My Birthday Outing

Daddy and mummy did not plan anything special for my birthday this year. Up until the very last minute (on the night of my birthday eve), daddy casually asked...

Daddy: Tomorrow is your birthday so what would you like to do?

Me: Something fun!

Daddy: Like what?

Me: Go to Genting Highlands?

Daddy: Err, besides that?

Me: Hong Kong Disneyland??

Daddy & mummy: *rolled eyes*

Well, after getting my hint, daddy and mummy planned a birthday surprise for me that very night, after I have gone to bed. It was something very impromptu.

The next morning (on 13th Aug, my actual birthday), Koo-koo joined us on our outing. We went to Berjaya Times Square in KL... a place totally unfamiliar to me. It was lunch time when we arrived so we had lunch at Vivo. I was still kept in the dark about the "secret place" that they were bringing me to. Although I did ask, they were very tight-lipped over it.

Walking around Vivo while waiting for our orders... playing and talking to my "twin" as usual (everytime I see large mirrors like this)

Let's dig in!

Seafood pizza, mushroom pizza, grilled fish sandwich and chocolate lava... yummy!

Finally, the surprise was revealed to me right after lunch...

I was extremely thrilled when led to the entrance of a theme park!

The Berjaya Times Square Theme Park is listed in the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest indoor theme park in Malaysia. The entrance fee turned out to be cheaper than Genting's indoor theme park because we got multiple discounts after flashing our MyKad/MyKid, a departmental store loyalty card and a credit card.

This was our very first visit here and we were quite impressed with the pleasant atmosphere that greeted us... everything looked clean and fairly new. The best part was, we DID NOT have to queue up for the rides at all (there was no crowd).

Bright, colourful and attractive

In almost every ride that we went on, we were always the first in the queue ;) I didn't feel bored riding the rides again and again and again and again (average of 5 times per ride)...

Botanic Drive (Total number of rides: 5)

From the 2nd ride onward, I insisted on driving the car all by myself and didn't allow mummy or daddy to sit with me

Molly-Cool's Swing... this was the only ride that I did not enjoy. After just a few swings, my face turned pale so mummy quickly asked the ride operator to stop the ride. Luckily I was the only kid on it. (Total number of rides: 0.5)

Buddy Go Round... a nice carousel with unusual-looking creatures (Total number of rides: 5)

I loved the spinning cup on the carousel...

Flying Bumble Bee... this was one of my favourites (Total number of rides: 6)

Crazy Bus (Total number of rides: 5)

On board the Crazy Bus... this was a very fun ride... even daddy and mummy enjoyed this :)

Fantasy Trail... a choo-choo train ride around the theme park (Total number of rides: 4)

Honey Bump... bumper-car for kids.

I loved this the most! For the record, I played this 8 times!

I enjoyed playing in the big playground there too (while daddy and mummy rested their tired feet)

Daddy the thrill-seeker even had a go on this hair-raising roller coaster... the Supersonic Odyssey as well as the Ooort's Express. Mummy the coward gave him two thumb-ups :)

After 5 hours of walking, spinning, twirling, gyrating, sitting and steering, we decided to call it a day. Just before leaving the theme park, I noticed something missing on my wrist. It was the brand new McD Hello Kitty watch that Koo-koo gave to me yesterday. I wanted to tell mummy about it but didn't dare to open my mouth so I hinted to her by lifting and pulling the sleeve of my blouse up and down to show her my bare wrist. As expected, I got nagged by her for being so careless!

Luckily the watch was captured in one of the photos taken by Koo-koo earlier in Vivo...

So sayang... gone within a day *sad* I told mummy not to delete this photo because I want to remember this watch forever haha.

I asked for sushi for dinner so we had that somewhere near home

That night, I thanked daddy and mummy profusely for giving me a fun-tastic day. I told them "I don't like today... I LOOOOOOOOOVE today!"

The following day, mummy baked me some cupcakes.

With my home-baked Choco-Berry Cuppies (chocolate cupcakes with homemade fresh cream, chocolate sprinkles and strawberries)

F.I.V.E... 5!

I am five years old today. At age 5, I am:

... 115cm tall and weigh approximately 21kg.

... very shy, timid and quiet with strangers but loud and chatty at home.

... generally a very happy, easy going and cheerful girl.

... funny and witty!

I have matured by leaps and bounds, being very much more understanding, compassionate and sensible.

Here's a mini flashback of my birthday and the following celebrations I had...

Fresh from the "oven" on my real Birth Day on 13th Aug 2006... all puffed-up like a little sumo, tipping the scales at 4.39kg/9lb 11oz !

My first birthday (a simple family celebration at home)

Cake time at Secret Recipe on my 2nd birthday (we spent the day window-shopping in Pavilion and KLCC)

I celebrated my 3rd birthday in Genting Highlands (I got a free entrance to the Outdoor Themepark)

Cupcakes for my 3rd birthday at home

Mummy got me these cute Sesame Street cuppies for my 4th birthday (celebrated in kindy). After school, we went for a 2D1N stay in the Grand Millenium Hotel in KL

5 years old today... besar panjang already! ;) (Pic taken last month by Koo-koo)

As with every year, I get a "love letter" from daddy and mummy on my birthday...

To Our Beloved Darling Daughter,

Words cannot describe the overwhelming love we have for you. The past 5 years have been the sweetest years of our lives together. It is so rewarding watching you grow and mature into a fine young girl. Caring for you has always been easy, nurturing you has always been gratifying and disciplining you has never been difficult. We thank you for being such a good, obedient and wonderful child. Oh, the joys of raising you!

We are truly, truly blessed to have you as our precious daughter! Our ultimate wish for you is to see you SAFE and in GOOD HEALTH always. Of course, we want you to have every ounce of love and happiness in the world too :)

We love you MORE each passing day! We love you million, billion, trillion and all the big numbers (echoing your words heh heh)!!

With All Our Love,

Daddy and Mummy

Her Dearest Baby...

Mummy is feeling a bit nostalgic now that I'm approaching 5! Today is the last day I get to tell people that I'm still 4 haha... 4 years, 11 months, 4 weeks and 2 days to be exact (according to my Lilypie ticker).

Mummy was looking through the folders of my photos and videos (estimated to be around hundreds of thousands in total). Below is one of her FAVOURITE photos of me. It's a picture of me donning a stylish Baby Gap denim dress with matching hat given by Debbie yi-yi (mummy's cousin) all the way from the US.

At only 56 days old, I was already made to pose for the camera! Tsk tsk tsk...

Where has this baby doll gone?

A Sweet Gesture

Three weeks ago, Ah Ma had a fall on the golf course (Ah Ma is an avid golfer even at her golden age of 72) and fractured her left wrist. That very weekend, we went back to Seremban to visit her. When I saw Ah Ma's hand in a cast, I showed my sympathy and "sayang-ed" her hand a few times.

The following day, after we have returned home to PJ, I did something really cute and funny. I kept blowing kisses out of the window and said "These kisses are for Ah Ma. I hope Ah Ma will catch them!" Later, I told mummy that I wanted to make a card for Ah Ma. Since it was already quite late at night, mummy just brushed off my idea and told me to do it the next day.

The next day (when mummy had totally forgotten about the card), I did it on my own. I cut a piece of A4 paper into a small card and wrote the following words...

Mummy found the word Ah Mu hilarious LOL!

I asked for the spelling for "draw", "card" and "Ah Ma" but must have heard wrongly or written wrongly thus "Ah Ma" became "Ah Mu". Mummy then helped me with another more proper card.

Girl at work... mummy was very, very happy and proud of my sweet gesture and initiative to cheer Ah Ma up

My writing... mummy spelled almost all the words for me except for my own name and I Love You

The front: Polka dots and stickers

The back: A picture of me, Ah Ma, a cat, a mountain with flowers, a tree, a sun and a rainbow

When the card was done, I picked an envelope, placed the card inside and helped mummy to affix 2 stamps on it. I also personally dropped the letter into the post box just outside our home.

Surprisingly, Pos Malaysia was super fast and efficient! Ah Ma received my card the following morning (in just over 24 hours!) She was so surprised and delighted to see my card that all her pain and agony melted away instantly! Happy Ah Ma = Happy Me :)

Gently stroking Ah Ma's bandaged hand during our 2nd visit last weekend. Ah Ma is feeling better now... with the cast taken off

I Love You One Million

I am very generous with my I Love Yous and will unabashedly declare it to my loved ones (usually family members).

A few months ago, I started adding numbers to express the degree of my love to whoever that special someone is. I started with 10... Mummy, I love you ten (as in a score of 10/10).

Then, it was increased to 100 and subsequently, 1000. Mummy, I love you one hundred thousand.

Recently, the numbers have skyrocketed to the -ions... million, billion, trillion etc. and even "all the numbers" (my own words for infinity).

From the simple I love you, I'm now fond of saying I love you one thousand, one million, billion, trillion and all the big numbers! I say it so often that sometimes the phrase loses its true meaning. This is evident in one of my recent conversations with mummy...

Me: Mummy...

Mummy: Hmmm?

Me: Mummy...

Mummy: Yes?

Me: Mummy....

Mummy: WHAT?

Me: I love you one million, trillion and all the big numbers *smile* Actually I want to tell you something else but I've forgotten what I want to say so I just say I love you first lah *grin*

It works well as a conversation "filler" too hehe!

A few weeks ago, daddy came across this comic strip "Pickles" (it's one of mummy's favourite comic strips) where Nelson the boy said something similar. What a coincidence! Or do many other kids say the same thing too?

Nelson is so like me... but I guess I'm much more "generous" than him hehe!

Fun Fair

Everytime we are back in Seremban, we pass by this fun fair a few times in a day as it is quite near to Ah Ma's house. It is very eye-catching, especially at night with its colourful bright lights and all. I have been yearning to go to this fun fair since the day I saw the workers assembling the ferris wheel and setting up the place. That was about 2 months ago!

Well, after an early dinner on Saturday, Gung-gung finally suggested bringing me there for a "look-see". I have never been to an "old-fashioned" fun fair like this before, besides the amusement parks in Genting Highlands. Before leaving the house, I gave mummy an eager reminder... "Remember to bring the camera ok. Must take photos and put in my blog!"

Asia Fun Park in Seremban

Beaming at the fair *too happy*

Entrance and parking were free but the tokens cost RM2 each. Daddy bought 10 tokens for me to play whatever I liked. As expected, I spent all the tokens only on rides.

My favourite ride... the up-down-round-and-round ride

The boring round-and-round fire engine

Gung-gung accompanied me on the Ferris Wheel... loved it!

Another round-and-round ride... I felt a bit dizzy when I got down from the ride

Watching people scoop lucky duckies in one of the game booths

Just like that, pusing-pusing a bit, RM20 gone. So much for round-and-round rides! The rides were quite expensive, averaging at RM4 per ride. There were also a few RM2 kiddy rides, while some of the thrill rides (for adults) cost as much as RM6 per ride.

I enjoyed myself very much that night and kept asking for more. I also pleaded with mummy... "Can we come here again? Please? Pleeeeeeaaaase?" When mummy said no, I put on a glum face and muttered "I'm gonna miss this fun fair so much...." many, many, many times!

A Night to Remember

Continuation from Cherating Day 2...

After napping for about 1 hour, I was dragged out of the cosy hotel bed by daddy and mummy. While I was asleep, they had planned a spontaneous trip to a special place. Well-equipped with mobile Internet and a GPS, they were raring to go while I was still groggy and in a daze because of my interrupted sleep.

I wasn't too keen on their idea so I continued sleeping in the car for another 1 hour or so while daddy drove around looking for the place.

This was where we were going

After successfully finding the place, we turned back to Chukai town for an early dinner because we couldn't find anything to eat in the nearby kampung area.

Our very, very simple and so-so dinner in Hai Peng, a kopitiam in Chukai town

We returned to the firefly sanctuary, simply called Kelip-kelip Sungai Yak Yah in Ibok (about 22km from Legend Resort, Cherating)

One of these fibreglass boats took us on the firefly river cruise

The mangrove river

As we were early, we waited at the carpark for our guide until the sky turned dark. It was rather scary waiting in a totally deserted, pitch black forest. The whole place wasn't lighted up at all. We waited in the car and from the car, we noticed that the surrounding trees were illuminated with thousands of flickering dots! Those were the fireflies that we've been waiting to see. What a sight to behold!

It was only after Pakcik Ghani (our guide) arrived that we dared to alight from the car. Pakcik Ghani must have laughed in his heart when he saw daddy leaping and running around, apparently trying to catch a firefly for me to have a closer look. A few minutes later, Pakcik Ghani handed me a bottle (held upside down, uncapped) with about 10 fireflies in it...

Fireflies in a bottle... caught by Pakcik Ghani the firefly expert (video not very clear but it was very much brighter in real)

Wearing a life-jacket for the first time, ready to go for our river cruise (still holding the bottle of fireflies, which we later released)

Pakcik Ghani maneuvered the boat very close to the trees so that we could watch the fireflies close-up... many even landed on our clothes, heads and limbs. What a magical experience!

Hey, a firefly at the tip of my middle finger!

The firefly river cruise was beautiful beyond description. Too bad, our camera was unable to capture the magnificent scene.

"When thousands, if not millions, of fireflies get together, the result is a wondrous symphony of lights that is truly a sight to behold. The memory of these ‘Christmas trees’ lining the mangrove riverbanks of the river can often be cherished only in one’s mind, as it quite difficult to capture the scene in photograph".

The above is quoted from Kemamanguide.com, the website where we "found" Pakcik Ghani.

After watching the fireflies, we drove and tailed Pakcik Ghani's car to Pantai Teluk Mak Nik (Monica Bay) just a few kilometres away for turtle-watching. I grumbled a bit and told mummy I wasn't interested in turtle-watching citing boring as the main reason. I wanted to go back to the hotel instead. Both daddy and mummy turned a deaf ear haha.

We were told that there were around 5 turtles laying eggs on the beach that night (peak season). While turtle-watching, there were strict rules to adhere to. Flash photography was prohibited and we were also not allowed to make too much noise or walk about lest we distract the mother turtle. To take photos of the turtles, we just had to make do with the very limited lightning provided by the rangers' torchlights.

Mama turtle laying eggs

Holding freshly laid eggs (photo taken at a corner far away from the mother turtle)

The turtle and us (pic not very clear because it was too dim... mummy is in this pic but she's hardly visible at all)

Next, we were given the opportunity to release newly hatched baby turtles into the sea. We did this away from the mother turtles so flash photography was permitted here.

These 3-hour-old hatchlings were really hyperactive!

Eeeeeee so CUTE!

Gently stroking a baby turtle with one finger... it felt rubbery/leathery

After holding and playing with the baby turtles, we lowered them on the ground so that they could crawl back to the sea. I even took a baby turtle from the basket on my own and surprised daddy and mummy with my "bravery" haha.

See, I'm holding a baby turtle!

Ready, get set, go!! Releasing the baby turtles with our tour mates (a young couple). 

Bye-bye baby turtle... I miss you!

I loved this experience so much that I kept repeating how much I missed the baby turtles. I told mummy "it's not boring after all". When we bade farewell to the last baby turtle, it was already 1am! We returned to the hotel at 1:30am and finally went to bed at 2am. Luckily I was fully-charged after a 2 hour+ nap earlier on. Oh what a day!