That Padwan Cake

Mama Min had delivered again. We first found out about her almost 10 years ago while celebrating Idlan's first birthday. She prepared a barnyard cake through our party planner and since then she had been our go to person for birthday party.

Her creation had been constantly amazing, not just to look at. They tasted great too - it was Oreo chocolate this time. Over the years, we had a "Little Einstein Cake" for Irfan and "R2-D2" for Idlan.

This time around, Irfan wanted a Star Wars-themed event for his classmate party. And Mama Min came out with the best one yet. The cake was topped with Irfan in a Padwan suit, complete with his blue-framed glasses. And it looked so much like him!

Idlan had already been planning for his 12th birthday in May. It would be just before Ramadan, and best to start panning nning from now. It looked like Mama Kim's service might be called for again! Best to finalise the theme first.

Driving Home

It was hard to say goodbye to Smokehouse when we were finally done. The boys were relieved obviously now that they were heading back to civilisation, but my in-laws would have preferred to stay an extra day. The combination of cool weather, nice room and great service made them wanted to room again and there were already talks about our next stay before we departed.

We left just after noon, deciding against staying for lunch since we had a heavy breakfast. We would later stop at Kuala Kubu Baru for a quick stop, and we did just that. I used the Hulu Yam route again, bypassing Rawang and Serendah, cutting the journey by about 30 km. We reached Gombak by 3.15, and then continued on to the apartment via Great Eastern Mall to do a bit of groceries and take-out for dinner.

We were worried that our MPV would play up, but luckily everything went smoothly. I might take a few days off in early January after the Xmas and New Year break, just before the school reopened for the boys. Maybe it would be to PD.

Non-Connection

Maybe some people wished that they can stay as far away from civilisation when they go on holiday. But for me, it was the opposite. I wanted to be connected. In fact, it would be the only time which I can be connected without needing to worry about work. Where I could blog to my heart content and get connected!

Here at Smokehouse, there was hardly any good connection. I had all three telco connection with me - Celcom was down to just EDGE and crawling at that. Digi had 3G, but the speed was well below 1 Mbs, in town, with most no connection at Smokehouse. Maxis was possibly the most acceptable, registering HSPDA in places but still very poor speed. Again almost nothing at the hotel.

So, the best bet was wifi. The hotel actually had wifi but the speed was really, really poor. Pathetically poor in fact. Back in 2012, I could get 5 Mbs here, but now, forget it!

I had to listen to my boys complaining all day about the connection. Hopefully they would appreciate the 5Mbs connection they had at the apartment from now on. They couldn't wait to get back to base, and so was I. Hence, I was not able to blog - although sometime I got lucky! I still managed to get the occasional emails and WhatsApp connection. So, I you wanted to be connected all the time, Smokehouse was not the place for you .... But imagine if there was LTE there ......

Archery Time

Near the Golf Club, there was an old stable dating back from the 40s called The Paddock. It was till operational to today but mainly for show, where for a small fee, you can jump on a horse and with the trainer, you would be taken around a small course for a brisk walk.

You could also do a bit of archery there. Idlan decided to skip the horse since it was much bigger than he thought, and took to the archery instead. The adult bow was a bit too big for him, while the children one was too small. He had to settle for the small one in the end.

10 minutes later, he was still at it and it looked like he was keen to take it further. Since then, he was asking me if there was somewhere in KL where he can learn archery. It looked like we had a Hawkeye in the midst ....

Irfan' Classmate Party

Irfan turned 10 on the second day of Chinese New Year. And straight after the school break, both he and Idlan had school assessment. No real time to have a party. Irfan had been talking to his classmate about having a party just for them. We dithered but he persisted.

Finding the right time was quite tricky. Finally we settled for last weekend, almost a couple of weeks after the his actual birthday.

The games has startedIrfan staring at his cake ...Guns would have been a better choice ...Poor boy was lost ...A small party, just among classmate. No clowns or anything like that. Just then playing video games with food and cakes. It worked out fine, with some of his friends wanting to stay back after the party.

They played with their Playstations and Wii U, well through the afternoon. And of course binge watching YouTube on the TV.

PlottingBig breathSee how the Pro cut itThe main attraction was the cake however. Mama Min did it again. More on that on another entry. Irfan was especially happy and right excited well into Monday. And Idlan decided that he loved his room after all and since the party had been sleeping in his own room. Although I had to sleep with him there...