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Sunday, December 20, 2015

Ipoh Family Holiday - Nov 2015

*Blow, Blow Cobwebs again*

Started new job on Dec 1 and it has been absolutely EX-HAUS-TING! The past 3 weeks felt like 3 months. New industry, new work scope, new management level, new culture, new team....... new Everything! So many things to take in. So much adjusting to do.  But I do like what I've experienced so far and fingers crossed this will work out. (my predecessor lasted 9 months and then the position was vacant for exactly 1 year, on the day I joined. So on my first few days, I was frequently introduced as "this is our new XX, the one we waited one year for". Aiks!.... talk about pressure!!!)

My days have been a blur of meetings after meetings and even lunches were mainly welcome/intro/ working sessions, but things have finally settled down somewhat. Or possibly because most folks have started their year end leave.  So finally, on my 3rd weekend, I feel like life is creeping back to normal.  Baked cookies yesterday and today, I finally have the mood to sit down and blog.

Will start off with our family holiday to Ipoh last month. Finally, a long awaited holiday with lets see.... Ah Kong, Ah Mah, 3 siblings and partners, 7 kiddos and 3 maids. Full quorum. Yay! My sis already blogged about this, so I'll just add on some additional photos I have.

Early Morning of Day 2 
Ah Kong was initially watching his Ipad quietly in a corner. Before long, SEVEN heads popped in  ;-) 

Then, Ah Mah wanted to go for morning walk. Can just go like that? NO.. ...one-by-one, the kiddos wanted to follow. But some had to go pee pee first, eat first, wash hand first bla bla. About 30 minutes after announcing her morning walk intention, Ah Mah finally managed to leave the house. 

I just had to snap a closer photo of Elyssa and Justin
Such a sweet photo! I'm guess a day will come when they will be too self-conscious to hold hands like that. 

Oh, from the first photo, can see only 5 kiddos in the photo.  The remaining 2 kiddos (whose mummy was earlier trying to stuff them with food, as usual. hehe) wanted to follow too.    So, Round 2 of morning walk was with the complete 7.

After breakfast, we all went to Sam Poh Tong.

Tortoise Feeding Session 



Finally, a family photo!  (minus hubs who had to go back to KL a day earlier)   Pinched from my sis's blog. 

Quite a picturesque place


Fish Feeding 

Looking forward to the next family holiday! 

Monday, November 23, 2015

My Little Dancing Queen

At my cousin's wedding last night:

E : I like the music performed by the live band.  I really feel like dancing! 

And when I feel like dancing, I just dance...... 

And dance and dance

Oh what a night!  Erin was in a super duper happy mood.  I've never seen her dance in public like that.  

Managed to take a short video -



Kekeke.... my little exhibitionist!  
Really reminded me of Elyssa when she was younger and danced at the dance floor during our Bansai Cruise in Vietnam.  

Erin danced and danced for a pretty long time last night  (much to the amusement of her grandparents, granduncles and grandaunties) , with a little curtsy at the end of each song.  

Loved it , loved it, loved it  :-)   Loved seeing her dance, loved seeing her so happy, loved the simple innocence of childhood, loved the smiles she brought, loved so many things!!! 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Naughty Corner

Pics of little Erin crying angrily in her naughty corner.
Keke..... mummy put on an angry face, but deep inside, I thought she was pretty cute  :-)





Western Australia Holiday - Day 8 (last day)

Last day of our holiday today!  *sobs*   Main itinerary is the drive back to Perth airport, return rented car and then take the flight back home.

Last photo of the apartment. Bye Bye apartment!
I like how Jie Jie is helping mei mei with her bag here  :-) 

Snapped this photo of the outdoor swimming pool before getting into the car 
It was too cold to swim in the pool!   Uhm..just an excuse tho.  There was actually a heated indoor swimming pool too, which we never got round to using. 

Kids Playroom
We never got round to using the kids playroom too.  Why?  Gosh, I seriously have no idea! Just a couple of steps away from our apartment unit but somehow never thought of going in.  Grrr!!! Silly, silly.  And we were back at the apartment by 5pm on most days anyway. 




On the way to the airport, hubby decided to make a quick detour to Freemantle

@ Freemantle 

Green Lighthouse 

Couldn't find a parking lot near the bay, so we settled for the park instead.

Our last picnic lunch.  Girls had fun chasing seagulls! 



Headed to the airport after that.  Airport was terrible - the Perth airport was under construction so it was confusing and check in & immigration counter queues were horribly long. Immigration queue snaked all the way down a staircase and it took us almost 2 hours. Grr!  Cargo probably got a little mixed up too cos when we reached KLIA, we waited more than an hour for the stroller (an hour AFTER we got our other bags) together with a couple of others who waited for their wheelchairs/ strollers too.
Ah well, not a great end, but nevermind, it was still a GREAT holiday  :-)


Our Aussie loot
ps : baked beans and pasta shells were from our unfinished pantry supplies. Not purposely bought to be brought back  ;-)


And I'm finally DONE with my Aussie posts..... 2 months after returning. Hehehe. 

Monday, November 2, 2015

Western Australia Holiday - Day 7

Good Morning Day 7!  Our final full day of the holiday.  Gosh... why did time fly by so fast??

Started the morning by frying up some eggs and bacon. We planned to have lunch outside, so didn't do our normal routine of packing lunch.

Part of Breakfast 

And then we went off to explore!
First stop was Margaret River Dairy Company.  Bought a small tub of yummy strawberry yoghurt. Forgot to take pics of the place.

Next stop : Margaret River Nuts and Cereal. Got ourselves a pack of Macadamia Nuts and some granola.


Macadamia Nuts 

We walked to take a closer look at the Macadamia Trees. Girls were just happy to run about.

First time seeing a Macadamia Tree! 


Photos of my 2 princesses. They were both in a very happy mood that day  :-) 
Love all these photos!  So lovey- dovey and with matching outfits and hairstyle too. 
Pity the sky was a little gloomy that day.



Erin had a little fall when she was running.  Jie Jie gave her a little kiss  :-) 


Next stop :  Pukara Estate for some premium olive oil and balsamic vinegars.

@ Pukara Estate 


Beautiful flowers! 


Hubby tasting the balsamic vinegar
We ended up getting 4 small bottles of balsamic vinegar and a bottle of olive oil. Took our time as it started to rain. 

Not run-of-the mill Balsamic Vinegars 


Next agenda :  look for a lunch place.  We settled on Duckstein Brewery, which is just opposite Laurence Wines where we had lunch the previous day.

Restaurant Area 


Walked around a bit while waiting for our lunch-

Elyssa at the wooden bridge

Jie Jie and Mei Mei 

My small princess and I 

Lavender bush! 

With my 2 girls 

Lunch is ready! 
Seafood pasta, schnitzel and fish and chips.
Yummy

Enjoying lunch 


Since it was raining outside, we just chilled and enjoyed the surroundings  :-)
Ordered coffee and chit chatted.  Girls were kept busy with colouring pages (from the restaurant)


More photos @ Duckstein Brewery

Again, we were one of the last customers to leave!
Did some last minute shopping after that and then headed back to the apartment.  Time to start packing our stuff.  Sigh.

Cooking dinner for the last time 

Girls playing after dinner 


-- End of Day 7 --