Thankful Tuesdays: Away on adventures

We've been away on an adventure.  We went on this trip to Malaysia to settle Baby J's application for Malaysian citizenship, as well as to collect Junior J's documents for citizenship.  Our first venture overseas as a family of four!  Its been quite a trip... We survived the almost 5 hour drive up to Putrajaya.  We timed it during Junior J's nap, but the brothers took turns waking each other up (baby J had a couple of long-drawn screaming sessions in the car seat), so the older boy hardly napped and had a meltdown when we reached the hotel ("I don't want to be in KL! I want to go hooooommmmmeeeee! GO HOME GO HOME!", along with screaming and crying).

Baby J has been having bad reflux and threw up on me 3 times thus far, and Junior J also threw up once when he got too excited playing after a heavy breakfast.  The baby also had a mega poop that leaked all over us.  The toilet seems to always be filled with a whole line of dripping laundry... and I think the hotel staff aren't too fond of us at the rate we've been requesting for changes in quilts and bedsheets.  They might probably ban us from there in the future!

Puke aside, its been quite a pleasant trip, and I think we've all been enjoying ourselves.  We've not visited many places, save for the Alamanda shopping centre to get a few things, JPN for citizenship matters and the wetlands park area where there were storks, pelicans and ducks galore... plus loads of white furry caterpillars (we saw one and thought it was cute, then we spotted 2 more, and thought that was cool... and then we realized the whole ground was actually crawling with them, and decided to make a run for it!).  We've been taking things easy, just hanging out at the pool and having long leisurely breakfasts.

So this week, I am thankful for:

:: God's protection and journey mercies.

:: This short break of 4 days where we can just hang out together as a family, making up silly songs (like about baby J being "the smallest fry with the loudest cry") and having meals together.

:: Being able to catch up on sleep for the past few days (I've been sleeping much earlier as we have to keep the lights off for the kids, and its nice not having to wake up earlier to prepare breakfast!).

:: The warm sunny weather in Malaysia... and ice-cold drinks when it gets too hot.

Pink drink in pink cup.  Don't you love the cheery colour of bundung?

:: Lovely staff at JPN that helped to make the application process as quick as possible (even though their  computer systems went down for some time), seeing that we had a 3 month old baby in tow.

:: Yummy curry and local food.  Yummy Japanese food.  Hearty breakfasts.

:: Having a nice big bed with clean sheets to collapse into at the end of each day:

:: Simple things that keep little minds occupied.  I didn't bring any toys for the kids this round (save for some art materials, Junior J's bear and a magnifying glass that the boy has been fascinated with).  Baby J has been content to just gurgle at us, while Junior J has been finding his own things to play with: leaves gleaned from walks, shells from a Japanese dinner that can be shaken in a coffee cup...

:: Splashing good times at the pool for the big boys...

... and fuzzy robes to wrap those who aren't too fond of the water (he screamed when we tried to put him in!):

:: New milestones: Baby J has been playing with his hands nowadays and loves trying to pat our faces... And his brother is now able to poop in public toilets (something he used to be afraid of doing, which meant that we had to stay home if he didn't go for a day)!  That also means the boy is eating a lot better.  I'm glad that we decided to cook his meals (so that we didn't have to worry about MSG, and we get to eat our spicy food), so no regrets dragging the mini-steamer along with all the food to cook!

Have a blessed week, friends, and don't forget to count your blessings!  

What are you thankful for?

PS: We'll be having our first grateful gathering on the 31st of Jan, where you can link up on Tuesdays and give thanks along with other bloggers. Stay tuned for more details!