After a fantastic 3 1/2 weeks in Sri Lanka, we headed back to Malaysia. Due to construction it was stressed to us that we needed to be at the airport 5 hours (!?!?) early.....which we did but, of course, that meant we sat for quite a while. We did school work and played games....and eventually the boys plopped down with activity books when we were finally able to check in.
We headed back to the Putrajaya Marriott, where we'd had a fantastic Christmas with surprise visitors. We wanted to visit a few more sights in the Kuala Lumpur area and do some "housekeeping" stuff (like haircuts and shopping for a few necessities).
One day we went to the National Museum of Malaysia, in downtown KL. It was a well laid out look at the history of what is now Malaysia, from its earliest beginnings, through different colonial periods (current-day Malaysia was ruled by the Portugese, Dutch, and British, as well as occupied by the Japanese), and through the independence movement of the 1950s.
We made a quick pass through a separate Ethnology Museum, which had a lot of information about songs, games, dances, and activities that are common in Malaysia, like kite flying.
We also visited Sunway Lagoon, an amusement park with a variety of rides and water slides. We went on a day that was forecast to have bad weather, but it turned out to be a great day since the crowds were pretty minimal and we didn't get rain until the last hour or so.
Colin saw this photo op spot and wanted to take a picture. We sometimes joke that, due to his personality, Colin is one day either going to run law enforcement or be running from it. Let's hope this is the only time we see his picture on a "WANTED" poster. :)
We got to do archery, which both boys love.
They bounced on big trampolines...
We made them take a silly picture with Sponge Bob Square Pants and Patrick....both boys are completely past the age of wanting to take pictures with characters, but they humored us.
We spent most of the day in the water park sections (there were 2), where we all rode slides and played in the water. There was a funnel-type slide that we all went on that scared Colin a bit (he believes it made him "go into shock"), but all in all it was a pretty tame (but fun) water park.
The boys tried ice cream sandwiches that were literally ice cream scoops inside a hotdog bun. It sounded kind of gross but they said it tasted good. I don't think they've ever met an ice cream product they didn't like, though.
On our last day, we went back into KL to the Petrosains Discovery Center. It was a much larger science center than we realized! We made circuits, did all kinds of space-themed activities, tested our reaction times, and experimented with magnets, blocks, and lots of other things. These centers work in really well as part of homeschooling the boys this year.
In addition to the standard science museum fare, Petrosains also had some unique exhibits. Because it is sponsored by Petronas, the Malaysian oil and gas company, they had a mock oil platform. The boys were too small to experience the emergency offshore escape chute, but Bob and I both donned coveralls and tried it out.......it was intense! Basically you lay down and twist your body through netting, which means you quickly drop to the bottom (and into a boat, if you were actually on a platform).
Colin tried out cross country skiing...
Bob and I drove a super-realistic F1 simulator....
The boys also tried out a driving simulator....
And E got to do a more advanced, 4D driving simulator as well.
After a second nice visit to Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, we headed on to Singapore!
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