The Smurfs Meet and Greet at Queensbay Mall

Even though our children have not watched the Smurfs cartoon, they know about Smurfs from all the publicity the little blue folks are getting from the malls, ads etc. While queueing up, they talked about pulling Smurfs' tail... sigh.... luckily they behaved and phototaking went smoothly. The Meet and Greet session is currently on at 12pm and 3pm on 30 and 31 Aug. Very funny, the lady in front of me asked why are we queueing while waiting for the event to start. I asked her back, then why are you in the line, it's photo taking. Cute la... people queue up just because there is a line. I never thought I'd meet anyone who likes to queue so much. Later the lady and her family left the line even before the Smurfs came out.

Both children shake the hands of each Smurf after taking photo, cute ya..

Cars is all the rage too, we will definitely watch in TGV at 1st Avenue as 弟弟 already "date" us. Feeding the Cars frenzy with cute Cars merchandize....

 

Expensive you know... these plushy ones cost about RM150 at ToysRUs

Highlight of my day, have to beg the children and "bribe" them to take photo with Jang Keun Suk poster :D This is at Nature Republic store which JKS is spokesperson. There is also poster of Kim Hyun Joong at The Face Shop.

Highlight of their day....

Dr Rabbit Dental Care Education

姐姐 bring back a toothpaste/toothbrush free sample set from school, one for each child in her school. Surprised to see Dr Rabbit on it as they watched Dr Rabbit mini-movie from kindy days. Looks like Dr Rabbit is Colgate's mascot for Dental Care Education.

En-Gedi Citizenship Celebration (Merdeka celebration)

弟弟's school is having Merdeka celebration on last day of school. Children are encouraged to wear their traditional costumes to school as part of the celebration. They will be introduced to Malaysia, Merdeka and its meaning, sing patriotic songs like Negaraku, recite Rukun Negara and work on Art and Craft.

The cap with 1Malaysia decoration is done in school. Teacher help to make it and 弟弟 colored it. Looks like his coloring is getting more neat :)

Hello Kitty watch from McDonald's Malaysia

One word sums up the experience - a mess. Since when is Hello Kitty so influential with the young girls? When we inform our princess there will be Hello Kitty watches from Happy Meal, she was smiling shyly when we offered to get one for her. As the watch she wanted is Purple Fairy, we'll have to wait until 25 Aug for it to launch. Last week, she came back and told me that her friends already have Hello Kitty watches. She say FJY has the purple fairy watch. I thought she was mistaken or the girl told her the wrong watch. Then she went on about who had which design, example her class monitor has Red Kitty Head, other friends had Green Apple etc. I told her would check when we get our logistics back to normal (爸爸's car sent for repair for 2 weeks). Already got 弟弟 the PLURAIL Series E3-2000 Tsubasa train that he chose.

When I went to enquire on Tuesday, staff at McD Greenlane told me Purple Fairy already sold out. I'm like -  what????!!!! But it's only suppose to be available on 25 Aug. How can it be sold out before it's sell date? I asked about Pink Star, and it's only available on Thursday. The staff told me apologetically that it's their management decision to switch the 2 designs, and no reason given. Also I notice that they do not display the Collectibles unlike previous promotions, no posters too. Luckily their FB page still showing the photo which I downloaded. And yes, my eyes didn't play tricks on me. They just changed it as they like. Tried my luck at Tesco McD, sold out as well. The service really bad until the staff is not able to answer my questions ie which design is coming out for this week. The supervisor is too busy with her PC and phone and ignored the staff so I left without wasting more time there. 爸爸 went to check with McD Sungai Dua and the staff there told him, previous design Pink Star sold out, Purple Fairy coming out on Thursday. Hurray, so we manage to get both designs for 姐姐 on Thursday by going separately to McD Greenlane and Sungai Dua. We went to get Breakfast Happy Meal on Thursday. Either folks didn't know there is Happy Meal breakfast or most people do not like their breakfast or not so many people want the Pink Star/Purple Fairy designs. We got both designs zippily. Actually can also get the Collectibles with RM3 without the Happy Meal. If we did not manage to find any outlets selling Purple Fairy and if all of them simply change their "decision" and deviate from what's advertised, then I'd definitely make an official complaint. Even on their FB page can see many people complaining about the Collectibles this time.

Fortunately all's well ends well, at least for us. Hope other folks able to get their 心水Kitty :)


The Happy Meal, somehow we got both fruit cup and hash brown?



 

爸爸 say the McD staff gave him these

Fish craft

姐姐 had been so excited to bring back her "fishie" from school. Kids who bring manila cardboard for teacher will get to work on this craft work. Looks like some children are forgetful and did not bring materials per teacher request. Some of her classmates did not get to work on this craft. They did not bring the manila cardboard even though teacher gave time to prepare and it can be bought from school store at RM0.50 per piece.

The fish's face is drawn by teacher, 姐姐 colored and done the decoration, teacher also stick the pieces together and glue on the sticks.

Angry Birds craze

Angry Birds - who are they? They are so popular among the kids and adults alike. Walk into any mall or pasar malam, you'd see Angry Birds merchandise. We don't allow the children to play video games, online games, computer games. But still 姐姐 like Angry Bird as all her classmates and friends play those games and keep telling her about it. She said her favorite is the yellow color. So when her teacher ask them to draw their fave cartoon, here is her version.

When the children saw Angry Bird stationary at the mall, their eyes were gleaming. I dragged them away and promised them if they get good results in their final year-end exams, I will get them the stationary set each. Bribe again :P

Celebration of birthday for our fave guy

We had E&O buffet dinner, and as it's dark outside we didn't have any photos to share. The meal was pretty good, and the children ate until their stomachs bloated. It was a good deal, we pay only RM88 (including tax) for 2 adults as we got a buy-1-free-1 voucher and kids below 7 eat for free. Technically we are paying only for one adult :P

As our fave man complained that he did not get to have his birthday celebration with cake this year, so suggested to try the Charlie Brown Cafe since it was on Ho Chiak!

First we had fish steamboat feast at Starview Restaurant at New World Park. Bump into my ex-colleague Pam but we only saw each other after our meals when we had been sitting at opposite tables for the whole meal :P The children went to explore New World Park and play for a while.

Stage near the restaurant at New World Park

Then it's off to Straits Quay. We have not been there for a long time. Parking is still free at their multistorey carpark. But it's a small carpark so negotiating the turns are a bit tricky even for our car. Big cars becareful as there are dent marks at the turnings!

好晒啊!

See his head, edging out of the grill when we told him not to in case he got his head stuck there

 

Going up to the 1st floor, shops are not open there


Cannot find the Snoopy shop yet, where is it hiding? Strait Quay didn't have very good sign boards and not a display listing the shops there. Finally found it on the first floor, didn't pay attention if it's the North or South wing. A group of families are heading that way too, and we went in together. It's quite a unique concept cafe as everything is associated with Peanuts and Snoopy and his friends. There is Snoopy cartoon playing on the TV while we take our seats. 爸爸 bring the children to the display to choose the cake they want. 姐姐 choose chocolate chip cheese cake and 弟弟 choose Blackforest chocolate cake. We also had mocha and hot chocolate. After ordering and paying at the counter, we're given a big number display to wait for our drinks. We took the cake from counter right away. It costs us $43.45 for this order, so in fact we're paying for the decorations too :) Everything is on the sweet side, but the children liked the sweet taste. Blackforest cake didn't have blackforest taste, good for children taste bud, not so much for adult liking. I made the mistake of not tasting the mocha first before putting in a pack of sugar, so it's totally sweet. It took quite some time for the drinks to come, guess the design is not so easy to craft huh? The couple next to us is having fried food. So in conclusion we think this is a place to visit once for the charm of Snoopy and his friends, but food seems secondary to its decor as it just tasted ok.  Good place for dating though, especially young couples but I wonder if they'd be paying with their parents' money :) 

Chocolate chip cheese cake, quite yummy

Cannot wait to start on the Blackforest chocolate cake

Hot chocolate drink comes with Snoopy design on the creamy froth

Mocha comes with Woodstock design

Snoopy is having coffee :D

At the central court, Straits Quay is having Mid Autumn celebration. Can play congkak and gasing there too.

 

They get to play congkak and really finished one game



Smurfs at Gurney Plaza

Gurney Plaza Penang is having activities with Smurfs theme. Even at the cinema floor, you will see Smurfs cartoon hanging everywhere. If you like Smurfs or 蓝精灵 then by all means check out the display at New Wing. On 8/27 they will have children coloring contest and mushroom making contest too. We thought of joining but 姐姐 have extra classes and 弟弟 have replacement music class on that day and won't be able to make it. Too bad... they were so excited as they thought they could join a coloring contest.

Both the children have never heard or seen Smurfs before. I wonder if local TV is still showing the cartoon. For me, I had watched Cantonese version from HK before and also shown locally in English.

Penang Ferry ride

Took the Penang ferry per children's request as they have not been on a ferry ride for quite some time. It's sunny day. There are only 2 rows of cars waiting for the ferry on this morning.
 

好晒啊！At the ferry deck for vehicles

Went up to the passenger floor

 

We saw jellyfish from here

The sea looks quite clean compared to few years ago when we took the ferry. I'm quite surprised as we used to see plastic bags, food packets etc on the sea while the ferry is plying. Either the plastic bags are now biodegradable and degraded in the sea, or some cleaning company had been at work. Also Penang is no plastic bag day everyday, so less plastic bags are used and perhaps the effect is seen now. Also many organisations and companies make and throw EM mudballs to "clean up" the sea as well. Instead of plastic bags, we saw quite a few jellyfishes swam past, and the children are excited to see them. 

When we reached Prai, there are 4 rows of cars waiting to go to Penang, double from the other way. Is it because the waiting area at Prai is smaller or more people from Prai going over to Penang? Wanted to visit St Anne Church but voted against it as didn't want the children to get in and out of the car too frequent on this super hot day.

After lunch at the grandparent's house, we went to Carrefour trying our luck to redeem the Milo truck that 弟弟 wanted. Unfortunately we were late as it is too laku and people already sapu all. So went for a short walk around and manage to get 弟弟's Cars pencil case, as present for doing well in his mid-year test. 

Then we're off to Nando's Auto City for early dinner. We had the Ramadan set which consists of 2 quarter chicken sets, sausage plate, cake and drinks. The children only enjoyed the sausage and chips, drinks and cake. Next time won't bring them there as we had to finish the main meal and side dished. Even though they like KFC coleslaw they didn't like Nando's coleslaw. Picky picky....



Playing at the fountain at one of the restaurants at Auto City

There are shops at Auto City now which we're not aware of earlier. Mostly clothes or accessory shops, one pet shop, one toy shop, one bookstore. The decorations below are around the shop area.

 

 

She say sitting on ant's house

Astro was having their karaoke contest there too, but the children are not interested.