Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland

A few of you requested for updates of our recent summer break to the beautiful island of Republic and Northern Ireland, especially on attractions and places of interest for young children. Thank you for your continued interest in my rant and babble.

To be completely honest, we boarded the flight on 22 August to head home via Dubai, arrived Kuala Lumpur on 23 August and school term for Autumn/Winter started on 24 September. There was no time for jet lag, so we hit the ground running.

To top it all, I started working on my client's file by morning of 25 September. Alhamdulillah for rezeki, no complaints there.

The holiday post will have to be uploaded in piecemeal *grin*

Here goes:
1 (Monday) and 2 (Tuesday) August 2016:
We checked-in to Sama-Sama Hotel in the afternoon. The kids enjoyed their family taxi ride to the hotel from home.

The famous Haji Samuri satay from the cafe was not available as the cafe was being renovated so we dined at another lobby restaurant. The satay has been oven grilled, dry and tough. No repeat orders after the first dozen.

Our Emirates flight was scheduled for 2.10 am so by 11pm, we checked-out of our comfortable room and took the kids for their highlight of the night - the airport club car ride to the terminal. They were so easy to please.

Our luggages were wrapped to stay clean and dry (weather forecast was summer rain in Dublin). Being paranoid of losing one of our 3 luggages, I packed in such a way that in the event one of the luggages should go missing, we still have enough to wear for a couple of days. However, I must admit that packing for 4 persons into one luggage had become easier over the years.

The Priority Lane check-in consumed a long time, it felt like the entire world was travelling First and Business Class. KLIA Check-In Hall was balmy with hardly any air-conditioning on. After what seemed like an hour, we were issued our boarding passes. The kids were restless by then so the inter-terminal train ride after passport clearance was a grand welcome.

The Business Lounge was another highlight for the kids. They treated themselves to a grand supper then wrecked havoc at the TV Hall, with their loud and happy voices at 1am. By boarding time, I was counting down the minutes when they could finally be in bed 30.000 feet above sea level. Girl did sleep on her flat bed as soon as the seat belt sign went off, bless. Bean was alert and a set of Emirates airport scene toys were quickly purchased from on board duty-free from the get-go to occupy him. For the entire A380 flight to Dubai, he stayed up and had 100% mummy-time. I was so sleepy and grouchy.

2 August 2016 (Tuesday):
Dubai to Dublin leg. The Business Class Lounge was a welcome change after being confined to our seats for 6 hours plus with Bean. Lights on/off, service call button on/off, TV on/off, toys were all over, books read many times, nursery rhymes sang on repeat (particularly Wheels on the Bus) and endless random topics of endless conversations later, Bean was still energised to walk while I felt like crashing. Instead, we rode the inter-terminal train, plodded our way to breakfast and onward to board our connecting flight to Dublin. This leg, Bean slept while Girl was up. I caught up with my French movies of 2015/6 to reward myself since no sleep was possible. The Boeing felt small after the A380.

We arrived at Dublin safely, all green and fresh (the grass, not us!). It was drizzling when we went to get our car rental from Hertz. Our car rental booking was upgraded from Mazda to BMW BUT the driver and front seats were locked in position! I had been looking forward to driving on country roads, I was destined to be passenger for the entire 3 weeks, it was frustrating and crazy. Allah swt has His Plans, yes.

We checked-in to Premier Inn Dublin Airport Airside and crashed to local time. Best feature of this hotel: Free Wifi. You can also upgrade for 5 Euros.

3 August 2016 (Wednesday):
We drove to Galway. Checked-in to Salthill Promenade Hotel and after a hearty lunch, we unpacked and took the kids out to a garden across the hotel and summer fun fair just a few minutes' walk away. The tokens were expensive at 20 Euros (every ride was at least 2 Euro per child) but the young ones had a gala time. This routine of park and fun fair soon became their highlight at Salthill.

4 August 2016 (Thursday):
Park, fun fair, repeat. Bye bye Euros.

5 August 2016 (Friday):
We rode the local bus to The Latin Quarters and had lunch there. Girl had her hair braided by a local artist before we headed back to Salthill for some fun in the sand at the sandy promenade across the hotel. Best features of Salthill Hotel: Great service at breakfast and free Wifi.

6 August 2016 (Saturday):
We drove to Sligo, bought supplies and checked-in to the house at Bundoran. Best feature of this house: Free wifi. I know I keep reviewing the Wifi connection of everywhere we were staying at because my sanity, work and discussions depended on it.

7 until 12 August 2016 (Sunday):
We spent a week here; sufficient for some form of routine to be introduced. One that included visits to the local launderette, playground, my favourite bakery Hardy Amies, cinema (kids watched Ice Age: Continental Drift and Finding Dory), chat with local mums to find places of interest for little ones (Castle Farm and Playground highly recommended) and basically lived like locals. We stopped being tourists and assimilated into life at Bundoran! Bundoran is close enough to drive to some of the places we wanted to visit  (Smuggler's Creek, back to Sligo, Yeats' Country, Lisadell House etc) so it was a decent anchor.

13 August 2016 (Saturday):
We drove to the United Kingdom side of the island, Coleraine. Dinner was hosted by one of the two aunts and since she moved to a new townhouse, we had difficulty finding her new home. Kids were totally tired by the time the meal was served so we quickly bundled them into the car and back to Premier Inn Coleraine for an early night.

14 August 2016 (Sunday):
We spent the day at the playground near the seaside. A family lunch went awry and some harsh words were exchanged. Not pretty. The kids had fun and ice-cream so the incident was quickly forgotten but FIL had a one to one chat with The Other Half about the latter's behaviour. It was about time someone did! Alhamdulillah things got better after that.

15 August 2016 (Monday):
Kids day out with the Grandparents and The Other Half. They had a great sunshiny day at The Giants Causeway. Sea water tasted salty, the kids came home drenched in sea water of The Atlantic and covered in sand but happy as can be. Bless.
I spent my day sleeping in and wandering at the shops nearby. It felt so good to be with my own company and thoughts, it was probably the best day of my summer. The Wifi had to be purchased because it kept logging me out but it was worth the GBP5 because I managed to get some work done!

16 August 2016 (Tuesday):
We drove to Omagh, hometown of MIL. We saw the old house where she grew up then we took the kids to the playground to burn off some excess energy.

17 August 2016 (Wednesday):
We found the local laundrette and paid a visit to one of the other aunt still living nearby. Silver Birch Hotel had zero connection for both 4G and Wifi, I felt so cut off from the rest of the world. It was not fun because Girl was expecting her new promotion list at The Big School and I was going to set up the Mummies' Chat Group for the new class. Finally, outside the launderette in town, I had brief connection to 4G so my little situation with the school and Izumio/Super Lutein orders were immediately sorted.

18 August 2016 (Thursday):
I was given a couple of hours to myself after breakfast to look for 4G connection and work but Cafe Nero came with zero Wifi. I ended up browsing at the shops and bought nothing. Omagh is quite a dead town. Kids went to Fintona with second cousins and had a great time at an indoor playground. Later that evening, we took the kids to the town centre for a walk but Bean suffered a meltdown from being too tired. We went back to the hotel for an early night in and "celebrated leaving Omagh soon".

19 August 2016 (Friday):
We drove south towards Dublin and had lunch at Four Seasons en route. It was a lovely lunch, for me. The same Premier Inn Airside with its reliable Wifi and breakfast. Girl followed The Grandparents to meet and greet The Lloyds (they put up at Holiday Inn) then Pavilion (shopping centre near the airport).

20 August 2016 (Saturday):
Malahide Castle was a really pleasant experience. I especially enjoyed the meal at Cafe Avoca. Disappointingly, I had no time to browse at the gift shop because we were going at The Lloyds' pace (rush, rush, rush). That evening, we took the feeder bus to the airport to hitch the bus to the town, walked in the rain, ate at a fast food halal joint, walked back in the rain to the bus stop and took the bus back to airport to change to hotel feeder bus. Kids enjoyed the many bus rides.

21 August 2016 (Sunday):
We were at the Dublin Zoo the entire day. Kids took their time walking, eating, playing at the many mini playground and just did what they did best - being happy. Bean cried when we left at closing time, ha ha ha. Luckily, Girl had good mood and even temperament throughout the holiday.

22 August 2016 (Monday):
Checked-out of Premier Inn Dublin Airside, checked-in our luggages and flights, returned our Hertz BMW, cleared immigration on express with Emirates Fast Pass, snacked at the Business Class Lounge and boarded our Boeing flight. I caught up with French movies all the way to Dubai. Resolved to visit Galway and Dublin again someday with the kids but oh please spare me from Northern Ireland (maybe I was just bogged down by too many issues at Northern Ireland to really enjoy it).

Dubai to Kuala Lumpur flight was good because Girl, Bean and I slept all the way. What a nice way to end the holidays!

Car Seat Part 5

The Little Girl has the Recaro Pro Sport Envy for about a month now. We all love it and bought one for each car, like we did with the previous car seat.

Here is hoping for many years of safe travels!

Stroller & Car Seat for The Little Bean

Option One/Splurge:

I am thinking of this: Bugaboo Bee. See the demo here.

Add Maxi Cosi Pebble car seat and Isofix base.

Add Bugaboo buggyboard for The Little Girl.

For days when I am out alone with 2 kids and using one car (Imagine the madness and sweating!)

Option Two/Save:

Maybe I should just stick to my new Maclaren Quest 2012.

Add Maxi Cosi Pebble car seat and Isofix base.

Add Lascal buggyboard for the Little Girl.

I "dislike" how obvious Option One is more practical/cost effective *yikes!*

 

An update after a few days of pondering:

Yay! The Other Half agreed to Option One with a small change from Pebble to Cabriofix, and not to the purchase the buggyboard until after The Little Bean is born (just in case The Little Girl prefers to walk and not "surf".

 

*syukur alhamdulillah!*

 

We are now awaiting delivery of our sand colour Cabriofix and matching sand Bugaboo!

Stroller for The Little Girl

The Little Girl arrived on the first day she turned 36 weeks in gestation, marginally premature. Her APGAR score was 9/10 and she didn't need admission to NICU much to our relief!

However, her shopping was not completed either so she did not have a stroller ready when we left the hospital. We carried her in our arms during hospital visits, and placed her into her Britax infant car seat during car trips from The House to the hospital and back.

Finally after confinement of 44 days, we "checked out" of The House and returned to The Apartment. Our first stop was KLCC, and desperate for a stroller!

I was nursing The Little Girl inside the baby care room in Isetan KLCC, while The Other Half was sent outside, a few metres away, on a mission.

Read: Purchase a Quinny Zapp with Maxi Cosi Cabrio baby seat and its base. We had been using the Britax infant car seat prior to this and found the rear facing mode a little too tight for entry and exit. There is no way we adults can bend awkwardly until The Little Girl is ready to face forward!

The pair of Maxi Cosi Cabrio with Quinny "legs" were handy for the first 8 months. At 9 months, The Little Girl grew a little taller and her legs stuck out, hanging over the edge of the Maxi Cosi Cabrio. We had to convert the Quinny "legs" to fit the Zapp (the original design) at that point.

She was too small, unfortunately, to sit in the Quinny Zapp without hunching over. In my opinion, that is bad posture. She also could not sleep comfortably in the Quinny Zapp, as she was still falling asleep after meals occasionally.

 

My tiny discomfort is not being able to fully utilise the tiny triangular shopping basket from the Quinny Zapp design as the aluminium structure gets in the way. It is also a little too tiny for my liking, or perhaps my Carter diaper bag was too large to fit into it.

 

We had to occasionally hang our Carter diaper bag across the handle bars (against manufacturer's advice!) when I was alone with The Little Girl at the changing room and have no other choice for clean surface. The weight of the diaper bag can tip the stroller over after The Little Girl has been lifted out of the seat - a no no no! Do not hang your diaper bag over the handle bars!!

 

That was when we decided to get her the Maclaren Quest; and hand down the Quinny Zapp/Maxi Cosi Cabrio/base to a girlfriend who was then expecting a boy.

This time, we measured the length of Maclaren Quest folded into its umbrella mode against my car boot space before paying for the purchase at Mothercare. Thankfully, it fits just barely, diagonally across my tiny boot space (BMW E87).

All was good. The Maclaren Quest travelled well with us to the UK and back. Emirates even loans out the same stroller at the Dubai International Airport so that our stroller can be checked in all the way through our connecting flights.

At some point when The Little Girl started to exert her autonomy (read: terrible twos) by insisting on pushing the Maclaren Quest, instead of sitting in it, we passed the Maclaren Quest over to a the same girlfriend and her son (also grew too tall by then), just as we did before with the Quinny Zapp/Maxi Cosi Cabrio/base.

 

The shopping basket is big enough to carry some light groceries or shopping but once The Little Girl was put to sleep in low tilt, we could not access those items until she wakes up and be put back to the sitting tilt!

 

Hanging the diaper bag over the handle bars is also a no no no as the stroller can tilt over backwards if the weight is not countered with a baby/toddler in it. Your best bet is putting the diaper bag into the shopping basket, if your diaper bag is small enough.

 

Now that The Little Bean is on his way, we have bought Maclaren Quest 2012 updated model and still thinking about the Bugaboo with Maxi Cosi baby seat. More on that to come...

Car Seat Part 4

 

Well, The Little Girl got upgraded to this car seat booster somewhat "prematurely" when she hit her "I want to be just like you" milestone, meaning she wants to have car seat belts like the adults and not the 5 point harness of her Maxi Cosi Axiss. She grows up too fast!

 

To be be fair, she was tall and heavy enough, and had understood the need to stay belted in during car trips, not to undo the buckles unless we do it for her, etc. So much explanation from The Other Half and I, so much adorable head nodding from The Little Girl.

 

So far, so good. This Combi Buon Junior has been on many return trips to the playschool, shopping malls, parks etc. without much drama on a good day.

Car Seat Part 3

When The Little Girl turned 9 months old and was too big for her rear facing Maxi Cosi Cabriofix, we upgraded her to this wonderful car seat.

 

IMHO, the 90 degrees turn feature is the sole deciding factor for my purchase. It saves my back when lifting The Little Girl in and out of her car seat, and on days when she was busy having a terrible twos tantrum/meltdown, being able to see her face to face to belt her in safely helped cut down soothing time especially at hot and humid shopping mall car parks (have you any idea how strongly she can protest/cry/kick/twist/turn all at the same time?!).

In fact, we all love it so much, we got another Maxi Cosi Axiss in red cover for the other car.

 

Honestly, this Maxi Cosi Axiss seat is so kind on our backs that when we got our rental car for use in Yorkshire, UK, we got a brand new piece in total black cover to fix into the rental car. At the end of our holiday, we used this seat to replace the old Britax her cousins had been using. Tilts easily, rotates smoothly, and conforms with international standard for safety (but for some reason not in New South Wales, Australia - we asked for this particular car seat on another holiday and were denied!).

 

My conclusion: This is 100% a keeper for us to hand-down to The Little Bean!

Car Seat Part 2

 

Maxi Cosi Cabriofix and Quinny Zapp combo travel set for daily use 

We went to Langkawi by MAS flight and had the components checked as stroller (parted at the boarding gate, retrieved at the arrival aerobridge). The flight attendants must have been ever so gentle with the entire set because it came out unscratched, wheels all still aligned.

What we liked most was the fact that the infant insert was snug enough to keep The Little Girl warm and comfortable. It sure helped with colic reduction in our case.

The second best feature would be the small footprint of the frame when folded and placed into my car boot. The BMW 118i sure has a relatively small boot size so every inch is precious.

Another plus point would be the wheels of the Quinny frame. They are quiet and smooth, especially at shopping malls. In fact, they were specifically designed for such indoor use. However, the wheels were rugged enough for our early morning or evening strolls at the well padded walkways and jogging paths at KLCC Park (Quinny has outdoor jogger models, if you are a serious jogger/runner, and may want to consider such specifically designed models). 

The fabric material is washable, and we did wash it several times. Though easy to handwash, removing and replacing such a snug fitting, taut material into tiny hooks was a bit tough. Be sure to turn the cooling system on when replacing after a wash, as I perspired so much trying to fit it all back perfectly!

What we did not like however, was the stage when The Little Girl was too big for the "carrier basket" and too small to sit up properly in the Quinny Zapp at around 9 months old. We switched to a different stroller for her at that age, and donated this car seat/stroller set to a friend who was then expecting a boy.

Verdict: Happy baby = happy parents! Decent value for money, for 9 months.

We like this Quinny frame so much we are considering it for the second time but with the MaxiCosi Pebble seat and Family Fix. Will keep you posted!

Car Seat Part 1

 The Little Girl's Britax First Class Plus in Trend Line (Nicolas) fabric.

Mothercare Bangsar outlet sales assistants were kind enough to let us fix and try out the car seat in Bebe before we decided to purchase it. After looking at so many different brands comparing safety, comfort, user-friendliness etc., we decided this is IT almost at first sight!

After fitting it in a rearview facing option, it blends so well into the interior of Bebe that you'd think it came with Bebe. Now we just have to wait for The Little Girl to arrive to test drive the car seat. The colour is not gender biased although some may think it is "boyish" because of the manufacturer labelling it "Nicolas".

The newborn insert/baby padding looks comfortable and we can fully recline the seat in rearview facing mode to ensure comfort and safety (we were quite concerned about little bobbly wobbly head in some other brands that cannot perform this function). Furthermore, this is a convertible model so we can switch it to forward facing when The Little Girl hits 9kg in size.

Like any other online review of any car seat, there are pros and cons. As long as we remember why we chose it for the reasons we considered important to us, that should do *reminding oneself to stop reading endless reviews online*

Here's to 0-18kg of safe ride!

p/s: The eager grandparents approves of Britax (the other 5 grandchildren use this in the UK too).

Note: We used this as a second car seat for the grandparents' car. As The Little Girl was quite a small baby at 42.5cm and 2.76kg at birth, the newborn insert/baby padding was still too big for her. She eventually stretched out and put on weight, fitting snugly into her Britax.