A Spontaneous 3D2N Road Trip to Johor

 I love road trips.

We used to go on them frequently with the firstborn in Sweden since we could drive around on weekends and we loved to explore different cities.

I remember we took my aunt and grandma on a road trip when they visited us in Scandinavia and a memorable highlight was that we had breakfast in Karlskrona, Sweden, lunch in Copenhagen, Denmark and dinner in Berlin, Germany. Yes, three beautiful cities in three different countries within a day. How cool was that, right?

Fast forward to now, travelling as a family of six is harder and not to mention, way more costly. In June 2024, we decided to go on a short 3D2N road trip with the kids. Even though it was to Johor only and we only firmed up things at the very last minute, we were all feeling pretty enthusiastic and excited about it. In fact, any short getaway is always welcome as we can get away from the hustle ans bustle and spend time bonding as a family.

Here's sharing our itinerary and all the activities we did.

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DAY 1

We set off in the morning and the first stop was to have a nice Dim Sum breakfast at Gim Cheng restaurant. The food was yummy, and the prices were more than reasonable. With our tummies filled, we then set off for our main highlight of the day - Desaru Mini Zoo.

Remember when we brought our parents and had a self-drive trip in Desaru in 2023? While we covered most of the places that we wanted to back then, there was one that we missed out - Desaru Mini Zoo. That was why the hubby suggested that we make our way there this time round and that was what we did.

Knowing how much the kids love animals, especially feeding them, we decided to leave a whole day for exploring this place and boy was I glad that we did.

We bought the kids a basket of food for feeding at RM20 each which was a really good deal considering the number of animals we could feed. Entrance fee was RM20 per pax, children under 3 can enter for free.

Let's see, these include ostriches, donkeys, camels, cows, chickens, ducks, geese, goats, rabbits, peacocks, swans and more. Since we had time, we took things at a leisurely pace and didn't rush the kids, instead we let them do what they wanted, be it feeding and interacting with the animals.

We were allowed to feed milk to the baby goats for 5 rinngit per milk bottle which delighted the kids, both human and goats haha.

Besides animal feeding, there are also other activities for the kids to play including tank riding, longkang fishing, ATV riding and more. You gotta top up a fee but I think the chargeables are reasonable, for instance you pay RM10 for 20 minutes of longkang fishing.

The kids had an unanimous favourite place and that was the patting corner. We were here for a couple of hours because they really enjoyed stroking and patting the adorable ducklings, chicks and guinea pigs.

There were also other more exotic animals we could hold including skinks, hedgehogs, corn snakes amd bearded dragons. One thing I am sure of - my kids are braver than me! Haha. 

We also got up close with a very adorable baby raccoon who allowed us to hold and cuddle him. It's not often that we get to interact with raccons so this was a first for some of the kids.

This sailfin dragon is majestic looking yet tame to touch but while the rest of us were a bit intimidated by its size, the firstborn didn't hesitate much before she carried it on her forearm and she did it as if it was really easy peasy. Yup, I can't do that for sure.

But give me chickens, even giant ones, and I will gladly do it. Which is exactly what I did when we were allowed to enter the chicken coop. They are really feathery and heavy, yeah?

There is also a small Little Bee indoor playground that we let the boys have fun in before wrapping it up in Desaru and making our way back to Johor Bahru where we were going to stay in an apartment close to Legoland.

But GUESS WHAT? We had a punctured tyre not long after which forced us to stop by the side of the road. As we could not seem to to able to call a tow truck or any tyre changing service, the hubby had to figure out how to DIY which was exactly what he did with the help of the firstborn. It was a first experience for us and after lots of sweat and dirt, we managed to make do with the spare, smaller spare tyre we had in the car and it tided us till the next day morning when the hubby drove to an workshop to get it fixed.

To reward ourselves, we had dinner at a nearby restaurant called Super Lobster Village where we ironically didn't order lobster but enjoyed some of the other cheaper, yummy dishes. Then we finally arrived at D' Pristine Apartment, which is located opposite Medini Mall and within walking distance to Legoland, before we called it a night. Phew, what an eventful day!

DAY 2

Our initial plan was to visit Legoland on Day 2 but when we did a check the last night and I realised that the theme park would be closed. Yup, that meant that we had to alter our plans which wasn't that hard since we didn't have a solid plan after all, haha. So we did a bit of research online and decided to pay a visit to Paradigm Mall, which was about a 20-minute drive away.

The first thing we saw was kiddy car rides so after having a simple lunch at the food court, the boys came here to have some fun. It's nice that the malls here are so spacious for them to drive around because that is what we usually don't get in Singapore. 

After that, we hopped by the arcade for some fun because it never fails to delight the kids. It is also much cheaper than playing in Singapore so we usually let the kids play and have fun at some of their favourite games.

Then we decided to split up and I brought the girls to the Blue Ice skating rink located on Level 3 of the mall. It was fun and I have to say that my girls are braver than me and are not afraid of falling! We had a good one hour of skating fun and it was nice spending some time with the big kids while the hubby took the younger ones.

Yes, the hubby isn't a fan of ice skating as he is flat-footed so it made more sense for him to stay with the boys and they visited the Pinkfong Baby Shark Adventure Ville located on Level 2. He said he paid RM38 for each kid and could stay for unlimited time, good deal, right? In fact, they could exit and re-enter as long as it was within the same day. Moreover, the park was huge and had many different play zones for the boys to explore and it was no wonder that they had a huge blast.

In the evening, we decided to hit the road again so we drove and made our way to Mount Austin. Our first stop was Chow Q 2.0, a dog cafe that was recommended by the hubby's friends and it was very much welcome by the kids too. Not only did we get to pat, stroke, cuddle and carry the dogs, we also bought lots of pellets to feed them too. The kids loved that there was a small dog zone and this was where we stayed for most of the visit.

Check out how cute these dogs are! The girls especially loved them and were reluctant to leave so our dinner time became nearly supper time, haha.

Where did we go to eat? Well, we couldn't miss out on the infamous Dai Tao Lala Hotpot which was located nearby. It was sooooooo good that we wished we had known about it sooner! The ingredients were fresh, the lalas were juicy, the fire was intriguing and the kids also loved the yummy fried chicken too!

Think we would have called it a night? Neh, it's holidays after all so we decided to head back to Paradigm Mall to catch a late night movie. We watched "I Not Stupid 3" which tugged at heartstrings and came at the perfect timing with the secondborn in her PSLE year so we could relate to many of the thoughts and behaviour in both parent and child. Did I cry? Yup, of course I did. I find such shows a good way to release out some of the stress and pent up emotions in me too, don't you agree?

DAY 3

On the morning of our third day, it was time to check out and say farewell. Yes, 3D2N is indeed a very short time but it is still better than nothing and we cherished every minute of it.

Since we still had a full day ahead of us, of course we had to make sure we utilise it so the first thing we did was to go for breakfast followed by heading to Medini Mall for some arcade fun and kiddy rides.

Next we made our way to Legoland! Yes, the kids are always delighted to be here even if some of the rides might be a little too kiddy for the older ones. Having Ansel allows us to experience such childlike wonders and simple joy all over again and we are glad that we still make time for the family to come together and bring him to fun places to play.

The boys absolutely love every ride - their ultimate favourite is Ninjago! - and they love just about everything in Legoland.

The girls are still willing to go on rides and love the roller coasters and Lego building activities.

Ansel has got to be the happiest of all because he has so many people to dote on him and accompany him for the rides. He used to be scared of some rides, especially those in the dark, so it is nice to see him overcoming his fears as he grows up.

At night, we headed to AEON Mall for some last minute shopping, Japanese dinner and more kiddy rides before we made our way home.

HOME SWEET HOME

Yup, that marks the end of a short but happening and fun-filled 3D2N trip. I totally think we need to do this more often - it's much cheaper to drive than to fly - and take the kids to explore more of Malaysia. Till our next vacation!

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Here's a video of the highlights during the trip, the kids always love looking back on these moments these are really precious memories for us.

Happiness is... enjoying the mid-year break

June is always a happy time as it means that we get an entire month of school holidays and can look forward to late mornings, late nights, family trips, mum-and-kids outings, movies, play dates and lots of other fun activities.

It's what all of us need after working hard in the last few months, be it the hubby slogging in the navy, the kids studying hard in school (yes, it's not easy for them too and they totally deserve a good, long break) or me just trying my best to manage the duties of a stay-at-home mum. It gives me great joy to be able to live each day of the holidays spontaneously, to take the kids to places that we have never been to, to turn off the numerous wake-up alarms - it's a little complicated when you have four kids who have different schedules, classes CCAs - and finally not have to wake up before dawn, to be able to go on staycays or short road trips, and simply take life at a more leisurely pace.

In this post of "Happiness is...", it's about all the things we did as a family as we rejoiced and celebrated the mid-year break.

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Hello, Minions! It's nice to see you all again! To be frank, I was never a Minion fan and did not watch the few couple of movies in the Despicable Me franchise because I honestly didn't know what was the appeal factor of these yellow creatures who can only blabber. Then I caught The Rise of Gru and found it to be pretty entertaining.

This month, the kids and I watched Despicable Me 4 which was not only hilarious but also displayed the poignant, funny and heartwarming scenes between Gru and his kids, especially the newly arrived Gru Jr - who by the way loves Mama to carry him and frowns when Dada tries, sounds familiar?

Movie outings are something we cherish and don't take for granted. From the looks of it, I think we are not gonna stop any time soon when it comes to movie dates and we still have our weekly movie nights on Fridays - a family tradition that I will keep up for as long as I can.

Besides movies, we also love watching live theatrical shows because they always entertain the kids and some even help to inculcate good values. We watched Bluey's Big Play and while most of it was just light-hearted humour, there were also some important takeaways like how siblings should love and care for each other and how parents should learn to put their electronic devices away and engage in quality family bonding time. 

The Gruffalo has always been a classic book that delights the kids and I think starting from the firstborn to now Ansel, I've probably read it hundreds of times already. Yup, we can recite most of the text in the book already! Still, we will never miss out on a chance fo watch the live adaptation of The Gruffalo on stage and that was what we did at KidsFest 2024.

While the boys truly enjoyed the live show, especially Ansel who is delighted whenever we get to watch any theatrica performance, I have to give credit to the big sisters too. Why? Well, they are turning 12 and 15, so it's nice of them for tagging along and accompanying the younger ones even though they probably prefer to watch drama, dance to Kpop or hang out with friends. After all, it's all about spending family time, isn't it?

Talking about family time, one of the highlights this month for us was Skechers Friendship Walk where we walked together as a family for 5km, took photos with celebrites like Edmund Chen, Chongqing and Lee Teng, spotted mascots, went on inflatables, listened to Qiu Feng Ze sing and had an afternoon of fun. All of us have been wearing Skechers footwear for years and we think they are nice and comfy!

Since it's the holidays after all, a lot of time is dedicated to play and this time, we visited a new playground called Kidodo Space in Suntec. What warmed my heart most was seeing how the kids played tag and hide and seek together - I mean, my girls are teenagers already! - and I'm deeply cherishing these fleeting moments before they all outgrow being young kids who love to play.

Besides indoor playground, we also go to outdoor playgrounds which are fun and best of all, free! We went to the infamous 26-slides playground at Admiralty Park late one night and the kids had lots of fun with their cousins.

Well, there was this steep, rough wall that the kids were trying to scale and it ain't an easy feat because of the gradient and height and you have to try to reach the bars at the top and pull yourself up. In a spur of the moment, I just wanted to try it too - yes, this Mama likes to be involved in the action instead of just watching by the side - and lo and behold, I did it a few times even if it meant I scratched my legs a few times when sliding down.

I also found pieces of cardboard and went on the fun, long roller slides with the boys many times, much to their delight as they let out squeals of joy. 

The boys still enjoy playing with LEGO very much and were more than happy to go for a event at Nex where they got to be space adventurers and play station games before being rewarded with a mini space shuttle which they quickly assembled on the spot.

They also enjoy Zoomoov rides, something that the girls have outgrown and will not ride again unless it is to accompany the toddler brother. Yeah, kids grow up just too fast, trust me, so if your kids still love kiddy rides, bring them, accompany them, watch them and take photos of these precious moments to look back on.

While the youngest is still a toddler and has much cuteness to offer, I am enjoying my daily one-on-one time with him since only goes for three hours of school and gets back home at 11-ish on weekdays. Sometimes we would head out to eat and you can see how his face lights up as he talks about school, his friends, cartoons, his siblings and anything he can think of.

In contrast, the Korkor is growing up and will soon be a tween when he turns nine in December. The big sisters always chide him for being babyish and kiddy because he still loves toys, kiddy rides and lots of things that young kids love. But I love that about him and will hold onto this phase for as long as it lasts because it is nice to see him playing pretend fight with the brother and watching kiddy cartoons like Paw Patrol and Sheriff Labrador together. 光阴似箭，孩子们都会很快长大，不愿催促，只想珍惜。

I'm not embarassed to say that the boys still sleep with me and we like it that way. Ansel sleeps on the bed with me while Asher has his own IKEA kid's bed but joined to ours. It works for us because while the sisters share and take up another bedroom, the last bedroom is left for the navy hubby who works into wee hours and comes back only on certain days, not to mention he might be smelling of diesel or alcohol, and it would be disturbing for the boys or myself to hear him coming back in the dead of night. Yup, so I'm essentially solo parenting five days a week so this sleep arrangement fits us best for now.

The boys are really entertaining and on some nights, they would put on a 'show' for me at bedtimes, which is usually a dance or song that Asher made up. They would introduce themselves and sing and dance together and I probably should record more of such moments to look back on in future. The Korkor is also very sweet and would help us make the bed when we are bathing so we would come out to a neatly set up bed with the comforter laid nicely and even books for Ansel to read with me. The toddler would always exclaim "Wow! Like hotel like that!". How cute!

We did a spontaneous 3D2N road trip to Johor Bahru and it was one of the best things we did. We literally decided on it days before the trip and even when we were there, we were planning the itinerary as we went along and had to adapt to last minute changes.

I will share more about it in a separate post but the highlights of the trip include visiting Desarau Mini Zoo, Legoland, Paradigm mall where the girls went ice skating and the boys went to Baby Shark playground, interacting with the cute furries at Chow Q 2.0, watching I Not Stupid 3, having a yummy dinner at the infamous Dai Tow Lala Pot and more.

As you know, my kids do not have tuition but we have been faithfully attending right brain training classes at Heguru. I will be writing a review to share about Ariel's journey so stay tuned for that. In any case, I am cherishing the last few months that I get to accompany my toddler for class before he moves into the next independent learning class. He is always very happy to join in the activities and the beam on his face says it all.

As for their other enrichment class, the kids all passed their recent Taekwondo grading and Angel now officially has a black belt, Ariel a poom belt (black belt for those under 15yo) and Asher has a black tip. Yes, I am pretty amazed and stoked that they have stuck with what was meant to be a holiday class till the end, so well done, kiddos!

Father's Day falls in June and this time, Ariel did something special for Papa by making Vietnamese spring rolls for the first time. It turned out to be sticky and not as pretty as we envisioned but it was delicious and we still ate all of it. Most importantly, it was made with love and that was what truly mattered.

We also treated our parents to an expensive meal at a kopitiam - yes, it was very expensive because we ordered seafood and Buddha jump over the wall - and I hope they felt our love as they chatted over drinks and good food.

Then we also met up with my brother-in-law's family and had a good steamboat meal Thien Kee at Golden Mile, which after decades remains as our of our favourite hotpot places to visit.

Oh, by the way, while the parents were talking and eating, the kids were happily playing with helium balloons! I was so amazed to see that there were balloons, strings and a huge helium tank for patrons to use and we filled up balloon after balloon to see whose could rise the highest. Such simple joy, such wondrous moments, such precious memories.

This being a month long holiday, we also took time to visit one of the kids' favourite places - arcade! I know, it is very time and money consuming but since we don't usually play there when it is the school term, I supposed it is fine to let them indulge during the school holidays. It can also be an opportunity for sibling and family bonding when we play games together, right?

We also went indoor climbing with our friends and the kids still enjoy the challenge of the sport as they attempt to scale to the top of every wall. I think it helps to build resilience, confidence and also provides a sense of satisfaction too.

It's been long since we visited Universal Studios Singapore so I was truly, truly thankful that we managed to get tickets and the best part was, we got to go in at night and stay till 1am. Media invites are far and few between as the kids get older and I post less of our life on social media. So whatever that comes, I remind the kids to be grateful and not take it for granted.

The one who surprised me most this time was dear Ansel, who not only qualified for rides like Puss in Boots, Enchanted Airways, Canopy Flyer and Transformers, but was brave enough to conquer them all! I mean, I always thought he would be intimidated by roller coasters and fast rides since he is only three so he really surprised me that night by how much he enjoyed the rides, even when he bumped his head a few times against the side cos' he is just too small and light. Well done, my dear!

The rest of us had a blast too, especially the older three kids who went on Battlestar Galatica - both Human and Cylon - over half a dozen times with their friends because by the time it was nearly 1am, there was literally no queue. It was like a dream come true!

Back at home, we still have home cooked meals from time to time though I must admit we also do takeaways quite frequently too. It's tiring to cook and wash up and on some days, I just don't have the energy or willpower to take these tasks up. But on some days, I feel more inspired and will head to the supermarket to get groceries and whip up a home cooked meal for the kids. Nothing fancy, just 家常便饭，but good enough for us.

While the eldest doesn't like to swim, the rest of the kids still love to hit the pool when they are free. Since both Ariel and Asher are pretty accomplished in swimming already, they can help to take care of the little one which gives me time to take a breather. I still love seeing them play, giggle, hug and have fun together and I hope we can still do this for a few more years.

Ariel and I had a one-on-one date..... to the gym! Haha. The gym at our place has a minimum age limit of 12, is tiny and offers very limited machines but nonetheless, it is adequate for us to have a good run or workout. I am definitely looking forward to more exercise sessions with my girls.

Some of you still ask me on what game or console we use when we dance and the answer is... we don't use any! What we do is simply search on YouTube and dance along. If you type 'just dance', you can find a lot of songs to choose from and the kids still love dancing together from time to time. Some songs require one person to be lifted up so that is partly why Ansel loves it so much too - yes, of course he is the one on top.

Last but not least, we also took time off one night to have a 'camping' session at home again since the kids enjoyed the last one tremendously. We used chairs, tripods, banner stand, cushions, blankets, tents and anything we could find to build a fort in our living room. Then we had our movie night coupled with lots of snacks. I was telling the kids it actually wasn't that comfy for me because the TV screen was partially blocked and my back aching after sitting inside the fort for some time. Haha. 年轻人和中年人有很大差别，好不好? Still, they said they loved it so we kept the fort till the end of the night. Well, I'm happy as long as you all are happy,  my loves.

That marks the end of a very fulfilling and happening month of June for us. Was it really a break since we did so much and played so much more than usual? Haha. Oh well. 大家开心，一家人在一起，才是最重要的。I don't want to let the PSLE stress get to us although we are only a few months away from this huge milestone for Ariel. So let's continue doint what we always do, keep life simple, stay happy and make the most of the time we have together.

Till the next post of "Happiness is..."!