Happy Birthday Isabel

Isabel has turned 6 last Saturday... but friends have been celebrating since days before.

I remember the day she was born like it was just yesterday... I was in the delivery room with my wife, and I was thinking... in just a few hours, it will no longer be just the 2 of us, our quiet world will be changed forever... Boy, I had no idea what I was in for...

And turned it did, life was never the same again. But its a good experience to feel the love grow for her.

A week before Isabel's birthday, the regular gang of children were herded together to celebrate this big sister's birthday.

Among the presents received is this Musical Keyboard which none of us knows how to play. Maybe during the holiday, we'll sign her up for some piano lessons.

Her next present came from her Gu-Ma (my sister). I didn't think she would have paid attention to what the kids like nowadays, but as it turned out, she bought Isabel's favourite pop artistes High School Musical and Hana Montana's merchandise all nicely wrapped in a box by herself.

The gift consists of a High School Musical photo frame, Hana Montana T-shirt and a Handbag

Every year no matter who's birthday, this Gu-mah will always prepare another present for the other sister so that she won't feel left out. So, Ally got a similar looking Hana Montana handbag.

I think her happiest celebration was with her classmates in school. She get to wear her favorite dress to school, its so exciting to see her friends running around and her going to her friends to take pictures.

We ordered the cake from Mr. and Mrs James Chan (j88chan2000@yahoo.com)

The kids are absolutely lovely

I bought her a Disney perfume meant for children.

Mommy bought a pair of Roborovski hamster which was promised months ago. 1 male, 1 female.

The kids keep coming up with names for them. At first it was "Wall.E and Daisy", then it was "Troy and Gabriella"... I think they haven't really decide yet as they can't differentiate between them.

She isn't afraid of them, and she even promised to help feed and clean their cage as and when needed.

Ally also handled the hamster well. Holding them tenderly, very soon, the hamster got used to their hands and didn't try to run away.

I have cleared my aquarium and its ready to be converted into a new playground for the hamsters and its off springs, if any.

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Flower girl 2008 part II

Here are some pictures taken on the very day...

Over the weekend, Isabel and Ally did their service as Flower Girls for our couple friend. This would be the third time that both are doing together.

The place was the Old Parliament Hall. I feel very privileged to set foot into the hall where battles were fought, where hundreds of policies were produced and implemented... the place where decision made would affect thousands.




We were there an hour early to do rehearsal for the march-in. At the same time, people started to walk in and get seated waiting to witness this wonderful occasion.

7 Flower Girls led by Ally doing a very serious flower throwing, followed by Isabel and the rest.

Ally was very serious with what she was to do... she counted her steps, spread the flowers evenly on the aisle, doesn't care who is clapping or cheering. She just wanted to do her job right.

In fact, she is the most photographed Flower Girl there.

I've always been a big fan of IKEA's restaurant, we eat there almost once a month, sometimes more. Only problem is... so do thousands of others, its always difficult to find a table during feeding time.

So the strategy is to find half a table, get permission to share it, set the kids and the maid down and we go get the food. By the time we're back from the long queue, usually the rest of the people at the table would have finished and left.

Now at the check out area of the market hall, they sell Swedish canned food. That's where I saw this...



Anchovy. The picture shows yummy looking fillet spread on some kind of bread. It looks very appetizing. So I thought I give it a try.



I got the bread... opened the can and splat them on it...

Suddenly, it doesn't look so tasty at all...

Worst when the smell hit my nostrils. It smelled of salt and vinegar. It tasted like salt and vinegar... with a thick sweet after-taste making it hard to swallow, the slimy texture didn't help either. I have to choke them down with my nose pinched.

The moral of the story is, not all things that looks good, may taste good.

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Last weekend, after trying to vacuum my air con fan coil unit, I realized that the thick dust could not be cleaned out easily.

I went online and googled, trying to find a better way to clean the coils. I then found this product...

ConCaire

the product boast to kill 99.99% germs hiding in it, clears choke, washes off thick dust.

I followed the instruction and watched the dirt flowed out of the fan coil, amazed at the amount of dirt layered in the unit.

But the liquid I collected at the end of the day was only a tenth of the content I sprayed into it. I hope the rest are flowed out through the pipe and not choked halfway.

But otherwise, the fancoil seems to work better, with clearer better air. It cooled the room faster. I may get the bigger bottle to clean the rest of the rooms.