Second Week of Holidays and a Burned Holiday

WARNING: This is one long-winded post - compiling a week's events into one entry.  Bear with me and do enjoy.

Last week was the second and final week of the mid term school holiday for the kids.  I was all excited, from months ago, looking forward to this week as hubby and I had booked a flight to Bangkok, fully paid our hotel room and arranged for both kids to be in good hands of Mama Yeh Yeh.

A week before, hubby received news that his approved leave will have to be cancelled due to an important case he had to attend up north.  It involved many other parties and apparently the dates were predestined sometime back.  Only that the someone who was supposed to transmit these information screwed up in the communication part, and so there we were - the weekend before was supposed to be one of excitement as we packed our luggage but we were both solemn as we laid out our options.  We finally exhausted every possible LEGAL avenue on the day before our flight date, which was by then already too late for an appeal to AirAsia for a refund nor can we get anyone so last minute to take his place.

The feeling was devastation and ultimate sadness.

Problem aside, we brought the kids on Sunday 2nd June to TTDI park for a dinner picnic and stream fishing.  Our previous maids have all been "tested" here on their fishing skills.  The current maid do well in looking after the kids, whilst Daddy did most of the catching of fishes.  I was starved and had my stirfried noodle dinner first while guarding our belongings.  In the midst of enjoying the scenery, a lady cried out, "Curi barang curi barang!!"

When I turned around, I saw a bunch of monkeys standing near me and another lady feeding her baby, and one pretty huge monkey was obviously eyeing the container of noodles in my hands.  Some picnicers came to my rescue by shooing the monkeys away, and the lady who sounded the alarm came with a bucket of water to splash at the monkeys.  She did this a few times till they ran off. 

Kids cycled, played in the shallow river stream, Daddy caught some fishes and a shrimp which he carefully placed in our aquarium.  We fed the tortoises and fishes in the lake on our way back to the car.

Came Tuesday 4th June - the day which we were supposed to fly off.

Instead of sending the kids that morning to their grandparent's house in Seremban, I packed hubby's luggage for himself alone to travel up north.  The kids and I stayed a day longer in PJ so William can complete his Chinese tuition classes for the week without having to skip any lessons.  That night, I had a movie night with the kids just to take my mind off what could have been.

The next day I brought the kids and maid down to Seremban, where cousin Theodore was waiting to spend time with Vic and Will at Mama Yeh Yeh's house.  The kids love watching movies at Mama Yeh Yeh's house, in the chilly cold air-conditioned living hall, the comfort of being wrapped in Yeh Yeh's arms on his gigantic leather armchair and enjoying the surround sound of the home theatre.

The first movie they watched was "The Avengers" followed by "The Sound of Music" the next day, and then "Mary Poppins."  Yes, you heard me right... I couldn't believe my eyes too as both kids took a liking to such classics!  Yeh Yeh even taught them to sing, "Do Re Mi" with full actions!  Guess I can now bring them to a high level - "Phantom of the Opera" or "Miss Saigon"??

6th June

Had a dinner with parents and sister and her kids to celebrate me getting older.  Hah!  Seriously, you know you're getting "there" when you stop keeping track of how old you are and have to do a mental calculation to reconfirm  your age.  OK, alright... I am not "there" yet, I'm still very young, I'm still younger than hubby and always will be, bla bla bla... later the tune will go, "I'm still young at heart."

Me and my three kids.  Kidding.  The little girl on the right is Grace, my sister's eldest. 

Q: How many hands does it take to cut a cake?!  Since William blew off most of my candles which the sister was obviously NOT PLEASED ABOUT, she gets to cut the cake.

7th June -  My birthday

At hubby's suggestion, I took a train up from Seremban to KL Sentral in the morning, then transit to the express train going up north to Ipoh.  Both journeys were very pleasant and the trains were new and comfortable.  The KTM train from Seremban to KL was a far cry from what I was used to taking some 10 years ago, with still the same old rate.  I didn't know I stumbled into the Ladies Coach until nearing KL when some men conveniently followed their girlfriends in, but the driver came on the loud speaker quite immediately, requesting for the men to leave the Ladies Coach.  It was as if they had a CCTV to see us.

Ipoh always has a special place in my heart, though maybe not as special as the UK : )  But this was where I spent the first couple of years of my toddler years with my favourite grandma who's no longer on Earth, and I always remember the happy memories of CNY here.  I even joked with hubby that we can consider retiring in Ipoh next time since the roads are wide, the police enforcement is efficient (try parking your car illegally or forgetting to put a ticket on your dashboard), good food is plentiful and cost of living relatively low.  What more can we ask for?

Anyways, after 4 hours of sitting in the train, I had a good time exercising my legs at the new Aeon Station 18.  Bought some chinese herbs, looked around for a natural ingredient lipstick which I couldn't find and then bought a kitchen knife for myself and some origami papers for the kids.  Quite odd, my cousin who was with us noted - for someone to buy a knife and chinese herbs on her birthday.  Ahh, but what the heck... I ain't that SYT anymore so it's all about convenience now.

That evening we had an American-Mexican dinner at David's Diner which hubby already pre-booked.  He chose a quiet little corner for us, with lights that could be dimmed because there wasn't candlelight - ahhh, the little details that he goes through.

The waitress-cum-daughter-of-the-boss recommended our main course.  We shared the deliciously baked chimichanga (seafood wrapped, with generous toppings of melted cheese) and the humble something-something-burger.  Both were the house specialties.  The starter which hubby ordered, was a perfect 10!  The Italian roasted potatoes came in a small rice bowl, looks inconspicuous but tastes heavenly.  Only RM6.90 but I wouldn't mind paying triple for that!

Their signature burger.  Coleslaw is very fresh.  The patti could be juicier

Chimichanga

Word of advice - when you order this, don't share... hehe

We watched Fast & Furious 6 at night - to put on record, this is MY CHOICE eventhough this is not really my type of show, but we had fun.  I think my heart pumped too fast throughout the whole show, and some parts I possibly may have stopped forgot to breathe. 

Next day we had dim sum with some friends at Ming Court opposite Foh Sun.  Picked up some foods to bring back (how can one leave Ipoh without any local delicacies right?).  We were stuck in a 30km traffic jam along the highway all the way just before the Nilai turnoff.  Arrived Seremban evening and had dinner at this new place called Uncle Wong (you won't miss it with the huge James Bond signboard).  Look for Summer for food recommendations.  She's the boss' daughter, and does Interior too. 

Sunday 9th June 

After church (FIL gave a talk) and lunch at Regent Restaurant, we left Seremban for home via LEKAS highway.  A little bit of detour, but guarantee no traffic jam.  We arrived home in good time... clean up and unpack. 

End of holiday.

~~~~~

I'd like to add, that although things did not happen the way we had planned, I think God has bigger plans and better plans.  So Bangkok did not materialized but what was more important was that we still had each other and family and friends.  I have great parents, wonderful kids and a husband who loves me more than he loves himself.  Yes, that's what he always tell me.  On my birthday, whilst I was away, my father-in-law spent hours washing my car and I am so touched.  Though my friends are just a handful these days (giving up a career also means small social circle) but they are good, loyal friends.  

My son said this to me, "I wish you will be forever young and beautiful, Mummy" and I SO. DID. NOT. TEACH. HIM. THAT. 

I cannot ask for more.

Mid Term School Holidays

We are now half way through the mid term holidays.  Two weeks doesn't seem like a long time but it's a good break from the usual busy routine of busy running around, preparing meals and chauffeuring kids. 

To welcome the holidays, Daddy brought us for an evening drive up to Genting Highlands on Sunday 26th May leaving our house at 530pm.  The journey up was uneventful and thank God we had good traffic however those in the opposite direction coming back into KL wasn't so fortunate.  They were literally crawling their way back. 

Once in GH, we got the kids unlimited access into the Indoor Theme Park.  They went straight for the nearest ride which was the horse carousel.  Daddy joined them for free whilst I happily snapped pictures.  After this, the kids rushed over to the Eiffel Tower car rides and just as their line was moving, the lady-in-charge gestured Vic that she was too tall so Vic had to back out.  With that, the brother started crying as he was looking forward to the ride with Jie Jie.  They even chosed which car they wanted.  So we left.

Dinner was nothing to shout about as you know, we are in Gentings, so prices are higher for a normal meal with no correlative better quality.  One thing I feel the management can do to greatly improve the park is making signs and directions clear on where to locate the rides.  The information counter ran out of English pamphlets and we were given a Chinese pamphlet which was of no use to us.  We bumped around by using our "super bionic" eyes to locate the ride stations. 

For the Deer Ride, the kids went by their own, sitting together with a Chinese family who offered to look after them.  Vic went for the Car Bumper ride herself after half an hour wait, whilst Daddy brought William for his mini car bumper rides downstairs.  He went 3 rounds!!! 

She kept turning round and round and got bumped!  Next time must definitely take driving lessons from Daddy

Then Vic went for this Spaceship looking ride on her own.  I couldn't get in as I didn't buy a pass for myself but I got a couple with a baby to sit in the same spaceship as Vic.  She was fine and enjoyed her independence of which, we are all so proud of her. 

Her final independent ride was on the roller coaster!  And she was in the last row too!  The maid was so impressed with Vic, as she and I are really "scaredy cats" in this area. 

Nearing the end, I brought William for the Eiffel Tower car ride.  After 20 minutes or so of queueing, he got on a mini ambulance but the first seat belt was not working, so he moved to the next driver seat.  Then just as the ride was about to start, he realized his steering wheel could not turn and began crying and rejected the ambulance altogether.  By this time, obviously there were no other vehicles for him to choose and he didn't want the ride anymore.  I got so mad, I gave him a piece of my mind for having queued up so long and being picky about his car. 

This was before he cried and rejected this malfunction ambulance

We left shortly after that at 11pm and arrived home midnight. 

During the past week too, Vic had one party and a playdate - the party on Saturday, 25th May at Jungle Gym Bangsar Shopping Centre, and the playdate on Monday, 27th May at a friend's house with a private pool.  The kids swam and had lunch prepared by one of the three Kakaks there, then did some window art and hide n seek in that 3 storey house.  When I arrived to pick Vic and her friend, they haven't done any baking yet which was part of "the plan" so they hurriedly do one with the maid, and then put on some fake tattoos before leaving.

Vic with the birthday girl Siao Yun

Fun at the pool at Zachary's house

And guess what... the next day on Tuesday, 28th May - Vic had her ears pierced for the first time with her BFF Kristen.  The mommies made a prior arrangement to meet at a goldsmith in Paradigm Mall at night, witnessed by Daddy and William, and her friend's grandparents.  We had a video taken of Vic and I applaud her for being so brave again, despite being fearful at home.  Later I asked her if she was about to cry, and she replied me, "Mummy, I don't even cry much at home, of course I won't cry in front of my friend!" 

So here's my new darling... pretty as she always is.  Can you notice the ear rings?

Besides that, the kids did some workbooks at home and I allowed Vic to help in the kitchen.  She enjoyed preparing our lunch of stirfry oriental spaghetti.  Here are some instagram photos taken earlier.

The little domestic goddess

After a Sunday morning Indian breakfast, we did a little simple gardening.  William likes to plant flowers because mummy likes flowers. 

The kids did some drawing and painting too.

Well, that's Week 1 for now. 


 

It's not easy, even now

My Victoria finished her first term examinations in a Chinese school a couple of weeks back.  Easily a month before her exams or more than that, she started her revision at home, with practices in workbooks coupled with Popo's dedicated visits (mostly by taking the train up to PJ) to revise with her. 

She sat for two Chinese papers, two Malay papers, one English paper, one Science paper, one Mathematics paper and one Moral paper making a total of 8 papers spread out over 2 weeks. 

When she got her marks back, we got a big shock for most of the papers.  Chinese marks were really low, and she could have done way better for English and Science if not for the numerous careless mistake.  She did well for her Malay papers (not surprising as this is one of her strong subject) and Mathematics was alright.  I know I should not be Tiger Mom nor should I emphasize only on marks which are at the end of the day, only marks.  It has no indication of a child's future success but I'd like to note how shocked we were that after all her revision, the results were unexpected, similar to the recent GE13 result. 

Just as we were deciphering why and even before we recovered from our shock, she gets an invite to Kidzania for a birthday party the day before her last paper.  We let her go, after a lot of talk, but only allowed her half the time stated in the invitation card. 

The following week, she gets another invite to another birthday party at Jungle Gym.  In between all these, there was an incident where she forgot to copy something from the blackboard because she forgot to bring her book.  Eventhough the "something" she forgot to copy down was irrelevant to her studies, we felt she could have the common sense to copy into another book, or use her Message book, or get a piece of paper from a friend.  After sounding her, the next day she came back without the "thing" she was supposed to copy... aiyooo!! So heart sick not because she did not copy or find out, more of why doesn't she have the street-smartness or the common sense to act without being told to?

After two weeks of stress, I had a talk with hubby and we decided to realigned ourselves.  A big PHEW for Vic, I guess. 

I find that she's also rebellious in her little ways.  So fast?  She's only 8.  From years back, she'd go into stone mode whenever she gets scolded, and then she'd do what you tell her to do... in the slooowwwwesstt possible way, or in the wrong way, or just anyway except your way, simply to irk you I guess.  But I can't be sure if she's aware of this, doing it consciously, mindfully, and intentionally or just blur. 

Now she does this...  She gets me all upset when she'd deliberately erase off a whole question (with many parts) only because I asked her to check her answer for the mistake which I refuse to tell her where.  My point is, have the habit of checking your answers and don't rely on other people to point it out for you. 

But I applaud Vic for her forgiving or maybe "tidak-apa" attitude.  Because no matter what happens, she still gets over it, and will not drown herself in her tears or mop around the house.  I only wish she can build up her confidence ten notches higher, because I did a mommy-daughter time with her yesterday with some drawing, and before finishing her piece, she already exclaimed how ugly her work is. 

I mean, it's not the best art piece around, but neither is it the worse.  It's art, come on... so who can judge the beauty of an art piece?  Isn't this the reason why Designers and Art Directors earn obscene salaries? 

Back to Vic.  I love her to bits.  The only problem is she's not expressive like her brother.  We don't hug or kiss as much as I wish we could.  We don't share our feelings like BFFs would just by picking up the phone, and a normal question like "How's your day?" won't crack her up.  She will give you monosyllabic answers, and I'm still hoping one day we can talk about anything, anyone, anywhere, anytime. 

Another invite to a friend's house with private pool next week.  And a date with a girlfriend to pierce their ears (let's see first...) and have I mentioned the birthday party at Jungle Gym?  Oh wait, there's suppose to be a play date with a former class friend but nothing concrete... mummy can't handle... too many!  Thank God William's social calender is zilch at this moment, lol! 

Happy holidays to all... I'm so looking forward to my little escape with hubby to another country.  Just the two of us... la la la... with bargain shopping and cheap food! 

Another round of vet visits

Our pet tortoise Tom has fallen sick again slightly more than a month back.  We noticed this by her drastically reduced appetite and lack of activity.  Tom is by nature an "extrovert" judging by her frequent waddling in her container whenever she sees us, like an excited puppy coming to greet her owners.

After a few weeks of Tom going on hunger strike, we brought Tom to the vet again.  This is her second visit after her first bout of illness.  The vet, the same nice, friendly and ever-smiley lady who treated Tom previously, suggested bi-daily sunbath, prescribed oral antibiotics (this is what I hate most, as it's tedious and almost impossible to get her to eat it) and soaking in vitamin water.

After one week of zero success in feeding Tom the antibiotics or even getting Tom to eat anything at all, we brought her back to the vet.  The shrimps which previously worked did not work now, nor did any kind of vegetation (she doesn't like vegetables anyway).  So I told the vet that and also my observation that there were little bubbles out of Tom's nostrils.

I guess that was the clue to the vet's diagnosis.  She explained that Tom could be suffering from some kind of respiratory infection (my understanding ok) like a flu and this can happen to anyone or any tortoise.  So the good and bad news was it's nothing we did wrong that could have been avoided.

Since it was impossible to feed Tom the antibiotics orally, he had to go for the injection dose plus two rounds of drips also through injection to give him a boost in recovery.  After that, we brought him home, followed by a dose of antibiotic injection every 3 days.

By the 2nd dose, she regained her appetite and by the 4th dose (the final dose), Tom was discharged. 

Total bill:  RM40 + RM40 + RM20 + RM15 = RM115

The nightmare I had

Thank God it's not very often that we have nightmares.  In fact, I don't have a habit of dreaming bad dreams, but the other night, this dream came to me so real...

People say that if you have a nightmare, you need to share it with someone so "ward" it off, so here I am, sharing it with the whole world so that it will never, ever come true. 

I dreamt of William a few years older than he is now, maybe around 10-12 years old, and he stopped talking and sharing things with me.  He even refused to walk together with me.  He was like a pre-puberty boy wanting to be in his own world and with his own friends.  I think there were more details but I can't recall everything now. 

The crux of it came with the tears falling from my eyes in my dream and then I woke up and felt real tears on my cheeks.  That was probably nearing 6am or 6am-ish and the feeling miserable.  I went to my sleeping boy and stroke his hair, then looked at him a little longer before daring myself to lie down again. 

So there!  That's off my chest and hopefully never, ever to come true. 

On another note, today I walked my boy into class based on his request.  As he was settling down, I spoke to his class teacher.  The other kids were lining up in single file.  Then William squeezed in between his friends to reach me and said, "Mummy I want to hug and kiss you first.  I love you Mummy."  Just like that, without any prompting.  : )

Two pecks on my cheeks later, I was floating on my way back to my car...


XOXO

William's Birthday Parties

We had two celebration for William's birthday this year.  This boy is quite decisive over what he wants.  He requested for a celebration with his friends at kindy, even months before his birthday, and as for the family celebration, he said it should be at the same place as the previous years.

His actual birthday fell a Monday, which was coincidently a school outing day.  So we had to choose the Thursday before.  I bought a simple cheese cake, ordered some pizzas and spent most of the remaining budget on the party packs!  Each child received a page of stickers, UHT milk, junk food, a healthy biscuit and depending on the gender, Transformer mini toys or a 7 piece stationery Princess set, together with a color printed slip saying, "Thank you for making my day special."

The delivery boy couldn't find his school and Daddy had to wait at the guardhouse to wave him down if the boy happen to drive past!  The pizza arrived just in time, as the kids settled down after their PE lesson.  The pizza however, was not piping hot as it should be.  But kids are thankfully not choosy at this age, as they gobbled down the pizza excitedly after the song singing and cake cutting ritual.

William got to say "grace" before the food was served, and he was so happily proud when he said it.

Cutting his cake.  Looking on is Chrissy and Eviana

The "King" and I

Family Celebration

We have pictures taken every year at Souled Out on his 2nd, 3rd and 4th birthday and nicely framed up in the complimentary paper frames from the outlet.  I noticed that in the last two years birthdays, William wore the same viking hat so for this year, it would be nice if the restaurant could provide a different hat.

Failing to obtain the lady boss' contact, I told hubby I'm leaving it to him if he can source it from his "cables".  Hubby did the easiest - to drop a note in their Facebook page, and voila... the rest they say is history!  The manager liaised with us, and asked William to choose his favourite hat or costume for his birthday.  William chose the Pirate hat and the management generously obliged us.

The kids enjoyed the complimentary helium balloon decorations, and William had pizza for his meal, complimentary from the management.

The rest of us had the following...

Crunchy kurma chicken

Braised lamb shank

Sirloin steak

Prawn tauhu balls

Something pasta

Tenderloin steak

Salad

Salmon in creamy sauce fettucine

Nachos with mozzarella and salsa dip

Carbonara with bacon strips

Pan seared garoupa with rice

Spicy hot dog

Pepperoni and pineapple pizza

 

Pirate William's brand new hat, courtesy of Souled Out.  Thank you Mr Ali for the special arrangement!

Picture taken a few hours before officially turning 5

Dear William,

I love you more each day.  Truly you multiply the joy in our family with your ever generous laughter, and ever ready smile.  I pray for God's protection, blessing of health and good friends, to surround you every day of your life.  May you seek and receive wisdom and realize your dream that builds on your creativeness.  Mummy will continue to cuddle, hug and kiss you as you will forever be my little boy, my boy boy.

Things the kids did during the 1 week March holiday

This is an outdated post, but since I took some nice photos, might as well put them up...

Over the one week school holiday in March, we spent 4 days in Penang, a swimming play date with Vic's BFF and a pizza outing.

Here are the pictures:

Feeding fishes at the condo grounds before the girls went for a swim.  Girl in the middle is Vic's BFF with the same chinese name as her

Learning how to make cheese sticks?  Or just waiting to eat?

Two hands in!  William over enthusiastic to sprinkle ingredients on the dough

Vic with some big jie jies also joined in the fun