Back to Nature

All week Ryan had been looking forward to our lychee picking excursion. He still remembers picking the fruits off the trees and riding on the bullock cart the last time we were there. However, this time around, the lychee harvest was rather dismal so we had to settle for longans and sweet corn instead. Bright and early Tuesday morning, we set out on the half an hour drive to the Tai Tong Lychee Valley in Yuen Long with Ryan's four little friends, their Mamas and Daddy. Unfortunately, we managed to pick one of the hottest days of the year and the boys were drenched in sweat even before we got to the sweet corn field. Thank goodness the lady at the ticketing office was kind enough to let Mia (accompanied of course) stay in the air conditioned room while we were there. And once again, our little girl slept through the entire two hours that Ryan and I were out roasting ourselves on the farm!

Still looking nice and fresh at the start of the day

Japanese tourists???

"you mean fruits actually grow on trees and not in supermarkets?" (result of living in a concrete jungle... har har)

Flashback to July 2007

Plucking lychees straight from the tree

No lychees, just longans this time

Organic sweet corn

Farmhand Ryan at work

This is much harder than it looks...

With his bounty safe in the bag

"Undressing" our crop

Chinese spinach (choy sum) - somehow this brought back memories of my grandmother's vege patch back in our Seremban house

Watermelon shoots

A semi-grown watermelon

Sweet corn ready for harvesting

A "pisang" tree

2009... lychees from the fridge (plucked earlier by the farmers)

2007... juicy lychees stright from the tree (plucked by Ryan)

Bullock cart ride

Poor rabbits being "force-fed" by four very enthusiastic boys

Dinner time later that day... how much fresher does it get?

"Real" Birthday

After one "pretend" birthday party and a "school" birthday, we finally celebrated Ryan's actual birthday on 28 June. This time, the party guests were Mama and Daddy's friends, much to the birthday boy's disgust!

Conversation in car one week earlier:

Ryan: How many more sleeps before my "real" birthday Mama?

Mama: Seven more sleeps then you'll be 4 years old.

Ryan: Who's coming to my party?

Mama: You already had your party, remember your knights and dragon party on the beach?

Ryan: But that was only my "pretend" party.

Mama: Well, we can have a small party and ask Aunty Dee, Uncle Alex, Uncle Peter and Uncle Marco to come.

Ryan (very vehemently): NOOO! But they don't have any children! They can't come, it's a kids party!!

So, in line with our democratic approach to raising kids, we let the birthday boy voice his opinions and took his vehement protests into consideration. Then we went ahead and invited our "adult" friends (as Ryan calls them) to a birthday brunch at the Watermark restaurant in Central. And in the end, Ryan had a lovely time being the centre of attention of all the Uncles and Aunty. So you see, Mama and Daddy always know best! :)

However, the day didn't get off to a very good start. Leaving home was one big saga. In true Ryan fashion, he refused to leave the house because he was engrossed in playing with his toys. After some of coaxing, followed by threats and finally physical force (Shad had to carry him screaming and kicking out the door), we got into a taxi. The cying fit didn't stop there though, in fact we put on quite a spectacle at the Star Ferry Terminal where the restaurant was!

One very unhappy little boy

And now we're throwing our shoes at the cameraman

Uncle Peter trying to entice him into the restaurant with the promise of a BIG present

Finally we are ready to join the party, "Happy Birthday Kor-kor"

A miniature Daddy?

4 birthday profiteroles

Absolute torture... which one to open? Mama and Daddy said I can only choose one!

We ended the day with yet another birthday cake at a lovely dinner with our Belcher's buddies. Unfortunately we have no photos to show because forgot to take our camera with us that night. Four birthday cakes on his fourth birthday - how spoilt is that? :) BTW, we have started to manage expectations, both Shad and I have been reinforcing the fact that we will only have ONE birthday celebration each year from now on!

Goodbye Star Bears

Ryan's first year at kinder came to a rather abrupt end when the Hong Kong government shut down all pre-schools and primary schools on 11 June, roughly two weeks before the scheduled summer break in a bid to prevent the spread of swine flu amongst young children. The announcement came late Thursday night on national news and on Friday his teachers called to confirm that the school would indeed be closed for the rest of the school year. Ryan was a little confused when we tried to explain to him that he didn't have to go to school anymore, immediately asking "but what about Daddy's Day?" After Mama's Day, his school had planned a Daddy's Day the following week but all that had to be cancelled. However, the next day his teacher called to say that they would be holding a farewell party in a week's time so that the kids would get a chance to say goodbye to all their friends and teachers. We took this opportunity to bring in a birthday cake to school for a mini celebration with his little kinder friends.

Kings and Queens for the day (birthday boy decided the crown was in the way while he was enjoying his popcorn!)

One last dragon cake, green this time

Helping make the cake the night before. More icing ended up in his mouth than the cake!

Incredible hulk?

One very happy birthday boy

Yums!

The kids all knew exactly which part of the dragon they wanted

Receiving his graduation certificate from 3-year old kinder

Showing off his artwork

With Ms Camilla and Ms Astro, his Star Bears teachers

A Beautiful Saturday Afternoon

Many of you would have probably seen these photos on FB but bear with me because this blog is also a "gift" to our children. We hope that Ryan and Mia will look back at all these photos when they're older and be reminded of all the treasured moments we shared as a family while they were growing up.

As usual Ryan woke up bright and early around 7ish and after a "discussion" with Daddy decided that he wanted to go to Ocean Park. So while father and son enjoyed a morning with the dolphins, fish, sharks and pandas, Mia and I enjoyed some peace and quiet (those of you with little kids will know that the word quiet does not feature in their vocabulary!) at home.

The boys swung by the apartment to pick Mia and I up on the way to lunch. After a satisfying Korean meal we drove out to Big Wave Bay. It was a perfect day for the beach, cloudy with a cool breeze.

The giant and his tiny tot :)

First "dip" in sea water

Daddy and Mia

Practice makes perfect. As Yee Mah taught him, "one stick, one half tummy and a kick-out".

Hard at work

So proud of himself!

My babies

Mama (&) Mia

Mia's signature open-mouthed smile