R&S weekend

Reena and Sarah spent their weekend with sister bonding - exploring around the lake, fish feeding, swimming.  Sisters and friends, that's what we're nurturing them to be as they grow up :)

Koi and catfish feeding at the lake

Finding things together (right) and on the way to the slides (left).

Exploring the woods.

Afternoon swim at the apartment pool.

Late post: birthday celebration

Before I left for the Manila+HongKong vacation, I had wonderful advanced birthday dinner with Ravi and Sarah at 32 at the Mansion. 

Thankful for another year of blessings, good health and happiness. 
 

Happy momma :)

My bundle of joy

Cutesy poses with my lil one

My two loves :)

Bro-in-law visit

My brother-in-law, Morgan, came to Penang for a 3 week vacation from Atlanta, Georgia.  He stayed on off with us while the rest of the stay, he was at his father-in-law's house. 

According to my husband, it was a great bonding time between him and his brother compared to previous meet ups.  He visits every two years but might be able to get a business trip to Singapore next year so we'll see him sooner.

Sarah likes his Uncle Morgan very much.  Whenever Morgan will transfer to his father-in-law's place, Sarah will ask him repeatedly when he will come back to her house :)

Brotherly love :)

Selfie!  Pardon the blurry shot, Sarah was moving quite a bit as I was taking the shot.

LOL night with Kumar

Last night, Ravi and I had a fun date as we watched one of George Town Festival 2014 shows, A One (Night) Mic Stand Comedy with Kumar.

This was Kumar's second performance in Penang.  Last year, the 500 tickets at E&O hotel sold out so fast; this year I made sure I got tickets to the 1,200 pax show. 

The 90-minute show, which started 15 minutes late, had two opening comics who warmed up the crowd before Kumar came out.  The show was hilariously funny, although there were segments I didn't catch when they would talk in the Malay language.  But still an overall great night for Penangnites.  Hopefully Kumar frequents Penang more often in the coming years.

Dewan Sri Penang's facade with George Town Festival tarpualin.

Free seating.  We arrived 20 minutes before the show and secured seats only at the upper portion.

Photo credit to George Town Festival's website.

Instagram photo of the date night :)

Picking up where I left my running self

Middle of July, I got back to running and it felt so good!  Since I hang up my badmintion rackets almost 7 years ago, I've resorted to running and swimming to get back my old sporty self.

There were 3 weekends that I averaged runs between 2-3km, a good distance but could be much better.  Before Sarah came along, I did the 10km fun runs of the Penang Bridge Marathon for two consecutive years.  I'm gearing up to do the 10km run this year and the half-marathon next year.  

Calm and peaceful early in the mornings.  Very fortunate to have this right in front of our apartment!

Taken after finishing my goal of 3km run. 

Hongkong Day 1 - Disneyland

Our family vacation this year was at Hongkong.

Flights bought 6 months earlier were on promo fares; the apartment fee was paid for early this year.  Apartment rental was care of airbnb, a more practical accommodation compared to small sized HK hotel rooms at exorbitant prices!   Park tickets, food and transportation were the only items left to pay for during the vacation days.

Our first day was at Disneyland, a first visit for me and Sarah, but my family's second venture.  It was  great fun for everyone (as expected!), the only grinch was the hot and humid weather.

Nery family picture at the Disneyland entrance

First shot inside the theme park.

Cooling down along the shady parts of Adventureland

Lunch at the Banquet Hall, recharging for the rest of the day

Food was good but too expensive.  One cannot bring in food inside the theme park but I was able to sneak in some raisins and crackers for the kids :)

Mickey and Minnie with our little girls Sarah and Sophie!

Family shot.  Rap was disinterested at this point, playing with his iPad on a bench somewhere near.

Goofing around with Goofy.

Playful Pluto.

Sweet Winnie the Pooh family shot

It's a Small World after all, yeah!

Howdy you all!

Mr. Potato Head with the kiddos

Dino picture before leaving Toy Story Land.

The Mystic Manor is sooo worth the long queue, a not to be missed attraction.

Disney parade starts with the main characters on this boat/carriage.

The Disney princesses on a swan boat.  We weren't able to take our pictures with them early in the day.

Colorful costumes on smiling dancers. 

Rafiki of Lion King

Winnie the Pooh and his pots of honey

Chipmunk cuteness

Playful Tinkerbell

Woody!!!

Special carriage for Buzz Lightyear

Mr. Egg, one of our nicknames for Rafael

Our youngest brother, Rap, posing with Winnie the Pooh

Requisite family shot with the Disney castle.

Captain Jack Sparrow says 'ni hao'! :)

Waiting for the 9pm fireworks.  We're lucky to have gotten this bench in front of the Disney castle, the rest of the park visitors either have to sit on the floor or stand far away.

Airport friendships

Sarah and I were on vacation mode at the Philippines and Hong Kong during last week's Hari Raya holidays.  Monday and Tuesday last week were the Muslim communities' Festival of the Breaking of the Fast, also called Hari Raya Aidilfitri.  It marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month of dawn to sunset fasting of the Islam world.

Still on recharging status and catching up with my workload so no time yet to write about the crazy itinerary that was last week's.

During transit from KL to Manila and back, Sarah easily made friends at the airport.  For some reason, she doesn't want to make friends with kids smaller than her.  She's drawn only to older girls.  It's fun to watch them strike up friendships just like that, something adults find more complicated to do as we get older.

Taken using Iphone so resolution is not so good.