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The weekend continues... lol.
Early this morning, really early, when I couldn't sleep around 2+ or 3+ am, I went round taking pictures of the girls in their various sleeping positions, lol. Marieann slept on the extra bed which was set up in the living room, near to the bedroom and the girls' father remained sleeping on the couch where he had fallen asleep. Juliane slept with me on the King's size bed, lol. Just nice for the both of us cos Juliane really moves a lot in her sleep as you can see in the photos, lol.
For that 4.5 hours which I slept, it was pretty deep because I don't recall dreaming at all! Not dreaming is pretty rare for me, lol. I had actually wanted to wake up at dawn, hoping to catch the sunrise. Although I did wake up one or two times but it was either too early, still in darkness or too late, sun was already up, lol. But anyway, I was too sleepy to have gotten good photos of the sunrise, even if I did get up at the right time.
When I woke up at 8:30am, everyone was still asleep. Wanted to read the newspapers but someone stole the papers! I decided to have a nice hot soak in the tub. After the massage last night, my muscles were really aching, especially my neck and shoulders. By the time I filled up the tub, everyone has woken up. Oh well, I could still have my soak and also a few photos with the girls in our pjs, lol.
Ahh... the soak was pure heaven. It really soothed my aching muscles and was really relaxing. I was able to lie there in the tub and enjoy my peace and tranquility for about ... 15 minutes before the girls started giggling and trying to peep at me through the slits on the bathroom door, lol. There goes my peace and quiet. Since I can't beat them (not in the literal sense, lol), I got out and let them experience a soak in the tub too. We all had fun, lol.
All that I needed for my relaxing soak: bath salt, and most importantly, my adorable rubber ducky! Lol.By the time everyone got dressed and packed our belongings, it was almost 10am. Time for our breakfast. The first meal of the day is the most important, cannot miss it for the world, especially if it is buffet, lol. Here are some highlights of the buffet spread (which had Western, Asian, cereals, bread, fruits, cold cuts, salad) and what I had for breakfast, lol.
We went back to the suite just before 11am to watch F4 again because the girls complained that they had fallen asleep while watching it late last night, lol. Might as well as we only needed to check out at 12pm.
The girls were pretty upset about leaving. Both said they wanted to stay at the hotel everyday. Their father paled at that, lol. Again, when we checked out, we were given a very warm reception. The girls received their cookies again, lol.
After we put our stuff into the car, we walked over to Marina Square to walk off the heavy breakfast we had. We had a light snack at 1+ pm at Gloria Jean's Coffee (an Australian cafe). We ordered a Pasta Salad ($3.95) to share. The salad was actually very nice, lol. The girls "ta pau" cupcakes home.
While in the car, on the way home, the girls fell asleep. All the excitement of the weekend getaway has finally taken its toll on them, lol. And the parents too when we got home, hahaha. I napped for 3 hours, lol.
Overall, it was a really nice stay away from home. The girls really enjoyed themselves. I also enjoyed the break away from home and the massage too, although I am still aching now, lol. Oh yes, and the shopping too, lol. Maybe next time, we should stay an extra night to be really relaxed, lol. :P
Some photos of the surrounding which I took from the suite. :)
Since we haven't brought the girls overseas since 2005, we thought it would be nice to surprise them with a weekend away from home at a local hotel. Truth be told, I also needed a break very badly, lol. We chose Conrad Centennial Hotel because the girls were pretty enthralled by their Teddy Bear Christmas tree, lol.
We checked in at 12:30pm, earlier than the 2pm check-in time and they already have our room ready, actually, our suite ready, lol. Conrad's service is really good, has that extra personal touch. They greeted us, yes even the girls, before we could walk up to the reception area. They didn't neglect the girls at all, made small talks with them and the girls were also each given a little box of cookies to make them feel welcome. I am impressed. But err... how come I don't have the box of cookies? I also want, lol. :P
We stayed on the 18th level at the Centennial Suite. The girls were really excited and exploring the suite, running from living room to bedroom to bathroom and back to living room again, lol. They even managed to play hide-and-seek with each other in the suite, lol. Well, I was pretty excited too, lol. It is almost like going away, hahaha. Yar, yar, I know cheap thrill. :P The suite was really nice. I just love the bathroom, the huge King's size bed and 47 inch LCD screen TV, lol. They also gave us complimentary fruits, chocolate and a Conrad Teddy Bear to make us feel welcome. More personal touches. :)
We were finally able to drag the girls out of the suite at 1:30pm to have lunch over at Outback Steakhouse, which was across the street from Conrad, lol. By now, the girls and their father have their favourite dish at Outback, lol. The girls again ordered their Chicken Fingers ($10.90) to share, and their father ordered again Ribs on The Barbie ($19.90 half) and our fav appetiser: Bushroom 'Shrooms ($15.90) (all pics in a previous post). I like to try new things so I ordered Queensland Pasta with Chicken ($23.90): pasta tossed in alfredo sauce and steamed veggies, topped with parmesan cheese and a whole piece of chicken fillet. The pasta with the alfredo sauce was great-tasting and the chicken was really tender and juicy. The portion was huge too. When I ordered the pasta with chicken, I expected to see tiny slivers of chicken here and there but NEVER a whole chicken fillet. Order this if you are really hungry, lol. We were given a free dessert so we tried the Sydney's Sinful Sundae ($13.90): vanilla ice cream rolled in toasted coconut and covered in chocolate sauce and topped with whipped cream. Of course, it is sweet and sinful, lol. But I don't fancy the coconut too much.
After lunch around 3pm, we headed back to Conrad for a rest. I also requested for Internet access. While setting up my Internet access, I browsed The Centennial Spa menu. I thought why not have a spa massage while here at Conrad since I never had a spa treatment before, lol. I decided to go for Double Impact (80 minutes, $160). I signed up for my massage session at 9pm. Just nice, after my shopping and come back for a massage, lol. Oh boy, what an experience it was, lol. Will talk about it in another post. :)
We went over to Marina Square at 4:30pm. We walked round the whole mall within 3.5 hours, including having a light dinner at 6pm and trying out some dresses for me, lol. I managed to buy 2 dresses, including an interesting halter-neck piece, lol. Always feel good to get something one can look good in, lol. :P We had dinner at Pasta de Waraku. We didn't order a lot because the girls were still quite full and I shouldn't eat too much before my massage. We had the Half & Half Set ($19.90): came with a corn soup, a salad, a drink and two pastas of our choice. We had the Carbonara Waraku style and Pork Bacon & Cabbage with tomato cream sauce. We thought both pastas were pretty average. Maybe we should have tried other stuff, lol.
We went back to Conrad around 8pm, but not before the girls' father got snacks, e.g. ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken pie for the night, lol. We stopped by the gift shop and borrowed a DVD, compliments from Conrad for hotel guests, Fantastic Four: Silver Surfer. I managed to bathe the girls before going for my massage close to 9pm. (My massage experience in another post, lol). I returned to the suite close to 11pm. Took a long hot shower before joining the family in the living room to watch F4. I was hoping to update my blog while watching F4. Unfortunately, my notebook could only be placed on the study table so I either had to watch the movie through the mirror in front of the study table or watch and blog at an awkward angle. Ended up with headache and aches, gave up updating the blog and just focussed on watching F4, lol.
Being all excited, the girls didn't sleep until 12+ am, which was understandable. The girls' father fell asleep on the couch around 2am. I was still awake at 3am, watching Harry Potter 4 on HBO, lol and updating my Warbook, hahaha. No lah, I couldn't really get to sleep because my neck and shoulder muscles were really aching after the massage. Indication that I should go for more massages to unknot my knotted neck and shoulder muscles, lol. But I think I finally fell asleep at 4 am but thinking I have to get up at dawn to try to catch the sunrise... since I have the view of the sea from my window... zzz... zzZ... zZZ... ZZZ...
Here's some pics of us relaxing, especially for me just after my massage and hot shower, lol.
