Shower for Two

Baby shower that is! The two expecting mums (Paula and myself) within our close circle of girlfriends have due dates within weeks of each other. So a couple of weeks ago, we decided to have a girls' night out before either of our babies made an appearance. I was all geared up for a great night as it'd been awhile since I'd been out on a girlie night, especially since we were going to L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. Well, neither both of us preggie ladies knew that the others had planned a little secret behind our backs. It was a surprise double baby shower!

Looking back I should have suspected something was going on (it's obvious that I've lost even more brain cells with this pregnancy!!). For instance, after having planned to all leave home together in one car, hours before we were going to leave, I get a call from Dal saying that Chris had to get her hair done and Pam had to run some errands in the city before going to the restaurant so they could not come with us. In actual fact, they had to get there early to decorate the room. To be honest, I did think that it was a little strange, why would Pam be running errands at night and Chris getting her hair done? Wow, were we going to hit the bars in Lan Kwai Fong after dinner?" ;-)

What a surprise it was! Good friends, great food and a beautifully decorated room. Thank you ladies (Chris, Pam, Vera, Dal and Paula) for a lovely night. It was a wonderful surprise!!!

Wow, we didn't expect this!

A beautiful baby gift tower - thanks to Christine's creative handiwork

Good friends, great company, what more could you ask for?

My entree of marrow with golden mushrooms (forgot the fancy description of the dish)

Any guesses as to the sex of both babies??!!

Looking pretty moments before we devoured the yummy food!

Kota Kinabalu

As our due date draws closer, Shad and I have been trying to squeeze in as much "fun" time with Ryan as we can. While all three of us are very excited about our little new addition, I can't seem to help feeling a little apprehensive about the changes that will come with a new baby. Ryan's been the baby all this time, and has had our undivided attention. We're hoping he will be able to adjust to being the big Koh-Koh come December.

The minute our obstetrician gave the green light to travel (of course on the condition that travel time is short), we treated ourselves to a few days at the Shangrila Tanjung Aru Resort in Kota Kinabalu which is a short two and a half hours flight away. When we arrived there, the weather was beautiful, clear skies and sunshine. However, by evening the sky opened up and down came the rain. For the next couple of days, it absolutely bucketed down. Luckily we were in a beautiful suite which had a bathtub big enough to fit all three of us (even with my big tummy!) so for those two days, that was our swimming pool. And Ryan absolutely loved his bubble baths!

So despite the uncooperative weather we had a wonderful holiday, just the three of us :).

And guess who we should meet there when we arrived ... Poh-poh and Aunty Poh-poh Dianne on the last day of their food safari

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At the KK Pier

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View of our little beach

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Ryan was a welcome distraction for this music man who'd been banging on his bells for hours!

A late night stroll along the beach

The morning after the skies opened up...

Our hungry boy devouring his roti canai with bare hands

Living it up in the comfort of our hotel room (yes, that is a hand towel!)

Bubble boys!

Toddler in the mist

Chocolate monster

Fading fast at dinner after a long day of play

Bubur cha-cha served in a most unique way

Finally, a day without rain...

Sand construction with Daddy

A bike ride along the pier

Fun in the sand

One final bubble bath before heading to the airport

What will we see at the zoo...

A couple of weeks ago, Ryan's school organised an excursion to the Hong Kong Zoo as part of their curriculum for the term. The theme for this term is animals and the children have been learning about different animals both in English and Mandarin through books, songs and play. Looking after 24 little three year olds on the loose is no mean feat so the school "asked" (in other words, the child must be accompanied otherwise he or she will not be able to go!) that parents accompany their little monkeys on this trip. While Ryan had a great time running around looking at the animals with his little friends, I met some of the other mothers which resulted in a play date later in the week. All in all, a fun little outing for the both of us.

Chasing bubbles
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One tired and extremely sweaty little boy

Pork floss sandwich and a baby carrot - an interesting snack combo

"Think the girls will mind me sitting with them?"

"Star Bears" Babies

Chillin' with the boys

Junk Junkies

The highlight of this holiday was definitely the junk trip out to Sai Kung. We hired a Chinese Pleasure Junk and took it to a small floating fish farm in Kau Sau Wan. Here, the kids had a great time "feeding" the huge fishes and "fishing" the tiny ones. Lunch was a simple but tasty "home-cooked" fare with incredibly fresh seafood straight out of the sea. After that, we stopped at a tiny beach along the way and played the afternoon away.

Fashion model in the making!

View of Hong Kong as we sailed out to sea

Arriving at the floating fish farm

A rather dodgy looking fisherman with our catch...

... but the fish looked good!

Setting the bait (little smelly rotten fish)

14 kg 3 year old wrestling with a 14 kg fish

The Khoo father and son fishing team

Lunch at the floating fish-farm (in the backyard of the fish farmers)

Mmmmm ... crab

Mmmm ... crab (a little copy cat)

Look what I caught

I got one too

Happy cousins

The Han girls

The whole junk crew just before leaving the fish farm

Enjoying a drink with Mama - while we head for a beach to play on

Cooling down in a little rock pool

Playing with (tormenting) a little crab

Oh no its getting away

Khoo family meeting

The gang on the beach

A bunch of tired but happy seafarers

Two tired boys heading back into central with the HK skyline in the background