This One's For the Album

Memories are made of these.... one of the reasons why my gal feels that this hols has been one of her best hols. Right at the beginning of the hols, she and I made a trip back to Sitiawan on our own.... just the 2 of us. Try as hard as she did to stay awake so that she could be my co-driver, she just couldn't keep her eyes open. Somehow, she'd always doze off in a moving car, triggered probably by the hum on the move sound. LOL! It was also a trip for her to spend time with her cousins from afar. And one of the places we took them was Teluk Batik for a picnic.

I have not done this... gone for a picnic by the beach for ages! And this is my gal's first. With my bro, he's always game for anything just so that the kids can have fun. I can safely say that all the children think a world of him. My little nephew tells me that his papa can do anything and is the best.... I think that's the best compliment any father can get from his own kids.

It's amazing that the kids found the beach so fun... my sis-in-law, sis and I sat with my little niece in the shade watching them and talking. Occasionally I'd walk down to the kids. Sitting there too brought back so many memories of yesteryears, a time when we used to cycle and then ride the motorbike when we got our license to Teluk Batik for a swim and to hang out with friends. We'd swim and go back in the same clothes which will dry by the time we got home. 8) And we too used to enjoy the beach as kids and teenagers... as adults, too often, we forget what can excite our kids and we cloister them up with our so called busy modern lifestyle. The digital world too distracts them from this other world...

My gal spotted this crab and it started a frenzy of chase by Bro. We used to spend many afternoons by the Bernam river catching crabs during our visits to our maternal grandma during our childhood days and those experience came in handy as he caught this big fler. It was really comical to see him running after the crab after he managed to stop it from burrowing into the labyrinth of crab pathways under the sand. The kids literally ran away from the crab in the beginning, afraid of it. LOL! We released the crab after everyone had a good look of it.

This has to be one of my favourite shots. The kids sat there for hours, looking out into the sea, having conversations, aged between 6 - 10; just playing with the waves as they rolled in. If only time could stand still... and they remain as they are! They grow up way too soon!

They entertained each other and ownself... enjoyed the sea water, oblivious to the heat that was beating down on them. Nature the best play mate.... All of them got really tanned too, a few shades darker!

You'd think that 5 hours of sun and sea would knock these kids out, But nah! They still found energy for a game of street football with the beach ball, barely an hour after we got back; in a vacant plot behind the old badminton court near our house. This was after they had taken their bath and changed into clean clothes. We had to do another round of laundry after that! This area used to be a lalang patch long time ago. Together with our neighbours' kids, this used to be where we would play hide-and-seek as kids so very long ago.

And so we thought that would totally knock the kids out... We were wrong again! As we (me and my siblings) hardly get much opportunity to get together these days, we sat and talked through the night. The kids waited patiently for us to finish our conversation before reminding Bro that he had promised to take them out for a night of 'helicopter-shooting'. He had brought with him sets (for each kid) of this 'helicopter-like' toy which you propel into the sky with a rubber band. So armed with that and close to midnight, the kids fired away into the sky, lighting it up with the pretty LED lights which floated down, fluttering in the night sky. If memories are not made of these, then what is?

That apart from hours of Beyblades which they seem not to get bored with. Bro even brought back the arena for the beyblades to battle it out. I even brought Shaun (my nephew from Other Half's side) to join them and he too had a grand time. Nights out to Lumut, dinners..... it was a good time together. These are the things that memories are made of. My little gal played mostly with boy-toys but she enjoyed herself tremendously. It's been the 'funnest' hols for her this round.