Adam's birthday trip - Legoland

We didn't tell Adam where we were going for his birthday trip. But he did guess Legoland at one point. Which tells me we made the right choice. He somehow heard about it from the neighbours but told us it was too far and too expensive for us to go. He was thrilled when we arrived and he saw a huge banner for Legoland!

Mia solat by the poolside :)

cutting his birthday cake on the morning of his birthday. Thank you Pakteh for the cake!

Early morning on his birthday. Straight to Legoland. Wearing his new mama-made birthday outfit.

The kids enjoyed it immensely. There were some height restrictions on the rides, meaning that Mia doesn't get to ride on many, but Adam does pass a few. She didn't have to pay for tickets though, and there were plenty other things to do so I guess it was ok eventhough it was frustrating for her when Adam gets to ride and she doesn't.

I was really amazed at all the structures built out of little pieces of lego. Everything from Masjid Putrajaya (above) to real size human figures. It was awesome. It could not have come out all made up from the factory. Some geniuses (with a cool job description) must've spent time thinking about the shapes and construction of each of these amazing lego structures. Inspiring!

going on a wet ride with Adam

cheeky girl climb over the fence to touch the little lego people ;)

The whole of Legoland is literally scattered with lego pieces. Legos in the middle of playgrounds. There was a huge hall full of all sizes of lego pieces. Here in the picture Adam is constructing a car to race down the track (behind him). To think, a small tub of lego is so expensive, and yet in this place they are so generous with the legos. It's a lego heaven! nobody checked if your child stuffed some lego down his pants. Lego was everywhere!

cool runway for kids (and adults) to race their cars

One of the things I found most clever about Legoland is this: You know in any theme park, there are rides which you have to wait in queue for a long time ? here there have a little 'waiting area' for your children in the middle of the queue and it is full of legos for the children to play with while you wait in queue. As you near the front of the line, there is a small gate where you can fetch your child from the waiting area. Genius!

The birthday boy was very happy. It was a good trip.

Adam's birthday gifts

Adam's 5th birthday is coming up this Friday. Five! We're all excited, especially him. I made him some handmade birthday presents.

This is a puppet theater. It wasn't a surprise gift, I let Adam chose a project for me to sew. He loved it and chose all the fabric himself. It's not his birthday yet but we already enjoyed many performances this week.

I made him a pair of smart pants to fit. He always have a problem with bought pant - if it fits his waist, it'll be too short but if it's long enough for him the waist will be way too loose. Children pants are way overpriced here anyway so as long as he will wear them I shall try to make his pants for him.

The waist has a faux fly. It opens up but only halfway to allow the pants to be put on. The back has elastic for long-wearing.

Then I made a red shirt for him. Red's his favourite colour and if you ask him he wants everything in red.

When he asked me who i'm making these clothes for I told him it's for my 5 year-old friend. He said "I'm almost 5, but not yet. Can I play with your friend?"

These are not expensive gifts. The shirt costed me next to nothing because the fabric was a scrap from years ago. I only had to buy the buttons (less than 50 sen for all). But it was made with a lot of love and I hope he will appreciate that one day.

I love you, Adam..

p/s: we're going for Adam's surprise birthday trip tomorrow! stay tuned for updates soon!

Carnivorous plants alert!

A few months ago, Adam came across carnivorous* plants in one of his books. It was just a small section, but it sparked his interest. He asked if we could grow them. To be honest, when he first mentioned this I thought the plants only grow in the wild, possibly rare, not in Malaysia and there was no way we could grow them in our house. But I entertained his request anyway, and together we browsed the internet - videos, websites - looking for more information on them. He is fascinated by these plants and in particular the venus flytrap. It turned out these plants can be grown in the home, and that in Malaysia there is a local carnivorous plant - periuk kera!

We came across a website - Petpitchers - for Malaysian enthusiasts of carnivorous plants. There is quite a large community there and a lot of information about growing carnivorous plants in our tropical weather. Also, we found a few places to buy them.

This nursery is called 4ZE plant, in Ampang. The owner specialises in carnivorous plants especially monkey pots. He has more than 100 species here.

Close up of a beautiful monkey pot. Malaysia is home to many species of this plant. Its mechanism of trapping its prey is by baiting them with the sweet smell of nectar, then the insects will slip on its slippery wall and into the watery pots. The insects are then digested by the chemicals inside it and the nutrients are released into the plant.

This is a venus flytrap. Adam's favourite. The traps open up, and when a fly/insect goes in, it will automatically close up, trapping the insect inside and digesting it.

Look how happy this boy was! He walked around the nursery taking photos of everything. An early birthday treat for him :)

This one is another type of carnivorous plant. I think the name is sarracenia, and its trapping mechanism is similar to monkey pot.

This Atok was showing Adam around and helping him to choose plants to start off his carnivorous plant collection. He chose one venus flytrap, one sarracenia and one monkey pot. Now my husband and I are not particularly good growers, many of my plants tend to die on me unfortunately, but hopefully Adam can grow these well....

I was barely aware of these plants before but I think he's got me hooked, too...these plants are amazing!

*carnivorous plants are plants that lure, trap and digest small insects/bugs for growth and survival