One of those months when we need to do collective shoots for a few issues. My schedule becomes really packed, but once it's done and accomplished memang puas hatilah!

This was during an important Cosmo Cover Star campaign shoot. We shot 10 Cosmo girls and readers will get a chance to vote for the best cover pics. Nampak kasut hitam kat atas tu. The crazy shoes I bought tapi tak mampu nak pakai coz it's so tinggi! So dah jadi ala ala kasut wakaf for shoots. Whenever any of the talents takde super high heels, memang I will standby with this. Cian my Aldo.

Rapunzel! Bila masuk bulan baru, Umaira mesti tanya "bila nak November?" Coz we can't wait to watch one of the best Disney movies ever! Memang sangat best, the girls enjoyed it (Umaira nak jadi Rapunzel, Ulfa nak jadi the Queen coz she loves her green-grey eyes. Daddy tak pasal2 jadi Maximus, and Mummy? Jadi the little girls yang tolong braid rambut Rapunzel, apakah? Umar plak jadi the King tak pasal2 hehehehe...)

Gediks tak? I bought these for the upcoming FFF event. Tak pasal2 Umar buat jadi his toy phone. Sudah tentu menelefon Mummy lah tu. Haihhh...

Inilahnya the infamouse rat I have been updating on FB about. I told you it's HUGE!!! Dan akhirnya it surrendered into our trap sebab lapar rasanya. Who can say no to ikan tenggiri masin heh?
Us at POGH! Inconjunction with tok Baba and tok Mama's 34th anniversary. Lepak sini dua malam, barulah puas...

And yes, we just had to make Mama n Baba jump for the cameras kan? And they are so sporting to actually do it. Love you mama n papa... :)

The anniversary dinner at the CarouselCafe. Flowers bought by Daddy. So cun!

On the way to the pool. Motif gambar ni? Nampak tak padang sekangkang kera yang depa tengah pijak tu? That's where this company had an event here, no tent, and about the same time I took this picture. One of the hotest event I ever attended! Kalau tau depa nak jemur media, mak pakai bikini jek wahahahahaa...

We love the pool walaupun frankly, none of my kids can actually swim. That's why mereka ada bodyguard peribadi in the pool, tak lain tak bukan Daddy tersayang lah hehehehe... And tak pasal2 Daddy juga jadi life guard kat situ sebab ada budak kecik ni nyaris lemas, Daddy sempat tarik.

And oh, Umaira went to the dentist pagi semalam. Memang Mummy berdebar2 drama gitu coz for sure she's going to go thru a traumatic experience. She was excited to go sebab last time she was at a dentist, she only had a check-up. Kali ini, memang can't escape cabut EMPAT (ya, empat) of gigi susu dia yang dah reput, to make way to her gigi kekal. Orang lain kat klinik tu punyalah puji kata Umaira brave sbb nampak rilek jek masuk bilik doctor. Half way, she was already screaming and running around the room, and keluar dari situ, Daddy kena dukung. Sian baby Mummy.
On the way balik, nampak okay skit, so Mummy pun tanya "Nak gi OU tak?" Boleh dia angguk!! Bertuah betul. Untungnya cabut gigi ni, dapat izin doktor untuk makan ice cream siang dan malam, so that's what we gave her. You are indeed a brave girl, Umaira!

Anak angkat kami!! All 10 of them.

Kesimpulan - we always take things around us for granted. Sebab apa? Do you know we have a great turtle sanctuary in Cherating, Pahang? Yang bolehkan guests come and actually set free the babies, FOR FREE? Percayalah, ramai orang tak tahu. Samalah kita. I found out about this pun masa the media trip to Club Med awal tahun ni. Tu pun bila dikejutkan dengan sesi lepaskan anak penyu agar before one of the dinners. But then, I didnt actually know we can actually do that again if we go to the turtle sanctuary itself. I thought, then, it was just part of the programs that they especially made for media.
So, last weekend, when we were at Cherating, we saw the big road sign pasal turtle sanctuary ni. And it was 3 minutes away from our hotel. I thought, why not. Bawak je la anak2 ke situ, kot ada rezeki dapat tengok penyu saja pun dah kira baik.
I googled the place, and was really disappointed that they didnt have an official website. Info on the place was put on some random travel sites, but atleast it's there. And ting!! The place is open at night sampai 7.30am.
So we went there lah lepas dinner. Daddy jumpa pakcik yang jaga tempat tu, and dia bagitau acara lepaskan penyu starts at 10pm. Since it was still early, and Club Med is a forbidden area tu hang around (Turtle Sanctuary tu betul2 sebelah entrance to Club Med Cherating), so kitorang pun balik hotel layan Shout Awards dulu.
Dalam 10 lebe gitu dah sampai balik kat TS (short form ya). Tengok2 manager dia pun ada situ, and paling best, we were the only ones there! Lepas sedekah skit duit untuk "kebajikan" anak2 penyu, the manager gave us 10 ekor anak penyu agar untuk dilepaskan ke laut. But ofcourse, ada lah sesi bergambar2 gedik dengan anak penyu ketakutan tu. Dan yang paling excited sudah tentu Mummy and Daddy, barisan anakanda suma kegelian. Nak sangat bela binatang kat rumah tapi suma kaki geli, ntah apa2.
Then we were taken to the beach, unfortunately, cant take any pictures here sebab satu, it was so dark, I dont think my camera murahan can actually capture anything. And dua, memang takleh amik gambar pun sebab according to pakcik tu, the little penyus are afraid of lights.
So pelan2 kami lepaskan sekor demi sekor anak penyu tu. The experience can't be described by proper words. Simply said, for me, it felt like sending your kid to his/her first day of school - to the unknown. And to think the unknown for these penyu are getting eaten by crabs, jellyfish, birds and big fishes, it's just super scary. And we even got to witness one of the penyu kena makan ngan ketam, betul2 depan mata kami. We tried saving it but the crab was fast. One down, another 9 to go. And I pray hard they survive the open sea.
Overall, the experience was precious. The kids can't stop talking about it. We are so lucky. We are so blessed. Alhamdulillah...
So silalah ya kengkawan, kalau dah sangap sangat tak tau nak buat apa hujung2 minggu. Silalah ke Turtle Sanctuary in Cherating. Like I said, kalau nampak jek signboard Club Med, you wont miss the signboard to the place. And waktu siang, you can go to the centre tengok the older turtles which they keep for research.

Macam pakcik melawat kawasan!

One of the Club Med GOs very hands on with the information at the turtle sanctuary.

Umaira has a list of names of the turtles.




Yang bulat2 biru tu yang belum hatch lagi. Katanya, they hatch after 8pm, lepas 45 hari.




The oh so lovely weather masa kat LPT. Heart!

Sunset in Bali with Zura, Net, Izza, Nana, and Kamali

ugh! Corny tajuk but apa2 jelah. Bcoz i havent been at the beach so tak tau apa kah cantiknya bali ni. But oh, the view at Uluwatu nearing sunset was really nice (and hot). Most of the time it reminded me of the media trip to Bandung. Long drives and traffic. Quite crazy sbb Bali rained and there were many road projects n road closures so had to endure it. But my big butt couldnt bare cramping with other smaller ones, sokmo rasa cramp.
I am not complaining cuma 3 days is NOT enough!! We need atleast 2 days at the beach, full day in ubud (lovely lovely paintings!! Geram...), Seminyak pun full day (if u wanna find dresses n accessories) and a must - try the spa. Rasa mcm nak msuk suma spa yg termuncul dpn mata. Leh ke? Hehehe...
Importantly, dpt gediks2 with the cosmo team outside the opis. Boss pun leh buat tocang dua bila karaoke, gempak tak? Hehe...
Ikh, tetiba tandus idea plak. Mlm tdi rasa mcm2 nak cerita. nnti dulu yaaaa....
(tak bez hapdet guna fon ni, byk gangguan) :p

* Lap habuk, tengok keliling. Haaa, belum bersawang.*
As the title says, yes, we were far far away. We were actually at Far Far Away, as in the land of Fiona the ogre princess. It was our second family gathering including tok baba and mama, aunty malyn and asu. This time our destination was Singapore, main location - Universal Studios. And thank you aunty malyn sebab tolong book the tics. :)

16 Sept 2010: Flight via Firefly at Skypark Terminal. It took a surprising 15 minutes journey from home to the airport. I never realized the Subang airport is THAT nearby. Way convenient than taking a long ride to LCCT or KLIA, jimat pun ya. Had lunch there, sebab had to check in by 1.30pm, our flight was at 2.50pm. Everything was very smooth and mudah. Mula2 tu cuak jugak. Satu, takut Umar buat hal dalam flight but he behaved all the way, syukur! And dua, the flight is actually tiny than usual, so agak bising when taking off.
Sampai budget terminal Singapore, again, sangat suka dengan kebersihan negara jiran tu. We booked a coach van to the hotel (bloody expensive, baik amik cab. Way cheaper if before 5pm, after that kena charge extra 35%). Stayed at Parkroyal on Kitchener Road. The 4 star hotel memang best (see my published review at booking.com k), and paling mengujakan - WE HAD CHARLES AND KEITH OPPOSITE THE HOTEL!! Memang shopping sakan padahal baru jejak Kota Singa.

17 Sept 2010: The day to Universal Studios! Super excited tapi agak cuak sebab langit nampak mendung jek. Takpe, had breakfast kat nearby mamak stall. First time bfast mamak sampai RM40 padahal roti canai and the like jek pun..hehehehe...
We went super adventurous mode. Took the MRT to Harbour Front from Farrer Park. The MRT station staff sangat sangat sangat HELPFUL. And once masuk train, penumpang lain cepat2 bangun sebab they saw the children. Thank you sesangat...
Bila nak naik shuttle bus to UStudios, ujan dah start lebat. Oh no!! Tapi that didnt stop us ofcourse. Sampai juga and we had so much fun, pictures on FB ya. Proof we had lots of fun.

The Lau Pa Sat experience:
Saja nak highlight sebab I am still upset by it. Dah 9 jam berjalan kat UStudios tentulah lapar tak hengat kan. I took my parents to Lau Pa Sat coz after the Anuar Zain concert 2 years ago, me and hubby makan kat situ. Thought my parents will like it too. Ala food court with many food to choose from. I terus bawak kat open air tables knowing hubby suka makan macam tu. Duduk2 situ terus la nak order nasi with a bunch of lauk to share. The waiters yang muncul like 2-3 orang tu masing2 tunjuk la menu depa. But we already set to eat rice so benda lain tolak, termasuklah menu satay. Mana taknya, 10 ayam, 10 daging, and 10 udang sampai $32 which is like more than RM60. And yes I am comparing it with Malaysia's satay sebab nothing beats the satay we have, so we politely declined to order. Lepas beli air, tiba2 one of the waiters datang cakap "akak boleh pindah meja lain tak sebab akak tak order satay, so tak boleh duduk sini." I almost choked on my teh tarik. Nak halau ke? I asked. Mulalah rasa nak menyirap kan, so Papa terus order 10 cucuk satay ayam. Ingatkan okay la kan. But nooo... Bila nasi and our lauks sampai, they didnt allow them to hidangkan coz we need to move table jugak2. La! Kata kalau order satay leh duduk situ, rupa2nya 10 cucuk satay tak cukup ya, coz there r 9 of us. Peegghhh... Malas nak gaduh punya pasal we moved table. Tapi kesimpulannya JANGAN PERGI MAKAN KAT LAU PA SAT sebab peniaga satay gerai nombor 9, with owner bernama Louise tak reti hargai pelanggan, and sampai hati halau pelanggan yang termasuk warga emas. And rupa2nya one of them even made a remark "kalau takde duit janganla makan kat sini." Macam tu ke layan tourists? Like hello, tak hadap la satay ko tu. Nampak sangat tak reti meniaga. And memang I doa no client will go to his place that night, Allah maha Adil, it rained after we moved table. Amik ko!!
And thank you to brother yang meniaga nasi with lauk2 tu sebab dia plak yang beria2 apologized on behalf. Sejuk skit hati.

18 Sept 2010: Last day in Singapore. Final destination: Orchard Road! Though we didnt have any specific location or mall that we wanted to see. Note to self: Must bring stroller when travelling with a 18kg boy!! Sebab dia bulat, dia selalu takleh jalan jauh so bila takleh jalan jauh, kenalah berdukung. and Pegh!!! agak hilang akal gitu. And if you think malls in Singapore ada khidmat sewa strollers, jawapannya tiada ya. So angkut je lah stroller, idaklah susahkan diri gitu...

All in all, we had a wonderful experience despite everything else. It was a great family bonding session. Kalau plan sendiri2 pasti tak kesampaian, so thank you mama and papa for the trip. Mwahs!!