Chinese New Year 2016

The Spring Festival arrived on the 8.2.2016.

We went to Wife's grandparents' house for their Open House makan.

At Ah Chor's house

All day eating, drinking and merry making. A great celebration day.

We went for few house visiting on the second day. By evening, Wife had a fabulous ex schoolmates' gathering at our house.

 Happy Lunar New Year 2016!

Penang trip

Yes! we're in Penang

Wife was having her convocation ceremony in USM, Penang. She took all of us with her for a celebration of her success.

On 22.4.2015, we were in a Airasia plane from Miri to Penang, a direct flight. Wife asked me to make an itinerary for the trip.

After we landed, we waited for our rented car to arrive at Gate 6. We had a RM120-a day MyVi car for our journey. First stop, the Snake Temple, which is a total disappointment. The kids were wondering if the few snakes were even real! We had our first meal at a nearby restaurant. Steamed rice with mushroom chicken.

We checked in Luxfort 118, a two bedded apartment. And off we went for our much anticipated makan trip.

The Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul was our first stop. RM2.50 a bowl for the chendul but the dessert was totally overrated.

One should tried Miri's own chendul or ais kacang. 

We even bought a glass of iced chrysanthemum drink. As expected, it's overly sweet. Nothing to shout about.

We had char keow teow in the restaurant, right next to the chedul selling kiosk. The first bite into the not-to-missed food made me wondered if all the blogs mentioning about the nice food in Penang were being paid.

We continued on. Mee goreng sotong , coconut shake and Pasembur near Fort Cornwalis. One thing for sure. Buying food in Penang really tested one's patience. Surprisingly, the food, for now, didn't give me the wow factor. The price were not cheap. And the taste was best described as so so.

We went back to our hotel to let the kids had great time in the jacuzzi next to the swimming pool. We were all alone and the sea view in front of us was magnificient.

Dinner time. We went to Gurney Drive without much anticipation. Wife ordered fried oyster and rojak buah. Half of the place were closed that night. We had a lot of sugar cane drink that night. I was pleasantly surprised that Darrien could use chopsticks by himself. On our way back to our parking lot, we saw a parking attendant writing summons. Only did we find out that one needed to put parking coupons till midnight in Penang.

Jacob was enjoying his o cien.

Government Loan Application Form had reached Putrajaya

Since the day we confirmed our purchase of our house with the owner, more than 4 months had passed. A lot documents needed to be signed and prepared. Online application had been done more than 3 months ago.

At 11.11am, 19 November 2014, the 100th day after the RM200 wang proses was paid, all our government housing loan documents reached the Bahagian Pinjaman Perumahan, Putrajaya.

We prayed that loan can be approved soon. We can't wait to move into our new house!

Goodbye Kelantan

In less than 85 hours, I will be leaving Kelantan for good. I am ending my stay-at-home career for the past 39 months. My no pay leave extension for another six months had been rejected and I was informed to report duty next week.

The familiar sad feeling filled me when I fetched Darrien for the last time in Tadika Fatima earlier this week. There were drops of tears when I fetched my boy back home from Taska Alam Ceria for the last time.

I didn't manage to say goodbye to Teacher Gan and Teacher Zannah in Tadika Fatime for taking good care of Darrien throughout the years. I could not bring myself to do so.

A big thank you to Wife for the years of dealing with my tantrums and feeding me. It was really tough in the beginning (even now) as we were surviving on a RM4k budget a month. There were car loan, baby's stuff and utilities to pay. Yet we manage to eat out at times and even travel when time permits.

So, Sibu. Here I come soon.

Tadika Fatima's Sports Day 2014

Dear Darrien,

A year passed by. And another Sports Day came. You had outgrown many of your classmates in 5 Yellow. Last year, Mama, Kung Kung and Gugu came to watch you. But Mama had passed away 2 months ago. They were not coming to Kelantan to cheer for you this year.

Daddy, Mummy and Jacob were watching you while you marched pass the grand stand. You looked so serious and disciplined. You stood straight while holding the flag and put your arm firm by your side. When you came back, you kept telling me that Mummy was so proud of you holding the flag.

Darrien with his class teacher, Teacher Zannah

Darrien with the school's principal, Sister Jackie

This year, you were running on the track and climbing under a bench.

Alas. You're too big for the bench

You won a third prize and Jacob could not resist the temptation of receiving prize with you.

Kudos to all teachers in Tadika Fatima for the successful event.

Christmas Party in Kubang Kerian

We had our second Christmas party at our home in Kubang Kerian. Last year was done on smaller scale. This year, we had more varieties of food, cooked by Wife.

I cooked a simple yam dessert. The or nee was prepared earlier by Wife. I just added olive oil and cooked it under small fire. Wife prepared beef and chicken Shepperd pies. Then, there were spaghetti with beef sauce. And chicken sauce since some of our guests didn't eat beef.

The star attraction of the night. TURKEY! We were surprised that our nearby supermarket, Mydin was selling frozen turkey. It was a rare buy. We bought one around 3 kilogrammes bird. Wife searched the Net for a good recipe and I helped out by making sure the turkey was cooked nicely in the oven. It was grilled perfectly and I had a juicy bite of it.

We prepared fried chicken wings which I marinated with fermented tofu sauce, vegetable salad, cupcakes and cheese-cherry snack. Wife's friend brought bread pudding.

Wife said she didn't eat the portobello mushroom which she stuffed with minced pork, onion, bit of shredded cheese, bread crumbs and finely-chopped spring onion. I had one and I told her it's really finger licking delicious.

The boys were running around happily.

The children were enjoying themselves.

We invited our church carolling group to come to our house a week earlier. They reached our place as our guests were enjoying themselves. Around 8.30pm and the group leader told us it was their third stop of the night. We were told that there were 34 of them but almost 50 of them turned up. Bless all of them for their lovely voices. Our home was packed to the max.

Everyone was enjoying the atmosphere. 

Stay tuned next year to see what Wife will be cooking next Christmas.

Swimming time at home

Jacob was jumping excitedly when Wife started to pump up the mini portable outdoor swimming pool.

The water was cold but the kids couldn't resist jumping into the water.

Wife made sure the kids washed their feet thoroughly before letting them in the pool. Darrien brought the pink scoop and his few toys with him.

Seeing me taking photos of them, Darrien asked me to take a picture of his scratch marks on his thigh. 

Jacob was reluctant to make himself wet at first. After splashes and splashes of water from his brother, he started making big splashes as well.

The kids were really enjoying the cold water.

Hands up, bro!

Here a good splash on you! Yay!
 

The simple pleasure of life.