Another Raya Another Open House

Our Hari Raya Aidiladha, which this year coincides with New Year's Eve, was spent in Coquitlam at Kak Linda's House. It was a feast worth waiting for. As usual, the trip was long and arduous, but the kids were in high spirits. Melur and Arman definitely enjoyed the scenery.

Enjoying the view from the front of the train

There were also a few other students from Edmonton who joined in the festivities. They rode with us for the 2 and half hour journey. Their day started with their early morning flight over here, so I'd guess they were quite cranky by the 2nd hour.

Awesome FOOD!!!

Food was good. Company was good. It was a little more mellow than Aidilfitri. But the cozy atmosphere made it much more easier for us to mingle. The restaurant business here is pretty big. Apparently, Banana Leaf, which is a Malaysian Restaurant in Vancouver, has been around for several years... 10 years at least. That's quite a feat. But the menu there has been fused for the local palate. So we shouldn't expect food like Mama used to make. But it's pretty good nonetheless.

Melur and Arman playing with Syafiq while waiting for the bus We had to leave early, cause of the whole journey taking us hours. Arman was so naughty on the bus. He didn't want to sit down. Kids get cranky when they are tired. And then don't appear tired when they're cranky. Which is quite a twist.

Arman just wouldn't sit down So New Year's eve, other than the Aidiladha gathering, was quite uneventful. No fireworks or anything like that, at least not for us (Too tired to go out and see it). But it was the end of a good year nonetheless. Mommy and Daddy will be making some resolutions for the new year, which we hope will make things better for the family in the future. SHAMELESS PLUG: Check out Daddy's resolutions for 2007.

Turkey Again

So it's Christmas Weekend, and a 4-day weekend in Vancouver. Boxing Day (which is the Day after Chrismas) is also a statutory holiday. Which means, no work for me. And since most families in Vancouver have turkey for dinner on X'mas, we thought we'd do the same. We love turkey. Mmmmmm... Turkey...

Arman, Nasir, Syafiq, Zul, Daddy and Melur (below)

And so again, we invited the boys over for turkey on Sunday (Christmas Eve). We got another 17-lbs bird from the Halal Meat Market, and used the same Betty Crocker recipe from Thanksgiving. The turkey turned out great, as you can see from the desecrated remains of said turkey. What carnivorous eaters we have in UBC. Oh well... better than letting it go to waste.

Desecrated Turkey

After the meal, we pretty much sat around and watched tv. Our living room is still a bit bare, so we all ended up eating on the floor, Malay style. It was a quiet evening, filled with food galore.

Enjoy the Turkey

Hello Metrotown

OK, I'll be frank. This is just an excuse to put up some more pictures of the kids. It's Sunday, and I brought the kids to Metrotown, which is a shopping mall just outside Vancouver. We took 2 buses and a train just to get there. But it was a fun day with the kids, while Mommy was busy working at UBC.

The mall was pretty big.. 2 floors, and very expansive... yes, I mean sprawling. So many stores. Christmas was approaching, and I can only imagine what this place would be like on Boxing Day! I took the kids site seeing basically. I brought tuna sandwiches for lunch, which they enjoy.

We saw Santa at the main lobby, but the line to see him was SOOOOOO long. I didn't feel like waiting in line with the kids, so we just walked around some more. By mid day, the kids were getting tired. TIRED= CRANKY. So I had to bribe them with some smoothies.

We shared two. Yup, I bribed them with one first. And then when things got tough, we shared another. Hehehee... Hey! It's not easy being a parent. Anyway, the day was relatively uneventful. We took the train back around 5pm, and the kids were quiet, all pooped out. Hope the pictures were ok.

Melur and Arman in a Toy Car

Arman is 3!

Our "little" baby boy is now officially a 3-year old. By the way, if you've seen our Arman, you definitely know why I used double quotes to the word little. We celebrated his birthday by having a modest get-together with a small group of Malaysian undergraduates from UBC. It was befitting that we had only the "uncles" for the gathering and no "auntie". Our boy is after all... a boy.

We had the usual blowing the candle and eating the cake event. We bought Arman a yellow toy tractor that he chose himself the day before. We simply wrapped it nicely for him to open on his birthday. He loves it so much that he slept with it for a whole week. He also takes it outside to play in the sandbox whenever the weather is nice enough. Mommy and Daddy think that we'll let the kids choose their own toy gifts from now on. Buying one that they like is much better since they will probably end up playing with it more. The boys also bought our Arman a gift. They are definitely a good bunch of boys. Lets hope Arman grows up with them (and of course Daddy) as role models.

Mommy is in a rather philosophical mood right now. She remembers how the name Arman Farabi came about. Arman comes from a Persian word that means inspiration, and Farabi is the name of a famous Muslim scholar. Al-Farabi is known as a musician, astronomer, philosopher and scientist. You can Wiki Al-Farabi here. We hope that Arman grows up to become a man of many accomplishments such as Al-Farabi himself. He is taking the first step by learning colors.

A few things that we note about Arman are: Has a big laugh that puts a smile on your face Has an abundant amount of energy Loves to cuddle and will seize the opportunity to sit on your lap whenever possible Has a competitive spirit (he takes whatever toy Melur is playing with) Loves tractors (boys will be boys), buses, books and food (we have yet to see him say no to food)

So lastly, to friends and family looking at this blog. Enjoy some of the pictures we took during Arman's birthday party. Our thanks to Syafiq and his digital camera (got to get ourselves one of these in the near future) for the nice pictures.