Recall 5: A Time to Recover, A Time to Catch Up...

Our first 4 months back home in Malaysia have been so frantic and chaotic, that when March arrived, we felt that we really needed a break. Kevin had finished preparing his exam questions (a great achievement indeed!), and planned the entire family trip - keeping the destination a secret from Agnes and the kids until we all arrived... 

at Tanjong Jara Resort in Terengganu (not before a short stopever at Bentong for a scrumptious lunch)!

Kevin had earlier prepared a 'Vacation Pack' to be opened only upon arrival at the holiday destination. Inside, each of us received a surprise book (and toy, for Jaydon). 

Jacynth's new favourite pastime is now feeding fish...

She also tried her hand at traditional batik painting...

Our 2 night's stay at Tanjung Jara was the perfect tonic for our tired minds and bodies, and we never left the hotel premises at all! On the third day, we began our journey back towards Kuantan, stopping by for some keropok lekor on the way. 

We stayed another night at the Riverside Boutique Guesthouse in Kuantan (highly recommended!)...

Before heading out the next morning to explore some of Kuantan's beaches, e.g. Teluk Chempedak...

Then we drove to the heritage town of Sungai Lembing, which we found to be very quaint and nice...

This month was also a time of catching up with old friends who dropped by to visit us at our home...

Special friends... Jacynth and Julie were born 25 days apart, while Jaydon and Sarah were born 9 days apart (we can attest to the fact that there was no conspiracy between the two sets of parents!)

At the age of 2 years and 5 months,  Jacynth finally sat on a moving carousel ride thanks to Jo (who also very kindly lent us her car for the first two weeks of our return) who slotted in the coins. Her thrifty parents had up till then refused to put in any coins each time she sat on any of these machines, and she of course, up till then, had no idea whatsoever how these things worked. She has since begun asking for coins everytime she sat on one of these things... as we had predicted and were keen to avoid. :)

Recall 4: Month Four, Touch and Go!

Into our fourth month back home, we thought we could finally settle down into some sort of a routine... Oh, how wrong we were! Chinese New Year (CNY) was approaching.. and it was all hands on deck as we tried to clean up the house...

Unfortunately, Jacynth couldn't reach the curtain rods...

so she resorted to entertaining herself...

... and Jaydon as well...

She's really such an entertainer now, bringing smiles to friends and family. We've mentioned this many times, and we will say it again here... Jacynth is really living up to her name (Jia Xin, meaning home/family of joy/rejoicing)!

Even as Kevin struggled to prepare his lectures, for a subject he had never learnt before and which was being offered by the university for the first time (meaning no previous materials to draw from), this time of busyness called for multi-tasking and creative solutions!

It was also time for haircuts... 

We finally caught up with Kevin Ho and family after four months home, even though they only live nearby! Jaydon was already demonstrating separation anxiety and didn't take to strangers very well, but Kevin Ho managed to make him laugh!

The kids loved the Hos! Here's Rachel Ho entertaining Jacynth with a front-facing camera on the phone

Then it was up North again for the crazy CNY season!

Jake's first birthday celebration in Ipoh... yes, another party!

Then it was back to Penang again. This time, we took the opportunity to visit Kevin's grandparents memorials. It was Jaydon's first visit.

Jacynth, being as helpful as ever...

Jaydon was starting to do more than commando crawling...

Chinese New Year also meant new clothes, thanks to both grandmas. Kevin continued to prepare final exam questions for his course (as you can see in the background below), which were a week overdue! They had to be submitted by the fourth week of the semester, but Kevin still had no inkling about what the second half of the subject was about! So his CNY was spent mostly trying to read and understand the remaining 7 or so chapters in the textbook!

There was still time for a bit of fun though... 3 generations of male Koays!

Our reunion dinner on the eve of CNY also became a celebration of the birthdays of two mothers - Kevin's mom and his aunt...

Jacynth and Jaydon had their first introduction to sparklers!

On the first day of CNY, we went even further North to Sungai Petani to visit Kevin's relatives...

Jacynth made herself at home...

...while Jaydon slept most of the time

Kevin's uncle and family visited

We bid farewell to Nick, who would be leaving for New Zealand to further his studies...

More visitations in Penang...

... before heading back to Ipoh... here's Jacynth practising Gong Xi Gong Xi in the car...

Parading in their new clothes

Jaydon threatened to sit up (or so we thought)!

Reunion dinner in Ipoh was a bit special this year, thanks to Stacey Low's amazing dish that took an entire day to prepare!

Poon Choi or Big Bowl Feast

Yee Sang or Prosperity Toss

Agnes former schoolmates visited...

and we also visited Agnes' former teachers...

and relatives...

Not too long after, we found ourselves back in KL, but the visitations would continue... beginning with Agnes' former colleagues...

our uni friends...

(where Jacynth had a blast with Julie and her rabbits...

...and Jaydon was just overtired)

church members to our house...

We thought it would never end! But as quickly as it had come, CNY soon departed. The fifteenth and last day of CNY was spent in church...

... followed by a scrumptious banana leaf rice lunch at Sri Nirvana... yummy!

Then it's back to the good ol' days at home in Kota Kemuning... so that Jaydon could start on his solids...

...as Agnes tried to keep up with the blending and freezing

The kids could get back to entertaining themselves...

and we could all have some family time together...

The bicycle finally came out from the box (part of the things sent back by air from Perth) and we found it amusing when she used it as a stand mike 

We also introduced them to the place where their daddy and mummy met

and we proceeded to a huge playground in Cyberjaya

'the aftermath'

Before we knew it, Jaydon, then 6 and a half months, could pull himself up on the furniture!

That is why they say house chores can wait!

Or can they? ;)