Bye bye 2011

How time flies… and now we are going into 2012…2011 has a lot of up and down…a lot of memories…

JL stepped into Standard 1 and AL into her nursery. It was a new phase of life for both kids. They did well in their school/kindy.

JL was (on average) 1/39 in his class and 14/613 in his whole standard. Coming from parents who did not know how to read/write/speak in mandarin, he made us proud especially the moment he went up the stage to receive his plaque. For this year, he was chosen to represent his class for the school sports day and his group got no2. JL also started his TKD class and took 2 x exams, starting 2012, he would be Yellow II. He enjoyed bringing food to school and even though it was tiring but it was worth the effort to pack food for him. End of 2011, we took him to keep his money in the bank. We gave him RM 1 per day which he saved all and only gave for church offering.

JL also joined a few BeyBlade Competitions.

AL also doing well in her kindy and her motor skill had improved. She went up the stage for her first kindy concert and did very well dancing her whole heart. Sometimes, she opted to stay back after kindy to join with other kids.

As for me, my achievement was to pass CISA (after 2nd attempt) and got my certification.

PaPa and me got our new phone after many years...

PaPa got his very own guitar...

We bought breadmaker and oven......We explored a lot of simply cooking and baking...

PaPa’s business was stable and picking up slowly. PaPa got a new car – White Grand Livina and we passed our old Iswara Aeroback to my dad since it was not worth to sell and the car still in good condition. At least now KongKong and PohPoh got car to move around.

We did a minor renovation on our apartment and managed to create an extra room.

As family, we went for our holiday in Hkg. Even though AL was not well but we would still treasure our memories in Hkg.

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 01 Arrival

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 02 Disneyland

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 03 Ocean Park

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 04 Mongkok & Stanley

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 05 The Peak & Mongkok

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 06 Departure

We hope 2012 would be a better year for all of us…all happy and healthy...

Writing skills

After almost two years in internal audit, I am still not happy with my writing skills. Even with the assistance of report designer, I still need a lot of improvement in my writing skills. I find my writing can be boring and nothing interesting. Same goes to my blog writing.  I love reading others writing even though it is short but really interesting. I really need to find way to improve my weaknesses…

CNY

Christmas is over and CNY is just around the corner.

We were doing our window shopping when we noted sales in the superheros shop. There was a lot of interesting and funny tshirts. We like one of the simple discounted superheros t-shirts design which coincidently had sizes for all four of us. It was unplanned and we got it for our CNY. What superhero t-shirts? It would be a surprise….

KBSR – KSSR

JL was the first batch for the new KSSR. I was not very familiar with KSSR except for both Maths and Science was no longer being taught in English. Another thing which I realized was the homework load was lesser than the previous batch.

Hmmm… after one year than only I came to remember that I was the first batch of KBSR. What a coincidence? The only difference was I studied in Kebangsaan school and JL in Chinese school.

The advantage of being the pioneer was all our textbooks would be new. The disadvantages were the delay of books and unavailability of past year questions. I experienced that especially being the first batch of UPSR and all our teachers were not sure about the questions which would be tested during the exam. .. It was by God’s grace, I managed to get all As.

Holiday again…

AL was sick during our last trip and now back at home, she requested us to bring her back there. She was upset that we did not buy for her pink princess dress. Hopefully if the special hotel rate was still on, we planned to go back there to cover the places we did not manage to cover.

Being a little girl, AL loved all the girly and princesses clothes and accessories. She admired all the pretty dress including those selling during prom dress sales. She could be more fashionable than her mummy…

Old School Books

We were busy going through JL’s old school book, to decide which to keep and which to send for recycle. If there was fast scanning software in market, I would love to scan and keep all his works. However due to storage problem, we only keep some of his works and send the rest for recycle.

Our mini wet kitchen is currently full of things to recycle, waiting for JL’s school to re-open and send for recycling program in his school.

Christmas 2011

It was our usual family gathering for us. On Christmas Eve we were at Tai Pak’s house and on Christmas we had dinner at Sam Yee’s apartment.

24Dec2011

We had dinner at Tai Pak’s house till midnight. This year, we prepared cold pasta salad with roasted sesame dressing. We also did 3 loaves of bread using the bread maker. The bread was being eaten together with ice-cream. PaPa sliced the loaf of bread with a long bread knife. We might get a better bread knife in future.

At midnight, we wished each other Merry Christmas and it was presents opening time.

After that, we went home where the kids opened the other presents.

25Dec2011

We went to church on Christmas Day. After a simple lunch, we went home to rest before going up to Sam Yee’s apartment for our dinner. After dinner, it was another round of presents opening. The whole night, JL played x-box with PaPa and Sam Yee Cheong.

We were tired but it was a good time spending time with family remembering the birth of Jesus Christ. He is the greatest gift God has given to all of us…

New home…

It is not me…but my church member.

Just before Christmas, we were in their newly renovated duplex condo. I loved their renovation which was simple and spacious. With the space of 2600 sq ft, it was a wonderful home in the sky. Yes, it was a duplex on the 15 and 16 floor. The theme was white for the whole home including the small tiny details of their switchplates were also white too.

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 06 Departure

28Nov2011(Mon) – Departure

Last day…took us many months to plan and it took such a short time to complete….

Last view from our room…

We left out luggage in the luggage room and requested the hotel to bring the luggage out before 12pm to the concierge so that we could catch the 12pm shuttle to airport. I check-out both rooms and paid the bill.

We took the free shuttle to MTR Tung Chung but not to take MTR ride, instead, we went to Citygate to have our breakfast and fast walk in Citygate because we need to take the 11.40am shuttle back to hotel in order to take another shuttle to the airport. It was real fast walk. PaPa got me a bigger Coach wristlet. He almost wanted to get me a sling bag but I was a bit reluctant. It was soo tempted because the price was cheaper than here.

Back to hotel and off to airport. We walked around the airport and there were Disneyland shop in the airport. AL got her Minnie Mouse cap and we were unable to find for JL. We got two pair of Mickey earrings.

Off to the airplane where the kids eat and watch movie…. AL was feeling much better …

Home sweet home with one whole pile of laundry…took us days to clear the laundry….

Wood Flooring

We loved wood flooring unlike cold tiles. However, the pricing was still out of our budget. If we really planned to settle down with our current small apartment, maybe we would consider laminating the living room hall. The kids loved to sit on the floor to watch television. Currently we put a small rug and some big cushions on the floor to keep them warm. Would it be an alloc original or other brand? When the time comes, my brother-in-law would be the best person to get consultation on which type to get.

Insurance

I have been getting a lot of calls from several banks trying to sell me insurance. Some of them is nice but some is very persistent and annoying. I rejected all not because the package was not good but I cannot afford any extra policies. Each of us already has our own policy. Competition is stiff and many attractive packages have been introduced in the market. Besides that, internet has been used to spread the sales across the global such as Wholesaleinsurance.net and many others.

Nail

It is always hard to get a good nail cutter. PaPa tried many and most of it would not last long. Some cannot even cut the nail efficiently and neatly. I happened to see seki edge brand in the online shop and wonder would this be a good buy. We had a few nail cutters at home including one slant shape nail cutter.

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 05 The Peak & Mongkok

27Nov2011(Sun) – The Peak & Mongkok

We decided to take it easy that day by waking up later than other days. We took the shuttle and MTR. We took a stroll at the Chater Garden and amazed by the foreign workers crowd gathering. The place reminded us of Puduraya during weekend where all the foreign works including maids gathered together.

It was a long Q waiting to buy and get the tram up to The Peak. The sun was shining bright. The place was crowded.

We did not buy the entrance ticket to Madame Tussaud.

We spent a long time at The Peak. The scenery was amazing and spectacular. The cool breeze was nice.

We took a tram back down and walk through the Chater Garden and made our way to Mongkok.

At Mongkok, we split ourselves to walk in the Market area and agreed to meet at the end of the road at certain time.

We managed to get linen material Chinese top for PaPa and myself. We also bought a cotton cheongsam for AL but unable to find plain linen Chinese top for JL. We got Christmas gift for PohPoh and MahMah. I managed to get knitted long coat for about RM60. PaPa helped to negotiate and we got 2 for me (one light and one black color). PaPa also found plastic buckle belts which he bought for himself and also for JL. JL’s belt buckle was rusty even though PaPa polished it for many times. We decided plastic buckle would be the option. AL took her nap in the Ergo Carrier while JL sat on the stool in each of the stall while waiting for us to negotiate and get our things without fuss.

From Mongkok, we again split because we wanted to go to Chin Nee’s hotel to pass the Ergo Carrier to the concierge as she would be arriving the following day. Thanks a lot Chin Nee… JL decided he wanted to walk instead of taking the MTR. We walked and walked. After passing the Ergo Carrier, we walked and walked. We took MTR to Tsim Tsa Tsui, our meeting spot with Sharon’s family.

HH’s Hkg friend met us there too to bring us for a lovely steamboat nearby there. It was nice of them to include our family for the dinner. We wanted to split the bill but HH’s friend insisted that the dinner was under him.

We went back to hotel and it was a busy night packing our things. PaPa brought extra vacuum bags to keep all our purchase. It was amazing that we were able to keep all within the same number of luggage without opening our standby bags. We came with 1 medium + 1 cabin size+1 backpack (with 1 foldable bag + 1 backpack inside).

Going green by composting

It is good to go green for our next generation.  There are many ways to go green besides just recycling, we can also reuse. Composting our garbage is pretty new in our country unlike in some countries where many type of composter are sold.

JL’s school has a recycling program where every Wednesday, students are encouraged to bring recycle things to school. We have been assisting JL to send recycle things to his school.

Recently, we also follow Sasha footstep by purchasing our detergents etc from BYOB. The outcome is good and economical. I will try to share my experience later.

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 04 Mongkok & Stanley

26Nov2011(Sat) – Mongkok & Stanley

We went early morning to Mongkok to get our breakfast. Our breakfast was Polo Bun. Then we went to the market area and not many stalls were open. Even the Yee Shun Milk Dairy was still closed.

Thanks to Chin Nee for the Ergo Carrier which I used for Day04 and Day05. It was great and AL slept well in the carrier with no fuss. We were using stroller in Disney and Ocean Park.

Again, we changed our plan. We supposed to cover town and Avenue of Stars for Day 04. As for Day05, we wanted to cover the South Island (Hong Kong Island) for Stanley and The Peak. The new plan, we decided to take the bus from Mongkok to Stanley instead. After Stanley we would go the Avenue of Stars for dinner. On Day05, we would go to The Peak and walk around Mongkok towards evening.

HH (Sharon’s hubby) managed to Whatsapp Jazz about our changed of plan but our dinner would be still on. There was a free wifi spot in the MTR. We were Whatsapping and checking our email using the wifi spots. (Yes, I had free wifi in my hotel room too…)

It was long long journey to Stanley along the coastal road. The scene was breathtaking with all the nice and beautiful bungalows and villas. I managed to take some short nap. At Stanley, we walked around including the Stanley Market. We got JL and AL each a stamp with their Chinese name engraved on it. Initially we only got for JL and AL requested whether we would be getting one for her. So, we ended up getting for her too. Besides that we got ourselves the cheap white HKG T-shirts for 4 of us. JL wanted the Chinese cap with the pony tail which we did get for him. We also bought fridge magnets for family members.

After that we took another long journey on the bus back to town. We went to Avenue of Stars to take some photos and meet up with Jazzmint (with Faythe and Vyktore). We packed dinner from the Sogo food court and had our mini picnic at Avenue of Stars to secure a strategic place to see the Symphony of Lights. We managed to get a nice corner spot where the kids (6 of them) could entertain and play around after dinner while waiting for the show to start.

We had our dessert in Yee Shun Milk Dairy after the show. The kids enjoyed the Steamed Milk while I loved the Steamed Egg. Yummy dessert was done. Thanks Jazzmint for the wonderful dessert.

We took MTR back to MTR Tung Chung. The 6 kids almost turned the whole MTR upside down with all the noises…

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 03 Ocean Park

25Nov2011(Fri) – Ocean Park

We wanted to end our HKG trip with Ocean Park but we were pre-warned that Ocean Park would be very crowded during weekend. We decided to bring forward Ocean Park from Sunday to Friday. We did make the right choice because it was still crowded on Friday (I guess more crowd on weekend).

It was a very early morning day because Ocean Park was located far away. We had a very simple breakfast in the hotel room. We missed our first shuttle from the hotel to MTR Tung Chung. We took MTR Tung Chung out to MTR Admiralty where we took a bus direct to Ocean Park. At the bus stop, we purchased our Ocean Park tickets.

The first thing we did in Ocean Park was to queue up for the cable car. The view from the cable car was beautiful. It was hilly walk up the hill. We walked up and down. We went for a show in Ocean Theater. We took some rides and decided to take the Ocean Express down to take our lunch. . There were many games which was not suitable for kids on the upper part.

We sat at a nice spot at Skyfair waiting for a performance while the two fathers went to buy lunch. We sat and had our lunch slowly until the performance started. It was a good idea so that we didn’t have to rush our lunch to get a nice spot to view the performance.

After that we walked around where the kids saw the pandas and took some ride. The last ride was the Sea Life Carousel. Then we went to the Giant Aquarium. We rested very long while waiting for the show at Aqua City Lagoon since it was a long whole day for the night fountain show. While waiting, PaPa and JL went to hunt for t-shirts for 4 of us.

The show ended marking the closing of Ocean Park. The Q was extremely long for the bus but efficient. There were so many buses to bring everyone out of the Ocean Park. From the bus station we took MTR and then bus back to hotel.

GPS

We have been using GPS via our handphone. So far it is acceptable. There is a lot of standalone GPS like Navi, Garmin chirp etc… PaPa doesn’t need a standalone GPS because he is quite well versed with most of the roads in Klang Valley. As for me, I usually rely on handphone GPS and usually before I go to a new place, I will get direction via Google map.

Accessories

Now instead of relying only gold and silver as accessories, there are a lot of nice Pandora style beads. I love to see as each design is unique by itself. I also admire those to patiently designing the beads so creatively. I doubt I will have the patient to sit down putting all the beads together. I don’t have any but AL has a few beads necklaces given by her aunties

Watching movie at home

We loved to watch movie at home together and tempted to get a home theatre set. There were so many types of home theatre systems in the market. Hmmm, on the other hand, it would be nice to get LED. However, our old Sony TV which was about 10 years was still servicing well. It would be a waste to change our television.

Types of Wedding cards

Comparing the wedding cards during my time and now, there are a lot of differences. Many couples are willing to spend a lot on wedding cards. Some wedding cards are very detailed and attached with RSVP Cards, Note Cards and even a small photo of the couple.

I do get some simple yet nice wedding card as simple as a piece of postcard.  However some made utilize of the current technology by sending via email, handphone and even Facebook.

Holiday on RV...

My colleague is planning for a trip to New Zealand next year. I remember a few years ago a friend also went to New Zealand.

Instead of staying in the hotel, he opted to rent rv to round the island. It was a good experience as the rv rental was easy including rv insurance quote provided by the service provider. The service provider also assisted in providing location to park the rv on daily basis and places to check-out during the adventure on the rv.

If I got the opportunity, I would love to bring both JL and AL on the rv adventure.

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 02 Disneyland

Let me continue to write a long overdue story of our trip…before the end of 2011. Even though it was long overdue story, I would like to keep the encounter recorded somewhere with some photos. The posts are not as interesting and colorful as compared to those written by Sharon. Check out her blog...

24Nov2011(Thurs) – Disneyland

The kids woke up and had breakfast in the room. I did tuna sandwich. They took tuna sandwich with milk while PaPa and I took our traditional kopi o. After breakfast, we went to the lobby to catch 10am free shuttle to Disneyland.

As we walked from the bus parking area to the entrance, we took some photos. The kids were excited. AL was in her stroller. Upon arrival the entrance, we bought the tickets and I got 10% for my corporate ID. Since it was only for 4 tickets, we opt for the discount on the 4x adult tickets.

The first thing we did was to purchase 3-in-1 meal coupon so that we will have lunch and dinner at 20%. Each family purchased 2 sets. Then, we took the train to the Fantasy Island. Some of the places which we covered:

• Fantasy Island - Carousal

• Fantasy Island - Dumbo Ride

• Fantasy Island - Winnie Pooh (Fast Pass)

• Toyland – We were queuing up for the parachute ride but go to let go due to long q and we need to rush for ‘The Gold Mickeys’ show.

• Show: The Golden Mickeys

• Lunch

• TomorrowLand - Space Mountain (Fast Pass)

• Flights of Fantasy Parade

• Festival of the Lion King

• Fireworks

Time was too short for us to catch up with all rides and taking photos with the character. Surprisingly the place was crowded with a lot of tour group from mainland China.

After ‘The Golden Mickeys’ show, we found our old stroller was missing. We wasted some time doing report to the staffs in Disney. They offered us a free stroller to use in the park. If our stroller was not found, we would choose any stroller from the Lost & Found section.

While we were going for Space Mountain ride, we found our stroller parking just opposite. AL quickly changed stroller because she didn’t like the plastic feeling of the Disney stroller. Since Eryn was not feeling well, we passed the Disney stroller for her to use. Guess what? While we were queuing for a car ride, PaPa and AL were waiting outside as AL refused to ride. The Disney stroller (which was labeled with our name) was parked at the parking bay while the rest queuing up for our turn. It was a long Q. During that time, a group of mainland ladies and kids were walking and suddenly one of the ladies went to the parking bay and just took our Disney stroller. Imagine PaPa who was zero in Mandarin began to shout in Mandarin that that was our stroller. The lady said sorry and thought the stroller was provided by Disney. What an excuse… we suspected these was the group of people who was going round taking strollers from the parking bays from their own usage. Why can’t they just bring their own or rent from Disney right?

AL was sick and most of the time sleeping or refused to play. She only played some. After the fireworks, there were ‘snow’ (foam) and we went to get t-shirts for 4 of us.

Instead of taking the free shuttle to the hotel, we opt to take the MTR from Disney to Tung Chung where we took a bus back to hotel (because we missed the shuttle back to the hotel from Tung Chung area). The MTR from Disney was interesting with the window and handle made out of Mickey’s shape.

It was a rushing trip and JL was upset because we didn’t cover most of the places. If the hotel price promotion was still on, we would make a trip back here. Besides that, AL had requested to bring her back to Disney to get her pink princess dress. Poor girl was sick during our trip to Disney. All was ok except the bad experience of losing our old faithful stroller but we found it which was great.

Hong Kong 23-28Nov2011 – Day 01 Arrival

It was around middle of this year when we were deciding where to go for this year. We decided to go Hong Kong since AL was big enough to understand the Disney characters and also my colleagues had been sharing to me the good deal corporate rate for Skycity Marriot.

Even though the hotel was near to airport but for the price it was very worth it (much cheaper than staying in 5 stars hotel in Malaysia). The room was big with 2xDouble Beds and a lot of free shuttle:

1. Airport shuttle every 20 minutes (24 hours)

2. MTR Tung Chung shuttle every 30 minutes (last shuttle was 10pm)

• This was the same place where the Hong Kong branded factory outlets located – Citygate

• This was also the same place to take cable car up to Ngong Ping

• If we were to miss the free shuttle, we could take bus S1 back to hotel (located next to MTR Tung Chung) which had frequent bus service till midnight.

3. Disneyland – 10am (to) and 8.45pm (back)

• Optional : MTR Tung Chung to MTR Disney (change train at MTR Sunny Bay)

Under my corporate rate, I was able to reserve 2 rooms that I asked Sharon if she would like to join for the trip. Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong were already had their plan to go to Europe at the same time.

Sharon was checking for her flights. She would be flying in with AA and back with MH. We would be arriving on the same day but different time.

23Nov2011(Wed) – Arrival

We took 9.15am flight and arrive just before 1pm. It was not a very smooth flight with a few turbulences. AL was cranky recovering from her high fever due to throat infections.

Upon arrival the airport, we were stop due to AL’s high fever 39+. We were escorted to their medical section to be interviewed and were given a letter. If AL’s fever did not subside within next few days, we were required to go to the hospital and show the letter. AL did not have fever that morning but I still gave her medicine. We were not sure why her fever suddenly went up even after medication. Too excited of the trip?

It was a long queue to get clearance at the immigration. After collecting our baggage, we went to get some Hong Kong maps and also bought Octopus cards for Sharon’s family. As for us, we had 2x Octopus cards from Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong plus 1x Octopus Card (Child) from Yi Yee. We just reloaded the Octopus cards.

We went to hotel counter at B05 to get our free airport transfer instead of waiting for the Marriot (every 20 minutes) Bus Shuttle at the Bus Stop. The staff pulled the bags for us and we sat in an Alphard to the hotel.

We check-into the hotel for both rooms. I registered for free Marriot membership in order to get free Wi-Fi in the hotel. It was a spacious room overlooking the airport. Everyone was too tired that we dozed off.

We took the 4pm shuttle to MTR Tung Chung. Before we left, we put the hotel access card in a sealed envelope and specifically inform the concierge to hand it to Sharon’s hubby, HH (later we found that they actually check HH’s passport to validate before handing the envelope).

At MTR Tung Chung, we went to Citygate to walk around. My cousin, Natalie who was studying in Hong Kong came and met us about 530pm in front of New Balance. She was late by 30 minutes but we appreciated her for taking trouble to come all the way to meet us. It took her about 1 hour to travel from her place to here.

We continued to walk and chat. We went to the grocery to get some bread and cereal. We also got some fresh juice for the kids especially AL who refused to drink much plain water. We found that the bread had no preservatives and only lasted about 3 days. We continued to walk and chat until about 630pm, she have to leave for an appointment. We went to McD to wait for Jazzmint who would be meeting us at about 7pm. While waiting, JL wanted to eat Apple Pie.

Yes, at 7pm, we met Jazzmint together with Faythe and Vyktore. Jazzmint took us for a lovely steamboat nearby. While we were having our dinner, Sharon called to inform us that Eryn was having fever.

After dinner, we went to Jazzmint’s condo to get children fever medicine for Eryn. We missed the free shuttle back to hotel. Jazzmint showed us where to take the bus using our Octopus Card to pay for the fare. Thanks Jazz because it really helped us for the next few nights when we missed the free shuttle without having to get taxi.

Upon arrival the hotel, we put our things in our room and went to Sharon’s room to pass her the medicine and also the food. We exchange a short update and all back to own room. The kids decided to spend some time playing in the bath tub…before zzzzz

M.I.A…sob sob

I have been missing-in-action (M.I.A) for such a long a time. A lot of changes in office from top management till department, that at times I just lost track of the changes. Work life is getting hectic with deadlines to rush and a lot of demands to meet.

I feel that I don’t have time for kids, hubby, housework and even myself. My outdated blog has been in idle mode waiting for me to update something.

I got lots of update to share about the kids’ and also our recent trip…

 

Please bear with me…with some outdated posts…hopefully soon….