Transitory States
Edward:
David S Leyman:
Hisham:
Luke:
James Kight:
king:
Hisham and Sila has been writing stuff down on this weblog since 2005. Sometimes they post photos of family, sometimes they talk about film, books and music, sometimes there is artwork and stuff about tabletop gaming.
Irfan's Atok and Opah came to visit over the weekend.
Here's a picture of the three Yops together.
Apart from Atok's car having clutch problems less than 10 klicks from reaching our place, there were no glitches during the visit. They picked up Irfan from school when my weekday exam schedule did not permit me to do so.
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir & Batin from Irfan, Ain and I.
As per the alternating location format our family uses, we spend this year's Aidilfitri in Pasir Mas.
We miss Atok, Opah, Ayah Cik, Cik Dik, Yaya and Adik. Hope to have a Hari Raya together some day.
A big news for this holiday season is that Irfan's Cik Emma gets engaged on the third day of Aidilfitri.
We wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Eid Mubarak!
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So on Yaya's fifth birthday, we went to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton as her birthday treat. We had originally thought about going to the zoo but the fact that it was a cold and rainy day (seriously? This has never happened in July to have a spring-like rainy day) forced a change of plans. However, it turned out to be an awesome experience, and since we are now members of the museum, we look forward to repeat trips there.
I love the above photo as you see how happy Adik is for his sister. Also contained in this entry are a few photos taken a week or so later when we had Yaya's birthday party. Vin and I were so busy running around on that day that we took maybe 5-6 photos in total. For the whole event. Craziness! So anyway, minimal chatter, just mostly photos.
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So it seems we took way too many photos in July and there were a few with the kids together that I couldn't fit into either of the "usual" blog entries, and they were too cute to not post. So here it is. No stories, no information. Just some gratuitous pictures of the kids (and I snuck in some photos taken during Vin's birthday as well).
During the whirlwind that was Ramadan, where Yaya and Papa both had (real) birthdays, Adik sneaked in to being 19 months old!
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The girl is five years old now! A whole half decade! 60 months! 1826 days! Wheee! Happy birthday, beautiful!
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Here we are at Adik's 18 month entry! The boy is now 1 and a half years old!
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One more month till Yaya hits the half decade mark! Woohooo!
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It's the school holidays! So we headed back to Sitiawan to spend time with Irfan's Atok and Opah.
When we arrived, some orchids hanging at Irfan's grandparents' garden over the koi pond were blooming. It was quite a spectacular sight as the following photos of the individual plants show.
Does anyone know what species of orchids they are?
And so, another month has passed by and the little guy is now 17 months old. He'll be a year and a half soon! Wheeee!
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Tim the Turtle had grown too big to reside in its tank. And there is no surplus space in the house for a bigger tank. Which meant it was time to say goodbye to Tim.
Thankfully we had the foresight to scout for release locations in the city beforehand and had already decided on the lake at Ampang Hilir Park.
The lake was large for a body of water mere kilometres away from the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. It shot to the top of the list of release locations because it was big and had a sizable population of red-eared sliders (and assorted fish) within its waters. We also hoped Tim would find a girlfriend some day. Or a boyfriend. We never really determined if Tim was a male or a female. If Tim was female, its name would have been a contraction of "Timah".
Two more months till the big birthday! And how much do you love backdated entries! Woohoo!
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So on the second day in Chicago, it was freezing cold (high of 38 F / 4 C - in May!!!!) so we decided to do something indoors. We went to the Children's Museum which conveniently, was a short (and cold and windy) walk away from the hotel. As it turned out, it was one of the best things ever! Yaya had a fabulous time and still talks about it.
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We continue our adventures in Orange Beach, AL with a beautiful sunny day! It more than made up for the rainy afternoon that we had:
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In honor of Laura and Roberto's visit to Chicago, we decided to spend the weekend there. Laura and I have been working together for a few years now, but we have never met in person since Laura lives in Argentina. We drove up and had dinner with Laura, Roberto, and the Chicago contingent of Jen, Mike and Scott:
Despite being at the famed Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza place, neither child ate the cheesy goodness that night.
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On the way back from Pasir Man, Irfan met a river. It was raging force of nature filled with teh tarik after a sustained rainfall in the mountains. We just came from over the mountain.
This is no pond and there's no melody coming from it.
After another fast-paced month, Adik is now 16 months old. He seems to have grown so quickly - when I look back at pictures of him as a newborn I can hardly believe it is the same baby as he is becoming more and more of a person in his own right. We saw that with Yaya, and continue to see it with her, and now we are seeing it with Adik and this is definitely the greatest gift anyone can ever receive - the opportunity to watch our children grow and become their own little persons. 
Especially when they are as funny as our Adik is getting to be!
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So we went to the beach in April! We went to Orange Beach, AL. Neither Vin nor I'd ever been (not just to Orange Beach but to Alabama in general) so this was a first. We had an amazing time!
Oh Adik! Why didn't you look up? Anyway, I had been planning a short entry with a few pictures of our fabulous time in Orange Beach, but I ended up with way too many photos and a chronic inability to edit it anymore. I think we must refrain from taking so many pictures next time. Some of them actually turn out quite nice.
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The countdown is on to Yaya's fifth birthday! 3 more months! Time passes so quickly - I can't believe how big Yaya has gotten. Where did my little newborn baby go?
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