CNY 2009 @ Penang

After all these years, I finally managed to persuade papa2jojo to take us to Kek Lok Si temple, he can take us to shopping malls and spend time there for few hours but not crowded places like this. We supposed Thaipusam celebrations @ town area has drawn the crowd away, we drove to the top where the Goddess of Mercy is located in less than 15 min.

Our first attempt was to let the kids take photo with their own zodiac. Later, Jo2 saw the ox and he said he MUST take photo with this animal, next he saw the tiger, next he saw the ... ...yup, we ended up took photos with 12 animals in Chinese Zodiac.

Her wish on the ribbon is "弟子 xxx,愿合家平 安, 万事如意."

We headed home @ around 9pm, I would say that we were lucky to escape the traffic jam. Cars queue all the way on the opp lane of while we were driving down.

CNY 2009 @ Taiping

As usual, my CNY is celebrated @ papa2jojo's hometown - Taiping. We had steamboat reunion dinner on the eve of CNY, all food brought all the way from Penang coz Penang wet market offers more variety.

Praying at the Taiping Buddhist temple is our routine on the first day morning of CNY after the greeting Ah Mah (my MIL) with 恭喜发财,新年快乐,身体 健康.

MIL with 4 grandchildren

Kids having fun at the Taiping Lake Garden

Cruising along Taiping Lake on the a motorboat

notice that there is a plaster on Jo2's thumb?? He actually burn his hand while playing firecrackers on the nite b4. I felt very sorry and bad for what happened.

Playing near waterfall @ Bukit Larut

Happy CNY

Wishing everyone a very HAPPY "MOO MOO" YEAR!!!

Phuket Trip

Another back dated post.

We went to Phuket from 24 - 28 Nov. I decided to take them for holiday since it's school holiday and I need to "babysit" them while my parents was on their annual trip to China. Both of them had a great time at the beach & hotel even though most ppl thought that Phuket is not so "suitable" for kids. We were kind of relax and enjoyed ourselves, no rush, no time limits, no shopping, no sore legs for walking too much with beautiful scenery, white sandy beaches ......Every morning, we slept until "puas puas" then only we woke up, got ourselves cleanup and then go for breakfast

Our first day there was wasted b'coz the flight delayed for 3 hours. It took us another 45min drive from airport to Bangtao beach, I took the kids to the pool right after we checked-in, and the pool is juz a stone throw away from our room.

On the second day, we were on private city tour around Patong Beach. Patong Beach is way more crowded with tourists and the beach is not so clean as compared to Bangtao Beach. We passed by a few elephant trekking place but decided not to go for the ride as the elephant is "not so clean" and looked scary to me.

from left: Viewpoint, Patong Beach & Patong town.

At night, we went to FantaSea for a cultural show, which I gave it 2 thumbs up. According to the driver, FantaSea is a "must go" place if you come to Phuket. We paid about RM550 for 2 adults and 1 child for the show and a buffet dinner (Jo2 is FOC b'coz his height is below 100cm). The driver dropped us there at 6:30pm and picked up at 10:30pm.
Jo2's comments on the show was "Wow, it's AMAZING."

At the entrance of FantaSea, Jo1 with the miniature, Jo2 looked scared to stand near the elephantThe 3rd day will be the highlight of all. We tour to Phi-Phi Island by speedboat, took about an hour to reach our first destination. Visited 3 islands and papa2jojo and I take turns for snorkeling at one of the island (since kids cannot swim well and it's too dangerous for them to go snorkeling in deep sea). This was my first snorkeling experience, coral and fishes in the underwater world are so beautiful.

only my kids weared life jacket in the speedboat
Our snorkeling spot

First touch @ Maya Bay

Monkey Island
stop here for buffet lunch

Jo2:"mommy.....fishy is tickling me, HELP."

Kids collecting shells & corals.

Jo1: "mommy, see what I got!!"
resting at the beach chair

Our final stop was the fun place for kids amongst. There, they enjoyed feeding the fishes with bread at a shallow sea, using the snorkeling mask to see underwater, drinking cold drinks and eating watermelon. Papa2jojo went for another round of snorkeling again when kids were tired playing @ the beach. ME?? I was resting under the shade that we rent for RM12 and enjoyed my sweet & juicy watermelon.

Back to hotel about 6:30pm, and we had our dinner @ Hotel bcoz we were too tired esp papa2jojo, he dozed off right after his bathe and kids watched TV and dozed off to their lala-land at about 9pm.

On the next day, it's another city tour again. We visited cashew nuts factory, a mini elephant park, and headed towards The Phuket Zoo. The entrance ticket included 3 animal shows - they are monkey show, crocodile show and elephant show. Crocodile show ended at 1:30pm. We left the zoo for lunch @ 2pm, it's a seafood restaurant operated by Chinese. The zoo itself has nothing to shout about, in fact I graded it as the the dirtiest zoo that I had ever visited. Luckily, all the shows were great and value for the money we paid.

putting his head inside the crocodile's mouth.

My boy is a Dino's "fancee" now, he wouldn't miss a single spot of Dino.

Our next stop is Phuket largest Buddhist temple. We walked and prayed around for less than an hour there and bought some souvenirs from the shop beside the temple. Finally, we left for Robinson in Patong Town and had our dinner there. We got a good bargain at Warner's Bro, bought lots of Ben10 stuff for the little boy. City tour is supposed from 9 - 6pm, we were so glad that our driver is willing to wait for us until 9pm, that saved us about RM55 for taxi fare from Patong to Bangtao.
Nice weather, but kids has very sour face for no reason.

Our final day in Phuket. We headed to Airport right after we finished our breakfast in hotel. The driver picked us up at 9:30am, reached Airport about 10:30am and had my shopping spree at the duty free shop (additional 20% off for airlines staff).

That's mark an end to my 5Days4Nights stay in Phuket.

School Annual Concert 2008

This year, Jo2's school annual concert fall on the second week of Nov. The concert started at 5pm, and I reached the auditorium at about 4:45pm b'coz Jo2 was very sleepy and he was a bit cranky when I tried to wake him up from his nap.

Finally, I managed to persuade him, and get him changed into his costume and out from the house at about 4:15pm. Found a nice parking space at 4:30pm, reached the hall, hand over Jo2 to the teacher in charge, looked for my seat... ...then only realised that I left my camera's battery in the charger!!!

So, with no choice but to enjoy the whole concert without taking photos.

Mickey dance by N2

Photos were taken by the principal's camera during rehersal.

Same like previous year, my little boy only enjoy himself during the grand finale. He needed time to warm up, I guess.

Excursion to Mc.D & Butterfly farm

WooHoo, we are all ready to go!!!

A visit to Mc.D's kitchen

A Happy face waiting for his Happy Meal to be serve.

Both my kids went for their first excursion with school to Butterfly Farm and Mc.D in Dec 08.

Ballet pre-examination week

I blogged about Jo1's Ballet pre-examination week last year, and this year's falls on 18 Oct. This year more mommies turned up with their camera, so lots of flashes when they started to dance. Her partner for this year is Aerin. Only two of them and the examiner will be in the studio during exam, teachers not allowed.


Video: Twilight Elf. My favorite amongst. Jo1 on the left with her hand holding a wand.

Basically, syllabus included knee bend, rises with arm movements, step to the side and lift, step close step & point, step close step & hop, hands opening and closing, wrists bending up and down, set arm exercises, steps taken around the room, steps and elevation, run point and port de bras, clapping waltz 3/4 & Polka 2/4, walking 4, clapping 4, walking 3, clapping 1, Twilight Elf dance, and lastly courtesy or bow.

Horse ride

This is a back dated post.

My kids had their first horse ride experience at their friends' - WeiYee's b'day party. Jo1 let Jo2 go first, and they enjoyed the ride so much that they went for 3 rounds altogether. Even though they served buffet party, but my kids juz ate very little b'coz they wanted to queue up for the rides again. This horse is 19 yrs old, and he is 350 kg, so me and kids can actually ride it together but I was too shy.

Birthday song (Monkey version)

This is a birthday song that Jo1 composed specially for her didi (born in the year of Monkey)

Happy birthday to you,
You are born in the zoo,
You look like monkey,
and you smell like one too!!!

I supposed Jo2 will get angry, but he didn't. After all it's HIS b'day what.....
Anyway, he is really happy with all the pressies and ang pows he got. (TQ all for remembering even though he don't have a real b'day party)

Happy 4th B'day

My Jo2 has turned 4!!!
Time really flies. This year I let him celebrate his b'day @ school again. Since he prefer to share this happy moment with his teachers and friends.
So, let me start with a week b4 his b'day. First, he requested a Ben10 toy, and he got it (b'coz he is papa's only son what....). Few days later, when we went out to buy present for my nephew... ...again he choose a Ben10 toy for his cousin and exactly a same one for himself. At the toy shop, he promised that this will be his last Ben10 toy. So, I trusted his word.
Now, come to the night b4 his b'day. He was really happy, I guess I told him too soon. First, in school he told all his friends that they must come to school tomorrow, if not they will miss his b'day party. Then, he told his teacher that they must wear nice clothes and also help him to cut the cake. He had sleepless night... ...he kept telling me that he can't wait for too long (he meant he can't wait until tomorrow to come) Then, he asked for another Ben10 toy with the clause that IF MY OLD BEN10 TOY HAS BROKEN!!

He has really grown up!!!

Look at his happy face.

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY...to my one and only one Josh.

Enfa A+ smart camp is in town @ Queensbay Mall

My kids loved the camp organized by Meadjohnson every year. We went there last Sunday, which is the last day of the camp (18-20 July 08). Jo1 has been looking for it since she knew about this camp through the newsletter I received. We arrived there about 3pm (this is the first time they skip their afternoon nap) straight to collect my freebies (being members) and got the play card where they get stamped for playing those games. 1/2 hour later, story session started, which my kids enjoyed very much.
After they got their card all stamped, I decided to shop around Queensbay Mall but I ended up at the camp again not long after b'coz they have no mood to walk around but very eager to go back to the camp to play games again. This round, we met the mascot owl but my kids were afraid to stand near him (no photos of that). And they played all the games, went for another story telling session... ...
We reached home about 9pm after dinner, Jo1 & Jo2 don't looked tired at all even though they were playing around all day long. To bad, I had backache even though juz accompany them around.

Every Sunday is a PLAYDAY

My kids favorite place on every Sunday - playground. See how much fun they have even though they went there quite often. Also, Jo1 wants me to take photos of her in action while she slides down. In fact, it's a win-win situation b'coz both of them are happy and I can actually test out my new camera which papa2jojo bought for me as my mother's day gift.
So, we all looking forward this so called "playday."