Fai on 2 wheels

Fai was happy to cycle with his training wheels until one of it fell off. It must be the saltier sea air here in PD, door knobs get rusty, cars get cranky and training wheels just plop off.
Well, JY told him that it was time to start learning to cycle his bicycle. He didn't agree to it right away. His bicycle was left abandoned for months until one fine day JY said to him "Fai let's go cycling but first you have to learn how to cycle"
Fai replied "OK!"
He was rather wobbly in the beginning. He was lopsided, leaning too far to one side and his sister taught him how to straighten out by turning the handles to the other side. He fell lots of times, but got up and went back on undetered.
And in one hour, yup, just ONE hour Fai was cycling his bicycle.
He was one proud boy.
JY was rather proud of herself too.

Instead of toys - Pipes!

I have been thinking hard on what sort of materials to get the boys without having to splurge on toys. How about PVC pipes and an assortment of joints? Sturdy, made from good quality plastic, should allow lots of room for creative play, get the boys exposed to plumbing and I can always use the materials for home repairs.

 I said to them "Here these are for you. Do as you like"

Han's water blaster

Water fountain

I will need to modify the lengths of the pipes, perhaps make all of them at an equal length of 1 foot  as I noticed that pipes in various lengths made it difficult to create certain designs that they thought of such as loops and ladders.
And I would definitely need to get more pipes as they ran out of pipes in minutes.

More on fishing..

Not having any luck fishing at the Jetty with a hook and line, DH invited Auntie C and Emil to lay nets at our beach instead. The tide was going out which was perfect timing.
We got the nets out... 

KC didn't have proper shoes which was essential as parts of the seabed had sharp rocks and corals, so Auntie C secured her slippers with raffia instead.

Rocks were collected as weights to be tied to the bottom end of the nets. The rocks had to be big and heavy enough to anchor the nets or it would drift off by the strong currents. 

Setting the net.

The sea was rather choppy that day and the kids had a fun time with the waves.

I stayed on the beach collecting Cat's Eyes with Ean. The Cat's Eyes were for Auntie C who once bought a Cat's Eye ring. She should have enough to make a necklace now.

The nets were checked when the tide was low once again. We managed to get 2 catfish, 1 black drum, 1 small threadfin, 1 prawn, 2 flower crabs and a couple of claws.  

It was late by the time the fishermen retrieved the nets and there's nothing better than sitting by a campfire to warm up after a dip in the sea. 

An evening stroll @ Tg Tuan

A basking iguana greeted us as we approached the carpark opposite Ilham Resort.


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 A cheerful Sepetir :D

 

The Sepetir seed pod.
I sent a sample to the families in the Worldwide Cultural Swap programme we participated in without knowing what it was but thanks to a resourceful friend on Facebook, I got to know it was a pod of a common tree found near mangroves and it's a favourite with squirrels.
Here in Tg Tuan, monkeys (couldn't see if they were silver leaf monkeys or long tailed macaques) were munching on them and strewing their leftovers on the road.  

A swirling. twirling flower

The thorny stem of the rattan plant. A member of the palm family, the rattan stem is solid and requires structural support, hence the thorns to grip and attach onto a taller host tree, and reach the sunlight above the canopy roof

 

 I was told to write in a request for a visit into the lighthouse

The lighthouse @ Tg Tuan

Thor fishing at the jetty

Auntie C preparing her prawn bait

 There were enough cans for everyone.  

I got one too.
I was told to pull the line in when I feel a tug. I waited a while and didn't feel anything. After a long wait, I wound the line in and found the bait gone.
We didn't catch anything that day but we had a great time enjoying the breeze and scenery.
  Why I call it Thor fishing here.


Low tide at PD

Our beach at low tide. We check the timing of the tides here.

A tiny lobster that was found under a rock

Eggs of a sea snail

checking our fishing net that had washed up onto the sand bank. The boys found 2 small flower crabs and a  carcass of a catfish.

Han's collection of crabs. They were let go when the tide came up. 

Fai made mud balls.
He said they were of great consistency as they held their shape when thrown and only broke apart upon impact.

Ean requesting for another scoop of mud ice cream

MeMe made discoveries of her own.
At 3 months, she loves grasping objects and it delights her to be able to grab at pebbles and shells.  

KC

They met over a sucker fish
her mom hunted us down
she couldn't believe her luck finding an english speaking family in PD
they are now close friends
one girl and three boys
she loves being the princess, the boys her knights
they dote on her
Fai cuts her apples, peels her oranges
She reads to Ean
Han says she is pretty and bars her mom from taking her home
She doesn't like Lego, insisting it's a boys thing
I told her it was JY's,
She likes pink and sometimes purple
Han would give her pink flowers and say "KC would like this" whenever he sees anything pink.