Ayah Ulang Tahun!

 

Alhamdulillah...ayah ulang tahun April lalu. Terima kasih ya Allah, ayah masih diberi sehat, diberi umur dan kesempatan berkumpul dengan kami. Insya Allah sisa umurnya berkah ya!

Lego customized nameplate bikinan Aqila hahaha! 

Aqila, Ayah pernah berkata, kalau ada keluarga atau teman yang ulang tahun, sesibuk apapun kita, coba ulaang tahunnya dirayakan dan sempatkan memberi kado ulang tahun. Kado ulang tahun tidak perlu mahal, bahkan bisa buat sendiri seperti yang Aqila lakukan tahun ini. Yang penting...ada kenangan. Itu sebabnya, walau sederhana, kita sekeluarga selalu sempatkan makan bersama. Bunda selalu coba masak agak istimewa hari itu, dan kita berfoto bersama. 

Teruskan tradisi ini ya Aqila. Nanti kalau Aqila sudah sekolah jauh atau tinggal jauh dari ayah dan bunda, sempatkan menelepon kami di hari istimewa kami. Video call, zoom atau facetime. Tentu paling baik adalah jika kita bisa berkumpul bersama, tapi..this will do. Ingat ya Aqila...

Ulang tahun di bulan Ramadhan. Biasanya...hari2 bunda lemas dan tidak ada energi untuk beraktivitas banyak. Alhamdulillah...demi ayah tercinta, we were given extra strength to prepare a simple Tumpeng Nasi Kuning ...yeah!

Birthday Wish to Eyang Toeti

It's Eyang Toeti's birthday this month! She is thousand miles away from us, but hopefully she can feel the love and prayers we send to her. Sending this birthday song, played on a Gaohu by Aqila. He just joined his school Chinese Orchestra and is asked to learn to play erhu and gaohu.

Happy birthday Eyang Toeti. May you always be blessed with good health, good life and happiness. Amin YRA.

An Impromptu Performance

An old video of Prisha and Aqila playing Gavotte (by P. Martini) for Eyang Toeti, who was filming at the background :P


 Quite an impromptu performance, was not perfect but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Thank you kids :)

Ke Dokter...Digendong

Kapan lagi bisa minta digendong ayah ya? Haha...

Ini kejadian sewaktu kita pergi ke dokter, seminggu lalu. Badan Aqila sakit, lemas, berigus dan batuk sudah beberapa hari tidak sembuh. Terpaksa kita pergi ke dokter. Kok ya pas, mobil juga sedang masuk bengkel. So, ayah dan bunda antar Aqila ke dokter naik bis kota :) 

Turun di halte bus, musti jalan sekitar 300 meter ke klinik pak dokter. Aqila merengek minta digendong hadeuh... Kok ya bapaknya bersedia mengabulkan permintaan ananda. Sudah berat lho, dia sekarang :-P Untungnya tidak ada adegan sakit pinggang sesudahnya :-P

11 today

#Latepost. 

The boy had his 11th birthday on a boat, cruising Singapore's sea to Lazarus Island. 

The yacht belongs to his dad's company. We thought oh well lets do something different for this year's birthday. There were five guests, all were dad's colleagues. It was a potluck party though, as everybody brought something along for us to enjoy. We brought a tumpeng and some homemade cinnamon rolls, prepared and baked by Aqila and bunda. 

We sang happy birthday, with guitar accompaniment by uncle Rennan, the engineer of the yacht. Followed by blowing candles on a tumpeng, a yellow rice cone-shaped dish. It took some times to lit the candles because of the wind. Haha

On Lazarus island, playing on the clean beach. Lovely...but was pretty hot as well as it was noon! 

Enjoying the sunset. 

The boat was still berthed on the island. 

The entertainment in the evening. 

Aqila's way of saying thank you to those who came to celebrate his birthday :) 

KARAOKE-ing

Late post again. Well that's okay i suppose, it is the content that is important :)

Aqila mentioned about going karaoke-ing this evening, and thats why i reminded myself to post something about it. Btw, we are on Batam island now. Stranded in one of obscure small hotels there. Ayah has a office team activity there, and we just tag along. The hotel we are staying has a karaoke lounge and thats why the ah boy asked to go for a session upon learning this.

Yes, Aqila loves karaoke-ing. It started from a singing assignment by his violin teacher. Aqila needed to learn proper breathing technique, similar to singing, in order to improve his violin playing.

His dad was more than happy to bring Aqila to have a karaoke session. The dad himself loves singing too, and if he could go back in time i think he would want to be a professional singer, aiyooh! So off we went to a family friendly karaoke lounge in Singapore.  

The duo was hilariously ackward yet wonderful at the same time. They sang western and chinese tunes, to their heart out. As for me, i contributed my lovely voice here and there as and when needed 😬

We have since bought a karaoke set and now we can have a karaoke session anytime at home! 

Serunya Tag War Game!

Sekolah Aqila kerap mengadakan acara father-children bonding time tapi baru kali ini Aqila dan bapaknya berpartisipasi. Nah...kali ini acaranya berupa tag war game. Kedengarannya kok tidak mendidik ya... main tembak-tembakan.

Friday Prayer

Our plan today was to meet ayah for lunch and to attend Friday Prayer at Sultan Mosque.






Lunch first at the Pariaman Nasi Padang. Ordered the Ikan bakar and begedil and cucumber pickles for me and a rice for you to eat with homemade abon ayam.

The place was very crowded and hot and humid. The food was good though abit too salty for me.

We dont usually order cold drink but today was an exception. Iced tea and iced lime were the preferred beverages for today.


Came across two rusty "flying pigeons" on the way to the mosque!



Could not resist to take a quick snap of them. They were so cute, talking quietly to each other while their moms were listening to the sermon.


After Friday prayer...crossing the road to go back to the car in a hurry as it was going to rain!

So that was why the weather was so hot and humid today!


Ayah dropped us off at Funan, as per your request, although I was worried that the rain would become worse.

And i was right. We were almost stranded at Funan and City Hall area if it was not because of the yellow "Banana"





Yes...the Banana was the name of our umbrella :-P

Went home feeling hungry (again) and sleepy. Oh no...I still have to cook dinner first hehehe.

All in all...a happy day for all of us :-D

- Dyah on mobileblogging

Seedlings, Eyang and Aqila's version

Below: Aqila's seedlings are the mungbeans,





Whereas Eyang's are of Chilli aka cabe! Ahaaaa...!




- Dyah on mobileblogging

Friday Prayer at Sultan Mosque

Last Friday was Vesak Day, a public holiday. Ayah stayed at home. Yaay!

In the afternoon, Ayah and Aqila went for Friday Prayer together at Sultan mosque, an old mosque which was built in 1824.

All photos except the one above were taken by Ayah.

What a beautiful mihrab!

Click this link to find out more about Sultan Mosque
http://www.sultanmosque.org.sg/

- Dyah on mobileblogging

I challenge you!

Checkmate! Ayah : 1 Aqila : 0 (photo by Ayah)

Somebody is into the game of chess nowadays. He is still playing without much strategy, but he is learning hehehe. He read his Starting Chess book many times over, go online to Youtube to watch chess tutorial, read biographies of famous world chess players etc...etc... He said he wants to challenge his cousin, Nathan who is also into this brain exercise game.

As it happened again...initially I did not pay much attention to your request to buy you that Starting Chess book, Aqila. I thought it was just one of your many 'one moment of curiousness' about things around you. Usually, you will get bored and forget about the stuff as soon as you understand what it was. Only after you explained to me that you wished to read the book because you wanted to challenge Ayah in this game, then I realized that you mean business :)

Okay...so there are rooks, knights, bishops and pawns of course...

Checkmate ... again! Ayah wins again (photo by Aqila)

So far, we have lost count on how many times Aqila was beaten by his dad and I hehe. It is okay Aqila, your time to make it even will come! Just continue playing and learning and enjoying the journey :)

I dont care if I loose again, I just want to play!  :P

Okay...who wants to play with me? 

This was when the fascination started, with Lego Chess that his dad bought for him a couple of years ago.

Lunch box drawing

Lets start planning our holiday! Yaaay!
- Dyah on mobileblogging

Battle time!

Its been a stressful week for all of us. Aqila is in his exam weeks, Ayah was super busy at work and Bunda needed to teach on a double because her partner was not able to do her duty.

To unwind, we went swimming today at Sengkang swimming complex. Aqila wanted to show his dad the latest tricks he learnt in his swimming lesson.

As usual, we brought along our water guns. Swimming practice over, here comes play time!

Before long, these kids wanted to play with Aqila n dad!


First round, everyone chased after Aqila! Poor boy! He was shot so many times! :-P

Second round, they decided to play fair game. Two groups against each other. Picture above depicts the time when they decided who was in which group.


Battle time! Boy...it was so fun!

Btw we have no idea who these kids were even after swimming was over :-P


- Dyah on mobileblogging

I Love You - I Hate You

When best friends fight... :-)


- Posted from my iPhone

Happy Friday

Aqila,

I found a movie you made in my macbook.
Here's the edited version.  :)

Thanks dear,
You just brighten up my Friday with this amusing video :P
See you later after school, boy!

Haircut the Old Skool Way

The boys went to Hassan Barber at Hougang to have their hair cut, the old skool way :-)

Nowadays people want to do things fast, with instant result. 

Well, it is nice to go slow and enjoy the process some times...

The boys in the house like to go to this barber to have their hair cut. It usually takes at least half an hour to get the haircut done, from waiting for their turn to getting their hair done. Most times they need to spend an hour or so to go to this barber. If they choose to go to "QuickCut" barbers, with their modern appliances and fancy shop, the boys will only need to wait for approximately 15 minutes, in non-peak hour ya. However...the process is done super fast, without any interaction between the stylist with the customer, which to us...add value to the whole experience.

So...if you have time...go to traditional barber like the Hassan :-)

Happy 8th Birthday!

Image by tante Marriana.

Image by tante Marriana

Thank you so much tante Mar, for these gorgeous photos!

You are eight! How time flies! 

I still remember going to the hospital to give birth to you one Saturday morning, after a very late night chat with eyang Toeti who had just arrived from the US. Actually, my water broke the night before, but I did not realised it, thinking that it was just the normal activity of you inside my tummy! Silly me! Oh..btw, Eyang Toeti came to Spore to personally welcome you, who were scheduled to arrive in a week's time.

Well...but you decided to say hello to the world a week earlier than what the doctor and we had planned. As the result, your doctor was still on holiday that Saturday morning! Hurrah! And another doctor had to take care of me ...and you! Oh la la! Great!

Anyways, having you is the most beautiful thing that ever happened to me. I may be strict I may be firm, but I do all those out of love. I am also warm and I am loving...of course it is because I adore you :-)

Happy 8th Birthday my dear. 

I pray that you will grow up to become a fine young man who is honest, independent, able to defend yourself and be a man of honour. A young man who is full of love, caring and protect those who are weak and less fortunate. 

May Allah SWT always guide you in his path. Amen.

Here are some highlights of the party! 

Games! Nothing else is better than games for them!  hehe

Simon says....till Simon doesnt have anything to say! hahaha

One of the game involved drawing / planning our town.

The ABG girls were busy with their own drawing hehehe....

Just prepare crayons and papers, and kids will start doodling in no time :-)

 Mas Harsha pointing to his art.

The complete TOWN PLAN. 

The adults were having a feast :-)

Some of the adults helped themselves with boardgame :-)

Otak-otak, siomay and pempek and homemade serabi were a hit

Bulik Mita memang TOP! You managed to get these super shy kids to draw! Woooow! Salute!

Tumpeng nasi kuning lengkap, ayam goreng, rendang.

Tante Dina brought fruits, and tante Deasy brought delicious fruit salad! Tante Eja brought mini pizzas and Bulik Mita brought lemper and bunda made Serabi! All Yum yum

Some of mom and dad's good friends  who came on that day :-)

Click this link if you want to see all pictures ya!