Parks: Lake Gardens

We were invited to a cycling playdate at the Lake Gardens. While we were not strangers to the vicinity, we were pleasantly surprised by the refurbished and relatively well maintained grounds.

First off was this sprawling Fantasy Wonderland playground! Several different nursery rhyme and fairytale-themed slides and climbing gyms and tunnel! It was really a kid's dream play land.

After the kids had a round at the playground, they took off onto the bike trails. Along the way, we enjoyed the scenery and landscaping.

Party: Mexican Fiesta

We had a couple of family celebrations in September so we decided to have a fiesta, with a Mexican theme.

Girl has been learning cooking, so this was a chance for her to practice her fajita-making skills.

To set the ambiance, wee decorated the venue with themed cut-outs, paper lanterns, cactus and various props.

 For instructions on how to make Mexican tissue paper flowers, click here.

Yummy dinner! Hijole!

Science: BASF Kids' Lab 2013

Chemical company BASF runs its annual Kids' Lab programme to introduce kids aged 6-12 to the world of chemistry through safe and fun experiments.

This year, Boy and Girl got to join in the fun, decked in their aprons and safety glasses. They learned about acid and pH with the red cabbage indicator, discovered the secret of diapers with super absorbers, and mixed their own sun screen lotion. 

Definitely an educational experience ... especially since Mummy didn't even know what chemistry was about until she was in Form 4 :-p Thank you BASF!

 

Garden: Edible Gardens

About 20 years ago, when my grandparents moved up into a link house in PJ, my Ah Ma set about planting vegetables in her little garden. I used to laugh at her — she was acting as if she were still in her kampung.

But now, thanks to Facebook groups advocating healthy eating, raw food, herbs and such, I realise how practical and useful it is to have an edible garden.

Today, Ah Ma gave the kids a little tour of her patch, showing them her custard apples, sweet potatoes and various leaves suitable for soup etc.

I asked her, "Do you still need to go to the market to buy vege?"

"Yes," my 87-year-old Chinese-speaking Ah Ma replied. "But these," she swept her hand across her garden, "are or-ga-nic!"

Nature: Adventure in Fraser's

Fraser's Hill used to be a favourite childhood haunt, but it's been many years since we made a trip there. So when the opportunity arose, up the hill we went!

First stop: Visit to the Jeriau waterfall. Water was freezing cold! A real refreshing treat.

The next day, we took a short hike down the Pine Tree Trail.

 

The diverse flora ~ God's beautiful creations

 The kids were real troopers!

Under and over

Scrapbook memento of our trip!

At the Paddocks.

Pine cone art: Happy Malaysia Day!

Experiences: Meet the Author

We were having lunch at a little cafe, Food Foundry, when Girl saw a sign on the table about a Book Signing session with local author Boey Cheeming that weekend. She was very excited and wanted to attend it, so we went.

Boey, who is also an animator and artist, authored "When I was a Kid" and its sequel, "When I was a Kid 2", which contained anecdotes of his childhood memories.

The little session was surprisingly well attended by fans, who were treated to some background information about the author and his books as well as the reading of a few of the stories.

We got our books signed. Girl said she enjoyed it very much as it was her first time at a book signing and meeting a "famous" person :-)

Toys: Have you ever seen a LASY?

Boy was reading his Young Scientist magazines and was intrigued by the various LASY models shown.

The LASY system, invented by German engineer Peter Larws in 1971, is an educational construction system that uses just 10 different pieces that can be combined into hundreds of different geometrical outcomes. Read more here.

The original LASY factory in Germany has since been closed down, and the new Taiwan-based production is under the LOWE building and construction toy brand, which is fully compatible with LASY. It took a bit of online hunting but Mummy managed to find some secondhand "original" LASY toys.

Starting off with the designs in the magazine, Boy also moved on to experiment with his own designs.

For more fun and creative design ideas, check out this Lasy Toy FB page.

Music: Learning new tunes

Boy had a chance to sit in Big Sister's piano lessons this year, and he picked up a few skills himself, much to Mummy's surprise. He exhibited a good ear for music and progressed fast, despite not having formal lessons.

Part of what we do at home now is to get him to practice working out tunes on his own before adding in accompaniment chords. We started on Do-Re-Mi, and soon he was working out his favourite songs by listening to them repeatedly on Youtube.

 

He also returned briefly to his ukulele under Daddy's guidance.