The Last Day of CNY

Nope no more BBQ to last us for.. um.. a month.. *grin*. This round, we headed to Uncle Sin Jeow's house for "pun choi" (盘菜). Aunty Ean Na slaved the whole day and when we arrived, she was putting the finishing touches to the dish: arranging the food nicely..

On top of the pun choi, Bo-bo Poh also cooked some lam mee which is especially for the children (in case you guys could not take th food in the pun choi). Of course in actual fact, all of us ate the noodles on top of the pun choi. We all ate at a slow pace, enjoying the food and the good company and eventually most of the food in the cooker was gone.

Ian and your two Tou-tou

It was Sunday again, but we left earlier that day so that you could sleep early and wake up for school the next day. I didn't want to have to receive a phone call from you crying and insisting on going to school at 10am.

Another BBQ Party

Before the 15th day of CNY, it was time for another round of BBQ. This time it's with daddy's friends. Simpler food was on the menu as compared to the one we had the week before. Here's some of the food which we had.
There was only 1 other little kid for you to play with. But Chloe is younger than you and you weren't too keen to play with her. It was worst when she took your carrot drink and drank it. You cried and cried and since there was no more carrot juice left, someone passed me a box (I'm not too sure who it belonged to.. or was it yours?) and you finally stopped crying. But since she was given her daddy's phone to play with, you willingly sat next to her and watched her play with her games. After that, you took my phone and started to play with the games too.

When you got bored you'd walk over to the dinner table and go "bang bang" with the che-che's.

"Bang Bang"

Chloe

Everyone chatting

What did we do with the leftover food? There wasn't too much left. Cynthia Che-che had to leave early, so she was given the honours to bring back some garlic bread. And how about the chicken and sweet potatoes? Hehe.. they played "Indian Poker" and finished off most of the food!

CNY Dinner with the Phuahs

The dinner for this CNY was something different. Ah Ma wanted to have an "opening ceremony" for the new BBQ. So the occasion selected was our CNY reunion dinner with the Phuahs. Before 7pm, daddy was already outside with the grill. Uncle Sin Chuan was the first to arrive and soon became his assistant.

Chefs Daddy & Uncle Sin Chuan

Chef Uncle Sin Tien and his assistant, Aunty Ean Na

We brought down your table so the 3 kids would have a place to sit at. Of course, there was a fight over who gets the red chair between the 2 girls, while you just happily plonked yourself on your blue chair. Everyone else had dinner at the dinner table.

Tou-tou barely ate that day. He wasn't feeling well.

After the 3 of you had finished eating the BBQ chicken, you all headed to your room to ransack the whole place. By the time everyone left, the whole room was a big mess!

The kids even played a bit of firecrackers. Annabelle was going to join you but she squeezed her fingers on the french doors and so there was a big commotion inside with her crying about how painful her fingers was while the 2 of you; unaware of what was happening inside, were happily playing with the firecrackers with Ah Kong and Uncle Sin Chuan.

By the time everyone left, it was already past midnight. So the next day everyone did not go to school. Only problem was when you woke up at 10am, you cried and made a big fuss about wanting to go to school! Hhmm.. is that a good sign that you really like going to school??

Something's Missing This Chinese New Year..

.. who didn't feel it? When Ah Tai left us, a big chunk went missing. This Chinese New Year was just a quiet gathering of family members back in Ipoh. Tradition decrees that we are not to celebrate this first year following Ah Tai's passing.

While Alan Ku-ku thought you'd be that "shrewd businessman exchanging greeting for ang pows" (in his own words) the truth is to date, you've only collected a grand total of 5 ang pows. But you did learn to sing a Chinese New Year song in school... although you only managed to learn the chorus of the song. Nevermind, maybe next year you'd get bigger ang pows and have learnt the whole song...

We headed to Ipoh on the afternoon of the eve, later than we'd usually leave as the gardeners were putting in the finishing touches to the garden: planting the last few patches of grass. The house looks more cozy now. Will talk about that later.

Since it was your nap time you missed the tunnel and the moment you woke up as we arrived you asked where the tunnel was. Yikes. I had to tell you that you'd see the tunnel when we go back to Penang. You were probably too groggy but didn't put up much fuss to that.

Those who planned on celebrating CNY in Ipoh were already home by the time we arrived. So after putting the food for offering for our ancestors, we had dinner early at around 6pm. This year as there were so few of us, we had dinner in the main living room.. with air-cond... AAAaaaaahhhhHHHhhh... for the first time, everyone took a leisurely dinner, not rushing to finish the meal, chatting and eating all the delicious food served.

After that, some of us went out to enjoy the cool air outside while feeding the mosquitoes (hehe..). Daddy brought out his camera and took a few shots

But you were too engrossed with the mini Cornetto that Sue Kor-kor had bought you

Before we headed back for a shower, you helped Sue Kor-kor to wash her car and also Chek Kong's car. After our shower, the usual CNY drink of lychee, longan, 7Up, orange & lemon juice was already prepared by Sue Kor-kor. Yummy..

Singapore on Our Own

On Monday we took things at our own pace. It was just the 3 of us. Ah Pek had to go to work while daddy and Ah Kong were going to Bintan Island for a round of golf with Uncle KK.

When we were all finally ready, we headed to the main guard house, asked for directions to go to the Choa Chu Kang MRT station and crossed the road to wait for a taxi. We were about to give up when at long last a taxi arrived. And the taxi ride to the MTR was the shortest ever. We bought tickets for the 3 of us (yes, you insisted that you wanted a ticket too) and went upstairs to wait for the MRT which arrived shortly. As it was packed and no one wanted to let you sit, we stood all the way to Orchard Road. When we finally arrived, Ah Ma wanted to ask if you wanted to ride the "train" back again, but I told her not to ask yet until we're sure that we are able to do so when the time comes to go home.

Walked around Takashimaya, had lunch, shopped a little more, had tea and before we knew it, it was close to 4p.m.. Time to go home and Ah Ma's legs were aching. So good thing she didn't offer to go back by train.. yet. So we made a quick dash into the grocery section to pick up that yummy apricot jam from Fauchon.

Before we left you wanted to have a look at the water fountain. Took this picture of you:

..naughty face.. Here's another that I took the day before with a silly face too:

We headed to the taxi stand and the queue was super long! Sigh.. waited a while and had hoped to get a yellow taxi (just like your "Little Yellow Taxi" book at home) but we ended up with a blue taxi. Oh well...

Went home to rest a while, got you to take a nap and before long, it was time to go out for dinner. We were going to this place called "Golden Spoon" in Tiong Bahru for dinner. Just as we were walking towards the guard house of the condo, there was a yellow taxi! Yay! So we headed to the restaurant in a yellow taxi.

Ah Pek had arrived a little earlier than us. Shortly after that, Aunty Ruth also arrived. While waiting for the gentlemen to come, we chatted and you played on Ah Pek's phone. At long last they arrived and dinner was served.

This restaurant serves amazing dishes. No pictures of the dishes.. too hungry to take them! Oh well.. maybe the next time we go to Singapore.. *hint*hint*

On Tuesday morning, we left the condo quite early for the airport. Still we didn't manage to squeeze in some time to take another ride on the train. Spent too much time buying something. But before we entered the departure hall, we managed to get another picture taken.

By the way, if you're wondering how come there's next to no pictures of daddy, it's because I have yet to master using his camera. Whatever few that I took of him turned out blurry. Ok, ok I will learn to use the camera before our next trip..

A Birthday Buffet

Through out the day daddy was testing with Ah Kong and Ah Ma as Aunty Ruth had decided on a location for us to go for dinner on Sunday. What we worried about the restaurant that she'd mentioned was that it didn't seem suitable as a birthday party location. Especially since it was to be Ah Ma's 60th birthday celebration.

At last, they came to a decision to have the dinner for Sunday at a Brazilian restaurant "Fiesta Brasilia". By the time we arrived at the United Square, Aunty Ruth, Uncle KK, Ah Kong and Ah Ma were already there. We arrived just on time. Shortly after we were seated, we got started with the buffet, tucking in the appetizers first. There was nothing much from the selection which was suitable for you. So we took a little and sat down. Then came the carveries. Yummy!!! The variety served was just amazing!

And you wanted to try out everything which was served. Included the spicy chicken wings! Luckily I took a bite and immediately removed the wings from your plate. Otherwise... Can you imagine how spicy it is that most of us ended up not being able to eat the chicken?

The waiters even served you, cutting smaller and more cooked portions of the meat.

After we could tuck in no more, it was time for the birthday cake. Aunty Ruth who knew the restaurant manager had a cake arranged to be served. And to our surprise almost all the staff brought out the cake and even sang the birthday song for Ah Ma in Portuguese (I think..), English and even in Mandarin (and mind you none of them are Chinese!). What a lovely birthday celebration. I'm sure everyone had a wonderful time.

Ah Ma full of concentration as she cuts the cake

And this is the rating you gave this restaurant:

Ten stacked fingers (Um.. I guess that's an even higher rating than 10 *grin*)

Something Different to do on Day 3

What was there to do? Ah Kong and Ah Ma had their own plans for the day. Ah Kong had a round of golf with Uncle KK while Ah Ma was going out with Aunty Ruth. So it was just the 4 of us. Ah Pek brought us to have lunch at Crystal Jade (yes, again but a different place and for dim sum this time).

Then he suggested that we headed back to change to go for a spot of fishing. Yup, or should I say "prawning". Haha.. it's "prawn fishing". After daddy baited the 2 rods, you got all excited and tried to jab the rod into the pond! At last you understood that we were supposed to hold the rods and let the bait (only) got into the water.

But probably less than 10 minutes later you got bored and wanted to get a drink, walk around and not care about your rod. And when we got back to our spot, you tried to poke the rod into the pond again! At long last Ah Pek managed to catch one prawn. Daddy quickly whipped out his camera and this is what he got:

Ah Pek proud of his catch. And a terrified you, trying to avoid the prawn

In the end we gave the ONE prawn to this lady as there was nothing much we could do with just one prawn. Haha..

After the Bird Park

We headed home to rest our weary feet, but you seemed to still be charged up with energy! So in the end, daddy decided to bring you swimming. Before we left for Singapore you had insisted that you didn't want to go swimming (still have phobia of swimming. Have not gone swimming in school for months!) so I had to sneakily pack all our swimming barang into the bag. Who can resist such a beautiful children's pool? We can see it clearly from the living room balcony of Ah Pek's condo.

Ah Ma and I followed you both to the pool and you enjoyed the slides, after lots of persuasion from daddy that it was really fun. Once you swallowed some water, but after a while you were OK and went on the slides again. You both even went to the adult pool for a while before coming back to the slides in the children's pool

We rested a while after that, tried to get you to take a nap, but you refused. We headed to the city area for dinner at Crystal Jade Restaurant. Yummy. On the way back you told me you were tired and fell asleep. Just like the night before, I tried to get you to wee wee, but you were totally KO-ed and I had another fitful night of worrying that you'd wet Ah Pek's bed (which you didn't.. again. Thank goodness!)

Day 2: Jurong Bird Park

Before we left for Singapore daddy and I wanted to know what to do while we were there. So we gave you a choice between the Zoo (again) or the Bird Park. You replied that you wanted to go to the bird park. When asked why, you said that you wanted to go to the bird park because "It's very hot in he zoo". Hhmm.. ok then.

So on Saturday morning, we were up relatively early. Not really early and when everyone was ready, we headed out to the bird park. The bird park is relatively far from Ah Pek's place as compared to the zoo, but it was a pleasant ride and when we arrived there it wasn't too crowded. Bought the tickets and headed in.

Reading the map to decide where to go first

First stop was where the penguin were kept. It was nice and cool, only problem was as we were walking in, there was a big group of tourists. It was really crowded for a moment. But as we left the penguin area, they headed elsewhere as we took pictures of the macaws.

And the flamingo..

Then you told me that you wanted to go home! Yup, GO HOME! Sigh.. It was getting warm and you didn't like it. But after a lot of persuasion and a promise for a "train ride" you agreed and we headed towards the Pools Amphitheatre for a show. First thing you told me was "Mummy I want something" when you saw a stall selling snacks and drinks. Sigh.. So here you are carrying your (big) bag of chippies:

When the show finally started with the flamingos making an entrance, you never noticed! Reason being you were too busy stuffing yourself with chippies, worried that Ah Kong you finish them (we were both trying to eat some as it was too much for you).

You finally realised that there was something going on down there when you finally finished the bag of chippies. You clapped enthusiastically when you saw all the many different birds making an appearance. When asked if you liked the show, you replied with an enthusiastic "Yeah!".

After the show we walked around and went to the Lory Loft to have a look around. You weren't keen to leave the air-conditioned area where the gift shop and cafe were located. After much persuasion you agreed to go out and look at the many Lories and Lorikeets in the aviary. When you saw the suspended bridge, you were so happy. You and daddy even took to torturing me by jumping as you walked on the bridge!

We relaxed a little in the cafe to have some lunch and continued walking to look at the predatory birds. It was very hot but you were quite good about walking by yourself (not once asking to be carried, thank goodness).

All sweaty

Hopping and walking (I think you'd learned to hop in school)

At last before we left (we didn't manage to cover the whole bird park as it was getting too hot and everyone were getting tired, we headed to the main station to go on the Panorail Ride as promised.

Or maybe this was your last "ride" before leaving the Jurong Bird Park. We had Ben & Jerry's ice-cream and you wanted ride on this cow before we left.

Singapore Day1

As we still had the MCO from MAS for our cancelled trip which were expiring soon, we finally decided to make a short trip to Singapore. And a good time was over the Thaipusam weekend where we got Monday off as a replacement holiday (for mummy and daddy not for you).

So on Friday, we all went to work and school as usual as the flight to Singapore was at 3.40p.m. Then we left work to pick you up a little earlier from school. You were just about to head to class after having a birthday celebration for one of your friends (whose name you do not seem to know. But if I understand you correctly, she's not from your class). We went to buy lunch for everyone then headed home to have lunch, and get ready for the airport.

Since we still had so much time to kill at the airport, we sat around McDonald's and had something light to eat. Here you are showing daddy your tomato sauce covered finger.

Then we headed to the departure hall. Since there were so few passengers the clearing immigration, the immigration officer even entertained your question of "Why isn't the lights blinking?". When we had to scan our bags, one of the officers even came to bring you across the scanner, which to my surprise you allowed him to hold your hand and lead you through the scanner!

After walking around it was finally time to board the plane. You got the window seat and enjoyed the flight to Singapore. You even ate quite a bit of the food served (fried rice with sweet & sour fish). Daddy did not dare let you eat too much as he worried that you might throw up from the turbulence. You asked me what turbulence meant, and I was at loss of how to explain to you, finally giving you a pathetic explanation of it being something like going on a bumpy road.

When we arrived in Singapore airport, we took our time to clear immigration as we had approximately 3 hours to kill before Eu Jin Ah Pek arrived at the airport from Indonesia. By the time we finally cleared and exited, it was past 6pm. What could we do and where can we go?

Going on the travelator

In the end we decided to head to Terminal 3. Good idea (despite having to push 2 large suitcases and 2 large gold carrier bags and an over excited little boy). We headed to take the train which would bring us from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3. The short ride was fun and when we arrived, Terminal 3 like the rest of the airport was beautifully decorated in anticipation of the Chinese New Year.

After walking around looking at the shop, at the airplanes taking off and landing, we headed to Cyrstal Jade for a light dinner since no one was really hungry from the food served on the plane. We ordered some dim sum and noodles which were delicious. Shortly after we were done, Ah Pek SMS-ed Ah Ma to say that he'd arrived. So back we went to Terminal 2.

There was a big crowd gathered at the airport. Most of them were teenagers. In fact they were already there when we arrived. Apparently a Korean celebrity had arrived around the same time as Ah Pek. After finally finding Ah Pek, we headed to get a taxi to bring us to his condo. Halfway on to the condo, you said that you were tired (did not have your usual afternoon nap) and fell asleep on the way to to Ah Pek's house. When we arrived you were still sleeping as I carried you up to the house and continued to sleep as I changed you and tried to coax you to wee wee. You were so tired that you just slumped as I moved you around and did not respond when I tried to get you to wee wee(so worried that you might we Ah Pek's bed!).

Good thing you did not wee wee on the bed. You only woke up in the middle of the night to see where you were and happily went back to sleep when I told you that I was there with you.

Tattoo Galore

We went back to Ipoh on Saturday and there was a packet of Freddo Frog chocolate that was given by Kor Poh a while back. We'd opened and ate a few pieces on our way down to KL in December but forgot to bring it with us on the way back.

So this trip back we ate some and you discovered that it came with 5 pieces of temporary tattoos. Of course you insisted that you wanted to put it on immediately. Then less than 5 minutes after I put it on your arm, you insisted that you wanted to have it washed away!

This is the first tattoo. The name "Freddo" is not clear as you scratched at it before it really dried up

I had to persuade you to wait for Uncle Dennis to come back from buying lights before washing it off. You fell asleep before he got back and by the time you woke up he'd gone out again. Instead of removing it, you insisted that you wanted another tattoo put on your left arm. And after having finally shown Uncle Dennis the tattoo, you decided that you DID NOT want it removed. So how did you take a shower?

This is the second tattoo. I just took the picture (or tried to anyway... you're not very co-operative)

With both arms up when it was time to rinse with water. This morning you were very happy when you woke up. You opened the top button of your PJs to check that they were both still intact. The morning shower was like the evening before, with both arms up.

This evening I showered you and both arms got wet, but it's still not washed off. I guess the only way to get it off is as the instructions had mentioned: with lotion or slowly using sticky tapes.

Daddy was surprised that your tattoos are still visible. He was worried about you going to school with them. Oh well, your school uniform has got sleeves *grin* and I'm sure they'll fade off soon. Unless you get sick of them first!

Big Worm

That's what I think you have in your tummy. You kept telling me that you were feeling hungry despite having just finished a big meal.

Well, I guess it's either that or you're catching up on the loss of appetite when you were down with the cough for the past few months. Yup, you've finally recovered from the constant coughing and runny nose. *touch wood*

Anyhow I decided to give you the de-worming medicine as you were already way overdue. I did not give you any when you were sick as I'm not sure if that's allowed and also since you already had a "cocktail of medicine" to take for that few months.

Thank goodness you were ok to take that 10mls of medicine without much fuss.

Accidents will happen...

I remember when you were younger you stuck your head in between the railings of the house and creamed like mad when you realised that you could not get your head out!! T^Hank goodness Ah Ma was calm enough to help you out.

This weekend you stuck something else which got stuck! We were baking and I was using the cookie press with the "start design" (something like the one on the bottom left of this picture).

The next thing I knew, you were all panicky and starting to cry. What had happened? You decided to put your index finger into the mould and y6our chubby fingers got stuck. As I tried to slowly work your finger out, you tried to yank out your finger which made it very difficult for me. I tried to concentrate but it sure was difficult as it was such a funny thing seeing your reaction! (I know, bad mummy..)

Well lesson learnt, you promised not to put your finger in anymore. Anyway, in the end I didn't use that mould too as the result of the cookie was not nice. How did the cookie taste? Well it was up to your standard and also Kelvin's as I gave some to him and Aunty Joanne said that he finished all in a go. Not that there was many to begin with.. You kept stopping me from putting more into the bag for Kelvin saying there won't be enough for you.

School Bag

Here you are with your new haircut which you had yesterday (hair still standing..) and also your new school bag. This year you needed a bigger bag as you are supposed to have homework to do soon.

We went bag shopping on Saturday. Of course before we went you had a list of "requests":

1. It has to be Transformers bag (with Bumblebee). Of course a few months back it would have been "Thomas" (and his friends)

2. It has to have wheels

When daddy showed you the bag in Metrojaya, you instantly said that you wanted that. He showed you one with Optimus Prime, you you didn't want that. I wonder how come you insist on Transformers when you dare not watch the movie!!!

But you were happy with the bag and we've bought it. On Saturday and Sunday you dragged that bag all over the house and even attempted to drag on Ah Kong's solid wood floors!

Daddy says you have to carry that bag for the next 5 years!!

We Almost Made It

It has been over a week since school has started. Last Monday, you went back to school like you never missed a week of school. No fuss at all when we reached school. Of course, getting you up to go to school was another issue all together.

Now that we've moved nearer to school I thought that you'd have a higher chance of arriving in school on time for assembly. Well today was the closest we've come to you making it for assembly! Hehe.. when we arrived, the children were not yet dismissed.

Yesterday we just missed assembly as the last of the children were heading back to class as we arrived.

I wonder when we will ever make it for you to attend the whole assembly...

Aquaria KLCC

We were debating whether to go to Aquaria on Sunday or not. The worst of our fears is heavy traffic in KL city. Also you were having a bout of diarrhea the day before right to the middle of the night still. In the end, we decided to go ahead with the plan and called Yvonne Kor-kor to meet up for lunch. But she could not make it for lunch. So we went to KL, parked our car at a nearby hotel which she's suggested and headed to Pavilion for lunch first. There were so many restaurants in Pavilion but we were limited to what would be suitable to your little tummy. So in the end, we tried our luck in C-Jade Express, which is under Crystal Jade Restaurant which serves yummy dim sum. The food that we ordered took a while to serve but it was worth the wait. This was what you did to occupy your time while waiting for food to come:

What is it?Play games on my phone.. What else? And daddy kept busy by taking pictures (obviously).

After lunch, we walked to Aquaria which is very close by. The moment we walked into the Aquaria, we wanted to turn back. The queue to buy tickets was SO LONG!!! But we tried our luck and the queue moved relatively fast. Yvone Kor-Kor and Uncle Peter were also going to join us in Aquaria too. So after queuing for a while and going through 2 lollipops (you dropped both) we got to buy our tickets and go in. First was the piranhas. Then you tried to touch the sea creatures, but as there were so many people, all you managed was to dip your finger into the water. I think you did get to touch the little shark though...

We walked around and looked at the many fishes and even walked into the tunnel with the travelator to look at the deep sea fishes. After looking at all the fishes and taking quite a few pictures we left (not before buying some souvenirs from the gift shop).

Long Holidays

We took the whole of the week off as the company wants us to clear 4 days of leave. So what to do? Where to go? We decided to go ahead with the postponed plan to go to KL. Also daddy's car needed to be fixed. The original plan was to spend a few days in KL, head back to Ipoh and possibly to spend a few days (before the new year) in Cameron Highlands. But in the end, plans had to be changed and we were in KL for 6 days. Daddy's car took longer than expected to fix but we still had a wonderful time in KL.

We left for KL on Saturday afternoon after the furniture guys came to fix up the rooms. Too bad, because only our bed was ready. As for your room, the cabinets and shelves were all ready and just needed to be fixed up. You weren't too well as you had diarrhea in the morning, and mummy forgot and gave you half-boiled eggs for breakfast even!! Yikes!!

After "feeding" daddy's car we headed to the bridge. You napped most of the way until we arrived at Ipoh. WE had to detour to pick up the keys to Uncle Dennis' house as no one was home. Just nearby to the Rawang stop, you declared that you needed to poo poo again. Sigh.. poor thing. It was drizzling, so daddy rushed down to the toilet with you (we had no umbrella in the car). As we exited the rest area, the traffic started to slow to a crawl. We thought that it would be the traffic jam starting.. all the way to KL??? But it was just people slowing down to look at a car which had just met with an accident!!

Arrived in Mont Kiara, dropped the bags and headed to McDonald's which was very nearby. As I was waiting for them to pack the order, daddy called and said that you needed to go again. We rushed back and you did your business. With you just recovered from the recent bout of fever, you barely had any appetite to eat your Happy Meal. We started to wonder if it was the right decision to bring you to KL...

The next few days we saw your condition improve in leap s and bounds. You were still your grumpy self but by the time Thursday came about, you were perfectly fine. We ate a lot, kai-kai at several places and just had a lot of fun. Uncle Dennis and Ashley Kor-kor spent Monday with us and the rest of the days it was the 4 of us. Yup, Kor Poh was also with us and so we ate a lot of Chinese cuisine for our meals. Of course we managed to sneak dinner at Souled Out which had a variety of fusion food and were even treated to Japanese food on Wednesday by Kor Poh.

Before we left on Thursday, we continued our kai-kai at Ikea which had to be cut short on Wednesday to pick up daddy's car. And since Uncel Dennis and Ashley Kor-kor were still working, I had to drive daddy's car back. And the only one brave enough to sit in the car with me was you!! Hehe!!

This was a fun trip. We ate to much, I think my skirt felt tighter as we left KL on Thursday!!!