Holidays: Adventure in Surabaya

Baby Boy had a treat by his grandparents, who brought him for a short holiday to Surabaya, Indonesia.

Interestingly, the name Surabaya came from "suro" (shark) and "boyo" (crocodile), two creatures that fought each other in local legend.

One of the highlights was to visit a factory, which is like Disneyland for Baby Boy. There were tractors and forklifts and cranes.

Watching the tractors at work

Getting a personal tour of the plant

And a special ride

Comparing his miniature crane with the real thing

Another highlight was a visit to Sidoarjo, where a "mud volcano" erupted in 2006 (and is still erupting, albeit at a much slower pace). It's also known as "Lapindo", named after the oil and gas exploration company that was deemed responsible for triggering the mud eruption.

Tractors: A Factory Visit

Since our last trip to Tractor Land, Boy #2's tractor obsession has only grown bigger. Top of the wishlist this round was forklift and crane.

Since it was the school holidays, Grandpa decided to bring the kiddos for a visit to some factories in Port Klang.

Garbed in new hard hats, gloves and masks, the kiddos got a tour of a laboratory and a large factory.

Then it was machine time! First up was a huge front-end loader, followed by a forklift! The kiddos got to maneuver the vehicles and even stand on a pallet hoisted by the forklift.

And as we drove into another factory, up front to greet us for a massive crane, gleaming in the bright noon sun! How blessed and favoured we all were!

It definitely was a visit to remember and one for the album (and blog)!

Growing Up: Snapshot of Baby in February

Baby is not really a baby anymore ... especially since he has a little sibling on the way. But it's always a joy to see how he grows in his motor skills, imagination and logical thinking.

Writing can still be a chore for him,
but he more willingly puts pencil to paper nowadays

 

Blocks and tractors still hold an appeal for him.
"Look mom, Tractorland," he said,
in reference to our visit to Tractors Malaysia
more than a year ago (see pix below).

Any reason not to do homework ...
"I don't have to write the zero, because zero is nothing."

Garden: Fun in the Sand

Thankfully, the kiddos took to the sandpit like ... ducks to the water? Haha.

Baby, as expected, enjoyed it the most. Every time Kakak comes in sight, he'd "chase" her away because he's afraid she's there to bring him in.

Tractors: Baby see, Baby do

We restrict and monitor our kiddos' Youtube viewing. They are not allowed to watch videos without a parent or authorised adult present — the many different video links readily accessible means they could start with something "harmless" and land up in a very different place.

While the elder two like watching cartoons, selected music videos, toy unboxing and demonstrations, Baby only wants to watch videos of aeroplanes, rubbish trucks and, of course, his beloved tractors.

Usually he'll bring a toy tractor or two along for the viewing and get toy tractor to imitate whatever the Youtube super heroes are doing. 

Sometimes toy tractor gets to practice what it learnt with Baby's wooden blocks. Quite a lot of heavy lifting involved!

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.

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!"

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