April & May

April is the month for birthday celebrations … on a quiet scale.

Sat 6 April 2013

Dinner with Abikia at a Puchong restaurant. We had pork ribs, vegetable and soup for RM36.  

Sat 13 April 2013

Dinner with Abikia at a food court in Puchong. Nice & affordable meal of herbal chicken soup and fried rice, for only RM12. I told Abikia I never had dinner at 6.30 PM before (excluding the 5.30 PM meal on 31 March). It’s usually closer to 8 PM after my weekend jog at a nearby playground.

Wed 17 April 2013

It was another working day in Singapore with the whole world unaware of the significance of the day. Except for Anica who sent me birthday wishes on Google+. Thanks !

Sat 20 April 2013

Pasta dinner with Beh Ling at Plaza Singapura. At last, someone remembered to treat me for my birthday !

But, I still owe Beh Ling her birthday treat…

Tues 23 April 2013

Austin family moved into their new house and starts a new chapter as a home owner. 

River contemplating a prison break

She has reached the stairs !

Crawling, moving & exploring

Fri 26 April 2013

Sent birthday wishes to Abi with list of possible names for future nieces and nephews. It’s never too early to think of names. Besides I was inspired after reading about River Phoenix.

River is busy with her finger painting activity

Play time !

Sun 28 April 2013

Dinner with Beh Ling at Raffles City foodcourt, consisting of rice with vegetable and chicken soup.

Wed 1 May 2013

Although it is suppose to be a day of rest for labourers like me, it didn’t turn out to be so. Spent the day working at the bank.

Sun 5 May 2013

Beh Ling back in KL for a wedding and for the General Election. We were able to breeze into the polling center and cast our votes in the afternoon. No queueing required as most people had voted in the morning.

Meanwhile, Abikia was back in KK to be a first-time voter. He went with mummy to the polling center in the morning and voted for the future.

The indelible ink on the second finger to prove that you have voted

Mon 6 May 2013

A few colleagues wore black to work today. The future didn’t turn out the way they had hoped (or voted) for.

Sun 26 May 2013

Lunch appointment with Abikia at an expensive Japanese restaurant near KLCC. 

Here is what we had for lunch. It costs us RM89.10 (original price. It is less by RM30 with Groupon deal). 

Back to work after the sumptuous and expensive lunch.

Photos of My Cute Niece

River wins our Cutest Niece Award hands down !

Happily chewing

More happy chewing moments 

River's masterpiece. Watch out, world !

Time for a stroll with Dad

Bath time with Mum

River finds a handy sleeping bag - her Dad

And now, here are some possible name choices for River's future sisters and brothers.

Summer  

Storm 

Rain

I know my future nieces and nephews will thank me for the brilliant name choices  :)

Birthday Celebration

Fri 29 Mar 2013 
We were back for short trip to celebrate mummy’s 70th birthday.
I took an early morning flight and was back in KK by 10.30 AM.

Then did some office work before mummy and I set off to the airport to pick up Abikia who arrived at 6 PM.  Fortunately we have 2 cars as Dad went off to pick up Beh Ling who came down from National Park at around 6 PM as well.

It could have been mistaken as a CNY Reunion dinner as we had a lavish feast consisting of fish, prawns, crab, soup and vegetables for dinner.

As Beh Ling didn’t have much sleep the past two nights, she went to sleep at 9 PM. One of the perks on not having to work the next day meant that I could watch a late show on TV.

Sat 30 Mar 2013
It turned out to be a super busy day.

We were off to Karamunsing in the morning to look at washing machine and rice cooker for mummy’s birthday gift. Then we went to Merdeka supermarket to get some groceries.

After lunch, Bikia and I went for a haircut before we headed to town. Beh Ling had her facial as well as a massage for her aching legs, ending with a visit to the hair saloon. Bikia also had a massage, while I did my errands on paying my credit card bills and bought the birthday cake.

Then I went for a short jog. Unfortunately, there was an encounter with A Dog. Although it didn’t bite me, its teeth were at my knees and I had a small cut before its owner chased it back into the house. Since it was not a stray dog, a hospital visit was not required.

All of us took our shower before heading to the restaurant. The restaurant manager who knows Dad gave us a discount as there was no service charge of 10%.

Family photo at Deep Sea Restaurant

Just the girls 

Soft shell crab, longevity noodles and yam basket. We also had fish and vegetables

For dessert, we had the birthday cake, at home.

The four of us with the birthday cake

Family photo at our dining room, with the new marble top dining table that we bought during CNY

At 10 PM, it was time for our Skype session with Austin. 
After that, we had a chat session while Dad went off to sleep. 

Sun 31 Mar

First trip to the airport was to send off Beh Ling whose flight was at 12.20 PM. We had lunch at home followed by a short rest before sending off Abikia for his 3.40 PM flight.

Then I had a very early 5.30 PM dinner before going to the airport for my 7.20 PM flight. Room for improvement: better coordination for our flight schedule …

KK CNY 2013 Part II

Thurs 14 Feb

I guess you could say it was an unforgettable Valentine’s Day...

Beh Ling forgot her purse for her visit to the hair saloon and facial session. Dad who was also in town walked over to provide emergency bailout. Then she was stuck in the 5.30 PM after-work traffic.

The drama continues...

While we were out jogging, Beh Ling was bitten by a dog. As I was jogging in a dog-free area, we didn’t know about it until she told us just before we started on our dinner. 

The drama has not ended...

We decided that she should go to the hospital to have her wound check out. As I had not taken my shower, I took a quick shower which took about 20 minutes (including drying my hair) while Beh Ling had her tea and some biscuits after dinner. Yes, despite the fact that it was an emergency (dog may have rabies), there is still time for tea and biscuits.

Scene at Emergency & Accident Unit of QE Hospital

Young & good-looking Medical Officer: IC please.

Medical Officer: Whose IC is this? 

He looked at Beh Ling, turned to mummy. Apparently he didn’t believe the age stated on the IC.

After asking a few questions, he stamped “Trauma” in the medical report and assigned Beh Ling to the non-critical Trauma Section.  After about 15 minutes, it was her turn to see the doctor.

Doctor (looking at the ‘Trauma” stamp): What happened?

He asked a few more questions:  Why was the dog chasing you? Did you notice whether the dog had any saliva? 

After assuring her there is no case of rabies in Malaysia, she was given an iodine swab on the puncture wound and a tetanus jab. The payment required for the treatment? RM1. 

Fri 15 Feb
We were at the airport on time for Beh Ling’s 2.35 PM flight. At night, mummy and I went for a short shopping trip at Merdeka Supermarket. It was another opportunity for me to drive the brand new car.

Sat 16 Feb

Tea-time with Lanash, Jac, Mala, Bev and Bea at SGCC. The Secret Recipe’s cheese, chocolate and butterscotch cakes were a hit. Although pricey, it was perfect for tea time as we chatted and laughed over latest happenings.

Sun 17 Feb

It was church in the morning followed by CNY lunch at the Club. I had two helpings of chicken (pak cham kai), siu yuk and veggies.  Then it was time for me to be at the airport for the 5.25 PM flight back to KL (and work + traffic jam).

Sun 24 Feb

It's the 14th and last day of CNY. Instead of throwing mandarin oranges into the river, I had lunch with the guys at PJ Hilton.

Back in Austin, River met up with her "twin", baby Emika who is 2 weeks younger. Emika's mum is Anica’s friend from college days, a German married to a Japanese.

KK CNY 2013

Fri 1 Feb
I was in Klang for first aunty’s 70th birthday celebration, a week before CNY.

Sat 9 Feb

I was on time for my 9 AM flight even though the alarm didn’t go off at 6.15 AM. I woke up at 7.05 AM when the taxi arrived!

At KK aiport, Bikia and Dad picked me up in a new car which was a surprise early birthday gift from Bikia to mummy. 

In the afternoon, Bikia, mummy and I visited a few furniture shops and bought 6 chairs for the dining room. 

As Beh Ling missed her flight even though she was at the airport super early, we had our reunion dinner without her. 

This was followed by our Skype session with Austin where River went to sleep half an hour into our session. As there was an earlier Skype session with her Serbia family, no wonder she was dead tired. After “performing” for everyone for an hour, she was entitled to her morning nap while we chatted with Abi and Anica.

River, the star performer for our Skype sessions

CNY Sun 10 Feb 

We were at the airport at 11.30 AM to pick up Beh Ling. In the afternoon, it was a 2 hours shopping session at Suria where 2 cheong sam dresses were bought and we were entitled to a RM30 voucher. 

Beh Ling and I went out for a short jogging session. I headed back when it started to rain.

We had another Skype session with everyone back in KK. This time baby River went to sleep a few minutes into the session.  She was tired after waking up at 6 AM.

Jan 21: River watching TV with her dad

CNY Mon 11 Feb

While Bikia headed back to Sibu, we woke up too late to go to the airport with him. It’s not easy trying to get up at 6 AM. If River was with us, she would have accompanied her Uncle Danny to the airport.

It was housecleaning activity in the afternoon followed by our exercise session at the gym.

Tues 12 Feb

It was another exercise session of jogging and gym workout in the late afternoon. 

We had a late dinner with Dad telling us about his early years in Kajang and moving to Klang at age 8 where there was no curfew. He was placed in Primary 1 English class as he had studied in Chinese for the first two years. 

Wed 13 Feb

I did my banking errands in the morning, followed by house-cleaning in the afternoon.

After a short jogging session, I sent Beh Ling to Austral Park where she had dinner with 2 schoolmates. I decided to drive the new Proton car as it’s a luxury to be driving an auto car, with power steering (two features which my car doesn’t have).