Friday, July 13, 2007

A night out with the kids...

Hasya and Hilman just finished their monthly test yesterday, and I thought it would be nice to just bring the kids out for dinner and a movie last night. Ayah could not join us as he was attending a Cardio Conference in KL (has been since Tuesday, and will only be free after the weekend). Next week, Hanna will have one of her many UPSR trial exams - and if we were to wait for everybody to be totally free before going to the movies, that would mean having to wait for at least two more weeks, and until then I would be bombarded by this standard question endlessly - "When are we going to see Transformers, Mommy?!!!"

Going on a weekend, would be a "No-No", as the cinemas will be full of people of all ages and all walks of life, and, it would not be "fun-fun" at all, so, Ayah asked us to go without him. Hanna was a bit reluctant to go without Ayah initially, but we decided that we could go and see the movie again with Ayah, maybe later this month, when he's free(er). So, off we went to One Utama at 7:45pm, right after Maghrib prayers - Mommy, Hanna, Hasya and Hilman, hoping to catch the 8:30pm show. Yep - you guessed it right, we went there without making any ticket reservations! And, the truth be told - I didn't even have any idea as to the scheduled times for the movies at GSC!

Driving from Section 17 to One Utama was really crazy - the Sprint Highway in front of Eastin Hotel was jammed, and I managed to just swerve out of the queue and used the Damansara Utama route via NKVE, BUT once again, we met with an even worse jam in front of One Utama! My guess was - ALL of the most inconsiderate drivers in Klang Valley were at One Utama last night - because there were cars parked on both sides of the roads in front of One Utama, causing the 3-lane road to become a 1-lane road, creating a massive jam there, which in turn earned continuously swearing from yours truly! (mind you - all were lip synch swearing, away from the kids' ears!)

We only managed to find parking at the New Wing at 8:30pm (it would normally only take 15-20 minutes). We rushed to GSC, only to find >100 people queing in front of us - and horror, horror, there were only two counters opened! The kids were looking at the screen anxiously, and became increasingly worried when they saw that the tickets for "Harry Potter - The Order of the Phoenix", were selling fast!

Errr...Hang on?! Wait a minute!! Did they say "HARRY POTTER"? I thought all these while we were supposed to be watching TRANSFORMERS?! So, Mommy had to take a vote, and asked everyone what his/her preferred movie was. It was unanimous (well, at least among the kids), they wanted to watch Harry Potter. So, Harry Potter it was - and Mommy was SO frustrated because Mommy was REALLY looking forward to watch TRANSFORMERS! And Mommy was really hoping Hilman would vote for TRANSFORMERS! If it was 2 against 2, I could have used my veto power and decided on TRANSFORMERS, instead! Eherks...

The 9:00pm show was sold out right in front of our eyes while we were queueing, and tickets for the 9:30pm show were selling fast. I asked Hanna to queue up at the Golden Class Counter just in case they still had tickets for the 9:00pm show, and she came back saying that the only tickets available were for the 12:30a.m show! I could see that the kids were really anxious as I told them that if there were no tickets for the 9:30pm, then we would only go and have dinner at either Johnny's or Secret Recipe at One Utama, as any show later than 9:30pm would be too late for them. I could see Hilman muttering some do'a/mantra (probably do'a makan?!!) praying that the tickets would be available. And voila, suddenly the screen flashed - stating that there would be two 9:30pm showings of Harry Potter and there were 119 tickets available! The kids started counting the number of people queing in front of us - only 23! "YESSSSS!!!", the three of them exclaimed! (Hilman's mantra must have worked wonders!)

We only got our tickets at 9:25pm, and we had no choice but to have 1901 takeway Hotdogs for dinner in the cinema, instead. The kids managed to gobble everything down while watching the adverts and trailer, and from 9:45 until 11:55pm, we were enchanted and awed by the amazing wizardry of Harry James Potter and his fellow trainee wizards of Hogwarts (some of them who have been with Harry since "The Philosopher's Stone" have turned up to be quite good-looking and charming in their own ways!)

We left One Utama at 12:15a.m and reached home 15 minutes later. Ayah was waiting with Special (Ramli) Burgers for the kids, and they had a late supper together (probably one of the few times Ayah has had the chance to eat with the kids in the last few weeks!). After giving his "Nighty-nights" kiss to the kids (and their Mommy! Winks*), Ayah went back to his hotel room in KL, as he was scheduled to chair a breakfast symposium at 7:30a.m today. If he were to sleep at home and drive from PJ, he would have to leave the house by 6:30a.m this morning!

The kids only went to bed at 1:15a.m. (Sekali-sekala it is okay - but, tak boleh buat selalu!)

As for me, I can't remember when exactly I dozed off, but I remember asking myself this - "When are we going to see TRANSFORMERS, Mommy?!!!", right before I fell asleep...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just read your "a night out with the kids", i actually get in that situation all the time. In my case i go out with the kids more than their mom does. Nice to know we all go through thesame stress. what i do usually is to keep them chatting and laughing all the time. They are pretty good at chatting when you are willing to listen to them. Hope to read from you soon. my blog site is www.aragalanga.blogsite.com
and my email address is aragalanga@hotmail.com

regards to the family.

abbah r. agor-agalanga

wanshana said...

Dear abbah r.agor-agalanga,

Thank you for visiting.

Yes - good strategy : to keep them chatting and laughing all the time. In my kids' case, MOST of the time they can do that without my help! Sometimes, I have to request for "Time-Out" because I just could not keep up with their topics of conversation - especially when all three talk at the same time! Hahaha!

It is quite rare for us to go out without their Dad, actually. Almost always we go out together as a family. Just that the last few weeks EVERYBODY had been tied up with their own schedule (including the kids!) that I thought, I needed to spend a night out with them last night, minus their Dad)

Regards to your family, too.

Dad of 4+1 said...

Shana, we r watching Potter tomorrow night...10 pm show..A treat once in a while to stay up late.

~ said...

Kak Shana,

I haven't watched TRANSFORMERS yet. alahaii.. ppl are bragging, chatting and imitating Bumble Bee, Deceticons, Optimus Prime, etc. but me? huhuhuu... LOST.

Keanorlinsya said...

Aunty Shana,

You should have gone to TGV in OU. Sane kurang org, sbb most ppl prefer GSC (since its new) or maybe go to Cineleisure instead?

Tak tgk Transformers lagi? Takpe lets go watch it. Again for me. Heh heh heh! Will be my 3rd time.

I think next time i nakkkkk sangat tgk movie yg selling fast, im gonna borrow Hilman. His doa work wonders!

wanshana said...

Dear Dad of Four,

Yes - I agree. Once in a blue moon, and especially if the kids deserve a treat, it is okay to let them stay up later than they normally would, I think.

I'm sure your kids had enjoyed the movie night-out. My kids loved it (but, I still think I would have enjoyed Transformers more! Hehehe!)

Take care.

wanshana said...

Dear Zasya,

I know what you mean - I feel like a so "Unhappening Mom" when I chat with some of the mothers! Some of them had in fact brought their kids to watch Transformers more than once!

But, surprisingly my kids have not asked me to bring them to watch Transformers since the Harry Potter movie night-out. I think if they somehow still don't feel like watching it, I MIGHT just go and watch it with one of my friends! Hehehe...

wanshana said...

Dear Kea,

TGV?! Errr...my kids would freak out if we were to go there, especially Hanna. I really don't know why. One of the reasons given to me (which I could not, and still cannot accept) was that the POPCORN at GSC is so, so much nicer?!! As it was, we didn't get any popcorns pun at GSC that night...I guess, as you said - GSC is newer, and somehow is more 'ceria'?

Nak pinjam Hilman? Boleh, tapi nanti Aunty tanya how much "pengeras" he charges. Hahaha!

I really hope Transformers will still be shown until at least 2 weeks from now - that'll be the next time Ayah would be free to go and watch it with us! If Kea nak join us, do holler, okay?

Take care, Kea.

MAMAMIA said...

Fortunately or unfortunately Papa would never allow me to take the kids out alone. For us it has always been & InsyaAllah will always be a family outing.

Anyway, kalau Papa kasi permisiion I would nicely decline. Tak sanggup rasanya... Bila my youngest dah besar sikit, maybe I'll consider...

Keanorlinsya said...

memang pon!! GSC punya popcorn is d best. they have salted, sweet and the best, CARAMEL!!!

kat cineleisure ada spicy. pelik sket.

D.N.A.S said...

kak Shana,
u just reminded me that I owe my kids Transformers and Harry Potter. Need to make phone reservations, soon.
Usually I just go to GSC at IOI Mall because it's nearer to our place.

wanshana said...

Dear Mamamia,

We do try to make every outing a family outing most of the time, but, sometimes, due to everybody's hectic schedule (especially Ayah's!) we would do a "Minus-1". Tapi tak selalu... Rasa tak seronok if one is missing...

As for me, if Hilman is younger pun, I don't think I would bring the kids out on my own. I don't think I can handle 3 screaming kids alone! Hehehe...

--------------------------------

Dear Kea,

Okay - now I believe Hanna...Hahaha!

Take care!

--------------------------------

Dear d.n.a.s,

I still owe the kids (and MYSELF!) Transformers. Ayah is going outstation this weekend, so, I might persuade him to come back early this Thursday night, and we'll do another round of Thursday night outing with the kids @ GSC this week!

But, this time around - I'll make prior reservation online. If not...Sakit jiwer...