Popular Clearance Sale @ Summit USJ

I went on a book shopping spree yesterday!!! Was initially half thinking whether to go to the sale or not, and was so glad that I decided to drag myself there. Prices were slashed up to 90% (limited), 70% (pretty good selection) and below 30% (I didn't bother with this).

Note : Sale is on from March 11 to 20, with members preview on March 10.

I ended up spending almost 5 hours there, including lunch and queuing up to pay. (ok, plus answering a thousand "why" questions from Elyssa. Gosh.... I really need earplugs!!!)

When hubby returned home from work and saw my loot, his first comment was "Aiya, why buy so much???". Then he looked at the books, fell silent then finally said....."Want to go after dinner???" Ha hahhhh!!!! I think I really know him well enough cos I was already expecting BOTH comments from him. ;)

Asked my parents to go along, and we happily bought more stuff last night :)

Main part of the loot -

Clifford "Phonics Fun" Collection - Set 4, 5 & 6
12 small books in each set.
RM13.50 each set (Original : RM45. Discount : 70%)

Items bought at 90% discount

Less than RM3 each

Items bought at 70% discount

Sleeping Beauty & Snow White - RM4.50 each, Nursery rhymes - RM 3, Puzzle fun - RM 1.80. Can't remember for the other two.

Threading board at 70%. (original : around RM45)

Elyssa playing with the threading board

I thought it was an easy game, but I was wrong!! She still doesn't get the concept yet.

Books for me at 90% discount

Around RM3 each after discount :)

Books for me at 70% discount

Hubby was grinning from ear to ear when he saw this - "Death Note" Comics box set @ 70% discount (original : RM333).
He also bought a couple of CDs

Quite a lot of stuff eh??? And I was thinking we wouldn't really be buying more books after we got all these at the Big Bad Book sale late last year -

Gymboree Classes

One of the advantages of not working is that I can now bring Elyssa for her Gymboree classes on weekdays. Recently, I have not been too pleased with weekend classes at the Tropicana outlet cos it's normally very crowded. I don't like it when there are too many kids cos classes feel more rushed, facilitators gets more stressed, less attention given to each kid, more distracted kids etc..

I guess that's the downside when a programme gets more popular. When I first signed Elyssa up, it was pretty quiet and I used to hope there were enough students for the class to start! (I had an experience where the class was cancelled cos there was just one other boy besides Elyssa).

Weekday classes are far more conducive and enjoyable. I managed to take some photos when I brought Elyssa for her 2 classes today (Music and Play) -

1) Music Class

Playing with her sticks
The kids had to do some basic actions according to the song

Dancing with 2 scarves

Solo singing on the giant microphone
She sang "twinkle twinkle little star" and "baa baa black sheep"

Dancing in a circle together with the teacher and her classmates

2) After the 45 minutes Music class, it was time for her Play n Learn class

Story telling time

JUMP!
Little "samseng" in action

Bouncing on the Air Log

Catching Bubbles

Tidying up after the "popcorn making" session

Happy Girl

Overall, I am happy that she enjoys and participates well in her classes. But for every single class, she has some of her "I don't want" moments where she just refuses to follow instructions. Ah well..... I guess that's pretty normal for kids her age!

Sunday Buffet Lunch @ Lemon Grass Cafe, Shangri-La Hotel

For lunch today, we indulged in a nice buffet lunch at Lemon Grass Cafe, Shangri La Hotel. Took advantage of a 50% discount from a credit card promotion.

Some photos taken during lunch -

Mussels and Oysters

Desserts

Chocolate and Strawberry Fountain

Cakes

Like father, like daughter - both concentrating hard on their food.... :)

From my plate - waffles, ice-cream and cookie, sprinkled with lots of toasted almonds and choc chips

Food selection was above average, but as with most buffets there wasn't any particular item that was spectacularly great either (for this reason, I normally prefer ala-carte). And the thing about buffet is there's this compelling "kiasu" feeling to just eat and eat to get back the money's worth! Ha hahh..

In the end, I think we did justice to the RM100 total bill considering it wasn't just for lunch. In a way, it was part breakfast (we had a very light breakfast in anticipation of gorging) and also part dinner (had a very light dinner cos we were still stuffed by dinner time)! But of course there's the guilt factor for eating so much, so I think I'll stay away from buffets for a while. :)

Oh, it wasn't all about food. There were some fun activities for kids too - balloons, a bouncy castle and sand art.

Elyssa waiting patiently for her second balloon
She's going through a phase where she's scared of clowns and mascots. But she was ok with this cos she said he's an "uncle", not a clown

Admiring the fish pond

Proudly showing off her flower balloon hat :)

Eating and playing must be a tiring affair, cos Elyssa dozed off like this after the heavy lunch!

Chinese New Year 2011

Wayyyyy belated but better late than never ;) Blame it on my long-winded Vietnam posts!
I'm too lazy to write much, so just photos from CNY family meals -

Salmon Yee Sang @ MIL's place
This was my second round. My first round was a mini one with hubby and Elyssa. I thought it was a little silly (we were at a chinese restaurant) but hubby insisted that we needed one for our little family. Ha ha.... we got quite a lot of glances from other tables! I think it's gonna be our family tradition from now on :)

Yummy CNY eve lunch cooked by my MIL
(some dishes not in photo)

"Lou-ing" homemade Yee Sang at my parent's place during CNY eve dinner

We had steamboat dinner that night. Totally forgot to take photos

Elyssa in her cheongsam

Kids with the Ipad. I was amazed how quickly they learn!

Elyssa with her cousins, Ah Ku and her two grand aunts

BBQ dinner @ my bro's new house on CNY Day 10

Beef Steaks on the Grill

Elyssa with cousin Justin
That night, she ate 3 chicken drumsticks, 4 cocktail sausages, corn and dunno what else!

Funtime at JungleGym, BSC

Yesterday, we were invited to a birthday party at Jungle Gym in Bangsar Shopping Centre.

We arrived at BSC quite early so we had some snacks at O'Gourmet (read about it so many times before, but it was our first time there). Enjoyed coffee, pastries and baklava there...... really nice! Just loved the ambiance of the place!

After the lovely (but expensive!) snack, we proceeded to Jungle Gym. First time there as well and Elyssa had loads of fun.

I forgot my camera, so here are some grainy photos from my phone -

Climbing up to get to the slide area

Playing balls with the other kids

Waiting eagerly for the birthday cupcakes

Holiday in Ho Chi Minh City (Day 5)

- Just a short post on our last day in HCMC as we left for the airport around 1pm -

For breakfast, I insisted I wanted beef noodles at Pho 24 again :) I thorougly enjoyed my 4th bowl of Pho 24 beef noodles for this 5 day trip. As usual, hubby said it was so-so only.

Exterior of Pho 24

We normally go to another outlet, just 2 minutes walk away from this one (this one is more cramped and warm inside)
Some of the outlets are really close to one another!

Elyssa, all ready to go "kai-kai" for the day!

As it was only half a day, we just walked over to the TAX supermarket do some last minute shopping. Ha ha..... last minute shopping can be quite dangerous cos there's the kiasu feeling of "if I don't buy now, I won't have a chance to buy again". Besides the planned purchases of coffee packs, I ended up with quite a number of embroidered bags and tissue paper covers. ;)

After shopping, we ordered coffee at one of the popular local coffee chains - Highlands Coffee. Not that great, I preferred the coffee at the other chain, Trung NguYen.

We were still pretty full, but we stopped for an early lunch at Augustin, a place recommended by the guidebook for French food. Didn't want to leave Vietnam without trying out French cuisine! This restaurant was pretty near our hotel and only re-opened that day after a long break for the Lunar New Year.

Exterior of Augustin. Nothing fancy

But interior was warm and cosy

Complimentary warm baguette rolls served with butter. On the left was a Pate dish we ordered. Can't remember the full name

Creamy Clams with White Wine soup

This tasted hea-ven-ly !!!

Pork and pasta dish (can't remember the fancy name)

This was very good too!

Family photo taken by the waitress
err.... I think hubby was still chewing something in his mouth

Lunch was approx RM60. I don't think we can get French food in M'sia at this price!
We were glad that our last meal in HCMC was a yummy one :)

Went back to the hotel for the last time, did some final packing then it was time to go the airport. Bye Bye HCMC!!

Last photo at the hotel lobby

I know I say this every time - but it felt like the 5 days just flew by. As usual, Elyssa was pretty well behaved throughout the holiday. There were of course the occasional whiny moments but most of the time, snacks like yogurt, milk and biscuits did the trick :)
And as usual, I truly enjoyed the time spent with the 2 darlings in my life!