Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Cousin Hughie


Little cousin Hughie and his mummy came back from Miri for the weekend. The kids were all super happy and excited to spend time with Hughie and Sei Ku. They were staying at Kung Kung's house, so the kids also went to sleepover for 2 nights.


Hughie is the total opposite of Solomon! Solomon is quiet and passive, whereas Hughie makes a lot of sound effects and is forever in motion! Solomon loves to eat and feed himself, so much so that sometimes we have to control him otherwise he'd be eating non-stop! Hughie however detests solid food and has a talent of gagging and even vomiting at will when he wants to protest!



The two of them are very close in age though (Solomon is 6 months older) and also very similar in size. So they did have fun playing together, despite the usual fighting for toys! :) All the jie jies also enjoyed having Hughie and Sei Ku around.

Everyone was sad to see them go home and Claire kept asking me why Sei Ku had to work in Miri! So, hope they'll be back again soon! *hint hint* :)

Well, here are the photos... It's quite hard to photograph Hughie as he is so hyper and wiggly!! :) Your best bet is when he's engrossed with Barney or The Wiggles!

 Annie with Hughie and Sei Ku


 The whole gang at Big Apple doughnuts...

 Hughie with Kiu Kiu...

Monday, October 18, 2010

Dolphin spotting



As I mentioned in my last post, we went on a dolphin-spotting tour last Sunday. We drove up to Santubong, around 45mins from Kuching, and took a boat out from Permai Resort to the Salak estuary (river mouth)  where the dolphins apparently like to hang out in pods.




The kids were all super excited and looked forward to spotting cute dolphins swimming in the wild. They went equipped with a pair of toy binoculars each, which I went searching for the day before!

Sad to say, we did not spy a single dolphin. According to the tour guide, there is a 70% chance of seeing one, but alas, it was low tide, and they usually go out to sea then. Also it was nearing the monsoon season and it's easier to spot the dolphins during calm waters.

The guide also added that when the water is calmer, there will also be more fishing boats which also mean more dolphins. This is because the dolphins sometimes come to feed on the unwanted fish which the fishermen discard. Amazingly, these intelligent creatures sometimes even help the fishermen for their reward. The local fishermen will bang on the side of their boats with oars and the dolphins will then help them by chasing fish into their nets! Is that simply adorable or what?

These are the species found here:

 Irrawady dolphins are the most common.

Risso's dolphin


Fraser's dolphin


Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (pink dolphin) which the guide saw once in the beginning of the year.


The classic bottle-nosed dolphin which everyone loves...



Anyway, the trip was not a total waste, as we spotted two huge crocodiles, sunbathing on the river bank! The guide estimated one of them to be around 2m long! It was quite hard to see them at first, as the were the exact same colour as the grey mud they were lazing on. When we got closer, they slid into the water and swam for a while before disappearing. It was super creepy scary to imagine falling over into the water just then! (me and my imagination...)



The boatman took us along a river and the kids could see the mangrove swamp and it's fauna up close. They loved the abundant blue fiddler crabs which stood out like brilliant sapphires dotting the grey mud. They also enjoyed spotting mud skippers which skimmed the water surface as soon as we approached. Claire called them 'mud hoppers' and 'mud jumpers'! Whilst Eva just called them 'nailclippers'!!? :)


We also saw a white-collared blue kingfisher.




We were supposed to go further out towards the sea, to a nearby island, Pulau Satang for some snorkelling, but the sea was rather choppy and Hubby had them turn back. The boat was rocking violently when we were out at sea, and I thought the kids might get worried, but instead, it surprisingly rocked them all to sleep!! (except Claire)

There we were, bumping up and down in the boat, while kids nos.1, 3 and 4 slept soundly! It must have reminded them of being in the buaian/ sarong thingy (a cloth cradle suspended by a large spring) which they slept in when they were babies! I think this buaian must be unique to Malaysia... or maybe South Eat Asia? I have no idea. To those of you from other countries, do you use this where you come from?



Some people say it's not good for babies, like maybe all that hard rocking will cause 'shaken baby syndrome brain damage' or something. However, all I know is that it makes babies sleep for hours on end, and if you ask any mother, that in itself is *priceless*!!! (BTW... I bet they sleep so long in this contraption because they are suffering from motion sickness with all that shaking!! hahaha...)

Initially, with kid no.1, I was idealistic and did not want to use this, but in the end, after all the constant crying and sleepless nights, it was; "anything  goes"!! "Throw in the pacifier too while you're at it!" So, all my kids have been "shaken" and not stirred!!?? (hahaha!! get it? did not stir in their sleep?) ...whatever... and they're still smart! :)


Okay, okay, back to the trip...after everything, we went back to the resort to have lunch and played a bit on the beach. By the time we got home, everyone was bushed! Well, the outing was great fun indeed and educational to boot! I think we will try it again next year, maybe in July, when the chances of spotting a dolphin is better. Till then, I'll see if I can get Annie to read up a bit on them first...

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Birthday week

My apologies for not writing for a while, for the past 3-4 weeks, kids nos. 2, 3 and 4 and myself included, have been sick. Can you believe it, we were each sick twice, meaning we got sick, then better, then sick again, all at different times! So it's been fever monitoring and medicines dispensing the past few weeks, without pause... one person would get better, only to pass it on to the next!

Unbelievable... Right now it's Claire's turn to be feverish with a throat infection...

Well, anyway, other than this 'passing-the-virus-relay-marathon-thing', I've had a fabulous birthday week:

It started last Saturday; Hubby brought me for a lovely, romantic steak dinner sans kids (all dumped at Kung Kung's!) :)


Then Sunday we went for a dolphin-spotting cruise which I will write more about in the next post. (just so happened no one was sick that day, I can't recall, either Claire or Eva had just recovered, and Solomon got feverish the next day!)

Then they serenaded me with the birthday song at Kung Kung's house later that night, and I got a yummy chocolate cheesecake.



Monday was my actual birthday and Hubby left for Bintulu early in the morning. Sis no.2 and Jinny and Cynthia brought me and Dad out for lunch at Secret Recipe and I got another cake! A fresh, creamy, mango one...

Did you know you can eat for free at Secret Recipe on your birthday? Any meal and selected drink! So of course I chose the most expensive; the Irish lamb shank!! hehehe...



Then Sis no.3 sent me a lovely bunch of happy, colourful gerberas! So sweet of her, she knows I adore flowers...



On Tuesday, another bouquet of flowers came! Hubby forgot to get them delivered the day before! :) I'm not complaining! They were gorgeous purple roses with a type of two-toned flower which look a little like carnations, except much prettier. Carnations look too fake...


Then yesterday, Friday, was Jinny's birthday, so we had a wonderful lunch at her house to celebrate hers, mine, Sis no 2's and Kelly's birthday! We are all October babies. Many thanks to Cynthia and Ai Lin, the generous organizers!


The food was marvellous! There were Thai and Cambodian dishes bursting with flavour, prepared with love by the very talented Ai Lin.


*Phew*... 

What a jam packed birthday week! I feel truly blessed to be around loving family and friends...

Thank you everyone!!
xoxo

Monday, October 11, 2010

A year older, a year wiser... hopefully...

*tap tap*

*microphone screeeeech...*

testing... one... two... three...

la.. la.. la.. la.. *ack*

*clears throat*


Happy birthday tooooo... meeeeee.....
I am now thirteeee.... threeee.....
Life is great as can beee-eeeeee....
I'm glad that I'm meeeeee-eeeee-eeeeeee!!


*canned applause*

thank you...

thank you...

Aw shucks no... I don't do this for a living... really...

*muah*

*muah*

I love you too...

thank you...

you're too kind...

thank you...

Friday, October 8, 2010

I like it!



A funny thing has been happening on Facebook lately. You can see women posting statuses which say things like:

I like it on the sofa
I like it on the dining table
I like it on the floor

Here are some of my favourite ones from my friends:

I like it here and there and everywhere
I like it first on the stairs, then on the floor next to my bed
I like it in the closet, but most of the time end up in the car
I like it on the couch, but if no choice, then the floor
I like it away from the kids

Here are some good ones I read in an article on the net:

I like it on the kitchen table but Larry likes it on top of the dryer
I like it on the floor in our bedroom right up against the wall
I like it under the table at a restaurant.
I like it on the couch and the sometimes in da closet;)
I like it on the Dinning room table, but if I’m in a hurry on the floor by the front door



What are they going on about?

Well, October is actually breast cancer awareness month. So, to create awareness, someone decided to send this mail to women, and it went viral, like multi-level marketing!

This is how it went:

I like it!


One of my friends has suggested that we women should do something special on facebook in order to increase awareness of October Breast Cancer Awareness month. It's so easy to do, that I'd love you to join in to make this a memorable online event. Last year, the idea was to post the colour of the bra you were wearing on facebook...and it left men wondering for days, why women were posting colours, seemingly at random. This year's game has to do with your handbag/purse, where we put our handbag the moment we get home; for example "I like it on the couch", "I like it on the kitchen counter", "I like it on the dresser". Well u get the idea. Just put your answer as your status (i.e. don't respond to this message, but put it on your status) - and cut n paste this message and forward to all your FB female friends to their inbox. The bra game made it to the news. Let's get the purse in as well and see how powerful we women really are!!! REMEMBER - DO NOT PUT YOUR ANSWER AS A REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE- PUT IT IN YOUR STATUS!!! PASS THIS TO EVERY WOMAN YOU KNOW!! 


So the men were all in the dark, and men being men, you can imagine what they were thinking, not knowing "it" was our handbag!! It was hilarious to see their comments and reactions like:

What type of floor? Wooden floor, might get splinters...
Oooo... ouch...
Erm.. what are you talking about?

Some even tried to be clever and came up with their own statuses:
I like it underwater
??!!

And also from my very own Hubby:
I like it everyday!

... which got all the girls laughing and suggesting I buy him his own handbag!

Well, the male species of this world is slowly finding out what all this "I like it" business is all about. It was fun while it lasted. I think it certainly did generate breast cancer awareness and at the same time created a sense of sisterhood among us women, like a secret club the boys couldn't get into! Felt like primary school all over again! :)

Last year it was bra colour... I wonder what they'll come up with next year?

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Club Family Day 2010

Last week Uncle Polycarp was back for the weekend. We brought the kids to the Club for their annual Family Day and he and Daphne came along to help babysit! (Thank you!)

 Everyone enjoyed the sand art station...

and also trying their luck at spinning the wheel for a can of soft drink or a packet of Milo chocolate nuggets..

Solomon pursued simpler pleasures, like blowing bubbles and playing at the water cooler :)

Claire and Eva patiently waited in line for around half an hour just to get a fancy balloon thingy... (yes, that's Uncle Jerry a.k.a. Uncle Banana, apparently the only clown in town!)

There was a stall by Lea Centre selling shoes at half price, and Hubby bought great pair of Nike jogging shoes with arch supports etc.. (very good sales girl) at RM200+ so he got around 10 lucky draw coupons. I also spent quite a bit on food and the kids' entertainment, so between the two of us we had plenty of lucky draw coupons.

The lucky draw was the last event, and many people had already left by then. So, guess what? We won 4 hampers and a RM100 car wash voucher! We went up to collect the prizes until 'pai say'! :) Even Sis no.3 who only had one lucky draw coupon won a RM100 car wash voucher also!


The kids in the car, happy from a day of fun activities and plenty of loot! We gave one hamper to Sis no.3 and another to Sis no.2, otherwise there wouldn't be enough space at home to store all the junk food!

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