Sunday, March 13, 2016

Picnics

One of our Aussie friends go picnic very, very often. When we met up once, we asked her about it and she told us about beaches that her family often goes to. So, we tried going beaches too since late last year.

During the Christmas break, we decided to make a trip to Mornington Peninsula, which is about 1-2 hours away from our place. It is a very popular tourist spot, so I did some google before making the trip, and I was a bit stress out with the food preparation (I always worry I don't pack enough (be if food/drink/clothings/anything for the kids especially!).

We drove a bit to Dromana, went sight seeing a little around there, and drove back to Mills Beach in Mornington for our first very own beach outing.

Natalie enjoyed the beach a lot!

Trying to practice her swimming

This is their 2nd time @ beach but they looked like they know what to do....

Our little tent

Building sand castle

The three excited kids!

The little destroyer!
The day's weather was very good for the outing. It was about 25C, but there's no cloud in the sky so it was really, really sunny and hot! I got a little sunburnt on my back because I wore a singlet and I missed that spot while applying on my sunscreen.

The girls enjoyed themselves but the day didn't end very well - everyone was cranky while we're leaving. It was our first time so we made a few mistakes.
1) We wore the wrong shoes - we should have worn thongs but the girls wore the wrong type of slippers (hard to walk on sand), and EG and I wore socks with sport shoes. Very wrong!
2) I over-packed. I think we had almost 4-5 big items to carry. Bags with food, clothings / towel / extra clothing to change, water bottles/cold drinks/, sunscreen, our tent, sand play toys, etc. Ended up we all were pretty clumsy when leaving - with sticky bodies (sand and sea water) even we have cleaned up in toilet, and the girls were complaining they couldn't walk properly with their wrong type of slippers.
3) We parked too far. It was our first time there so we just parked at the road side. But we didn't realise it was so far to the beach shore. So again, the girls especially the younger one, were complaining all the way when walking to the car, and the daddy was super irritated so everyone got scolded and in not so good mood.

I didn't even want to get into the cleaning part after we're home! :P

But nevertheless, everyone (maybe just except me :P) still enjoyed themselves a lot during the beach outing. The girls and EG talked about it a lot and been asking for another one before the school term starts.

So, 3 weeks later we went again to another beach. This time it's nearer, maybe just 40 minutes away from where we live. Eunice said she didn't want to go so far. So, we went to Chelsea Beach. We've been to this beach last year with a friend, so we know what to expect here. This time, I made sure everyone wore the right types of shoes, and we put on sunscreen for everyone before we left the house. I still over packed a little, but it wasn't as much as the first time. And I tried to keep the food simpler. This round, everyone was happy. The girls enjoyed themselves a lot, while the parents also chillax together.


Borrowing each other's courage while going to the waves!

Ahhh.. RUNnnnNNnnnNNnnn.....

Trying to do a hand stand

Frisbee

Daddy, and his two darlings

Mermaid in the making

Little mermaid II

Chillaxing....

Our little tent...
However, there was only ONE problem. It was too windy. The sea breeze was very strong and the wave was stronger too. The girls were a little scared when playing in the water. I remember when we first came last year it was the same, very cold and windy. This time round, the weather was warmer, but still as windy. So it might be because of the beach itself. We were eating our food mixed with sand! :P... However, it was still a very, very good and relaxing experience for all of us.

And today, we decided to go to a beach again since Monday is a public holiday. This time, we didn't tell the girls to avoid them hassling us the whole day/weekend. I only told them the night before that we might be going to a beach. I asked Eunice, which one do you want to go? She said she prefers the further one because the sea is quieter. Good, so she won't complain about the distance, since she chose it as well.

We decided to try Mothers Beach this time - which is just next to Mills Beach. Since we're going to drive all the way to Mornington, we included visiting Mornington Craft market in our day out itinerary. We only ended up at the beach about 1.50pm and we stayed till almost 4pm. This time, I only started packing in the morning. And I only brought a set of clothes to change for the kids. Food wise, I only brought water (I used to bring juice/soda along), and went to the shop to buy some bread. The kids will be too excited to eat anyway. We had some nuggets as snacks while we were walking around the market, so the kids really didn't eat much after we arrived at the beach.

This time, we changed our mat to a water proof one, and it was cloudy today - so we omitted the tent - one less thing to carry. And I reminded EG to park as close as we can to the entrance of the beach so we don't need to walk so far. It went all good today. Thank God! Less things to carry, and not as hot as it was cloudy.

Sandcastle

Dunno what's the fun of building a sandcastle and then destroy it....

Kicking in water. Hmmm... She's ready for swimming class, I think. :)


Love this picture. Daddy and his darlings having some quiet talk together.
Beach, is not exactly my thing. But the other 3 in my family love it, so it is 3 against 1. This time, I sat on the mat most of the time, and just snapped a few pictures here and there. It was truly a very relaxing experience. And after the previous two experiences, the girls know what to do when we said it's going home time, they know how to clean themselves, and that we have to walk a little to the car. And they didn't whine or complain anymore. All I did was just offer them the leftover spam/nuggets, and some crackers on the way home. And everyone was happy.

EG and I decided that maybe we should visit other beaches around us - if the weather is kind to us. Summer's now over and autumn is on its way. A friend likes to go beach during winter, but I am not sure if we're up to it as it can be freezing cold, but it might be something that we should put in our to-do list for this year. :)


Monday, February 08, 2016

2016 Chinese New Year

I love it when this year's Chinese New Year's reunion falls on a Sunday. It gave me plenty of time to prepare, and to get things organised. Besides, I think now we're pretty good into the routine now, I could do more this year comparing to last year. I made some CNY cookies (will blog about it separately) and cooked up a storm for our reunion lunch. Well, I told EG we should improve bit by bit every year. Next year we'll surely be better.

This year we got my aunt and her family over (one cousin didn't join as he had to work) for reunion lunch. I wanted to keep it simple but still ended up cooking quite a bit with EG's help -  it was a bit chaotic as I tried many new dishes this year. But I must say I am very proud of myself. I received compliments for all my dishes. :)

2016 Chinese New Year Reunion Lunch - Full Feast!

Dishes that I cooked:

  • Hokkien mee - recipe from here.
  • Garlic shrimp - recipe here
  • Buddha's delight (vegetarian) - recipe here
  • Steamed barramundi (must have for CNY!)
  • Coke soy sauce chicken (from Buffalo smart cooker recipe book)
  • Fried boiled eggs (mum's festive must have dish)

 And my aunt brought sashimi, crackling roast pork, tempura, a fruit platter, and a bottle of champagne.

All these food, for 5 adults and 2 young children. o_O!

2016 CNY Lunch

We ended up with lots of leftover - which is good - 年年有余!

Now to some photos. I took a picture of the girls in their cheong sam in the morning before we went to church. Yea, they were very happy with their special "costume" and many in church actually complimented their dress, and said that they were very cute. Eunice told me, "I don't like people say I am cute. I like it when they say I am pretty." Oh my goodness!
 


After my aunt's family left, we decided to have a family photo shoot. In actual fact, the girls were all sweaty and tired with all the playing with my cousin (look at their messy hair!). But I still insisted on photo shooting. So I had to bribe them that I'll let them have swimming session in the bath tub if they cooperated.

While EG was setting up the camera, we had some candid shots which I thought they were quite nice too.

1. Not very happy look

2. A trial shot - always have to remind Nat to just smile normal :P

3. Oops, EG's head got cropped off

4. Forgot what's the joke

5. Daddy, are you done yet?!

And finally, a good shot of our family in 2016 CNY!
(after some photo edit by EG)

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Hope this year bring good health and abundant of blessing to all of us! I am ending this post with a video of my girls wishing everyone Gong Xi Fa Cai! :)




Friday, February 05, 2016

Lucky Draw: Silver Circus

I want to remember my "emotion" when entering this lucky draw.

I got the email in my mailbox, I entered my details, thinking to myself, what kind of logic do they use for prize draw? I write scripts for prize draw at my workplace too. 

And I got an email telling me I am one of the three lucky winners!

I was skeptical, I showed EG. We went and googled and see if there's any scam about this. After 30 minutes, we couldn't find anything. I decided to reply without giving any personal details.

After maybe 2 rounds of emails, I finally am convinced that I was one of the winners, but still reserved.

And last night I saw this in the website.

I can't find a word to describe my feeling (poor vocab). I never have any luck in winning any lucky draw! The previous win was in 2007! I am just TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy!

What a GREAT start of the year! Thank GOD! :)

Friday, January 01, 2016

Throwback: My birthday

I am a Boxing Day baby. My mum told me she had a stomachache after Christmas because she ate too much cakes, and she went to the hospital and that's how I came to this world. 

This year, I disabled my Facebook notification for my birthday. And told my sister not to wish me in Facebook - I wanted a very quiet day. Haha! Also, EG's idea is that with this, you'll find out who remembers your birthday. :)

I cooked myself the foochow chicken soup and mee sua every year. Somehow I could cook it MUCH better here than in Penang. I don't know why - maybe it's because of different ginger, or chicken. I can now cook it taste very similar to my parent's!

Chicken soup
Foochow mee sua - mum brought it over for me last year
EG bought me a simple cheesecake from the shop, and we started our photoshooting. Girls were already in their pyjamas but they were smart enough to suggest to put on a jacket to make them look better. Bright idea!

A few tries to get a decent shot

Us with silly faces - except Nat.
She actually said "Sorry daddy I didn't make funny face" when we showed her the picture.
Forgiven because of her cuteness.

We then moved to our kitchen to do the birthday song singing.
Blowing candle after my darlings sang me birthday song

A shot with my two lovely darlings

Love them to bits
Happy birthday to myself! This year birthday I truly think that it's not what you do to make a special day special, but it's who you're with that makes the day extra precious. :)

And truly grateful for some friends who wished me privately. :)