well its alright for the RM$26 ticket!

After some rides, we met up with the rest of the folks for lunch at a Chinese restaurant there and Ian was most hungry after a nap and some rides....he was gulping up noodles, rice and even dim sum..here he is with the 3 egg tarts dictating that it for gor2, jie2 and himself...not even for mama and daddy sigh
Anw soon we were off for Ian's rides but he was going with Aunty Lorraine coz we reckon we dun need to spend $$ on adults tics since Aunty Lorraine and Jiu2 already had the band to play in the theme park so it was quite nice Ian could be with Aunty Lorraine while daddy and mama went shopping for a while =)

here we are sending off the 2 kids with their Aunty Lorraine and Jiu2 on this monorail ride which took quite long ie 40 mins but guess they could see the indoor and outdoor theme park so might be quite worth the long ride....manage to capture them in the cabin coz it was kindof tough capturing pics since they are on the rails which is quite high

After some shopping, we tried to look ard for Ian on the rides and were quite glad we found Ian with Aunty Lorraine on the ferris wheel coz later Aunty Lorraine told us after the long queue for the ferries wheel, Ian was asking for us and while in the cabin they managed to find us waving at them and Ian was quite relaxed thereafter....guess he was so happy with Aunty Lorraine he was in fact waving happily and endlessly at us...

And there he is coming out of the ferries wheel which had the longest queue of all the rides the kids took! Guess coz it goes 10 rounds for each cabin so that was why it's a long wait but this was picked up Ian (as Lorraine told us later this was requested by Ian after he was out from monorail!)

And then it was to the horsey ride again after Joy's up from her nap and here are the 2 kids on the horses they have specifically chosen! And Ian's relaxed after taking so many times

And here are the 2 little ones on the train rides...this was 1 of the few rides that rarely had queue...wonder why nonetheless the kids had a chance to sit at the front, at the centre and back of the train so they took 3 times in total....poor Lorraine had to go up and down with them =p

Here are the 2 little ones queuing up for the Reindeer rides....

Then we met up with jiu2 and seth gor2 (who went for the outdoor theme park) for the gondola rides and glad we made it for the ride coz while they were on the gondola rides, 1 of the gondola hit onto the side wall and the gondola svc ended just after they came back....glad their gondola din meet any such 'accident' and they were happily singing all songs on the ride....such a nice 'Venice' trip huh hehhee

And then it was Bumper car....Ian was abit hesitant abt taking the car ride coz of the noise but after some time of viewing how it worked he was relaxed to sit beside seth gor2 who drove the car and each time he bumped into another car, Ian would stare quite hard at the other kid and must be wondering how come the 2 cars must collide hahaha guess will gotta wait till he's bigger like Seth then he could manovere the car on his own but was quite an experience

And then it was the reindeer ride again except this time its with Seth and Jiu2

And then it was the end of the day with all the theme parks band coming together to end the day of endless rides and fun, just thanks to Aunty Lorraine and Jiu2 who kindly looked after the kids n taking the rides with them & of coz having to entertain them while waiting in the long queues!

It was a day of fun for the kids at the theme park and then when we returned back to the hotel, it was supper time by dayi and here's Ian eating the burger and fries and of coz playing dayi's i-touch games!

Day 3- bidding farewell to the Highlands

After the brekky, we checked out and hit to KL where we had some time of shopping at the Tesco and here is Ian on his train rides which was complimentary of ah gong and he sat for at least 3 times sigh gd thing it was only RM 50cents

Then we had a finale lunch at this nice lunch place which ah baa has brought us here so many times but we just loved the food and this special dessert which is sweet potato but coated with some honey syrup and its super yummy and the price is reasonable and it's away from the crowd coz its at some industrial park....nice to end the trip with this yummy lunch =)

It was a nice wkend getaway with the extended family and wish we could stay longer hahaha well another time we guess but it was more than 20 yrs ago when the Chng clan came for Genting trip and the place has changed so much and this time we are coming back with 3 generations and so much laughter with the younger kids and it was our 1st road trip together and there was so much love and joy at every meal we share =)