A short trip with the kids

We had a short trip to Johor not a while back, and proud to say it was a successful first-time, short trip with the kids  twins while we follow Daddy to work.  The twins are already 3 years + and both of us never dared to bring them anywhere except balik kampung.  We used to spend short trips nearby when we only had Kakak.  It was too much to think about carrying 2 babies at once when travelling in our small.. small.. small.. car, and too many things to carry :P Don't expect a write up on overseas trip from me, at least not yet hahahaa,

Anyway, Mr B had a job to be done at Johor Premium Outlet, so it was a work-fun trip. Work for Mr B, fun for the kids and ah well, not so fun for Mommy where she gets to watch her kids having fun hahaha.  We spent 1 night there, mostly in hotel because Mr B ended up working most of the time.  Imagine my to-do list before going was like 1001, but we ended up doing only 1..

I was assigned to book us accommodation, which was of course reimbursable by the Company, so basically there was a limit.  I had to find somewhere cheap, comfortable, with swimming pool, huge bed, bath tub, and nearby the JPO.  So I went on booking.com and got us Le Grandeur Palm Resorts.  It is about 10-15 minutes to JPO.  Anything more than what Mr B's company can reimburse we'll have to top-up.

After reading several online review about Le Grandeur I decided that the place was probably gonna be an old hotel with lodsa refurbishment needed but somewhat convenient for myself and the kids given the facilities available.  Dahla pergi pun teman Mr B keje... not gonna be much of leisure or jalan-jalan cari makan trip la.  Just wana be away from all the shit normal stuff...

At the time of writing this post I was already thinking why was it that I did not remember to buy the inflatable mattress (which we bought just before raya).  Seriously tak terfikir masa tu.

I think we got ourselves the 'extra large double bed' or something, I can't remember.
But all of us can bunk in here all at once.  

 We had very little time with Mr B, but plenty of time to enjoy this room, me and the kids.  It was all mandi in the bath tub, another round at the pool and then bath tub again and the pool, it's been that or lazing around in the bed.

The room was very spacious for all of us.

Kids already screaming 'we wanna go mandi mom please pretty please.'

Nice and windy at 6pm. 

Pool was ok, huge but already looking very old.  

 Ok there was so much photos of the kids in the pool and hotel room because that was all we did other than hanging out at the JPO itself to do some Raya shopping, then we all went cari makan at Danga Bay for dinner and Kilang Bateri for late lunch the next day before we head back to KL.

My thought of JPO did not change since the first time I came here last time, any high street brands you find here are not much cheaper than those in KL.  Guys I even thought that my GAP 50% membership discounts gave me better offer than JPOs.  But if you happen to be here with intention to shop, well maybe... Maybe there were some that were really cheap, like handbags maybe.

These girls, all they care about is ice-cream *roll eyes* so having Baskin Robin while waiting for Daddy was fun for them.

The special thing about Johor I guess is also food varieties you can find here.  We obviously didn't get to explore much due to limited time.  But we made it to Danga Bay (no photos as princesses fell asleep on the way to dinner and Mr B decided to tapau back to hotel and we ended up eating in the room when the girls are wide awake).  Kiddos loved the ikan bakar soo much it was like one huge fish wasn't enough for all of us here. 

Then before we head back to KL we had our late lunch at this 'Kilang Bateri'.  Ok I should've taken the photo outside hahahaha because it was quite cool with vintage car and all but I didn't because we had cranky kids with us.  Seriously guys this place WAS a kilang bateri.  It is now a hipster cafe/ food court with varieties to choose from.  I loved this place.   Interior was super cool and of course clean, so many food to choose from and the price was shockingly cheap also.  Once you've filled your stomach you can pay a visit at their hipster vendor shops around this Kilang Bateri.  I found those shops pretty cheap.  I bet parking will be disastrous had we come at peak hours which thankfully we did not.  

I was running out of battery so this was one of the 2 photos I managed to take of 'Kilang Bateri'

My poor attempt to take 'panorama' shot on iphone hahaha

Anyway what I realised from this trip was that it didn't take expensive activities or places to make my kids happy.  It was the togetherness, and spending the time with them that they appreciated so much of this trip.  I bet they won't remember places that we've been to, but they will remember somewhere in that memory , I was there with them... Not just elsewhere too busy making a living that I myself have forgotten to live...