Year 3 Parent Teacher Day, Monsters University and Honda Hybrid Family Road Trip 2013 at Queensbay Mall

Parent Teacher Day

It's the once a year Parent Teacher's Day. Children from her school are required to be there early for a motivational talk.

Her 1Malaysia drawing on class notice board

Got these from her school facebook page, the children during motivational talk

Then it's queuing to meet her class teacher. Not too long a wait. The only complaint she had was 姐姐 was being bossed around by her good friend and she didn't think it's healthy. My comment is let her handle her social life :P Nothing much from this session as teacher is pretty satisfied with her work and overall behaviour.

Monsters University at Queensbay Mall

There's a roadshow/display at Queensbay Mall main concourse with Wyeth Nutrition promotion. However need to register to play the games and the queue is really long during the weekend. So we gave it a miss, and just have some fun shots for the children with Monsters University display.

Of course, hungry stomachs can never miss dinner.

Dragon-i's 蟹黄包 (with straw) and 窝贴

Honda Hybrid Family Road Trip 2013

The children saw the inflatable playground when we drove towards the carpark and asked to check it out. It's the Honda Hybrid Family Road Trip 2013, like an outdoor playground.

Honda Hybrid Family Road Trip 2013 at Queensbay Mall

They played until both of them were sweating hard. 弟弟 even fell down from the top of the inflatable as there were too many kids there, but he was ok as it's soft grounding (it's an inflatable after all).

There's a mini tent where it's air-conditioned inside with cars on display and games. Kids get to play with interactive "games" which kind of introduces hybrid engine (hahaha, as if they can understand).

Memorable Weekends - Iron Man, McDonaldLand x Hello Kitty and Esplanade Mega Ceramah in Penang

Some of the more memorable weekends recently. Especially the cartoon characters, one for the boy and one for the girl :)

Iron Man Character Cosplay Walkabout and Kids' Cosplay Photo Opportunity at 1st Avenue

弟弟 watches Iron Man cartoon on Disney XD sometimes. With the new Iron Man 3 promotion activities, he got to dress up as Iron Man character and also took photo with Iron Man and War Machine character cosplay guys. So funny, after taking photo with the guys they shake hands with them.

Iron Man kids' cosplay :)

With Iron Man character

With War Machine in black suit and Iron Man characters

War Machine and Iron Man costume on display

McDonaldLand x Hello Kitty at McDonald's Greenlane

姐姐's turn but just photos. Some people will think, wah, what's with all the photos of stickers? But to 姐姐 who is a fan, it is the effort of us accomodating her interests. And yes, we have the plushie toys too. The stickers were gone a few weeks after the promotion ends.

Recently there are pinkish and white flowering trees blooming near our home :)

Mega Ceramah at Esplanade

This is the first time we're bringing the children to such a mega ceramah. They had been asking about election and what are all the flags doing on the streets. We only went after Friday's class and we were stuck in heavy traffic jam from Jelutong expressway. Still we "crawled" there :) And since all the cars on the road are stuck in standstill, we just parked somewhere near the old Prangin market and walked all the way to Esplanade on foot (along Beach Street). We only stayed for a little while as it's getting late, we only manage to squeeze at the end of the field. It's like a carnival with people waving flags and blowing horns.

That's the MPPP building at the background on the left, we were right at the end of the field.

Since we walked such a long way there, the children said they are hungry when passing by China House. So we dropped by for some cakes and drinks. Their opening hours are until 1am on weekends.

They drew these after their cakes

Mother's Day celebration

We had celebration at TGIF with Cowboy Burger (hahaha) and Tennessee Chicken. The children had their usual kids' meal on the house. Didn't order dessert as we were all too full. 姐姐 said she belanja us this meal :)

Our Term 1 Mid-term Break 2013

Only 1 week of break, which is totally not enough :P Most hobby classes are still in full swing.

姐姐 is going to have her Grade 2 RAD ballet exam in April so she spent 3 days training hard, one evening for 2.5 hours and another morning for 3 hours (extra which is usually school hours) and one weekend for 2 hours. Wow, her ballet teacher and principal really fully utilize the children's free time. Even school exam we don't drill like this, maybe due to new exam syllabus and less than 6 months training for the Grade 2 exam this year :P Luckily we manage to squeeze in a 2-days short trip for them.

Another class took up her time during the holiday, her English class did replacement for the missed lesson during school replacement on 16 March.

Iguanas and snakes, yikes!
弟弟 asked me to take his photo with the pets at the courtyard where he and 姐姐 goes for English class.

Other than lessons, we spent some time at the library i-Play when we went to get some BM story books for her NILAM homework. They were happy to play here. 弟弟 spent most of the time trying to build a wooden house. 姐姐 was running around bouncing a ball and knocked once into the wooden house and he was so annoyed about it even though she apologized fervently. Due to the hard work he put in, he asked me to take photos of him and specified the angles too :)

The little wooden house he built. He grabbed most of the diggers there, creating his own "play corner" with his favourite things.

Maybe with the trip and hot weather, 姐姐 did not get enough rest and run up a flu and cough :( To comfort myself, I just think of "小病是福" sigh. Her weight is now 25.5 kg as measured at the clinic (and 弟弟 is 24 kg, my goodness). Instead of syrup medicine, this time she got small pills and she's good in swallowing them.

After art class, we took some time to run around the nearby playground. I have always liked the yellow flowering trees here.

Yellow flowering Angsana trees at the playground

The food at the side are our lunch. Just want to show my favourite noodle soup and 爸爸's favourite pasembur at Batu Lanchang market.

Another visit to Sakae Sushi again :P

Their favourite sushi - tamago maki, fried hotate, potato salad

Salmon Don and Tamago Sushi. 姐姐 showing her incisor finally growing, 弟弟 suddenly sneezed when we took the photo.

The kids eat free set came very late and after several attempts to remind the servers. They didn't even bring them the Sakae froggie cap even after we requested.

Kids eat free set for one, they are just posing with the same set.

After this break, it'll be exams all the way until May, so posting will be limited :P

My birthday celebration :)

We went for Sakae Children's Day for the Nth time. But the kids still stick to their favourites only.

Didn't know she could use chopstick on her own to slurp up the ramen noodles

弟弟 trying the ramen soup

姐姐 helping 弟弟 to wipe his mouth clean since they sit together

We got some workbooks for 姐姐. Since she is the first batch under KSSR, it's difficult looking for Year 3 workbooks at the beginning of the year. Only Popular Gurney Plaza has more choices for SJKC workbooks. And that's after Chinese New Year. I only got those subjects she is not going for classes.

For my birthday celebration, I was treated to TGIF :) 弟弟 told me he is wearing black as he knows my idols like to wear black. Hm, he can really come up with many reasons to get his own way.

The mock aeroplane fascinates them

Appetizer - Fried Mozzarella

Keywest Fish (doesn't look like the photo in menu :P), Friday's Cheeseburger and the kids' free meal - fish and chips and chicken strips

Dessert - Brownie Obsession

After that, we saw a booth with Hello Kitty car so took a photo :)

The Hello Kitty car

As 爸爸 was always on business trip, we missed seeing the Kek Lok Si light up. Too crowded during CNY holidays but no time after that. He brought back many gifts from his trips, but we always prefer him to be at home. All the gifts in the world is not going to replace that :)

Visit to Penang Heritage Clan Jetties Chew Jetty and Tan Jetty - Pre-Chinese New Year 2013

There are several activities for Chinese New Year. We had done clothes shopping end of last year since 姐姐 prefers the Christmasy dresses compared to Chinese New Year styles.

Spring at Queensbay Mall
Early CNY tossing 鱼生 at Sakae Sushi. This year the children seem to enjoy it more. Queensbay Mall is sooo packed this Sunday. When 姐姐 had her ballet class on Saturday, we were stuck in traffic jam on Scotland Road due to Thaipusam crowd.

Toss and eat for good luck :)

The Chinese New Year spring decorations around Queensbay Mall. They wanted to take photo with all the toy snakes they saw on the trees.

Mr Snake on the tree

See the toy snakes hanging on the trees?

The "情人桥" at Queensbay Mall Central Atrium

Joy of Snake Year Festivity at 1st Avenue

Some photos just because we're there. On hot days most people hide in malls. I like the way the lanterns looked. But the mall is quiet as there is no activity even though it's a replacement holiday. We might be back for the weekend.

Chinese New Year theme decorations

Cannot escape eating when going out with the children.

弟弟 taking photo of rat zodiac, 姐姐 taking photo of her animal zodiac.

They had cheese baked rice and jelly for dessert (part of the set). They couldn't finish the rice but still have room for dessert. 

Chew Jetty and Tan Jetty visit

Since we're in town and the weather is fine, we played tourist and went to visit Chew Jetty and Tan Jetty. 爸爸 had become quite an expert of some of the Penang heritage areas after bringing Ally, 大姑 and gang around there.

Stopover at Victoria Street (Lebuh Victoria) for "Property" sculpture.
This is at the section after the big fire station.

Made it to Chew Jetty! And lucky to find a parking spot just near the entrance.

Chew Jetty entrance.

Chew Jetty is rather crowded at the time we went. It is also more commercialized, there are many stores selling souvenirs or snacks. There are several Japanese tour groups there with their guides. Wow, some of the ahjummas were wearing heels or high-heeled strappy wedges, pottering around on the wooden planks :)

One of the purpose to visit Chew Jetty - for the mural "Children in a boat". However it faded very badly  *sobs* :( Didn't see any of the Japanese tourist stopped to see it, they probably didn't know about the mural art that is so popular in Penang since last year.

The faded "Children In A Boat" at Chew Jetty

View of the sea from "Children In A Boat" mural. We saw a fish jump up a little further down.

There are houses along both sides of Chew Jetty. We walked until the end where there's a temple. 爸爸 was so busy trying to take photos while the tourists were busy admiring the view there. We manage not to capture the tourists in the photo, they were busy looking at the view but not really taking photos (maybe too hot for them?).

Penang Bridge in the background. Not sure if you can see with the sun exposure but I could see in the original photo :P

This is the part of Chew Jetty which we can see Penang ferry terminal

弟弟's expression is so funny here :) too hot I suppose :P

On the way out, we saw a jelly fish swimming around the stilts of the houses. This is the first time the children saw a jelly fish at such close range (which is not in an aquarium). We stopped by one of the stores to get 冰条 flavoured ice in tubes - Milo flavour for 姐姐, lychee for 弟弟 and sour plum for me.

Beh tahan, holding hands and eating 冰条 - colourful wall somewhere on Chew Jetty.

Because we allowed them to eat ice, everything became bearable for them. They are ok to walk to Tan Jetty nearby. Tan Jetty is where Ally said they followed wedding photo troupe and mistook it or Chew Jetty earlier. Compared to Chew Jetty, Tan Jetty is quiet and peaceful. After the last house selling Thai food, it's a long row of wooden planks to the end (no rails, nothing! Next drop is into the water argh!). For me it's so scary :P but the children think it's an adventure. Seems like the waters off Tan Jetty is clearer compared to Chew Jetty. Maybe due to the Thaipusam weekend where there's a huge influx of visitors and maybe also becuase Chew Jetty is nearer to the Penang ferry terminal.

Towards the end there's a very special toilet. Only a rectangular hole im the middle hahaha! Out of respect for people who had done their business there, I told 爸爸 not to take photo of that toilet :) Actually we can see Komtar from here, just that 爸爸 focus on water-theme too hot to take any shots from different angle and we had to watch the children very closely.

There are a few people fishing here.

See, they went to almost the end of Tan Jetty with 爸爸

Told 爸爸 to take photo of the quaint houses, end up he focus on the water

地板很烫！

Sitting in front of the place selling Thai food. See the wedding couple at the back?

After we are home, the children keep talking about Chew Jetty and Tan Jetty, and that they were not scared at all. Honestly this is not a place for hyperactive kids, or maybe you could stop at the last house and not go to the end. And thank goodness it's high tide, otherwise we would only see mud around the area. For the record, the day we went is 初十七.

God of Prosperity and Jiang Nan Scholars at 1st Avenue

Such heavy traffic around the malls, all the carparks were full, even the open space carparks. We were lucky to find parking along Lebuh McNair, which is a short walk to 1st Avenue. So the kids get to see God of Prosperity (财神) and  Jiang Nan Scholars (江南四大才子). Oh ya, thanks to them the children got chocolate packaged as gold coins.

God of Prosperity (财神) and  Jiang Nan Scholars (江南四大才子)

We had a little tea break at Gloria Jean's Coffees. I love watching the children eat. However they are really possesive and even behaved like little dinos or 暴龙 when it comes to food. We (or rather they) had Cookies and Cream Chiller, Irish Nut Creme, cheesecake, almond pear pie and popcorn (which is complimentary with the chiller). They loved everything especially popcorn.

Enjoying at Gloria Jean's Coffees

When they went to wash their hands, they saw M&M's mascot outside. They were so excited as the M&M mascot is really cute.

Met M&M mascot at 1st Avenue

Stopped by Penang Times Square

Decorations at Penang Times Square

I'm trying to limit the number of post so trying to squeeze everything here.