Eventful Day

At last, the nail-nibbling day arrived for me.

(Sorry this is so late. The internet connection was down over the weekend, so I could just do it now.)

It all started with Gadget-daddy asking, "So what do you want to do for your birthday?" And I thought meeting up with my blog-buddies would be great. He teased and said sorry he could not fly people in from Australia, Canada and the US. ;)

So I had to be selective. I knew I couldn't manage anything meaningful if the crowd was too big. So the "natural selection" was for families that I've come to know "pretty" well, and it so happened that 2 out of the main 3 bloggers and their kids I want to meet already know Gadget-daddy. I felt altogether comfortable and safe, if that is of any concern. Too bad "a gift from god" could not make it, but Mummy-yeoh, who first told me they would be out-station could come instead, so that was great.

So here's what we did...

We arrived a little earlier to get the place ready. A great disappointment was that they were washing the pond at the water park so we could not hang out at my initial plan. Plus, I had wanted the bring the huge market umbrella we have, but it could not fit into the car! (So smart of me...or I just thought you could stuff even an elephant into Gadget-daddy's car trunk!)

Met at the butterflies enclosure, and took the early ones around while waiting for 2 other families to arrive. I had thought we'd go to the bunnies next, but Gadget-daddy said to go in. So we sew the aquariums and then basically broke into 2 groups for the benefit of the kids. 3 families hung our mostly at the 2-4 room, while the other 2 families were at the 4-6 room.

All the while, Gadget-daddy was out hunting for KFC for our lunch. Finally he got them and we all haded back to the outdoors for our picnic lunch. Gadget-daddy had set up all the stuff in the two shaded seating areas available when we arrived. We fed the children first, then a couple of Mommies had to act as DBKL* as usual. Then the party packs were given out so that the kids could have some things to amuse them while the adults chatted a little.

It was only while we were eating that I managed to get the families introduced and what's their blog called. (On the way back, Gadget-daddy congratulated me for having organised a bloggers meeting. Face-to-face apparently is a biggie... Really?)

We brought alphabet pasts in ABC soup for the kids, potato salad and sandwiches and bought fried chicken. Soft drink and some water was most needed for a pretty hot afternoon. We had brought the birthday cake, but after all the hours outdoors, I thought it was best to leave that out. Dobn't even dare to look if the cake had become goo. (Checked a couple of times it there was any smudge marks on the box from inside.)


Soon, we all packed up, said our good-byes. The sky told of rain on its way. As my friends leave one by one, I felt a little sad. To Ann and Angelia, I felt like I actually did not get to chat as much as I had wanted to, as we all had to attend to our kids. (But at least maybe now we can think of smaller meet-ups and sit and chat more.) But I was really glad to see my boys and Jlow's family getting on so well. Of course they already know Angelia's boys and they just want to do all the boys' stuff together. It was also good to have Mummy-yeoh and family with us, to see a bit more of you guys apart from the Sundays at church. :)

Max fell asleep on the way back and Micah a little while after we arrived home.

Anyway, back home, the first thing I did was to put the cake back into the freezer. It took me hours to sort out the 2 huge baskets of stuff. Before I finished, Max cried for a feed and he quickly put a sleeping spell on me. I fell asleep only to wake up almost an hour later and finished clearing all evidences of a great outing.


Later my mom, sister and brother came over for a visit. We decided to sing the birthday song. I was a bit apprehensive taking the cake out... and...

My cake came out intact after all!


So we did have the cake after all. :)

What a wonderful day. Thanks, you guys for the lovely gifts.



Mummy-yeoh and family gave the therapy session of a sun-catchers painting set.
ann made the loveliest birthday card.
Thanks too, for the book vouchers. Great idea from a gift from god.
Lotsa goodies to munch (Thanks, ann and angelia) while my mind devours on John Clare's poems (Thanks Daddee Yah!).

Then my brother-in-law and wife gave a lovely potted plant. It now sits on our dining table, and will do so until we have not enough space for more people to sit for a meal. I suppose then it would go out to the porch.

What a wonderful day. Thank you, my friends.
Thank you, God, for family and friends.


p/s- I really enjoyed preparing the party packs. For the moms and dads it was easy, as in I knew what I wanted to get you guys. The kids were a little trickier, because some things were limited, so I try to give same stuff to siblings so that there'll be minimal squabbles at home. For the little lady, the only little lady with us, it was easiest. :)

---------- Daddy's gift pack---------------------- Mommy's gift pack

* DBKL - Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, is our city hall and one of their main jobs is to look into waste management. When we say you are the DBKL, normally it means you clean up the platter so that food is not wasted.