the box was a play house with a door, and now an robot outfit.
2014-06-24
Box girl
This is why we can't throw the Amazon box into the recycling bin.
the box was a play house with a door, and now an robot outfit.
the box was a play house with a door, and now an robot outfit.
2014-05-28
End of school year
I can't believe that Junior Kindergarten is coming to an end. I vividly remember Kun and I sending Kodi to school on the first day of JK and waving goodbye to her. Some of her friends were crying or protesting going into the classroom. She didn't cry. She just turned her head many times to make sure we were still there.
Well, fast forward 9 months and here you got a vibrant group of chatty kids. I had the pleasure and luxury of substituting in their class several times so I feel like I know the kids and they know me. They are each unique in their own making and wonderful in their own way. I am really going to miss this group when they start Kindergarten in August.
As convention goes, there was a game at the party. We had them go wild by popping the balloon and doing a silly or funny action as indicated by a written slip inside the ballon. Some of them were not quite ready to stomp on the balloons yet but they surely found their helper who happily did the popping job.
We made hand prints arranged in a heart shape for the teacher and her assistant. We put them in a frame after the paint dried out. I think they turn out pretty cute, aren't they?
this is what happened the next day after school ended. She was super tired and took a 3 hour nap!!
2014-05-16
Charming Bali
This is our second time to Bali. The first time was nearly 3 years ago when the toddler was just 2 years old. At the time we decided to stay put and went with ClubMed. We stayed inside the comfort of the resort and only got a peek of the tropical island as we ate the food, smelled the beautiful flowering plants and walked by the many stone Hindu gods/sculptures in the garden. Not that exciting huh?
This time we decided that we need to "see" Bali in its everyway. So our lovely friends referred us to a local Indonesian driver who is absolutely helpful and reliable and quite a delight to travel with. With his help we covered many miles throughout the island and had an amazing time.
Here are some highlights.
Visiting the elephant park. The premise is beautiful and tranquil although is a little on the smaller side. We watched an elephant show, and strolled around the park adoring the beautiful plants and colorful koi fish. Kodi had so much fun feeding that baby elephant. The 5 year old elephant loves to feed on the palm shoots, especially from her hands, not mine!
Legon dance. A traditional Balinasese dance, featuring 6 females and 2 (or more) male dancers. The story was a classic about Hindu gods and goddesses. The content of the story did not attract me much but the dance was beautiful and charismatic especially that they seemed to focus a lot on the dancer's eye balls. Yes I mean eye balls, not any other facial expression. It was almost like they were "staring" all the time. The hand shaking also expressed a lot of subtle emotions, such as surprise and freighten. The male dancers also had a signature "shrudded shoulders" pose throughout the performance. It looked a bit strange at first but soon we realized that it was delibrate as the dancer remained in this posture ALL the time while doing their other body movements.
The accompaning music was amazing too. The men only ensemble played various traditional Balinese instruments (mostly percussions) and to me it worked like Jazz. You could see them in the back of the picture where they sat on the floor. The musicians didn't seem to follow a particular tune but rather each had their own unique dynamics and rhythms while the summed music was complex but harmonious.
We later visited the fine art museuem there and the painting below totally captured that "staring" look of Legon dancers.
The famous rice terraces, UNESCO's world heritage site. The terraces follow the natural contour of the hills and they are amazingly photogenic. We arrived in the late afternoon hours when the sun was setting at a slant angle. The light shone on the rice plants like gold growing from the ground. Kodi picked some fallen stems of rice plant that had the brown to yellowish color paddies on them. She kept them in her travel journal.
Now onto some "poop" business, Kopi Luwak. This coffee is made of beans that comes out of the digestive end of a racoon kind of animal called Civet. The animals eat the beans (or nowadays being fed on) but couldn't digest them. The enzyme in the GI system of the animal somehow does miraculous things to the beans so that when they come out from the other end undigested, cleaned and roasted, will produce a cup of coffee that tastes much better than those made by the regular beans. The Civet is only found in Indonesian jungles and thus Kopi Luwak is one of the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world.
We once read an article in Wall Street Journal, touting how precious Kopi Luwak is due to its rarity (as you can't force the civet to eat the beans as much as possible) and how peculiar its taste is. Therefore, when our driver Wayan took us to a man who raises his own civet and roasts the beans, we gladly took the challenge.
The guy not only has two Civets but also one fruit bat which apparently can also produce a similarly tasted coffee when fed on the coffee beans. It was quite a sight to visit the "farm" with the racoons laying on the lumber which is part of the hut that the man makes and sells his coffee while the fruit bat hanging upside down right next to them.
Nonetheless the coffee does taste different. I am not an adventurous coffee drinker although I do enjoy the aroma. No you can't taste the poo and it smells just as wonderful as the regular coffee. The taste is much milder and less acidic. This is about how much I can tell you.
Visited Pura Ulun Danu Bratah, near Handara golf course. Handara sits on a dead volcano crater and is situated in the Bali heighland. Cool and full of green pine trees. We all had a great time there.
It is a 380 years old Hindu temple built on the shore of the lake. The highlight of the temple visit to us was seeing the pilgrims finishing their worship ceremony. The procession probably had hundreds of people, carrying their babies and children. They would either had a large basket on their head or a colorful flag in their hands. They all wore nice Batik sarongs. To Kodi, it is the playground outside of the temple yard. Lots of kids were hanging out there.
Showing off her latest Bali style outfit.
The tropical fruit in Bali was fresh and tasty. We had the luxury of being treated with a plate of tropical fruit every morning while we stayed at Komeneka Ubud. The little girl of course found this too exotic and requested to have apples and grapes on her plate.
We stayed in Senur along the east side of Bali, north of Nusa Dua for the first half of the trip. The beach was good but not as clean as we expected. There were many fishing boats parked along the beach. However, it was just outside of the resort and a close walk for morning sunrise.
This time we decided that we need to "see" Bali in its everyway. So our lovely friends referred us to a local Indonesian driver who is absolutely helpful and reliable and quite a delight to travel with. With his help we covered many miles throughout the island and had an amazing time.
Here are some highlights.
Visiting the elephant park. The premise is beautiful and tranquil although is a little on the smaller side. We watched an elephant show, and strolled around the park adoring the beautiful plants and colorful koi fish. Kodi had so much fun feeding that baby elephant. The 5 year old elephant loves to feed on the palm shoots, especially from her hands, not mine!
Legon dance. A traditional Balinasese dance, featuring 6 females and 2 (or more) male dancers. The story was a classic about Hindu gods and goddesses. The content of the story did not attract me much but the dance was beautiful and charismatic especially that they seemed to focus a lot on the dancer's eye balls. Yes I mean eye balls, not any other facial expression. It was almost like they were "staring" all the time. The hand shaking also expressed a lot of subtle emotions, such as surprise and freighten. The male dancers also had a signature "shrudded shoulders" pose throughout the performance. It looked a bit strange at first but soon we realized that it was delibrate as the dancer remained in this posture ALL the time while doing their other body movements.
The accompaning music was amazing too. The men only ensemble played various traditional Balinese instruments (mostly percussions) and to me it worked like Jazz. You could see them in the back of the picture where they sat on the floor. The musicians didn't seem to follow a particular tune but rather each had their own unique dynamics and rhythms while the summed music was complex but harmonious.
We later visited the fine art museuem there and the painting below totally captured that "staring" look of Legon dancers.
The famous rice terraces, UNESCO's world heritage site. The terraces follow the natural contour of the hills and they are amazingly photogenic. We arrived in the late afternoon hours when the sun was setting at a slant angle. The light shone on the rice plants like gold growing from the ground. Kodi picked some fallen stems of rice plant that had the brown to yellowish color paddies on them. She kept them in her travel journal.
Now onto some "poop" business, Kopi Luwak. This coffee is made of beans that comes out of the digestive end of a racoon kind of animal called Civet. The animals eat the beans (or nowadays being fed on) but couldn't digest them. The enzyme in the GI system of the animal somehow does miraculous things to the beans so that when they come out from the other end undigested, cleaned and roasted, will produce a cup of coffee that tastes much better than those made by the regular beans. The Civet is only found in Indonesian jungles and thus Kopi Luwak is one of the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world.
We once read an article in Wall Street Journal, touting how precious Kopi Luwak is due to its rarity (as you can't force the civet to eat the beans as much as possible) and how peculiar its taste is. Therefore, when our driver Wayan took us to a man who raises his own civet and roasts the beans, we gladly took the challenge.
The guy not only has two Civets but also one fruit bat which apparently can also produce a similarly tasted coffee when fed on the coffee beans. It was quite a sight to visit the "farm" with the racoons laying on the lumber which is part of the hut that the man makes and sells his coffee while the fruit bat hanging upside down right next to them.
Nonetheless the coffee does taste different. I am not an adventurous coffee drinker although I do enjoy the aroma. No you can't taste the poo and it smells just as wonderful as the regular coffee. The taste is much milder and less acidic. This is about how much I can tell you.
It is a 380 years old Hindu temple built on the shore of the lake. The highlight of the temple visit to us was seeing the pilgrims finishing their worship ceremony. The procession probably had hundreds of people, carrying their babies and children. They would either had a large basket on their head or a colorful flag in their hands. They all wore nice Batik sarongs. To Kodi, it is the playground outside of the temple yard. Lots of kids were hanging out there.
We stayed in Senur along the east side of Bali, north of Nusa Dua for the first half of the trip. The beach was good but not as clean as we expected. There were many fishing boats parked along the beach. However, it was just outside of the resort and a close walk for morning sunrise.
Ok... someone just had a pedicure!
2014-05-14
Spoons for everyone
Kodi has been asked to help set the table before meal time, usually for breakfast and dinner. We had cereal this morning so I asked her to get everyone a spoon. She came up with three different sized spoons, each specicifically designated to the person that would fit to use it. That is, daddy gets the largest spooon because he is the largest in size; mommy gets the medium sized (teaspoon) and she gets her kid sized spoon.
How my little girl pays attention to details! (isn't this just like her mother, if not more?)
2014-05-04
4Y10M writing
Kodi has been very interested in reading. She could sight some short words here and there (such as "No" "Yes" "Exit" "Bat") but she hasn't started reading yet.
What is more, she is overly excited about expressing her self in the form of written language. She thinks she could spell and write and surely you can see from the picture how she does it!
Translation "Favorite place at USA and favorite place is at snow"
What is more, she is overly excited about expressing her self in the form of written language. She thinks she could spell and write and surely you can see from the picture how she does it!
Translation "Favorite place at USA and favorite place is at snow"
2014-05-03
掃地
"聽禱告的主啊，凡有血氣的都要來就你。"詩篇 65:2
感謝神 老公換了一個職位後 這半年來出差減少很多
這不僅有益他的身心健康 也讓我們家庭生活在步調更舒緩 自在
這天 星期六 最近天氣很襖熱潮濕
老公去陽台上給香草們澆水 順便掃掃地
這番景象我很久沒有看到過了
有他經常在家 這種安心的感覺 很讓我滿足
感謝神 老公換了一個職位後 這半年來出差減少很多
這不僅有益他的身心健康 也讓我們家庭生活在步調更舒緩 自在
這天 星期六 最近天氣很襖熱潮濕
老公去陽台上給香草們澆水 順便掃掃地
這番景象我很久沒有看到過了
有他經常在家 這種安心的感覺 很讓我滿足
感謝神垂聽我們的禱告
2014-05-01
2014-04-26
Fun Run 2014
A super hot and super fun morning at West Coast Park with the ICS family!
Getting ready for the 750m run.
Talking about competitiveness...
It was a long morning, starting at 8:30am and we waited until they finished drawing all the baskets at about 11:15am. We didn't win anything and Kodi was very disappointed, no surprise. She has been wanting to win the "lego basket" and put in a lot of ruffle tickets in for it.
So we decided that eating at Ding Tai Fung might help to light up the mood.
Unfortunately, GPS got us lost in the Jurong area. I wanted to try a new location as it would be closer in distance from where West Coast Park is. However, the address I put in did not work precisely it should be so we drove around and detoured a little before finally finding our way.
Kodi had an emotional melt down amidst the whole disappointment of not winning the basket, mommy didn't seem to know her way (that's right, daddy is away today in Shang Hai), and an empty and grumbly tummy.
Of course everything shifted in the positive direction once the food arrived. We were very hungry and finished almost everything in the picture. We packed some left over fried rice home.
She was not posing for the camera. She just really wanted to take a big bite to chow down her favorite fried rice.
We passed McDonald after lunch and felt justified to stop for an oreo McFlurry. Afterall she ran hard and fast this morning, didn't she?
Getting ready for the 750m run.
Kodi looked very serious (even with some frowning) during the pre-race warm up when they were stretching out. I asked what is the matter and she said that she was worrying about how she is going to win the race.
Talking about competitiveness...
It was a long morning, starting at 8:30am and we waited until they finished drawing all the baskets at about 11:15am. We didn't win anything and Kodi was very disappointed, no surprise. She has been wanting to win the "lego basket" and put in a lot of ruffle tickets in for it.
So we decided that eating at Ding Tai Fung might help to light up the mood.
Unfortunately, GPS got us lost in the Jurong area. I wanted to try a new location as it would be closer in distance from where West Coast Park is. However, the address I put in did not work precisely it should be so we drove around and detoured a little before finally finding our way.
Kodi had an emotional melt down amidst the whole disappointment of not winning the basket, mommy didn't seem to know her way (that's right, daddy is away today in Shang Hai), and an empty and grumbly tummy.
Of course everything shifted in the positive direction once the food arrived. We were very hungry and finished almost everything in the picture. We packed some left over fried rice home.
She was not posing for the camera. She just really wanted to take a big bite to chow down her favorite fried rice.
We passed McDonald after lunch and felt justified to stop for an oreo McFlurry. Afterall she ran hard and fast this morning, didn't she?
2014-03-26
跟太婆在一起
利用嘉嘉的春假回台灣
這次待了兩個星期 爸爸在後來的一星期加入我們 太婆看到嘉嘉自然是很開心 我們一起去台大賞杜鵑 看到椰林大道兩旁一棟棟新蓋的建築 來來往往的年輕臉孔 這個校園對我來說已經很陌生了 但杜鵑根直挺挺的大王耶子仍然跟許多年前一樣 不一樣的是現在好像更流行用落下的杜鵑花排字或排愛心 小女孩也樂在其中 不斷地找落下的花瓣
慧容跟Jaime來探訪太婆 “順便”傳福音 盼望太婆能真的在主耶穌面前認識自己是罪人 明白自己是神所愛的兒女 好讓從耶穌基督而來的平安喜樂澆灌在她心田裡 享有屬天的福氣 對人生一切無所畏懼 阿門
這次待了兩個星期 爸爸在後來的一星期加入我們 太婆看到嘉嘉自然是很開心 我們一起去台大賞杜鵑 看到椰林大道兩旁一棟棟新蓋的建築 來來往往的年輕臉孔 這個校園對我來說已經很陌生了 但杜鵑根直挺挺的大王耶子仍然跟許多年前一樣 不一樣的是現在好像更流行用落下的杜鵑花排字或排愛心 小女孩也樂在其中 不斷地找落下的花瓣
2014-03-19
4Y9M Kodi talks
來接他放學的時候手上提了一個袋子
眼尖的小孩一看就知道這不是普通的東西
瞄了一眼問”這是甚麼？“
我告訴他說是Ａ阿姨作給我的餅乾 順便指指
禮物袋上有寫我的名字
他明白這是給媽咪 不是給她準備的
小心翼翼地問 “那今天晚上吃完飯後 你可以跟我分享這些餅乾嗎？”
我回答"當然可以摟" 她很高興
但才往前走了幾步 他又不放心地問 “你可以跟我分享這些餅乾嗎？”
吃晚餐的時候嘉顯得很累 他嘆了口氣問
“媽媽 我好累 現在幾點了？”
我回答她說：“現在五點半”
“那以後我們都五點半上床睡覺 好嗎？”
眼尖的小孩一看就知道這不是普通的東西
瞄了一眼問”這是甚麼？“
我告訴他說是Ａ阿姨作給我的餅乾 順便指指
禮物袋上有寫我的名字
他明白這是給媽咪 不是給她準備的
小心翼翼地問 “那今天晚上吃完飯後 你可以跟我分享這些餅乾嗎？”
我回答"當然可以摟" 她很高興
但才往前走了幾步 他又不放心地問 “你可以跟我分享這些餅乾嗎？”
吃晚餐的時候嘉顯得很累 他嘆了口氣問
“媽媽 我好累 現在幾點了？”
我回答她說：“現在五點半”
“那以後我們都五點半上床睡覺 好嗎？”
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