Kitchen: Scrambled Eggs

Daddy's specialty is scrambled eggs. He doesn't really like to share his kitchen space but conceded because specialties should be passed on to the next generation.

So the kiddos get involved. from cracking the eggs, beating them and scrambling them. And of course, eating them and washing up after that.

Parks: Tropical Spice Garden, Penang

Tanjung Bungah's Tropical Spice Garden has got to be the best kept secret in Penang.

Once an abandoned rubber plantation, it has been transformed into a world-class eco-tourism garden, sprawling over 8 acres. Opened since November 2003, the garden is still relatively well maintained (although I was disappointed that there wasn't any more giant hammock) and a wonderful way to get back to nature and learn a bit about the wonderful flora in our country.

The ticket fees on the website are outdated. It's RM15 for adults now.

Overview of the Tropical Spice Garden

We took the self-guided tour and after being sprayed with natural citronella insect repellant and armed with a map, we set off on our own. There are 3 main garden trails, featuring 3 different types of plants — spice, ornamental and jungle. The kiddos insisted that we cover all 3 trails, even if they didn't spend much time stopping and staring beneath the boughs. Still, it was a joy to see them enjoying the park and not complaining about the sweat or mozzies.

Visit: Penang Batik Factory

During our recent holiday in Penang, we paid a visit to the Penang Batik Factory on Teluk Bahang. It's a modest set up, but still a good opportunity for the kiddos to have a firsthand look at batik painting.

Different stages of batik painting

Drawing with wax

Tools of the trade

Various pails of colours

Artist at work

There is a showroom where you can buy the finished hand-drawn batik products at rather princely prices.

Unfortunately, we were not foreign tourists, which I suspect was one of the main reasons behind the cool reception we received by the factory guides. Smaller groups of Caucasians that came after us were given much warmer greetings and more detailed explanations. Oh well. If you have thick skin like ours, the factory is still worth a quick stopover.

Nature: Atapchi on the Beach?

We overheard over breakfast that there were thousands of jellfish eggs on the seashore.

Intrigued, we ran out to check. And yes, along the shoreline were tens of thousands of transparent white jelly-like creatures, which looked a lot like the atapchi (pine seeds) you get with your ais kacang.

But I didn't think they were jellyfish eggs. Upon Googling, I've surmised that they are probably sea salps. If anyone knows better, please let me know :-)

God's creations are incredible!

 

Holidays: Penang Island

During the December holidays, we decided to visit the beautiful island of Penang to enjoy the yummy local food and the sandy beaches.

Hello Penang!

Tractors: Tractorland!

When we heard Tractors Malaysia was having a Caterpillar Exhibition — the Construction & Infrastructure Equipment Exhibition (CIEX) 2012 — that was opened to the public, including kids, it was like a dream come through.

Forget Legoland or Universal Studios. Tractorland rocks!

The place was thankfully quiet on a weekday. The kiddos got to get real up close with real-life gigantic excavators, bulldozers and trucks with tyres taller than them. They got to trek a muddy construction site, climb aboard and work an excavator, spinning it round and round. They also got behind many large machines and tooted the loud horns.

Science: Measuring solubility

Girl's holiday science homework had a question about solubility of various household ingredients.

Cue: hands-on learning opportunity

We prepared 3 glasses of water and the kiddos attempted to dissolve sugar, coffee and tea leaves in each one.

Short and simple.

Parks: Rabbit Park, Bukit Tinggi

The kiddos enjoyed a trip to the Rabbit Park at Bukit Tinggi.

At RM3 per admission, the small petting zoo is a good opportunity for young children who can come up close to the little critters and enjoy cuddling the rabbits, feeding the deer and riding the donkey (extra charge).

Oh Deer

Shows: Bites of Delights

During the school holidays, the kiddos got to watch an impressive local production by young Malaysian actors called Bites of Delights, produced by Rhythm in Bronze, at the Temple of Fine Arts, Brickfields.

Besides being exposed to the many-faceted talents by the children and the chimes of the traditional art of gamelan, the kiddos got to learn about some of the popular (albeit slightly morbid) Asian folklore from countries on a journey along the Spice Trail — Persia, China, India, Malaysia and Japan.

Persia: Gopal the Court Jester and his Hilsa fish

Playgroup: His Beloved Lambs

Started a toddlers' playgroup for some mummies and babies.

Go to His Beloved Lambs to check out some of our activities for little ones :-)

Parks: KL Bird Park

One of my favourite parks is the KL Bird Park in Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur.

Apart from the fact that it is "World's Largest Free-flight Walk-in Aviary", with more than 3,000 birds, it is a wonderful way to see a whole variety of feathered friends up close in a beautifully landscaped environment. 

The daring birds would come up close (sometimes too close for comfort), giving you lots of ad-hoc photo ops. There are bird feeding stations located throughout with designated feeding times, or you can hand feed the ostriches, emus, lories, and even fishes!

School: End of a chapter

Boy first went to kindergarten in 2010, a year ahead of the rest of the class. It wasn't because I wanted to push him or because he was exceptionally brilliant (although I have to say I think he's highly intelligent ;-)). It was mainly for certain practical reasons, such as not wanting to shuttle between preschool and kindergarten, among others.

Anyhow, I thank God that Boy not only kept up with the rest of the class but enjoyed his 3 years of schooling very much. Being the second kid in the family, he was not pushed as much by Mummy to read nor shuttled to and fro Chinese classes. But he still learnt well and fast.

He enjoyed science. Math not so much ... He scored 48% for his final-year Math paper ... not because he didn't know how to do the sums, but because the pages of numbers made him want to put his head on the table and close his eyes.

Am thankful for his Chinese teacher, Mrs Tan, who always had an encouraging word to say about Boy every time I saw her.

As a bonus, he was given a starring role in his kindy's year-end graduation concert, which no doubt boosted his self-confidence and challenged his stage skills.

Thank you Jesus for these past 3 years. As we close the chapter and move ahead to a new, albeit uncertain, one, we know You have gone ahead and prepared many more new and exciting things for us.

Games: Practise, practise, practise

Was telling boy abt the virtues of practising skills that we are not good at so that we can improve. 

Later that day, I found him playing Monopoly by himself. 

"I'm not good at it. So I need to practise!" 

Growing Up: A Toothy Issue

The Boy's front baby tooth was loose, so we extracted it Mommy's way on Aug 11, 2012.

However, when the new tooth started growing, we noticed that it was shaped as a canine tooth, instead of an incisor (earlier, we thought it was just an odd angle).

So off we went to our friendly dentist, who took an x-ray of the gums. Indeed, it was a canine tooth. An extra one, at that. Otherwise known as hyperdontia or supernumerary teeth. Pretty cool, eh?

Jottings: Paper Aeroplane

This afternoon, as Mommy was working on the computer, suddenly there was a little "whoosh" sound and a paper aeroplane skidded in, on the floor.

My instincts was to snap at Boy for playing paper aeroplanes instead of taking his afternoon nap.

But when I took up the paper aeroplane, I noticed that it was a note!

Awww ... heart melt!

Despite all the yelling and tears involved in our study sessions, he still finds it in the heart to forgive his Tiger Mommy :-p

Love you, Son!

Nature: Ants'hillvania

What we did today: Watch ants painstakingly build their forts grain by grain. Girl has declared that part of the garden protected territory, a mini Ants'hillvania.

Close-up of ants

Unfortunately, the rains came and watered down the hills. Poor ants had to start all over again.

Shows: Les Misérables

Watching Les Misérables' 25th Anniversary concert on DVD over dinner. 

We had watched the musical live in London that summer and wanted to share it with the kiddos.

Had to explain a lot of adult themes and why everyone was dying one by one :-p 

"I'm too sad to eat," Girl said.
 

Art: Merdeka

The Girl seems to see opportunity for art in everything.

She took a used packaging sleeve from a box and decided it'd make a good Malaysian flag.

I helped to mark the lines for her and she took it from there, Sharpies and all.

Just in time for National Day.

Visits: Ramadan Bazaars

Rain or shine ... We were determined to make it for possibly the last Ramadan bazaar of the year ...

 

Enjoying part of Malaysian life and culture

Our favourite stall ... Apam Balik

Dance: A Miraculous Favour

Girl has been learning ballet since she was 3+. She was the youngest in her class as she wanted to join her friends, who were a year older.

Although she enjoyed music and dance, she was not particularly graceful. In fact, because she had a tendency to turn in her toes, she'd often end up tripping over herself while walking, running or dancing.

As her classmates transformed into little swans, my little duckling still waddled around. Still cute, but clumsy.

Her Grade 2 progress report had encouraging remarks by the teacher, but her footwork and technique were obviously wanting.

Mommy, personally, was taken out of ballet class after scoring a measly "pass plus" in her first exam. But I loved dancing, and I knew my Girl did too.

So I got a copy of the music and scoured Youtube videos of Grade 2 steps. Every day before (and sometimes after) school, Girl would have to practice and practice and practice. It wasn't easy. There were tears. But she improved noticeably and passed her exam with a Merit.

Fast forward to 2012. We changed school to one closer to home — less rush and ferrying up and down for Mommy. The new classroom didn't have a big glass window. So Mommy couldn't monitor what happened in class. Ignorance was bliss.

Her teacher did comment that she had to practice. We did run through some routines with music found online. And she went for a couple of personal classes during the holidays. But overall, things were less strenuous than the year before.

Mommy was resigned. If she didn't do well in her Grade 3 exam, without extraordinary measures as before, it was a sign that it was time to hang up those ballet shoes. And honestly, a part of me expected her to fail or just barely pass, especially since I was unimpressed with what I saw during her last-minute practice right before the exam.

But somehow, Someone up there must have really favoured her.

We got her results today. And thanks be to God, beyond our wildest expectations, she was one of three girls in her class to score a Distinction!

My lil' duckling was becoming a swan!

Art: Bird or ... ?

The beauty of my Girl is that she always finds something encouraging to say. 

After I failed miserably in adding a recognisable bird to her artwork (paint blowing is definitely not my forte), she just told me, "It's quite good, mum. It may not look like a bird, but it sure looks like bird shit." :-p

Tractors: Climb aboard!

Guess who popped by our neighbourhood these past few days? They were just hanging around on the roadside for days. So we decided to pop over to say "Hi!"

Books: The Lorax

After watching Dr Seuss' "The Lorax" movie, we followed up with the book.

Bedtime reading: "The Lorax"

Was never a fan of green eggs and ham, but the movie definitely piqued my interest, introducing me to the whimsical, magical world of Dr Seuss.

"The Lorax" is an entertaining yet thought-provoking story about the importance of protecting and preserving our environment, long before it became an "in" thing. It brings us to a time where children grow up in a world without any trees and relates the events that led to the final tree falling — "the very last Truffula tree of them all".

The book is definitely worth a read.

Art: Battle-scarred Beyblade Stadium

My boy has been accumulating his Beyblades over the past two years, thanks to all the generous aunties, uncles and grandparents.

The top can be spun on any flat surface, but a proper game is usually played in a Beyblade Stadium. I bought one for my boy, after much persuasion. Despite its price tag, it looked like a cheap piece of plastic that you can find as packing material :-p

After a while, the poor plastic took a real beating and ended up badly scratched.

So to "distract" from the scratches, out came the Sharpies again :-)

This time I searched for a design on the Internet, then flipped it on the computer before printing it out.

Then I stuck it on the inside of the stadium, facing the bottom of the stadium. That way I could trace the design on the bottom of the transparent stadium so that it looks right side up when in play. This way, the spinning tops will not scratch the design either.

 So here's the finished product ... and I bet the scratches are the last thing you notice :-)

Tractors: A lil' obsession

At 2, Boy was obsessed with cars. But his little brother seems to prefer big, larger vehicles, specifically tractors.

On any car ride, he would point out every construction vehicle in sight. We would know exactly how many tractors there are on a 4-hour highway road trip, thanks to his non-stop commentary. 

This lil' obsession seemed to have rubbed off on Mummy, hence a separate blog category just for it :-)

Newest addition: a preloved ride-on Kobelco excavator

Art: Jumble Sale Makeover

Picked up a pre-loved Mega Blok truck from a jumble sale recently. I love Mega Bloks, and my boy loves trucks. And I couldn't pass on a great bargain.

The truck works fine. Only problem was the really sun-faded red ... looked almost pink!

That's when I decided to put my Sharpie collection to good use. After all I was always thinking of trying my hand at art.

Trouble is that I don't really know how to draw non-girly stuff. So after some thought, I decided on some bugs would do the trick. I did add in some flowers later one to fill up the space :-p

So voila ... better than new! (I hope ;-))

Malaysia: Cartoon time

We started off the New Year with another exciting initiative by Kill the Bill: Malaysian can draw cartoons for Academic Freedom at KLCC without police permit.

This was really interesting for us as we got to be up close and personal with some of the big names in cartooning in Malaysia, especially the more "controversial" ones like Zunar. It also exposed the Girl to all the different talents and art forms in cartooning.

Art: Make a Badge

My girl had a Girls Only Badge Maker for Christmas, so we decided to try it out one day.

It came with its own design sheets that you could cut out, but I decided to personalise it a bit by creating our own designs on the computer and print out in colour.

The badge diameter was a lot smaller than I'd expected, so I had to reduce my designs to fit. After 1-2 tries, we succeeded.