July 2014 Travel Adventure: Part 1 (Missing Our Flight)

Many friends had been asking us how we managed to miss our flight for our recent family trip to Siem Reap in July, so here's what happened and our answer to the million dollar question, or rather the $460 question.

Having 4 kids, we really have to plan way in advance when it comes to family outings.  It's terribly costly just for the flight alone as it's no longer just a pair of tickets for a family trip.  I grabbed a Jetstar deal last year which had saved me probably about 40% as compared to booking the tickets later, but that meant booking at least half year in advance.
   

Fast forward to 22 July this year, the kids woke up happily in the morning, knowing that it's a holiday instead of a school day.  We got off to a great start and arrived at Changi Terminal 1 without any incident, in record time.  It is also the first time in my life that I arrived so early before a flight and did an early check-in!

Steffi posing in the Sunflower Garden at Terminal 2

Leroy having a go at posing too... awkward...

With lots of time to spare, I recalled reading about the fun places in Changi that other parent bloggers wrote about.  So off we went, taking in the sights and we even managed to have a leisurely lunch.  We visited the various gardens, took lots of photos and the kids were ecstatic!  Soon my wife needed to express her breast milk and we had to look for a family room with a power point.  We found one rather quickly and she did her stuff with Leroy and Stacci inside while I went for a walk nearby with Steffi.

We even had time to check out the Absolut bottles...

When I sensed that it was taking way too long, I hurried my wife a little as we were at the wrong terminal.  My wife was still saying we still have time after coming out of the nursing room, but nevertheless we doubled our pace to get to the sky train back to our departure terminal.  That's when the kids exclaimed that they needed to use the toilets too!  With the clock ticking, I took out our boarding passes, and realized there was no indication of gate number on it as we did an early check-in!

   

Luckily the flight departure details were everywhere in the terminal, but for some weird reasons, I looked at the departure gate number for Phnom Penh instead of Siem Reap and ended up at the extreme end of the wrong side!  When we finally arrived at our departure gate, the plane was still there but we were denied boarding.  The Jetstar staff calmly walked over to us and told us with a nice smile that he is sorry and cannot let us board.  He seemed to be enjoying his moment and doesn't seem the least sorry (for us that is).

Anyway we were led out of the departure terminal and I had to retrieve my luggage which was thrown out from the plane.  With my luggage, 3 kids and a wife hanging around the departure terminal in front of our favorite Jetstar counters, with no flights to Siem Reap till 2 days later, I had to think of something.

Here's me, checking out all available options on the phone while the 3 tired kids dozed off.

There were a few options then, such as getting into a heated quarrel with my wife on how she mistook the flight time on the tickets for the boarding time or why she took so long to express her milk, and have her retorting that how the hell I can see the wrong information on the screen and why we have so many kids in the first place and then call it a day for our travel plans and go back home defeated, not speaking to each other for the next 2 days or;

Book the next available flight to Siem Reap which would cost us way over $1,500 for another airline, or slightly cheaper for another Jetstar flight, but only two days later.  That would totally bust our budget and just doesn't make sense anymore as the single trip costs more than our return tickets bought earlier.  Phnom Penh flights were also only available the next day.  That's when I thought, why not take the cheapest flight to Bangkok right now and find our way to Siem Reap via land!

We took the last option and kept our fingers crossed that everything would turn out fine!  I guess in life, to be happy or not, really depend on ourselves.  Although I wasted $460 more for the single trip tickets to Bangkok, we chose to be happy.

Here's us right after deciding on our course of action!  We made the right choice, to be happy!

Stay tuned to find out how we made our way to Siem Reap via Bangkok in Part 2!

A Tollyjoy Hamper for the Kids [Sponsored Product Review]

The kids received a hamper full of goodies from good peeps at Tollyjoy recently, that included lots of stuff that kids would need on a daily basis and it was just in time for our trip to Cambodia recently.  Tollyjoy is synonymous with quality baby product since it started in 1971.  My mother-in-law showed us one Tollyjoy baby gift pack she found while packing her house the other day, which was gifted to my wife when she was just one month old!  Can you imagine it was already the brand of choice back then?

The trusty companions for the kids.  Leaves their skin clean and supple despite the harsh weather in Siem Reap.

We brought along the baby bath, shower, lotion and powder in the easy to carry travel pack just in case the usual bath gels provided by the hotels were too drying on the skin and we were glad we did!  The weather in Cambodia was really hot and dry and I can even feel my own skin drying up barely after 2 days there.  Despite getting under the sun while we were out, and returning to the resort to swim every single day, the use of Tollyjoy baby bath did not dry out the kids’ skin and the use of baby lotion after the bath kept their skin soft and supple!

Tollyjoy baby wipes, another gem and must have travel companion!

We had to visit the famous temples in Siem Reap while there and it wasn’t easy, with the kids complaining of the searing heat or the long walks at times.  Our trip probably took much longer than the usual tourists as we would need to rest in the shade very often to let the kid recharge and drink water.  The kids were all perspiring a lot and this is when we found out that Tollyjoy baby wipes were fantastic in cleaning the dust off the skin and refreshing the kids in an instant!  The best part is that the wipes were firm and does not tear easily like another brand in green that we used before, albeit it does contain fragrance which may be of concern to some, but not to us for the kids smells good after using it!

The detergent left the dresses soft and smelling great!  Couldn't resist bringing the dresses close for another whiff!

That's not all that Tollyjoy supplied the family.  After coming back from our trip, we had to deal with lots of kids clothings to wash after our 5 full days of photo taking!  The Tollyjoy baby laundry detergent we used left the clothings clean, soft and smelling of flowery fragrance, despite us having to move them indoors to continue drying due to a sudden shower.  All it takes is a capful of detergent for a full load of clothing.  No more worries about having to time our washes based on the weather, or having to getting foul smelling clothings from indoor drying!

  

The liquid cleanser now have a permanent place at our sink.  Cleaning without worrying about soap residue affecting the kids!

When I have to do dishwashing myself, which is seldom I have to admit, but I always have this fear of having residual detergent left on the dishes.  I would often use up more water than I desired,just to ensure the dishes are clean!  Now that we have Tollyjoy baby accessories & vegetable liquid cleaner, washing without any fear is made easy.  Having four kids means we always have lots of bottles to wash, and all I need is one teaspoon into one litre of water for squeaky clean bottles.  I used to wash bottles with only water from the tap last time.  To ensure that the grapes that my kids loves so much are clean from pesticides, it's just 1/4 teaspoon into 5 litres of water for soaking and washing of fruits and vegetables!  So there you have it, easy washing without worries!    

You can check out the full range of Tollyjoy products in their official website.

Ten (Potentially) Digusting Things I did, as a Dad

I had honestly never thought I would do or experience the things I mentioned below, before I became a dad.  I also don't know if some of the following are considered normal or not, but they came naturally to me.  Anything for the kids!

Sniff another person's butt

Before I became a dad, the usual reaction when I smell anything that even smells remotely like SHIT, is to get as far away as possible.  But now, I try to pinpoint which kid the smell comes from, even to the point of sniffing the baby’s backside.  Horror would be if the smell came from someone not wearing diapers!

Dig GOLD from someone’s nose
Digging the nose for booger is something I frown upon, but sometimes I see the kids doing it non-stop at home to the point when I had to step in if they say that it’s stuck.  It's faster for me to do it for them.  There was one incident when I didn’t dare to dig though.  I had noticed a strange smell for a couple of nights when Steffi slept beside me.  When I finally found the source, I was horrified to find what seemed to be a pus-filled left nostril.  We rushed her to the A&E only to find out that it was just a piece of sponge that got covered in REALLY smelly mucus.  She never stuffed anything into her nostrils from then on.

Caught someone’s VOMIT using my hands
I kind of know what to expect after experiencing it a couple before.  Sometimes when my kid is unwell, they will cough a few times and from the sound of the cough, I know that vomit is coming up next.  Knowing is one thing, but when there’s no receptacle nearby to contain the vomit, I had to make use of the next best thing, my cupped hands.  This is simply to reduce the amount of cleaning up following the aftermath.  Now we would try to keep plastic bags or other receptacles nearby in case of any emergencies, when any of the kids are sick.

Handled someone’s SHIT, often with bare hands

I mean, how else would I be able to wash the sticky stuff off my little one’s butts?  Before, I thought the worst I had to do was to handle the SHIT that the bosses throw at me, but handling this type of SHIT never came to my mind.  Although I am man enough to do it, I would try to “siam” sometimes.  Unfortunately having 4 kids around, I also cannot escape for long and I probably have to do it once every alternate day, minimum.

Sucked MUCUS from someone’s nostrils using my OWN mouth

Suck what? You sure or not? Got any dirtier boh?  You may think that the squeaky little plastic thingy you buy to suck out the mucus is good, but wait till you have a screaming baby with THICK mucus and you will realize that the manual method works best.  But try at your own risk, for I ever fell sick the very next day after performing the “dirty deed”.  Must be my own bad immune system, but it beats having to see my baby suffer when I can actually do something about it.

This plastic thingy doesn't offer enough suction power!

Finishing off someone else’s FOOD

No matter how bad it looked, I always feel it’s a terrible waste to see the unfinished food go down the rubbish chute.  With Steffi, I even finished the milk that she couldn’t finish!  Food and milk powder is EXPENSIVE ok?  I don’t do that as much now, for we are much better at estimating food portion and it doesn't help that polishing off uneaten food is not doing good to my own waistline.

Relieving my toddler from impacted STOOL
This is bad, really bad.  I could still recall the screams of my Stacci when she suffered from constipation.  She had wanted to pass motion, only to encounter pain in the toilet.  Upon closer inspection, her stool was right there, and yet cannot be passed out as it was too hard.  Initially all I did was to comfort her, but I couldn’t take it anymore and took (her) matters in my own hands.  Using my fingernails, I try to break it down to smaller pieces and it finally dislodged.  One had to be extremely careful though, for the skin is really delicate around that region.

Getting in contact with URINE

You may think you have the best diaper money could buy, but a simple misalignment could spell disaster.  Well, maybe the word disaster is too serious, but it may cause some slippery situations nevertheless.  There were a couple of times when I felt dampness on my face, and the unmistakable smell of ammonia in the middle of night, only to realize it was Stacci’s urine leakage.  At times during a diaper change, Louie gets really excited too and boy can he shoot!   

Getting someone’s VOMIT in my own mouth
There was one night, over 900 nights ago when Stacci was just a little infant.  I was the one doing the graveyard shift and had just finished feeding her a bottle of milk.  Proceeded to burp her and all went well till I brought her mouth to mine as I had wanted to plant her a kiss.  She vomited milk right into my mouth and even smiled after doing that.  How memorable is that?

Stacci (3mths old) giving me the cute look after vomiting into my mouth!

Smelling someone’s BREATH
Okay, this is purely for fun.  The nice milky baby breath doesn’t last forever and I find myself sniffing a little harder when Louie's face is near mine.  Trying to remember the smell and I enjoy reminiscing the times I had with the earlier three when they were infants.

Printing a Personalized Photo Book is Easy Peasy! [Review & Giveaway]

What do you do with the many photos you take of your kids and family?  For me, I often take hundreds of photos whenever I bring the kids out.  This is because I often used the multiple shoot function on my trusty Sony Nex to capture the kids and their many expressions and I end up with a lot of photos.  The lazy me should have done some housekeeping but sometimes, I find it hard to delete even if the photos doesn't turn out exactly the way I wanted.

My phone, please don't ever die on me!

Sometimes when I wanna show my friends photos of the kids in my hand phone also difficult.  As my iPhone has over 9,000 photos at last count and it is tough trying to find a specific photo.  The WiFi capability of my Nex camera makes it worst, as I would often download lots of the photo into my phone for editing.  I also have a couple of hard disks full of beautiful photos that I guess I would hardly get to see ever again.

I remember once taking up a Groupon offer for a free photo book with the intention to get some of the nicer photos of the family printed out.  Turns out I still had to download their program onto my PC and when I did, I found that it wasn't that user-friendly.  So in the end, even though it was free, I totally gave up.

I was given another chance a couple of weeks ago when the nice folks at p;log approached us, and we got to try out their browser-based editor.   This time round, it's super duper easy for me!   All I needed to do was to register an account at their website, and start editing the photo book with lots of themes, background, stickers etc for me to choose from!  If I cannot finish editing at one go, I can also save my work as a draft in the cart under my account to be retrieved again later.  I got to see exactly how the product will look like before it's printed.

However if you don't have limited ideas or if you simply wished someone would do the layout and design for you, then you are in luck because p;log can even do that for you for FREE!  After they are done, you can review and make any changes you like to the draft!   I took the free design option as I wasn't that satisfied with my own work.  Steffi wanted a say and demanded a few other photos of me to be included into the photo book which I did on my own.

Steffi showing off her present from us and p;log.

Here's Steffi checking out the pages of her personalized photo book!

Sample pages from Steffi's photo book.

We can't wait to see how her photo book would look like, but we needn't had to wait long after we confirmed our order.  In fact, it took only two days for us to get the book and I must say that Steffi was very pleased to receive her gift from us and the wonderful folks at p;log.  She kept browsing through the pages and even made sure that my photos were included!  How sweet of her!

The photo book came in a nice paper bag and perfectly wrapped as a great gift for anyone!

The photo book came encased in a nice protective cover in a beautiful paper bag and I believe that such a book would be wonderful personalized gift option for anyone.  We at The "Perfect" Father would like you to have a try at creating your own personal photo book too!  And here's how you can win one worth $49 for yourself or your loved ones!

Giveaway ends at 2359hrs on 19 Jul 2014.  Follow the simple but compulsory steps number 1 to 3 to qualify, but doing all of step 4 will give you additional chances at winning! 

1) Like p;log Facebook page;
2) Like The "Perfect" Father Facebook page;
3) Like, share (publicly so that I can see) and tag friends (as many as you like) in a comment to this Facebook post (https://www.facebook.com/theperfectfather/posts/649362741817679); and

4) You may follow the additional steps listed in the following Rafflecopter for additional chances at winning! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meanwhile do take a tour at the p;log's official website to register your account first and try editing your photo book in advance.  And if you win, all you need to perform a "checkout" with the voucher code that you will be issued! 

Happy p;logging!

Guardians of The Galaxy Red Carpet Event [Media Invite]

The family scored some invites from the kind folks at Hasbro Singapore and wonderful peeps from Shaw Online for the Guardians of The Galaxy Red Carpet Event last Saturday.  That's how I got enough invites to be able to bring both Steffi and Leroy this time round.  The wonderful thing about having these special VIP invites is that we need not have to come REALLY early to queue up and the chances of meeting the stars are much higher.  However this not guaranteed as well for they might still walk pass on the other side.  Anyway, the kids knew what to expect too.

The kiddos with their many photos in the VIP area.

Steffi and Leroy with the cosplayers from Movie Mania Singapore!  Never fail to see them at events like this! Awesome!

I am fully prepared this time, with foldable chairs for the kiddos too while we wait for the stars!

I ever mentioned before that Leroy was a really lucky boy, and he got to meet Andrew Garfield at The Amazing Spiderman 2 Red Carpet Event and Press Conference and Hugh Jackman at Southeast Asia Blue Carpet Premiere of Xmen: Days of the Future Past as well.  I am sure there would be many others who had met all the stars before, but which kid got carried by them or managed to get as close as Leroy?  And for the first two times, the invites had to be won through contests some more!  So, I conclude that he is indeed lucky!

Leroy giving the victory sign and getting carried by Director James Gunn!

The first star to walk past us at this event is non other than the Director of the movie, James Gunn!  He was extremely friendly and despite the heat and humidity in Singapore, he tried to oblige all the fans with their request for photos and autographs.  Leroy was no exception and he even managed to get carried by him as well!  

We could only watch as Drax The Destroyer walked past us on the other side with his minder.

Unfortunately for us, Dave Batista completely missed us as he was on the other side again, just like what happened with Hugh Jackman!  But the minder didn't see Leroy this time.  So when we saw Dave walking away from us this time, I had to change to plan "B".  I walked to very end of the red carpet with the two kiddos, hoping to catch him if possible.  Every other fan must have thought of the same and there was absolutely no chance of us squeezing into the front row at all.  That's when I noticed a lady from the media who was in the cordoned off area where all the cameras were.

 

Happy kids with their photos taken with Dave Bautista!

I humbly asked for her help in getting a photo of Dave with  Leroy and Steffi and she was kind enough to help and even carried Leroy for me.  Thank you so much, whoever you are!  We just stood there and kept our fingers crossed, that Dave would stop when he walked past.  Luckily for the kids,  he did and both of them managed to get their photos, with Leroy probably becoming the last person to take a photo with Dave at the red carpets.  

Lucky Leroy with his many encounters with the stars!

It all started from The Amazing Spiderman event and now that Singapore had became the choice venue for red carpet events, we had somehow turned into star chasers.  In fact Leroy had became a veteran in getting photos taken with stars!  Daddy mission accomplished again, for this time!

More photos of the event can be viewed here and see who else they met! 

This is NOT a Product Review

This is not a product review.  I never used it.

This photo is not about a product review or giveaway.  Heck, I never even got to use the product in the first place.  I bought this maybe about 10-11 years ago and just happened to see it lying around today and I recalled why I bought it...

Back then, I was house-proud and had wanted to use it to hide the "imperfections" in my wooden dining chairs.  There were scratches on them but somehow I couldn't remember why I never got down to doing it!

The slight off-color painting on the wall, the minor scratches on the dining chairs and every other little material imperfection in my "new" house irked me.  No matter how small the flaw, I tend to focus on it rather everything else that were okay.  It made me miserable.

Fatherhood changed everything.  It changed all my priorities.  So what if there are drawings on the walls, furniture broken by the kids and general untidiness everywhere else in the house?  For me, as long as the kids are happy and healthy, I am happy.  Their laughter in the house overshadows whatever imperfections there may be, for nothing in this world is perfect.  

The family made the house, a home.

p.s  I am not going need the product anymore, I can pass it to you if you want it but I cannot guaranteed if it's still usable after a decade.

A bout of Sickness Made Me Thankful

I guess you must have heard about the saying, "one never learns to appreciate until one loses it", or something to that effect.  But you really have to go through it oneself for it to hit hard. 

You probably wouldn't have thought much about the mundane food you have been eating daily, or the drinks such as kopi-si or milo that you may enjoy daily.  It was tough for me these few days, for I couldn't even hold any food or drinks at all, as I was vomiting due to food poisoning.  Makes me feel that food, any food would have been wonderful.  As I type now on my phone, I can feel my stomach rumble, but the fear of regurgitation is still there.  Dilemma. 

Going through bouts of sickness like this, is taxing on the body and the family.  It makes one feel blessed just to be able to perform daily activities like playing with the kids and I feel extremely bad having to impose on my wife, to take care of a fifth child, one who is sick, ME.

I feel totally wasted, weak and battered while my wife shouldered the responsibilities of taking care of the kids on her own.  She even had the energy to clean up the house and bring the kids downstairs for play so as to give me more rest. 

The kids playing downstairs while I rested at home.

I am really thankful for having such a strong woman as my wife and the mother of my children.  Dada, I may not say it or express it but I appreciate you more than ever.  I know you are always there for me.  Meanwhile, I will try my best to get well soon and to everyone else, may good health forever be with you!