zen garden resort 15-16 december 2007

this is definitely an outdated post that i've been meaning to write about
a month ago which i think is still never too late to blog about :o)
by the way, i love the pictures that came with it!

hubs had been wanting to bring the boys up to kundasang
& we did just that when he finally got a break from work
to get on with the christmas hols. yay!
off we went with 2 of hubs' cousins & their families for a getaway
from the hustle-bustle of the city, even if it was just for a night :o)

beautiful & bright red poinsettias sold at the kundasang's vegetable market,
perfect for christmas!

pretty chrysanthemums

han enjoyed the market especially with so many things to look at.

'what's this mommy?'

taken outside the restaurant of zen garden resort where we stayed the night.

trying to get the kids to sit still was no easy task.
my superboys with their cousins mayesha & flynn.

this picture of my 3 boys i like a lot!

pine 1- the lodge that we stayed in was very comfy
& definitely great for families.

hubs woke us up for the magnificent & majestic view of...

the glorious mount kinabalu

an wore 4 layers of clothing including my sweater.
it was freezing cold in the morning but the breathtaking view was well worth it.

the kids having their breakfast while playing outside on the veranda.

we took a drive to poring hot spring.
since it was a weekend, the place was awfully crowded.

we'll have to come back another time to do all of the above.

i love the green feel of this picture. it's so refreshing!

time to head home!

lil model in the making

the new season, the new looks,
the newcomer of GQ

lil bookworm

mommy couldn't resist taking your cute photos
when you were cuddling your teddy like that.
i got your point - enough is enough :o)

cake story

on the 10th december, hubs celebrated his 33rd birthday. i was thinking of something to make it different & that thought came with a cake. i gave him a cake shaped in a soccer ball last year & he was happily surprised. i still remember him saying that he has never gotten a cake like that in his life. i know for a fact that hubs other passion in life, besides us 3 i.e., is his football club which is none other than LIVERPOOL. he's definitely a loyal fan of the football club for the last 22 years & yes, forevermore. for those who are big supporters/die hard fans of their football clubs will know what i mean :o)

hubs' cake in 2006

the cake interest began when neneth posted 2 entries on her blog with her kids' birthday cakes - hakim & aishah. their cakes were vibrant & beautiful. i've tried a few places in the past & haven't been too keen with the outcome. so if you know any impressive cake makers in kota kinabalu, please let me know.

my search for a good liverpool fc logo began a month prior to hubs birthday & found just the site for it. i downloaded a wallpaper which had a nice clean logo on it, took my time in keying out the background. with only the logo to edit, i started taking bits out so that it'd be easier to design on the cake with full-on icing (simply delightful!). i planned for it to be rectangular in shape with the wordings happy birthday daddy at the bottom of the very important logo. the best part was that i never had to print nor bring my design to the shop. all i'd to do was email it to suzrina@aol.com & waited for 10th december to collect it from bits & bites at wisma merdeka.

courtesy of football-wallpapers.com

the edited, simpler version

the REAL thing looking so awesome
thanks to bits & bites

hubs more than like it! he was grinning from ear to ear. to hubs, you'll never walk alone, not with your favourite trios around!

if you want to place an order for a one-of-a-kind cake, you can email suzrina@aol.com or call her at (6 088) 232625/241288. yup, it's a free promo from a very satisfied customer :o)

also

hubs & i take turns sending the boys in the mornings, an to school & han to his babysitter's place. if i drive an to school, we'd normally have this routine conversation prior to the junction turning into his school which would go like this...

an: mommy, can i take my bag & water bottle now?
me: yes you may.
an: i love you.
me: i love you too. make sure you listen to ah kong & ah ma when you get home from school.
an: ok.

occasionally hubs & i get to carpool which the boys love because everyone gets to be together. as for the routine conversation between an & myself, we'd still have it but it'll sound slightly different with hubs in the car...

an: mommy, can i take my bag & water bottle now?
me: yes you may.
an: i love you.
me: i love you too. make sure you listen to ah kong & ah ma when you get home from school.
an: ok.
hubs: me? (waiting patiently for his "i love you" from an)
an: also. (smiling cheekily at hubs)
hubs: i love you too. (sometimes hubs would playfully reply an's "also" with also an "also")

hubs & i'd always get a good laugh from sending an. so for now...
mommy gets i love yous...
daddy gets alsos...

gals in black

it has been pretty hectic for the golife team with all
the festive seasons to cover but adrenaline never fails
to give us that extra push & energy to go the extra mile!
that came out sounding more like an ad for fuel :o)

a big thank you to those who've made our lives richer,
not to mention easier with your generous contributions
toward our humble beginnings as an online mag for sabah.
we truly appreciate your submission of creative writings,
great tips, out of the box ideas & wonderful suggestions.
kudos to you!

how was your halloween?
us gals played our part in dressing black
(trying to look as goth as possible
but at the same time decent for work).
we sure had fun posing for the camera
with arthur as our very patient photographer.
patient because he'd to put up with 5 noisy, giggly gals!

it has been ages since mommy ta66y had girly pics taken
with just the gals!

hundredth

yup, this is my 100^th post & i call for a celebration!

woo hoo! i never thought (ever) that
i'd write this much & would actually enjoy blogging to bits.
so it's true when they say once you start,
you can't STOP!

the person who got me started on this
is a dear friend from high school & college,
as a way of keeping & staying in touch.
now she's a proud mommy to
beautiful ashley & aidan!

along this purposeful & electronically FUN path,
i've found more old friends, made some new ones,
& got in touch with family members
who are gazillion miles away!

mommy ta66y hopes to have more
precious, amusing & entertaining moments recorded here.

mommy's aspiring chefs

spread-eagle

that's how lil han would play contentedly & quietly by himself most of the time, lying on his front with his arms & legs outstretched. a toy car in one hand, he'd slowly move it back & forth, observing the wheels in motion. sometimes he'll use one of his bigger toys, the red fire engine or the bright yellow dump truck & does the same with 'em, watching the black, round, patterned tyres going round and round! he's standard question pertaining to wheels would be, "why the tyres?" & one must answer him, "the tyres go round & round." if not, he'll repeatedly ask the same question tirelessly until he gets his standard answer & be satisfied with it.

if we're on the road & he's sitting on my lap, i notice that he'd be looking at the wheels of the vehicles passing us. his eyes will shine even brighter if we're stuck in a jam next to a huge container lorry. i've even caught him starring up at the random lorry driver a couple of times (out of admiration perhaps?) & his face would break into a smile even if the driver wasn't looking back.

lil boys' fascination with wheels at a tender age would, i suppose eventually progress into bigfoot for bigger, older boys (yes? no?) or else how would one explain the much raved about, yet exaggerated-looking monster truck with outrageously humongous wheels :o)

happy campers

a normal day. the usual work. mommy got home about the same time. hubs' car was already parked in the garage. mommy finds the living room quiet, figured the boys must be upstairs watching cartoons. mommy went into the kitchen, no one there. so up the stairs mommy went & found not 2, but 3 boys grinning back at her! mommy smiled & the lil one said, "surprise!" cute, but mommy didn't think anything of what was said & opened the door to our bedroom. mommy was very surprised after that, then speechless to find a big tent properly set up in the room with the boys' 2 single mattresses in it. mommy looked at hubs & he responded with, "i bought it for RM50."

the littlest of mommy's 3 boys loves playing "pretend camp" or if directly translated from hokkien as he puts it, "make camp". their everyday improvised "pretend camp" or tent is the good ol' blanky & all 3 boys would be under it waiting for mommy to enter the room for bedtime & when she does, "surprise!" they say in unison. being under the blanky can sometimes be warm, followed by stuffiness if the period stayed under there is longer than it should be. therefore hubs' great idea was to purchase a real tent for the boys, more like a dolly/play house for the girls!

with the tent in the room, the 2 younger boys gave mommy no trouble in getting ready for bed. teeth all clean & sparkly with fresh pyjamas on, they excitedly went to bed, or camp at 8pm. by 9.15pm, hubs had to put the tent away as it was far too much distraction for the 2 to really fall asleep in a "pretend camp". despite the hassle of folding the tent, hubs looked at mommy & with a boyish satisfaction on his face said, "they'll never forget this night. they'll talk about it when they're older."

robot boy

the movie

an's latest interest is none other than leader of the autobots, optimus prime, from the animated series, comics & recent hit movie, transformers. we brought him to the big screen on a school day, after school i.e., as a surprise. an was indeed happily surprised when he found out that we were going to watch transformers! hubs & i'd planned this earlier & took a day off work so that we can break the everyday routine & take him to the movies on a weekday. the cinema is also less crowded which is a good thing.

the toy

when we went out for lunch on one of my long friday lunch breaks, with time to spare, we headed to a departmental store to look at books. next to the books is the toy section & from a distance, we spotted the neat shelves filled with the new action figures from transformers. an of course flipped out. i did too but tried not to show too much excitement! because he has been behaving well, i told him to choose ONE toy only. so he took his sweet time & carefully decided on a reasonably priced* optimus prime from the rest & stayed very faithful to it ever since. he carries it everywhere he goes & for the first time, he takes great pride + care of his toy. i'd say he has been transformed :o)

* an likes looking at price tags/stickers & reading them out. i believed his interest in numbers grew after he started kindy this year. when he runs through the prices in any shops, he'll pick out items & ask me, "mommy, is this expensive? " or "mommy, do you need a lot of money to buy this? "

growing boys

it sure feels great to be blogging again. it's like not having written an entry in my diary for ages & the pages are longing to be filled with eventful scribbles. writing is definitely therapeutic when it comes to documenting the childhood days of my growing boys :o)

an doesn't like being 5 lately. he wants to be older. beats me! it began in church one fine sunday morning & mass was about to end, a youth went up to announce that the parish has formed its own youth group & is encouraging boys & girls as young as 12 years & older to register & be part of this ministry. an looked at me excitedly & told me he wants to be in. i explained to him that when he's old enough, 12 to be exact, he can be part of the youth. he stubbornly replied, "i don't want to be 5. i don't like 5." on a different day, he declared to be 6 & not 5. again i explained to him patiently that he'll turn 6 next year, for now he's 5. he then retorted, "i'll take the 5 out of me & replace it with 6."

i suppose we all go through that phase of wanting to be grown ups instantaneously. i remembered wanting to be 13, then couldn't wait to reach my sweet 16 birthday & when the excitement of being 16 wore off, 18 looks awesome & 21 even better presuming that i'd know everything by then! silly me!

at 2 years of age, lil han on the other hand thinks that he's the solar system & for that, everything revolves around him. now that's another story altogether! i'm glad that his big bro has taught me a lot about the sometimes terrible 2 behaviour & tantrums. han is into wanting to have anything that he sees on the spot. thank goodness it doesn't happen in the shops but mostly with what his big bro is holding or having, be it a book, toy or food. poor an will have to put up with this for a bit. of course when han shows too much of his lil power & his big bro is looking helpless, daddy & mommy will come to the rescue!

shops! shops! shops!

yes, the 2nd issue of golife online mag will be out this thursday after all the hard work & effort put in by everyone! hip hip hooray! what does mommy ta66y get to do? i was given the opportunity to cover fashionista much to my surprise & delight. i definitely had a ball visiting shops, going for photo shoots, researching for ideas & items suited to the theme in the august issue. what can i say? i'm just a mommy who fancies shops in any shapes & sizes. so the idea of work plus shops would positively equal to LOADS OF FUN! it's however not all glammed up as it sounds cos most of the time countless details to content & design are scrutinised plus final touches need to materialise pronto! needless to say the end result gives the team great satisfaction & a morale boost to do even better for the upcoming issues!

for all the local readers out there, i need YOUR help in getting mommy ta66y more shops to cover for the beauty & fashion segment of the mag. if you think a certain shop in kota kinabalu deserves the extra special attention, please drop me a goodie bag. this is your chance to contribute to your very own local community & in return, we'll all be more assertive of our surroundings! how about that? do also contact us for any enquiries, comments or suggestions. all are welcome!

1st memorable issue!

i was indeed down with viral fever the day of the goshop grand launching, 02.08.07. sigh! i was too sick to even get up from bed, let alone help with the preparation during the day for the evening's cruising activities. yup, it sucked big time & yup, everyone went cruising to manukan island whilst the tourism, culture & environment minister datuk masidi manjun officiated www.goshop.com.my on board the cruise ship, pirates of borneo! thank goodness for the immaculate weather & everything did go as planned! i still wish i was part of the cruise though. sob!

the pictures are courtesy of the multimedia team.
what i'd really wanted to do mostly was to get on the ship
& be out there to capture the big blue sea, the islands,
last but not least, the sunset. ah well!

perfect place to chill out & enjoy the perfect view.

ain't this a gorgeous view! love it!

tuaran crocodile farm

off we went to see the crocs on the exciting & adventurous day of 07.07.07. han & myself were new to the place but not big bro an & hubs. they visited the crocs 2 years ago with uncle nico & yet an couldn't contain his excitement from home all the way to tuaran. he was definitely thrilled to see the reptiles again! i, on the other hand, wasn't sure what to expect from this trip. i envisioned the farm to be simple with a few penned up crocs here & there but boy was i in for a big surprise!

kampung lok batik, jalan sulaman highway,
89207 tuaran, sabah.
telephone: 088-793376

open daily 8.30am-5.30pm

entrance fees:
adult/child - RM10/5

highlights:
feeding time, crocodile show & cultural dance

braveheart an attempted his first stunt with a stuffed croc!
the new & youngest contestant for fear factor perhaps?

han was a lil wary at first but slowly warmed up to the place
& the numerous stuffed crocs that were there.

2 brothers on a jet ski with the handsome, cool,
goldeneye croc bonds 007!

paradise for over 1000 crocs & a fatten up camp i'd say!

this is one real snappy croc that caused a slight increase
in our blood pressure & heart palpitation
when it snapped its jaws at me after i pointed my camera at it.
point taken!

thank goodness for the bridge they built above these reptiles
or else i wouldn't feel secure with so many crocs lazing about!

still waters run deep...

apart from crocs, we got to feed & pet this poor hungry deer.

you can buy a bunch of vegies, kangkung i.e. costing RM1
to feed a hungry deer or the other animals.

the vegies, fish & turtle food are hung on a
wooden board with hooks.
also hanging from it is a small contribution box.
you feed, you pay - smart move by the managemet.

what i didn't expect to see was the l-o-n-g house.
the bamboo house is situated next to it.
who would've thought of traditional houses in a croc farm!

it's showtime for the boys!

i absolutely love the bamboo background!

koi wanting to be fed as well. big bro an had a blast feeding them.
han wasn't too keen on the splashes he got from the pond.

i don't really fancy these slimy looking catfish!

here's a pond of talapia/tilapia - fresh & yummy :o)

we also got to see pythons, wild cats, an ostrich, a peacock
& noisy gobbling turkeys which made us all laugh!

looking for croc souvenir/s to bring home?
croc meat, eggs (RM3 each) & skin products are for sale.
apparently croc meat & eggs are good for those suffering from asthma.
we even saw dried croc gallbladders in the display cabinet.
now who'd buy that?

the croc adventureland was definitely worth our time!
the boys had a super croc time!

a motor racing fan

an was very excited when he heard & saw banners of the petronas sprinta aam malaysian cub prix championship 2007 which took place at the likas sports complex temp circuit last weekend cos he still vividly remembers watching the riders during one of their practice sessions the previous year.

he was constantly reminding hubs & myself that week of our promise to take him there. we didn't however go for the actual race day as that place would definitely be jam-packed with vehicles & spectators. we went for their practice session on a saturday morning instead which already drew quite a large crowd.

a very happy boy!

despite being a fan of this sport,
an doesn't fancy the loud vrooms that come with it,
thus him having to bring along
his ever faithful companion with him.

what would he do without teddy?

teddy, a constant comfort to his ears.
he'll use his right hand to cover one ear & teddy the other!
at one stage he even tried to cover both ears
with poor teddy ~ so cute!

we'll have to wait till an & lil han is older to catch the real deal.
wonder if teddy is still needed then :o)