Ryan Turns Four

Sir Ryan calls you to join him in his quest to recover the lost treasure of the Kingdom of Ngamnia. But beware, in your quest, you must defeat the fierce dragon of Shadonia.

Be at South Bay Beach at 10.30am on Saturday, 30 May 2009, to begin your perilous journey!

Ryan's dragon birthday invitations

The week before...

Work in progress

Finished product of the homemade pinata

The night before...

Before

And after!

(This is how the theme of the party came about. Ryan asked for a dragon birthday cake.)

Let the party begin...

Little missies waiting patiently for the festivities to begin (Mia and her friend Zoe)

First Challenge to obtaining knighthood: you must find a partner and cross the magic line together to find your swords

Off they go

Concentrating hard, left right, left right

Rushing to the finish line

Only a true knight shall retrive the sword

Rise Sir Ryan

Knight in shining armour

Second Challenge: A wicked witch has placed a spell on our knights. To break the spell, the knight must burst each other's balloons with their swords

Our knights awaiting their final instructions

Eerr, try not to stab each other

Third Challenge - To find the treasure, the knights must first fight the ferocious dragon. To gain extra special powers, they must eat the magical snakes that live in trees

No hands please

Fourth Challenge: Powered by the magical snakes, our knights must now hunt down the evil dragon

Sir Ryan leading the charge

Our brave hero

One previously brave but now terrified knight

Chicken or dragon??

Closing in on the dragon

Finally the dragon surrenders

Fifth Challenge: Inside the dragon's lair, the knights find a baby dragon. To reach the hidden treasure, they must overpower him

Fighting the baby dragon

The look of sheer determination on our brave leader's face

So nice to have such supportive fellow knights!

Forget the swords, bare hands will do

Finally they reach the treasure, the best kind ever, lollies!

Pure joy

Lunch is served...

Time to recharge our batteries with a delicious Aussie/Malaysian spread of roast chickens and gravy, nasi lemak, chicken curry, lobak and more

Relaxing with good friends and great food

Now for the Birthday cake...

Birthday boy checking his "order"

Our baby is now 4!

Now how to divide 2 eyes between 10 kids??

End of the day...

Mia finally gets to enjoy some sunshine after spending most of the day asleep in her pram

Our family

She Ain't Heavy, She's My Sister...

...actually, she IS pretty heavy!

Ryan: Dunno why Mama and Daddy are so worried. This is a piece of cake!

Mia: Eerrrr.... Better hang on tight, this might be a shaky ride!

Ryan: Stop wriggling so much...

Mia: Ooh, this is fun...

Ryan: OK enough already. She may look small, but she's not as light as you might think!

Mia: Ah, what's the problem? This "chair" is nice!

Under Water

Ryan has always been a water baby. He loved his baths when he was a baby, and still does now. If we let him, he would probably spend all day in there playing with his toys. And as for the pool, trying to get him out after a swim is always a struggle. However, you wouldn't have thought so if you'd seen his reaction the first time we put him in the swimming pool!

Shad's been teaching Ryan to snorkle recently. He started off by giving him the mask in the bathtub, then when Ryan got comfortable with that, we let him use the snorkle. A couple of weeks ago we took him down to the swimming pool and let him put on the full gear. After the initial few mouthfuls of water, he's now really good at it. And he absolutely loves it. As soon as we get into the pool, he's off to find treasures under water! 

Here he is in action!

First Taste

Mia had her first taste of "real" food a couple of weeks ago. So out came Ryan's old high chair, his baby bowl and spoon. All three of us crowded excited around Mia to see what her reaction would be. Alas, maybe rice cereal with breast milk isn't all that appetising after all!

And it's always helpful to have an eager helper on hand!

Open up...

"Nope you're not getting that into my mouth"

Koh-koh waiting impatiently for his chance to "clean" Mia's mouth

No more please!

Another first - drinking from the sippy cup

A Date With Mama

 

I have been looking forward to this day since Ryan came home from school with my "invitation" several weeks ago. 

By 10.15am, all the mothers were waiting at the front of the school in anticipation for the big surprise. As soon as the doors swung open, we were greeted with a big "Happy Mothers' Day" banner in the classroom. The kids rushed out excitedly to find their mums. All week Ryan had been telling us that he had a surprise for me for Mama's Day at school but "I can't tell you what it is!" Well, it sure was a lovely surprise. Actually it was four surprises - two songs, one in English and one in Mandarin, a gorgeous gift and a beautiful card. :)

Here's the surprise song Ryan was talking about all week. He went all shy as soon as he saw me holding the camera.

 

My treasured gifts - a lovely card and jewellery box (pic looks a little distorted because of the wide angle lens)

After the wonderful presentation, it was snack time for everyone. As a special treat, the kids were given sweet pastries instead of their usual healthy snack of crackers and fruit. And didn't they all just love it! When he'd finished eating, Ryan took me on a little tour of his classroom, pointing out all his masterpieces. 

Trust Ryan to choose a sweet roll over a plain croissant

Watching him you'd think that we didn't feed him at home. He wasn't one bit bothered that he was the only one left at the table!

A mini sink for mini munchkins

Star Bears bus schedule

An aeroplane or "fei ji" as Ryan calls it

Free play 

We spent Mother's Day on our favourite beach, Big Wave Bay. Breakfast on a gorgeous sunny summer day with three of my favourite people, just the perfect day!

Just Ryan and I because Mia was asleep in her pram and Shad behind the camera as usual

Thick As Thieves

I'm still playing catch up with my posts. I must have at least four more entries before I'm up to date! A couple of months ago, we became instant parents to a five year old for several days when Hayden came over for a solo visit while Karen was in Korea. Ryan had been waiting impatiently for Hayden to arrive and the minute he got here, the wild ruckus began!  

All geared up for the sleep over with headlights and all (to scare away the monsters according to them). Note: two unhappy faces because Mama/Yee Yee actually tried to talk to them while they were watching Mr Bean! 

Giggling one minute, snoring the next!

Bumblebee vs Darth Vader

A very entertaining babysitter

Another day at the beach and even though it was chilly and a little wet, that didn't stop the boys from having a whole lot of fun. In fact it was a great day to be out, we practically had the whole Shek O beach to ourselves!

Constructing their "swimming pool"

Climbing up the rocky path

View at the top of the rocky hill (don't worry K and A, they were under very close supervision!)

Two "Cina Apeks" holding up their shorts to keep them from getting wet!

Jumping for joy

Ravenous after a long play in the sand

Of course we must not forget our favourite playground - Disneyland. This time we took all three kids and stayed over at the Disneyland hotel for a night. The boys had just as much fun in the hotel room as they did at the park. Cartoons and room service, what's there not to love?!

We had lots of "yakking" to do after Karen got back from Seoul armed with all the yummy Korean snacks. Ryan is now addicted to nori! And as always, neither of us got much sleep over those few days.  

Kiddies with Yee Ma

Partners in crime