Hishgraphics

Aidiladha at KLCC

Monday was a carry over holiday for Raya Haji which fell on a clear sunny Sunday. A trip into town would be nice, we thought. It was too far for the car to reach the Bandar Utama region, so we drove somewhere closer: Kuala Lumpur City Centre which was not too far away by car, via the AKLEH elevated highway. It even has a dedicated exit into its underground car park. Despite it being situated relatively close, we do not visit the Suria KLCC mall all that often.

Things appeared as they usually do in the mall.

Irfan mapped out the door infrared sensor area at the department store. Who knows it might be useful some day.

Our lunch were takeaway boxes from Cold Storage. Ain had the nasi goreng. Irfan and I had a slice of pizza each.

We ate in the shadow of the towers.

Meanwhile, the new edition of Dark Heresy could be found in Kinokuniya. The price was too high for an impulse purchase though. In the grim darkness of the far future there is only RPGs.

Aidiladha at the Tenth Floor

Another year, another Aidiladha spent in Kuala Lumpur. There was no balik kampung because of insufficient resources. So yesterday we tried to make the best of it.

In the morning, we went for Solat Aidiladha at the Pandan Indah mosque. This morning, for some reason the khatib was not firing all engines. Perhaps he was exhausted.

Then it was time for salam hari raya between ourselves. First, Irfan salam and kissed Ain.

Followed by the same with me, after which, Ain started cooking some nasi lemak in anticipation of impending visitors.

In the afternoon, Irfan's school friend Fikree and his family, as well as his cousins Aiman and Zara, came a-visiting. Apart from savouring the nasi lemak, Irfan, Fikree and Aiman played some Tsuro while Star Wars Rebels was playing on television.

Even young Zara was intrigued by the game.

Since boardgaming was pretty fun, the crew moved on to Small World.

After many weeks of differing levels of smog over the city, it was refreshing to have clear skies (and breathing air) for the day.

Especially for this holiday.

Circus!

So we took the kids to the Ringing Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Nutter Center!

As it turned out it was also Vin's first time at the circus. I remember when Hisham and I went when we were children - it was an Indian circus I think, and they would camp at that big field that is now a supermarket of some sort. Or perhaps houses. It was close enough that we could even walk there and avoid the hassle of finding parking, etc. from our house. I remember our Tok and Opah Pasir Panjang (paternal grandparents from Pasir Panjang) also went with us. It was the first time I rode an elephant, at the circus back then. Anyways, I absolutely enjoyed it as a child and was very glad to be able to take Yaya and Adik to the circus too!

One of the highlights for Hisham and me was that the elephants would poop while performing. It wasn't the fact that they pooped that necessarily made us giggle (although I do admit it kind of did), it was the sheer size of the excrement. It was HUGE! I imagine some guy would have to shovel that onto trucks or something. LOL. Seriously. Anyway, we did not see such a sight at this circus, with the kids.

Rafe's 33 Month Birthday

We are 3 months away from Adik's third birthday. 33 months old! 2.75 years old!

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74 Months

74 months of Yaya!

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A Birthday Once More

It's Irfan's 12th birthday. We were supposed to set something up for him, like allowing him to invite his friends over. But because of low resources, we had to cancel. But Cikma and Ayah Cik The Younger came with a cake anyway, so we held a small gathering. I was not even in the right frame of mind to take photographs so we do not have photos of the cake.

The GOKL group did pass the gift they bought for Irfan, which was the boardgame Tsuro.

I did however take a picture of Irfan unboxing and playing Tsuro.

We love you Irfan. It's been a rough year what with - among others - the UPSR fiasco and the absolute unreliability of this country's education system at this point in time, but we will strive for a better year for you next year.

Also, many thanks to everyone who wished him a happy birthday over the many online channels available!

Rafe's 32 Month Birthday

32 months old now! Only four months (less than that, given the actual date I'm writing this entry) until the boy is three years old!

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73 Months

73 months old now! Please don't mind the belatedness (and backdated-ness) of the entry.

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Rafe's 31 Month Birthday

And the boy is 31 months old!

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Salam Aidilfitri from Sitiawan Again

Semalat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri and Eid Mubarak from the ol' hometown.

From the our household, who are spending the Eid at Irfan's Atok and Opah's place. We drove home from KL at 2am.

Everyone except Ayah Cik, Cik Dik, Yaya and Adik! Whom we all miss.

Lumut promenade at the waterfront was all lit up and filled with merry makers and street vendors.

Irfan met Qayyum and they talked about the Transformers. They also saw Transformers the Movie.

The last day before we left, there was a gathering of old ACS schoolmates at Nazri's house. I met old friends I've not seen in more than 25 years!

We casted off early for our journey back toward KL at 3am.

72 Months (a.k.a the sixth birthday!)

And so the girl is now six years old! 72 months old! Hurrah!!

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Iftar at Some Place Fancy

We rarely ate out for iftar this year. So we thought we'd go to the Kluang Station restaurant before Ramadhan was over. The Kluang Station restaurant was nearby and not in Kluang; though I've been to the Kluang Station restaurant in Kluang.

Ain headed there after work to get some groceries. Irfan and I rendezvoused with her there after Maghrib for dinner after breaking our fast first.

It took a while for the special iftar buffet to end before we could order ala carte.

I got some seafood broth and AIn had nasi lemak.

Irfan had a burger.

Irfan loved that burger.

Iftar at Irfan's School

Irfan's school raised enough money to build a dedicated surau not just for the students and staff, but is open for the public. We attended its opening ceremony which also had Maghrib, Isha' and Tarawikh prayers.

The school principle was on hand with the PTA president to commemorate the event with a a plaque.

There was a tazkirah by an uztadh from Al Hijrah TV station.

For iftar, we broke fast with some dates, then we performed Maghrib prayers before having a meal.

After that it was time for Isha', Tarawikh and Witr prayers. The surau is a comfortable sanctuary, which Irfan has used for Zuhur prayers before coming home after school during Ramadhan. Hope he uses it a lot more before the end of the school year.

The Blasphemous Bookcase at the 10th Floor

The bookcase was getting messier and messier. So Ain thought it was time for a bookcase cleaning. I helped, but I also took some photos.

All these books below were all over the place. I thought this cleanup would be a good time to put them all together on one shelf.Maybe I'll call it the Legends shelf. *snerk*

Here are more photos of the selection of novels we have on the shelves. Some of these books I bought myself, but more than 60% of these belongs to Sila, which she bought during or just after college. She brought back home loads for me to read. I have yet to read them all. Also, most of her books are back in our home library in Sitiawan and not with me.

This is a Vancian book, this is:

Rafe's 30 Month Birthday

Adik is two and a half! 30 months old! Happy half birthday, little boy!

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71 Months

71 months! One more month and the girl is six years old! How amazing is that? Where does the time go?

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We Keep Going Back To Sungai Congkak

...probably because it's the picnic spot in the woods that's closest to us. Still we needed to drive over the hills to reach it.

It was Irfan's school holidays, so Atok and Opah came over for a visit. Sunday morning we went for a picnic.

Instead of more pictures of us dipping in the river or having nasi lemak, here follows photos of the surrounding environment.

Rafe's 29 Month Birthday

Adik is twenty-nine months old!

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70 Months

And Yaya is now 70 months old! Two more months before the big S-I-X!

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Rafe's 28 Month Birthday

28 months old!

Caveat: this entry (for April) was written in June. Thank goodness for backdated entries! Also, we kind of forgot to take pictures of the boy to document his day any of those days in April. So this month's entry will be a roundup of my favorite pictures taken in the last month.

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