We were invited by Natalie for her 2nd birthday.On the invitation, it says “We’ll be putting out a small pool in the backyard and a water-table so bring along water & sun gear!” Apparently, the word ‘pool’ didn’t register in my mind. I just thought that they would be playing in the backyeard with water table and water splashing here and there. We didn’t bring any swimming diaper for Viola, luckily Serene brought extra for Lucas. Thanks! Viola had lots of fun in the water under the Sun.
Worth to mention!!! The fabulous and yummy cake was made from tofu and zuchini, yes you heard me right-tofu and zuchini. Talk about a way to sneak in the veggies to the kids and adults for that matter
One of the downfall of being born during Fall and Winter is not being able to have beaches, parks, and backyards birthday parties. We were invited by Hui Lee for her and Elly cie’s birthday BBQ party at the Lims. The shrimp and the steak were amazing, not to mention the chocolate and rose cakes.
Elisa and I and the families on the other side of the world have discussed about whether to bring Viola and Adelia along for the long flight. We decided against it – pity Adelia. As the result, I was doing this 10-day mad dash from Vancouver – Singapore – Medan – Singapore – Vancouver. Enough time in Indonesia to be off my jetlag and then I have to fly back again. Have I told anyone how I hate staring at ceiling?
It was a good trip and it is definitely good to catch up with families. But it would be a lot of exciting and fun with the rest of my family. Would love to see Elisa dressed up – we dont do that enough without occassion. Would like to see Viola dressed up in little bride dress and sprinkling flowers walking in. I really do not think she is brave enough to do that.
Viola’s ballet class was canceled today, luckily Serene called and invited us to join her and her friends to the Aquarium.
Today is the day that Desmon would be back from his 10-day trip back to Asia attending his bro’s wedding. Desmon wished to see us at the other end of the gate when we picked him up. However, because it was a 9:30pm arrival time, we cannot grant him his wish. The kids were already fast asleep in the car. So, reluctantly, he asked us just to wait in the car for him.
Met up with Leny (Sammi, Ah-Ma, and Edmon Ii) for dim sum. We hadn’t seen each other for almost a year since Leny moved to Chicago last Summer. Sammi has grown so big and cute.
Around 3pm, I went to Yaletown to meet up with the Putihs, the newly wed couple. We walked from yaletown to English bay with ice cream as our main goal, which kept us going. Day that was spent wit lots of friends is just priceless. Thanks Leny and Putihs for the company.
The one thing I miss about working in a tourism industry is the perk. I miss the “passport” where I and my friend/family could enter the tourism places for free. Especially with kids, that will come in handy. Meg called me to ask me whether I would like to join her to the zoo…of course Yes! I packed for a one day road trip, lunch, snacks, drinks, hats, and camera. Viola and Miwa had tons of fun admiring the animals.
Vancouver zoo has gotten lots of bad reviews for its facility however after visiting the local zoo in Indonesia, this is really nothing. I didn’t know what people are so fed up about. There were way worse zoos around the world. For me, the Vancouver zoo is more than okay already. The animals can roam in a decent area, not in a small cage where for sure you can spot the animal.
We didn’t realize that we have this plant, Rhubarb, in our backyard. I had no clue what it was or whether it was edible until Lian and Rob told us the other day when they were here. Lian and I got into talking about Strawberries and rhubarb pie… she said it was really nice and that I should give it a try.
Lian called me today and invited Viola, Adelia and I were invited to her place for lunch. I couldn’t wait to see how Lian bake the rhubarb. Aware that the leaves of rhubarb can be toxic, I handled it with gloves when the kids were napping in the morning. I chose the red-est color and the thickest to chop. I love the color. I tied hem up and as soon as the kids were awake, we were on the way to her place. Lian had prepared a simple and delicious lunch for me and Viola. It was amazing. Soon after, Lian just started to measure, chop, mix, assemble, and voila!!! we had a homemade strawberries an rhubarb pie in 2 hours time. YUMMY! We are so lucky! Hot from the oven pie is the best especially homemade kind. Thanks Lian Rob and Miles for having us over. Hmmm…I wonder what else can i chop from my backyard to bring to Lian. I am sure she will whip something delicious out of everything. I oughta learn more from her. ^_^
I took my 2 girls to grocery shop for some necessities like fruits, butter, vegetables, and milk. With Viola in the toddler seat of the cart and Adelia’s car seat filled the middle cart, I only had tiny space to put all the groceries. When I was lining up in the cashier, a man in front of me kept looking at me and Adelia. I went and checked on Adelia and I was shocked seeing her hugging 2 blocks of butter…one of them with teeth mark on it. I quickly grabbed the 2 blocks of butter from her and wiped her mouth where the corner of her mouth still had the trace of aluminum foil. *sigh That man might hing I am a crazy mom!
Apparently, after I told my Ma this incident, she told me that I did the same thing. I was about a year old, in the walker dragging myself to the pantry, grabbed a BlueBand Margarine 250gr and managed to finished it all. So she wasn’t surprised that my daughter might have a thing with butter too ^_^
Birthday party:
Viola was invited by Sienna, her fellow classmate from ballet class for her 3rd birthday party. Sienna’s mom hired a clown unfortunately, Viola was not into the clown and stayed as far as she could from the clown. The food was amazing.
Karaoke get-together:
After the birthday party, we went straight to Richmond to join the gang for a Karaoke afternoon. I was greeted by Sharon when we arrived and she informed that none of the moms brought their kids. Then, I was worried how my kids would stay put for hours. Luckily, Viola was napping and I was able to transfer her without waking her up. We sang for 2-3 hours. I had a great time “screaming” rather than singing…, had dinner at the next door restaurant before we headed home.
The first thing we usually do when we see a clear blue sky is OUT!!!! Serene quickly organized a picnic at a nearby park. It was a very very very good day.
Nonetheless, after spending hours at the picnic, we reached home feeling tired and sleepy. Viola was winding down by watching TV when suddenly the TV went off and she said “Hei Ma!! KK wanna watch TV”. Then, I realized that we had power outage. NO!!!
I dragged myself up and quickly fed the two girls, changed them into PJs, and put Adelia down. Soon after, it was getting dark and i found 3 flashlight and hold onto them tight… not only that, I found out that my cell phone had low bat. Great! I grabbed Viola and my 3 flashlight and went to Viola’s room. Suddenly, I got really scared and started to freak out… my mind started to wonder….. to a dark places. Not good!
I called Serene just to chat and hopefully I might calm down then. No luck! She kept asking whether I need her to come over and I kept saying NO. Until my phone release a warning tone…telling me that my battery was gonna give up on me soon, I told Serene that it was okay.
5 minutes later, Serene was outside my house with a big flashlight. I felt so embarrassed. Serene and I sat down and she asked me whether I was okay… I started to cry. (silly me!)
I miss Desmon, I said!!! She accompanied me from 9pm-12:30am. She basically saved me. I wouldn’t know how I would handle the almost-5 hour-power outage. Thanks, Serene!!!!
