Daily happenings..

We have just a little more time on our hands these days, and so, what have the kids been up to?

The boys started swimming classes about a month ago. They have since gained much water confidence and can now paddle by themselves while clutching onto their swim noodles. After just a month or so of lessons, the 2 of them are as brown as toast now.

Kieran started Chinese class at Tien Hsia this term. After just 7 lessons (#8 was a review session, #9 was a mini recital), he now recognises some 28+ characters and can recite about 6 poems in Mandarin. In fact he attempts to speak in Mandarin more these days. He will point out different vegetables/ fruits in the supermarket and say their names in Chinese. An amazing achievement for someone who once didn't utter a single word in Mandarin!

Both the boys had their end-of-year concert at their kindy last week. Kieran was performing a song called "Barnyard Animals Worship" and he was great as a little brown dog! The song opened with him shaking his little butt, and I thought that it was really cute. He actually warned us prior to the concert that we were not to laugh at his wriggling butt!

This was Kiefer's first concert and we were so proud of him. He was singing and dancing to his song "This little light of mine" and we could see how much focus he put in to get everything right. I thought he was the cutest little kid on stage. When he first came onto the stage, he started looking around for us. We could see his usual look of annoyance (the "why-you-never-let-me-xxx" look) when he could not find us. He was quite a blur bloke actually. We were waving and waving at him but he just didn't see us. Finally, at the end of the segment, as they were getting off the stage, I yelled "Kiefer!". He heard it, spotted us and yelled a really loud "MUMMY!". He was so adorable that the audience started laughing too! We saw his entire face light up when he spotted us. That's my little rascal!

 

Chicken Robot (by Kieran)

Eye (by Kiefer)

AT-AT (by Kieran)

We've finally taken their box of Duplos out of storage and they've been building and building and building the last couple of days. 

Really looking forward to the holidays really starting. Things haven't been slowing down in school for the 2 of us. So we are really looking forward to the break!

A little roadtrip

It is the 1 week September break for us and as usual, we cannot bear to stay put at home doing nothing. So we decide to go on a little road to Malaysia. Our original plan was just to go up Melaka and spend 2 nights there, but hubb thought that 2 nights was overkill for Melaka as we will run out of things to do in one day. I don't know how it came about, but I suddenly suggested Port Dickson, and off he went and booked a wonderful hotel there for the second night.

We set off really early (615am) on Sunday morning and the road was nice and clear. We managed to sit down at Dim Sum Garden in Melaka by 9am for breakfast though we were driving at most 110km/h. We had loads of time after breakfast to drive around and even did most of our shopping before we even checked into Holiday Inn. Yup, we stayed at Holiday Inn this time round because we couldn't get good rates at Equatorial. (The cheapest at Equatorial was RM$600+ per night!!) It was pretty fun staying at Holiday Inn as well, cos afterall, it is a really new hotel. It's just that shopping isn't as convenient anymore cos Mahkota is not exactly walking distance from the hotel, and we had to drive over to Pahlawan. No more me going shopping on my own while the boys nap. Then again, the boys didn't nap all day!! :P

Kiddo enjoying his dimsum very much.


Don't know what they were whispering about. But it was a nice breezy morning, looking out to the sea and looking at people flying remote controlled aeroplanes nearby.



We had dinner at Bei Zhan again, but we thought that we really have to look for a new favourite in Melaka. Bei Zhan is getting expensive and they are not serving our favourite steamed Patin anymore. :( Anyway, cos the boys didn't nap the entire day (except for the 1 hour nap during the drive into Melaka), Kiefer zonked out during dinner and absolutely could not be woken. :(

Swimming at the infinity pool at Holiday Inn. The base of this float tore off when we were at Port Dickson. The 2 boys are getting to be too heavy to share a ride on it.

 
We had lunch at Mahkota the next day and started our drive to Port Dickson at about 1pm. Port Dickson is only about 1 hour away from Melaka, but the GPS took us by the small roads and we got stuck behind almost every single traffic light on our way out of Melaka. We were so relieved when we finally hit the highways. Each red light in Melaka lasts for 99 seconds. I always felt that one would really grow old while waiting for the lights!!

Port Dickson was fun. Not that there was anything there to do. However, Hubb booked The Legend International Water Homes and that was special because each chalet unit comes with its own tiny pool. The chalet was huge and the boys had such fun swimming all day (and night).

One of the highlights of our stay at Legend. The boys simply loved this buggy rides to our room.

Windows open to overlook the little pool.

The chalets were built on stilts, and each room has a little viewing panel on the floor.

We went Melaka to swim again!!

Kieran always associates Melaka with swimming, cos that's we we do all the time while we are there!! We went back there for the last couple of days as we just wanted to get out of Sg for awhile and since there was really not anywhere we could go, we decided to go back to Melaka. We've always liked this little town and it's a great short drive, not too long a road trip for the kids. Kieran thinks that the hotel that we stayed at is Melaka. And every time we leave the hotel, he'll ask," why we leaving Melaka?" :P Since we've been staying at Hotel Equatorial the last 3 times we were there, we are now their "Repeat Stay Member"!! For that, we were presented with a pair of Hotel Equatorial slippers as a souvenir!! In the little letter that accompanied the gift, it says that we can look forward to more gifts on our 8th, 11th etc visit. :D We've been going back to Equatorial cos it's right next to the new mall and their rates are pretty reasonable. This time round however, the room that they gave us was not as big as the last. We were given a corner room on our last visit and it even had a 2 seater couch in it. But this time, only a small round coffee table and 2 arm chairs. :( Nonetheless, the kids had fun at the pool.

Sleepy heads!! These little fellas had the best seats in the car!



Lunch at Seri Nonya (Hotel Equatorial).
Otak Otak . Prawn ommelette . Ayam Pontek . Stir fried vege


Our favourite pastime in Melaka!


Tried to get Kieran to swim on his own with his "muscles" on. He still prefers to cling onto us. :(


Night market at Jonker Walk.

This is how I get my marking done!

Had to stay home with the boys on thur and had marking to do, since the MYE is here. I remembered that we had a inflatable pool in the cupboard and thus decided to blow it up for them. I didn't realise that the pool was so huge! I thought it was the same size as the one we previously had (which was probably 1/3 in size only) and I nearly blacked out from blowing it up cos the electric air pump wasn't at home. Anyway, they had fun in there for about 1hr while I sat outside the bathroom door marking. I think it was quite a great way to spend the morning! The boys had fun while I got work done!

Fun in the sun!

Just got back from Melaka. We stayed at the Hotel Equatorial and the boys had a really great time frolicking in the hotel pool till they are all brown and toasty. Talk about being the TAN family!! =P

Stuff we did:

Eating...

More eating...

 

Some sightseeing..

Caricature drawing...

More eating...

Lots of swimming...

And homeward bound..

Weekend activities

It's been a really long time since we've gone swimming! Kiefer has even forgotten about the pool and he yelled his head off when we dumped him in!! =P Still after 5mins or so, he thoroughly enjoyed himself in there. And yes, today is Melaka day!! More sun and fun!!

And this is Kiefer's latest love...

Kieran goes "whee!!"

Brought K&K to the new Sengkang Swimming Complex in the morning. For the price of $2, I think it's quite a lot of fun! Haven't been to an SSC swimming pool for a long time already and I'm pleasantly surprised by how nice they look now. Kieran had fun at the outdoor kid's pool and he eve went down the slide twice!! Of course, Daddy had to kind of push him off! Kiefer just had his fun dipping his butt into the water. After a while, he just fell asleep, in his swim suit, while still in the water!! Poor baby! Borrowed the photo below from www.biow.post1.org. This is how the children's pool looked like. Slides and water guns and water sprays everywhere! The only setback was that it is a public pool and there's just loads of people on a Saturday. Then again, for $2, it was a cheap, good, clean fun! We'll probably bring the boys there again, but this time on a weekday afternoon or something.

Splash..!

Kiefer's First Swim!

He was uncomfortable at first because the water was rather cold, but he soon enjoyed dipping inside! He also enjoyed floating around in the inflatable rocket! :P

Here's Kieran, happy as always when he is in the pool!