More kite on Sunday

You think half an hour on the beach was enough for two little girls and their rainbow kite? I guess not. But it was high noon, and we were starting to feel hungry, so we went of in search for food before continuing with the kite somewhere closer home.

We had lunch at the mall, and since we had to wait for the food, the girls ran off to play again, supervised by Daddy.

Panda rides! Kecil even got dragoned bullied a chance to pose with her sister. Ahem.

When we got back home, the kite flying continued, this time with bikes!

Now since we there was only ONE kite, there was the usual scuttle over who should fly the kite first. Somehow, Jessica got the first chance, leaving a grumpy Kecil...

Thankfully, Daddy managed to sort things out while Mama got the other two 'offspring' ready to join the fun.

And soon, both girls were taking turn nicely with the kite while the rest of us watched from the sidelines.

T'was a good day, especially since the two girls continued playing even after we packed up the kite (therefore leaving Mama & Daddy to have a relatively quiet rest inside with the Puny and the Four Legged ones). As I was telling Kecil, she's one lucky girl indeed to have a friend of her age right in the neighbourhood. It was almost as good as having a sister, fighting and all, ha!

Well girls, here's to more adventures in the future. Stay close, and stay happy. Cheers!

Walkies version 3.0

Well... so much about getting back on the saddle. I suppose Christmas holidays are simply not quite the season to get back into the saddle of any kind. What with all the prep work, holiday for the helper, festivities (even limited as it was), shopping amidst the deluge of visitor in our usually pretty quiet backwater..... all that on top of the regular daily tasks of keeping the house and taking care of everyone? Ha! And so there went our Christmas and New Year greetings. Ah well...

But again, things are looking up. Why, the other day Mama even took some pictures using the big camera on WALKIES! And so... while the baby is on break from her vocal experimentations (and boy, she's loud!), how about I share some of those pics?

So... with the addition of two extra feet to the walkies routine, we had to tweak our routine a bit. During the holidays, when Daddy took sometime off from work, we managed a few morning walkies with the WHOLE family. Huhuy! That was fun.

It was early in the morning, and the sun was not very strong yet. Around this time over here, it can get pretty cold, so Mama brought No. 2 using the sling in the hope that she would stay warm. Problem was, she kept growing. So, as she got heavier, it was time to use the stroller.

Upik seemed quite happy to be going for walkies. I am pretty sure it took some adjusting, specially because the ride is quite bumpy thanks to our less-than-smooth roads around the house. The main road is great, but in order to get to the main road, she has to spend at least 10 minutes on gravelly roads.
As for Kecil? Kecil seemed pretty stoked about her big-sister-responsibility. Still, being a kiddo still, she usually gave back the stroller to Mama once the road got harder (steep slope, uneven road and all that).

All these while, needless to say the Dog would be along, waiting with varying amount of exasperation for her 'siblings'.

During the past few days, the weather had been divine, with golden sunshine during late afternoons while the breeze blew. Kecil had been spending her holidays cycling around in her old bike, and so here was the circus that went for walkies the other day. Hey hey! Wait for me!!!!

Upik seemed quite content (I might say even intrigued) to watch the skies and the moving tree branches. We went to the usual playground where Upik watched her big sis on the monkey bar. This Mama do look forward to helping Upik learn the same trick next time. We didn't stay too long in the playground, though, because a certain miss got cranky when we stayed stationary for too long. Haha!

All in all, it was good to be back to familiar routine, and doubly good to be back using the big camera. This Mama shall then leave you with a greeting from the not so Tiny one. Cheers!

(Mama put on the scarf on the stroller because sometimes the sun would get in Upik's eye, even with the roof on. She was sooo fascinated with the scarf!)

Outside ...

It was a hot afternoon during the weekend, and this Mama went out to investigate the source of all the noise coming out from this general direction.
Apparently the kids were playing 'Duck, duck, goose'.

Which brought home the point, Kiddo is very 'American'. Ha!
Just the other day, I heard the kids singing 'ring around the rosy', which I don't even know how to sing! (I will, however, wait another day to share with the kids the 'meaning' behind the song)

Still, American, Indonesian, or whatever, she is still my Kiddo, and best of all, she's growing up.

This was a recent pic recovered from Mama's camera roll. Try compare that to this:

An old old pic, taken at the same playground, in almost similar pose.

Cheers, Kiddo!

Cycling 3.1

So fast after my report on Kecil's mastery of 2 wheel bike, Kecil 'complained' of the bike being too small for her.
To quote her, "My knees are bumping into the handle!"
Dang.

So, Daddy decided that for our Christmas holiday trip, we are due for another epic loot.

Yes, another bike.

From the very same shop, we got this baby, and lugged it across 2 countries before finally made it home here. This time round, we decided to bring the bike to a proper bike store to be assembled (we got it still in the box, the parts still un-assembled and the tyres not yet inflated). Unlike the Hello Kitty bike, this one has gears and two (two!) suspensions. We were not taking chances, and indeed, by the time we got the bike, we were glad for the decision. The work looked kind of complicated!

Anyway... it was test drive time.

This 'big' bike is definitely quite a jump from the Hello Kitty one. Although both Mama and Daddy agreed that it was just the right size for Kecil, the height of the saddle (and the bar) definitely took some getting used to. The weight so did not help (the bike is pretty heavy thanks to the middle suspension).

It took a lot of tries, a few falls, LOADS of practice and encouragement, but finally Kecil is 'road-worthy'. Why, just last weekend, we cycled together, Mama, Daddy & Kecil. Only no pics because Mama's hand was full with the bike and the not-sufficiently-trained Dog. Not sufficient, because I can't trust the Dog to stay on our side without the leash. Holding the leash, this Mama had to be very careful not to get pulled down by the Dog.

One unprecedented effect? Kecil wears her shorts and pants more often now during her cycling days. Hahaha.... No more dresses, because they can't be worn for cycling, no? Oh, and did you notice how she purposely matched her clothes to the bike?

The bike might be new, but it's already getting some scratches and other signs of some hard use. Sigh.... Still, I guess that's better than for the bike to be buried in an inch of dust of disuse.

And for those of you who were reading my title and wondering, here's cycling 1.1:

Then the trike seat broke. Me thinks Kecil got too heavy for it. That's how we came to epic loot numero uno, aka the Hello Kitty bike, and cycling 2.1:

Still with the leash while she built up her muscles. Sure enough, she did grow enough strength to push and ride her own bike without Mama's leash. Ehmm... let's kind of forget that Mama had to bring the bike to the bike shop to have it's brake fixed before I dared to let her go on her own, eh?

So that was cycling 2.2, complete with the fashion statement. Haha...

Then there was cycling 2.3 when the wheels came off, but you already know that, right?

Cheers for you, Little Girl. Take care always, on the road, but also have fun! Cheers!

The Other Duo

Another day, another walkies with the Dog, this time with a different duo of girls following.

Still fresh with her new-found mastery of the two wheel bike, Kecil wanted to ride. Jessica, on the other hand, had started to feel the pinch of a too-small bike, so she chose to walk. I guess all that epic bike-dragging across two countries totally paid off, eh? I'll give it perhaps a couple of months before we need to get her a new, bigger one.

Anyway, we ended up at our usual playground, the one with the big slide, where the girls quickly got busy with the slide.

This Mama?
Got busy testing the Dog's agility by inviting her up unto the wooden platform. The Dog is agile, all right.

Then, of course the girls wanted to prove their monkey-like agility as well, by sliding down the pole, firemen style.

The Dog, I can tell, snorted and said "I'll pass". Hihi....

Still, she got adoring hugs from the Little Girl who was very proud of her wonderful, loveable dog.

T'was a good, fuss-free, quick walk in the late afternoon. With the holidays coming, I guess we will all need more of these kind of things. Cheers!