A fresh look for 2011...

A new hairstyle to welcome 2011! Hehe.

Nana loves her fresh "Dora" look, which she claims to have, and we totally agree with her. She does look like Dora! Hehe.

Zac's new haircut was actually more of an accident. We had wanted to give it a trim, but as usual, our "can't-sit-still" son just have to move. So, there you go, a big hole in the middle of his head, leaving us with no choice but to cut the hair very, very short. Zac doesn't like his new hairstyle, and he blames dear for it. He also said something funny with regards to his new look. "Papa, I look so different. What if Ms Leann don't let me go in to class next week, because they think I'm a new student?" Haha. Kids... They always have funny thoughts like this!

The young chocolate lover

Nana, this is for you to look at when you are older.

A 100% supporter of chocolates, especially those from Godiva, you would always have a hard time deciding whether to share your chocolates with anyone or to enjoy every single bit of it all by yourself. This was the look that you gave me when I asked for a piece of chocolate from you. Well, you were holding on to two pieces, one on each hand, and all I wanted was JUST ONE piece from you. You immediately gave that famous frown, and tears began rolling down your cheeks...

Girls will be girls!

If you are a female reader, do you remember growing up with lots of sneaky chances to play with your mum's belongings like clothes, make-up set, accessories and best of all, her shoes?

Well, I did! Hehe. The fun that me and my younger sis, Faizah had when we dressed up together... All done secretly! Messing around with mum's stuffs would mean getting a good spanking! Haha. This definitely brings back sweet childhood memories! :)

Fast forward the time and you'll see history repeating itself! I caught Nana putting on my boots. With all the heels away since it's winter now, Nana seems to develop a new interest - a deep interest in the seasonal footwear, the BOOTS! She was even trying to tie the shoelace! Since she has never really tried tying one, all that she could do was twist and turn the shoelace till it looks like a ball!

A great week for us!

It was a great week! Dear was on leave since Monday, and on Wednesday, we went for a short road trip to San Diego & LA again. The 4 of us loves California, mainly because of the lovely beaches. Somehow, the seaside is always the preferred option each time we plan for a trip. The waves, and the smell of the ocean seems to be the perfect place for us to unwind. And for the kids, they are just contented to play with sand and having a BIG space to run around. Look out for the photos in my gallery yah... Will upload them once I'm done with all the editing...  

Anyway, we got back to boring Arizona last night. Haiz. Back to being the full-time housewife with loads of laundry to wash and the usual household chores that comes with it. :(

Today, we decided to just stay home and rest before dear goes back to work tomorrow. The kids will be having their 2 weeks winter break till New Year. Guess what they did at home today?

Dear and Zac played Wii, and most of the time, they were arguing! Haha.

And dear Nana had the lappy all to herself. She's so relieved that Zac has Wii to keep him occupied and not bugging her for a turn on the computer.

As for me... what else could I possibly do? With my laptop being conquered by my girl, I am left with just 2 options... To either laze around while watching them do their stuff, or get busy with the piling housework... So, of course I chose the first option... LAZE AROUND! Haha... It's a weekend after all! Which means my day OFF!

Being thankful!

My parents have always taught us to be grateful for what we have. Being the sole breadwinner in our family, ayah (which means dad in Malay) struggled to cultivate this good habit in us. As a kid, me and my siblings used to compare ourselves with the rest of our friends, whom we felt, could get everything they asked for.

Ayah knew it was never going to be easy to get this message across to all four of us. Watching news together became a method to inculcate a feeling of thankfulness. He would always highlight how lucky we are compared to the starving and poor kids in the other parts of the world. And I would gladly say that it did work, at least for me.

Emak (mum in Malay) supported him strongly. As a full-time housewife, she attended to all our needs 24-7. I can still remember the way she taught us the importance of not wasting food. Scaring us was her technique. She said that the food will cry and come back to scare us if it was thrown away, because it would feel that its life has been wasted and not appreciated. Being a little kid, I totally believed in that. And even up till today, I would try to finish up every single grain of rice and ensure that my plate is sparkling clean, except for the leftover bones which could never be eaten. Haha.

Now that I'm a mum myself, I try to pass this message down to my children, with the hope that they are thankful for what they already have, and most importantly, they must learn never to waste food. Kids nowadays are so fussy. With so many options given, they tend to eat only their favourite food, which are mostly junk food.

So, the smart me thought of using my mum's method on Zac & Nana. And guess what... Zac said something which I could never have thought of when I was a kid... He asked "Mama, how can the food come and scare us? The rubbish bin is so slippery. How to climb out and find us?" Me and dear broke into laugher. It's amazing how he could come up with that! How come I didn't think of it that way when I was younger? Haha.

Anyway, Nana was still a bit scared. She couldn't finish her lunch and insisted that dear help her finish up. Look at her face!!! She's so scared that the corn, carrots, and fish will come back to bother her at night. ;p

Raving Rabbits

When Zac claims that Nana is "gooder" than him at burping...

In the mood for Christmas!

I could still remember... Years ago, when I used to teach in the local Singapore preschool, there wasn't really much focus on Christmas. Maybe because over there, the month of December is the children's school holiday, and for those in childcare, it means non-academic programmes for them... more art and craft activities, music and movement, and free-play time. We do put up Christmas decor and expose children to the songs, but it wasn't much elaborated on as compared to Chinese New Year.

Over here in the US, things are similar to those times when I work in the international school. With Christmas being the main festival celebrated, you can imagine how much effort was put in when Christmas was around the corner. Students did craft work, which served as a gift for their parents and there were lots of singing practises before the parents actually came for the mini Christmas concert held in school.

With my two kids attending the local preschool here, I could really feel the Christmas spirit going around. They have been singing jingles, and they get all excited when familiar Christmas songs go on air on 99.9KEZ. Nana has also been dancing to it!

Anyway, they came back from school with these beautiful Christmas crafts... I love the ornaments the best. Nana could even describe how it was done, firstly by dipping her cute little hand on a plate of white paint, and then holding on tight to the ornament so that her hand print will be left on it. I find the quote attached to it very meaningful... It goes like this:

"This is my hand, my hand will do

a 1000 loving things for you.

Years will go by, but don't be sad

Know in my heart I love you mom & dad."

You'll always be my baby princess!

To my dearest Nana, this is for you to read in future. Mama suddenly recalled all the funny things you said and do, and before all these precious memories are forgotten, I shall jot it down so that you know how much you have brightened my days! 

- Papa left you with me at the shoe store. Mama was busy looking for a nice pair of footwear, and I was totally engrossed, looking at every single shoes on display. The background giggling somehow "woke" me up. I turned my head and guess what... Your shoes were on the floor and you were getting ready to slip your tiny feet into 2 different high heeled shoes, both probably about 2.5 inch high. Haha. You really made me laugh... and a little embarassed! :) By the way, the ladies who were watching you all the while commented on how cute you were...

- Mama decided to take you along with me to shop for bags while Papa shop for his stuff with Zac.  While I got lost in my world, you came up to me with 2 bags. Identical design and colour (hot pink to be exact!) but different in size, one slightly smaller than the other. You mentioned how nice the bags were and told me to choose one! I do love pink bags, but I remembered Papa saying that he doesn't really like it on me, so I told you what he said. You were upset and said that you will scold Papa for saying that. And indeed, you scolded him once we left the store. I'm beginning to enjoy shopping with you...

- I was feeling rather bloated and my tummy was buldging. I looked like a pregnant woman. While I was using my lappy, you came and stood next to me, stared at my tummy and asked why it looked big! I jokingly said that there's a baby inside and that you'll be a jie-jie or kakak soon. You gave that famous frown, and suddenly pressed hard on my tummy, while saying "Go in! Go in!" A while later, you broke down in tears. "I wanna be your baby! Not jie-jie or kakak! I don't want you to have another baby!" I was almost in tears when you said that...

Looking at how much you have grown really makes me happy. Please remember that a few years down the road, even when you are much older, in my eyes, you will always be my baby princess!

My photo gallery...

If you are observant enough, you would have noticed a slight change in my blog. Just below my blog header, there's this word "Memories captured..." Once you click on it, you'll be directed to another page which has a URL link. The link leads to another blog which serves as my photo gallery.

I have created the gallery only recently, so the photos are actually the "outdated" photos from our previous roadtrips. There'll be more to come, once I find the time to upload the old ones, and new ones, if we go travelling again. Hehe. I have searched online for an application or widget for a photo gallery or album, but just couldn't find one. So, my last resort was to publish the photos like a post / blog entry.

This is for our families, relatives or friends without a Facebook account, and thus unable to see how we are doing. Hope this helps ease the pain of missing us! Enjoy the photos...

Thanksgiving 2010

I almost went crazy during Thanksgiving. Everything was sooooo freaking cheap. The urge to just grab everything off the shelves was there. My hand felt super itchy. Hehe. Luckily, at that point of time, mentally, I was able to stay on track and kept reminding myself to distinguish between a "WANT" and a "NEED". Although at certain points, it just got harder. It's as though the sales were calling me... "Yana, come... come... grab... grab..." Haha.

Anyway, we did buy quite a number of things, and most of it are household items like cutlery set, dinnerware, bedsheets, photo frames and the best grab was the recliner on the right. It's so comfy that even I, the "seldom-take-a-nap" kind of person kept dozing off each time I sit on it. It must be the rocking motion, and the cooling weather made it just perfect for a short nap. Other than that, we also managed to get a few bags for me (Thank you dear for keeping an eye on both kids while I got distracted by the bags!) and clothings for the kids. With the crazy crowd, it was almost impossible to choose, as we had to each hold on to 1 child, in case they walk off, especially Zac, who has the tendency to do that.   

As for now, I'm pleased with what I have... Wouldn't want to give my dear hubby a hard time clearing his credit card debts... So dear, with the bonus coming up, please bring us for another road trip to reward us for being good! :)

Somewhere over the rainbow

Cold day today... In fact, it rained on and off... While we were on our way to Commiss, dear spotted a rainbow. We almost had the full view of it, if not for the trees. Quickly grabbed my handphone, hoping to snap a nice picture with the lousy built-in camera... The pictures turned out okay anyway. 

The rainbow reminds me of this beautiful song... Enjoy the clip!  

Swollen at the "wrong place"...

Zac came back from school on Monday, whining and fidgeting non-stop. I didn't think much about it as he is usually like that, complaining over the slightest things and always unable to sit still for long. The only sentence that caught my attention was "Yeee-ouch, Mama, my penis hurts!"

Ehmmm. I dare not check as I wasn't sure what to look out for, plus I felt that it would be a bit weird if I were to look at "it", trying to spot the differences. So, we waited till dear came back from work. He checked, and said that "it" is slightly swollen. Zac was reluctant to let dear touch or clean it. It must have hurt badly. However, despite the complains, he could still walk around, argue with Nana, and most of all, he was still able to irritate me! Since his behaviour was like normal, we decided to monitor it for another day. We even made fun of him, saying that it will eventually drop, and that we'll have to change his name to "Zacharina". Haha.

It didn't get any better the next morning, so dear brought him to the clinic in the evening. The way he walked is hilarious. It's as though something is stuck down there. Haha. I kept laughing when  I watched the video over and over again.

Anyway, doctor thought it was quite bad, and gave him 2 jabs on his bum. With all the struggles that he gave, 4 male adults were needed to hold him down before the doctor could inject him. And he has to complete 10 days of antibiotic, which may possibly cause a diarrhea... Enjoy the following video of Zac and his "something-stuck-in the... walk".

Blender blunder!

5 times in 3 months?! Ehmmm... What a blender blunder!

Since young, I've always helped mum blend her chilli paste. Never before have I damaged anyone of them. Even when I shifted to my own house in Singapore, my blender works just fine.

But now that I'm in US, blenders just doesn't seem to work for me anymore. Away from home, I always crave for mum's spicy dishes - her Assam Pedas, her Lemak Cili Padi, her Belado. Ooohh... I'm drooling as the images of these food run through my mind right now. To cook these dishes, the spices have to be finely blended.

Over the weekends, I bought ingredients to cook Laksa as I was craving for it. Weather has turned cooler now, and a bowl of laksa would definitely make me the happiest person on earth! Hehe. And after our fishing trip last Friday, I thought cooking Assam Pedas with the catfish would be perfect. Who would have known that my blender is dead... Can you imagine how upset I was when ALL the ingredients needed for this dish has been cut and prepared.... Haiz. 

For the record, I'm going to pen my blender blunder... Hehe.

SPOILT - 1st one - My blender was not working at all! And everything needed to cook Mi Siam was ready. So what to do? Went to borrow my neighbour's blender... Hehe.

SPOILT - 2nd one - Since my neighbour's blender was still with me (I only borrowed it the previous evening ok, no intention to keep it with me for long!), I prepared the ingredients to make otah. Everything went smoothly and the otah paste has been well blended. BUT, just as I lifted up the blender, the part with the blades got stuck to the motor. With just a little pull, the otah paste was all over the motor, cabinet, and my clothings. A big mess!

ALMOST SPOILT - 3rd one - With Zac's birthday around the corner, I have yet to test out my otah recipe for his birthday party. A good friend of mine offered to lend me her blender. Worried that I might spoil hers, we did the otah at her place. I prepared the ingredients at home, and brought it over. She had the honour to turn on the blender for me... Haha. I didn't even dare to touch it. I freaked out when there was smoke so we stopped. The good news is, the blender is still working fine till this very day and the otah turned out to be quite good. Hehe.

ALMOST SPOILT - 4th one -  Dear bought me a new blender after the previous one couldn't work. I wanted to cook chilli to go with my Nasi Lemak. As usual, the ingredients were all ready. But I realised the blender is leaking. Luckily, another good friend came over at the right time. Hehe. She helped to fix and tighten it. And since I'm worried about spoiling my blender again, I gave dear the honour to blend the chilli paste for me. 

SPOILT - 5th one - My new blender... It's dead! Only noticed it when I wanted to blend the spices for my Catfish Assam Pedas. Arrrggghhhhh! 

Sob! Sob! Angry! Sad! Disappointed! This week's menu is all messed up now. There goes my Assam Pedas and Laksa. How am I going to cook these dishes when I don't even have a working blender?

Dear made fun of me... :( He asked if I washed the blender's motor... Am I so blur? And with the upcoming Thanksgiving Sale, he said there's a new item added to our shopping list! Haha. 

Weekends oh weekends!

Why is it that weekends past by so quickly compared to the rest of the days? Just when I'm beginning to wind down and relax, it's Monday all over again. Haiz. As a housewife, I truly look forward to the arrival of weekends. Not that I'm not enjoying the rest of my days. Hehe. I know some may envy a SAHM like me, not having to go through stress at work, stress of squeezing into a public transport just so that one can reach their workplace on time. And I know there are many, many more stresses that you people out there are experiencing right now. And yes, I understand how it's like to be in a work force. So, although I do complain about it, I am, no doubt, glad and blessed to be a housewife or what some may assume us to be - A Tai-tai! (believe me, it's NOT!!!) 

My current life is like a routine, doing almost the same thing at the same time every single day... I do get stressed, but over a slightly different issue - my kids. School starts at 8.30am everyday, and 1.5 hours is never enough to get my 2 rascals ready. Up at 7 and the first thing they did was to take a shower. A quarter after 7 and they are seated at their dining area, having their breakfast. An hour later, they are STILL seated there, struggling to finish up their tiny bowl of cereal, or a slice of Nutella bread, or even a small packet of Rice Krispies. Due to this, we usually only manage to reach class just when every other parents are leaving. And that's definitely not the end of it. If I were to list down all that I had to do on a daily basis, this entry will be an extra long one!

So, if you were to ask me, I would say every job has its ups and downs, whether you're a career woman or a housewife! That is why weekends are really sought after by every living soul. :)

The monster in me...

GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get out of my life! I don't need you to come bothering me every month, giving me a hard time!

Why oh why does this always happen to me? Everytime it's THAT time of the month, I'll just feel terrible, horrible, awful... It's like as if a monster just took over me unknowingly.

I hate it when the mood swings hit me... Everything becomes intolerable. The children's squabblings, the silly noises they make, the lame jokes my hubby shares... arrggghhh! Practically everything is wrong to me! All I want to do is hide at a corner and cry my heart out for no particular reason. The breakdown can be as short as a few minutes to as long as a day. I have tried to overcome the emotions by keeping myself busy. But it's just so tough. Tears flow out when I do the dishes, when I cook, when I surf the net, when I do anything. I choose to bottle up my feelings.

And when it finally get out of control, I explode! My hubby and 2 kids become my victim... Why must I do this? They were just being nice, trying their very best to brighten up my day. It's just me! Me and my irritating emotions.

To my dear hubby and beloved children, I'm truly sorry for what I did. I have never wanted this to happen. I didn't mean to raise my voice at you guys. Please bear with me for that 1 week of the month. I am really trying hard to change. I love you all so much and hurting you was never my intention. :'(

Halloween 2010

Arrrrgggghhhh! Why am I the last one to post my halloween photos??? Haha. As usual, I'm always a step behind the rest. I am only loading it now that Halloween is over. Not 1 day late, but 2 days!!! Very outdated right? No choice. I don't have the luxury of sitting down in front of my lappy 24-7. With the kids up and fighting all day, and the endless housework, my only free time is when they go to bed. So, to my dear friends out here in AZ with me, I am not slow or "lao" ok! ;p

Anyway, Halloween was fantastic. It was our virgin experience! Didn't have the chance to celebrate it last year and next year, around this time, we should be back in our homeland Singapore. So this time round, we really made sure we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest!

The kids attended the Fall Festival in school a few days before Halloween. They loved their costumes so much, and knowing that they will not have much chance to parade it, I brought them to the Festival. All the children were SOOOOOOO cute! So many different costumes. Oh my goodness, I wish I could just go over and snap a picture with every one of them... Hehe. Even the teachers dressed up. Nana was initially terrified to go near Ms Leann, who dressed up as Cruella Deville, the evil woman from 101 Dalmations. The look on Nana's face was hilarious! Haha. The kids also put on their costumes during their Show & Tell day! No wonder they love the school here... This is so much fun, compared to all the academic drilling in Singapore.

  

My hubby's trade, EI, decided to do the "Trick or Treat" on Halloween eve. And since it was on a Saturday, we planned for a BBQ right after that. Let me tell you. We went knocking on only 5 doors. But it was really exhausting going around with kids, 5 of them to be exact! And with the fact that this is our first Halloween, all the excitement must have caused extra anxiety among us, the parents. Haha. At the end of the day, all we wanted to do was to quickly go to the BBQ, sit down and enjoy the food!

As I'm typing out my entry now, my eyes are glued to the chocolates and candies on my table. It'll take us a LONG time to finish everything up! Imagine the sugar rush if I were to close one eye and allow my 2 monsters to gobble these titbits as and when they like... That will spell CHAOS! Haha. Hope you had a spooktacular halloween, just like us!

Blessed to have 2!

So happy that I got the chance to take care of sweet baby Alyssa this afternoon... Her mum, Selina wasn't feeling well. Falling sick when one is pregnant is a terrible feeling! No medicines to eat! I've been through that before, so I definitely understand how she feels. I'm glad I could help by taking care of her little girl!

Anyway, today, I had Alyssa all to myself, besides my 2 children of course! Usually, when Alyssa is here, Selina, Echo or Ivy would be around. I have taken care of her alone a few times before, but never as long as today...

I could see how happy all 3 kids were! Alyssa just wouldn't nap. She kept smiling and laughing when she looked at Zac & Nana. They too, were excited to have her around in the house. Nana was busy entertaining Alyssa, singing and dancing away! As for Zac, I could see how responsible he was. Everytime I walked away, Zac would come and sit behind her. I think he was trying to protect her from falling backwards. He would also pick up her water bottle and feed her. All this done of his own accord!

My 2 kids have really grown so much! A child Alyssa's age is the best! This is the fun age! And I really miss those times! I wish I could turn back time... On my crazy days, I'll think about the fun that we'll have if a 3rd one come along! Haha.

Though possible, I don't think both me and dear would really want a new addition in our family. Everything is so expensive, and I'm actually stressed about my kids right now. Me and my what ifs yet again! What if they can't cope with their studies, what if they mix with the wrong friends, what if something goes wrong in the future... And many more what ifs...

So, when crazy "3rd child" thoughts come to mind, I'll come up with more "what ifs" to make me feel better! At the present moment, having 2 is already a handful... :)

Fun-filled weekend

Helloooooo everyone! How was your weekend? Sorry for the late update... Can't remember what I was busy with... Or was I just too lazy to do a single thing yet again? Ehmmm...

Anyway, my weekend was wonderful! Went to West Garden Lake to fish on Saturday and to the pumpkin farm on Sunday... All done with great company! Enjoy the following photos... 

Desert West Lake...

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Tolmachoff Farms...

The pumpkin patch kids! Hehe.

Mama & Papa are so proud of you baby! Your brother don't even dare to go near the horse!

Winter is coming!

The usually hot Arizona has been cold since yesterday. Well, at least I know Goodyear is! The sky was dark and it rained when I sent Zac to school yesterday morning. And according to dear, it rained again last night. No wonder I felt so lazy to do anything... just wanted to snuggle up in bed. Hehe.

According to the calendars, autumn / fall began on 23rd September... (The date actually coincides with Zac's birthdate!) But the summer heat can still be felt the last few weeks. Temperature only started to get cooler after yesterday.

Coming from a tropical country where it's hot and humid the entire year, I am always excited each time the season changes. 31st October marks my first year overseas. I was born and raised in Singapore. Therefore, I've never experienced any other climate. And since I've been here, I have only seen 3 season changes... from winter to spring, spring to summer and summer to autumn. So, can you imagine how excited I am to be able to witness the season changing to winter soon?

During summer, the days are longer than nights... 5 plus in the morning here feels like it's 7 a.m in Singapore and it only gets dark at around 8 plus at night. And when I say summer, I mean hot! Really hot! Too hot that no one wants to leave their home! It seems like every other Singaporeans here were hibernating, except for the husbands, as they needed to work. Even the children don't go to school. My goodness! A 3 months break for them! My children almost rotted at home, and I almost went insane!

Now that it's autumn, the sun is rising later, at around 6 plus in the morning and setting earlier everyday, at around 5 plus in the evening.

By the way, I have officially stopped turning on our home aircon! Time to enjoy the cooling autumn and winter air... :)

White Sands National Monument

We head down to White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo after the balloon fiesta. I must say that it is a beautiful place! We really love the colours of the white sand and the clear blue sky! Surprisingly, the sand was very cooling despite the hot sun!

The kids had fun sledding, while we adults, enjoyed the view and of course, writing on the sand!



Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta 2010

Phew! Finally I'm done with all the editing and selecting of the photos from the recent trip to New Mexico. We had so much fun those 3 days and kept snapping pictures of everything. Too busy snapping that we didn't realise we actually took almost 300 photos. That was why it took me ages to post them here or on facebook. Hehe.

The journey from our home in Goodyear to Albuquerque was a tiring 7 hours drive. Nope, I didn't drive during the trip. I know some of you out there must be saying "Never drive so cannot complain that you are tired!" But... but... but... just sitting in the car was actually bad enough for me. I can't afford to fall asleep because I have to keep my dear hubby entertained. I worry he might doze off while driving. I know he's worn out, and I really wish I could take over so he could nap, but driving during roadtrips is not within my capability yet. So far, the furthest I have driven to is Lee Lee, an oriental supermarket which is at the most, a half hour drive from my place. 

Anyway, the Balloon Fiesta was a good experience. To be able to see the hot air balloons was really a rare opportunity. Back home in Singapore, this is something that we could only read up on or watch on TV. Now that we are in US, we definitely wouldn't want to miss it. The fiesta is an annual event held in Albuquerque, New Mexico during the first week of October.  

We bought tickets for 2 days since we wanted to see the beauty of the balloons when they light up at night and when they take flight in the morning. Both times were equally awesome. While we were there, we definitely could feel the massive joy everywhere around us. It was super crowded! 

What we saw on Saturday night was breathtaking! The balloons fired their burners and lit up when the sun began to set. The sight was like giant holiday ornaments glowing. We were disappointed though, when there were only a few being lit up, probably around 10. We had expected to see more. This was followed by a spectacular fireworks display. When that took place, it almost felt like we were back home, watching fireworks at Marina on National Day! 

The next morning, we went to the Fiesta again. This time to watch the mass ascension of the balloons. You should see our faces when we saw the balloons take off and sail silently through the blue sky. It was magnificent! We were so excited and got busy with our camera. By the way, did I mention that it was a very, very cold morning? The kids had their winter wear on, but I came unprepared. Just had my normal thin jacket with me. Luckily Echo had a spare jacket, a thick one, to lend me! :) I might have not enjoyed myself as much if not for it...

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta - definitely one which we will never forget!

Zac's swollen cheek

My poor boy got bitten by an insect on his right cheek. Not sure if it's a mosquito that kissed him though... We find it kind of cute and kept bugging him to allow us to take a photo. That explains the long grumpy face!

Lake Havasu

Dear has always wanted to go to Lake Havasu, a lake which is about 2.5 hours drive from home. As usual, what other places can keep a "fisherman" interested? Back home in Singapore, the beach is our usual weekend hangout as dear would fish at the nearby jetty. Now that we are in US and there isn't any sea, the lakes are his next favourite place.

I, however, wasn't really looking forward to it. It's freaking hot in summer! Like all other trips to lakes, I usually just sit down and watch dear and the kids fish. Fishing is just not my thing! Haiz... But I have to admit that it is indeed a good family activity! I see Zac & Nana benefiting from it. Fishing instills patience in them. Most of us go through life rushing from one thing to the next and at times, practising patience becomes a challenge for us. As much as I am all for fishing, there's one thing which I dislike - getting darker. I get darker after each and every fishing trip. I'm a Malay so I have been tan all my life. I definitely don't wish to get any darker than now. And thus, that explains why we kept having the trip to Lake Havasu postponed.

We finally made it yesterday though. Dear was still on leave, and the kids had nothing much to do during this break. Lake Havasu is actually a nice place. There are boats for rent if you want to venture out into the lake. And they have a designated area for visitors to suntan or swim. The highlight of Lake Havasu is the bridge there. It is called the London Bridge. Why is it called the London Bridge?

As we all know, the London Bridge was originally in London, England. In 1962, it was found to be not strong enough to support the increased load created by the level of traffic crossing it. The bridge was therefore dismantled in 1967. The founder of Lake Havasu purchased the bridge with the intention of turning it into a tourist attraction. Granite blocks from the original bridge were sent over. Construction began and the bridge was finally completed in 1971.

Anyway, back to my story... Dear, of course, brought along his fishing rods and tools. We found a great spot. And there's even a sheltered seat for me. Hehe.

All 3 of them started fishing while I kept myself busy snapping photos. The kids stood at the shore initially. A few minutes later, I saw them standing in the water, with the water level up to their ankle. I just warned dear to watch out for them since they were just behind him. I started checking out the photos which I took and when I looked up, the kids were already half-submerged in the water. I called for them to come out, but as usual, they didn't want to listen. Then, a while later, I saw both of them IN THE WATER! They were practically swimming! I almost started my incessant naggings. But when I saw their happy smiles, I just couldn't bring myself to scold them. They were having so much fun! It has been quite some time since I last brought them for a swim.

A fishing trip that turns out to be a swimming trip as well. What a day! By the way, dear didn't manage to catch any fish that day... Hehe.