Its my Party! Lets Wiggle!

hello all,

Mama asked me to write and tell everyone about my burfday party. I am two years old now and I told mama to get a big wiggle cake so I can eat with my friends in school. I wore my Machu Pichu sweater on my burfday. It was such a fun party - everyone wore cone party hats and mama/papa came to join the fun. I blew out the candles on the cake although it took me a long time since staring at the candle was a lot of fun. Mama took me to the park afterwards and we sat staring at the sky (although I do think mama was asleep).

We went to Raby Bay on the weekend which was cool coz there was a mini market, a jetty and lots of big boats. Mama bought me a huge pillow from the market and I love to sleep and drool on the pillow while watching TV.

Papa had a happy week this week - he kept smiling coz he won something called "Lotto". I think he is rich now - mama said he has won $22 whole dollars from the jackpot and now he will buy me toys. I love my papa.

Here is my pictures. I hope everyone is well.

Lotsa Love,

Aerin

The One that got away!

G'day all!

Tis was a fun weekend! My mama, Wan Jue, is down this week and she managed to smuggle a bottle of the sweet smelling potent budu for dear old me! Yes, snapper never tasted better soaked in budu! Yes, reunions with mama is yummy.

We spend the weekend at Gold Coast, staying at Mantra on the Park. Aerin was still recovering from her chest infection so to cheer the lil tot up, we brought her to Sea World. Her eyes lit up when she saw the Sesame street show and the usual aquarium of sharks, polar bears and dolphins. It was good to see her smile and salivate again. The poor tot is still getting used to her first cold autumn and is quiet upsetting to see her cough her way through.

Ariff decided to spend the Saturday afternoon fishing with his new rod - and after spending a small fortune on bait, he managed to catch a puffer fish (which was poisoinous) and a small Bream fish (which had to be thrown back since it was too small and against the fishing regulations). So, we had to be content with his stories of "those fishes that got away".

Anyway, I'm in cooking training camp this week - ayam perchik and tom yam soup are the culinary dishes to master whilst Mama has got her supervisory chef on. If it turns out ok, I'm selling it at Pasar Ramadan. hahahahah.

Love to all and take care!

The Crackerjack Festival

Ahoy there!

Tis a rainy and cold week! Aerin was out with a sore throat and we had to dose her up on her first run of antibiotics! Needless to say, she was a clingy koala and I was the ever present eucalyptus tree with a very sore back.

The Crackerjack festival was a small suburban fun fair complete with the rides, the ferris wheel, the show bags, baby animals, performances, fireworks and a tent full of stuff you wouldn't really buy ( do you really need disco balls in your living room?) Ariff said it reminded him of "Pesta Penang" - all that was missing is the apek with Pagoda singlet selling kacang! Aerin was highly fascinated with all the rides but she was extremely scared to get down from her euculyptus tree. We tried to get her to play the games (albeit it was an excuse for us to play the games) and we ended up playing fish for the duck and throwing basketball into hoops in exchange for a measley soft toy made in in taiwan!

Although it was a wet weekend, we ended up shopping for Moreton Bay bugs at the local fish market. Yummy things they were - tastes like lobsters but kinder on the pockets!

I have been developing some strange food fetish all over again - assam, steaks, coffee tasting bad - does make me wonder whether I'm getting clucky again ;p

anyway, Wan Jue is arriving down on Friday so it should be a good weekend at Gold Coast ahead! Its the Queens holiday on Monday so we get some time off from work and some family fun!

Hope everyone take good care of themselves! Love heaps.

East Meets West

Hi Everyone,

Boy, are the weeks are passing by fast! Nothing exciting happened this week except for my discovery that mat salleh and Moh Far Kor assam is not a good mix. I did the gracious duty of offering my collegue my "taik hidung cina" assam as they were all staring at my munchies and boy, their expressions were priceless! Very polite they were - none had the guts to say "Geez, these taste like snots!" ahahahhaha

On happier note, Ariff manage to pass his Australian driver's licence on his second try! His first attempt was an automatic failure since apparently the law in Queensland is that you must turn your head when reversing - looking at a rearview mirror is a no-n0! We thought it was a weird rule and it was giving us many sakit urat for doing the rule!

Atuk and Wan was down for a short stay last week! Although it was a whirlwind stay, they managed to get their filled of sausages, shopping and sleep! Thanks again for the voluminous amount of kedai runcit goodies although we are very sad that the Quanrantine folks hijack the much needed sup bunjut! hahahahaha

We found a new mall on the weekend - its called the Hyperdome at a suburb called Logan. We managed to find an Asian restaurant there called "Addiction" which I got excited since I found Chicken Curry Laksa - which disappointingly tasted like Lodeh! So if anyone feels like Lodeh, I definitely know the place!

Anyway, there is a "Crackerjack festival" in Carindale next week which should guarantee some interesting stories. I'm sure it doesn't beat our homemade mercun back home at the kampungs!

Take care and have a good week ahead! Love to all!

A Surprise Visit

Hello all!

Another week, another dollar! We had a surprise visit from Aki on Thursday! He missed Aerin so he thought he popped down for the weekend! Aerin as usual bullied the grandpa from making him carry her around, main kejar-kejar (catching game) and the endless Barney videos. Aki is taking us down to Surfers Paradise for the weekend to stay at Mantra Bel- Air - he wants to watch Aerin play at the beach. The bonding session between Aki and Aerin is so sweet.

I would like to shout-out to my mama, mum, anita and all my mother friends to have a Happy, happy mother's day! We all deserve it! The endless washing, the cooking, the support - a day is not enough for us! Bring on the chocolates, diamonds (fake oso can) and caviar (its on $5 here! haha).

Atuk and Wan is coming this week and we are looking fwd to spend time with them :P

Here's a picture of Aerin and her Aki as well as her first artwork! Our little Picasso!

Hope everyone is well, love heaps.

ps. Mediha, bila hang nak datang - cek tak lupa kawan la! Hang nie kaki tempellang! Rindu la kat Titi, lili and didi!

pps - Geez, the politics in Malaysia is deteriotating! Scary la!

Our Happy Anniversary

Hi all,

How time flies! It was our third wedding anniversary this week and we thought we celebrate it with a beach holiday! We went down to Surfers Paradise and stayed at Holiday Inn for a little R&R. Gold Coast is such a beautiful place, the ocean is so so blue, the shopping is great and the folks are so friendly. We were blessed with great weather and we soak up like the locals by hanging out on the beach.

Aerin loves the beach, she basically runs into the waves gung ho! Its our third month in Oz and she has settled so well, eating lamb chops like a pro, handling blonde lil chicks with ease and being a lil beach bum with so much spirit. Her school has put her with the older toddlers since they noticed that she is happier with the bigger kids and she is loving every minute of it! She has learnt to paint and paper mache things. She's a lil Picasso in the making!

I made friends with some Swedish people down at the park ("the Ikea couple") and we had a great BBQ with them last weekend. I have promised to make the Ikea couple the famous Kari Ketam and they exchange are making us Swedish meatballs! Ariff and I are slowly making friends and its quite a global list - Indian folks, Ikea couple and da' Aussies.

We took Aerin to Alma Park Zoo last week - its a great lil place where you can feed almost all the animals there!

We are so amaze with Australia - the people here (even at work) are so open and laidback that its such a nice change.

We hope everyone is well at home, have a great Labour day weekend.

Love heaps xxxx

My Father is Bob the Builder

Hi everyone,

Its been another good week for us. We had a wet rainy weekend last Saturday week where our trip to Gold Coast ended up being a Wet Wash Coast. We ended up in a shopping mall games arcade called Timezone relieving our childhood days! The parents were more excited than lil Aerin, who was more interested in the lights at the arcade whilst the parents were trying to outdo each other at the mini kids bowling alley. (Ariff won by a mere 20 points)

Ariff just received his company car this week and after weeks of dreaming of a sporty car or a flashy jeep, the car was rev'ealed to be a massive Ute! We had a good laugh and Aerin kept pointing to Ariff in his hard hat and saying "Bob the builder". In her mind, her dad is good ol' Bob.

Aerin is slowly transitioning into the "terrible two" period that childcare books kept referring to. Lots of tempers, helicopter turns on the floor and screaming matches on which outfit is to be worn. Its been a source of amusement and a baffling time for us as we try to maintain the power struggle with the lovable lil tyke! Now we know what our parents when through!

Its Anzac day this Friday which means that its a long weekend for us. We are planning to go to Alma Park Zoo tomorrow since the weather is clear.

We hope everyone is well and we miss everyone heaps! Take care and love heaps.

p.s Congrats on hitting the target Eita & Byrd!