Have not felt as excited about a holiday as much as I did this time.
Friday (15 Jan 2010)
Mr Liow took Maen to Camalot without Baileys. The moment the door shut, Baileys started to behave wierd. He ran around the house whining, scratched at the door (he does that whenever there is something outside, or when he needs to exit a room with closed door). Mr Liow came home after a while and Baileys calmed down. I wondered if he missed Maen or Mr Liow, or if he just got worried we forgot to bring him along with Maen.
Soon after Mr Liow came home, the Lek family arrived at our place. We arranged to leave together. The Chans and Tays will leave on Saturday because of their schooling kids.
It was not a long drive so we managed to have lunch.
Things were not as ideal on this day, starting off with little things:
Baileys was denied entry into Mc.Donald's (we assumed that because there were no signs to say dogs were not allowed, he would be allowed in, but he got chased out.). We took him back into the car (and hoped it did not freak him out. He's never been left alone in the car. To our greatest relief, he was sleeping soundly when we went back!) Andrew's medium sized fries were packed in its medium sized holder but small sized portion. Mr Liow's burger was cold, his drink order of coke turned out to be Dr Pepper (probably the only fuZzy drink that he does not like).
We moved on after lunch.
Finally after about 4 hours, we reached our cabin.
The cabin was terribly disappointing!
Firstly, it was not as seen in its website. The ones the guys booked were 'honeymoon' cabins which were supposedly spacious and nice (in their page). When we stepped in, the cabin was dark, run-down and small. There were 2 rooms which were only slightly larger than their double beds. There was only 1 heater in the cabin and it was FREEZING COLD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, even with 4 layers of blanket! The wooden floorings had sticky stains, the DVD player did not work, we were promised WIFI in the room but it turned out there was only WIFI in the 'lobby', the tap in the shower ran hot-cold-hot-cold instead of staying at the temperature you 'set' it to be, the toilet took almost forever to refill so we had to try not to go in too soon after each other so that we do not flood the toilet bowl.
Even Baileys had problems sleeping (and peeing. hehe). The toilet was so tiny he could only pee in it, and do his poop right outside it. I don't know if they kept the carpet clean coz Baileys kept walking around the room in the middle of the night and he woke us up for the last time when he jumped onto Mr Liow's bag to sleep on it. Soon after, we fell asleep, only to be woken up again by the freezing temperature in the room.
Saturday (16 Jan 2010)
They guys managed to get us to stay only for a night instead of 3 when they approached the 'front desk' about the wrong type of cabin issued to us.
We checked out right after a short breakfast. The only thing I liked about this cabin was the outside view....everything was white, except for trees and the brownish-red cabins.
Our next stay would be at Eagleview Lodge, managed by Greer Cabin Keepers. The road there was not easy to travel. It was steep and slippery, and the lodge was not that easy to locate either. Thank God there was a lady waiting for her doggie to finish his outdoor business and she gave us directions there.
This lodge/cabin/house (whatever you call it) is HUGE!!! It has 4 giant rooms, (2 upstairs, 1 on ground level and 1 in the basement, all with attached baths), a HUGE living room on level 1, a super long table that is big enough to accomodate all 14 people, another living room with full set of couch & TV in the basement, a table tennis table and a table soccer table. Upstairs was another living room with a sofabed and TV outside the 2 rooms..
There was a looooonnnng balcony and another room with individual recliners and a breakfast table.
Pure enjoyment! All those at less than $200 more per night! No more freezing in the middle of sleep or having to bear with no space to move around, or wait a long time for the toilet canister to fill up to be able to flush again. Baileys even had his own couch to sleep on! No more pacing in the middle of the night to find a good spot to lie on (without feeling itchy). In fact, he loved that couch so much he would find his way downstairs to sleep even when the whole world was at level 1.
The rest of our group (those with kids who left that morning) arrived at about 3pm. AN was sleeping then but got woken up by all the commotion (and kids who knew we brought Baileys and came looking for him). She was so happy to see the elder kids and couldn't go back to sleep.
Minutes later, we went out for sledding! We had a steep snow-slope right outside the house, perfect for sledding and we did not even have to drive anywhere else! Only problem was, right down the slope was another slope that went all the way down. So, the strong young men had to stand guard at the bottom of the slope to catch the kids at the end of the slope before they continue down the other slope. That would not be fun anymore!
Then, it was steamboat dinner! Dinner was fun with a wide selection of steamboat ingredients and jokes around the table.
After dinner, we played taboo. It was another round of fun and laughter. I'm still missing that moment!
AN had been good the entire day. She enjoyed running off with the jie jies but would obey and sit at the table during meals, even when the kids ran off. For one of the few times in my life since AN was born, I felt, free.
Sunday (17th Jan 2010)
The guys (Mr Liow and the 2 Mr Tays) left for the ski mountain early in the morning. Only Mr Chan and Mr Lek were home with the ladies and kids.
There were nothing much to do in the day when most of the guys were out. The kids loved Baileys and because Angellyn was in the living room, I brought them all downstairs to play with him. Poor Angellyn was in her rocker and I had seen fur on her a few times already. That was what AN had to go through at that age too, but it was unfair for Angellyn to have to bear with it because Baileys was not part of her family. hehe.
The guys came back later than expected, so the other 3 Mrs took their kids for sledding soon after lunch. AN was sleepy by then, so we took a nap.
AN being a light sleeper, got woken up by Mr Liow just as he got into the room. Since she was awake, we brought her outside as well.
She had another good time sledding, and this time, she got to play a little longer with snow! She picked them up and threw them in the air. How she loved snow (and sand!)
It was BBQ for dinner. Had a fun time chatting over food like the evening before. Mr Tay was the only one grilling the chicken for us. Come to think about it, I felt really bad about it..
AN was not as well behaved as she was the day before. She made noise at the dining table (she had problems eating a chicken wing, so Mr Liow broke it into 2 for her. She got upset and insisted she wanted the "W", which to her, was what the chicken wing reminded her of. Gave her a new wing but that did not please her.) She was probably cranky from not having enough sleep during her naptime and made things really hard for us. It got so bad I did not want to respond to her anymore.
She said sorry (since a past couple of months ago, she would apologise urgently when she knew I was mad at her) but would do the same thing over and over again. Mr Liow then asked me to stop doing that to AN, which of course, made me even madder.
The girls were waiting for me to play monopoly with them since the rest of the adults did not seem extremely interested in games that night. I was, on the other hand, upset with AN, and Mr Liow. Neither was I interested. AN did something which I decided to speak to her behind closed doors, finally. Kimberly was sharp enough and told the other kids to get out of the room.
After clearing things up with AN, we went upstairs. Everyone were watching TV but the girls were still waiting for game time. I tried catching the attention of everyone but seriously, I am really lousy at gathering people and making things happen.
Still, after the show was over, we started on another game of Taboo again, this time guys vs gals.
Guess who won? We did! There were a couple of times when one of us did not have to explain too much and the other in the team got it, somehow. It was like, telepathy? hehe.
Soon it was time to pack up for the night and before we leave in the morning. Sad to even think about it. None of us could bear to leave and the guys even thought of calling in for an extension of their leave.
Monday (18 Jan 2010)
We had our last breakfast together, took many many pictures (of individual families and group) and touched the house for the last time.
Guess what?? It snowed as we left!!! It started off with gently falling snow, and then in no time got heavier! We stopped over at a snow mountain for a short while of photo-taking and some of the kids went for a last leg of sledding. It did not take long before the snow hit hard and we all had to return to our car.
Part of our journey back was accompanied by snow that hit horizontally with really strong winds and super low visibility. Snow was building up on the road. But then again, snow does not cover much of Arizona.
As we went on, we saw less and less white, more and more browns. And then it was home sweet home. For once, it did not feel nice to be home..sigh..
Baileys had to sleep on his own without Maen for that night. It was not easy for him. He kept barking to get out -_________-" He never barked to get out in the night. The most he would do each morning was to scratch at the baby gate.
Mr Liow went to pick Maen up on Tuesday morning. That marked the end of our white holiday.
It's been good. The trip brought us closer to each other. The guys are already planning for something else, the same people. Maybe to LV the next time before we leave? It did not matter where now. It's the company that matters :)
Friday (15 Jan 2010)
Mr Liow took Maen to Camalot without Baileys. The moment the door shut, Baileys started to behave wierd. He ran around the house whining, scratched at the door (he does that whenever there is something outside, or when he needs to exit a room with closed door). Mr Liow came home after a while and Baileys calmed down. I wondered if he missed Maen or Mr Liow, or if he just got worried we forgot to bring him along with Maen.
Soon after Mr Liow came home, the Lek family arrived at our place. We arranged to leave together. The Chans and Tays will leave on Saturday because of their schooling kids.
It was not a long drive so we managed to have lunch.
Things were not as ideal on this day, starting off with little things:
Baileys was denied entry into Mc.Donald's (we assumed that because there were no signs to say dogs were not allowed, he would be allowed in, but he got chased out.). We took him back into the car (and hoped it did not freak him out. He's never been left alone in the car. To our greatest relief, he was sleeping soundly when we went back!) Andrew's medium sized fries were packed in its medium sized holder but small sized portion. Mr Liow's burger was cold, his drink order of coke turned out to be Dr Pepper (probably the only fuZzy drink that he does not like).
We moved on after lunch.
Finally after about 4 hours, we reached our cabin.
The cabin was terribly disappointing!
Firstly, it was not as seen in its website. The ones the guys booked were 'honeymoon' cabins which were supposedly spacious and nice (in their page). When we stepped in, the cabin was dark, run-down and small. There were 2 rooms which were only slightly larger than their double beds. There was only 1 heater in the cabin and it was FREEZING COLD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, even with 4 layers of blanket! The wooden floorings had sticky stains, the DVD player did not work, we were promised WIFI in the room but it turned out there was only WIFI in the 'lobby', the tap in the shower ran hot-cold-hot-cold instead of staying at the temperature you 'set' it to be, the toilet took almost forever to refill so we had to try not to go in too soon after each other so that we do not flood the toilet bowl.
Even Baileys had problems sleeping (and peeing. hehe). The toilet was so tiny he could only pee in it, and do his poop right outside it. I don't know if they kept the carpet clean coz Baileys kept walking around the room in the middle of the night and he woke us up for the last time when he jumped onto Mr Liow's bag to sleep on it. Soon after, we fell asleep, only to be woken up again by the freezing temperature in the room.
Saturday (16 Jan 2010)
They guys managed to get us to stay only for a night instead of 3 when they approached the 'front desk' about the wrong type of cabin issued to us.
We checked out right after a short breakfast. The only thing I liked about this cabin was the outside view....everything was white, except for trees and the brownish-red cabins.
Our next stay would be at Eagleview Lodge, managed by Greer Cabin Keepers. The road there was not easy to travel. It was steep and slippery, and the lodge was not that easy to locate either. Thank God there was a lady waiting for her doggie to finish his outdoor business and she gave us directions there.
This lodge/cabin/house (whatever you call it) is HUGE!!! It has 4 giant rooms, (2 upstairs, 1 on ground level and 1 in the basement, all with attached baths), a HUGE living room on level 1, a super long table that is big enough to accomodate all 14 people, another living room with full set of couch & TV in the basement, a table tennis table and a table soccer table. Upstairs was another living room with a sofabed and TV outside the 2 rooms..
There was a looooonnnng balcony and another room with individual recliners and a breakfast table.
Pure enjoyment! All those at less than $200 more per night! No more freezing in the middle of sleep or having to bear with no space to move around, or wait a long time for the toilet canister to fill up to be able to flush again. Baileys even had his own couch to sleep on! No more pacing in the middle of the night to find a good spot to lie on (without feeling itchy). In fact, he loved that couch so much he would find his way downstairs to sleep even when the whole world was at level 1.
The rest of our group (those with kids who left that morning) arrived at about 3pm. AN was sleeping then but got woken up by all the commotion (and kids who knew we brought Baileys and came looking for him). She was so happy to see the elder kids and couldn't go back to sleep.
Minutes later, we went out for sledding! We had a steep snow-slope right outside the house, perfect for sledding and we did not even have to drive anywhere else! Only problem was, right down the slope was another slope that went all the way down. So, the strong young men had to stand guard at the bottom of the slope to catch the kids at the end of the slope before they continue down the other slope. That would not be fun anymore!
Then, it was steamboat dinner! Dinner was fun with a wide selection of steamboat ingredients and jokes around the table.
After dinner, we played taboo. It was another round of fun and laughter. I'm still missing that moment!
AN had been good the entire day. She enjoyed running off with the jie jies but would obey and sit at the table during meals, even when the kids ran off. For one of the few times in my life since AN was born, I felt, free.
Sunday (17th Jan 2010)
The guys (Mr Liow and the 2 Mr Tays) left for the ski mountain early in the morning. Only Mr Chan and Mr Lek were home with the ladies and kids.
There were nothing much to do in the day when most of the guys were out. The kids loved Baileys and because Angellyn was in the living room, I brought them all downstairs to play with him. Poor Angellyn was in her rocker and I had seen fur on her a few times already. That was what AN had to go through at that age too, but it was unfair for Angellyn to have to bear with it because Baileys was not part of her family. hehe.
The guys came back later than expected, so the other 3 Mrs took their kids for sledding soon after lunch. AN was sleepy by then, so we took a nap.
AN being a light sleeper, got woken up by Mr Liow just as he got into the room. Since she was awake, we brought her outside as well.
She had another good time sledding, and this time, she got to play a little longer with snow! She picked them up and threw them in the air. How she loved snow (and sand!)
It was BBQ for dinner. Had a fun time chatting over food like the evening before. Mr Tay was the only one grilling the chicken for us. Come to think about it, I felt really bad about it..
AN was not as well behaved as she was the day before. She made noise at the dining table (she had problems eating a chicken wing, so Mr Liow broke it into 2 for her. She got upset and insisted she wanted the "W", which to her, was what the chicken wing reminded her of. Gave her a new wing but that did not please her.) She was probably cranky from not having enough sleep during her naptime and made things really hard for us. It got so bad I did not want to respond to her anymore.
She said sorry (since a past couple of months ago, she would apologise urgently when she knew I was mad at her) but would do the same thing over and over again. Mr Liow then asked me to stop doing that to AN, which of course, made me even madder.
The girls were waiting for me to play monopoly with them since the rest of the adults did not seem extremely interested in games that night. I was, on the other hand, upset with AN, and Mr Liow. Neither was I interested. AN did something which I decided to speak to her behind closed doors, finally. Kimberly was sharp enough and told the other kids to get out of the room.
After clearing things up with AN, we went upstairs. Everyone were watching TV but the girls were still waiting for game time. I tried catching the attention of everyone but seriously, I am really lousy at gathering people and making things happen.
Still, after the show was over, we started on another game of Taboo again, this time guys vs gals.
Guess who won? We did! There were a couple of times when one of us did not have to explain too much and the other in the team got it, somehow. It was like, telepathy? hehe.
Soon it was time to pack up for the night and before we leave in the morning. Sad to even think about it. None of us could bear to leave and the guys even thought of calling in for an extension of their leave.
Monday (18 Jan 2010)
We had our last breakfast together, took many many pictures (of individual families and group) and touched the house for the last time.
Guess what?? It snowed as we left!!! It started off with gently falling snow, and then in no time got heavier! We stopped over at a snow mountain for a short while of photo-taking and some of the kids went for a last leg of sledding. It did not take long before the snow hit hard and we all had to return to our car.
Part of our journey back was accompanied by snow that hit horizontally with really strong winds and super low visibility. Snow was building up on the road. But then again, snow does not cover much of Arizona.
As we went on, we saw less and less white, more and more browns. And then it was home sweet home. For once, it did not feel nice to be home..sigh..
Baileys had to sleep on his own without Maen for that night. It was not easy for him. He kept barking to get out -_________-" He never barked to get out in the night. The most he would do each morning was to scratch at the baby gate.
Mr Liow went to pick Maen up on Tuesday morning. That marked the end of our white holiday.
It's been good. The trip brought us closer to each other. The guys are already planning for something else, the same people. Maybe to LV the next time before we leave? It did not matter where now. It's the company that matters :)
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