Precious One.. Our Evan

Welcoming The Year of The Dragon

2012-01-27T19:24:00.004+08:00

I woke up earlier, showered and went downstairs for breakfast. Halfway through breakfast, I was greeted by a groggy you. Groggy but not teary (thank goodness!). Fed you breakfast then it was time for your shower. Got you all dressed and you went down to greet everyone, all dressed in the red dragon motif "Chinese Costume":

Here's the things all ready for the things ready for the lion dance which was to arrive at 10am:

Fruit basket and the ang pow with veggies :

While waiting for the lion dance to come, we were all busy posing and taking pictures with everyone. Here's a picture of my little boy and his uncle both dressed in Chinese Costume making a "kung fu" pose for the photographers:

At last the lion dance arrives. It has been 2 years since we last had the lion dance:

And of course the music was to loud for you:

.. there was also fire crackers this year. The lion dance lasted for quite a while. One of the highlights was the "transformation" of the fruit basket. Notice any difference?

The finale was the lion dance climbing up the table and benches to get to the ang pow and veggies which were hung by daddy from Kor Poh's window:

... and the lion leaving with a wonderful message:

This was what happened on the first half of the first day of our Chinese New Year.

Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T00:01:00.000+08:00

Keong Hee Huat Chai!

Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner

2012-01-22T22:47:00.002+08:00

Look at what the "chefs" of the house are mixing for dinner:

Can you guess what it is? The chefs had to prepare the whole day (actually days ahead) for tonight's "simple" dinner. Popiah and yee sang:

Here you are with the little "crown" given to you by Yvonne Kor-kor:

And the final picture before we started on the feast:

Stirring the yee sang thoroughly.

This is the first time I've had popiah for Chinese New Year reunion dinner. Apparently popiah is a traditional Hokkien dish for Chinese New Year reunion dinner. In fact we had to wake up at 5.30 this morning to buy the popiah skin to be brought back to Ipoh.

Geong Hee Fat Cai! Have a wonderful Chinese New Year.

Getting Ready for CNY

2012-01-20T17:07:00.002+08:00

We tried to get daddy's car washed today. But there were 25 cars ahead of us!! So in the end, we just had lunch, bought some groceries then headed back home. Daddy decided to wash his car himself. So now you and him are busy downstairs washing his car.

Playing with Fire Crackers

2012-01-15T22:07:00.004+08:00

.. yup and with our permission too. Only thing is this fire cracker would not explode or do anything *grin*. We just made our fire cracker out of ang pows and then used them to decorate the house with it. Learnt how to make them from this website.
It's very simple and at long last I have found more uses for the toilet paper rolls which I have ~~hoarded~~ kept and which is also driving daddy nuts (collecting dust).

Halfway through you decided to decorate your own instead of using old ang pow. This is what you drew:

There is you throwing a snowball at a snowman, a house and mummy and daddy also throwing snowball at each other. It is also snowing (snowballs??) in the picture.

Pictures In the Plane

2012-01-13T18:26:00.002+08:00

Here are the pictures taken on the flight back. Jaclyn che-che sent them to me and I've finally found time to upload them. They are pictures of you with Jaclyn che-che, Janice che-che and also Randy Ko-ko:

Back to School

2012-01-09T21:26:00.002+08:00

On Wednesday, I had to wake up earlier after 6 weeks of waking up almost an hour later to get ready to go to work. It was the first day of school and we had to get you ready to go and stop by to see which class you were allocated to. After meeting your teacher and she had shown you where you were supposed to put your school bag in the mornings, we said goodbye to you and daddy told me "We'd better go off before you start to cry". I could see you looking a little teary eyes and so we quickly bid you goodbye and walked to our car.

Everything went well on Thursday. BUT on Friday we were a little earlier and the teachers were still in Mrs Sebastian's office and I had to wait around with you. By the time the teachers got out of the room and I prepared to go, your floodgates opened. And you cried and refused to let me go. Mrs Shanti took over and carried you away and I had to quickly leave the Center.

With you behaving like that we worried that you'd cry again today, especially over the weekend. But thank goodness, you were fine. I had to leave you in Center for a while as I went to get you a new homework pouch and when I got back to tell you that it will be passed to you later on, you were so engrossed in playing that you probably didn't even realise I was there.

Phew.. hope that this goes on for the rest of the year. *keeping my fingers crossed*

2012 New Year

2012-01-09T21:20:00.002+08:00

The new year just crept up on us. We were all dead tired that before the clock struck 12 midnight, ushering the year 2012, we were all asleep oblivious to the happenings around us. We only woke up and wished each other a "Happy New Year" the next day after a good night's sleep.

So how did we spend the first day of 2012? Why, lazing around the house of course. After so many days of walking and early morning calls it's time we relaxed in our comfy house. And I had another day to rest before going back to work. As for you, you had two days before the first day of school. Lucky little boy!!

Day 6: Goodbye Korea

2012-01-06T21:26:00.003+08:00

It's time to say goodbye and the morning call for our final day in Korea was at 6am, which as usual means we have to wake up even earlier to ensure you are up and ready before 7am which was the time for us to meet to catch the bus.

We sat a little dazed in the bus as Bob spoke a little more to us and also mentioned that Jeff Ko-ko was freelance and was selling the pictures he'd taken of us during the whole tour. We picked almost all of the pictures except for some which were amended and he'd even given daddy his e-mail so that we can ask for the softcopy of the pictures.

We stopped at a location about 10 minutes away from the airport for breakfast. We each had a bowl of udon then walked a little in the shops before hopping into the bus again. Daddy in the meantime went off to take some last pictures of the snow in Korea:

When I got to our seat, I was shocked to find that one of my paper bag was missing, but not the contents. They were all strewn on the seat. Good thing nothing was missing. Oh well...

We arrived in the airport to check in our luggage, get our tax refund claims stamped then went in to clear immigration and walk around the airport before departure time. You even made a "pit stop" at the children's play area before daddy picked up some whiskey from the duty free shop. We were a little late and were among the last to board the plane. Lucky we made it in the nick of time. Phew...

The plane ride back was fun as we'd already made friends in the tour so you were happily playing with Randy Kor-kor, Janice Che-che and Jaclyn Che-che. Halfway through the flight, the stewardess even took you to the galley to give you some snacks (biscuits which I saw you saying no to and a packet of sweets). Suddenly it got turbulent and you had to quickly get back to your seat. In fact this flight back was rather turbulent.

We arrived in KLIA, said goodbye to the rest in the tour then walked around, had dinner and then headed to the domestic terminal to wait for our flight back to Penang.

On the way back home, you dozed off. That's what happens when you don't nap at all the whole flight back. I had to wake you up when we reached home as there was so many things to carry up to the house. After that you stayed awake for another 1 hour plue to shower and eat supper before you KO-ed while watching football.

This trip was rather short (as you had reminded me many times), but we sure had lots of fun.

Day 5: Something Interesting and Shopping

2012-01-06T20:49:00.005+08:00

As usual morning call was 7am and we were already up earlier to ensure everyone was ready before 8am. Breakfast was the same place as where we went on Day 3. Then we went to the Digital Pavilion. We had to wait around a little as we had arrived a little early. At 10am we had a guided tour of the place with instructions on how to play with the new electronic exhibitions. Here are some of the pictures I took of you trying out the exhibitions:

Checking out the digital fish pond with Randy Kor-kor

Having your "health check" by the computer

As a finale we were treated to a 4D movie. It was a cartoon 4D show and as you were not tall enough, we stacked our jackets for you to sit on. I was worried that you would be afriad while watching the movie, but after the initial shock you were ok, and everytime the air blew at you you'd pat your hair down. After the movie, you told me that you were only "a little afraid" during the movie.

Next we headed to Myeongdong Market for lunch and shopping. Walked around the maze like place picked up some shopping and at 5.30pm met up with the rest at a designated spot and hopped into the nice warm bus and went to our dinner location. The dinner menu was Bibimbap. After dinner, we stopped by another FaceSh0p and then headed to the final stop for this tour, "Drawing Show: Hero".

It was an interesting show where there was dance, comedy and drawing. They even provided boosters for children. Halfway through the show you were too tired and dozed off. I guess you were too tired from our shopping in the afternoon. You were very good and walked all the time, not requesting to be carried.

No photography was allowed during the drawing show but daddy managed to get a shot before we left.

After that we hopped on the bus and headed back to the hotel for rest. You continued to sleep after I changed you into your PJs. Daddy and I hopped into the convenience store opposite the hotel and had drinks and supper. After packing up, we all went to sleep.

Pets

2012-01-06T19:54:00.002+08:00

We were just having a discussion on pet names today:
Mummy: What would you name a dog if we have one as a pet?
Evan: Chelsea
Mummy: A cat?
Evan: Tom
Mummy: A mouse?
Evan: Jerry
Mummy: A chicken?
Evan: Bok-bok chicken
Mummy: A duck?
Evan: Quack-quack
Mummy: Quack-quack chicken?
Evan: Hahahaha... NooOooOo... Quack-quack duck!
Mummy: A crocodile?
Evan: Then I run away.

Wahaha.. I guess you know what is logical. Or so I thought... Next you told me this:
I'll take a sword and chop it up.

I guess the last answer was your imagination going wild. But it was a fun discussion.

Day 4: Watery Fun and A Theme Park

2012-01-05T18:21:00.007+08:00

It was not easy getting you out of bed. Especially since you had such a late night the day before as we had strawberries, wine (milk for you), and squid which daddy had ran off to the nearby Family Mart. You refused to go to sleep but after I finally managed to drag you back to the room, you KO-ed as I was packing up our bags.So after I managed to get you out of bed and dressed you up, we headed downstairs to a place which looked like the hotel ballroom for breakfast. After breakfast, we grabbed our bags and met the rest of the tour group in the lobby and to go to the next stop.

Next stop after around 40 minutes drive from Phoenix Park was Ocean 700 which is located in Alpensia. After briefing from Bob, we got our locker number, dropped our shoes inside, dressed up then went swimming in the indoor heated after we rented the swim caps and life floats. It was so much fun. You could not go on the tube rides as you were not tall enough, but you did have fun with the other games including the wave pool. Daddy and I tried out some of the tube ride. It sure was fun.

After some time, we got ready to go to the next stop. Before we left, one more shot with the ski fields of Alpensia:

And of course you played one last time with the snow:
On the way back to Seoul, we stopped at a restaurant to have lunch. This was the steamboat (yes, again) cooked with the dried pollack fish. Here's a shot of the fish which daddy took:

After a ride of over 2 hours (I think) we arrived in Seoul. The next stop for the day was Lotte World Theme Park. It was so super crowded as it was Korea's school holiday. The queue for all the rides were so long. We walked outside took a look at the rides which were actually more suited for older children/teenagers and headed back inside. Daddy asked you what you wanted to ride and you wanted to take the monorail. So off we went. It was such a confusing place and the map did not help much. When we had finally found the place, the queue was so long. We had no choice but to queue up. One good thing was that the queue was moving, but after moving a while, we came to a sign which said "Waiting time from this point is 1 hour". Our hearts dropped to the floor but we stayed in the queue. In the end, the wait was just over 30 minutes. We got into the monorail and the ride lasted a grand total of THREE minutes! We walked out and joined the Jungle Ride queue but when the person in charge measured your height, you did not meet the 112cm minimum height requirement.

We only had time to queue for another ride, so we queued at the Sinbad ride which was recommended by Bob as a "family ride". It had a very long queue when we walked past it earlier on. This time the queue was shorter or so we thought. It took us 20 minutes before we entered the "cave" but in actual fact the queue continued inside the cave. We waited another 10 minutes or so and then it was our turn to get into the boat ride. Less than 5 minutes into the ride, you were screaming and crying out of fear when you saw the rather scary scenes. Aiyo.. you said that it was too scary. And the rest of the ride was spent consoling you. You only started to look around as we reached the end of the ride when Sinbad had rescued the princess.

We tried to look for a place to grab a quick bite, then headed down for the 7pm parade. After the parade, we gathered at the meeting point then headed to check into our next hotel.

At the hotel, we dropped our luggage and headed to the Korean BBQ restaurant just across the road from the hotel. Dinner was so yummy. After that I left you with daddy while I went to Doota with the 2 che-che's. When I got back, I had expected you to be asleep, but no you were still so energetic. At last it was zzzz time for us all.

Day 3: More Pictures

2012-01-03T21:49:00.005+08:00

Here are some pictures taken from Ah Kong's camera:

Our beef steamboat

Side dishes to go with the steamboat and rice

Enjoying lunch wrapped in seaweed

Getting ready to ski: Fighting with the ski boots

First one ready: Evan Ban

Stylo or not? Ski suit complete with skis and even ski goggles

Evan and mummy trying to balance

You managed to sort of ski down the little slope, but I had gone ahead of you and fallen down and before I could get up, you crashed into me. Shortly after that Ah Ma went to rent a sled for you which was what you played with till we (as in daddy and I) were too tired and had to drag you back to the hotel.

Day 3: And Away We Go

2012-01-02T20:14:00.007+08:00

We made a pit stop halfway to the ski fields. You were so excited with the ski fields that it was easy to get you out of bed that morning. As we drove nearer to the ski fields, we could see more and more snow on the ground. And it had started to snow too. You could not see the snow very well as the bus was moving, but when we stopped for lunch you were so excited. Here you are happily posing for daddy in the snow:

Lunch was a yummy steamboat and you got to stop and play with the snow on the ground before we got into the bus. Daddy stayed outside for a while and we were chatting in the bus when suddenly.. *SPLAT*.. a snowball hit the bus window. It was daddy. You immediately wanted to get out of the bus to join daddy in the fun, but it was too late.. time to continue our journey to the hotel on the ski fields. We made another quick stop to pick up the rented ski suits.

We checked in and were supposed to meet Bob after an hour but as the ski fields were closed for a while, we decided to go down and have some fun in the snow before we get our skiing instructions from Bob.

Daddy set up his tripod and had our family picture taken:

We only managed to pull you away from the lure of the snow to take a few pictures which surprisingly you happily posed for before you started to play with the snow, attacking daddy and Ah Kong:

It's a good thing you were wearing a rented suit. Else I don't know what you'd be wearing the next day since this suit was very wet (although, the rented suit dried up very quickly)

I need to get the pictures from Ah Kong's camera as we were all decked and ready for skiing except for Ah Ma so she was the photographer for the ski adventure.

Day 3: Changing of the Guards

2012-01-02T17:41:00.003+08:00

Day 3 began early in the day with a morning call at 7am. But of course since there were 3 of us, daddy and I woke up at 6.30am knowing that we needed more time to wake you up and to get you ready. Brought our bags down at 8am and quickly bundled into the bus away from the cold morning.

We drove for a while before arriving at our breakfast location. It was a buffet style of breakfast serving mainly Korean food (imagine kimchi for breakfast!!) in a big hall with many people from many tours having breakfast.

Next stop was Kyongbok Palace to watch the changing of the guards ceremony. The center of the walkway was cleared and we stood around watching the guards. Jeff Ko-ko gave us fliers which showed the different guard uniforms and the status represented by each uniform.

We took a group picture before we began the tour of the palace with Bob:

We felt so cold, so we put on our beanie but you refused to put on the beanie, complaining that it was poking your hair.

Here's a family shot which Jeff Ko-ko had helped to take:

After that we hopped onto the bus to head for the next stop.

P/S: Jeff Ko-ko is the freelance photographer who was with our tour. He seemed to take a liking to you, carrying you around, fooling around with you and taking quite a number of pictures of you despite being able to speak very little English. And he called you "Pororo" which at the end of the trip became a name which some others in the tour started to call you too.

Day 2: Ahn Nyeong Ha Se Yo

2012-01-01T15:57:00.011+08:00

Yup.. we're in Korea. It was a last minute plan (well all organized in less than a month.. so I reckon still can be counted as a "last minute plan"). The plane arrived at 7am local time. After clearing immigration, collecting our bags and meeting with Mr Lai, the tour leader and the rest of the tour group, we headed to the bus after we were introduced to Bob our tour guide. It was SOOOOO cold. When we arrived it was -3 degrees. Yikes. Good thing we packed our warm clothing in the hand carry and had bulked up before walking out of the airport. Incheon airport was quite a distance from Seoul, you took a nap of almost an hour while Bob shared some information about Korea to us. First stop for the trip was a museum (I have no recollection of the exact name). We bundled up and got of the bus. First thing that hit us is the COLD. It was SO SO cold. The short walk from the airport to the bus was nothing compared to this. Ah Kong and Ah Ma agreed to have their picture taken, but I was too cold to pose for daddy to take a picture of us.

We ran into the museum, walked a little and sat around for a hot drink. Having warmed up a little more, we headed out for pictures:

Then we got into the bus and headed to the next stop "Ice Gallery". Bob kept telling us we'll be making our own cups, but somehow I could not get what he meant until we walked into this open room. There was another group of tourists chipping away at blocks of ice. Ah.. it was a "cup designing" competition. Each one was given a chisel and a block of ice with a pair of knitted gloves and plastic gloves. We got started on our creation after receiving some basic instructions from the instructor. It certainly looked so simple when he made it, but it was not when we tried. You were so excited and immediately started on your ice block the moment we were told to start. Shortly after someone came and gave you a plastic apron to keep your jacket dry. I had to keep an eye on you and help you hold your ice for fear of your chipping off your finger (or even poking your eye) instead of the ice!

When ten minutes was up, we took our "cups" to be washed and filled with orange crush to drink. Then our creations were judged and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place were announced. Daddy was placed in first place. Wow!

Here's daddy with his creation in one hand, a ice vase with flowers in the other and an ice crown along with his gold medal. Great job, daddy!

Next, we went down one floor to the ice gallery. Everything was carved out of ice. Here is daddy and you trying out the ice-slide. Look at the temperature here:

Clockwise from top left: Daddy trying out a "frozen throne" to see if this is better than the one at home; with mummy posing with the cute bear; trying out the "frozen PC"; also trying out the throne.

After the ice gallery, we had lunch. It was a local dish called Samgyetang (Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup). Er.. the taste seem rather bland to me but you loved it. Ate a little of the chicken and kept asking Jeff Ko-ko (the photographer for the tour) to add more noodles for you.

Next we hopped onto the bus for a drive to Nami Island. This is an island which is very famous ever since they filmed the Korean movie Winter Sonata. We waited in the super cold for the ferry to arrive and quickly hopped into the warm ferry. It was just a short ride. After being given instructions and a map we started to walk and look around this little island. Many decorations on this island were made of recycled items.

Clockwise from top left: So excited for being able to stand of the frozen lake which we had to access via a very slippery walkway; cuddling with mummy in front of the ice sculpture; a family picture framed by the trees; grinning with mummy in another picture with the trees.

After walking quite a distance, we stopped to feed ourselves the pancake called Hotteok. It was highly recommended by Bob and you happily ate it all, although I thought you may not like it as the dough had green tea. It was so delicious eating this warm pancake in the cold winter.

We were too tired to walk back so we hopped onto this train, which is the UNICEF charity train. It took us back to the wharf where we quickly hopped onto the waiting (and warm) ferry.

It was another long drive back to Seoul but we had some time for a little shopping in Doota in Dongdaemun before dinner and checking into the hotel. A long day, but the bus ride gave us all opportunity to catch up on sleep which we missed during the flight to Korea.

Day 1: And Away We Go

2012-01-01T15:42:00.004+08:00

The day started as usual after a busy evening the night before in Uncle Sin Tien's house for the Christmas party. Went out for lunch then back home to check that everything was packed and got ready to wait for Uncle Sin Tien who came to pick us to the airport.

At the airport we checked in and had to wait for Uncle Sin Tien to round back home to pick up something for Ah Ma before going into the departure hall to wait for our flight. We had a rather long wait as we went to the airport earlier to ensure we got good seats for the connecting flight. As it was a tour, we could not pick the seats upfront online.

Soon it was time to embark on the plane and off we went to KL. At KL, we had quite a lot of transit time so we walked around, looked for something to eat for dinner. The choices was very limited and we ended up with Deli France then headed to the the Plaza Premium Lounge as we had nothing else to do until the time to get to the boarding gate. At last when it was nearly time, we stopped by to pick up a bottle of wine then headed to our gate.

We met our tour leader then proceeded to board the plane. Supper was served and you got a child's meal. After that I had to convince you to go to sleep. It was already past 12 am by then and contrary to what I expected, you seemed very alert still. But at last you fell asleep. It didn't feel like a very long sleep (should be only considered a "nap") then it was time for breakfast.

And so that is how we spent Day 1 of our tour.

The First Day of Our Holiday

2011-12-24T11:48:00.002+08:00

Daddy had started his holiday earlier as he still had leave which he needed to clear (of course, he still had to work a little during his "holiday"). And since we did not bring you our anywhere since your school holiday started I also cleared my work and decided to take Friday off.
The night before we booked movie tickets to Alvin and The Chipmunks which is your favourite (you have watched the second movie so many times!!). In fact the day before you called me at work and said "Mummy you have to buy me Happy Meal.. because they are giving Alvin and The Chipmunks toys".
So on Friday morning, we settled some errands, then headed to Gurney Plaza for lunch. Daddy wanted to try Michealangelo's but you insisted on Dragon-I. Aiyo.. ok fine.
Shopped a little then headed to catch the movie. It was funny and I think you enjoyed it. Of course there was also the popcorn part which you liked. We bought some groceries before heading home. But before that, one quick stop at Irrawady Fine Foods to pick up a couple of packets of Serrano Ham for the Christmas dinner in Uncle Sin Tien's house this Sunday.
Before we got home, you'd dozed off. Must have been a long day for you, as you already don't take naps. Anyhow, we let you nap for about an hour before waking you up to get dinner. Ah Ma did not cook as Kakak had gone to clean the condo. We were having guests staying at the condo. Dinner was McDonald's and obviously you got your Alvin toy. So the whole of Friday was "Evan's" day.

Visa Rejected

2011-12-16T19:10:00.002+08:00

Poor daddy. He is on leave today and thought that he could go for a game of golf while you go for art class, but his "visa" was rejected by the Deputy Home Minister (you..!!)
In the end he could only squeeze in a quick game of 9 holes with Ah Kong and he had to wait for you to leave before they could leave the house. And when he got back he quickly took a shower before you got back from art class.

Mega Sports Camp Day 4

2011-12-04T21:01:00.003+08:00

Oops.. just realised I had one more post to go on the final day of the camp. As usual we dropped you off after registering and you went up to join the other children before the games began. One of the games was playing with balloon filled with water.

And when I got back on Friday, I was surprised to find that you brought back something else:

A medal for "Best Child". It was given to one child per team. We're so proud of you.

On the next day you told me in a very sad voice "Mummy why was Mega Sports Camp only for 4 days?". Yup, that confirms that you had a great time. And I heard that this is the last round of Mega Sport Camp and they would be organizing other types of camp next year. Either way, I'm glad that you made it to the camp this year and if it's a different type of camp, I'm sure you'll have just as much fun.

Little Fella

2011-11-28T20:18:00.002+08:00

Picture source

Got back from work one day to find you watching Phineas and Ferb, one of your favourite cartoons. And for a moment I could not remember this cute little girl's name. So I asked you and you told me her name was "Little Fella". I double confirmed if she had another name and you insisted that she didn't and that Phineas only calls her "Little Fella".

After thinking for a while I saw the credits and saw her name.. "Isabella". You must either need to get your ears cleaned or you need to turn up the volume of the tv.

Change Name

2011-11-27T22:22:00.002+08:00

You just came up and said this to me:
Evan: mummy, so shall we change our names tonight??
Mummy: Huh?? What do you mean?r
Evan: Change my name-lo...
Mummy: So what would you like to change your name to?
Evan: Super Racer Runner
Mummy: why would you want this name?
Evan: because I can run really fast. (This was followed by a demonstration on how fast you could run)
Mummy: But your name has already been picked when you were born and it's now in your birth certificate. I don't think you can change your name.
Evan: Ok then. But you can still call me Super Racer Runner
Mummy: Super for short?
Evan: No, Racer Runner for short.

Interesting... I wonder when you'll decide to change your name again... And what was to be my name? "Super Cockroach Catcher". Just because I caught one while we were deciding on a name for me :(

Mega Sports Camp Day3

2011-11-25T20:48:00.002+08:00

On day three.. you told me there was a game where you were to throw rings into a specific place. You tried a few times before you finally got it in.

And of course, the important thing was "Vico". You had started to develop a slight cough and runny nose, so I told you that you could have no more than 2 cups of Vico. But when I asked how many cups you had at the end of the day, you told me that you had only 1 cup because you had runny nose. I'm proud of you. You knew your limits!

Mega Sports Camp Day2

2011-11-24T12:02:00.002+08:00

So what did you do on the second day? Well one information your volunteered happily was the abundance of Vico which you got to drink...

Ah.. another thing which you were very excited to tell me was that your team P5 beat P6 in the tug of war. You also got a little football gift along with another card about a famous sportsman. Interesting way of introducing sports to children and I'm glad I registered you for the Mega Sports Camp.

Other than that, you were confused about what you did on day 1 or day 2. Aiyo.. Nevermind.. as long as you had a good time.

Mega Sports Camp

2011-11-22T15:04:00.003+08:00

Today is the second day of your school holidays but you headed back to school.. for the much anticipated Mega Sports Camp. I remember many months back when Mr Tan had given you the form, that very night you had asked me to fill up and sign the form. And at long last, the day has come.

Had a bit of difficulty getting you out of bed as you would not sleep earlier yesterday night. The you slowly ate breakfast while watching TV *ggrrr*. At last we managed to get you out of the house and off we went to school.. or almost. The registration was held in the lobby and after getting you a sticker, getting instructions for the pickup, we left you on the second floor with the volunteers of the camp. There were so many children: 300+ of them from aged 5 -12.

As daddy was rather worried about how the procedure was to pick up the children and since the "pick up card" was with us, we decided to have lunch in town and to pick you up. Surprise, surprise.. it was a very well organized pick up. No worries there. We got our sweaty (and stinky) little boy quickly and we were off.

So what did you do in camp today? You told me you played basket ball where you get to pass the ball and you also had a chance to throw the ball into the basket. There was also story telling, songs to sing and of course the children were given snacks: lots of Vico and "plain bread with nothing".

An interesting day, and I'm glad you had a good time. 3 more days to go.

Swimming

2011-11-16T22:29:00.003+08:00

You had a wonderful time swimming over the weekend. So since the school holidays is approaching and there is no homework for you to do in the afternoon, Ah Kong brought you swimming at the Penang Sports Club yesterday. There you met the swim coach and when Ah Kong asked you, you were keen on having lessons. So Ah Kong spoke to the coach and the same night, the coach called and arranged for the first lesson to be held today.

When asked how it went, you said you enjoyed it. You said that you have "completed the first step". I had question marks in my head, wondering what the first step was. After asking a few more questions, I found out what it was : breathing in the water and putting your whole head in the water. Also you told me that the coach held you in the water as the water was "1.1 meter".

Wow! This is an improvement from when you had swimming lessons in your other kindy. After a few classes you simply refused to allow me to pack your swimming stuff to bring to school!! Great job, my little guy.

Drive Me Nuts..

2011-11-15T19:03:00.002+08:00

Here's some instances when talking to you makes me want to faint!
During our "drawing session" today:
Mummy: I have no idea what to draw.
Evan: Use your brain-o..
Evan 1- Mummy 0

You being difficult, day dreaming instead of doing your Chinese tuition homework:
Mummy: EVAN BAN!! Why aren't you doing your homework? You stand in the naughty corner and think of why you weren't doing your homework!!
.. less than 2 minutes later..
Evan: Mummy I have thought of why I didn't do my homework.
Mummy: Ok tell me. (Thinking.. this little boy.. has no fear!!)
Evan: Because I don't like Chinese. So much homework!
Evan 2 - Mummy 0

Someone wet the bed this morning. Daddy's not around, but I'd already told him about it before he called you. During dinner time:
Mummy: Did you tell daddy who is the "Wee Wee Monster"?
Evan: Daddy already know. How come he knew?
Mummy: Daddy left one eye at home. So he saw you wee wee... Muahaha...
Evan 2 - Mummy 1 (Phew.. I'm catching up.. I think *grin*)

11.11.11

2011-11-12T22:36:00.005+08:00

So what did we do on this special date? We woke up early that day and packed the car and headed to KL. First stop was The Gardens for dim sum with Kor Poh, Jack Chek chek, Jackie Ah Chim and little Eason. Then we headed to Cyberjaya to check into Cyberview Lodge again.

It was still early in the day so we quickly changed and headed to the swimming pool. It was lots of fun.

Went back to the room (we requested for the lake view room and surprise surprise, it was the exact room we got as the last trip. And almost everyone else stayed in the lake view rooms.) then it was time to shower and get ready for dinner.

It started with the cocktail party and lots of pictures was taken:

You said that it was rather warm but the lure of the muruku was stronger than the rain *grin*. Here you are parked next to the container of muruku eating lots of it.

Then you discovered the nice air cond inside and was permanently inside Bistro Cascata where the dinner was to be held, away from the mosquitoes. Here's some of the pictures taken by Uncle Jamie:

Being cheeky with Eu Jin Ah Pek:

Grudgingly posing with Ah Ma:

The hosts of the day, Yvonne Kor kor:

.. and Uncle Peter:

Here's daddy with Eason. Way past his bedtime, but he seems to be enjoying the dinner too!!

Dinner that night was delicious. The restaurant served fusion Italian food. By the time everything was over it was almost 11pm, but the party continued later in Ashley Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis' room. There was another cake there as we celebrated Uncle Jamie's birthday.

And so this was how we spent this special day with a special date: 11.11.11

The Wedding Dinner

2011-11-08T20:49:00.004+08:00

After a rest from the afternoon events (actually daddy tried to nap and you just lie beside him.. refusing to nap!!) we got ready to go to the restaurant then off we went. It was just 5 minutes away from the house. Daddy did not take many pictures during the dinner as Yvonne Kor-kor had engaged a photographer for that night.

So here are some shots he took:

Here you are in your vest (specially bought for this occasion) and red bow tie which you picked and me in my Ao Dai which daddy bought for me.

And you with Yvonne Kor-kor. As usual.. after a few shots you got bored and refused to smile for the camera:

Here's one of you and daddy:
One with Ah Ma:

And of course of you doing another task set for you, to be the page boy, leading the way for Hailey and Jamie the flower girls:

And another shot:

And finally the bride and groom making their entrance:

Then the camera was kept and we paid attention to the delicious food served. Yummy.

Congratulations to Yvonne Kor-kor and to Uncle Peter (now officially called Kor-Teo)

The Wedding Ceremony

2011-11-07T21:25:00.008+08:00

It was to be a busy day, but since the ceremony was not going to start to soon, we woke up, had a a leisurely breakfast, showered and changed then waited for the groom to arrive. Here's your Yvonne Kor-kor also waiting for her groom to arrive:

Then at last the bridal car, driven by Uncle Jamie with Sue Kor-kor inside arrived with Uncle Peter:

Here's the smiling groom:

And who else but my little man who got the honors of opening the car door for Uncle Peter:

Of course, you got an ang pow for doing a good job:All smiles:

After waiting and after Chim Poh and Chek Kong had prayed, it was time for Uncle Peter to get his bride. First he had to "bribe" the door keeper, Natalie Kor-kor:

At last.. the bride and groom:

Then it was time for the tea ceremony. We started off with 3 seats for your 3 Ah Tai (great-grandparents) to "have tea". Next it was tea for Uncle Peter's parents who came all the way from Germany:

Then it's Chek Kong and Chim Poh's turn to be served tea:

Here's a family picture:

And of course the standard family picture of the Ban clan:

Then it was time for the bride and groom to go off for "3 days" before returning home:

After that it was time to enjoy the buffet lunch, before resting and getting ready for the night session.

Busy Busy in Ipoh

2011-11-07T19:31:00.000+08:00

Yup.. it was for a party. We headed back on Sunday morning after picking up everything that we were planning to bring back. But what was the party about? There's even a buffet line:
Ah.. it's the eve of Yvonne Kor-kor's wedding day. So Check Kong and Chim Poh hosted a party at home. Everyone who planned to be in Ipoh for the dinner were back earlier that day. The highlight of the day (according to daddy, anyway..) was the roast pig.

Yup.. it was delivered whole and the man just chopped it up and served it fresh. Yummy...

Of course there was also the liquor: brandy and whisky and of course beer and other drinks for us non-alcoholics *grin*

Here's daddy trying to carefully open one of Chek Kong's "antique" brandy/whisky without breaking the cork.
"Doctor" Chek Kong and Chim Poh also came for the dinner before heading home and taking a bus to go to KL. They were going to UK to visit your two Chek Cheks.

It was a wonderful party. Lots of these:

with great company and it stretched until around 1am. And what time did you sleep? I think it was around 12.30 am that you finally fell asleep. Too much excitement and too many things to do before your body finally got too tired to stay awake. More to come on the next day!

Alan Ku-Ku

2011-10-28T17:23:00.002+08:00

Found this picture in my phone. You took of Alan Ku-ku when we had the frozen yogurt in Straits Quay before sending him off to the airport.

And before he left he kept telling you that he'd be back in November. Only thing he forgot to mention is he'd be back in "Malaysia" but not in "Penang". Aihh.. this Ku- ar!! He said we should do Facetime. So now I have to bug daddy to set it up. I've finally gotten Ku-ku's gmail address for Facetime.

Interesting Way to Play

2011-10-21T10:46:00.002+08:00

.. and have a conversation with your friend, Jayden. He grandma and grandpa lives next door, so sometimes when he visits, he will call to you and you'll have a chat with him. At times, you'll bring out your toys to show him. Some days you even play ball by throwing it over the fence to each other.
He even came over last weekend after dinner and homework to play a little while with you. It's nice that you have a friend to play and chat with.

Show Off!!

2011-10-19T21:12:00.002+08:00

You left me this message on my bedside table today:
Just because you can read and write Mandarin now... you can show off!! And you even told me "You must read this everyday".
But this also makes me very proud that you can learn Mandarin so well.

No Limit to Creativity

2011-10-19T20:54:00.004+08:00

This is not the first time we're doing this. But when I looked at the pictures from our previous round, I could not recall what your creations were. So today right after your bath/play session, I quickly downloaded the pictures and behold.. your creations... from simple things found in our bathroom. Can you guess what they are supposed to be?

Airport
Bullet Train

Super Bullet Train

Isn't this obvious? Komtar.. But I was wrong. It was something more "high class" - Eiffel Tower

And this is a giveaway.. Although I could not get the answer correct the first.. and second time. Why it's the letter "T", of course!!

Super Jet Plane (Your body is the jet, the bottles are the engines)

And of course, I'm not going to be tricked again.. the letter "X"

Another Little Message

2011-10-15T18:18:00.003+08:00

Got another cutie little drawing from you on Thursday night. You drew this while I was making your supper. Then you gave it to me, saying that I was to bring it to work to show my friends.

Thank you for your little smiley fish swimming in the sea with the seaweeds. Muakkss..

How About The Other Guests?

2011-10-14T09:25:00.000+08:00

Of course there were pictures of the other guests too. And here's one of the bride and the groom:

And mummy and daddy with the bride and groom:

Found this picture in my camera (why am I not surprised.. although it is a nice picture). You were so busy being assistant photographer:

Of course it's not a tea ceremony without the "tea drinking" session. Wait.. we didn't get to have any tea. We had sparkling grape juice.. does that count? Or should I get a "refund" for my ang pow to the newlyweds?

Oh well.. we all enjoyed the "tea".. sluurpppp...

More Pictures: Tea Ceremony

2011-10-13T20:57:00.005+08:00

Ah Kim is very efficient. She has loaded lots of pictures of the wedding in Facebook and I am also very efficient. I have saved some pictures from Facebook too. So here are some of the shots of you up to no good during the tea ceremony. Here's a picture of you and daddy...

You were as busy as the photographer. First taking pictures with my phone (no wonder my phone's memory is maxed out!!), then later discovering Alan Ku-ku's Lumix camera..

Goofing around with Alex ku-ku.

Oops.. caught in the act of stealing the cheese off the cheesecake. Later Ee-ee became your accomplice in stealing the cheese of the cakes. The cakes and tarts served that day were delicious.

And of course, most importantly, the ang pow for you.

I HEART This

2011-10-13T17:27:00.002+08:00

You gave me this little piece of paper when you woke up this morning... Certainly a good way to start my day...
Stuck it to my monitor.. Thanks sweetie..

After the Weddings

2011-10-12T18:06:00.003+08:00

It's very rare that we sit and have our little chats. Nowdays you seem to have pins on your bum. The only time you are still is when you are sleeping. You used to be good especially during dinnertime, but nowdays you cannot sit through the whole meal! Sigh.. worst still when you are in the vicinity of an iPhone owner!

Well, this is a conversation we had recently after Jack Shen Chek-chek's wedding:

Evan: Mummy.. Chek-chek and Ah chim are now married?

Mummy: Yes

Evan: So after they get married they will have babies?

Mummy: Er.. yesss.. I guess so.

Gosh.. my dear little boy, first you are talking to me about who you will marry and now you are talking about children.. at the age of FIVE???

Another Wedding

2011-10-02T11:51:00.005+08:00

1st October saw us being very busy. It was the wedding of your Alex Ku-ku to Rui Fang Ah Kim. What a mouthful. Anyway, we started the day busy because we had to get the condo ready for Nanna, 4th and 2nd Ee Poh and Ah Chor to stay in on Sunday. Then mummy went to get my hair done while daddy and you waited at home for the lady to deliver the cakes for the wedding tea ceremony.

We finally got to the hotel at 4pm at the same time as Ee-ee who came with Teo-teo and Grampy. Checked in, checked out the room and soon it was time to head to the Business Center where the tea ceremony was being held. You were very happy to see Ee-ee and especially happy when Ee-ee helped you "steal" all the cheese on the cheesecake. You were one happy camper!

Ee-ee said you were wiping her kiss when Teo-Teo took this picture

As we were waiting for more family to arrive for the tea ceremony, we took some pictures. Here's one of the family. Nice.. And you as usual showing the "V" sign. Where did you ever learn that from??

After everyone (almost?) had tea we headed back to our room for a quick change and it was time for mummy to do my second job (first was to be assistant to collect ang pow/gifts during tea ceremony). My second job for the night was to sit at the reception and tell the guests where they were supposed to be seated. Thank goodness daddy helped out with getting you ready while I rushed down with the guest seating list.

And after you got down, you were happy enough to look for your own entertainment. And for that night, it was to play with Alan Ku-ku's camera. It's a good thing you did not drop the camera, although I'm pretty certain Ku-ku has to clean his camera's lens thoroughly when he gets back home. Here's a shot of you with Ku-ku making faces.. as usual... and in your tie which Ee-ee had gotten you. At last you get to wear a tie.. and twice in less than 10 days!!

And here's the groom with his bride:
And of course Nanna with her two "boys" towering over her.. Of course we had to get a picture of you and me together too..

Daddy also got a picture of your two Ah Chors:

Congratulations to Alex Ku-ku and Rui Fang Ah Kim.

How Lucky

2011-09-28T23:59:00.001+08:00

During our stay at the hotel, we were given a little teddy bear along with the feedback card. So mummy gave it to you. At first you wanted to name it "Teddy" but I reminded you that you already had a Teddy, so you thought for a while and named it "Lucky Bear".
Before we left you said that it was time for you to return the bear. Somehow you thought that it was only lent to you temporarily. After telling you that it was yours to keep, you were so happy. You had brought Teddy along to KL and so all the way back you had Teddy and Lucky squeezed in the car seat with you.
Here's a picture of you cuddled with Lucky Bear that night in the hotel. You were so tired and you KO-ed as I was packing up. Could not resist taking a few pictures:

The Finale: The Wedding Dinner

2011-09-28T23:25:00.001+08:00

Here's our really nice hotel room. We got the room with the lake view and it was rather quiet. It's a good thing daddy reminded me to pack our swimming stuff.

So after we settled into the room, we changed into our swimsuits and ordered for a buggy to bring us to the pool. Before heading to the pool, we stopped by Sue Kor-kor's room and then we all went to the pool. We had lots of fun in the pool then we headed back to the room to rest. As we were a little hungry, we ordered room service: PIZZA! It was super delicious! Rested (and dozed) a little then it was time to get moving again.. time to get ready for the pre-dinner cocktail and also dinner.

Then of course it was also time to take pictures:

Only problem is this hotel comes with free mosquitoes. And it was a feeding frenzy in the garden with the mosquitoes. So shortly we headed to the ballroom to enjoy the cool air and chat while waiting for dinner to begin.

Here are the two pretty ladies taking care of the reception:

And here's Ariesse enjoying herself in the ballroom:

Here's the last few pictures taken of the day before daddy's camera called it a day.. for the night:

Tea Ceremony

2011-09-27T22:14:00.004+08:00

Despite having a late night the day before you woke up just past 7am as daddy was getting ready to head back to Ah Pek's house. So we had ample time to get ready while waiting for Ah Mm to pick us up at 9.30am. Of course since we were in Ashley Kor-kor's house (visiting her iPad) you spent most of the morning playing with it.

Soon Ah Mm arrived and we "checked out of Hotel Mont Kiara" and headed to Setia Alam to wait for the bride to arrive. Here are some of the pictures daddy took when he followed the entourage to Cyberjaya:

Soon daddy arrived with the photographer and said that Chek-chek and your new Ah Chim is on the way. And soon we heard the sounds of car horn and the wedding car arrived. And it was time for you to "do your job". Yup, it's time to open the car door:

The moment we walked out onto the road you told me that it was too hot! Arghh.. and said that you could not open the car door. So I had to help you pull the door handle a little. And ta-da.. inside was Chek-chek all ready to get out of the car and to give you your ang pow. Lucky little boy.

You sat around and kept everyone entertained until it was time for you to collect your ang pow from your new Ah Chim, a family photo and then lunch.

We left for the hotel after that to check in, check out the hotel pool and get ready for round 3 of the wedding; the wedding dinner.

Busy, Busy Weekend

2011-09-26T14:49:00.000+08:00

Yup, we went for a wedding.. and it was in KL. We picked you up on Friday a little earlier from school. The initial plan was for you to miss school, but Mr Tan had informed me that there was going to be rehearsal still on Friday. So, we had no choice but to delay the trip and start off after lunch. We were the first to arrive at Jack Min Ah Pek's house.

So we looked around his newly moved in house. Here's a picture of you goofing around:Later that evening, you suddenly came to me asking for a pair of scissors. Luckily I asked what you needed to scissors for (not that I'd know where the scissors were kept in the house, nor would I simply give you a pair.. ). You told me that you wanted to CUT his bird of paradise flower.. for me *faint*!!

It's a good thing I asked... Instead, I told you that you could pluck the tiny flowers which were growing in abundance. So you picked some purple and white flowers. First you took some for me. Then you also picked some for Ah Ma and Chim Poh. How sweet.... but let's not tell Ah Pek about his flowers *grin* Here's the groom-to-be making some last minute preparations for the big day: Jack Shen Chek Chek

Soon it was dinner time. Li Min Kor kor had arranged a buffet spread for dinner. The food was yummy.

Here's Li Min Kor-kor and Kevin Teo-teo:

And what did you do the whole night? You were the best of friends with whichever Kor-kor who owned an iPhone. Yup.. you played games the whole night. You barely ate dinner that night and even played with Ashley Kor-kor's iPad before finally going to sleep very late.. or should I say "very early in the morning"

Happy Birthday Ah Kong

2011-09-22T14:03:00.004+08:00

Ah Kong turned *beep* (oops censored..cannot be disclose) on the 14th and since he was in China with Ah Ma (enjoying a lobster dinner to celebrate his birthday.. OoooOOoo..) we had a belated birthday celebration when they got back. As we had such a good time Feringghi Grill the last time, we headed there again to celebrate his birthday.

It was a good thing that we had booked the table in advance. As most tables along the window was for 4 and there were 5 of us, we were seated in front of the kitchen. You can see the people in the kitchen moving around, preparing our dinner. As with the list time, the waitress brought you a nice comfy cushion from the bar so that you can sit and dine comfortably.

We were served drinks then soon our orders were taken. You started to complain about being hungry. Good thing we were given a basket of bread and you ate that happily. When the waiter started to cook (prepare to be more accurate) my soup (yup.. in front of us) you started to exclaim loudly about being hungry again.. Soon we were all served our appetizers. Then we had this and that then finally our main course. Wow! The food was amazing. And the restaurant was full house.

After we had tucked away all the food, daddy took out his camera and tried to take a picture of us, but you were feeling cheeky and refused to pose nicely:

At last he got one decent picture:

I managed to get one of you with daddy too:

I wonder where you learnt to show the "peace" sign when taking pictures

Then as I had informed them when I made reservations that it was Ah Kong's birthday, we had a simply sinful chocolate mud cake for the birthday boy:

After the birthday song, blowing out the candle and serving the cake, we were also served the final course of the night.. the petit four. Yummy... there was no more place in my tummy for the chocolate but somehow you managed to squeeze one into your little tummy.

As we were leaving the ladies (Ah Ma and I) were each given a rose. A lovely celebration. Happy Birthday Ah Kong!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

2011-09-20T21:31:00.008+08:00

Last Monday was the Mid-Autumn Festival. Uncle Sin Chuan called daddy to ask if we'd like to go to Uncle Sin Tien's house just for the kids to play with the lanterns. So we had a shower then had dinner and got ready to go to Uncle Sin Tien's house. It was daddy's first time going so we had to get his address as we also needed to register at the guard house.

We arrived before Uncle Sin Chuan and family. Only Uncle Sin Tien was at home as Aunty Ean Na had a dinner.While daddy took a "house tour" you settled yourself in front of the TV, flicking through the cartoon channels.

We'd brought along your "Cars2" lantern which we had bought a while back. We'd learned our lesson from previous times so this time daddy made sure he picked a lantern which did not play annoying songs really loud non-stop. We wanted one with a simple light, but they only had flashing lights.. oh well.. as long as it does not play those songs!

Uncle Sin Chuan came with the more traditional paper lantern, not those glassy transparent paper which we had last time, but these ones did not have lights. It was lighted using candles or tea lights. He'd bought tealights to put inside.

Daddy took pictures of you all with your lanterns:

Abby proudly showing off her Hello Kitty lantern

All smiles with your lantern

Ian was very interested in daddy and his camera. Everytime daddy wanted to take a picture, Ian would go in front of the camera to pose:

We managed to get a picture of the 3 of you together.. not an easy feat:

After a while it got too hot and we all went inside to enjoy the air-cond comfort and to snack a little:

Steamed yam and mooncakes

One last shot of Ian before daddy called it a day and kept his camera:

While They Were Away...

2011-09-20T21:05:00.002+08:00

Ah Kong and Ah Ma took a holiday with some of the Ban clan to China, visiting Ah Tai's "village" in China as well as one of the Kor Poh who's still living in China. They were there for over a week.

So during this period, our schedule was similar to that when Ah Kong and Ah Ma went on holidays to New Zealand and Australia earlier this year. We dropped you to school, then picked you up from school, dropped you home, wait for you to settle down then go back to work.

While we're at work, you're told to start doing your homework by 2.30pm. And of course, I'd leave my mobile phone with you and then.. then phone calls begin. The moment I reach my desk, my desk phone starts ringing. You even speed dial me on the phone. It's easier for you, although you do know my office phone number by heart!

And of course if anyone calls you, you'd immediately "report" to me that so-and-so had called. Even more updated than the news!!

Ah Kong and Ah Ma are now back from their holidays and so my office phone does not ring so often anymore. Somehow while I was about to pull my hair everytime my office phone rings last week, but now I seem to miss your calls now that you're not calling me.

At Long Last

2011-09-11T20:35:00.002+08:00

Your giant truck and the 2 cars are completed. We got you this Lego set for your birthday. It's called the "Highway Transport" set. It took us a long time as this set has 3 things to build: the white car, the red car and the trailer (that can also be considered as 2 parts as we needed to build the front and back part of the trailer).

We'd build a little then rest then build a little and rest and forget all about it then start over again.. And each and everytime we build the parts of this set, it was like a treasure hunt, having to search for one part then another.

At long last this is the end result:

well worth the time and effort we all put to complete this.

New Hairstyle??

2011-09-04T14:19:00.003+08:00

After a bath, I will dry your hair thoroughly and you'll always make sure that you flatten your hair while I like to make it stand. Looks so cool.. What do you think??

Had to make sure the picture was not a full body picture *grin*. I like your hair this way.. And you smiled nicely for this picture.. although picture quality was not very good.. used my phone's camera.

Today's Lunch

2011-08-30T21:42:00.002+08:00

So what was for lunch today? Uncle KK was visiting from Singapore. We tried to go to some places for lunch, but as it was a public holiday today, most "well known" places were packed! So in the end, we went to our usual Kuay Teow Th'ng shop for lunch. Mummy walked a few shops away and ordered Char Kuay Teow for us. When it arrived (before your Kuay Teow Th'ng) you took one look and said "Mummy, I haven't eaten Char Kuay Teow for a long time.." Aiyo... So daddy ended up having to order one plate without chillies for you.

Happiness:You cleared the whole plate, except for the taugeh and the prawns.. Daddy called you a "true blue Penang kia". Next thing to train you to enjoy is Hokkien Mee!

Some More Colouring..

2011-08-29T20:38:00.003+08:00

Had these things laid out on a little corner in the living room. You'd finished your homework and so we decided to do a little something fun...

Yup, a little craft session. I'd been collecting toilet paper rolls for a while and it's cluttered a little corner in my room and if i didn't use them up soon, daddy's going to have a fit!! Had seen a good idea at this website so decided to do this today:

You started off painting your toilet roll blue after I'd helped you draw the lines and cut part of the roll. Of course, you being the non-conformist decided that your roll was to be multi-coloured instead of single colored like (boring) mummy... who followed the instructions to a T.

So what did we actually create? These...

Yup, octopus. You started off painting yours blue then decided to add a little red and when I told you that you'll also have to colour the insides, you wanted it to be green..

And yesterday evening after the paint had dried up, we used the puncher to make blue dots to be the "suckers" on the octopus' legs. We stick those on the legs then finished with the final touches of the eyes.

Here's my red octopus..

That was a fun session...

Monkeying Around

2011-08-28T21:04:00.005+08:00

.. while doing your homework.. Nothing new when it comes to you doing your homework.

Monster face:I was trying to get a picture of you busy writing.. but..... nope no such chance...
..why is the pencil tucked behind your ear??!!
.. hey, why aren't you writing?? ..told me to take a picture of your homework:

Ah.. at last.. a picture of you writing your homework....

..which you wrote for a few seconds before asking to take a look at my pictures.

Coloring Contest

2011-08-27T20:33:00.001+08:00

The night before you had to sleep early (like a school night as today was a big day for you. Weeks ago, when I got back from work, you told me "Mummy, there is a coloring contest. I wanna join". And when I checked your homework pouch, there was a form. During dinner I asked you to tell daddy what you wanted to do. This is what you told daddy "Daddy, I want to join the coloring contest. You know there will be food for parents on the second floor." You even watched as I filled up the form, and even inspected the form when I had filled it up!

So this morning you woke up the moment I told you to wake up, all excited to go for the coloring contest. The theme for the contest was "Merdeka". Jing Ee's mummy had told me that she had told her you will be coloring the "Jalur Gemilang' which was the same thing you told me. We were rather early but there were already quite a few contestants all waiting for the contest to start.

Here you were sitting on the newspaper, waiting for everyone to come before we started:

Are we starting yet??
At about 9am, the organizers started the program. Before the children got to the important task of coloring, first there was a briefing, followed by "warm up" exercises:

Can you guess what was going on with all the children opening their mouths? Nope.. not exercising their mouths, but singing the national song Negaraku:

Parents were not allowed to hang around while the children were coloring. So some of them left while the rest of us went to the second floor for some light refreshments. Daddy and I also went off to wait for you to finish and for the prize giving ceremony. Before we went off, we did manage to get pictures of some veteran contestants:

They came all prepared with a table and chair/stool to ensure maximum comfort while coloring.

When I went down to have a check on you, I found that you were no longer in the car park where the contest was held. One of the volunteers told me that you should be on the first floor playing the games while waiting for the prize giving ceremony. You later told me that you play hopscotch, seven stones and Malaysian quiz.

At 11 the parents adjourned to the 3rd floor where the children were already gathered. Songs were sung before prizes were given away. Then we all adjourned.

Nope.. no prize for you today, but you were happy nonetheless as you got some small prizes while playing the games (except for seven stones) and they even gave all contestants a small souvenir before they went home.

Should We Get a Bigger Tub?

2011-08-20T21:21:00.001+08:00

Took these pictures of you one of those days when you decied to squeeze into that tiny bathtub which was used when you were a baby. Yup, we still keep the tub. It's in quite good condition still:

Bath time is never fun without your rubber ducky and the rubber tortoise..

P/S: Didn't get very good pictures as I was too lazy to put on the flash :(

A Scary Twenty Minutes.. Or So...

2011-08-20T21:09:00.002+08:00

We went out for our usual Saturday night dinner when on the way back, we noticed a funny sound. So daddy had no choice but to stop on a road (with very heavy traffic) to check. He could not even get out of the car so Ah Kong had to go down to check. Oh no.. it was a flat tire!

So we all got out of the car and had to stand by the roadside while daddy and Ah Kong searched the car boot for things which they needed to change to the spare tire. You were very sacred, trembling as we stood in the dark. It was especially scary for you when the traffic light up behind turned green and all the motorcycles and cars drove by.

We stood there under an umbrella as daddy changes the tire while Ah Kong stood by the roadside waving his reflector, keeping the vehicles away from daddy.

At last, the spare tire was changed, and we drove the short distance home. Yay! Our hero for tonight, daddy!!

Mr Vain?

2011-08-19T19:01:00.003+08:00

As Saturday is Ah Ma's "day off" we got showered and dressed to go out for dinner as usual last Saturday. I picked a t-shirt which had the printing of a necktie. As I was getting you dressed, you told me "Mummy, I want a real tie." Aiyo.. where do I find a tie short enough for you???

So I said "OK, I'll go look for one to buy for you..". Then you said that you wanted a belt to wear with your pants. You went to your cupboard and came back with a belt AND a cap. Wah.. someone is very vain today.

As we were going out, daddy asked "Where are you going all dressed up?" and then followed with "We're going to a place with no air-cond." Evil daddy!

That was not the end of it. You made me rush upstairs as everyone else was going out the door to get you a pair of socks. You insisted on wearing shoes instead of sandals out for dinner. Now, tell me again were we going out for dinner together of were you going on a hot date??

P/S: And the story of the tie does not end. You've been reminding me about buying a tie for you still. Do you have anywhere in particular which you plan to wear the neck tie to??

A Present From Afar

2011-08-09T12:40:00.002+08:00

A package came from afar for you recently. Aunty Pam who visited us in May got a friend who was going to Singapore to mail out (from Singapore) a present for you. It was a Lightning McQueen t-shirt along with a Lego catalogue. Wow! After having the shirt washed, you requested to wear it to school.
So when you wore this t-shirt I got you to pose for me so that I could send a picture of you wearing the shirt to Aunty Pam.
Your mouth is all funny because I got you to pose while you were eating breakfast *grin*

Hurt Himself

2011-08-01T22:36:00.002+08:00

When I saw my phone rang with the school number, my heart sank. I was wondering if you were ok. Mr Tan called to tell mummy that you'd fallen during physical, but you just had some scratches on your face and knee. They had already put some cream on your knees and you were ok. As Ah Kong was going to pick you up today, daddy decided to tell Ah Kong that you'd fallen down before he picked you up with scratches all over.

I called you when you reached home to check on you and you told me that it did not hurt anymore. When we got home, you were your cheerful self and then we saw it clearly:

Quite a bit of scratches on your right cheek and also on your knee:

I guess it didn't hurt though, as you did not complain about it being painful when daddy gave you a shower. Ok then, looks like Humpty Dumpty had a bad fall, but Mr Tan managed to fix him all ok. Phew...

An Important Question..

2011-07-24T18:19:00.003+08:00

We went back to BM yesterday to celebrate Nanna and Grampy's 42nd anniversary yesterday. On the way back, you suddenly asked me "Mummy who am I going to marry?". Yikes.. that got me stumped for a while. I'm not too sure if daddy heard your question or he suddenly had selective hearing, leaving me to answer your question...

So I said "When you find a girl you love then you can marry her (when you're older!!)". But noOOooo.. .that wasn't a good enough answer, I obviously did not answer your question. You asked me again "But who will it be??". Gosh... "Um.. whoever you meet when you are older and love". You did not seem satisfied but thank goodness we reached home just on time. You got distracted and forgot all about it. *phew* Please don't ask me such difficult questions next time. Keep them for daddy, ok??

Homework Time

2011-07-23T11:26:00.002+08:00

I left you in your room to do your homework with strict instructions to finish and not leave your room while I took a shower. Before I even started on my shower.. I heard the room door open and you were standing in front of me, saying "Mummy the song Morning has broken sound like this...". After your little performance you were sent back. And less than 10 minutes later my room door was opened with you telling me something else.

After I was ready, I went to check on you and nothing much of your homework is completed!! Aiksss... When asked what you were doing instead of your homework, you said "Nothing.. maybe dream a little". Ok, one point for honestly *grin*

And as I am typing this post, I can see you from the corner of my eye, dreaming, looking left and right, counting the columns you have written (for Chinese homework) and sharpening you pencil. Even walking over to give me kisses. Any excuse to delay doing your homework.

Of course there is one more thing you have not done yet: Ask me "Mummy, why do I have to do homework?"...

Free Samples

2011-07-21T19:53:00.003+08:00

.. from Jusco, Tesco and especially Cold Storage since we go there with you very often. Yup, that's your favourite and on "good days" you get a sample for pasta, ice-cream and milk. Certainly makes your day. Some days if our timing is off (too early or too late) then you'll get no sample and keep asking my why there's no "stall" which gives our free sample.

I especially have to remind you when we go to the supermarkets on weekdays. I guess sometimes you forget that it's a weekend, so no sample. Just a little sample and it makes your day!

A Celebration

2011-07-11T21:47:00.005+08:00

We had wanted to go somewhere special to celebrate and of course to celebrate with you. So we tried this restaurant and was told that children were allowed in this restaurant. Yippee!! I was initially upset when I called one of the restaurants and was told that it was a fine dining restaurant and children were not allowed. Then I tried a few other fine dining restaurants and found out they'll allow children. So it was decided that we'd try out Feringghi Grill in Rasa Sayang Hotel on Saturday.

It was lovely. We got a nice seat with the view of the trees outside and you were delighted to see people para sailing until it got too dark. The nice waiter even brought you a cushion to sit on as you didn't want a high chair. We ordered food and were soon served the most sumptuous food that evening. Too bad I'd forgotten to suggest daddy bring his camera, so the pictures were taken with my crummy phone's camera.

We started off with out pre-dinner drinks. Then we were served nice fresh bread followed by their Amuse Bouche. Next came the appetisers. Here's daddy's appetiser:

Torched Tuna

You and I had soup for as our appetizer: tomato soup for you and Soup Trio for me. Before the main course, we were each served a sherbet. Then came the main course:

Macaroni & Cheese for you, what else

You proclaimed it to be 10 million, zillion fingers good.

Here's daddy's King's Cut Prime Rib

As for mummy's main course, I had beef tenderloin. As my camera refuses to allow me to take anything nice with it, I will not post a picture which will only be injustice to my delicious steak!! Of course, dinner was complemented with a bottle of wine:

After we were done with dinner, the waitress brought out a cake. Wowee.. chocolate cake. Daddy sang me a birthday song while you only whispered the words to the song. So shy..

The cake was heavenly. So rich and chocolaty. Then as a finale, the waiter brought out some chocolates which he promised he'd give you in the beginning of our meal if you finished all your dinner.

A truly wonderful celebration. Muakks to my 2 great guys!

P/S: I wonder when we get to go again.. *grin* Must make sure we're armed with the camera the next time.

Keeping Teddy Entertained

2011-07-05T10:39:00.002+08:00

You woke up in a good mood this morning and rather early too. So we didn't need to rush to get ready and have breakfast. As we were getting ready to go down, you said that you wanted to bring Teddy down. So while I was getting your breakfast ready you said Teddy wanted to watch TV (wonder if it's YOU or Teddy who wants to watch TV). And after I got you to sit down and have breakfast I saw Teddy "watching TV" like this:
Yup, you stacked two pillows for him to sit on, making sure that he could see the TV clearly!! Could not resist taking a picture *grin*

And since we were quite early, you even got to watch TV with Teddy on the sofa until 8am. When it was time to leave you insisted to leave the TV on for Teddy as he still wanted to watch some cartoons.

Happy 60th Birthday Chek Kong

2011-06-18T14:03:00.005+08:00

We took the afternoon half off on Friday while you skipped art class so that we could make a trip back to Ipoh. We were going to join in his 60th birthday celebration. After Uncle Dennis stopped by to help pick up some of the stuff we were going to bring back, we all bundled into the City and headed to Ipoh.

We arrived quite early so we had time to sit around and chat then it was time to get ready for the party. When everyone was ready, off we went to Tong Hoi Restaurant in Menglembu. There was 3 tables for friends and family celebrating Chek Kong's big 6-0.

Here are some of the pictures taken that evening:

Birthday boy and his bride

Evan and Chek Kong

Grumpy being forced to take a picture with his 2 Kor-kors

Blowing out the candles after the birthday song

A Family Picture..

If you're wondering how come we went back in the Honda City, it was because of our "special passenger". Can you guess who it was?

Ok, to be correct it should have been "what" instead of "who". I took a few pictures of everyone enjoying the durians the next day (no durians on the day of the birthday dinner as everyone had alcohol that night). But those pictures cannot be shared here..

So what were you doing when everyone sat in the kitchen devouring the durians?

What else? Your friend, the iPad visited from KL so you felt obligated to "spend" some time with it *grin*.

Hi, Eason

2011-06-16T22:35:00.002+08:00

Here's your little cousin, the latest addition to the Ban clan: Eason Ban.
I'd taken this photo which his daddy had posted on Facebook. Isn't he a cutie? You'll get to see him in Oct/Nov when he visits from Australia.

Meet Teddy

2011-06-14T21:47:00.004+08:00

You've got loads of toys including stuffed toys which are sleeping on your bed while you sleep on a mattress in my room! Well recently you decided that you have a favourite toy:

When asked the name, you said "His name is Teddy". And when I said that that was the name of Mr. Bean's bear, you remembered and was happy about that. You never seemed to be attached to any toy in particular but Teddy (who became your favourite last week) got to go to KL with us and even slept in the bed with us. You even wanted to bring him to Ikea with us!!
Lucky teddy....

Green Fingers?

2011-06-13T18:22:00.002+08:00

A friend of mine told me about showing our children how plants grow. Thinking it was a good idea I had planned to show you one of the simplest thing to grow... taugeh. Yup, growing bean sprouts from mung beans. First I had to get hold of some mung beans. Well it took me a while (few months to be exact.. ) before I finally got some beans for you. I had gone to a shop to buy some almond nibs and they had a sackful of mung beans. I asked for a few (took 4) but the lady was nice and gave me quite a bit.
We went home and I found a container (the cover of a jam bottle) and put cotton and a few seeds. Daddy said not to crowd the little container. Everyone has to remind you to water the beans everyday, also explaining that plants need fresh air, enough sunshine and water.

That was the same every night then a few days after we first planted the seed, I looked there were little roots growing out of the beans. Yay! Looks like I'm more excited than you.. wahaha...

P/S: By the time I got around to taking the pictures and publishing this post, the first batch of taugeh has already been replaced!!

In KL

2011-06-11T22:42:00.005+08:00

Do you know that other than to visit Ashley Kor-kor's iPad I also got 2 things which i really really wanted from Kay-El? Well let me tell you all about the things from this Kay-El trip:
1. Play iPad: I played every waking hour I was at home. Sometimes Pepper also wanted to check out what I was playing. You see.. my daddy also has one, but Kor-kor's iPad has lots of cool games and she doesn't know how to play them. So don't you think it's a waste if I don't play with her iPad? I think her iPad misses me!
2. Go to Ikea: We had my favourite hot dog before heading in to look at the nice furniture. Mummy and I had a good time, deciding which things we liked. I wrote down what she wanted on my own shopping list too. The daddy and Ah Kong spent almost an hour looking for lights. Lucky mummy passed me the iPad as I was getting bored sitting in the trolley.
3. Buy my aeroplanes: The first thing we bought after having lunch on the first day was my aeroplanes. It's been so long since I painted aeroplanes. So mummy went in and bought me 2 boxes of foam planes and 1 pirate ship. Today mummy and I painted 1 plane each. What do you think of my paint job?

Somewhere To Go During The School Holidays

2011-06-11T21:31:00.004+08:00

There was once when we were having dinner at home when you whispered to me "Mummy, we haven't been to Ikea for a long time". So during the long weekend (which was also the middle of your 2 week school holiday), we decided to visit Ashley Kor-kor~~'s iPad~~.

So early on Saturday morning we woke up and were loaded into Ah Kong's car ready for the drive to KL by 9am! Surprise surprise... Traffic heading towards KL was heavier than usual, but not as bad as the traffic heading north! As Ah Kong was reading his Chinese papers, you also tried to read, pointing out words which you could recognise. After a while you started to get restless, asking if we were there yet. And we hadn't even passed Ipoh yet.

Soon, you were given something to keep you occupied and you were suddenly very quiet. At last we arrived in KL and the GPS brought us to Midvalley as we were meeting Ashley Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis in Crystal Jade in The Gardens for Dim Sum. Lunch was super yummy and you enjoyed it a lot. After lunch, Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis had to go off somewhere to a temple. We wandered around The Gardens for a few hours before deciding to head to Uncle Dennis' place.

Dinner was somewhere which daddy had wanted to go as he'd heard the steaks there were yummy. We headed to Jake's Charbroil Steaks for his steak fix. Everyone had yummy steak and you had yummy charbroiled fish.

On the second day, we could not sleep in as you had decided that being in KL means you'll need to spend more time with the iPad. We had another round of Dim Sum in Li Yen in Ritz-Carlton with Ariesse, Ah Pek, Ah Mm and Chek-chek. We walked around The Pavillion did a little shopping, stopped for a drink before our legs felt like they weren't ours anymore then we headed home to Pepper and the iPad. Yup, you refused to go swimming because you wanted to play on the iPad.

Yvonne Kor-kor and Uncle Peter joined us for dinner that evening. We had something different: Hakka food in Ying Ker Lou at The Curve. Ah Kong ordered the Poon Choy on top of some Hakka cuisine. It was yummy. We walked around after dinner for a while then called it a day.

On Monday, we said bye-bye to sick Kor-kor who still went to work despite having a cold. We "checked out of Hotel Kiara Designer Suites" and headed to our final destination (almost): Ikea. The main reason we're in KL. We grabbed a quick lunch and then headed in to look at furniture. I never knew furniture could be so interesting. We spent almost 4 hours there before loading the car to the brim and heading to the highway, back to Penang.... with 2 stops before that. 1. To Ipoh for Bak Zhang and 2. To BM to collect our "Sitiawan Gong Piah"

Phew.. that was the end of our short but fun (and food) filled holiday in KL.

To The Movies...

2011-06-01T18:05:00.005+08:00

Saturday was the first day of your 2 week school holiday. Of course you knew that you were on holiday. You kept telling me "Mummy, I have no school for 14 days".

So on Monday, daddy checked his calendar and I checked the cinema for movie listing and found that there was ample seats for Kung Fu Panda 2. So I booked the 3 tickets and we took the afternoon half off to spend some time with you, especially since you seemed to be having separation anxiety (yup.. you cried when we left for work in the morning!)

You were grinning from ear to ear when we arrived home and after getting you dresses, we headed to Gurney Plaza. We had lunch in Chicago Rib House (it was a rather long wait, but good thing we had ample time before the movie started). Then we picked up the ticket and soon it was time to watch Kung Fu Panda 2.

Picture Source

You were quite well behaved throughout the movie, but as usual towards the end of the movie started to get fidgety and asked me what the time was and when the movie was going to end.

And the one part which you remember most from the movie this time was when Po caught the cannon and threw it back at Lord Shen's ship. Daddy even heard you going "Poom" when you knew the cannon was going to hit the ship. You even laughed gleefully when it really hit the ship!

We hoped that spending the day with you would make you not miss us so much when we went to work the next day. It didn't really work.. :( What next?

At The Car Wash

2011-05-23T20:26:00.003+08:00

Daddys' little assistant on Sunday evening.. all sweaty after a bicycle ride followed by the car wash.

A Lovely Gift for Mummy

2011-05-22T11:25:00.002+08:00

(This is a few weeks overdue.. *grin*)

Ah Ma had mentioned on Friday that Citibank was having a glass painting session for children. Daddy initially said we didn't want to send you there, but in the end we agreed and so on Saturday morning, Ah Ma went with us to this art gallery where the glass painting session was being held.

When we arrived, there was a few children who were already painting while their parents browsed around the gallery cum jewellery shop and have light snacks while chatting.

You got a seat and someone asked you to pick the picture which you would like to draw. You picked a fish pattern and then you took a marker to trace the picture onto the glass. Then you started to paint. When you were almost finished painting, they realised that they had let you paint on the wrong side of the glass. Oops.. so you were asked to trace another picture on another piece of glass, this time a pattern of 2 heart and the nice che-che who was helping you even helped to write some words on it.

At long last you were done, but as Ah Ma was not around as she had gone off to run a few errands. So we sat around, enjoyed some snacks and finally Ah Ma arrived. Before we left, mummy was given a present from the bank for Mother's Day. On top of that I was even given flowers. How lovely. This is what I got for Mother's Day (round 1, as we had round 2 which was buffet lunch on the next day): And of course, I got you to pose with your art work too:

Thanks sweetie for a lovely Mother's Day present *muakkss*

See You In Three Years

2011-05-21T19:15:00.004+08:00

When you woke up this morning, I told you that we had to quickly have breakfast then get ready to go out, explaining that we were going to have lunch then send Uncle Sam and Aunty Pam off to the airport. Your immediate response to this was "What??? They're leaving so soon?". I guess you've gotten used to having them with us. They've stayed with us since early in the month, of course going off on holidays in between with Ah Kong and Ah Ma.

Before we left for lunch, I managed to get you to pose with them for a picture. Not very willing as usual to pose for a picture, but we managed to get one "acceptable" picture still *grin*After lunch, we headed to Sunshine Square for them to pick up something for a friend in Singapore before dropping them off in the airport.

Then it was goodbyes and promising to see them soon. Since the last time we saw them was 3 years ago, I guess we'll be seeing them in 3 year's time. Bye Aunty Pam and Uncle Sam.

Separation Anxiety?

2011-05-20T18:51:00.002+08:00

Is that the reason you have been crying every day when we drop you to school? This morning you howled! Daddy had to force me to get into the car and we drove off with a heavy heart. Before that, Mrs. Sebastian asked if there were any changes at home. I cannot think of anything which may have sparked your crying when we leave you at school. Hhmm...

We picked you up from school this afternoon, as I had a good mind to give you a piece of my mind from your crying, but when we looked at you and your cheerful face and since Mr. Tan had mentioned that he'd also spoken to you about crying. In the end, daddy gave you a mild "talking to" and that was it. We hoped that everything would be fine after that.

How we were mistaken! When it was time for us to go to work, you decided to turn on the taps to the max. Now howling was involved, but lots of tears. Sigh... What's going on? How is it that at the aged of 5 you decided to have separation anxiety?

Happy Birthday Nanna

2011-05-15T18:39:00.004+08:00

We made a trip to BM to visit Nanna as it was her birthday on Thursday so it was a belated celebration of the XXth birthday. Nope we're not disclosing her age *grin*

It was the same menu for lunch and dinner. Grampy had cooked pohpiah for us. Nanna even invited, your two Ah Chors, and 2nd and 3rd Ee-Pohs. They came over for lunch. Well in your case as pohpiah is all vegetables, you had "bi tai mak" which Ee-ee had kindly packed for you and we (daddy and I) had curry mee to go with our lunch pohpiah.

After lunch, Ee-ee wanted to get you a toy car, so we headed to Tesco where we picked up more than just a car! Then it was soon almost dinner time. After Teo-teo came and everything was heated up, we sat down for another round of pohpiah for dinner. And you had macaroni and cheese in pohpiah! Fusion food :)

You certainly had a good time there, with you getting a present and bathing in the bath tub (squeezing into the tub) and eating your favourite food. I wonder if it's your birthday or Nanna's birthday. Hhmmm....

Happy Birthday Nanna!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T20:51:00.004+08:00

Dear Mummy,

Today is Mother's Day. And I forgot to colour the card which was given to us at school for Mother's Day. Oops.. but to make it up for it, we went out for a yummy Mother's Day lunch. We have two visitors in our house: Aunty Pan and Uncle Sam. They suggested that we go out for a special lunch to celebrate Mother's Day. So after some last minute calling, we managed to get a table for the 7 of us in Parkroyal Hotel.

We got a seat inside the ballroom as many other families had planned ahead and booked tables. But it was a good thing for us. The ballroom was nice and cool with air-conditioning and nice music playing for us.

You even took a picture with Ah Ma to join in the "Mother & Daughter" contest. There was even a clown che-che who made me a balloon gun. Then she came to our table again and made you a balloon wristlet.

At 2p.m. you, Aunty Pam and Ah Ma (and I went along too) to participate in the cake cutting ceremony for mummies. Then they called out names for the lucky draw. Ah Ma got a lucky draw. Later daddy came into the ballroom and said that mummy also got a lucky draw. Wow!

I had a lovely time celebrating Mother's Day with you, Ah Ma and Aunty Pam and of course with daddy, Ah Kong and Uncle Sam too.

A Chocolatey Muakks to you mummy,

Love Evan

Speedy Story

2011-05-05T21:45:00.002+08:00

There was one afternoon when we were back in Ipoh for Chinese New Year and I was trying to get you to take a nap. And of course since you do not take naps anymore, you had many many requests before falling asleep. One of it was for a story before going to sleeping. Oops.. I did not pack any story books to bring to Ipoh.

So I said that instead of reading a story, I'd tell you a story. Hence the "Speedy Story" was born. I had to come up with a story which would be of interest to you. So I created a character called Speedy which was a red car. I told you about his adventures and then I added a friend, Thunder (instead of "Lightning" as in Lightning McQueen *grin*).

Surprisingly the Speedy Story did not end that day in Ipoh. Till today you are still requesting for a Speedy Story. To date, your Speedy Story has 4 characters: Speedy, Thunder, Pussy and Lightning (you picked the names for the last 2 characters).

Some days you'd ask me to tell you a Speedy Story up to 3-4 times. And every Speedy Story the 4 cars would race. Problem is your cars always win. Yup, first place is always Lightning followed by Pussy. My Thunder and Speedy only get to vie for the 3rd and last spot. Poor things. As you can see, you are a sore loser!! Some days you would be generous and Pussy would have to give up his second spot.. but that rarely happens.

Treasure Hunt

2011-04-28T09:45:00.006+08:00

Your school had organized some events until Easter weekend. But unfortunately we could not make it for one of the events which you wanted to go for: Treasure hunt. On Saturday we went to Cold Storage to look for chocolate eggs. Unfortunately we're too late. They've probably been all sold out. We did buy a packet before your birthday. So seeing that it's been selling for over a month, I guess there is no surprise that all the eggs have been sold out. *sigh* And we event went to try our luck in the Cold Storage in Island Plaza.

Good thing is we picked up a packet of "Daim" chocolates. Better than nothing. And you were still happy with that. So on Saturday night after we got back from dinner daddy kept you occupied while I hid 10 chocolates including 2 leftover eggs.

Picture source

I wasn't too sure if you'd have much patience to find very hidden "eggs". So I left some in very visible places. We loved to see the excitement on your face and when you laughed out loud every time you found one. After you finally found all 10 you ate 2 of them then asked for another round of hunt. And since you said this hunt was too easy, I made it a little more difficult for you.

Took you a while but you finally managed to find them all again. You sure were one happy "egg hunter".

Lost for words

2011-04-24T20:46:00.003+08:00

There are times when you really make a person swallow their own words:

XXX: No la.. don't want to do that!!

Evan : XXX (Censored-not disclosing who it is..), don't use 'la' . Speak proper English

While we were drawing today:

Mummy: Wow! Now the helicopter driver is visiting you.

Evan: It's not driver.. it's helicopter pilot!!

As I was giving you a shower:

Mummy: Since Ah Ma is back, she will be picking you up from school tomorrow.

Evan: How come Ah Ma didn't come back on the 29th like Ah Kong? Then you will pick me up from school for more days..

A Phone Call from Evan

2011-04-21T16:33:00.002+08:00

Here's an interesting conversation we had earlier in the week:

Mummy: Hello

Evan: Hi mummy... Um.. I want to go to KL to visit Ah Meng Kor-kor's iPad and buy my aeroplane.

Poor Ashley Kor-kor. Looks like the iPad is the thing that you'd like to visit instead of her. Well, we're not going to KL anytime soon since the iPad is in Bahau and not KL. Hehe.. and NO we're not going to Bahau just to visit your friend the iPad. Told Kor-kor about what you said, she was so sad. She wanted to call you as you were holding on to my phone, but she could not get through. You had accidentally turned off my phone.

This is our phone conversation today:

Evan: Um mummy... My 功课 left 10 and 10 and 10 and 8 and 1 more to go. How many is that?

Mummy: 39

Evan: Ok, bye

Less than 2 minutes later:

Evan: Um mummy... My 功课 left 10 and 10 and 10 and 8 more to go. How many is that?
Mummy: 38! And don't call me until you've finished all your homework!!!

And less than 20 minutes later you called to say that you've finished all your homework and also taken your "reward".. your Yakult.

Ringing Non-Stop

2011-04-19T15:28:00.002+08:00

Since you were "alone" at home, I usually leave my mobile phone with you so that you can call me if you want to tell me anything. I have set my office number on speed dial and taught you how to use the function.

What a big mistake on my side!!! My office phone has been ringing very often everyday after lunch. You'll tell me these:

"Um, mummy.. Can I do my homework at 3 o'cwok (clock)?"

"Mummy, I have finished my homework"

"Mummy what time will you be back today?"

"Mummy I want you to come back today at 4 o'cwok or 5 o'cwok also can"

Record was yesterday afternoon. I think you called me 5-6 times within 30 minutes. I guess you are lonely at home. But I'm proud to say that you've kept your promise and you'd complete your mandarin homework as promised with acceptably decent writing.

Home Alone.. almost

2011-04-14T09:18:00.001+08:00

Daddy's part-time job for this 2 weeks is "driver" or maybe I should give him a more glamorous name "chauffeur". Since Ah Kong and Ah Ma are on holiday, we've got to drop and pick you up from school. Then we'd drop you home, settle you down and go off to work.

On Monday when you were home alone.. with kakak, you cried when we wanted to go to work. It was terrible. I was wondering if I'd have to take the afternoon off for the 2 weeks to accompany you when you were home. But on Tuesday, you seemed OK and happily waved us off to work. Phew...

Of course, I'd receive MANY phone calls from you. Telling me if you'd finished your homework, asking if you could eat this, if you could drink that and the questions were never ending. Of course there is also the command "Mummy you come home at 4 o'clock today OK???"

I'm glad that you are doing OK at home and you've finished all your homework which were given. Good job little boy!

Movie Day

2011-04-10T18:15:00.004+08:00

We'd seen the trailer of the movie when we went to watch Rango. And yes, I did not mention Rango. We brought you to watch the movie as it was the school holidays and you did not have any activities at all as you could not go swimming with your cough. Dr Khaw had advised no swimming for 3 months.

So we brought you to watch Rango. And would you believe it? By the time it was our turn to buy the tickets the only available seats were the front row for GSC in Gurney Plaza. So we did not want the seats and headed to 1st Avenue to try out luck in TGV. Well we were in luck and got to watch the movie in TGV and had a large choice of seats to pick from.

This round, we had the free ticket for a child in TGV, but daddy said that he preferred to watch in GSC, so we bought the tickets online yesterday (there were loads of seats available then..) and we watched Rio:

Picture credits

It was a good thing we decided to buy the tickets online. The cinema was full. I guess with it being a weekend, there were lots of families out to watch a movie with their children. I know for sure that you enjoyed the show, you were laughing loudly at the hilarious parts of the movie.. and so did daddy!!!

What's in the Party Pack?

2011-03-30T21:51:00.002+08:00

It was a bit rushed for us, but we tried to prepare earlier. Daddy and I was trying to decide on the best thing to give to your classmates. I had already checked with Mr Tan how many boys and girls there were in your class in advance. That way we could buy items suitable for boys and girls.

In the end, we found ready packed colouring books which came with colouring pencils too. Then I bought some balloons and mask to add to the coloring items. On Sunday, I took out all my baking barang then began the slow process of baking cookies for your classmates. I made just over 90 Milo Doggies Cookies for your classmates. Ashley Kor-kor was around and suggested that since I had doggies with eyes with so many expressions, I might as well make some "angry" looking doggies. Thus, we had "angry dogs" too:

So with such big books, they could not fit into the bags I had. So I took out the plastic bags which I had bought last year for the party pack and put everything into the bag, and sealed the bag with some stickers I had in my collection. And end product were these:

Party Time in School

2011-03-29T21:52:00.002+08:00

As usual we dropped you in school in the morning. Then as it was still rather early, we went off to have breakfast first before heading to the cake shop to pick up your birthday cake. And again, like on Saturday, it was raining again!!! We waited in the car for a while before mummy made a mad dash into the shop to pick up your cake.

After picking up your cake, we remembered that daddy's flash did not have batteries. So we made a quick stop to buy the batteries then headed back to school. We arrived at around 10am (Mr Tan had asked us to be there by 10.10am, in time for break time). I headed to Mrs Sebastian's office who brought us up to your classroom area. This was out first time going into the classroom area for the 5 and 6 year old. And when we reached your classroom, the first thing we saw was your excited face. Your smile was from ear to ear!!

You quickly gave us a hug and it seems that the children in your class already knew that we were coming with cake! They were also excited. You were all instructed to go wash hands which you all did and came back to class immediately. Mr Tan had even written "Happy Birthday, Evan Ban" on the white board.

When all the children were back at their seats, the cake was brought out and everyone was excited. For the school party you had asked for a Transformers design on the cake. When the candle was lighted, everyone started to sing you the birthday song.

After that Mrs Sebastian helped to cut up the cake into small pieces while Mr Tan distributed plates and spoons to the children who were allowed to eat cake (which was everyone except for one little girl). Everyone was so excited to see the cake, some of you even dig in before saying your prayers. Mrs Sebastian reminded you all and you all said the prayers (which was in a sing-song style).

Most of your friends had second and even third helping of the cake. We left after that. We did not distribute the party pack as Mr Tan said your friends would all get too excited to pay attention in class if they got the party pack. So we left the packs with him and headed home.

I hope you enjoyed the party. You even got a present from your classmate Jing Ee. By the time I reached home after work you had already opened the present and played it. It was a cute board game which Jing Ee's mummy had bought from US.

Evan Turns 5

2011-03-29T15:57:00.002+08:00

Happy Birthday Sweetheart. We love you...

Hugs and Kisses from Mummy & Daddy

Evan's 5th Birthday Party

2011-03-28T12:49:00.005+08:00

Saturday began early for all of us (except for you). Daddy went to the market with Ah Ma to help carry (and pay) for the party food, while I had to wake up to make the olive focaccia. I estimated that it would take around 4 hours for the bread to be made and since I had 1 hour to wait for the bread to proof, I thought I could go back and continue with my sleep.. instead you decided to wake up before I was done. So there goes my plans!!

Later in the morning as you were doing your homework, 6th Chim Poh came for a quick visit. She brought you some presents and soon 5th Chim Poh, Chek Kong and Kor Poh arrived. After everything was settled and ready, we went off to have lunch. Char Kuey Tiau for all of us at Lorong Selamat (we only go there when we've got visitors). After that we headed to the bakery to pick up your cake. It was raining heavily and I had to make a mad dash into the shop to pick up the cake. You were so happy to see the cake, you kept kissing the cake box!!

We bought rojak for everyone then headed home. It was raining and the traffic was terrible. The afternoon flew by quickly and soon it was time to get ready for the party. The BBQ chef had the grill all ready and he started to cook the chicken earlier so that our guests did not have to wait too long for dinner.

Here you are enjoying the barbecue chicken

Abby giving a big smile to the camera

Chim Poh, Chek Kong, Kor Poh, Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis sat here to accompany the chef (or was it to be nearer to the food???)

There was no theme this year. But we did buy these "Happy Birthday" buntings:

Very soon all the kiddies were getting bored entertaining themselves. Annabelle and Abby came and asked me when we'd be having the cake. As the food was not all eaten yet, they had to wait a while and finally after everything was cleared away and the table cleaned, we got out the cake:

This year you picked Generator Rex for the cake design.

Your happy face makes all the work we have to put in to prepare this birthday really worth it. We had a tough time trying to get the 4 of you to pose for a picture:

Of course, our guests did not go home empty handed. This year they had a calendar with pictures of you from March 2011 till Feb 2012. And of course a party pack for the kiddies.

And after our guests went home, it was time for the presents. You were so impatient when opening the wrappers:

Happy 5th birthday to our dearest little boy.

Time to make a choice

2011-03-17T17:38:00.004+08:00

It has been a topic for discussion for a while and on 2nd March this year, we finally made the call and registered you in the school which we hoped would be suitable for you. We dropped you at school that day and headed to the primary school to register.

I had heard that lots of parents had already registered the day before. And it was only the first day of registrations!! Anyway one of the mummies at work had the form, so I made a copy and filled up the necessary details then got all the documents ready. So when we arrived at the school, we didn't need to fill up the form, only had to hand in the form for checking and for them to stamp on your birth certificate.

We will know if you get a place in the school next year. I hope that you'll be able to get into this school and that you'll like this school.

Party to Celebrate the 5th Birthday

2011-03-15T20:36:00.000+08:00

Our lil' monster turns 5. Wow! How time flies. And like last year, we planned to have barbecue. No not because daddy likes to stand in front of the BBQ cooking for everyone, but because our little birthday boy is all grown up and can make his own decision.

Yup, you insisted that you wanted to have barbecue for your birthday. We tried and tried to convince you to celebrate your birthday in a restaurant, but you would not budge from your decision. That's why the invitation cards went out a little later this year.

Getting Re-acquainted

2011-03-14T10:02:00.000+08:00

With old friends..

As it was still rather early on Sunday morning, so we decided to play in your room. And you found the big train holding all the little die cast Thomas and Friends trains. So we pulled out the tracks and build our own tracks complete with buildings.

It was great fun, building our own tracks and playing with old friends. And at the end of they day, we kept all the tracks and buildings back nice and safe and ready for another round.. hopefully soon.

Playing in the Car

2011-03-13T14:00:00.003+08:00

Do you know what I like to do when daddy is driving? Play games with mummy. Since mummy and I will be seating at the backseat of the car, we will play our own games. Sometimes daddy joins in too *whispering: I think he CHEAT*

These are the games we play:

1. Ant and lift: Here, I'm the lift which will bring the ants (mummy) to whatever floor the ant lives on in the hotel. Mummy cannot be the lift. She doesn't do it very well...

2. Ants playing football: This is where mummy and I will be the ants and our team score the goals. Something like my favourite cartoon, Super Strikers. Mummy always loses as my teams scores so many goals!

3. Counter: This is where I work in the counter at the hotel and mummy will be the ant asking questions. She has so many ants which come to my counter. When her ant comes I will say "May I help you?". Her ants are so silly, they don't even know where to take a bus!

4. Racing game: We will use our fingers to race from one end of the car to the other.. As far as my arms can reach. As you know, I'm only 4 years old and I have to sit in my carseat so I cannot reach too far. Another way of playing this game is to pretend we're playing a racing game on iPhone like on Yvonne Kor-kor's phone.

5. Myvi game: This is the game which daddy likes to join in. And I think he's cheating. Daddy always get to spot all the Myvi's first. We usually have to spot 15 Myvi's. Mummy is always the last. I think she is not paying attention when we play this game.

One last game which I will sometimes play alone in the car is on mummy's phone. I love to play the game with the music really loud. But after a while, daddy usually asks me to stop playing. I wonder why he doesn't want to allow me to play on the phone...

Taking Antibiotics

2011-03-12T14:58:00.002+08:00

We had gone to see Dr Khaw last week and he had put you on Seretide and Ventolin as you have been coughing for too long. This week on Wednesday we had to see him again for a follow up. When he saw you, he was quite pleased to see that your lungs seemed to be better, but you still had a runny nose. So he showed me how to clean your nose with a saline solution and also suggested that he put you on antibiotics for 3 days. As we waited for your medicine, you kept telling me "I love antibio-wics". I just smiled as I know very well every time you are given antibiotics you'd scream and shout and refuse to take it.

Well that evening you fell asleep on the way home, so you didn't take your antibiotics. On Thursday, before going to sleep, I asked you to come take your antibiotics and again you said "I love antibio-wics". But the moment I filled the syringe with the Zithromax, you took one look and asked to take a sniff of the medicine. Immediately you knew what it was and started to make excuses: "I want to drink water first" "I think I want to play first"

When I insisted that you had to take your medicine, you finally told me "I think i don't like antobio-wics". "Well you have no choice, you have to finish it for three days". In the end I had to bribe you with ONE M&M's and you agreed. But surprise, surprise, after gulping the medicine you said "Hey.. I like the antibio-wics".

Phew.. thank goodness this round of medicine eating went well.

School Excursion - Penang Museum

2011-03-11T11:24:00.004+08:00

Way before today, you brought back the school message book. Before I even read it, you already told me that the school was going to bring you kids to the "musi-leum". Ok, so I asked if you wanted to go. Of course the answer was a very loud "YES". As there are lots of kids in this kindergarten, the excursion was split into two groups. One went on Wednesday and another on Thursday.

For the past week, your homework pouch contained the message book. I guess it serves as a reminder to parents on what to dress the kids in and also when would the the trip for their class. Actually I wouldn't need the message book to remind me about anything. You had additional messaged, probably from your teacher, for me the night before: have to wear long pants, need to bring a water bottle with strap, have to wear shoes with socks.

It was easy getting you up the next day. Just a reminder: "Are you going to the museum today?" and you were up in an instant. As you were having a shower.. it started to rain. Oh no... Anyway we had breakfast, then got into the car to head to school. It was drizzling all the way to school. And just as we arrived, we thought it would stop raining. But no, it rained again. I left you to go into school and I left for work.

On Thursday evening, I asked you about your school trip:

Mummy: What did you see in the museum today?

Evan (as expected): I forget.. *grin*

Mummy: How can you forget???

Evan: I forget. *wider grin*

Mummy: Ok, let's start again. How did you go to the museum?

Evan: We went by bus.

Mummy: What bus was it?

Evan: School bus.

Mummy: How did you get into the bus? It was still raining, right?

Evan: Yes. Mr Tan brought 2 by 2 into the bus with an umbrella.

Mummy: Who did you sit in the bus with?

Evan: Serene and Lucas

And I had to ask many, many questions before I got almost all the information I wanted to know. Of course the most important fact was missing:

Mummy: What did you see in the museum?

Evan: I forgot

Mummy: Were there pictures? (I honestly have no idea what there is in the museum.. having not been there before!)

Evan: I forget. (then after thinking a while). There is CCTV!

Mummy: Huh? CCTV? What is that for?

Evan: For them to watch us lo.

The only information that you willingly volunteered was "They gave us a special treat when we got back to school... it was YAKULT". And that seems to be the highlight of you trip! The YAKULT! Oh well.. at least you enjoyed your trip to the musi-leum"

Aeroplanes

2011-02-19T20:18:00.002+08:00

It's been a while since we did a little painting, just the two of us. One day during the week, you called me while I was at work asking me if we could do painting when I got back from work. Obviously we didn't manage to do so as I was late getting back from work. You did not complaint about it when I got back. You'd probably forgotten all about it by then.

On Saturday, we decided to do a little painting as daddy and Ah Kong were off for a game of golf. So we woke up, had breakfast then got everything ready for our little painting session. As we started painting, I remembered about taking pictures. So I ran up to take the camera and after a while of taking pictures, you got upset and asked me to stop taking pictures and to join you to paint.

So what were we painting? These little foam aeroplanes. We'd painted 2 a while back. I'd bought then when we went to KL.

Here's your aeroplane:

And here's the end result of our plane. You got upset towards the end of the painting session as the paint had not dried when you painted the next colour, so they got all mixed up. I thought it looked nice, when the yellow mixed with the red, gave it a fiery look, but you did not like it. So in the end, I had to finish up your plane while you painted my plane.

Can you tell which is yours and which is mine?

As I was trying to get a good shot of the finished planes, you decided that your foot also needed to be photographed:

As the end result of this painting session was not satisfactory to you, you kept telling me that we had to go down to KL soon to buy more planes for you to paint. And you were so kind to even say "We do not need to go to Ah Meng Kor-kor's house to visit. Just go to KL and buy then come back". Poor daddy.... I reckon we can go to KL, but we can stay over too.. Yay! More shopping...

Chinese New Year Dinner @ Minden

2011-02-06T20:59:00.002+08:00

We left Ipoh on the second day of Chinese New Year after dinner. You were so tired, you slept shortly after we got into the highway and all the way back until the next day. As usual we had dinner with the Phuah. This year was on the 4th day of CNY.

The menu of the day was nasi lemak. Something different. The other kids had white rice, while you had nasi lemak (which is your favourite).

This is the spread for dinner:
As it was a Sunday, Annabelle had to leave early. By 8.30 pm she had to leave to go home as she had to get enough sleep before the next day. As for Abby and you, you both had fun out in the garden playing with the sparklers. We started with one each. After a while it looked like it will be FOREVER before you both finished playing with the very large pack which Uncle Sin Chuan had bought. So it became 2 each, the 3 each then 4 each. And yet, we could not finish all of them. We were all getting too hot and tired. So we gave up and kept everything and went back inside to enjoy the air-cond.

Welcoming the Rabbit

2011-02-03T19:06:00.002+08:00

This new year was another relaxing Chinese New Year. We slept until we felt like waking up, no need to rush for the bathroom as there was no lion dance troupe coming this year. When everyone was ready and you were dressed in your new clothes we headed down for breakfast then to give ang pow (for me) and to collect ang pow (for you).

Daddy set up his camera on the tripod and we managed to get a few pictures. With you being the sulky little boy because you were dragged away from the ipad (or was it iphone.. so many choices for you)..

Then we headed to the kitchen and of course more pictures were taken with you:

As everyone was all dressed up and not yet changed into comfy clothes with lipstick still intact, daddy quickly set up his tripod again to get a family picture:

Of course, even Pepper got to be in the family picture... he is "family" after all.. After the picture was taken, we had individual family pictures taken, and of course the 2 youngest in the family with 5th Chek Kong:

Later we had more people so another round of family picture:

Happy Chinese New Year

2011-02-02T19:23:00.004+08:00

We all woke up and got ready before heading out to buy Hokkien Mee to bring back to Ipoh. Our usual shop was filled with lots of people having breakfast. But since daddy and I usually get our Hokkien Mee fix from this stall, I didn't have to wait too long before my order of 11 packets were ready.

Next stop was McDonald's at Sungai Dua for the promised breakfast. We waited so long for the food to be ready although there wasn't a very long queue. Went home and gobbled up the food then started to pack the car for our trip back to Ipoh. Before crossing the bridge, we had to make a quick stop at Anna Che-che's house to drop the ang pows to Boh-boh Poh. And off we went....

.. until we reached Bukit Tambun. Then we had to make a detour.. back to Penang. Ah Ma had forgotten to pack the "loh-bak" which was for the dinner in Ipoh. And off we set towards Ipoh.. again... *grin*

At long last we arrived. Traffic on the highway was pleasant. Surprisingly, you napped most of the way to Ipoh. And of course when we arrived, you were in the "sweetest" mood. Greeting everyone with a scowl.

Well your mood got better especially when you saw Pepper. Then soon it was dinner time. The "auspicious time for dinner" was around 6pm. So the tables were set in the dining room (so that everyone gets to eat in air-cond comfort). Look at the spread:

Daddy's favourite meatballs

Drinks anyone?

Then as it was still early, everyone went out t the garden to enjoy some fresh air.. Including Pepper:

And here's Ariesse keeping occupied by checking out everything within her reach:

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Bye Bye Daddy.. See You Soon

2011-01-21T21:10:00.001+08:00

We woke up and had breakfast with daddy before daddy left for work. Then we relaxed around the room and I finished the last of the packing. Then you left a message for daddy and off we went to take a taxi to the airport. After checking in (and thank goodness we had no problems doing so.. our bag was 19.9kg!!) we went into the terminal and took the sky train to Terminal 2 then Terminal 3. We even had time to take some pictures:

You were smiling for this picture. And the reason you posed so willingly and happily was because I had to allow you to take a picture of me first. (No, Ee-ee Evan didn't drop the camera *grin*).

After buying the duty free items we were asked to buy, we headed back to Terminal 1 to take our flight back. Before that we stopped to have a quick lunch then took a few travelators before going into the lounge. That was when the paper bag which was carrying your Lego gave way! Thank goodness I had packed an extra paper bag and also daddy's back pack so I managed to stuff all the things into those bags. Then I asked you to sit with the bags as I filled your water bottle. The man who sat next to you told me that you were a good boy and didn't move at all as I asked you to. You certainly made me proud.

Soon we were boarding the plane. And we headed back to Penang. After clearing Immigration, we collected our luggage and Ah Ma was already waiting for us. What a nice holiday it was.

4 more days in Singapore

2011-01-21T17:51:00.004+08:00

As daddy had to go to work for the rest of the week, we kept ourselves entertained. On Monday we took our leisurely breakfast in the hotel, went upstairs then slowly got ready and watched TV and when we were finally ready we headed out to walk the many malls on Orchard Road.

After walking for a short while, you decided that you were hungry, so we headed to Food Republic in Somerset 313 (Somerset became our favourite haunt as you liked to cross the pedestrian crossing; you just wanted to press the button, to this mall which was just a stone's throw away from our hotel).

Soon we were tired so we headed back to the hotel for a rest before heading out to swim in the pool which we'd checked out in the morning. Just after we left the pool, it started to rain. We both fell asleep for a while then headed to Somerset again for dinner. We had Italian food in mind, so we went to try out Trattoria Cucina Italiana. We were seated and while I was trying to decide on what to order you were given crayons. Happiness for you *wink*

So this was my placemat:

An axed out car and another car which was satisfactory to you.

We spent the rest of Tuesday shopping too. This time we took the MRT for a ride. Just one stop but still fun. The people on the MRT were very kind, offering their seat for you. Lunch was eggs and toast and warm Milo.

On the way back to the hotel, we decided to drop by Cold Storage in Centrepoint Shopping Center. There we spotted some interesting trolleys:

Trolleys with "TVs". Ah.. so of course although we had nothing in particular to buy, I think we spent a good 20 minutes in Cold Storage, so that you could enjoy the "on board" entertainment. Of course we bought yogurt and this was what you had for tea time in the room:

We had dinner plans with daddy on Tuesday evening. So our dinner date was in Black Angus Steakhouse. Although this restaurant was on Orchard Road, it was at the opposite end from our hotel. And lazy you (thank goodness) said that you could not walk and wanted to take a taxi. So we hopped into a taxi and arrived there (probably longer by taxi than walking) after driving through the traffic jam. Dinner was nice and very filling. Then we took a slow walk all the way back to our hotel. Seems like the walk is not so tiring when it's a leisurely walk and when we're not hungry!

Wednesday was filled with more shopping. We walked all the way to Paragon. As usual, shortly after we arrived, you insisted that you were hungry. Went to Ngee Ann City and you did not want to have lunch in the food court *sigh*. So we took the lift up and found Breeks cafe. Ok. Simple enough.. Before walking into the restaurant. We saw "BricksWorld" the Lego shop which we had visited in Plaza Singapura on Sunday (and had already bought a ginormous Lego set for you). After lunch, you still wanted to look at the Lego in the shop, so we stopped by there. They had some for children to play with you here you are creating something with the many pieces of Lego:

Tada...

A jet fighter

We walked around and made several stops at some shops before heading back to the hotel. Of course, we had to stop by Cold Storage (again!!) for you to take a trolley ride (so easy to please).

Another round of yogurt

After a rest and shower, we headed to Plaza Singapura for dinner. We had a simple dinner in Ajisen Ramen. The headed back to the hotel after wandering around and to pack up. It was time to head home the next day.