My Thots and Ramblings

Day 5 Disneyland part 1

2011-02-22T15:23:00.004+08:00

Yah...today at last it is to Disneyland. ...journey by taxi to Disneyland...you can see Ben's face...it is getting a bit red...due to the dry weather there...

...the tall, tall buildings on the way to Disneyland.....

...at the Hollywood Hotel, we left our suitcases at the Conceirge to go to Disneyland. Hotels here are pretty expansive...so we try to save on one day of hotel. There are 2 hotels here - Hollywood hotel is the cheaper one.

...after catching bus...so excited yah!

..even the floor has Mickey Mouse markings...

...at the entrance...why do we seemed to be looking up? Because we were looking at an airplane going by! Haha..!

...luckily it was a clear day...with a bit of sun....

...with Daddy at the entrance...

...the water feature outside....Mickey surfing of top of the whale...

...while Donald is on top of a sunken boat...

Day 4 Citigate

2011-02-22T15:13:00.003+08:00

Cousin recommended this big shopping mall which had all the outlets....that morning was pretty cold...as you can see Ben, all wrapped up...plus hat, etc...

..Got Disneyland ticket outlet here...bought tickets here....

....what is this..? Got Thomas speciality shop!

...wah! What a big poster!

...the shop here...husband and I took turns to take care of Ben and go shopping. He was so fascinated with the train going all the way up and up and up...and then down and down and down...

..wah..Thomas heaven!

...Daddy bought him a Thomas train...I refuse to buy anything...you can see how excited he is over here...

...train ride home....

...Ben still clutching to his new Thomas train. :)

Day 3

2011-02-22T15:05:00.006+08:00

On 3rd day, we thought that we will bring Ben to some outdoor places which we visited 8 years ago - Bird Park and Flower market. Caught the MTR there...then read the map to walk....

...we walked and walked....but unfortunately I read the map wrongly...we went the wrong direction...so here we are in the taxi....

..at the old Bird Garden...actually this was a place where the old folks bring their birds in cages to socialise with each other. We were a bit sad to see that there were less people and less birds...and nearby there was an on-going construction project...sigh...things never stay the same...

..the 2 boys....

...see, the whole lane is empty. Used to be packed with old men carrying their bird cages and chatting with each other...

...and the Fish Market as well...things also changed here...used to be many many pails outside on the pavement with loads of gold fishes swimming around. Maybe due to the hygience issue, everything has been moved into the shops ....

...see, the pavement are all empty now....a bit sad...

...then we were off walking...

...nice market with a lot of things to see and buy...bought a Thomas pajamas, socks and tidbits...cannot buy other things because not suitable for our weather.

...lunch came about and we had porridge....it was nice hot porridge for a cold weather. But unfortunately, it did not last me very long...after that had to look for buns as because of the cold weather, the metabolisme higher?

...after that, it was more shopping.....

Day 2 Night

2011-02-22T14:52:00.003+08:00

During that night, we just had a walk around town....

...as usual...Ben was just fascinated with the nearby construction....we stood there for 15 minutes to observe...

....a lot of lanterns...

...at Temple Street market...

...at Giordano shop....at home, he does not play Lego...but over here...he is like building and stacking away! The negative part of going during winter is that we cannot do much shopping as everything is thicker, long sleeves, wool material which are not suitable at all for our weather. And it does not matter all the clothes I brought along to look nice...because we will be all wrapped up in our sweaters! Haha....you would noticed that Ben is always in this bright yellow sweater!

Day 2 Dinner

2011-02-22T14:42:00.005+08:00

Have been reading so much bloggers' recommendatins. One was Mak's Noodle. It was wantan mee...but it was a non-event...that we only took a photo of the shop and not the food. I think the wan tan mee is much better and cheaper nearby the escalators on the Island. Next is something which needs no introductin according to most bloggers....Australian Dairy Farm...! Since nothing was in English, I read up most of the bloggers recommendations and they just say take the set! Take the set! Ok...that would be easy.

3 sets...I think one is only valid in the morning or something like that...

...oh yes, the place was packed...and there was a queue but it was fast...! They pushed us to this very small place...on our back, was the wall and we were facing a...wall!!! yah!

Menu in Chinese...

...part of the set is this macroni with char siew...em....ok lar....

...husband set came with spaghetti....looks the same except in different form!

........here we are eating away...Ben quite like the spaghetti...

..on top of the spaghetti, there is the toasted white bread, scrambled eggs and 2 slices of ham.....hmm...a lot of people's opinion was that the scrambled eggs was special and that at home, they just could not cook the same way.....but to me...emmm...it was ok lar.....

....too much food...and what is that??! For HKD30 we only got Chinese tea...not even the milk tea! This place is making big bucks!

day 2 Lunch - Yung Kee

2011-02-22T14:39:00.003+08:00

Since come until here, must try Yung kee right??! Guess what? It is very very expansive to eat INSIDE the restaurant...but tah pau is CHEAPER!!

Took the MTR home...Ben again had a wonderful day....ferry, tram and MTR...look at him clutching onto his card so hard...

...and the Yung Kee char siew and roast goose rice...my opinion...way too salty!

Day 2 Continuation - part 2

2011-02-22T14:26:00.004+08:00

Too many photos to put into one entry. On the way on the double decker tram, guess what we saw? Public Bank...going strong .... in HK!!
Here we are at the escalator...on the island, there is an escalotor which goes all the way up and there is timing when the escalator is going up or down...

...here we are....

Halfway, I saw a bookstore and went in. I was a bit surprised at the pricing of the books...way, way more expansive than Malaysia!

...and Ben is playing around with the fire hydrant..... of all the things!

Day 2 Continuation

2011-02-22T14:14:00.002+08:00

Next we sat the Ferry to cross to Hong Kong Island. Ben just love sitting the ferry. We were pretty excited too since on top of the ferry, we were going to sit the double decker tram as well on the Island. ...Look at him...so intense on looking outside. Hey...there is a Star Cruise nearby.

...leaving the harbour...noticed he hardly move....ke ke ke...

...here he is looking a bit afraid once the ferry started moving... ..after that, had to do a bit of walking. Good thing about HK is that everything is connected by pedestrian bridges even in between buildings and the weather was cool enough...

...a picture of the pedesterian bridge....at the bottom of the bridge were on-going construction. We did stop to watch for a while and surprise, surprise, one of the Chinese construction worker actually looked up and waved at us!

...Now I had to look at the map....trying to go and buy the dry sea food like scallops and "how see"...heard that it is pretty cheap in HK...and further the HKD is depreciating against our RM since HKD is pegged to USD.

...We got up the double decker tram....

...inside view of the tram...

...and hey, what is that? Double decker bus...Unfortunately we did not know how to catch the bus when Ben was going double decker bus, double decker bus...one day, we will go down to Singapore to try it out...

...more photos of the scenary outside.....

Day 2 - Avenue of Stars

2011-01-27T15:30:00.005+08:00

On our first day, we went to visit Arena of Star...took a walk there.... Brr....it was cold but Ben refuse to put on his jacket...he kept taking it out...

...you can see the weather here also at the ports...very cloudy and misty as well...

..trying my best to wrap him up...

...nice statue here...

..this is how it looks like from far... .....no need to explain...the floor here supposed to have the hand prints of famous actors and actresses...but it looks pretty run down....we can hardly see the hand prints already...since it was quite cold, we did not walk very far away...

Ben with Daddy ...instead we turn around to walk to the other side to catch the ferry....

...see, my boy refuse to wear sweater...

...like very strong hoh!

...some nice stationary parade for Chinese New year ....

....Ben climbing up to have a closer look

Ben and Mummy

..at last, he wore his sweater...this was after a nice old lady came by and started advising Ben...then he wrapped up!

First Dinner in HK

2011-01-27T15:23:00.002+08:00

After taking a short break at the hotel, we were off to eat our dinner. Have to admit, it was darn cold in HK....you can see ben wrapped up in the sweater which luckily include the pants. No point to dress up either because we will all be wrapped up in our dreary sweaters.....

Ate at the Cafe de Corral which is next to the Chunking Mansion...quite nice. One is claypot paikut with rice. The other is minced beef with rice which reminds us a lot of spaghetti sauce put on top of rice instead of mee..! Nice part of the meal is that it comes along with the soup. Yahh...nice hot soup in cold weather. Reasonable too as it came out to about $40 each meal.

Charlie Brown Cafe

2011-01-27T15:11:00.002+08:00

Opposite our hotel, there is a cute cafe which serves everything Charlie Brown....

Cakes in the shape of Charlie Brown and his friends.

Nearby Park Hotel

2011-01-27T14:59:00.004+08:00

Love Park Hotel Hong Kong very much. Location is very strategic...nearby is all the major shopping malls and outlets....you name it, they have it. Sasa, Bonjour, Mannings, Bossini, Giordano, etc...and it is near 2 MRT stops as well...one is East Tsim Tsai Tsui (East "TST") and the other is TST..Ahhh...in the midst of the action...going to eat at nearby restaurant..very hungry...it was already 3pm... ..Ben playing drums with his chopsticks

..Alamak....it is all in Chinese...

hmmm...how like that...?
...look at my face of frustration.....never mind, got nice waitress to help out...

...Ahhh...food at last....I read in Tripadvisor that this place is popular for the fried lobak...ordered the chee cheong fun also...

...emm...not too bad lar...

...Ben had a wonderful time playing chopsticks the whole time. The restaurant is Tao Heung and is on the 3rd Floor, Camervon Building. The tim sum is quite nice and even at 3pm, there were a lot of filled up tables. Quite reasonable as well but the only negative part was the long waiting time for food to come. :( Maybe people in HK treat tim sum like how we treat kopi time...slow and leisurely...the only difference is the noise! Aiyoh! Overall, we were quite happy with out meal.

Park Hotel Hong Kong

2011-01-27T14:50:00.005+08:00

Wth the recommendation from my cousin who stayed for 2 years in HK, I managed to get this hotel after much research. Yeah, you got that right...this is because I must find a hotel room which is not too small. Have been reading of some rooms which are so small, there is not enough space to even open up the luggage. I was almost giving up when I tried Airasia holidays....and found Park Hotel going for RM400+ and also plus free breakfast! Yahoo.

Yes, I had to find :-
(i) cheap hotel - around Rm400-500...
(ii) big enough room
(iii) good location...

phew...and I love this hotel...look at the photos...
...nice rooms, eh!

......looks pretty new....I think it was just refurbished...and people at the conceirge were very nice but not the reception...aiyoh! the reception was a bit snappy....

...see, it even has enough room for a side lamp...

...but dont mind the outside scenary lar....it is all the same in HK...

...ok, time to go out....

checking out the places to go....

...opps...wanted to show you the shower ...

..and the toilet...look there is even an ermergency button which we had to keep telling Ben...dont press, dont press.....

Hong Kong

2011-01-27T14:39:00.005+08:00

Yahoo.....managed to get cheap tickets to Hong Kong...RM2k for tickets through MAS........so here we go.....Ben's first trip overseas in 2 years...last time we travel to Sydney, it was when he just turned 1. Since he is now much bigger and much more active, we thought that we will try out somewhere nearby first...HK...and further we can visit Disneyland since he now knows who Mickey and Donald is.

At KLIA....hey, Ben...can you please slow down???!!!

He loves those airport trolleys... Hmmm...taking a cup of orange cordial...

.....love his new book....recently he had a liking for mouse books by this author name Leo Lionni...and thanks to this lady which I know at Scholastic...I got his books pretty cheap.

...checking out his safety belt...

...yum yum...food...what else...nasi lemak with the sambal separated....Ben loves his rice! Another good reason why we go to HK...no problem about food.

...and another sip from the cup....

..about to reach HK...better put on the sweater...

...whew...tired after the aeroplane ride...

...hey, what is that I see???? Look out for the new post!

Singapore Trip

2011-01-27T14:29:00.001+08:00

Wow, I am pretty late in updating my blog...still got loads more to go...Just some photos of my Singapore trip with my parents... Marina Bay casino....

.........my uncle and his squirmy son.....

....with my parents....

..and with my Mum, the baby whisperer......unfortunately the baby took no liking to me. :(

Food at Yong Peng

2011-01-03T15:22:00.003+08:00

After cousin sister's wedding and since my in-laws came to visit, I took my parents down to Singapore for a visit. On the way, we stopped by Yong Peng since it is pretty near the exit of North South Highway. After searching through the internet, found that Yong Peng is pretty popular with Fuchow food. There were two restaurants mentioned quite often by bloggers and we dropped by this one.

Soursop drink.

The fry Fuchow or Hock Chiew noddles...quite nice BUT very oily...I guess without oil, food will not taste so nice, right?

..then the usual red ginger wine chicken...alot of people love this but for me, since I dont really like the taste of alcohol, it was just so-so for me. And I like red on my clothes...not on my chicken..hehe....

...Fu Chow meat balls...

..very unique..inside got meat....very yummy...

..The restaurant....on the main road. Very easy to find since Yong Peng is just one main road...but a very long and busy main road though! ...The shop is nearby the balai polis though. One thing about the bill is that the drink is pretty expensive...ok! Dont order that. Cost us Rm8 per cup. It seemed that the tree used to grow wild and widely available during the childhood time of my parents...but NOW...it is rare and expensive!

...Nearby there is this shop which sell the Hock Chew mee...not too bad....

Cousin sister wedding - Puchong

2011-01-03T14:50:00.006+08:00

This is quite a lengthy post...since it is cousin sister wedding. Unfortunately...I did not take any of the wedding which was held in Le Meridian hotel. Why is this significant to me? Because it is the first wedding that I brought Ben to attend. As you know he has some "patience" issue...:).... Sitting in the car in the morning...all ready to go!

....cousin wedding was help in Puchong and Lakeside, the YTL Project. This view is from Lakeside Club...quite nice...

...took opportunity to ask Ben to take photo of us...as you can see, the houses are pretty unique...all glass windows...from bottom to the top....dont ask me about privacy though..as you can see, one of the unit is all covered up in curtains...while the other two are unoccupied.

...another photo taken by Ben of me and my Mum...

Mum and Jack...

...the bride all ready.....

..and Ben all ready to eat...

his blue colour kuih...

..phew...Ben went up and down these stairs 4-5 times....I think I must have lost one kg that day....

...still running away...

...then eating....have to replenish energy...

...then taking out his Thomas trains to play with...

...at last...the groom is here...Ben was in charge of opening the doors...we made him practice a few times before with Daddy's car....of course, Daddy's car was not the same as the groom's car....

...woo-hoo! the Angpow...

...ok, might as well help to CLOSE the door as well! Argh..said the groom...

......close by with Mummy...

...the groom...

...and the car...

..best friends with Jack...my tummy so big...just glup down Tiger beer...

...posing for Mummy...

...the cousins made a barricade before the groom comes in...

..phew....I am so tired...

..me too, said Jack!

Bao-Bei Hotel

2011-01-03T14:31:00.004+08:00

Ben had a sleep over at the Bao Bei school one day....it was Rm90 and we quickly paid to book a place...2 days without Ben...hehe...terrible parents hoh! But husband said it was also good exposure for Ben. We were nearby and we trust the teachers to take good care of Ben for us.

The "invitation" letter...

...all ready to go......VIP Bag! Thank you Aunty Shell Hua for the tag!

...sleeping bag from Tesco...

...His "pi" (short-form for pillow) or "squeeze-squeeze"....toothbrush and toothpaste....diapers...yes, when he does his big motion, he still needs to use diapers as he has this fear of dropping into the toilet bowl...

..close-up the bag...all ready to GO!

..taking the bag for a spin...

..and rolling it away down the corridor...goodbye Mummy and Daddy...without even looking back!!

...showing his favourite teacher his bag....this teacher very good...even though she is no longer working with the school...she purposely came back to help out as she misses the children a lot........Hope she comes back permanently one day...

Did Ben stay the whole 2 days...Actually he did not give any problems at all...but he was having a stomach virus made him have watery stools...and sometimes he could not make it to the toilet. This came about only at night...and then the teachers (pity them! have to clean up....Ben told me that they had 2 vacuum cleaner..one blue and one red) call me up to bring Ben back at 11:30pm. Teachers only had praises for him as he was relatively un-demanding and was quite easy to pleased. :)....We also had a good break as we went to watch a show at the MPO......we really should visit the MPO more often!

...So Monday it is off to the paedetrician for a round of medicine....here he is playing in the clinic...

I am happy to report after another day of cleansing (which meant a lot of work for me! Phew).....he is fine already. Actually during this time, Ben did now show any sign of weakness at all...he was still playing actively.......though he could not make it to the toilet in time.

ToysRUs...Dec 2010

2011-01-03T14:24:00.003+08:00

After all those Christmas decorations...it is sliding time...at ToyrUs.... ...ohhh...my butt hurts.....

...play-house...

..yoo hoo...anyone want to visit...

...then it is off to see Thomas toys...but Mummy said that it is NOT-BUYing Day....

...hmm...does not hurt to try out...

Christmas decorations at Midvalley

2011-01-03T14:12:00.005+08:00

Christmas just pass...wow! The shopping complexes really out-done each other in terms of the decorations. We only had time to go to Midvalley as Ben is not that patient type to go shopping with me. So early one morning, after he had been fed and had enough of sleep, we went wondering in MidValley while I snap away his photos. I did hear that One Utama's decorations were quite nice. I tell you, these decorations even beat those in Singapore! Sigh...that shows how commercialised we have become... ...hmmm..the blue lollipop....maybe I can grab it and eat....

....in front of Christmas tree....

...Ok, mum said cannot eat....so never mind, I hold it and take picture with it......

...I love everything blue because Thomas is blue...even the blue steps on the floor....

...closer photo of me.....

...hmm...love this streetlight....I shall hug it for a while....

...of course, must take photo with the train....

....oh, so nice and comfy on my huge teddy bear....

...more photos with the train. Dont dare to climb in as there was a guard nearby....

..on front of a blue top...did I tell you that I like everything BLUE??!

..I really do love hugging streetlamps...

..and of course, traffic lights as well....

.....and a toy soldier...

Red Car

2011-01-03T14:08:00.001+08:00

Like all boys....Ben love his car - red and sporty....unfortunately no speed allowed. :)..The thing about Ben is that I dont need to insert any coins in it...Haha...! He does has this fear of anything moving, rocking up and down....

Ah Pek Restaurant, Setiawan

2010-12-15T20:24:00.007+08:00

This would be my final post on Setiawan since after that, my battery camera ran out and we did not bring the charger. Sob! Sob....! So anyway with all the yummy food there, this is the only one that I can show you.

I browse through many blogs and found 2 seafood shops which were quite popular. One is Ah Pek in Kampung Cina and this shop was visited by Axion before. Hence at the entrance of the shop there is a recording playing over and over again showing that particular episode! Talk about over-selling!

Food-wise, it is not too bad. However since there were only 2 of us, we could not order the big stuff like crab. It is funny that about 8 years ago when I came to Setiawan, we could order free noddles with crab. We went to 3 seafood restaurant and they refuse to fry the crab with our mee! What a disappointment!
We order vegetables and instead the person taking the order recommend us this instead. And we were like...where is the vegetables??! How can this be replaced with a vegetable dish when it is plainly more of a mee dish?? I was getting a bit worry about not getting enough fibre.

This is one of the dish which the shop is popular for...Fried Ikan Busu. Not too bad...but you know what? We can also buy the same thing from the wet markets at PJ Old Town or Section 17 and just fry it at home?! I dont know why bloggers were recommending this.

But THIS! This definately we cannot get from any wet market...Oysters...HUGE!!! And for Rm5 a pop! It is really worth every RM...I have never ate oysters so big. It was just steam with garlic but so yummy!

There was a lady selling mee which she said is special from Setiawan. And I am happy to say that this is mee is really good! :)

Crabtree and Evelyn Hand Theraphy

2010-12-15T15:23:00.003+08:00

This is my Christmas present for a friend. ....and I love it! It is a sample from the types of hand theraphy that is available in Crabtree. I have always love Crabtree especially their hand theraphy because it is so moisturising and yet not oily. It absorbs well and really good with rough hands from mine due to washing. I am just lazy to put on those rubber gloves. Crabtree is having a very good sale now for Christmas and if you are a Citibank card holder, it is 15% discount. As you can see one of the tubes is pretty squeeze out....so I am thinking of replenishing that one soon. :)...

Segari Turtle Conservation

2010-12-09T15:27:00.005+08:00

If you go to Lumut, you can visit this Turtle Conservation place which is nearby to Swiss Garden Resort.

Many turtles...actually I am not sure what is the meaning of conservation as all the turtles seemed to be trapped inside this place....I actually thought they will let it go to the sea...? But I guess if you let it go to the sea, it will become food to some of the bigger animals.

I took a photo of this ...because it looks like the turtle is saying..Look Ma...no legs and no hands....no head either but I am just floating here....yes, it is still alive.

Ben and hub checking out one of the ponds.

...I think they are missing out a letter "r"...

...many variety of turtles...

Mama turtle

Medium size turtles...

..and tinny turtles...

Ben playing at the beach outside the Segari Turtle Conservation

Some photos of the beach outside.

Swiss Garden Resort Lumut

2010-12-09T15:11:00.004+08:00

At last, we are reaching the hotel in Lumut already.

...look at his cheeky face....I did not take much photos of the hotel as when we arrive, I was quite tired. We arrive at 4pm...and it was just right as the room was ready for us. Husband's collegue had to wait for 2 hours since she arrive at 2pm. The hotel was quite pack and we had problems to look for car park even. That night, we just had an early sleep and Ben konked out even earlier...which meant that the next morning, he woke up early as well...6am....we went out but it was still pretty dark.

This is the view of the beach.......early early in the morning.

Husband playing with the bubble gun....and Ben trying hard to catch the biggest bubble...

...then Ben trying out the sand on the beach.

...as you can see...the sun is rising in the horizon.

There was a tram outside the hotel....

...and the hotel has a golf course as well...with beautiful scenaries.

...sorry, cannot rotate the photo.

It is a nice place...the only complain I had was the flies...there were flies everywhere...and I really mean EVERYWHERE...! It is just not the hotel but also the town as well - Setiawan. Not too sure why. And another thing about this hotel is that it is quite a distance from the town so if you want to get yummy seafood, be prepare to drive out. Setiawan do have a lot of interesting food.

Telun Intan - Food

2010-12-09T14:54:00.003+08:00

It seemed that this place is popular for its Heong Peah and the most famous brand is the Tiger Head brand. I got this off a blogger and tried to follow the directions. Instead it took me to some housing area...then husband used his GPS and found that the directions were correct. Why is it in a housing area? Because they have converted the house into a mini-factory to manufacture the biscuits! To our surpise, nearby there was a competitor...just a few houses way...and we bought a packet as well. Price is a big difference also..Almost RM1.

After getting biscuits...it was for Rojak Ah Chai...my husband tah pau and he said the number of people waiting for the rojak was impressive! This one you will really need a GPS as it is off the main road of the town. It was not too bad....but I guess there are some nice ones in PJ as well.

Teluk Intan

2010-12-09T14:44:00.007+08:00

Since we had to pass by Teluk Intan to Lumut, here we are....taking pictures of the Leaning Tower of Telun Intan. I think we still do have a lot of places to visit in Malaysia. :) Cheeky boy.....

.....with Mummy...phew, the sun was getting into my eyes.

We did climb up the Tower.....and this is the view from the top.

Inside view......

...another view...I do think that Teluk Intan is a nice place to visit. It is not too quiet...it is bustling with activities...

View of the top......

..and view at the bottom.

Bidor - Pun Chun Makan Shop

2010-12-09T14:37:00.004+08:00

What is a trip without the makan right? So here at Bidor is Pun Chun shop. I tried to look for alternative but nope, this is the BEST! It is along the main road, you cannot miss it. With lots of fruit shops at the side selling guava, pomelo, petai.

Ben excited with his peanut biscuit. Not cheap...only 10 pieces for RM5.

The infamous duck noodles...not cheap...at RM6.80. Of course, it came along with a duck drumstick. And the soup is very nice and sweet though a tad oily.

Husband said the duck soup was too oily for his taste. So he order a char siew wan tan noodles.

A close up of the duck noodles.

Sungai Klah Hot Springs Park, Sungkai

2010-12-09T14:06:00.007+08:00

After nagging husband for a holiday, we got to go for a 3 day 2 night trip to Swiss Garden Resort in Lumut. I did my research and found out that there were plenty of places to visit on the way there.....and plenty of food to try out as well. First out will be Sungkai........It is the exit before Bidor and once you go in there, you just take a left turn and follow signs towards the Hot Springs. Of course, it will be better if you have a GPS system with you.

When we first arrive, we could smell the sulphur smell...like rotten eggs...reminds me of Rotorua.

There were many people there and lots of pools. When we went in, we just jumped into the first pool we saw without realising how BIG the place is! The water was just nice and warm.

As you can see Ben having fun. I am blogging this in an internet cafe and somehow this dang computer does not allow me to rotate my photos!

There was a part where the water is boiling hot...they sell eggs here.....Rm2 for 5 eggs which you can boil. There is even instructions there....quarter boil - xx minute, half boil - xx minute! :)

They even try out quail eggs!

And much to our regret, there was a children pool as well with big slides, etc....we only found out this AFTER we had to wash up. We could not go in anymore as it was still a long journey to Lumut. But this pool does smell a bit of chorine.

More photos of the small pool.

Photos of the surrounding area. There is even a place for natural sauna...

Ben playing with the stones slabs at the entrance and almost fell down on the coconut leaves.

He thinks the stone slabs are train tracks!

What a happy boy!And yes, you do have to pay. It is pretty expensive at Rm10 for adults and RM8 for children. I seen other bloggers making a joke of this and saying huh? What do they use to heat the pool? Electricity...? Actually, it seemed that it took them RM6 mil to come out with this....Husband look around at the place and said that it could have cost them more.

There are nearby chalets which we will check it out another time.

Browing at the Bookstore

2010-11-24T17:55:00.005+08:00

Our favourite bookstore - BookExcess at Amcorp Mall. Ben will take a few books and sit down on the Pooh Bear chair to read....unfortunately the table is no longer there. :(...

This looks so real, right??! Like he is actually reading! The outcome of these visits are usually Mummy's pocket is a bit lighter. The good thing about this bookstore is that the books are much cheaper...

Engines' Roll Call

2010-11-24T17:00:00.008+08:00

The other day husband said that on average we should have like 50 types of engine including all those misc. Multiply that with Rm20.....you can guess how much we have spent in total for the toys! Pengsan! You actually dont realise it as we bought one engine here and there....you know what they say...sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit! Haha!
Part one......

....part 2

....and part 3. Yes, Ben has included candies and sweets as the loads which the trains carry around. You can call it imagination or whatever as long as he does not put into his mouth....!

Ben proudly showing off his collection. I have also added a pirate train set as well as it was going very cheap at Rm50 in Mr DIY. You will not believe how much the same set will cost in normal shops...!

The train engineer happily and proudly showing off his engines...

...view from the top....and yes, there is also a Harold helicopter too..

Ben's favourite tea time

2010-11-23T18:19:00.005+08:00

With Ben, it is difficult to go out and eat with him unless it is his favourite. Somehow he loves this bread and egg place called My Toast at Mid Valley. He will choose his own table and then arrange the pepper, sugar and soya sauce on the table while I order the set which consist of toast bread, 2 eggs and a cup of tea (for me, of course).

Look at him dipping into the eggs.

...and after that so happy!.....At home, we try to do the same thing for him but somehow I guess it is not the same....:)...Further at this place, he will lick up all the half-boiled eggs...at home, we can only convinced him to take the toast bread only.

What is Ben Reading

2010-11-20T18:41:00.006+08:00

Quite some time since I blog. There is something wrong with my internet connections as I cannot seemed to upload the photos all at the same time. Instead I have to do it one by one which is really painful! Anyway ....just want to show you his "reading" photos... Cehhhh...macam real saja hoh! Looks so good reading so thick the book!

Turning pages....

Ahhhhh....you can see what is holding his attention...a Thomas story books. Got this from Acmamall.com for only Rm100...bookstores was selling this book for Rm200...quite pleased with it. Nothing beats the original books as these stories and pictures were by the original writer - Rev Awdry...

...tah dah...front cover...

My birthday at the Ship

2010-10-10T19:13:00.007+08:00

It was my birthday and thought of going somewhere special. Friend recommended Leonardo but unfortunately it was only open for dinner. Husband can only make it for lunch on that day because he had a Hari Raya open house to go to. However we were not disappointed with the Ship. We will check out Leonardo another day. Ship has been around for AGES!!! The deco inside reflects it! Ambience were so-so as all the waiters and staff are foreign workers. But I guess cannot complain as we can still get a set lunch for RM23. Husband ordered mix meat platter for RM35 net. Came with a drink and soup. Plus a free gift which is a small black pouch. Not too bad but just that it does not come with pork. Ship is pork-free. My yummy steak! Yum Yum.....it was pretty good, I have to admit. It only cost Rm23 which is inclusive of soup and salad. Ben eating the sausage. And that was how the beautiful day went....with loads of wishes from friends and relatives. Thank you so much for making my day special.

Pressies from Auckland

2010-10-01T08:07:00.002+08:00

Parents just came back from Auckland. Both my husband and my father had to carry the suitcases to put into the car! I do not know how my father managed to carry the suitcase on his own when he needs to unload from the bagage check-out at the airport! :)...

Anyway there were loads of goodies...First up, of course, fruits. Apples (NZ Rose - my favourite) and these were huge! However I dont have any of my own apples to compare. There is Kiwi fruits as well and also quite big. Yummy chocolates and biscuits. Going to share these with my in-laws. There is a San Francisco chocs there as well as bro just came back from a work trip there.

Next up - another favourite of mine - peanut butter and honey.

New camera is not too good at close-up. I am scratching my head why as the previous Nikon was very easy to use. I thought the following photos a few times and this the best I can get.

Last but not least, the biggest present ever for Ben boy....all the way from San Francisco and then back to Auckland then back here, in KL. Hot Wheels!!! Thank you, Bro! Have kept this toy for the moment as a my secret weapon for other restless days!
Plus extra accessories!

Ben also thanked Uncle Kok Heong for the roller-coaster cars! :)...

Sharing some of the stuff we are doing

2010-09-30T20:26:00.003+08:00

Been some time since I blog again. As I was downloading the photos, one of the folder in the camera just got moved! Where?? I dont know! Haiyah! So I got a whole stack of photos missing. And that included Ben's Bao Bei concert photos.

But to tell you the truth, we did not take many photos for the concert. Ben was having one of his tantrums. The story started right after the one week school holidays. Daily Ben has been refusing to go to school. I had to drag him to the toilet, take bath, drag him into the car and throw him in the class, with him whining the whole time.

He: I dont want to go to school.

Me: Why?

He: I dont like. I want to go home

Me : Why?

He: It is not nice?

Me: Why it is not nice?

He: It is not beautiful.

I dont kow why this habit came about. I have checked around with other mothers. They asked whether it is because there are any changes in our life (nope, no siblings coming along!)....and another mother said that sometimes children will regress. She told me to be patience and to continue to send because one day, he will need to go to school. I also have to keep a positive environment as well. At first, this was hard to do as he kept whining but the teachers help as well. Once I push him through the gates, the teachers will quickly divert his attention and voila, once I was gone, he did not cry.

The funny thing was that this has never happen for such a long period of time before. It may happen occasionally but never for as long as 2-3 weeks. Today Ben was still whining.

So for the concert, again, he did not want to go. It was early Sunday morning and I had to hold him down to change into his costumes. Guess what? He was in rage and tore at his shirt...all the buttons popped out! We had to use a safety pin. Due the missing folder (however the school had professional photographers), I can only show you what he got from the concert.

Surprise, surprise, yes, he got a trophy and a medal! For best improved student and the other one is a merit award I think. You know, I cannot read Chinese and my Mandarin is not that great when I was trying to understand the explanation given by his teachers.

Ok, other things that we are doing at home now is I am trying to teach him to read - Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons! Yes, this is a great book (and only about RM80 as well!). At first, I was a bit sceptical but once I start, I could see the sequence of teaching phonics.

Unlike other programmes which just have a phonic song, cards, stories...this one actually even has the dialogue to tell me what to say during lessons....which only last 15 minutes. Before this, when I checked on other phonics program....

example : MAT - Ma...Ahhhh...Tuh....and then they will saw it so fast..until it becomes MAT...but I never understood how??!!!

With this book...it teaches to say it slow first...MMMMMat.....say it fast..MAT! So when you sound out the individual letters, MMM...Ahhhh....T (because the T is a short sound and it usually is for many words)...so it becomes...MMMM AT.....which then becomes MAT! when you say it fast....! So logical! So good for me! And only RM80 for the whole book without needing to supplement with any other products - stories, songs or anything.

My issue now is that Ben is really plafyful and would not focus. But I have been trying to get him to pay attention to me....until today, I bribed him with a square of chocolate which my parents brought back from Auckland!

This is the tracks that we set up for Ben using our old coffee table which we kept in the storeroom after Ben was born. Not as big as friend's but keeps him occupied and keeps the living room much neater as well!

Supplemented the current tracks with a crane and a palm tree!

Outing to Zoo - 8 Septmeber 2010

2010-09-11T13:41:00.005+08:00

School holidays! Made plans with a friend and his 2 sons to go to the zoo. Cost Rm20 for adult and RM6 for children, 3-12 years old. On top of that, you will need to pay for their tram ride RM3 for adults and RM2 for children. Map of the zoo cost another RM2...I know - they are charging for everything!!! But I guess they do need money $$ to feed the animals.

First animal was in yellow.........(haha!)... He wants to give the yellow tractor a try.

Ben trying out his photography skills.

Here goes the naughty boy again.

We saw elephants - in the background.

Ben's friends.

On the way to the zoo....looking so comfortable.

...and finally here is he having fun at his friends' house. Zoo or Thomas toys.....definately Thomas toys win!

Bao Bei

2010-09-10T20:05:00.004+08:00

Ben started with Bao Bei ever since February this year and can see the vast improvements in his social behaviour. Further, he can recognise 80 characters and can read basic Chinese books! I am so impressed with the patience of the teachers. Another good thing about Bao Bei is that the teachers encourages the students to drink loads of water. Ben can finish this whole cannister of water in 1 1/2 hour.

Bao Bei had a one day camp a few weeks ago and Ben thoroughly enjoyed himself.

It involved some writing games.

Eating rice with his friends.

Physical games which his teachers said he was very good. So I am now thinking of starting his gym class at Fly Kidz again.

Balancing on the poles....

...and walking on the rope.

Finally his take-home gifts for that day was a small aquarium of fish and a cute paper bag which contained a sushi he made. So proud of my little prince.

Trip to Genting Highlands

2010-09-10T19:29:00.005+08:00

Husband got a free one night stay at Awana Genting. So we took a weekend trip there. Instead of sticking ourselves too long in Genting, we pop over to the nearby rabbit farm at Bukit Tinggi on the first day. Ben loves rabbit and kept chasing after the rabbits to ask whether they would like to play with him. Unfortunately they just sat lazily gazing at Ben. This is him bending down having a chat with the rabbit. Told him to stroke the rabbit behind his ears instead. You can see how lazy the rabbit is. He got tired of asking the rabbits to join him and instead went for the nearby swing.Then he took a break... That night we took a drive up to Genting. He got tired and wanted his daddy to carry him.

...he wants his ice-cream treat. You should see him zoom down the McDonald aisle.
He tried this forklift ride. Cost us RM8 per pop! Wow. You got to be below this height before getting a ride.

...there he is in his fork lift. He did not like it at all....:(....as midway, the forlift will go up a slight hill instead of just going round and round.

...and finally a photo at the photo. Awana Genting was supposed to have undergone renovation but we were disappointed. Front office service was superb and condition of room was horrendous. It was not very clean and the carpets does not look that it has been changed for quite some time. When I got home, I had to pull out a lot of hair (icky!) from our sweaters as Ben threw our clothes and sweater on our room's floor. Further halfway during our sleep, we were awakened by the sound of lizards croaking (is that the correct word for it??? I know frogs croak but lizards?) ...Sigh...I guess cannot complain since is IS free.

Taking a break....

More updates

2010-09-10T19:01:00.004+08:00

I got my Picasa working again and can post more photos. So happy! :).....Anyway here are photos of Ben with his trains and tracks. He really loves Thomas, blue colour and being no. 1. We really had that problem that in everything that he do, he wants to be the first! His teachers told me that but somehow they managed to convince him that he does not need to be no. 1 all the time. I am so grateful to his patient teachers at Bao Bei.

The beach photos that I promised you. He really loves digging sand and can go on and one forever.

He also loves his dump truck (thank you uncle Kok Heong!)....and would run it along all over the house.

Phew...after a hard day at work, he is all tired out. His "pi" at his side with his "blankie".

...and here he goes again with his trains.

Currently the only car he would sit on his own is the one in Sunway Pyramid.

Look at how nervous he is..... ..and finally a photo of him eating.

What has been going in Aug 2010?

2010-09-02T11:01:00.008+08:00

It has been quite some time since I posted anything. This is because I was looking around for a camera and finally got a cool Nikon touch-screen for Rm700. Was eyeing a Canon for Rm1.2k which can do a lot of stuff (except making me look thinner!).......but thought that Ben might want to do a bit photography. So better keep on the safe side and bought a cheaper one.

The new camera is really good and takes pretty good pictures. You can see a night photo below. The only thing is that the sizes of the photos are much bigger. The home computer takes ages to upload the photos in the blog. Hence the silence. Then I tried to copy the photo from camera to my thumb drive (1G) and unfortunately it was not enough too! Hence I had to take the camera to the internet cafe (which is where I am now!) and upload the photos. The internet computer are usually faster but since the photos are huge (as I am finding out now)...it also takes a long time. I guess I have to go back and do some resizing using Picasa.

OK what have we been up to for the past few months? Parents are leaving for Auckland soon to see my cutey-pie niece, Kara (hope to post photos of her soon). So we took the whole family out for duck lunch.

I did not realise I was wearing similar stripes shirt as Ben until husband pointed it out. :)...you can see Ben trying his best to get out of his chair.

The yummy Peking duck.

Besides that we have been to the beach a lot - Sepang Morib and Port Dickson. Friend was scratching her head and saying what do Ben do there since there are no slides or swimming pools? Well, he love the sand and will dig, push, pull, etc.....with it. Will show photos later.

This month also is the last month for Hegeru for Ben. He joined in February and since it is pretty costly Rm100 per hour, I thought that I will try to replicate it at home. From February until now, which is almost 6 months, I believe that I have learned enough to do the same at home plus with help from another mother (you should check out her blog - very good! She is generous with her information and materials as well!). So below is the photo of last day with sin-seh Yvonne who has really helped a lot in terms of understanding Ben and helping Ben to love things like puzzles, linking memory, etc...I really would miss her...just that the lessons are so expenisve.

And finally, the dentist appointment at Bangsar. Am very happy to report that Ben is quite used to going to the dentist and allows the doctor 5 minutes to touch his teeth! After that is a trip to the nearby Choo-Choo Train (which is also having a 50% discount on metal cast Thomas train characters. Me and husband went ga-ga there. Sale is until end of next mont or while stocks last..have been thinking of getting the Thomas Water Tower).

Ok, time to pick up Ben from school and will continue later after I resize all the photos. Stay tuned.

Websites to buy books

2010-07-27T20:21:00.003+08:00

Another question which people ask me is where to buy books. I usually buy online as having a very active boy has limit me to go shopping anywhere!

These will be :-

(i) http://www.acmamall.com/ - this is very good but the only thing is that it usually takes a month for them to deliver. Variety of books is very good and everything is in RM. Of course, there is also Amazon but I have never buy anything from overseas through mail as I am afraid of our local customs. Malaysia Boleh! :)

(ii) http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/indexohb.cgi?AREA=05 - Kinokuniya bookstore in KLCC. Very good and efficient. Postal rates are very cheap - flat RM8.

(iii) http://www.canaanland.com.my/ - mostly Christian books.

(iv) http://www.caterpillarhouse.com/store/ - can get good children books

Methods of Education which I know

2010-07-27T20:10:00.003+08:00

Would you call this Methods? Hmm...I am not sure. But that is one which caught my eye, It was introduced to by a friend of mine (of which I am very grateful!).

It is a home-schooling method called Charlotte Mason. However it is not necessarily for home-schooling only but her whole idea of how we should guide our children's growing years especially in the area of developing of habits. The following website will explain and resources are free. Of course, there are recommended books which you need to buy.
http://simplycharlottemason.com/2010/05/12/free-books-and-resources-at-scm/
Her original books can be found here. A bit lenghty though.
http://amblesideonline.org/curriculum.shtml#resources
A nearby blogger who applies the method - Teaching Our Own.

Another method of education which has taken the country by whirl wind is right brain education. Currently there are 3 schools in Malaysia - all just as expansive - approximately Rm100 per hour - only once a week.

(i) Shichida http://www.shichidamethod.com/
(ii) Hegeru http://www.heguru.com.my/
(iii) Tweedlewink http://www.rightbrainkids.com/

Their names would let you see that the first 2 are from Japan while the 3rd one is from US. From what I can understand, Pamela Sue Hickein went over to Japan and did some study with the founder of the Shihida method. Go to the website and you can get a free e-book. She also has a book called Right Brain Education which really did a good job in explaining the whole right brain concept.

For more of right brain, you can read a fellow bloggers Babylicious and Life Long Sharing.

Things to do with your toddler

2010-07-27T20:06:00.002+08:00

Recently I was asked by 2 friends where to take their toddlers - playgroups, etc...So thought that I will post it here for future reference.

Playschool:-

(i) Lara's place http://www.rix.com.my/Lara.html - never tried this before but it is one of the few places which allows mummy and child to go in.
(ii) Ibu - http://ibufamily.org/ - a lot of expats mummies here. They are supposed to be meeting at Gardens International School now if I am not mistaken. Contact them to find out.
(iii) Chiltern House - this very expensive. http://www.juliagabriel.com.my/chiltern/index.php

Others activities which allows mother to accompany child will be:-

(i) Musichaus http://www.musikhaus.com.my/
(ii) Kindermusik - got one free trial. http://www.simmusic.com/kindermusik-about.htm
(iii) Kidz Sports
(iv) Gymboree
(v) Flykidz - this one going to open a new centre at Sunway Giza http://www.fly-kidz.com

These are what I know so far :)....

Cousin Brother's Visit To Malaysia

2010-06-16T15:56:00.002+08:00

It was more than 2 months ago when I picked up cousin brother and his family from KLIA. And before I know it, it was time to drop him off to the airport again! Phew, time sure flies, do you know or not? Here are the two boys....same age but because of the CNY, Ben is year of dog while Jeff is the year of pig. :)

With cousin brother's family....
....and cousin brother's extended family.

What do you expect..? Ben cannot resist the trolley.

Ah Mah's birthday

2010-06-04T15:10:00.005+08:00

It is the month of many birthdays including Ah Mah's..........We celebrated at Paris restaurant. Nice and cheap food...then of course, the cake is swipe out and the customary lighting of candles and singing...... You can see Ben looking intently at the cake......

...ok, time for the blowing...hey, wait a minute, who is the birthday person??????

...Ah Mah says, never mind, never mind, Ben help to blow....

...ohhhh....3 down and 4 more to go....

...2 more.....hmm...enjoying this too much...maybe I should be taking it sloooowwwwwlllyyy...

...ok, done....now take out candles....

...cut the cake with all the yummy fruits on top......

..I want the strawberry!!!!

...but the cake is the BESTEST!!!

Jack's birthday

2010-06-04T14:55:00.006+08:00

This is a long out-dated post! :(....We celebrated Jack's birthday recently at his house recently. Of course, the cake must come first... :) With loads of M&Ms.......

Jack helping out.........

....now extra hands come as well.....

..phew, ok we are done! Jack looking so happy with his perfect cake....

..ahhhh...must light the candles first......

...careful of the strong wind....

...singing...Happy Birthday to Jaccccckkkkkkk.....

..blow candles and make wish......Ben already want to chomp the cake...

...Ben going...aiyah! so slow! Let me help out with the candles....

At last, cake! :).......It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful day......

Pushing the Ball!!

2010-06-04T14:45:00.002+08:00

Does these cement balls look familiar? Yes, it is at the place between the Midvalley and Gardens. Ben always has this fascination with pushing this balls with all his strength.....which is good - let out all his excess energy..:)...then we can go shopping.

Outing to Broga Hill

2010-06-04T14:26:00.003+08:00

Read a friend's Facebook that she ventured up the Broga Hill...so pestered husband to take us there also. Wah the place A LOT of people, there was practically a traffic jam going up there! Since there was so many people and the ascend was pretty steep, we patah balik halfway....but it was a good workout.

You can see both of our hair all wet!

Cutie pie posing for the camera....

Daddy, daddy - over there! over there!

What? What?

Coconuts! Yummy, thirst quencing coconuts!

I dont know how he did it but he drove his motor-bike up to this point of the hill with his coconuts. He will chop the coconuts on buyers' orders.

Quick, quick, I need a coconut ...if not, I will pengsan......

Outing to Sentul Park

2010-06-04T14:09:00.005+08:00

Friend recommended to me Sentul Park - very beautiful place......but keep at the lake only, ok! Crossing the bridge will go into the boundary of the nearby condominiums - I was told off by a guard which I felt quite unfair as there was no sign at all to indicate so. Anyway it is a nice place to hang out even at nights as nearby is the KL PAC.....Do bring loads of leftover breads that you may have to feed the fishes and ducks.... Ben enjoying himself ......

It even has a shelter which you can sit down and relax.

Milestone

2010-06-01T18:50:00.004+08:00

This has got to be a milestone! Ben and I managed to watch a movie today - Shrek- The Final Chapter!

What happened was I wanted to bring Ben to Critterland which is an in-door playground measuring 10,000 square feet, nearby Mines Shopping Centre. Unfortunately when we reach there, it was closed due to upgrading works. So disappointed and since we were already there, I took Ben to Mines Shopping Centre instead. There was nothing much to see there and the cruise was quite expensive at RM30.

We spotted a cineplex and I asked Ben whether he was interested to watch a movie. He was! I was a bit unsure as this will require him to sit down for 2 hours! He insisted and it cost me RM13. We went in 20 minutes earlier and the lady taking care of the entrance was nice to allow us to go in. So I showed him the cineplex entrance and he was a bit afraid. He kept thinking that the seats from a distance were "dolphins".....slowly I managed to lure him into the cineplex and showed him that it was actually seats.

Since there was no one else in the cineplex, he was a bit nervous and asked whether we could wait outside which was fine with me. Then when the advertisments started, again, the nice lady informed us and we went in to watch. Ben was quite comfortable the whole time and asked a lot of questions instead! I was a bit afraid that it will disturb the other audiences but there were not many people. I know that if we were to disturb, they can move to another seat.

The only thing was that Ben kept complaining cold. And I knew that it was impossible since I was in t-shirt and shorts and I was pretty comfortable. Before long, he fell asleep instead! Haha...

And that was the end of our first movie trip.

Ah Mah's Birthday Card

2010-05-30T19:41:00.006+08:00

This is a pretty out-dated post. It is at least a month old! It was near Ah Mah's birthday and instead of buying a usual card, I thought it will be nice to do one instead. At the Hot Value Mart, I found this sand art card. Ben sure has a lot of a good time doing the sand art..and this is the finished job...this is the only photo of him holding the card still....the other photos are all blur already since he was moving around so much. ....close up of the card.......choose a blue car since blue is his favourite colour. ...and this is him, so excited to send out the card...........and managed him to get him to pose when he put the letter into the post box.
My internet connections are still pretty weak...still unable to identify why. And sigh...can anyone tell me how to keep Ben to sit still? Pretty please???! We take him out to the playground, etc...but he still got so much energy running about after that. Help??!!!

Wearing Clothes

2010-05-30T07:07:00.005+08:00

Where did the time go????? I am also not sure. Ben is almsot 3 and a half year old. And he can put on his clothes already.

Been quite some time since I blog. However there is something wrong with my line - everything has slowed down so much!!! I can only upload one photo at a time. Terrible.

Another Day at my Mother's

2010-04-26T17:56:00.002+08:00

Dropped by mother (Ben's grandmother)'s place today. Of course, Jack is always around during weekdays. Ben usually loves Jack as sometimes he will say, I will to get/buy this for Jack, etc...etc...but when he is there, aiyoh! the snatching starts. I think I have wasted so much saliva on telling Ben, snatching is wrong. :(.... Jack with my mother. I think Jack was moving around and that is why his part of the photo is a bit blurrish.

Ben eating his biscuit. Sitting on the lazy chair...love this chair which is almost extinct already...! It is the most practical chair, better than Ikea's one! When I had just given birth, this chair came in handy due to its flexibility - the back can be adjusted a few levels up and down. And so cooling too since it has gaping holes.

Both of them together on the chair.

Ben trying to get off the chair...

.....ahhh...he found a suitable spot at last. It will be Jack's 3rd birthday soon! Sister will be having a birthday bash at her house. Will get photos and blog about it later. :)

PUP Jude part 1

2010-04-25T16:21:00.002+08:00

Jude is a relatively short epistle but so much meaningful and impact. If you were to look through the whole letter, you would noticed that there are 4 groups of people (marked these 4 groups of people in different colours) and these are to be noted about the 4 groups.

(i) Jude - who is the the brother of James and half brother of Jesus ( Why half? I always thought that it was because father Joseph passed away but no, it is because Jesus was conceived by Holy Spirit, hence half-brother!). He referred himself as a bond-servant of Jesus and the meaning of of bond-servant is one who volunteers himself willingly to be a servant. The Greek word for this is Doulos (yes, like the name of the ship!)

Why is he writing this letter? Because it was an appeal the the CBK (second group of people) to fight for their faith. against the ungodly people

(ii) CBK - the recipents of the letter - the people who are Called Beloved in God, the Father and Kept for Jesus Christ. The CBKs are the ones who are receiving multiplication of mercy, peace and love from God.

(iii) the ungodly ("UG) - who has crept into the group of CBK. Jude was warning the CBKs to be careful of UG by comparing the UG with the Israelites who escape Egypt but did not make it to the Promised Land (do you know how many people actually managed to make it), Cain, Balaam and Korah.

(iv) the others - those that have doubts, those to be snatch out of fire and those to be given mercy.

What impacted me the most is that not all Christians will go to heaven and that made me worry about my own salvation. I like what someone said before - Christians are saved by grace to do good works. Being saved does not give us a license to continue sinning but we must bear in mind that we are still living in this imperfect world. We must hold on to our faith in Jesus Christ until we see Him.

Stuff I bought

2010-04-24T15:39:00.002+08:00

Wanted to blog on some thing different. Just to show that stuff I buy. Yes, I do quite a bit of shopping on the internet and my favourite site is lowyat.net. :)...Since I cannot seemed to do much shopping with an active boy around, I have turned to internet shopping. Found quite a lot of stuff which is cheaper on the net. Skincare/clothes/bags are mostly from Taiwan, Korea or China (but this country is mostly bags or clothes - remember milk scandal?). I love browsing them so much! :)...release stress. And it is soo addictive. Hehe.....

Well, recently I bought another Rootote Bag.......I have been carrying a few around with me the past one year. Each time, it gets kind of "used up" (no thanks to spilled milk/water)...I get a new one. :)...I think this is my third one already. I saw that Isetan is selling Rootote Bags as well but around the range of Rm50plus. I got this one for only RM30 plus delivery was Rm8 (Poslaju). Since the seller (http://www.styles4u.net/index.php) was also selling skincare, I also bought a sample set to try at RM37. This brand called Beauty DIY from Taiwan. Nowadays Taiwanese skincare is popular and they have a sifu nameNiu Er who recommends certain products.

Ok, now to my stuff.
My beautiful bag...of course, it does looks boring with just lines and no pictures .... but lately has been feeling kind of old and has no interest in pictures of bears, balloons, etc...Oh yes, this is Japan product but made in China (of course...what do you expect for RM30??)...

What so special about the bag? It has a Roo Pocket which means an additional pouch with zip at the side. I find this very useful to put my car keys instead of rummaging inside the bag for it!

...you can see the pouch here....

The skincare set I got. Pretty cute bottles...need to find out from seller why the cleanser feels hardened...? I cannot seemed to get it out of the jar. Maybe need to add water.
...nowadays go for facial, beautician always said my skin is dehydrated.....so must put more mask....with hydration.

Random Thoughts

2010-04-23T17:00:00.003+08:00

Today I was in Midvalley with Ben and he kept insisting on having pie, pie, pie! To give you a bit of background, this morning he was watching a cartoon called Word World and the Pig character was baking pies.

So, I went to La Manila and wanted to tah pau the pie. The guy asked whether I want to heat up the pie at home? Since it did not sound so nice to be heated up at home, I thought we should sit down to eat it there and then. It was lunch time and I thought, hmmm...the pie looks kind of smallish. So ordered fish and chips instead.

Pie came, he took a few bites and then he did not want anymore. Fish and chips has not yet arrive and knowing him, I am sure he will not eat anything except the chips.

I was like..."what the...xxxx????"....what am I going to do with so much food??! So waste money.....So angry! Haiyah! It really is one of those days for me.

So I am just releasing my stress here. Who said stay at home mother no stress? Yah...like I am shaking my legs at home.

Anyway was looking through my photos and saw this scenary.....take deep breath and relax....

..and see my little one's photo, help me to be grateful for what I have.

Then a thought came to me....I should know my son better since I spend so much time with him. Does he eat anything besides rice or biscuits or ice-cream or anything sweet? No! Then why in the world did I go and order something which is out of the ordinary for him? Even though he insist on trying a pie, I am his mother and should have told him no.

I should just have share the pie with him. Another lesson to learn is dont buy food when you are hungry. :)

Lazy Sunday

2010-04-18T10:27:00.002+08:00

Today is lazy Sunday after a week of activities. So have a look at my lazy boy in his pajamas.

Sungai Tekala

2010-04-18T09:53:00.004+08:00

Friend recommend Sungai Tekala for the waterfalls. So one of the weekend we take a ride there, thanks to hub's GPS. You would really need that as this place is not easy to find. We used the Ampang way and from there, we can see a nice scenary of the city as the car climbed higher and higher the mountains there. Beautiful, eh!You can see Ben hitting at the sand straight away. Putting on his swim-suit. One cannot be too careful about water safety...but later we found that the water level is really lowwww...so took out the floaties.

Walking with Daddy....

Using the pumper....he really loves the pumper.

Playing with some friends he met nearby.....more like disturbing.

Caught a fish.

All in all, we love the place. It is not far from our car park place and shaded with loads of trees - making it a cool place to spend time. The only cons about the place is that further upstream, there were many groups of people and one group was busy washing each other hair with shampoo! Yes...so we could smell the shampoo as we were downstream. Sigh...how in-considerate can you be, right?!

Another Baby

2010-04-09T19:00:00.002+08:00

I am an aunty again. :)....so proud! This time round, my cousin sister has just given birth. Look at the cutey pie below.

Look at this photo.........I dont know how to put it both together side by side. The bottom one is Ben! Yah...they look alike eh?! Husband said they come from the same mould...except whether they got more hair or less hair. Ke ke ke......

Random Photos of our Trip to Singapore

2010-03-27T19:45:00.006+08:00

We made a recent trip down to Singapore to see uncle's new baby. Unfortunately forgot to take any photos of him.

However I did take the time to take photos of some of our meals. First, I thought this was an interesting appetiser.

Seaweed.

Tried to take a photo with Ben...but as you can see, he does move around a lot.

Ah hah - Managed to get a photo of him.....

...and another one......

I like the cups and dishes that were used.

Ben hard at work writing out our orders.

Vegetable is good and healthy....

....hmmm...must take a sip of water again....

Yummy hot soup.

And the tea came in this nice clay pot.

New adition to the Family

2010-03-27T19:42:00.001+08:00

Isnt she a cutey-pie? Yes, I am an aunty again. My brother's wife justgave birth on 1 March 2010. Welcome, Kara...with loads of love from all of us in Malaysia.

Tired Boy

2010-03-27T19:21:00.005+08:00

Lately the weather was quite hot, so went to buy thicker curtains to stop the sunlight from coming in. Ben actually found this lovely red "hairy" chair and wanted to put on an apron to sit on it! Then he pretend to fall asleep. Yah...the funny things that our boy love to do.

Ben has been attending a Chinese playschool on top of his Hegeru. It is quite heavy in terms of cost since both will cost us RM800 per month! So will be stopping Hegeru soon since it is just an hour a week. Very expensive.

But in terms of what he can do, we are quite happy that he is currently adding Chinese words into his vocabulary. He can say in Mandarin - mouth, ear, nose and eyes. And in terms of recognition, he can recognise "ren", "pa pa" and "ma ma". But most importantly for us, both the Chinese playschool and Hegeru gives him exposure to other kids. We can see the difference in him as I am happy to see that he actually makes friends in his Chinese playschool. Both boys will shout "BYE BYE" to each other! :)...

In terms of letters - he can recognise capital letters but not small letters yet.

In terms of numbers - he can recognise up to 20. My target will be for him to recognise up to 100.

In terms of speaking - it is pretty clear. We are pretty surprised with his reasoning sometimes. Example today, house is undergoing renovations now and my husband asked whether he would like to help the 2 workers. And Ben replied, "No thank you as I am not a builder since I dont have tools!" Can you believe that???

Food - he is still a picky eater unfortunately. Keeping only to rice, sausages, chocolate cereal and anything sweet. However he seemed to prefer outside food. :(......

Milk - I have been trying hard to stop milk bottle for him since his tooth decay is really BADDDD. At first, I was expecting serious fight-back from him - shouting and crying, etc....but actually it was not that difficult at all. One has to be patience and get use to his screaming, etc...then divert his attention (sigh...tv). I should have known better and stop his milk bottle much earlier. I have been trying to replace milk into cup but not successful.

Behaviour - he is still very active boy. Running up and down. :)...I guess Ben will not be Ben if he stops running around. I guess those overseas trips will have to wait a while.

Photos of Ben and his Ice-Cream Cones

2010-03-27T19:01:00.003+08:00

Ok, managed to get some photos of Ben finishing his ice-cream cones. Bear in mind, without the ice-cream! :)

In-door Outing

2010-03-18T12:33:00.005+08:00

Keep forgetting to bring my camera out.

Today was quite a hot day and instead of the usual outing to the park, brought him to Sunway Pyramid. Not too sure how but we ended up wandering around the shopping mall. Boy, the mall sure is big. Ben was complaining hungry but I could not find any food shops open at 9:45am. So we wander around until found, phew! Bread Story. Bought a hot dog for him and we shall this place which looks like an in-door circus with a Ferris Wheel. So we sat down there and he ate his hot dog. Poor boy must be very hungry as he kept saying that the hot dog is delicious and wallop the whole thing! Usually he will pull out the sausage and throw away the bun for Mummy or Daddy to eat.

Then after eating, we wander into Giant. Yes, I did not realise there is also a Giant supermarket there in addition to Parkson and Jaya Jusco (did I left any other major shops out???). Ben saw ice-cream cones and insisted on buying it. I kept telling him that it is just the cone and there will be no ice-cream on top. He kept wanting it.....he turned down the other stuff I offered him - Ribena water, biscuit, chocolate and a small Lego toy! Pengsan.

Later we went out to the in-door park and he sat (for the first time!) on his own in the musical cartoon car! But of course, it cost me RM3....!

Then he saw bumper cars and he wanted to have a go on it. I had to accompany it. He did not like that at all when I started bumping the other cars! Cost me RM10! Aiyoh! But I have to admit that the impact from the bumping was pretty hard - could feel my waist complaining a bit.
After that he was pretty tired and wanted to go home. In the car, he attacked the ice-cream cone box......again, he insisted on having it. So fine, I let him have it. I could hear him crunching away the cone (emm...without the ice-cream...) and when I asked him "Huh? Ben, the cone is nice?" and he replied..."Yes, Mummy, the cone is like biscuit...".....I pengsan again! Ke ke ke...

Anyway it sure saves me a lot of money as 10 cones cost only Rm2 plus...!

Beautiful Outing at the Park

2010-02-11T13:16:00.003+08:00

We got a bit tired of the travel to Sepang beach especially with a Ben sitting in the car for an hour - he tends to get a bit bored and asked to go out. Instead we found this wonderful place nearby which he can play sand and water.

Sand, sand and more sand...yahoo!

Dont forget the water.....

....Ben is like moving around a lot - so it was pretty difficult to catch a photo of him....

...at last, managed to catch this....you noticed the orange colour toy? He found it at that area...

....and the pumper....good investment since he has hours of fun with this....not cheap as it was about RM26.90 from ToysrUs.....

...and he continues to pump in the water......
...while mummy and daddy enjoy the sunset.

Artist in the Making

2010-02-09T15:26:00.003+08:00

Ben loves painting and I bought some painting materials for him. You can see him hard at work here. Do take note of his blue Thomas train shirt! :) Hard at work....concentrating....note also he loves blue colour! The blue colour paint will finish first compared to the rest of the paint. Same with the colour pencil, the blue pencil is the shortest now.

Blue, blue, blue.....

hmmm...mix with a bit of white....

....and let's get it all over the paper....

...then tah dah....all done!

.....so happy with my results...

...hmmm...might have missed a part here....

Ben's Friends

2010-02-09T15:22:00.000+08:00

This was taken in in-law's house...so cute hoh!

Ben's First Class

2010-02-09T14:30:00.005+08:00

After listening so much from ex-colleagues about the wonders of right brain training, me being a kiasu parent signed Ben up for a nearby class which claimed to train right brain. It goes for an hour each week and cost me RM100 per hour! Yah...that is expensive. But I have been very curious about this program.

It was just an hour but wow, they do a lot of stuff during the hour! They have EVERYTHING! Phonics, Japanese words, Chinese words, Math, public speaking, speed reading, memory games and linking games. I think that is all if I remember right. Even I have problem to remember everything! haha.. I was a bit overwhelmed.

The only thing is I wonder in that ONE hour, we can do so much things (or it was more like I was doing the things) - whether this will increase or decrease attention span??? I mean if the subjects pass so fast, I will be so blur-blur until dont know what happen. Or to look at the other perspective, to get children attention, we need to move fast? I also dont know. Will see what happens during the new few lessons.

5 of us - kids with mothers sat down on the floor with our children in front of us. Then the teacher start off with a greeting very fast and smoothly - about the date, day, time and weather. However teacher's English pronounciation is not good. Then she flash cards on road signs - no turning, children cannot cross here, there....followed by flash cards on elements like the one below Xenon 54. Even I dont know what is that? Haha. Then to enhance photographic, they showed this on the screen for a minute and we were supposed to colour according to the show (my only issue is that Ben only like blue colour...so he wanted all blue colour). I was having problems with this since Ben was starting to get antsy. Subsequent to that we were supposed to also draw out the shape. I think this part of the lesson is called Mandala and is available at some shops which specialises in IQ toys.

One part of the lesson was also they gave us this shape and some pieces.

It happened that at home I also had this pieces so I can do this and showed it here.

Then this I had some problems as well. They showed 3 rows of numbers and then we were supposed to write it out. Of course, they showed it row by row. As you can see, I also had problems to remember here as well! Haha. And they expect Ben to do all of this?? He cannot even sit still.

There were Japanese songs as well and Japanese flash card. Then a sandpaper of this following word was also given where Ben used his finger to trace. Then we were given this homework to trace at home.

And another homework, follow the arrows to draw lines.

Other things that I can remember was dot flash cards (popularised by Glen Doman), artist flash cards with song about the artist (ours was Picasso), public speaking (Ben had to go in front and say his name to the rest of his class-mates), Chinese flash cards, speeding reading (a story was read out from a taped recording and then played again at a faster speed. I wonder is that how you learn speeding reading???.....)

Lastly a sticker was given for attendance. We stick it in an attendance sheet and later after we accumulate some stickers, we can exchange for some small toys!

And for paying RM100 registration fees, there is also a bag!

Yes, I do sound sceptical. But when I asked Ben whether he like the class, he said yes....and I am scratching my head.......because he hardly listen during class. I guess I will give it another few more lessons. But Ben seemed to be ready for some kind of structure - he loved to sit down and do coloring, etc....maybe I will go and find some kind class. Of course, a cheaper one! :)

Goreng Pisang, Curry Mee and O Kio @ Weld Quay

2010-01-30T16:02:00.004+08:00

During the recent Sg Petani trip, we made a day trip to Penang for what else....but food! Hahahah! I recommend Weld Quay because you can get everything here - main meal, kuih and dessert. Unfortunately I did not take a photo of the curry mee as I was busy whopping it down. The name of the hawkere there is Tua Pui Curry Mee but be warned, it is pretty hot with no air-con.

However I do have photos of the goreng pisang. In addition to the goreng pisang, this hawker also sold various other types of kuihs. Not cheap at 70sen per piece and very small serving too. But there was a queue and people were lining up to buy, buy, buy. The family hard at work...peeling the bananas.....they never had time to have stock for the ready products!

The patriach of the family frying away. Since we waited quite long, we realise what his secret was....he will fry the bananas first. Then he takes it out to dip it again into the flour mixture and voila, fry again. Double crispy, man!

Nearby, the dessert truck with something very interesting called O Kio.

A photo of it - ice with a slice of lemon and jelly.

A photo of Ah Mah with Ben. Background is where the curry mee is.

The landmark will be the bird shop name Tan Bee Eng.

PUP - Exodus 25-31

2010-01-24T14:34:00.004+08:00

We started our class again after many weeks of holiday...:)...and again, we were so blessed by our teacher Cheng. This week we learnt about the Tabernacle which God told the Israelites to build exactly according to the pattern that He gave. While I was doing the lessons, I got to admit, I was bored by all the measurements and materials, etc...but once it was explained and shown, the impact was different. Actually PUP is good because it gave the examples of each type of furniture of the Tabernacle and we were supposed to note down the measurements and materials. Anyway thanks to internet, if you want a picture of the Tabernacle, you can get it here http://www.templebuilders.com/Index_Tabernacle_of_Moses_2.php

Application to life is that this shows how God was so detailed in terms of the building of His House and how Aaron and his sons as priests are to approach Him. Why is this so? Because God is Holy. For me, I think I take God for granted, only praying to him before I fall asleep instead of seriously doing quiet time. Worse my posture during prayer is laying on my back and about to fall asleep.

And the pattern of how Aaron is to go into the Tabernacle - cleanse himself first or he will die! Application to us - we are to read the Word fo God to cleanse ourselves as the Word and Holy Spirit will convict us of our sins and we are to confess with our lips to God who will be faithful to forgive. After cleansing, Aaron will be able to go into the Holy of Holies - we would be able to approach God in our prayers. How profound is this and how much it convict me. Sigh. Ok, got to do better. We are so blessed to live in these times of grace instead of the Old Testament times where a wrong move due to not folllowing God's stric instructions and they will be struck dead.

Ok, as a conclusion, I would like to share my son's photos in a coin-operated car at shopping complex. You can see him hard at work, turning the steering wheels! ......Sigh, nice to be a child again, hoh?

Horse Riding - Anyone interested??

2010-01-23T15:19:00.003+08:00

Recently a friend encouraged me to join a playgroup called Ibuku in Damansara Heights. One good thing about this playgroup is that they do organised activities like horse-riding. We were not even aware that there was a stable at Lake Titiwangsa. So last Saturday we went to have a look and what a cool place! It only cost us RM1.00 per person (children =RM0.50) to ride a horse or carriage and it is open to public.

Since Ben was a bit afraid of the horse, we went for a ride on the horse carriage.

Had a closer look at the horse. A very friendly horse......

Neighhhhhh......halo there...!

We love horses....

Ben's Birthday

2010-01-23T09:41:00.005+08:00

Yes, it has been THREE years since Ben came to brighten up our lives....:)....

We decided to go back to Sg Petani so that he can celebrate with his Ah Mah and Ah Gong....since it is quite near CNY, my in-laws are usually busy getting ready for the celebrations. So it would be easier for us to go instead of they coming down. It was a small affair and since all of us are not too keen with cakes, we just bought 2 pieces of cake from nearby Secret Recipe. This is Ben helping to light up the candles....

The 2 pieces of cake and 3 candles.

...told him to pose for the camera.....

....singing the Birthday Song....look at him, he looks like he cannot wait to attack the cake..

....yahoo! at last......my second favourite part......blowing the candles..emmm...hope all of you don't mind the "kah liu"...my saliva...

...in slow motion...look at me....blooooowww the candle...

....give me a piece! give me a piece!........

...ah hah!!!! I got the knife...don't touch me!

...opps...does anyone still want a piece???

...ahhh...at last, into my mouth.....another photo for the road?? Can, can, can but let me get this cake into my mouth first... :)......

And there goes another year! :)

New Year and No New Resolution

2010-01-22T16:14:00.004+08:00

Sigh, it has been quite some time since I post any updates. Been busy and before you know it, my goodness, it is already 2010. I was, kind of hoping, that time will sort of stand still between 2009 and 2010...unfortunately it did not. It was full speed ahead.

Lesson to learn, regardless whether I am fat or thin, depressed or happy or sick or whatever, ready or not, life goes on! Sigh, that did not sound too right and positive. I guess I just dread the new year and then looking back, find out that I did not achieve anything that I set myself up last year. This included eating more healthy and exercise more (my blood cholesterol is high and .....oh dear, it is time for my annual check up again!)...

But what did happen is my cutey pie has grown even more cute....of course, bigger as well and much check-ier (is that a correct term?).....this does not mean it is all bed of roses for me with him...sometimes i feel like pulling each and every one of my hair out! Kah kah kah....

Then again, when you look at his face and smile.......

....I also realise that having Ben is a commitment I have agreed to take up when I became pregnant.

The following are some photos which I have not yet posted and wanted to share with my friends and family. This was taken at Orchid Garden - free entrance! :)...but watch out for the mosquitoes....Ask him to post and this is what I get...........as you can see, it is his scooter and him now..... ...oh wait, wait for Mama!!!!! My boy is getting all independent already.....

As usual he loves to carry up big rocks.....

....did not get much of the orchids....he was not really interested in them anyway.....he was more focus on the rocks....!

Ok, do check out later for more photos of his birthday....Happy Belated New Year!

Jack is 2.5 years old

2009-11-16T08:24:00.002+08:00

Boy! Time sure flies fast....before you know it....it is Jack's 2.5 birthday. Sigh.......and Ben will be 3 in January.......Ok, these are photos of the cutey-pies. Got them Thomas Train clothes set from Sg Petani for RM10 per set! Pretty cheap. As usual, Ben insist on the "brue" colour one. Nowadays clothes which are not blue - not nice! Haha...

Friends' Visits

2009-11-10T18:33:00.005+08:00

Ex-colleague came back from Russia and had to put up in a nearby hotel as her stuff are still stuck in the container. So visited her and her two girls. The two girls have grown so much and are so pretty.

Ben took to the both of them very well. Here is he lazing around with the eldest girl. Ask them to post and this is what I get....! This is a model to be... ....another model in the making...........this one ...emmmm...I am not too sure....The 3 of them at the shopping mall ......

...and my favourite hangout area...

Lessons from Precept Upon Precept ("PUP")

2009-10-27T13:46:00.003+08:00

I have been attending a Bible class called Precept Upon Precept (founded by Kay Arthur - you can goggle it) for more than a year - it is really a good in-depth Bible study which really makes you think in a different perspective. Before this I have to admit, I read the Bible like a story-book especially the Old Testament. :)

We are currently doing a study on Exodus after going through Genesis starting from Abraham, Friend of God. What really impacted me from Lesson 5 of Exodus is from Chapter 15 and the verses as below. The Israelites have already escaped from Egypt and seen all the plagues of God and His miracle of parting the Red Sea (which was just 3 days ago). But guess what? The Israelites were now grumbling for lack of water!

Hmmm...that really made me think of myself. Do I look at the circumstances around me and grumble? Instead of thanking God for His provisions? I guess I do make excuses that I am still human (and of flesh).....but it is about time that I start to disciplining myself to grumble less and think more about God's grace. Anyway enough of sermons! :) A book that I was reading was the Screwtapes - by CS Lewis. It is a great book as it is written from the perspective of the devil workers! In this book, an uncle devil is writting advice to his nephew devil on how to tempt human beings into failing in their walk with God. It is really a mind-opening book.

Puzzle

2009-10-26T17:07:00.004+08:00

Ben really loves his puzzles. I have tried many type of puzzles and I got this Farm Floor Puzzle at 50% discount during the last MPH sale. Unfortunately it was a mistake since it is paper cardboard puzzle as Ben would pull here and there - hence the puzzle will not last long. Here you can see him setting it up.

He really loves the red farm tractor and will always start with that part first. He has this unique way of putting together the puzzle, he will knock-knock at it with his elbow!Almost done.... ....his attention span very short.....now he goes to play with his masak-masak....

.....throw all over the floor first. I ask him WHY!!!! He just look at me kind of "blur-blur"....

...all his toys everywhere. His car abandoned behind him already.

...and his kitchen which I have meaning to show all of you. :)....

My Birthday

2009-10-25T14:38:00.003+08:00

The month of October passes by and I am another year older. Sigh...in another few years, I will need to change the description on my blog to a 40-year old mother... :(....Hey, then again, you are as old as you think, right? :)..

My beautiful carrot cake - ordered from one of my class-mates at Bible class. Yummy. Not as dry as the usual cake and very healthy too as it had loads of nuts and raisins. HL, you know what you are missing! Bro, next time you are back, I will definately order one for you. The family........the extended family, Dad was not in the photo as he was in his singlet and thought it was not proper to take a photo in it. Edwin was the one taking the photo....look at Jack, isnt he a cutey too? Brother-hood...eating and ....

...blowing candles together.

Singapore trip

2009-10-09T12:51:00.004+08:00

Friends asked me to blog about our recent Singapore trip. Actually there is nothing much since we spend most of our time in shopping complex. We did not go to Singapore Zoo or Jurong Bird Park, etc. Entrance fees are pretty expensive (S$1=RM2.47!) but I do think they are justified since most of these places are well maintained. But it is just that Ben is soo young to appreciate.

On Saturday my uncle took us to East Coast beach. There was a yoga event there...! And gosh, they were giving out yoga mats and goodie bags! Even after queue-ing for 10 mintues, we still got our free stuff. Here are photos of the out-door yoga....

Dont think I can do it. :)

And here is Ben with his mat - looks like he wants to join in the fun. :)

Dinner at Porky Place in Sunway Mas

2009-10-08T09:50:00.003+08:00

Thought that we will do something different yesterday night and we went out for dinner. It will be our first test out at a formal place with Ben...Phew, he passed with flying colours.

Would you believe it that Ben took both of these photos of his Daddy??!! Yes, he did. Nowadays he loves to imitate us and he has been trying his hand at photography. Really cool, right? After getting bored with the camera - he played with his Thomas Story Reader. Got it pretty cheap at MPH Book Sale a few months ago. It asked questions and Ben will need to press one of the buttons to give an answer. He just loves it. Of course, the Book Reader will reward him with a "Excellent", "Well Done" or "Good Job"......Food arrive - quite fast since we were the only customer. I think partly it is because we were early as well and it was mid of the week. Daddy order this curried pork ribs - we thought it was pork ribs with curry powder and then grill - but we were wrong! It was actually curry pork ribs. Never mind - it came with rice which we need for Ben. Mine - 2 pork sausages which was yummy.
And the lady of the shop recommended this ice-cream on brownies. Yummy! Perfect ending to a perfect day! :)...Next time, we can bring Ben to more posh dining area as well since he can behave himself. We usually keep to "chap fan" place! Haha....

My Boy on his Scooter

2009-10-05T16:28:00.002+08:00

I know a lot of people might go...Uhhhhh????

Haha...just want to show you how fast Ben goes. Once he kencing already, he climbs onto his scooter and off he goes...leaving his Mummy behind shouting at him!

Ben actually requested for the scooter. I do not know where he saw it but a friend suggest it could be from the Pocoyo cartoon where Elle (the pink elephant) does moves around in her scooter. One day, as I was sitting on the balcony Ben came along and step with one foot on his toy fire engine. He pulled up the fire engine ladder and then proceed to try to scoot on his made-up scooter. Then he told me that he wanted a scooter. Can you believe it???? I did not teach him this at all and the most surprising thing was that we did not need to teach him how to use the scooter which we later bought from Tesco (luckily on sale! cost us only Rm30 plus. But of course, it looks like it is starting to rust now, next time we will ge those stainless steel ones).

Enjoy the view of Ben's bottom! Hehe...

Ben's Kah Chang (Tools in Cantonese)

2009-09-30T16:05:00.003+08:00

Friend C requested to see Ben's shoes. So on top of the shoes, I thought I will show you his other "kah chang" which has caused quite a bit of clutter at home (besides his toys, toys, toys). First up are his cups/water containers. I have been trying hard to wean him off his milk bottle. Spotted these at Cosway - RM7. Luckily bought the Cosway ones instead of the Tupperware ones which look almost the same (RM39).....because Ben ddi not take to the water containers. Sigh....

....his cups...you name it, I got it. Straw cup, cups, whatever cups......none, he still prefers his milk bottle.

Ok, next his shoes....recent purchases at the pasar malam.....

...and finally, the Nike shoes - for shopping complex especially on escalators........it is called the motion sensory system. The boy version will be in this colour (Ben loves it as his favourite colour is blue since Thomas is blue) while the girl's version is in pink. Approximately RM140. I am thankful to friend SN who recommended this pair of shoes (and the shop to buy from) as I was looking high and low for suitable shoes. That is I was TRYING to look since Ben does not give me much opportunity to browse. So SN recommend by sending me the sms and I went to the sport goods shop, showed the guy the sms and tah dah! got it. The sales assistant was thankfully very helpful as he measured Ben's correct size. We have tried to look at department stores and Nike shops but always, they will tell us, "No size!"...without even bothering to look into the store. Thanks SN!

Trip to IOI Mall

2009-09-29T15:54:00.004+08:00

Sigh, once they learn to walk, then they refuse to walk, so typical right? So daddy has to be the taxi. And he refuse to sit in his stroller....how like that lar???? Was thinking of popping over to HK to see Disneyland but if he refuses to walk,susah lar kita.

He is quite afraid of heights....this is his frightened expression actually.

We went to IOI Mall as there was an advertisement in the newspaper that it was having tanglung decorations. All we found was this small space lighted with tanglungs. Just a small space in the walkway between the old part and the new part of IOI Mall. Not even the Centrecourt which has been taken over by stalls selling mooncakes.

Might as well, take a photo.....

There is however one part on the top floor where they are toy machines for children to put coins in and sit. Good thing about Ben is that he fear all this moving-moving toys and hence, we dont bother to waste our coins. He is pretty happy to just sit in them.
In the perahu with Pocahontas....................giving Pocahontas a hug.....

A bee machine

...and a car....

...of course, dont forget an aeroplane as well.

Bento Crazy?

2009-09-27T22:05:00.004+08:00

Got bitten by the Bento bug while surfing the internet and saw some blogs by mothers who are Bento crazy. So went shopping at 100 Yen and Daiso and found some of the stuff. First of all, what is a Bento without a container right? Bought this at 50% discount from Home Harmony.
Seaweed with puncher of happy face..........more tools - the cake/bread/cheese molds and on the top are the egg molds ..This is what it looks like on cheese. Pretty cute, right? Ok, this is just the beginning. Have not use the other materials yet...and sorry, the photo is upside down as I took the photo from the other side. Emmmm...you can see the bullet train with the yellow tracks on the side ...yah, that is anoher addition to Ben's collection of trains from Daiso. ....and this is Ben enjoying it. Actually he did not. Once he saw the green stuff on the cheese, he rejected it. "Sai hei!"....so I am keeping the bento stuff for myself! Ha ha...will test out on Jack on this Tuesday.

Friend, HL's trip to Australia

2009-09-27T21:42:00.003+08:00

We sent off our friend, HL to the airport as she will be going off to Canberra. Already an Australian PR, so she will be (sob, sob) going there permanently. I dont know what else to say, so instead I will show the photos instead.

We met up with her family who also sent her off to the airport. They included her 2 very active nephews. One was 5-years old and the other was 3. So this is the best photo I can get of the 3 squirming children. Haha! Ben made fast friends with them.

Running up and down in the airport.....

And this is Ben taking his breakfast...he loves hash brown.

Yam Cake

2009-09-27T21:09:00.003+08:00

Friend C was asking how come so long did not see Ben on the blog. So here is my active toddler.

As you can see, the current "in" thing for him is a set of spoon, fork and knife which he takes with him to sleep as well! No more Thomas the train. The set of cutlery came along with a mini kitchen/shop from Tesco. Cost me only RM60 compared to some other brands which cost a few hundred RM! Of course, the other brands had more variety...but this Tesco one would do and keeps him somewhat busy. Why kitchen, you might ask......I did noticed that he loves to do "masak-masak" so this would be a better investment. He does not really like Legos though and instead he loves to kicks and throws the structures (which I build!) instead - the destroyer. However he does like setting up tracks and loves puzzles - must take photos of the kitchen and puzzles one day.

Relaxing on the chair....oh yah, just a note of my little guy - he speaks pretty well, he can tell what he wants, etc...but of course, this does not mean we give in to all his wants! Haha.....only thing is that I have yet to teach him Hokien and Mandarin. He can tell us when he is sad. He will put down his head, almost touching his chest and tell us, Ben sad...Ben sad....

He is almost potty-trained (phew!) - except when he is sleeping. He sings pretty well and can remember nursery rhymes (to my surprise!)....

...unfortunately I have not been successful in weaning him off the bottle ....so his tooth decay is pretty bad...sigh.

Ok, to make this entry more interesting, thought that I will blog about my yam cake which I made today. You start off with rice flour - 3 cups.

...and one tablespoon of minced garlic, a bit of dry prawns (according to kuali, it is supposed to be 150gm - quite a lot!) and one yam cubed or sliced......

Put everything in the wok and fry it for about 15 minutes or when it starts to smell nice.....Back to the rice flour, add 6 cups of water into the flour. A pinch of 5-spice powder and salt, stir and then add all the stuff that was stir-fry.......All done - just need to steam for about an hour.
Final ingredient - the green spring onion on top and voila! Yam cake. Easy right?

Friend, Melanie birthday at Oriental Pavillion, Jaya 33

2009-09-04T13:06:00.003+08:00

Celebrated friend, Melanie birthday at Oriental Pavillion with loads of food...hehe....typical Malaysian, wouldn't you say it? There were 4 of us....HL and our PUP teacher/friend, Cheng. Don't we all look lovely? I thought this is a pretty photo. I was very fascinated with their kai lan....Don't you think it is pretty cool (but oily! hehehee...because the leaves of the kai lan have been deep fried first before being sprinkled on top)....... What would a birthday party do without a cake, right????And the birthday girl.....Mel!!! Hope she had a wonderful time with us! Love and blessings from us, Melanie!

Another photo of brother with Ben

2009-08-27T13:32:00.002+08:00

This is a photo of Ben with bro last year. Bro really loves kids ... dont they look great together...? In fact, Ben inherited some of bro's features ......Looking forward to going to Auckland next year since bro will be purchasing a house with 4 rooms. Husband already promise! Hehe......Must get there in time for the baby's full moon! :)

Brother with Ben

2009-08-22T17:13:00.002+08:00

This photo was taken when brother last came back. Sigh, time sure flies by...it was almost 6 months ago when it was CNY. Brother has gone for his Europe trip mid of the year (read all about it at the blog on my list - ahem, bro, I hope you have updated it). And now he is joining the club - parent! Yes, sister in law is pregnant and will be due at the end of February. Bro will surely make a great father with his love for children. :)

Other Photos of Clearwater Sanctuary

2009-08-11T21:27:00.006+08:00

This is a photo of the balcony of our room...pretty isn't it? Facing the lake....or mining pool... The lone tree........

....a lot of beautiful lotus flowers....

Ben and his bright yellow car...pushing everywhere he goes...perfect place for him...

Haha...most photos are their behind as I cannot run fast enough to be in front.

Our room...notice the beautiful blue car.....bought this at an Ipoh toy shop. There are many there! Many varieties as well.......battery operated, push with lights, etc...all above RM200 plus! This one is basic with pedal wheels just like what my brother had when he was young. Love it...for only Rm60! Make sure his legs has more muscles! :).......Mercedes of course!

More photos of the surrounding mining pool...

....The swimming pool....

...and they even have a water slide into the pool

Nearby slide which is part of a playground next to the swimming pool. Quite a nice relaxing place for parents with an active toddler. Definately will go there again. There will be a special promotion during the Puasa Month for obvious reasons - only RM188 net!

Clearwater Sanctuary and Anna and the King

2009-08-11T21:01:00.003+08:00

If you can remember, Clearwater Sanctuary was the location used for the movie Anna and the King starring Chow Yuen Fatt! We could see the roof of the palace from afar and was really curious. No matter how we turn around the golf course, we could not reach the palace. We enquire at the check-in counter and found that only the golf buggy can take us in. So in we go and we found that the path leading inside was pretty over-grown as it has been un-used for many years. So sad...can see that the buildings were not maintained (sigh!) and it has been about 10 years...built in 1999. Most of the material had dropped off, rotting away........

Most of the material were made from styrofoam - I guess it will have been cheaper..
...the place was overgrown with lalang...

But you can just imagine how grand it used to look. Sigh...Further this place would have been a great place for taking photos for wedding....ps, the small little golf buggy was the one which took us into the location.

Trip To ClearWater Sanctuary

2009-08-11T20:36:00.003+08:00

We made a trip to Ipoh on our way to Sg Petani. At first we intended to go to Cameron Highland. Unfortunately Ben was getting a bit restless in the car after the 2 hour drive to Simpang Pulai. So we decided to go to Clearwater Sanctuary, Simpang Pulai which was abotu 15 minutes away from Ipoh.

On the way there, we had a bit of excitement - a fire! It was scary! We did not know what was burning as we could not make up what it was!
At last, we reach! It was a really a nice, quiet and affordable place (RM225 for one night).
The cool display outside. The old tin mining wheels/scoop which was shown counter-clockwise to symbolise the end of the tin mining era. This brought back memories of geography during primary school. This the closest we will ever get to a tin mining machine. I wonder do the students still study this subject since there is no longer any tin mining activity in our country.

Aunty's 70th Birthday

2009-08-11T18:25:00.003+08:00

It was hub's aunty's 70th birthday in Penang. So we went back during the weekend. Food as usual, in Penang was yummy. We did not have much time to take photos of the food because of our squirming worm which we had to take turns to take care. Hub will be eating quickly and the take over to take care of Ben.

However we got pretty good photos of Ben with his cousins and the rest of the family. Enjoy! Oh yah, birthday girl is the one in red! :)

Ben's 2 1/2 Years Old Birthday

2009-08-07T21:33:00.004+08:00

It was Ben's 2 1/2 years old birthday. Just bought a piece of chocolate banana cake from Secret Recipe and did not bother to do anything elaborate since it was a weekday.

Ben getting ready to blow the candle. He really loves to blow candle and is pretty dramatic as you can see!The front view....

The side view.

And lastly of course, eating the cake.

My Little Boy

2009-07-19T13:46:00.002+08:00

A friend commented that my blog is ALL about my son! Hahaha...I guess that is what happens when you are a full time mummy. Ben is such a handful and all you can see is him. Got to say that he is the cutest boy around! :)....Ok, next time, I will try to blog more about other stuff.