Of family getting together, Sekinchan, Kuala Selangor fireflies

It was such a pleasant surprise when my elder brother suddenly whatsapp-ed me to find out if I had any plans for the weekend after Christmas. In fact, I had. I was thinking of going to Penang for that long weekend holiday but hotel rooms were not booked yet, so plans could change. 

Can someone please believe me, we moved back to KL to settle down since 2006 and not once he came and visit me! Although we do meet almost every year, mostly when we make a visit to Spore and at times in Ipoh for CNY, but he never took his family over for a visit. I'm sorry but I would be lying if I say I don't mind.

Anyhow, he made it this time and I was very happy and excited. Our parents came over too, why of course, even in such a short notice, like less than 24 hours! But they are retired elderly folks so it wasn't much of a problem.

We went on a road trip to Kuala Selangor after dimsum breakfast and stopping by for a visit to the old palace. 

Before we go, I tried to find information on where exactly it is to see the paddy fields and to watch the fireflies at night, but I just can't pinpoint exactly where. 

It was quite a long journey, and when we reached K. Selangor, we saw the Bukit Melawati already. Quickly find a parking which wasn't much of a problem and walked over to get the tram tickets. It was really quite a long queue  to hop on to the tram. Took like maybe 20 mins wait, and by the time we hopped on, the queue was even longer from when we arrived.

The tram ride was so-so and I think we were all supposed to alight at the peak of the hill to view the scenic spots and "play" with the silver leafed monkeys which were all over the place. But we saw a huge crowd waiting there and since there were 12 of us, we refused to budge, knowing well it would be hard for us to hop back up for the journey down later. The sky looked as if it would pour soon too and we really wanted to move on to Sekinchan. So, the people were like giving us the wtf looks but of course, we pretended we didn't see.. hehe...

By the time we get back to our cars, we were starving as we hadn't eaten anything after dimsum brunch. So, we just hopped in to the nearest shop where we can grab something to bite. 

 The shop here looked pretty cool, I'd say.

Moving on to Sekinchan, alas, it was pouring when we arrived. It was half an hour's drive from K. Selangor. We drove round and checked out the piers where fishing boats docks and then on to Pantai Redang. Since it was raining, we can't do much so we didn't get off from the cars. It was around 5.30pm by then and we thought since we can't do much, we might as well have an early dinner.

Drove to a seafood restaurant, simply la, and saw a kedai runcit selling seafood stuffs. Hang around, browsed around, bought some stuffs and by the time we were done, hey, the sky had cleared! So we made a change of plan and go over to the paddy fields. I really really wanted to see the infamous paddy fields.

It wasn't difficult locating the fields. Actually it is just at the right side as we drive from K.Selangor and upon reaching Sekinchan.

The fields were indeed vast and beautiful. But before we went down to take a closer look, we had to go find the factory to buy a few sacks of rice first. Hubs asked a local for directions and presto, we found it uneventfully alright!

All of us enjoyed ourselves in the calm and serenity of the vast field, even my first nephew who looked quiet and solemn most days seemed to be quietly appreciating it.  My brother and sis-inlaw says it's great we brought them there as they haven't seen paddy before, only knowing how to eat rice. :)

After dinner, we started on our journey back. Initially the plan was to catch the fireflies watching before heading home but as it was raining again, we thought of abandoning the plan. As we reach K. Selangor, meimei was desperate to pee and fortunately, we saw a row of new empty shops on our left.

We thought of just stopping by and letting her pee hidden away from the lights, but then I saw there was a hotel buzzing with activity just a bit forward.

Hubs went down and asked the person at the hotel lobby if he knew we could still watch fireflies in the drizzle at that time. That person referred to another and what a pleasant surprise, there was a jetty for fireflies watching right there where we were! We didn't need to go and look for another venue that we were recommended to earlier by a local.

As we were contemplating whether to go or no go, I said what the heck, just go! For all I know, this was my first time, and I have heard so much about it, and I don't think I want to drive so far away to watch fireflies anymore, so I really wanted to check it out myself there and then already.

The fees were RM15 per person, same pricing for adults or children. My parents didn't want to go so we had to abandon them. 

And my oh my, it was quite a exhilarating boating experience going down the river in darkness like that. Then we saw the fireflies and the 2 locals who accompany us on the boat caught one or two for us to hold in our cupped palms. It was magical. But holy cow, there were SO many mozzies having a feast on our legs!!! That really spoiled the wholesome experience. And we got a bit wet too since it was drizzling, although the boat has a shelter.

The whole boat ride took around 30 mins or so and all of us went home happy and satisfied that we did see the fireflies after all. Though it was a refreshing bit of things-to-see activity, I won't do it the second time. First time, ok ler...

The drive back to KL was pretty bad at some points. It was raining heavily and there weren't any street lights. I relied on car lights in front of me to find the way and drove at a steady comfortable speed. Just prayed there weren't any potholes on the road I was on, else it would be unimaginable disaster. When we touched the highway, I could finally breathe in relief. By the time we got home it was like 10.30pm. What a great day it had been indeed!

The next day, we just went to Midvalley. The smaller ones played happily at MegaKidz while the rest did their shopping. After couple of hours, we went back home and celebrated mom's 70th birthday for her. 

Soon, it was almost time to bid farewell but not before a sumptuous Thai meal for dinner. I really wish that they would come by more often, well, at least once a year or two.

Wake of my 5th uncle.

My 5th uncle, a brother of my dad, passed away over the last weekend. He was an artist. A real artist who paints and sells his masterpieces in art galleries. Ain't that so .... "wow"?

But he and his family were never close to us. They stay in KL all their lives, but we never visit them, not at least whilst in these 7 years we settled down here. When I was young, my parents did take us to see them once in a while, like, really once in awhile. It had been many many years since we really last saw each other. According to my mom, there were some squabbles over, well, family issues.

I don't know why, but somehow, the cousins I have who share the same family name with me, are just aren't close. There are some in Melbourne who are extremely friendly and kind, but they are children of my dad's cousins, so it's under another family tree branch away. For the cousins who are directly under my grandparents' branch, we are just never close. As a chinese though, I had been taught that these cousins are supposedly like my own brothers and sisters.

So the kids had never known this family relative of mine, who is so close in relation yet so far away. When I told them my uncle passed and his profession, they were nonchalant, nevertheless.

Anyway, I went for his wake, and since KT wanted to pay his respects too, we had no choice but to bring the kids along. Shall I say, maybe it's the first wake they had been to. I was sceptical at first, but, they behaved well throughout and even went to see my uncle who was lying in his coffin! I myself dared not see! Well, at least, they had seen him for the first and the last time. I felt a pang of guilt, really.

3 nights for the wake, and I went there again on the 3rd night, bringing my parents along, who came back all the way from SIngapore. They were supposed to be heading back to Ipoh directly the next day, but plans changed so they had to detour here. I met my cousins (children of the deceased) and I couldn't recognize them! They have grown so much! Oh well, aren't we all? 2 of them are residing in US while the youngest child is in China. The son is a cosmetic surgery doctor now, and they are all around my age. Needless to say, they are very good artists too!

May the soul of my 5-pak rest in peace.

Cousins forever.

My brother who is "half-Thai" now, came back home for a holiday with his family in August. The picture above says for itself how fun (not!) the cousins were playing with each other.

The girls clicked together almost instantly while my charming looking nephew is not shy and very kind to his little cousins. When he saw korkor, he gave him a nice slap on his shoulder and said "Bro!" Kinda cute.

I love talking to him too as he has this charming manner which, seriously, reminds me of his dad when he was young.

The time together was just a very short one but, WE ARE GOING TO SEE THEM IN BANGKOK SOON!!!

YAY!

It's about time we do so!

Haven't been flying off as a family for a vacation for a long long time. The kids mentioned that they missed flying and frankly, I feel that too. But no fret, Bangkok, here we come!

VIP guest for the past few days.

My dad just left after a 7d/6n vacation at Residensi Gargles.

The kids had a blast playing with his iPad.

I loaded more pics and deleted some away as the last time when they were uploaded, it was done in a hurry and included all 9-c-lap-sap pics. Upload some songs in it too, which includes the latest hits. He surely would impress the hot aunties back home soon!

Loaded more games for him and he was busy all day still trying to figure out how to play those burung tersangat marah or feh-la-li racing.

Took him along enroute to school, and gave him a chance to pick meimei up after her school team's practice one day, of course with korkor tagging along. Not to say don't trust him la, but better provide some backup, haimoe?

One day I had him driving round town with korkor in tow again, supposedly to drop the washing machine mechanic back to his workshop. And pandainya... he didn't think it was a necessity to bring a hanpon. Amazingly they made it home again after a 30 mins long adventure around the town.

After this period of stay together, I am just thinking here, he's really getting old. Very forgetful and very ngam-cham. Everything also repeat several times. But I'm so glad he doesn't feel angry when I sometimes just a teeny weeny bit marah him or tease him. He's bubbly for a 70 years old ah pek, really.

My dad at near 70yo

My dad, still working at 69, was laid off last week. It was such a big surprise since not long ago before that happened, his boss wanted to sign another 1 year contract with him. Apparently, the factory was to close down, and everyone had no choice but to look for greener pastures elsewhere.

We, as filial children, told him that it's good too la, time to really retire this time lor. He retired at 55 earlier, but the retirement didn't work out well because he was still a very active person. Staying inactive at home made him very restless and bad tempered.

So, whilst he's working, there's always good and sad to it. Good that it makes him happy, but sad that it's so tough for him to take leave off to visit any of us whenever he likes to. Well, this time, we thought, we should try and make something out for him now that he won't be working anymore.

Dimji... on Friday, when he's supposed to pack all his stuffs and come back home for good, he passed by K. Kangsar and dropped by at another factory to ask if there's any vacancies, he was hired again! My mom and I were both shocked at the sudden turn of events so fast! My dad was smart enough to ask for a later starting date so he can have some time off to visit my brother in Singapore and me in KL.

Thus, they went ahead to Singapore on Friday night to spend the weekend with my brother and his family, and over to my place after a couple of days later.

While they were here, my dad helped didi in his homework. It was so heartwarming to see them at work, though my dad was pretty frust when the little guy kept being slow and unresponsive at times. I told him that he's very lucky indeed, y-koong didn't even teach mommy when she was young!

On a nice Friday morning, I took him and meimei, who was not at school being Good Friday, to breakfast. He initially didn't want to go since he said he ate his, but I told him to follow along, just to have a drink outside with us. I wanted to remember all these little moments with him, together with my kids, as it's really so rare. I just let him talk and I listen. When he's quiet, I would stir some thoughts out from him and he would start babbling again. Just like a little kiddo.

Then again, seeing how both my parents argue and fight over trivial little things, I feel rather lost. And I can't take any sides, since both are not angels either. Sometimes I feel it's really more good than harm for him to be away working most of the time than staying at home all day with my mom.

Weekend homecoming

We went home for the weekend to meet up with my elder brother and his family. A nonstop chattering dinner with some relatives, an afternoon at the Camerons and another round of yumcha with the same group of relatives again summed up those few days.

But the smiles on both my parents', there were no words for it. Can see how so very happy they were. Though the days were hot and wet, it didn't dampen our moods, as we braved the wind and rain to overcome the winding and narrow road to the tea plantation, pick fat juicy strawberries to the children's delight, ate Tuck Kee fried noodles even though it was pouring. I enjoyed myself very much.

On the Monday early morning, 6am to be precise, I was awakened by dad's morning fix, and went along with him to walk up the pathroad on Kledang Hill. When we arrived, ours was only the 3rd car, quite a contrast to my expectation where I remembered last time we can't even find a good parking spot near the foothill. It was so dark and silent, it was freaking the hell out of me. But it would disappoint my dad too much to request him to turn back, so I had to keep telling myself 'ding tit lei, ding tit lei..."

My dad kept talking to me while my mind kept imagining gory situations. I kept flashing the torchlight around, and behind and hoping the sun would come up soon soon soon.. my! that was not what I expected to be. Because ah.. last last time, it is like a partay up at Kledang Hill, many people hiked up and down at those hours one.

Fortunately, nothing of my wild imaginations took place, and we came back down happily. More people were seen when we were descending and I could breathe a little easier. I can see my dad was very happy to have my company though. That really made my day.

And I felt really mm-seh-tuck to leave that afternoon. We had such a great easy time together, I just wish we could have these kind of gatherings more often.

Grandmother story part 1.

Admittedly, I must say, I'm not very interested in my grandmothers' stories all along. As in my own grandmas, grandpas, their lives, their characters, my own roots.

My memory of them, are both the paternal and maternal grandmas were still alive during the childhood days. I didn't get to see both sides' grandpas.

But recently, I realized it's good to know more about them from my parents, before it's too late. So, when my dad was here, I asked him about them, and when my mom's here, I would do the same. Now, before I forget again what they told me, I think I shall write some grandmother's stories for my kids, just in case... you know.

Let's start with my father's side. Apparently, my yeye has a wife in thongsan before he came over to Mal in a boat. I was told that the wife was a samphoejai which means she was betrothed to him before she was born. They didn't have kids, hearsay no formal wedding was even held.

Anyway, he came in a boat, dunno how got to know my grandma (most likely introduced by taikamjea la) and got married, start to build a family. He started doing odd jobs, and later slowly moved to having his own timber business, and I remember us going to the factory, called Nam Loong along Jalan Lahat.

My yeye was a very strict person, without a smile on his face, but not quite the same when around his grandsons. My brothers, especially the eldest, had the privilege of being loved by him.
He doesn't talk much with my mom, my mom's recollection of him is that he's a strict but kind man.

My marmah was a a very yeh-man-nai-nai. When I asked my dad how she was in person, the first response I get was "Harumphhhh! Very yeh-man geh. Always want things her way". Apparently, it wasn't quite a nice mother-son relationship. Such a pity that there's the impression of his own mother, huh?

He said there was once he talked back on her after she scolded my mom unreasonably. He remembered how fierce she was and how she didn't talk to them for days on end.

As for me, I can only remember we used to visit her very other weekend in her home, which is now my 2-phak's home. It's a big bungalow in Pasir Puteh (I think!) with a good extra land for farming fruit trees. She was old and frail, sickly and not very the "sayang" type. My brothers and I were led to her bed, and greet her "marmah!" and can run off to play after that. I don't have that moment of "ahh.. my cute grandchild, come here and let me sayang...". Sigh!!

She died when I was still a very small child, and I attended her taoist rituals for 3 or 4 days, but without any shows of sadness, it was to us, a "get-together" with our cousins around.

And that concludes my story of my paternal grandparents. Oi! wake up lor! Now I present my grandparents pics, want to see anot?

Here.

Bkt Jalil Park again.

Last weekend, my mom was back again, to meet my nephew and niece from Bangkok who were here since ... some time ago.

We spent time playing Wii, swimming and strolling at Bkt Jalil Park, our 2nd visit since the Go Go Green event ran by the kids' preschool.

This time round, we checked out the rest of the park and I find that I really love the place. It's just beautiful and a good hangout to chill (in this case, heat up) with the family. It was a pity that we went there quite late, about 6pm, as were taking a long time to get out from the house due to the hot weather. Hence, by the time we took a big round, time was already getting late and the sun was about to set. There was still a children's playground we haven't seen yet.. our next target!

While guiding the kids to bend down, getting ready for a race, suddenly my sil ran scrambling away. I thought "WTH! Cheating in front of the kids?" Then, we saw that she spotted a bill on the path in front and she found RM50. What a lucky day indeed! Of course, we were discussing to report police or not and surrender our (it's ours already!) "finding", and looked around to see if there's anyone looking for his money... for about 2 secs? And we hurried away and thank God for sponsoring our dinner that night. But we did leave something else for other people, and it was a ball, not any ball, but our FAVORITE ball. OK la, we are fair, aren't we?

During the walk, I had this thought in my mind. Why aren't there any business entrepreneurs at these parks, renting bicycles for these joggers or park-ers? I think it should be good response. And they could also provide some leung-cha, i-screams, kuih-muih, special services, I mean, those are what I would be happy to pay for at that time. In fact, cyclists for young and old can enjoy some simple traffic rules in the park.

I remember when I was young, my parents used to take us to DR Park to cycle on Sunday mornings. There was this bicycle kiosk, renting out bicycles cheaply, and they have tricycles, bikes with training wheels, bigger ones, and even larger ones. And that little area has proper roads, equipped with traffic lights, gas station, road signs etc. The slope was THE challenge for us kids. Going up the slope would be so "killing", and coming down would be so "heart-pumping". I think I never managed to conquer that fear. Ahh.. some simple family activities, in fact, was already available during our time, but not now. What a pity.


(Pictures taken a few years ago at DR Seenivasagam, Ipoh on a cheerful morning)

Welcoming home my mama.

My mama came home last week and she looked so much thinner and older. Really tore my heart apart. I'm so glad she's home. So does my dad. He was so surprised when he called and knew she's back so suddenly. Asked when she's going back to Ipoh to hug hug again, my mom told him she wants to stay here for the time being to "take a good rest" and gain back some weight. Poor dad, have to tolerate for awhile longer. He even asked me to take a picture of her so he can see how thin she is now. How loving!

We caught up on the ongoings and gossips around here and over at her job, and came to the conclusion that she realized she's really old now and can't work like before. She said she would ask dad to retire too by the end of this year, so they can spend more time together and 'heong ching fook' jor. I feel really happy to hear that, as I always hope that my poor dad can retire and spend time leisurely and happily before it's too late.

He had really been working too hard all his life. As always, when we asked if they want to go anywhere for a holiday, he would say it's hard to apply for leave at his work, and it's so pitiful to leave him alone. I really wish they can have more time together, whilst still be able to quarrel less and go everywhere to visit me or my brothers whenever they feel like it.

My mom bought some clothes for me, my sis-inlaws, my mother in law, and herself. It's always so pleasurable to look at new clothings, try them on, and catwalk a bit. I am unsure but I feel my mom seems to compensate back for the time when I was young as she rarely buys me any clothes then. She would sew them for me, and most times, it's just some hand-me-downs from my cousin sisters.

I wish I can tell her, she's doing more than enough for me already by being healthy and always be by my side when I need her most, especially the pregnancy days and confinement days. But it's so hard to tell her that, no? Cos, our eyes will be watery before I even get to the point and the words will be stuck in my throat. Anyway, I try to convey the message out by some actions, that is taking her to eat what she likes and durians!! I bought home 10 of it and she was so thrilled. Too bad the durians weren't so fulfilling, but I can tell she was happy to be home to savour it.

Ahh.. just so looking forward to the trip with them and my inlaws. It would be something different indeed.

Supposedly a post of pictures only.

Oh dear! I just realised I've made a grave mistake of deleting the pictures from the memory card. I thought I had saved it up into the hard disk while I cleared them from the cam and now all those pictures couldn't be found. CY, I AM SO SO SORRY!!!!

Those are pictures my bro took from a day trip to the Camerons. I've browsed through them, and some are really cute and beautiful. (At least I took a look and all remained as images in my memory only now, what a pity)

And we made a trip to visit an old abandoned tin dredge (kapal korek) in Tg Tualang, Perak. It's a very interesting trip and I definitely snapped some nice pics of the kids and my dad too. SOB! SOb! Sob!! I am sooooooo sad...

After which, we made a pit stop to eat the famous big-head-prawns of Tualang, and the food pics would make you droolllllll... The food was so darn delicious and it wasn't expensive either. We stuffed ourselves damn full. Yeah, the waistline kembang so much after just a weekend.

It didn't help that they were around for another few more days which meant I were to skip my yoga classes and go for more filling breakfasts with them. Not that I'm complaining. I had a good time with them, after all the last I'd seen them since was a year ago.


Another highlight during the weekend in Ipoh was the meeting up with Dawn, one of my good friend in Form 3, who came back from US for a visit. There were other aunties around too, and these aunties made such noise that their children would be shocked to see! Oh my! Who cared. The main point is to let our hair loose and enjoy ourselves. I didn't have any pictures, but it's so easily retrieveable from FB (other people's cam)

Ahhhhh.... I still can't believe those pictures are gone forever! boo hooo hooooo.....

Birthday tea party.

It's koko's 9th birthday! And everyone gathered for a tea party here.

Busy entertaining the guests.
(didi and meimei arrange the party for them)

Even Transformers so give face.
(didi made this, btw, he loves to play these toys more compared to koko)

And so, it was just another ordinary day other than the extraordinary guests for the tea party. Went to school, came home, showered, took a nap, went out to choose his own cake, had dinner, finished off homework and played Wii with a friend who stays downstairs.


Guess it was a far cry from the previous years' parties we arranged for him, but he didn't complain. At least he got his electronic dictionary and we went to Chillis the Saturday before. And papa promised for a Tony Roma's dinner someday when he's back.

Oh, the cake, orange Italian cheese cake was sinfully delicious.. And koko reminded me to leave some for papa. The kids miss them. I do too. But I'm so in dilemma, should I let him in when he's home, or shoo him out to go and self-quarantine for 7d7n before he comes back and hug hug kiss kiss? Or is it ok to just take the risk and let him in? Then hug+kiss seem not-right, no hug+kiss also seem not-right. How? Just hug+kiss and whole family self quarantine together? Might as well go for a 7d6n holiday then. hmm.....

Pictures with our old folks.

These 2 pictures will be so treasured. I love how everyone smiled.





Looks nicer than those traditional poses, sit geh sit, stand geh stand, hoh?

The past few days.

Though we all know, death is unavoidable, everyone will die, and it's better to have the young sending the old away than the other way round to spare them the pain of the loss, nevertheless, it still scares the piss out of me to bear the thought of not seeing my most beloved parents forever.

I knew and planned what I had wanted to blog on Monday, when suddenly I had a call from my dad saying they were in the clinic, mom was found to have very high blood pressure and could be admitted to hospital for monitoring. Everything was irrelevant, nothing else matters anymore and all I wanted to do was to drop everything and rush home to see her and be with her.

When I talked to her over the phone, I knew she was worried, and happy to hear I would be back to be her companion for the days when my dad will be back to work. And that was also the first time I drove back alone with the kids, having anxiety myself what I would do if anything were to happen halfway on the journey home. I suppose I couldn't worry too much.

I got home safely, and I saw her pale and tired, which really took all my energy to compose myself and keeping calm. It wouldn't be any use to panic at that moment, would it? The night seemed so long, and how regretful I was not to have memorize the tips in my spam mails about the first aid to give when stroke or heart attack happens, though I am not so sure if these are the things related to high BP. Jeez.. how I missed the internet when at least I could have googled some information to use during emergencies.

Hence, the next thing I could think of was to consult my own brother and pressing on the alarm button, he called from US to give me a crash course on what things she or I need to look out for and what I could do the next day.

I called up the specialist the next day to ask about her condition and he told me to take her right back instead of waiting for another day for follow up as planned. We quickly went on with it and it was such a relief to see her BP had dropped, with effect from the medication she took. We also asked him why she had become so tired and apparently, it was the other medication he gave her to "calm her down", which could make her so sleepy. And he advised her to drop that off, since it was not needed, and on the contrary made her feel even more anxious.

I went on to buy her a home monitoring BP for home use, and taught her how to use the equipment, after scrutinizing the manual stressfully, as I left my glasses at home. After 2 more nights back in my own home where I grew up in and officially left on my wedding, I had to leave her with my aunt, as I had to come back to KL for our holiday this weekend. Else, I would have took her home with me.

It was with a heavy burdened heart though, I am just so worried that the sudden surge in her BP was just a symptom of something even more serious with her heart as she said she had felt very uncomfortable with her thumping heart before. I could only pray that her coming whole body check up would confirm everything is ok. Please let it be. I just can't bear the thought of losing her yet.

Pictures speaks a thousand words?

Congratulations...

A new family addition... little Ms. Emily, much awaited baby of my husband's sister and hubby.

I'm also upgraded to "Jiew Mu" or "Kham Mou".

Ang koo-koo.. call me jiew mu, I give you 3 big cousins to play with.. :D

Ahh.. looking at cute babies like this, so small and lovely, makes me wanna make one too myself and play with all day again. But think twice, all those long nights without sleep and non-stop crying, better not.

Congratulations to PT and hubby.

My dad

I suspect he's a problem child when he was young.. :)

That's because he makes me pulling my hair out everytime I take him out for Kai-kai.

Happened not only once. Not even twice. Can't be sure how many times it repeated itself.

He wouldn't be following your footsteps when we go on shopping trips. That's ok.

He wouldn't answer your phonecalls when you want to tell him it's time to get going, it's workday and schoolday the next day. That's still ok.

He wouldn't be trying to look for you and ask if it's time yet. That's...ok.

He wouldn't answer to the pager on the PA system. That's....you tell me.

After searching high and low for him and the legs are numbed, he would still be wandering away seeing we weren't really on the way out yet, just ABOUT to be...I don't know how to deal with him anymore.

He's my dad, much respected and loved by us, but yet, he's like a little child, have to be admonished for his bad bad behavior.

Anyway, I told mom, admonishing him won't do any good. He won't change, accept that fact.

So, I told her, there would be 2 solutions to this problem.

1. Not take him to any shopping kai-kai anymore, unless someone is willing to follow him wherever he goes.

2. Let him wear his phone around his neck with something like this.Or even solution (3)...set his ringtone on some sexy lady voice calling his name, that would surely make him answer the phone before he starts to blush.



Nevertheless, he's still my dad I love who took care of his family well, and who spoilt my mom to bits. What a dad!

My special guests

What a hectic week! I can't even recall what I had done the whole week.

But what I do remember is playing host to some of my special closest guests over for a 4 day 3 night stay at my own home.


Pictures taken years ago. I didn't find time to take pictures with them on this trip with his little sister, as I was so tired and exhausted after work each day.


He has such a charming smile. Everyone just adores him when he was a baby. But after the toddler years, as like any other children, he's not adorable and cute anymore. Just like my eldest son. Sometimes, you just wish they grow up fast fast and sometimes not.

I would have enjoyed myself more spending more time with them, but this week I was working as a fire fighter, so was busy saving lives, and no time to take a breather, let alone take pictures.

And before I knew it, their 4D/3N vacation in their koo-koo's home was at the end, and I was to send them off to their ah-yi's home.. sigh!

Nevertheless, I really appreciate my sister-in-law for taking them over to stay with us. It's just exactly the thing I love to have,, spending a few days together, sleeping over, better still if the kids can all camp out together (in my living room, that is) and the cousins knowing each other, playing with each other, getting on each other's nerves, sharing new ideas and discoveries, updating and gossiping on each other's lives...

That's what families should do.

CY, PLEASE let her read this. Thankyouverymuch, SH. I meant to take you and the kids off to somewhere nice to eat, but time was pretty short, we do it the next time you are back, ok? I hope you would continue to bring them over to stay every time you are back again. Hopefully, I won't be not as busy then.