So many things happened over the Christmas holidays that we didn’t have time to update our blog in real time. Here, in a three part series, we will share some of the photos of stuff that we did during that super, enjoyable time we had back home in Ipoh with our family and relatives…
Kicking things off is of course the activity of opening presents!
And of course…to top it all off, our Christmas dinner:
Ahhh….our adventure-filled weekend with books didn’t end with the Big Bad Wolf Sale..
Continuing off from Caitlynn’s jottings about the impressive Wolf sale, that Sunday, that is 2 days after venturing into the Wolf’s lair, we took a long drive towards Westport in Port Klang to visit the World’s Largest floating Bookstore – the Logos Hope, which will be docked there till 23 October.
We arrived at the terminal quite late into the evening that Sunday, thinking that there wouldn’t be a crowd already. But oh, how wrong we were! The waiting line to get on board took us about an hour! Looks like Caitlynn IS right! Malaysians are indeed a reading society!
Anyway, Papa seemed more frustrated, not with the long queue, but that he had forgot to lug along his camera for this trip. Sigh. So all throughout the queue, we had to make do with a less than stellar quality camera from his phone…hee!
In fact, the queue was so long both Caitlynn and I managed to finish our dinner before we could board the ship! Yup, Mama was smart enough to cook some porridge and bring along the trip. 
So, what are my thoughts about being on the ship with books?
1. Hmmm…didn’t feel like being on a ship at all. Probably the fact that it was not moving had a very big thing to do with it..
2. Crowd was pretty crazy and not much room to run about in the bookstore..
3. Quite sad that we didn’t get to go round and explore the other sections of the ship. I was pretty sure I saw more than three levels of decks from the outside…
4. Nice activities that kept children busy. Was quite happy they prepared some stations for kids to colour, play and take pictures too!
5. Oh yeah, I also loved those donation coin machines that makes coins swirl round and round and round and round before eventually being swallowed up by the hole in the middle. Dizzying but exciting! Hee!
Of course, I had never been onboard a similar vessel, like the MV Doulos, but it is interesting to note some thoughts from Papa as he compared both ships:
Ahhh…the final day of our Sitiawan blog week! Compiled below are other photos from our holiday in Sitiawan that we were not able to blog about…
Blowing bubbles to the sea!
Caitlynn....learning from the best....(to come..)
Bubbly day by the Lumut waterfront!
SIZE does matter!
Now I know where giant bananas grow!
Family Foto Friday!
My preciousss.....
Merdeka fell within the same holiday period and I celebrated it in the best way possible – enjoy a boy’s men’s night out watching Cars 2 in the cinema with Papa and Kan Pa!
All ready to vrooom into the cinema! 
It was my second time in the cinema and I could tell I was much better prepared and definitely much better behaved too! This I know for sure because the cinema was filled to the brim with kids of all ages, and most of them were visibly uncontrollable by their parents. Made me even more proud of my behaviour that night. Hee!
So, how does Cars 2 compare to its original? Well, personally I felt Cars 2 was ALL fun and fireworks, whilst Cars tried to tug at the emotional strings of the audience. The solid songs that carried Cars were more sentimental while Cars 2 opted for the more current and rockier tunes. So, which one did I prefer?
Who cares? As long as Lightning McQueen is racing in it! Ka-Pow!
Best viewed....with popcorn!
One of the loveliest things about Ah Por and Ah Koong’s home in Sitiawan is that we’d always feel very close to nature. After all, they have a rather comprehensive vegetable garden of their own, healthy chickens running around, a lot of sand to play with, pesky mosquitoes and flies, and the fresh air, of course! Hee!
So, we didn’t actually needed to GO out somewhere to enjoy the holidays…because there was already a lot of things that we could enjoy doing at home! And spending quality time with Ah Por and Ah Koong!
Here are the pictures to tell the story of what we did at home…
Big playground to play ball!
Ah Koong joining in the fun!
Here fishy, fishy, fishy...:-D
There's fun indoors too...with Angry Birds!
Outdoors = Smiles!
Awwww...
Face off with the chicken...:-D
Flowers, flowers everywhere!
Up close and personal...
Lime pickings..
Got one!
Ah Por showing us the chickens...
Koko Collin having fun hanging clothes with his Kan Pa!
Our little sandbox!
'Sand'wiches, anyone?
It was around that time of the year when shops were seen selling mooncakes and lanterns of every imaginable cartoon character! Seriously!
Papa and Mama brought lanterns from KL for us to play in Sitiawan! These were personally picked by us a few months ago with me choosing a Transformers lantern and Caitlynn going for a Sheep cartoon lantern. Then, on one of those days, Ah Ma from Ipoh dropped in for a surprise visit and also brought more lanterns for us to play with! She bought me a Ben10 figure lantern and some rotating flower (with really irritating loud noise and lights..:-P) lantern for Caitlynn.
Armed (and dangerous) with these lighted gadgets, we certainly had a grand time doing our rounds along the street outside Ah Por’s house as well as on the house balcony! Hee!
Enjoy the pics!
Lighting up the house balcony!
U can's see us!
Oh my! When the whole country went for their Raya holidays, we did the same too! For slightly more then one week, we spent our longest family break (yet!) in Ah Por and Ah Koong’s home in Sitiawan! Well, technically we were in Lumut for the first three days with the rest of the church folks for the Family Camp but the rest of the week was all Sitiawan!
I’m so excited because we have so many pictures and memories to share that Koko Collin and I don’t exactly know where or how to begin! Hmmmmm… for a start, we both agreed that this week shall be unofficially branded as Sitiawan week as we try to share all that we did during our holidays there!
Ready? Are you all buckled up? Let’s GO!
As I mentioned,the first few days of our holidays was rather relaxing….well, for me, anyway. Hee! Our church Family Camp was held in Orient Star, Lumut, which was a nice little resort that was located very close to the Lumut Jetty. It even had its own private beach, which I found to be pretty cool.
On the second day, we even had some free time to explore a bit and so Papa and Mama decided to take us all on a boat ride to Pangkor Island! It was my very first boat ride (as with Koko Collin) and boy, was it ever so exciting! Uncle Gary and his family also came with us so we had some good company going to and fro the island.
Too bad we couldn’t spend too much time on Pangkor though as we had to rush back to Lumut for the Steamboat session in the hotel. 
Anyway, here are some memorable pics taken from our time at our church’s Family Camp:
Buckled up for the boat ride!
Live HD TV of the Ocean Channel from inside the boat..
Baby Jolyn! Ain't she a cutie?
We're in Pangkor!
Surprisingly our team won the top team prize at the Camp!
Another memorable event for Papa that happened over that weekend was Man U's 8-2 demolition of Arsenal...:-D
One Family For Christ!
Ever since I successfully created my first sand art during the Dinosaur Exhibition trip, I have always looked forward to more of such neat handicraft! Who would ever thought sand could provide so many hours of fun! Hee!
The other time when we were in some shopping mall back in Ipoh, Mama took me to one of the sand art shops and let me create another one! Wee!
Strangely, in this shop, the jiejies that manned the shop seem rather obsessed with telling the kids what colour to put next. Sure killed the creativity if you asked me!
Anyway, I chose to colour the picture of a rocket….and am pretty well pleased with my effort!
no, I repeat...this is NOT a politically motivated pic..:-P
It is always fun when I get to meet up with Ah Ma, who never fails to make me smile, giggle and laugh! Hee! So, our recent trip back home to Ipoh a couple of weeks ago to spend a weekend with Ah Ma and Ah Kong was no exception.
One of our favourite activities that we get to do here is taking a stroll outside the house and towards the main road where we can stand and stare at traffic…I kid you not. Of course, this is usually followed by the ‘green’ activity of plucking leaves by the roadside. Hmmm…come to think of it, it may not be such a ‘green’ activity after all…:-P
Anyway, here are some of the kodak moments during our grand (parents) getaway!
I am sure Ah Ma and Ah Kong had as much fun with us as we with them!
in full army gear...:-p
I love family trips….especially those long road trips where we will end up in some cool place…hehe…like over the last weekend, we followed a group of other adult church friends to a retreat up in Frasers Hill. It was my first time up there but I must say even though it is not has high as Genting Highlands, it can get pretty cold and chilly during the night times too. I was practically in my full sweater and socks mode most of the time!
guardians of the fireplace...:-P
Being the shy girl that I am, it was still a little terrifying to see many people in the bungalow where we stayed. Nevertheless, I got a bit more cheeky and playful when left to wander about the nice garden outside the bungalow.
Dun mess with me! I may be small but i bite! Rawwr!
There were also so many nice flowers to smell and touch too! Wee!
ain't I an adorable smiling sunshine?
And the food is something else. The caretaker can really whip up a mean pork chop complimented with its wicked groovy gravy…yeah! The mushroom soup makes that meal wholesomely complete! She also served really lovely breakfast with the juicy sausages, eggs and toast too. Yummy!
more bread, please?..
Koko Collin? Well, he was typically busy trying to play football along the bungalow corridors with the bigger boys. Ho Hum.
my Koko, the football addict...
Definitely a lovely place to relax and unwind. Hey, it’s stressful being a kid too, OK?…:-P
hard to say goodbye...:-((
Here are other photos of our mini-break in Frasers…
I love the outdoors. Rawwwrr!
commando in action..
covered from head to toe...
when I see you smile...:-D
notice how strong the wind seems to be blowing us to the right...?!
happy family photo!
