Japanese Night

We planned to have a "simple" meal of Japanese with Chawan Mushi, Miso Soup, Salmon (pan grilled and raw) and fried garlic. The weekends has been very difficult and taxing to dine out. We'd need to book a table and we'd also need to battle the heavy traffic to reach the dinner location.

So today was supposed to be a simple meal. And of course, Ko-ko was supposed to wake up early to help Ah Ma go to the market. In the end, they both left before you got up because you set the alarm wrongly and they just let you sleep in instead! 

It was quite a busy day of errands per our usual Saturday, but we managed to have dinner served at around 7.30pm, after Ah Kong had reached home from his meeting at Bayu and had his shower. 

Dinner is served

First University Information Day

We'd seen the banner on the lamp poles outside of school. So today we cancelled guitar lessons and headed to E&O Hotel to attend the Monash University information day.

As this was something new to us, we were quite unsure of that to ask. And since time was rather tight as we needed to go pick Evelyn up from ballet, we made 2 quick (but informative stops). First was the Engineering Faculty. Daddy sat with you to ask some questions and get some information about the engineering programme. 

I sat at the side and observed the other departments in the room. Also sneaked a picture of the both of you:

I had noticed that there was a Bachelor's of Applied Data Engineering and another under the IT department. We decided to head to the gentleman at the Science Faculty to inquire on the difference, to which he gave us a very interesting and informative explanation on the programme as compared to the Data Science programme under the IT Faculty. He even shared the median salary and offered his business card where he said that he's share a link to the Dean's speech on the degree.

I hope that you had a good idea on what was needed for your pre-university programme to head towards the area of studies you are interested to pursue.

We had to leave after that as it was time to rush back and pick Evelyn.

Here's to many more such information day for you (and us).

Another round of celebration

 On this actual day, you got another cake and an ice-cream treat at Inside Scoop!

Happy Birthday to our little precious

 

And just like that your age takes on double digits. 10 years since you decided to make an early appearance into this world. You are the sunshine in our lives, our little Stinky Poo. 

Happy 10th Birthday to our precious little one..

With lots of love,

Ko-ko, Daddy and Mummy

Patriotic Day Celebration

Before the actual day, Ko-ko called me to ask about getting a "Chinese Costume". The only reason you wanted to wear is because you'd get additional points (or something) if you went to school dressed up.

As for Mei-mei, you had picked the Chinese costume the night before, but just before going to sleep, you asked to wear "National colours" instead. So I allowed you to pick your new costume in blue just before having your shower to go to school

Look at grumpy's expression!!

Barbecue Party

It has been a long time since we had many people over to the house for a party. This year, we agreed to have a party for your 10th birthday. You requested to have barbecue. So daddy (reluctantly) agreed. 

Planning of the menu was done way ahead and we also had to buy the steaks (you had specifically requested for this) a few days in advance to dry age them in the fridge. 

Our trusty grill

Everyone had a Pokemon allocated to them.

Daddy started off with cooking the chicken which we kept warm in the oven when it was cooked. We also cooked the potatoes and veggies in the oven. 

Next on the grill were the steaks. 

Look at the flame!

While the steaks were resting, daddy ran off for a quick shower. Then he came down to cook the prawns. 

Prawns on the grill

Finally everyone arrived. And it's time for dinner:

Our dinner spread

Perfectly cooked steaks

We were all very full from dinner. So we sat around a little and then it was time to bring out the cake:

Cake all beautifully boxed and delivered to us

Our little birthday girl posing with her Eevee cake:

Blocking Ko-ko from blowing out the candle

Cousins.. missing Annabelle

Family photo

Then it was time to open presents:

It was a lovely party. We missed having your cousins and uncles and aunties, Tou-tou and also Bo-bo Poh at the house. 

Happy Birthday, Ah Kong

We had an early celebration as Ah Kong's birthday falls on a weekday. He requested to have the celebration at the Wine Shop. So we picked the outlet in Tanjung Bungah, Wine Shop Signature. We were lucky that we managed to get a table with low seating. Better yet, it was on the ground floor. 

We came home to have the cake which Ah Ma had ordered (daddy and I had also bought a cake, as we did not discuss on who was to get the cake so it was to be a long week of cakes!). 

Evelyn lighting the candle

Ah Kong cutting the cake. I hope he made a wish

Happy Birthday!

Hello Ipoh, land of great food!

The rest of our stay in Ipoh was filled with spending time with Chim Poh, Chek Kong and Kor Poh (and later Ashley Kor-kor, Uncle Dennis and Smoky who came over on Friday) and eating all the yummy Ipoh food which we had missed for a long time. Our last trip to Ipoh was during Chinese New Year and many shops had already stopped selling even though we arrived 2 days before CNY. 

Here are the food we enjoyed: 

Kai Si Hor Fun

Curry (pig skin) Chee Cheong Fun

Missing are the pictures of the curry mee we had twice and Yong Tau Fu from K-10.

We had an amazing dinner in Tong Hoi on Saturday:

Mei-mei and you had so much rice to go with the amazing fish and prawn (gravy):

We had curry mee on Sunday (and even packed the soup and extra noodles) to bring back to Penang.

Goodbye, Club Med!

We still had time till lunch (in fact a little pass lunchtime as daddy had his massage session) to hang around the club. So we left you in the morning half at the Kid's Club and told them that we'd pick you before the swimming session. After dropping you off, I went back to finish up packing. Ko-ko had gone for another round of tennis. 

Then I headed back to the main building as you were having a parade. Here you are in your purple costume which they had provided to you:

And here you are with your friends in the parade, and in search for Santa:

Santa running away from you:

And you all finally found Santa:

Even managed to spy on Ko-ko having his tennis lesson:

Daddy and I finished up packing and waited and waited for Ko-ko to come back to the room to shower. Daddy then headed to the car as it was time for his appointment. That was when he spotted Ko-ko still playing tennis with the couple who trained together.

Daddy had managed to get a room extension for our room. So Ko-ko rested in the room while I went to pick up Mei-mei and we had another round of archery. Headed back to the room to shower and then went to get ourselves checked out.

We spotted the Kid's Club having lunch and they allowed Mei-mei to join then. So Ko-ko and I ate at the main restaurant and daddy later joined us too.

Keeping this picture of the rooms with seaview

And this picture of the communication we received from the club

By then, our luggage were already at the main building. Daddy went to pick up the car and once our car was loaded, off we headed back to KL. Would you believe it? The moment we left the club, it was raining cats and dogs! We were so lucky. Before we had arrived, it was forecasted to rain everyday, but we were blessed with perfect weather throughout our stay in Cherating. 

We had to make a quick exit to pump petrol before heading to KL, and another stop in Genting for a wee-wee. In KL, we stopped by Kor Poh's house as she had promised to make yam cake for us (specifically Ko-ko). We got to stretch our leg and do a wee before hopping back into the car and driving to Ipoh. 

We arrived in Ipoh a little later since we left at peak hour. Then we headed to Cowan Street for the famous Ngar Choy Kai.

And now the third leg of our holiday begins: IPOH!

Day 3 in Club Med

We began the day early again. Woke up at 7am. Showered and got ready with Mei-mei earlier so that she can "check-in" at the Kids Club at 8.30am. I didn't eat breakfast as I wanted to join the 30 minute yoga session at 8.30am. We were too early at the Kid's Club as they were still sanitizing the area, so we walked around and took photos:

Here is the view I see while doing my yoga.. not that I could enjoy much f the scenery. I was far too busy trying to balance and not fall flat on my face!

After my yoga, I headed back to the room for a quick shower. Again, my timing was good as it was your turn on the trapeze again:

Ko-ko tried to attend the tennis lessons, but he said that there was no one there. So we met at the main area after I had my late breakfast and we all got to have a try at the archery. 

Nothing much to do, so you went for ping pong next:

After that daddy and I had some drink by the beach while you headed back to shower. We then headed to the beach. Daddy relaxed by the zen pool while we tried our luck again with sailing. And luck was with us. We managed to register. While waiting for our turn, we chatted and enjoyed some drinks, even played racquet ball. 

We also met mei-mei on her way back to the kids club after playing on the beach. She also got to go sailing. Didn't get to go on the kayak as they ran out of time

It was finally our turn. Sailing was so much fun. After sailing, we called daddy and quickly met at the train. As we were still a little early, Ko-ko headed to the tennis court to try his luck again, while daddy and I lazed in the pool while waiting for Mei-mei to finish with the club. 

There was games for kids which you also participated and got a band for it. Daddy then headed back to the room to shower while we played in the pool.

All of a sudden the life guard was talking to the guests and they all left. When he walked over to me, he just said "You know what it is, ma'am?" and looked over to the next pool (the pools are actually interconnected). Yikes! There were two pieces of poo.. which had drowned to the bottom of the pool!

We quickly got out and you were not happy about that. You wanted to go to the next pool, but I had to explain that all the pools were connected. We quickly rinsed ourselves. 

Since we still had time, we headed to the spa to inquire about having a manicure. 

View while having your manicure

Having your manicure done

Purple and pink nails!

We then headed back to shower, while daddy had headed out as he needed to pay for our manicure. Also, he ended up signing himself up for a massage session for the next day! We both had a mad rush to shower and dress up for the garden party. Then the 3 of us (yup, Ko-ko was still in the room) rushed over to the party where daddy had gotten us an amazing table with a view of the beach as well as the performance. 

All White Day

Trapeze performance

As usual there was to be a performance at the auditorium. Daddy didn't want to go and I hadn't finished with dinner. Mei-mei bravely went herself to get seats for the both of us. In the end, Ko-ko joined us and there was one available seat for him too.

Then we all headed back to an already snoring daddy.