Hotel Penaga, Penang

During our recent Penang holiday, we stayed at a heritage boutique hotel called Hotel Penaga. The hotel itself is converted from a row of pre-war shop lots and it's located along the heritage trail. Absolutely loved it! Nice heritage feel but with all the modern amenities for a comfortable stay.

I took plenty of photos :)

The room was big!

Elyssa on the comfy king sized 4 poster bed

TV, Writing table and Lazy chair

Sofa

Erin in the Playpen we requested
(actually, that's for Elyssa to sleep since Erin has to sleep next to me)

Bathroom Door with Stained Glass Panels

Yay! Jacuzzi in the bathroom!

Shower area with SIX shower heads!

Bathtime for Erin

The girl really enjoyed the jacuzzi

Even the corridors had plenty of character!

Sofa and other furnishings at the end of the corridor

Hubs sitting by the pool, doing what he does a lot...

(pssst : is it just me or I am the only wifey who feels like throwing the phone away???)

Elyssa enjoying the pool with her cousins
I like the glass panel at the side! One end of the pool also has a jacuzzi effect with the touch of a button. Nice!
On far end of the photo is my SIL carrying baby Erin. Snapped this photo just before going for my 1 hour massage at the spa. Absolute bliss!!!!! :)

One for the album
Little Miss Bossy Elyssa literally commanded her older cousins("OK, EVERYBODY COME HERE! MY MUMMY WANT TO TAKE PHOTO! FASTER! COME!") to pose when she saw my camera. Adoi.

I have more photos and more stories to tell, but Elyssa is whining next to me now, so will continue later.

Being a Moo Moo in the Office

Yay, I have succesfully worked and pumped milk in the office for 6 months now!
Not too bad for someone who struggled and struggled with breastfeeding from Day 1. *pat myself on the back*

Baby Erin will be 9 months old in two days time :-)

Little Model

Ooo... I like these 2 photos that hubby took during our Penang trip last weekend :)
Reminds me of those old style photo studio shots.

Baby Erin @ Pinang Peranakan House, Penang

No time to write though. Will update more about the Penang holiday later.

"Just Another Day......"

Typical weekday at my parent's place -

Story Book Time

Run n Chase Time

or Crawl n Chase, for Erin ;)

Singing Song Time

Hugs n Kisses Goodbye

Yup, "just another day" for the kids with their grandparents during weekdays. A day that's Full of Fun and Full of Constructive Activities (almost nil tv time)
Full of l-o-v-e from the grandparents. Such a lucky lot indeed!

Sometimes, I don't know how or even where to start counting my blessings! :-)

Elyssa as a Jie Jie (1)

"Come Erin, jie jie give you milk-milk"

"Oh milk come out already. Jie Jie wipe for you"

"Be a good girl ok? Finish your milk"

Awwww... such a sweet and loving jie jie eh??
(but actually about 3/4 way, she said "nah mummy, you feed" and then went to play Ipad. Hmmph.)

Baking Classes @ Caramel Factory

Move aside Retail Therapy....
Cos I've found something wayyyy better - Baking Therapy!!

I just spent two happy Sunday afternoons attending baking classes @ Caramel Factory. :)
Classes at Caramel Factory are taught by the very pleasant Japanese proprietor called Tomoko.

My first class - Japanese Souffle Cheesecake and Diamant Vanille

Tomoko explaining the recipe

Basically, the class is structured this way-
a) Tomoko explains the ingredients in the recipe
b) She does a demonstration
c) We have a hands-on session. Mostly solo, but sometimes we partner up to share the baking equipment
-repeat b) and c), depending on the complexity of the recipe and if there's a second recipe.
d) Tea time! She normally makes a batch (of the recipe of the day) for us to enjoy with a cup of tea.
e) sometimes repeat b) and c)
f) Oven pings. We get to see the fruits of our labour. Pack 'em and go home with huge smile on face. :)

I like it that the classes are purposely kept small. Around 8pax only for the two classes I attended. So there's plenty of time to ask questions and call for help! (my standard call for help - "Tomoko, Tomoko, this one can already ah???" he he). And she patiently answers all my silly novice baker questions too.

Demonstration Time

My Baking Station

Tea & Cookies (Cheesecake not in photo) while waiting for our cakes in the oven

What I baked - all ready to bring home
(no photos of the making process cos hands dirty)

Elyssa with the cheesecake I baked :)

My Second Class - Vanilla Swirl and Red Velvet Cupcakes

Me piping cream cheese topping on the red velvet cupcakes
(photo pinched from Caramel Factory's FB page)

Ta da...... my completed cupcakes

Elyssa with my cupcakes

Yummmm....
She asked me to bake the cupcakes for her to bring to school on her upcoming 4th birthday

I want to go to school! Wahhhhhh!!!!

I was a little undecided whether to let Elyssa go to school on Tuesday morning. She coughed quite a bit on Monday night, but seemed ok in the morning. She was still very keen to go to school though. I told her that if she didn't cough from then till I got ready, she could go to school. She happily agreed.

.

Few seconds later, I heard a stifled cough.

Elyssa : "Nothing mummy" (she gave me a huge fake smile)

Ok, I let that go.

.

Few seconds later, another cough.

Me : That was a cough.

Elyssa : Oh mummy. That wasn't a cough. That was just a funny sound coming from my throat!

Me: ??????????

.

.

She coughed quite a bit after that so I decided, NO she shouldn't go school. Explained to her that she may make her friends sick, she may vomit in school, her friend's mummy will be angry with mummy bla bla bla but she started crying her eyes out. She kept saying " I want to go to school, I want to go to school" She also gave me all sorts of reasons -

.

.

I PROMISE I won't cough!

I PROMISE I won't vomit!

(huh? kept telling her it's not something she could control)

.

I promise to be a good girl!

Come mummy, pinky promise.

(huh? told her it's ok to be sick. Mummy and daddy also sometimes get sick)

.

I'm SORRY mummy!

(huh? kept telling her it was not her fault she was sick)

.

Whatever reasoning just failed. In the end, I just grabbed her school bag and asked her to get into the car as I really needed to go to work already. She quietened down but started wailing again when I went to my parents place instead of the kindy. She just refused to get down from the car.

.

Carried her down kicking and screaming. My mum asked me to just go ahead to go to work.

.

About an hour later, I called and my mum said "I managed to distract her. She's happily playing in the garden now". (Phew! Thank goodness for grandparents and their "magic touch"!)

.

Aiyo. What a dramatic day.

Well, at least I know that she LOVES going to school!