Happy Easter 2013

Easter weekend was a good, relaxed weekend spent just around the house and nearby vicinity.
We would like to wish you all a good, meaningful Easter, hopefully spent with family and loved ones. Cheers!

Baseball Girl

Being a large breed, the Dog needs daily exercise. Nowadays, juggling between summer heat, Daddy pick up schedule, not to mention the Little Girl's ever expanding social network, it can get a bit hard to schedule a proper work out aka walkies for the Dog. It so does not help that on days when Mama was motivated enough to go for morning walks, the Dog simply refused to budge from her spot at the bed, sleeping soundly. Grrrrr.....

So... what to do when the heat is too much and Mama gets lazy? Why... we drove to the baseball field!

The field was used earlier in the year for ... well... baseball practice. Not that people really play baseball here, but given the country's location, it proved to be a convenient spot for South Korean teams to have their 'winter camp'. Winter, because seriously, January in South Korea is definitely in the depth of winter.
Now that they've gone back to South Korea, the field stays empty, perfect for Doggie's running around.
Not to mention a spot of baseball for Kecil as well. Eh?

Indeed, why not? We found a set of plastic bat and ball while we were out browsing the other day. Just perfect for the Little Girl. It was a bit hard at first, but with Daddy patiently coaching (and even using stray wild grass as prop), she managed to hit the ball eventually, and so proud of the fact!

Not lacking in style department either, I'd say. All pink??????

And of course, there's the Dog once she's expended her excess energy running and chasing the birds around the field.
Ah.. the things we do during lazy weekends around here. Haha.... Cheers!

A Jolly Birthday

It was already a couple of weeks back when Kecil was invited to a Jollibee party.

Little "Princess" Jasmine was turning 4! and Kecil was so glad to wish her good friend a happy birthday, in her own handwriting!

The party was held during Skool holiday, so unfortunately not many students came by. Boy, Kecil was happy that at least there was a familiar face there.

There were, as usual, some games, during which Kecil won a few small prizes. She was sooo happy.
Then soon enough, it was time to blow the birthday candles...

And time for a special guest appearance...

Haha... Me thinks Kecil was still a wee bit ... worried... about that large mascot of a bee. Can you see that distance between her and the next kid?

Slightly better. Haha.... Oh well... I guess her Mama was also not a big fan of such mascots. Lucky for Mama, she was able to run away from the said mascot. Indeed, back in Mama's day, mascots were not 'special guests' at birthday parties, thank goodness. Down here, there is at least one mascot for every birthday or special school occasion.
Yah... all in all, I think Kecil still had fun. Happy belated birthday again, Jasmine!

Backyard Ruckus

This Mama had to investigate the other day, the source of all the ruckus coming out of the backyard, somewhere behind the greeneries. And what did we find?

Kids running around, with pompoms, a decapitated tripod, and just plain big smiles all around. I'd say!

Seems that somebody got the idea of using the tripod as a 'camera'. General hilarity ensued as little models wannabe practiced their art of posing.

And of course, this Mama should introduce you to the international cast. There was Kecil (Indonesia), Ami (Japan), JR (Philippines) and David (South Korea). They all lived in the neighbourhood, and somehow got together thanks to Kecil.

You see, Kecil played with Ami a lot. Then Ami got busier, so Kecil roamed around to look for things to do. One day, David noticed her, and they started playing together, despite their different age. I think he is older than Ami, who is already 1 year plus older than Kecil. JR moved into the house right across. At first he mainly played alone, then he started following whenever Kecil and Ami played together outside.

Then Bang! Suddenly they just all played together.

There are definitely difficulties sometimes. Conflicting schedules, language/cultural barrier (JR does not speak English at all!), not to mention difference in ages. Well... whatever said, I think these kids are essentially good kids at heart, and I have no doubt they will get through whatever difficulty that would prevent them from having fun together.

Here's for ever widening circles of friends! Cheers!

Hunting

Just in case you were wondering, the Dog continues to have her daily walkies, with the occasional Minnie Mice tagging along. (This Mama did not quite know what happened, but it would seem that the Minnie Mouse craze is going on: Kecil and her mouse-ear headband, Ami in her super-large bow, Minnie Mouse style)

While we did not always get the two girls together everyday, it so happened that they just did go together the previous day (with both Mamas) when they saw something interesting, something that they were determined to find again.

And they did! Look! Usagi! Aka rabbit!
Well, the rabbit was pretty spooked by the girls. It ran away just as soon as the girls got too close, much to their disappointment. Mama had to stay a bit further away and hold the Dog, who was so ready to chase the rabbit.
Of course, Daddy would like to add that most likely the rabbit was either spooked by the girls' super-sized appendage (the bow and the ears), or even Ami's Totoro bag. Ha!

Anyway we moved on.

And we were just walking nicely, when we chanced upon yet another cute animal:

A cute little puppy! 
Just in case you can't see it, you should click on the image to enlarge it. The puppy is at the base of the electric pole. And please, no smart ass comments on how a pair of black labrador could get a totally brown, puny pup. I'm not even convinced that the pup is a lab itself.

For many days, we would walk around, and nothing of note would happen. Yet come one day, suddenly it was more of an animal encounter field trip than simply a walk around the block.
Well, the kids were absolutely charmed, the dog-handler kuya amused, the pup got extra petting while Mama got her pics. I guess it was a win win situation for all parties concerned.

Besides, better other people's puppy than their own pony, yes? Let them enjoy other people's pets, just don't bug this Mama (and Ami's) for their own.

Here's for more 'animal-hunting' in the future. Cheers!

Field Trip 2013: End

Although we were done with the 'Island', we did not immediately leave the premises since the grounds were to be where we had our lunch. You see the huts behind the kids? Tables, shade, benches, and some entertainment (in the form of dinosaur's ride), it was the perfect picnic ground. Of course, the kids were the first to finish, and they started trying the 'rides'.

Well, this Mama was happy indeed, with Kecil's apparent fearlessness. Of course, that was before the fearlessness started to manifest in dissatisfaction. You see, the ride pictured above is basically on a small herbivore. The thing is, not a meter away, there was also a similar ride, but on a gigantic T-Rex. So... yeah, obviously the Kiddo wanted to ride THAT one.

Oh yeah. The face of Dinosaur Island, indeed.

Anyway, thankfully it was time to leave. Otherwise, she might bug Mama for yet another ride on the T-Rex. This Mama was also relieved to leave because Kecil started bragging to another classmate who was not allowed the ride. Not nice.

Our next spot was something called the Paradise Ranch. I think it was supposed to be a sort of park, with a few animals roaming around, a butterfly park, fish pond, a few villas, etc. But foremost in my impression of the place was the HEAT! It was already afternoon, so ... I suppose it was the hottest part of the day, kind of. Thankfully, Kecil was not so affected. Why, she even participated in a dance competition on stage, and won!

Youngest among the 4 competitor (one of whom even backed down, too shy), Kecil walked away with a new pink T-shirt for her efforts. Hihi... I am one proud Mama.

We spent a bit of time at the pond, feeding the fish and watching the ducks. We followed our guide around the 'Ranch'. By then, Mama was too hot and tired to pull out the camera. It didn't help that the park actually did not have any eateries.
Anyway, it was good that we moved on to the next spot, the zoo.

The zoo was not big, but we did get to see an owl up close. Plus, a very important point for the Kid, it had a horse for riding. What is it with little girls and horses anyway?

There were also a few feeding opportunity. I think it was our first view of the bear cat. The looked very much like a bear, but with a long tail and an attitude that fits a cat to a T. You know, like lazing around on cables 2 meters above the ground kind of attitude? At the barn area, you were able to give milk (from tiny bottles) to the goat kids, but my observant Kiddo actually noticed a stack of grass in front of the person in charge, and chose to get the grass instead. We got ourselves a huge handful of grass with which we fed the various animals around the barn: llama, horse, deer, goats, even a hungry Japanese cow. (No pics. Mama was the one who fed the cow, since it was too tall for Kecil)

As part of the group package, students get to pose with this cute bird. Of course, Kecil did not want to be left behind. Lastly, before we left the area, Kecil also tried the Mega Slide at the park:

So cool.

By then, the weather was not so hot anymore. Still, it was good to hear that we were going home soon after. The bus took us all the way back to Skool, from whence Daddy picked us up. It was a tiring, hot day, but it was also fun.
Thank you, Skool for organizing the field trip!

Field Trip 2013: Start

Weeks after the fact, here is Mama reporting on Kecil's Skool Fieldtrip this year. Cheers!

As part of the Skool program, Kecil went for the annual Skool Field Trip. Unlike the previous two years (2011 and 2012), we went to a different spot this year. Oh, spots, rather. Spots which are located a bit further away from the Skool, which explained the need for a different kind of transport:

The Skool actually rented 2 huge buses! This Mama personally think it made it all the more 'adventurous' for the Little One. Did I mention time spent playing with friends on the bus?

Oh yeah, while waiting for the buses to leave, during the trip itself, it was fun fun play time for the kids.

And of course, there were the destinations themselves. First up was the ice cream factory where the kids watched the factory crew made ice cream. No pics inside, though. Then we got free ice cream, so... no pics since ... well... you know how it is with Mama and food, right? Actually, Mama was not quite feeling well that day. Hence, Mama did not even bring the Big Camera! Haha..

Anyway... soon we hit the second venue on the list, where you can't get away without any pictures.

Ha! Seriously, how can you not take pictures of the Dinosaurs Island? Especially when you consider Kecil's progression of response to the place:

Many of the kids started out a bit 'lost', some were even scared! because of all the growl heard from behind the gates. Of course, the bigger boys were generally excited at the prospect of all those giant thingies...

Going past the gates to see the dinosaurs, Kecil was still 'slightly lost'. Did I mention that the dinosaurs actually moved and make pretty convincing noises? There was even this T-Rex that needed some feeding. Eh?

Oh yeah. One of the attraction on the 'Island' was feeding the dino. Strangely enough, many of the kids were very into it, including Kecil. This Mama thinks she deserves a Bravery Award for doing that. You can see in the right, Kecil was still somewhat worried that the T-Rex would eat her when she posed for Mama. Haha!

Well... somehow the dino-feeding became the turning point for Kecil. She was no longer 'lost' from the point onward. Why, she was even game enough to be 'eaten' by another dino:

One very hungry dino, indeed. Why, it was hungry enough to eat a few girls at one hap!

Hahaha!
Lastly, before we passed the gates to go back to our 'normal' world, we were treated to a show featuring the dinosaurs. Kecil was not so keen on this part, especially when she saw pictures of it while Mama was googling up the location in preparation for the field trip. But as it turned out, she was fine.
Here's the terrifying gang of dinos:

They moved and sounded pretty convincingly. Kecil's one classmate was so terrified, she cried. Then suddenly somebody played "GangNam Style", and the dinosaurs started dancing, much to the amusement of everyone.  Haha....

After the 'dance', the students were given a chance to get up close with the dinos. It was good to see Kecil no more scared.

This seems to be a good time to stop for the time being, we'll continue with the rest of the trip in the next post. Cheers!