Night Intruder

Someday, I hope to hand all of this over to my daughters. While I'd like the value of it to come from the account itself, I'll also be content if they simply enjoy reading stories from their first days and months with us.

For those who haven't been following along, I'll add that my husband and I are in the processing of adopting twin girls. We got a call one day in July asking us if we would bring them home. They needed to be discharged from the hospital and had nowhere to go ... we had about 24 hours to make up our minds! You can read about those first days and weeks here: Intro, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7.

Cameron Highlands

Continuing where I left off (here), we finally got in touch with our Airbnb host who gave us the check-in instructions. The girls were tired so we set up their pack-n-play and let them nap while we unpacked the rest of the gear - cans of formula, bottle sterilizer, diapers, blankets, clothes, etc. - all of that for only 3 nights!

Matt and I realized we were hungry so he set out to grab us some food while I stayed behind with the girls.

This will be important later in the story, so I'll describe the layout of our room. It was similar to a hotel where the door is at one end and as you walk through, you pass different "sections." In this one, the bathroom was to the right of the entry and next came a small kitchenette. The space narrowed as you passed the "bedroom."

This would've been your typical studio-style hotel room, but the bed was enclosed. A solid wall separated it from the kitchen and two glass walls were on the other sides. Next came the living area with a couch and TV. When I looked closely, I realized that spaces had been left in the glass "wall" between the "bedroom" and living area, making it easy for sound to travel between the two spaces.

Off the living area was a small balcony. While Matt was gone, I opened the doors to let in the cool air and shut the screen door. I didn't notice it at the time but the door had been built backwards. The screen door was inside and the sliding glass door was outside.

The girls woke up from their nap just before Matt got back. We played with them, gave them their last bottles for the day and put them to bed before eating our food.

It was getting dark outside and we could see bugs flying around, so we decided to go ahead and close the balcony slider. To do that, I had to open the screen door first. But a HUGE bug had landed on it. I've dug up a picture of one online so you can get an idea ...

^{{
Tacua speciosa from Malaysia on an arm by Anonymous}}

I had never seen a bug that big before! We didn't want it to fly inside, so I tapped on the screen door until it flew away. Thinking I'd move quickly, I opened the screen door to shut the slider door, when "Whoosh!" the bug came flying by me into the room.

My thoughts jumped instantly to the gaps leading to the "bedroom" where the babies were sleeping, Matt and I jumped around, waving pillows and shirts to shoo it away. (We were worried about it scaring the babies, but in hindsight, it's amazing we didn't scare them with our noises.) Admittedly, we were also terrified of it landing on us ... I guessed it was a cicada from the noise it was making but I'd never seen one that big ... and neither one of us are very good with bugs.

Our antics finally came to an end when the bug hit the ceiling fan and plummeted down to the floor, stunned. I grabbed it up in a plastic bag and after turning off the lights to make sure other bugs didn't come inside, we threw the invader back outside. Matt and I were exhausted. LOL

Cash only

The next morning we bundled up the twins and went to breakfast. Matt had learned the night before that the places around us only took cash. We'd brought a limited amount, so we drove to one of the bigger towns in the hopes that we'd find a place that accepted our credit card.

"The Lord's Cafe" where we ate breakfast was also cash only. It looked like we might have to end our trip early, but we stopped in at Starbucks since Matt was getting tired of 3-in-1 pre-mixed coffee. They had a card reader! It seems silly now, but I think as new parents on our first family vacation, we'd tried to prepare for all the things that might go wrong ... and being cashless was not one of them!

Walking in circles

We ended up eating lunch at Starbucks (usually not my first choice) just so we could save our cash. Enjoying his coffee, Matt sat inside reading while I wandered around the little town with the two girls. There wasn't much to see especially with a stroller in tow, so I walked in large circles ... anyone watching probably thought I was crazy. But it felt so good to be outside without sweating buckets.

Seeing the sites

Over the next two days, Matt and I saw some of the usual "Cameron Highlands" sites - we visited a shop that sold local honey, tasted fresh strawberries, and ate scones overlooking the tea plantations.

For our first family vacation, it was a success! We made some unexpected memories and took time to enjoy experiencing new things with the girls.

A couple weeks later Matt and I got to go on our first date alone and then it was time to celebrate babies' first Christmas! More on that to come...

Night Intruder | Our Vacation To Cameron Highlands Continued

Cameron Highlands

Night intruder

Cash only

Walking in circles

Seeing the sites

If you're interested in reading more about our life with twins: