Monday, August 19, 2013

Anjali's birthday celebration


 Ok, so this is a few weeks late- one of those posts that fell through the cracks. For everyone who knows me, I tend to go all out for parties... but for some reason, I don't really see the reason for a big party for my kids' first birthdays. They don't remember it, it's a lot of work and I have the rest of my life to do parties for them which they will remember and appreciate (hopefully). Cassia's 1st birthday was in Trinidad with just her cousins, some close family and one good friend (of mine). 

While we were in Malaysia, we had a wonderful birthday lunch to celebrate Anjali's birthday with just 10 of us. The food was great, company delightful and the birthday girl was in fine spirits.... a simple celebration to honour our special girl.

The birthday girl

Yummy vanilla cake 
Aunty, Uncle and the apple of their eye

Our little family!
The men

The birthday girl is getting some love.

Someone partied too hard (this is not my kid, but my cousin's baby. He's just a few months older than A)


Saturday, August 17, 2013

Back in Canada

So after 2 months, 7 pieces of luggage, 2 carseats, a stroller, more than 28 hours of travel from start to finish and 2 jet lagged babies- we are home! We had a wonderful time. Looking back, we did accomplish what we set out to do. We will have some wonderful memories that we will remember for the rest of our lives. We also really enjoyed getting to know my aunt (dad's sister), uncle and their family as well. They are two very special, kind people and we will miss them so much. Malaysia would not have been the same without my uncle. We didn't feel that we were totally on vacation, but instead that we lived there for a bit. We broke the routine yes and visited a ton of great places but did regular stuff as well like naps, story time, park time and going to the gym.

Boy, do we have some stories and learnings also--- this is a PG blog, not all of them can be published here. I've also only posted about a few of our activities, trips and adventures. We have thousands of photos and it will take me lots of time to sort through them.

In the meantime, we've missed you Canada! It's great to be back  to our friendly country, shopping in our old haunts, driving on our smooth roads, and lounging around in our sweet house. But seriously, what's with the weather? It is  cold for this time of year. I'm looking forward to getting back into our routine, Cassia beginning her new school, Darin beginning work in a bit and doing some cleaning and sorting of our home and some self exploration of my own.... and my detox has begun. After two months of consuming more white stuff than I usually do, the scale shows it... and this being 10 days before we head to NYC for my brother's wedding! I've got my work cut out for me.

Enjoying our banana leaf lunch before we leave KL

Wonderful view from the Royal Selangor Club

My aunt, uncle and me and a little sleeping baby head. 

Monday, August 12, 2013

Making a mess!!

This kid can be a handful! And all with the biggest smile on her face!
Hey guys, want to make a mess with me?


I think my big sister's toys are better than mine

Yep, as I thought

I wonder if she has anything else!

Hehehe- revenge is sweet Cass. This is for grabbing toys away from me!

Now that the box is empty, let me fill it with my cuteness!



Thursday, August 8, 2013

Weekly Update- Last KL edition

Can't believe two months has passed already. We have had a wonderful time filled with meaningful memories, great adventures and a newfound respect for ourselves doing this with two kids under five! It's been a while since we've done one of these but here goes. 
  1. Just came back from Penang- another beach city- one of the more popular ones in Malaysia- but nothing when you're used to our Caribbean beaches. That being said, Penang has a reputation for being the food capital of Malaysia so we had a grand time with that aspect.
  2. Speaking of food- we need to go on a serious carb and refined sugar detox when we come home.  It's been a very filling 2 months. 
  3. We've had visitors this week. My aunt Sabi was here with us until Sunday and our friend Joann came last week as well. Joann is in Thailand right now but will return to spend a couple days with us until she returns to Canada. It was so much fun having them. 
  4. Winding down, we are now revisiting different experiences we've enjoyed while in KL- one last walk through the KLCC park, one last amazing massage, one last nasi lemak. The list is endless
  5. It is Eid here and as it is a Muslim country, there were two public holidays and a long weekend for Hari Raya- that's what they call this period here. I'm so glad we were here for this. It was like this country's Christmas, lots of sales, displays, decorations etc. A feeling of festivity has filled the air for a while now. 
  6. Anjali is becoming very vocal- lots of baby talk and lots of crying or quarrelling when she doesn't get her way. The baby talk- very cute- the other stuff, not so much. 
  7. Cass is so lonely for friends- she stares longingly at other kids here and always asks to play with them but a lot of the Asian kids are very shy so they ignore her. Yesterday, there were some kids in the hallway so we let her play with them for about 15 minutes and she was so happy. Poor kid!
  8. We've started to pack our seven suitcases! It's crazy how much things I have to sort out in the next week. I've amassed a lot in two months!
  9. Anjali is now up to eight teeth. She loves to bite with them-- humans included
  10. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Our day trip to Malacca

Malacca- known as the 'cultural capital' of Malaysia, and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site- was another one of our day trips. It's only a two hour drive away from KL but seemed worlds apart. It was quite the colonial city with its cobblestone streets, forts, stone walls, old buildings and scenic (but dirty) river. Very quaint and quite picturesque. We took a trishaw ride, a boat cruise, ambled around the city and sites and sweated buckets while doing it all! 

This big ship is actually a museum

One of the popular ways to travel around Malacca is using a trishaw or what they call 'beca' in Malay, each uniquely decorated.

My family are a bunch of horses!

I repeat the previous statement



Chinatown!

Having a cendol to cool off!

Hiding in one of the forts

Preparing for battle


Lunch- nyonya cuisine

Sweltering heat

Posing runs in the family

The cannons were a huge hit with the 4 year old

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Some days are for the birds

Our family had a great time at the KL Bird Park. The main feature distinguishing this bird park from others is the 'free flight' concept. Entering the door of the KL Bird Park feels like you are walking into a huge bird cage. There was such a huge variety of beautiful and rare birds. They  were swooping overhead and coming very close to us to feed from the food we bought. We also did a couple shots with birds on us. Darin even got a tiny peck and one of the storks started to play with my hair. It was too close for comfort but at the same time very cool! 

* Footnote- I am a little scared of birds coming very close to me but I pretended to be quite brave for my four year old's sake.


Love birds-- seriously!





This is probably my most favourite picture ever!



They're all around us!



THe beautiful peacocks were all around us!



Anjali cooled off with a chilled coconut- this brought us quite a few stares from some of the other tourists

We did it! Our family bird shot! Cass and I had birds on our head but they flew off. I was too scared to hold Anjali as D is more steady than I am





Darin saw the d@mn bird coming towards me and said nothing.... there are other pictures of me freaking out but they will not be published. 





All smiles

Such a lovely day!









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