[Adversity] Making the best of a holiday that went wrong

We left for a family vacation to Bangkok, all excited to explore the city.

On the first day, 7yo Vee complained on earache and headache while we were at Chatuchak market. He was one huge grumpy fellow.

In the evening, we discovered he’d a high fever and immediately stocked up on a thermometer, masks and fever meds from a pharmacy.

I accompanied him to rest in the hotel for the next two days, watching Discovery Channel and learning from “The Teachings of Buddha” (a book found in the drawer). He slept a lot.

In the meantime, the rest of the family went on a boat ride to the river market and visited the Sleeping Buddha.

On the third day, his fever reached 40.8degC and 2yo El also developed a 39+degC fever, so we arranged for a doctor to visit them in the hotel.

Thankfully a nasal swap ruled out Influenza.

We cancelled our Bangkok-Singapore flight and booked last minute tickets back to KL. Fortunately, the kids’ fever were under control so we managed to fly out of Bangkok.

At this time, our home was still undergoing a mini-renovation to remove a built-in sofa (the sofa that tempted the kids to run on, and where Vee previously fell from and had mild concussion).

This means we’d to check into a hotel instead going home. Then we visited the paed.

Fast-forward two days and the kids are now much better and we’re finally going home soon. They’ve been keeping themselves occupied indoors with:

– new super-cute miniature animals

miniature animals

– writing & drawing on whatever blank paper / envelopes they found

4yo jae explosive writing phase 4yo writing

– music theory: I brought the workbook along for the trip and it came in useful since we were confined indoors a lot

– two small Thomas and friends engines

– Vee & hubby battling it out on our new chess board

English chess

We also cleared our family shopping lists for stuff like (missing) school uniform, (missing!) water bottle, outgrown swimming costumes, (missing!) swimming goggles and outgrown shoes. If not for this unexpected stay at a local hotel, I wonder when we’d ever get these shopping done. It’s crazy trying to shop with three little boys and we do it only when absolutely necessary.

On this trip, hubby took a complete leave from work and dedicated himself to tracking the kids’ medicine-feeding time round the clock. It’s confusing feeding two kids different medicines and dosage, and I’m glad he’s extremely meticulous.

Despite this holiday turning out all “wrong” from our original plan, we’ve overcome all the hurdles thrown at us and spent lots of quality family time together. I’m sure we’d still remember it 20 years down the road.

Hope you’re having a great week with your family!

P.S. Check out my workshops here

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