Another trip to Penang's Butterfly Farm

One afternoon spent leisurely at Penang's Butterfly farm.  Reena and Sarah cannot get enough of the butterflies, they thoroughly enjoyed this visit. 

Not afraid of butterflies anymore!  The last visit she was still running away from these beauties.

A butterfly hairclip :)

These girls had a blast!

Sarah exploring running all over the place.

Rome - Day 10

* Pardon the low resolution images, these were salvaged from one my FB albums.  

Day 10 - Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's Basilica Tour and Spanish Steps 

Booked our Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's Basilica tour online and got Ravi to print out the tickets in one of the neighborhood computer shop.  The Vatican Museum and adjacent St. Peter's Basilica was a good 15 minute walk from our rental apartment.  We stopped for breakfast first in a cute outdoor cafe to fuel the day ahead.  

​Our 10:30am tour group consists of 15pax.  Tour groups are batched in 30-minute intervals, which we initially thought to be well paced until we got inside and saw the crowd.  There were so many external tour groups vying for the same space! 

We were mostly shoulders to shoulders with other tourists, it was difficult to take photos and appreciate the vast treasures of the Vatican. The tour was too rushed for our liking, which was disappointing as there were so much to see.  Oh well, blame it on the peak summer crowd.

No pictures allowed inside the Sistine Chapel. Our group had about 15minutes to soak in the stunning Michelangelo artworks on the ceiling.  Police were all over the place to ensure the no photo policy, to make sure the crowd is silent and to keep people moving. 

Had lunch along the way back to the apartment.  Ravi and Sarah both took a short nap before we went out late afternoon.  Took a short cab ride to the Spanish Steps and wore our tourist hats on. Strolled around, had some more gelato and enjoyed our last night in Rome.

Start of the Vatican Museum tour with around 15pax for our group

Passed by vast amount of Vatican treasures.  Crowd inside was too much, it was suffocating at times.

Amazing ceiling artworks. 

Inside St. Peter's Basilica, the grandest Church I've been to.

The tour ended at the Square; with the Vatican Guards behind; Ravi in front of the Basilica; rest stop for my aching back!

Me and sleeping Sarah at St. Peter's Square.

Tourist mode at the Spanish Steps.

Climbing up the steps and looking down.

Breakfast; gelato breaks; metro ride

OJ for breakfast; real Italian pizza; Sarah singing during the metro ride; gelato queue; walk back to the apartment.

 

Rome - Day 9

* Pardon the low resolution images, these were salvaged from one my FB albums.  

Day 9 - Pyramid of Cesius, Collosseo, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain & dinner

We took our first Metro ride to the Pyramid of Cesius but it was undergoing repair & maintenance so only got snapshots of the the exterior. 

Metro'd our way to the Colosseum.  Coming out of the underground subway, the first sight of the Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheater, rendered us speechless.  It was hugely impressive and oh so grand!  Ravi got us audio guides for a better understanding of the rich and bloody history of the world's largest amphitheater.  Truly an amazing experience to be there.

There was a service inside the Pantheon so tourists were all off limits inside.  We waited a bit for the service to end but no such luck, so just took photos outside and left.

We found a nice restaurant near the Trevi Fountain.  While waiting for food to be served, Sarah and I strolled to the Trevi Fountain and took pictures before the sunset started.  After dinner, we went back with Ravi.  The area was all lit, it was more marvelous!  Did the touristy things of buying gelato and throwing coins to ensure our return :)

Outside the Colosseum

First look inside the arena and amphitheater

Sarah fiddling with the Iphone audioguide; arches; taking a break; closer look of the arena.

Some tourists (on a much more expensive tour!) standing on restored parts of the arena. 

Sarah's bird friends.

The Pantheon; the piazza in front of it.

Hanging out outside the Pantheon.

Trevi Fountain before sunset.

Th

Back to the Trevi Fountain after dinner, all lit up!

Sarah - 2 years Q4 update

Morning walk down at the lake; long and short hair shots

Growth milestones

• This quarter finally saw her potty trained.   Still need to wear diapers during afternoon naps and bedtime sleep as several ‘accidents’ have occurred.   Goodbye to milk bottles, hello to sippy and normal cups.  Bowel movement has been consistently smooth sailing as well.
• She’s not yet ready for daycare.  Went thrice but didn’t want to continue.  We don’t want to force her, there’s really no immediate need and she might dislike going to school when she needs to.  Another year of playful fun then.
• Hair cut to a shorter bob.  More manageable and suits her better.
• Favorites:  wan tan mee and pau (food), Tutu Tots ballet (dance), 20! (number), Little Einsteins (cartoon show), Sofi (frenemy)

Tutu Tots' yearend Christmas class

The seat belt police

Every time the family gets inside the car, she would check who’s not wearing seatbelt and scold that errant passenger.   Even on planes, she makes sure we all wear our seatbelts.  

Bookworm girl

• Recently bought a significant number books from the Big Bad Wolf sale (in KL!) to accommodate Sarah’s appetite for story books.  Reading experience is hammed up by mama’s voice over and over the top acting for full entertainment value :) 
• Has this thing of intently reading (and re-reading!) aircraft safety cards.   She’s fascinated and entertained enough, I didn’t need to hand over the ipad during flights.

Took a solo trip to KL to haul books for my bookworm!

More of Sarah-isms:

• A few weeks before Christmas, I was prepping Sarah that we’ll visit Lola Merly in the Philippines.  I also told her that Ann, our helper, will be going back to Philippines with us.  Sarah asked, “Ate Ann, you going to a different Philippines?”  She had associated Philippines only to my family’s home. J
• She heard Christmas carolers singing outside my mother's house.  She went out, listened for a while then asked loudly, "Why are you singing at our house?!"!  J
• “I don't want to friend you, hmmp!” is what we’ll hear if she’s having tantrums/meltdowns, which are getting fewer nowadays.
• "Ladies and jellybeans" and "Your majesty" when she’s role playing being a princess.

Reading the inflight safety card for the nth time; Sarah and Sofi at Josephine's Tagaytay; having water fun with Sofi at Lola Merly's backyard