Lego Creator 3-in-1

The worst part (for me) when your Lego is when you want to change into something else. Really bad for my nails as I try to separate the parts for you! Arghhhh... my poor nails.

We found more creator sets and picked this one which can turn into 3 different types of car as your Christmas present. Right after you opened your present, it was time to start creating. And of course you picked the most difficult design. There was over 50 pages of instructions!! Good thing it was not my job to help you to build the sports car.

At long last you managed to build the car with minimal help from daddy. How long did this creator take to make? While the last creator set took you about an hour to complete building it, this one took TWO HOURS! I think daddy was more tired than you were building this as he had to watch you and guide you where necessary.

Presents on Christmas Day

I was still dead asleep when you woke up. Daddy had gone to golf but you were all excited when you woke up. Reason? It's Christmas Day and you've been waiting for a long time to open the presents under the tree.

Too bad you still had to wait for daddy to get back from his golf game as he wanted to be there when you opened your presents. Poor thing.

But you were quite well behaved and happily agreed to wait for daddy to get back from his game before opening and not once did you ask to open first.

Shortly after we got back from lunch, daddy also got home. He showered and at long last, it was time to open the presents. Before that, you had to pose several times before daddy got a satisfactory shot of you with the Christmas tree and presents. You were beginning to get impatient but we finally got a good shot:

And no it was not time for you to open your present yet. First you had to be the little assistant to distribute the presents to Ah Kong, Ah Ma and kakak before you finally got to lay your hands on your present (and rip apart the wrapping paper in record time!!).

Here you are all excited (can be seen with your tongue sticking out.. your current favourite way of indicating happiness).

Another Lego Creator set.

What We Did On Chritstmas Eve

Unlike other years, we had no plans for this year's Christmas eve and none for Christmas Day too. Ah Ma had mentioned the day before that she's be cooking fried beehoon for dinner on Friday (*gloom*). But our surprise when we got back, there was chicken roasting in the oven and Ah Ma was also cooking spaghetti marinara on top of that. Yummy!

Dinner was eaten early that day as we wanted to bring you to the (quite) newly opened Straits Quay to have a look at the Christmas tree.

We quickly got ready, waited for Ah Kong and Ah Ma to have a quick shower and off we went. First stop was to look at the Christmas tree. You weren't too interested in the tree surprisingly, but we did manage to get a picture before wandering around to see what shops were opened there.

We headed home and it was a good thing the traffic condition all the way home was not too jam yet. It was probably too early for the party goers still.

Merry Christmas!

Lightning

source

.. McQueen. You started to call him "the 95 car" and finally managed to learn his name.

You are just crazy over him lately. You've got a t-shirt, a book (or two) and even a model of the car. And you know what he says after you shake it "Speed.. I am speed" or "The checkered flag is mine".

Looks like you are still crazy over cars as ever!!

I Love You

Sometimes you can be so sweet. It was just one of those days and we were in the car on the way out:

Evan: Mummy..
Mummy: Yes Evan?
Evan: I love you
Mummy: I love you too, sweetheart.

Evan: Daddy
Daddy: Yes Evan?
Evan: Close the gate
Daddy: *hurt* I thought you were going to say "I love you"
Evan: Yes, I love you too daddy

We had a good laugh... But you managed to placate daddy too...

The Penang Bird Park

As Ah Kong and Ah Ma were only due to be back on Thursday evening and daddy had managed to clear off his calendar at work, we both took the day off to accompany you. We could not go too far as we had to be back for dinner to celebrate Tou-tou's 93rd birthday and we also had to pick Ah Kong and Ah Ma up to join in the dinner.

The night before I was trying to convince you to go to the Penang Bird Park. But you kept saying that you didn't want to go. You wanted to watch another movie, but there was no more movie suitable for little children. There was no showing even of Megamind 3D!!

So on Thursday you both woke up really late and after a little more convincing, we decided to head to the bird park. By the time we arrived at the bird park, it was close to 11.30am. And we were just on time for the show. So after paying for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 camera (yup daddy's camera needed an entrance ticket too!!) we rounded the corner from the entrance to wait for the show to begin. There was a school excursion of kindergarten children who were excitedly waiting for the show to begin. You on the other hand, was just waiting to go home. Sigh.. it's just like the last trip to Singapore's Jurong Bird Park. I had to persuade you to wait for the show. To be honest the show was not very interested, but you liked it when the birds swooped right above our heads. Before the show ended we wandered off to look at the many different types of birds in the park.

Waiting for the show to begin

We saw many beautiful and colourful birds. You even seemed to be trying to enjoy yourself. (or else suffer mummy's wrath??). Since you were unwilling to let daddy take any pictures, he changed lens to his telephoto and took some nice shots of the birds:

There was also some crocodiles but you were so afraid of them, despite being in an enclosure. You refused to go anywhere near them. So when we reached the back of the park where there was a BIG python, I warned daddy not to mention the snake in case you got a fright from seeing such a big snake.

We left after spending about 1.5 hours in the bird park as it was getting really hot and we were starting to feel hungry too. Lunch was yummy yam rice in Chai Leng Park, although I'd have preferred yam rice from BM.

A Little Drawing Time

I wasn't well on Monday so I was at home with you and daddy who was supposed to be with you continued to work at home instead. So what did we do? I had bought several pieces of mahjong paper (really large sized paper) the week before. So we decided to do a little painting.

Instead of painting outside like we did the last time, we painted in air-conditioned comfort as it was a little too sunny in that spot. So we set up the newspaper, the paint and the container of water and the drawing paper and you started to draw. Of course I was not excluded from this too. So we both drew for about ah hour.

Daddy took some shot of you posing with your artwork. You seem to love drawing so much. We've signed you up for art classes during this holidays. Ah Ma brought you to the first class on Friday and you loved it. I guess at least you've got something to do since you are not attending any holiday camp this long holiday.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Daddy finally turns XX (censored) as we're not telling everyone how old he is. While he was off this morning, we woke up, had breakfast and made banana cupcakes as daddy's birthday cake. As we didn't have candles, we bought a pack and after a yummy dinner of Japanese buffet, we went back to have the most important part of a birthday "the birthday cake".

I tried to pick the nicest looking cake and you put the candles. You decided to put 4 candles for daddy (no he's not 40 years old today).

Oh yes, you also made him a "birthday card". Um, not able to take a good shot of the card so will post it up when I've gotten our "photographer" who is king for the day to take a nice picture of your artwork.

Happy Birthday to a wonderful daddy. Hugs and kisses from us both.

We Went For a Movie

We woke up and had no specific plans. Ah Kong and Ah Ma are away in Hanoi for a holiday with their friends. So after we woke up, got ready to go out and headed to Gurney Plaza. The only movie suitable for you was Megamind which was only in 3D and when daddy asked if you wanted to watch it wearing spectacles, you didn't. So we finally opted on :

Picture Source

Yup, Rapunzel. You said OK when daddy asked, so we decided on this. We hurriedly had lunch after buying the tickets and headed to the cinemas. So which part of the movie did you like most? I'd say you only started to pay more attention when all the popcorn were gone!

Of course you loved it when Rapunzel bopped Flynn on the head with the frying pan. You laughed out loud every time she did that.

It was a lovely cartoon and we all enjoyed it. Despite it being SOOO cold in the cinema.

Drinking Juice

It's never easy for us to introduce you to something new. Or even to re-introduce something to you. You used to love mango. Now you wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. You'd take orange juice but never touch an orange (not in juice form).

Tonight we went out for dinner as you had asked to have rice for dinner and that is something neither daddy nor mummy is very good at preparing. *Ah Kong and Ah Ma are away on holiday* Daddy ordered his favourite umbra juice with sour plum and when he offered it to you, you surprised us by agreeing to give it a try. Even more surprising is that you loved it!

Even got you to pose with your drink.. for the record!

Now, if we could only convince you to take vegetables willingly...

Nobody but you

You love the son "Nobody" by the Korean group the Wondergirls. Even more after the ABC class performed a dance to this song during the school concert. So here's your version of the dance:

I have another video of you dancing to (almost) the whole song. But you were so exhausted just before the music finished *grin*.

P/S: Even Ah Kong and Ah Ma know when to clap in this song!!

As You Were Writing

We were in your room today and I was reading my book while you were trying to write the word 手 (shǒu). But the room wasn't quiet. Instead you were singing and humming as you practised your writing. I stopped reading and watched as you sang and practised your writing. It's a good thing you didn't find this writing practise a torture (as I did when I tried to learn Mandarin).

The school holiday has begun, but since you're in half-day school, you'll be having school till the end of the month. I have no idea what to let you do to keep you occupied in December yet. We'll find out soon!

Introducing.. Evan's Lego

It started when we walked into this Lego shop in The Gardens when we were in KL. You picked the Lego Creator which was a 3 in 1 set. Then we picked up the other 2 sets under this range when we were back in Penang. You loved it. And most importantly you started to have the patience to sit and slowly follow the instructions in the booklet to create whatever vehicle you wanted.

We recently bought another Creator set. It is also a 3 in 1 but the steps is more complex. Daddy had to sit with you and slowly guide you to follow the instructions. The first few times you took almost an hour to complete it. Yesterday you built the airplane while daddy and I took turns to help you when you asked for help. Today daddy and you changed it into a speed boat.

Looks like this is quite a worthwhile toy. You get to play with it and also learn to extend your attention span. You can now build with the simple set by yourself and complete it within 20-30 minutes.

Happy Halloween

It was supposed to be a Children's Halloween Party cum soft launch of the new school building in Relau. So instead of going to Ipoh with daddy for a friend's wedding dinner, I staye dback and we all went to the party. At around 6pm we (you, me, Ah Kong and Ah Ma) headed towards Relau where the new school is located.

By the time we arrived at Desa Clarissa where the party was being held, it was already rather crowded with students and their family. We waited around and I tried to take some pictures. Several pictures didn't turn out right as I forgot to make adjustments (focus or flash) on the camera. Anyhow I did manage to get a few shots. Here you are with your friend Han Jie and his mummy (he was a little shy to pose for me):

Here's the lollipop which your friend Nicole gave you and your other classmates. She came with lollipops in a pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern container.
As I did not get an itinerary when we arrived, I was caught unaware that your class was to be the first to perform that day. But I did manage to get you dancing to the "Bunyi Guitar"

After all the children finished the performances, many changed into their Halloween costume. We had asked if you wanted a costume earlier that day, but you did not. So we bought you that green hat instead. Then it was time to decorate the pumpkin. When I heard the announcement, I asked you if you wanted to join and you very excitedly agreed to participate. It was a surprise to me as you're usually more shy to join into such activities.. Maybe it's because it's a school function that you didn't feel shy.

Listening to instructions from Teacher Sharmine

Teacher Lee helping you paint your "pumpkin"

When everyone finished painting (the pumpkin, the floor and their clothes-some parent's clothes too!!!) each child was given a balloon and a tea light to be placed inside the pumpkin and we went downstairs. There, the lion dance troupe was waiting. And the mini "procession" began. We followed the lion dance troupe to the new school building nearby. Initially you did not want to hold the Jack-O-Lantern as you were afraid of the fire. But after a little convincing, you agreed to hold onto it. We walked and we walked and we walked and we finally arrived. Before heading back, we took a quick look around the new building (part of it which was opened for viewing) before heading back to the condo.

As it was getting late and we did not have supper yet, we decided to leave. Headed to Farlim for dinner in Tong Hoi Restaurant before heading home.

I expected you to be super tired from all the activities, but you stayed up till 12+ for daddy to get home. Less than 5 minutes after daddy said "hi" to you, you fell asleep.

Artist at Work

We had bought all the things we needed the week before. But it turned out that we had company. Abby was around and I did not have enough paint brushes and paper (also I worried she might decide to repaint Ah Kong's house!). So we put it off to the next week. Right after breakfast, we got your painting materials ready. And you set to work immediately with the paints.

It's amazing how you are not restricted by what you can or cannot do or draw. You just happily drew what you wanted to draw. As the mahjong paper was rather large, I had to help you fill up the paper later on as you got tired of drawing.

When everything was completed. It was time to clean up the artist. You were upset that your fingers had paint. I told you we'd probably need to cut away your fingers *wink*. But of course the paint washed off easily as I had bought washable water colour. I wouldn't risk you leaving any permanent designs anywhere other than the paper!!

*photo's taken from my crummy phone's camera as I could not get daddy's camera to focus properly-- reason was I accidentally hit the manual focus when I removed the camera from the bag!!

First Concert

We were worried that you'd have forgotten the dance steps since we were away for 2 weeks. But you still had several days of rehearsal before the real day. We had to wake up early as we were asked to be at Equatorial Hotel by 7.30am. No, we could not make it on time, but quite a handful of children also arrived after 7.30am. After getting you out of bed and dressed and fed, we headed to the hotel.

We dropped you and found out that we were too early. So we went back to the changing room and peeked at the hub-bub in the room. This is what we saw:

Madness! That's what it was... Lots of children and teachers trying to get everyone looking pretty/handsome, especially for the graduating class. You seemed perfectly at home chatting with your friends.

Daddy got a shot of you with your friend, Jen Jiet (not too sure of the spelling):

Finally at around 9am, the event began. There were speeches, singing by the graduating students, certificate presentation to the graduating class and then the performances began. This year as there was another newly opened branch of this school, the concert comprised of performance by children from both schools. And finally it was time for children from your class to perform:

Waiting for the song to begin dancing your "Bunyi Guitar"

A good thing Ah Kong and Ah Ma came early as the performance was ahead of schedule. After all the performances, all the children gathered on stage for the finale: singing "top of the World" and a Chinese song.

The concert ended early that day. After the final song and the closing speech from Principal Vanessa the parents headed to the changing room to pick up their children. I waited outside while daddy went to get you. When he finally got out with you, he said that the room was a madness with lots of parents/ grandparents /siblings and the children waiting to be picked up. Before we left, daddy took this picture of you in your "dance costume":

Hey, we even had time to go home, give you a shower before attending the next event for the day: a birthday party for these 2 cuties.

Happy Mooncake Festival

To celebrate the mooncake festival we had the Phuah family over for a simple Hainanese chicken rice. After dinner, Aunty Ean Na, Uncle Sin Tien, Uncle Sin Chuan and daddy got busy trying to put up the lanterns. But by the time they were finally done... it was late and time to keep the lanterns again, as tomorrow is Monday and everyone has to go to school or work. Aren't the lanterns so pretty, all lined up in a row...

Happy Birthday Ah Kong

It's Ah Kong's birthday today. Ah Ma got back from buying some mooncakes and lit a candle to celebrate Ah Kong's birthday with the mooncake. But after all that, you declared that it was not a "real birthday cake" so the mooncake/birthday cake was "not counted"!!

What to do? You insisted that we got a cake, and since there was limited types of cakes which Ah Kong could take, we headed to Queensbay to buy an ice-cream cake. You were all so excited and kept pestering us to quickly sing the birthday song (again). So right after dinner, we took out the cake, lit the candle and sang the birthday song for Ah Kong.

It certainly looks like a birthday celebration. But was it Ah Kong's birthday or yours?

Bye Bye Vancouver

After we left the aquarium, we took a slow drive around Stanley Park. It's a very large park with a beautiful scenery. We were hungry so daddy set the GPS to bring us to Chinatown for some Chinese food. We arrived and looked around for a car park and finally found one. Walked around to look for a restaurant and finally settled in a simple shop to have some rice. Wow! It sure felt like it's been a while since we've had rice.. yummy!

After lunch, we walked around Chinatown for a while then went back to the car. We spent the rest of the day driving around Vancouver looking at the sights. We got tired at once stage so we parked the car in Stanley Park and you all took a nap. Later in the afternoon, we took a drive to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. But it was too late as the opening hours was till 6pm. So we took a drive around that area and finally headed towards the airport.

We had dinner in the airport and had to wait a while more before the check in counter finally opened. Daddy asked you to pose with this "Canadian Mountie":

When we finally got to go into the departure hall, it was rather late. But our flight was only at 2am. So we wondered around the airport (which had very little to see.. and many shops were already closed). I wonder where you got your energy from. I was feeling super tired but you had the energy to run around and keep us on our toes! But the moment we boarded the plane you fell asleep even before the plane took off. As the plane was relatively empty we were given separate seats (scattered) so that we could get nearly a whole row of seats to ourselves. Of course there was no way you'd sleep or sit alone, so we both squeezed in the 2 seats beside the window.

We finally arrived in Taipei in the wee hours of the morning and we walked around a little and went back to the playground we discovered on the trip to Alaska which you kept reminding me about. Daddy took this picture of the pretty umbrellas hung on the ceiling.

At last we boarded the flight and very soon (4 hours actually) we were back in Penang.

Vancouver Aquarium

The first stop was Stanley Park where the Vancouver Aquarium is located. After finally being able to get the parking paid for our car, we headed to the entry. We were not issues a ticket to enter. Instead, we were each given this:

Yup, a stamp on our hands. First stop was the fishies... We walked around then it was soon time for the Beluga show. We headed outside and at first you insisted that you didn't want as you thought that it would be hot outside. But when you realised that the weather was really pleasant, you were quite happy to wait for the show to begin. At first I was wondering why there were so many people at the aquarium, then I realised that it was a Saturday (we lose track of the days when we're enjoying the holiday).

Waiting for the show to start in the beautiful weather

And soon the beluga show started. The handlers shared information about the belugas and introduced the 3 adult beluga and 1 baby beluga.

After the show we stopped for a quick snack before heading to watch the dolphin show. There were already lots of people standing around the pool waiting for the show to begin. So we walked around and found this platform which gave us an unobstructed view of the area where the dolphin show was being held. Yay! Daddy had amazing shots of the dolphin's acts:

We went back in for a quick look at another area and I took this picture of you. It's wonderful that the aquarium was built with "little people" like you in mind. See.. they have steps all around the aquarium for you to step on so that you can get a better view of the marine life:

One of daddy's best shots (after many tries..):

Jellyfish

We left shortly after that at around 1pm as we were feeling hungry and weren't too keen on the snacks sold in the aquarium.