Archive for the ‘family’ Category

Boys Night.

Friday, April 27th, 2012

The other night, the husband decided to “camp” at our backyard with the boys.  Well, they set up a tent which fitted one adult and two kids comfortably.  By the way, the tent was the boys’ Christmas gift from last year.

The boys and their father equipped themselves with sleeping bags, pillows and blankets and books and torchlight.  Very organised. Although I was not included in the “camp”, I was happy that the boys were doing something with their dad.  It’s call bonding time. 🙂

I went out to look for them in the morning and found three happy campers!

I must say their tent looked very comfy! Apparently the boys slept really well while the husband did not. 🙁 I was preparing myself for one of the boys to come into the house in the middle of the night, but no one did.  On the contrary, they had a great time with their dad.  I think we should go camping!

Here’s a happy individual:

He looked like he was very proud of himself. 🙂

Those Were The Days.

Friday, February 17th, 2012

The other day, a friend of ours passed us some photos.  Those were taken from a trip down south when we only had one child …. those were the days…

We were so young then!  Now, this boy is already 7 years old which means we have aged 7 years …. 🙂 Here’s another one :

Check out that cheeky look and those chubby cheeks!

The Children.

Friday, December 9th, 2011

My sister’s family came to Perth for a visit over  the past week.  The kids had a ball.  They played very well together.  Everyday after school, Calvin and Athan would join their cousins for a play.  It did not matter where they were or what toy they had, they just played when they were together. Happy.

When they left, Calvin said “this is the saddest day of my life”! I could only smile….. He really does miss his cousins especially my niece who is the same age as him.  Well, they will meet again very soon because we will be going to Singapore real soon!

Sunday Snapshot.

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

It was Sunday evening. The boys were watching a television program with the father. They were all “snug as a bug” under the blanket. The father was dozing off while the boys were happily playing among themselves.

Hot Day.

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Yesterday was a very hot here in Perth. The temperature went above 35 deg C! It was like one of those hot summer days except that summer has not officially arrived.  I picked the boys up at daycare after work and was feeling really tired and sleepy. The boys were sweaty and cranky …. bad combination!

When we arrived home, the husband greeted us at the door and immediately asked if we wanted to go to the beach and have pizza for dinner! The boys were of course excited while I was ….. really too lazy to pack the bags and do the cleaning up afterward. I don’t mind the pizza dinner though …. And so I suggested to the boys that they go with their father while I stayed home.  Guess what Calvin said to me?

Calvin: Mum, you have to come!

Robin: Yes, mama has to come with us. How am I going to handle both the boys?

Me: I am really tired guys, I just want to stay at home. I will cook the dinner so that when you come home, there’s food for you.  You guys go ahead, ok?

Calvin: (looked at me very sincerely) It is ok mum, you can just come and sit on the sandpit and take photos!

Robin and Me: Laughed out loud!

Truth be told — that’s what I tend to do when we go to the beach — sit on the sand and take photos! My little guy knows his mum. 🙂 So, did we go to the beach in the end?  No, we did not. The ladyboss had the final say. Well, at least we had pizza for dinner. 🙂

Sunday At The Park.

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

We brought the boys to the park this late afternoon to spend some time with them.  We have not this for a long long time, especially as a family on Sundays.  Why?  Because Robin was doing an online course for the past many months and Sunday happened to be his busiest day — deadline for assignment.  Now that he has completed his course (yay!!!), he promised to spend Sunday afternoon with the family.  The boys were thrilled.

The boys had a ball at the park, kicking ball and playing at the playground with their father.  I like it when Robin comes along to the playground with us as there’s an extra pair of eyes to look out for the boys as well as having someone to help guide the boys through the more challenging equipment.  Calvin has become more confident in his climbing skills while Mr Athan insists on climbing up the slide the way he wants to even though it will not get him anywhere!  Yup, you heard me right. Mr A climbs up a slide, NOT slide down.  How interesting.  We just let him learn by his own mistakes.  He tends to be more co-operative afterward.

The boys had their dinner at the park and after that it was play time for them again.  This time, it was on the swings. Calvin was hesitant and was afraid when Robin pushed him a little higher.  I think he is slightly afraid of heights.  Athan was hesitant at first, but a few pushes on the swing, he got the hang of it and was enjoying the  swing so much that he did not want to leave! He was screaming away when it was time for us to leave.

I guess we will be back at the park pretty soon.

Diwali.

Saturday, November 15th, 2008

We were invited to a Diwali celebration (also known as Deepavali — it is like Chinese New Year celebration for the Chinese) this evening by our new indian friends — thanks to Calvin!  See, Calvin acquainted a little indian boy at his day care some time ago and they became great friends, and we got to know the boy’s parents as well.  Unfortunately, the boy’s family had to move to another suburb and he has since stopped attending the day care. However, we kept in contact with his family and so we got the invitation.


The whole house was decorated with lights and vibrant colours – the mood of celebration was definitely there.  The hosts were all dressed in their traditional outfits which were very colourful too. I was very impressed, I must say. I felt a little under dressed too! Our friends made us very comfortable and even gave us a little tour of their new home.  It was a very beautiful home.

Calvin was very excited to see his friend again.  The moment the two boys saw each other, they started playing — cars.  The way they played was so “scarily” similar.  No wonder they get along so well. Athan, as usual wanted to join in but was turned away as he was too young to play at their level. Poor little fellow.  Anyhow, he was happy roaming around the huge house, from room to room and from front to back.  Robin and I had to take turns to patrol him just in case he got himself into trouble.

Oh, I must add that the food was excellent!  I love indian food despite it being hot and spicy and even though I sweat and tear after eating the food! It is all worth it. 🙂

Calvin almost did not want to leave his little friend when it was time to go.  He wanted to stay! The only way to get him to the door was a promise that he could come visit again — soon. Sigh.

Calvin’s Birthday Bash.

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

The weather was good, the boy was in a good mood and he loved his cake! When we asked him what he did today, he said “we go park, there’s slide, lots of children, lots of presents and eat cake!”

All his favourite friends came and they had a great time playing at the huge pirate-themed playground.  They were all so excited, energetic and full of laughter and fun.  It is a great blessing to be with these happy children, and Calvin is indeed blessed to have so many friends.  The singing of the birthday song and cake cutting was the highlight of the whole party, I would say.  All the kids were excited to see the cake that was beautifully decorated with handmade dolphins, and they all wanted to help put the candles on.  Unfortunately, we only have 4 candles for the cake! :)  Kids ….

Athan, being younger than the rest could not really play with the rest of the kids.  So, he was stuck with his grandma who did a good job looking after him and playing with him.  We are very thankful for that.  We had a good time catching up with the parents who were at the party, especially those whom we hardly see.

Here’s a photo of Calvin and his friends.

Gorgeous kids, aren’t they?

The next highlight of the party is of course the party bag!  I prepared the bags myself so as to reduce the sugar content.  Well, I did put a lollipop and a chocolate frog in the bag …. it is afterall a birthday and a little sugar is OK, I supposed. 🙂 I hope the kids like it.  I did put in some effort to prepare the food and other things — after the slow start. It’s been a tiring day, I have to say, but I’m happy that we have made our little boy happy.  That’s all that matters.

Here are some photos taken at the party. Enjoy.

Great Time. Great Friends.

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

We had a great day out yesterday (public holiday) with some great friends.

We met Flora, Li-On and the girls at Kings Park early morning.  The park was already crowded when we arrived and so finding a parking spot was a challenge.  The park was having its annual wild flower show and there were lots of activities going on too.  There were sale of native plants, camel rides, painting, workshops on native plants, guided tours around the park, tram rides etc.  The whole place was so lively and colourful.  All these reasons plus more made the park a really popular place visit on a public holiday, especially when the weather was good.

 We found a nice picnic spot under the tree and there was even a live band playing music nearby. How good was that? The kids had a great time dancing to the music, playing ball, running after one another and seeing so many new things around them.  They were full of energy. We just sat on the mat and watched them.  We were happy and relaxed.  Uncle Li-On even promised to buy ice cream for the kids if they behaved well.  They did.  We left the park shortly after having ice cream as the children were getting tired and needed a nap …. but that was not all!  Before I go into that, here are some pictures we took at the park.

We had Alison over at our house for a play time with Calvin after the park!  These two played really well together, I have to say.  They have became good play mates and friends over the years. Alison was so comfortable at our home even though she does not come often and this was the first time she was dropped off by her parents and left alone with us.  She was very chatty too.  She and Calvin talked and talked and played their own games.  I did not have to supervise them much at all.  They hardly fought for toys as they understood the concept of sharing, and they were willing to share.  Because they played so well, I even have time to prepare a roast dinner. I was so pleased.

That was not all …..

We had the rest of the gang over for dinner too!! Truth be told, we did not plan for Alison to come over for a play date and we did not plan to have dinner together, and so all these surprises made our day a really special and enjoyable one.

We had dinner at our backyard for the very first time since we moved in about 4 years ago!  Thanks to the husband who spent the whole afternoon cleaning up the backyard so that we could dine outside.  I truly enjoyed it.

I was so tired at the end of the day, but I was very happy.  I felt so blessed to be with my family and to have such good friends to spend the day together.  Thank God. We have to do it again.

After putting the boys to bed, Robin and I went to the backyard to unwind.  We relaxed over a cup of tea and we even had music playing at the background.  We agreed that we had a great day and we had a lot to thank God for.

Last Minute Trip.

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

Last weekend, Robin and I made a last minute decision to have a family getaway. We went to Mandurah which was about one hour drive away from where we live. The trip was so last minute that we only booked our accomodation on the day itself, and guess what? We got ourselves a great last minute deal at a resort that was situated on the beach! How good was that? The only rule that Robin imposed on me was “don’t stress!”. He knows me well. I tend to get flustered when the boys go out of their routine and become cranky. I become anxious when they don’t get their naps or when their bedtime is really late or they eat at odd hours ….. So, for me to stick to his rule, I really had to put in an effort, and I did.

We left our home in the late morning and arrived at the foreshore in good time for lunch. The place was packed. People were everywhere and parking was almost impossible. The lovely weather must be the reason for the great turnout at the foreshore. We had lunch and after that, we took a little stroll along the foreshore. The boys were happy.

There was a huge play area for children and Calvin could not resist having a go at the slide. I have to say that the play area was well thought of — it had many different activities that were catered for children of different age groups. Calvin was attracted to the slide that had a little tunnel and a *bridge* that was made of wooden planks. My boy is getting confident with his big motor skills. I was happy to see the progress in him because he used to be quite timid at playground when he was younger. Also, I saw him asking bigger boys politely whether he could have a turn! That was another progress for him because he used to call out to me or run away when bigger boys stood in his way. My little boy has really grown up.

When we arrived at the resort, we were immediately impressed with the location. The resort was really sitting on the beach! And, there was a heated pool and spa which overlooked the ocean too. The view from our room was nothing short of spectacular although we only had partial view of the ocean.

This was our view from the balcony of our room. Honestly speaking, I’m not as big a fan of the ocean as Robin (and the boys), but I do enjoy a dip and of course, the view. One of the most relaxing moments for me during this trip was sitting outside at the balcony with Robin at night listening to the waves flapping on the shore while sipping a hot cup of green tea. Of course, this could only happen when the boys were sleeping. 🙂

Swimming at the beach and in the pool was a must for the boys. They had a ball! Both of our boys loved to be in the water. Even a stranger could tell. At the beach, a man (stranger) and his partner who were sitting quite close to us, spoke unexpectedly to me before he left. He said to me “your son (pointing to Calvin) sure loved the ocean! He seemed so confident in the water and that’s good for him”. I was taken aback by what he said but I managed to quickly acknowledged his comments.

We brought the boys to a nearby zoo before we headed home on Sunday. It had a huge walk-in aviary that had a huge variety of birds in it. Robin was absolutely in love with the aviary . He brought the boys in and birds just flew to him and rested on his shoulder. Athan was very fascinated by what he saw. He reached out his hands many times in an attempt to touch the birds, but of course he couldn’t. There was a type of parrot — galah or corella, which was very cheeky and playful. They could say “hello” very well and they would only say it when you were about to leave. They could also nod their heads (continuously) at you if you nod at them. One of the parrots could even swing its neck from side to side so fast that one could hardly see its head while it was happening! That was amazing. There was also an area where we could go in and feed the baby animals and pet them. Calvin had fun there. He was not afraid of the animals at all!

This trip, though short has been a great family getaway for us. We managed to do and see quite a lot in this short trip. The getting away from home was good for me. I do have to admit that there were stressed out moments, but nothing too dramatic and I did not let those times affect me too much because I wanted to have a good time with my boys. It was good that Robin was willing to take time out and be away from his computer (he works on his computer all day everyday) to be with us. He really put in an effort to spend one-to-one time with Calvin during this trip which I think is very important to both of them. It will be a while before we can have a family getaway again as Robin’s course is getting very intensive in the next few months. Well, I can always plan ahead! 🙂 Here’s one of my favourite pictures taken during the trip. Thank God for keeping us safe.