Introducing the Littlest One to the Family's Staycation Tradition

The "pear-shaped jails for kids" art in front of the hotel.

Every year, in December, we go for a staycation in the city. The tradition started when we recognized the amount of time we were wasting being stuck in the interstate highway traffic every school holiday.

However, for the past few years, since Aleesa was born, we haven't been able to go for any staycation. In 2018, the wife had to go to Jakarta for work. So, we all tagged along. Aleesa was 10 months. In 2019, we went for a vacation in Penang with the in-laws.

This year, we managed to revive the tradition and at the same time, introduced it to Aleesa. And she loved it! We returned to one of our favorite hotels for its heated indoor pool and complimentary kids hideout, Element by Westin. 

Day 1: Nature Walk with the Animals

Little panda is a sneaky photobomber.

We woke up early and were looking forward to all the planned nature walks. We arrived at the entrance to the KL Forest Eco Park, but were disappointed to find out that it was closed for construction. We then drove to FRIM, but it was also closed due to CMCO.

So, we detoured to Zoo Negara and got a "sort-of" nature walk instead. The kids enjoyed it. It was good to see how the zoo is receiving a lot of visitors again. They really need it after their income was badly hampered during MCO.

We then rushed back to the hotel for lunch and to catch our pool reservation at 4 PM. It was really annoying having to stick to this rule, but due to CMCO, there's nothing we can do. Only 8 people can be in the pool at any one time and we can only use the pool for 45 minutes. 

That night, we went to the River of Life. It has been established for quite sometime now, we thought we were missing out. We weren't. I don' t know whether it's because of the MCO or something else, but we're not returning anytime soon.

Day 2: New Scooters

Our pool reservation was at 1 PM. We woke up and went out, hoping to have brunch at VCR, a hip little cafe tucked in between the many alleys in Bukit Bintang. We were lucky to get a table before the queue piled up, but were unlucky for not having the time to eat-in.

We were looking to buy a new scooter for Aleesa and found out Decathlon has it. Went to the closest one in KL East Mall and got two scooters instead. The other is for Ayra. She decided to use her birthday money to buy a scooter rather than toys from Toys 'R' Us.

Day 3: Awake and Bake

Going up one of the many staircases in Perdana Botanical Garden.

Alhamdulillah, the Perdana Botanical Garden did not close! The girls got the chance to test out their new scooters. There weren't too many people and the weather was nice. Again, we had to rush back to the hotel as our pool reservation was at 11 AM. Last time to enjoy a dip before checking-out.

After we checked-out, we went to Good Times DIY & Lifestyle Cafe in MyTOWN shopping center where the kids baked their own cookies and cupcakes. It was our second time here. I think the kids are probably expecting this to be one of their annual activities now.