Home Sweet Home

Alhamdulillah, mr ayah selamat sampai ke Malaysia after a very long and bumpy ride last Monday - April 13, 09. It feels good to be home after about 15 months being away, and rejoining mrs mama and littleman yg dah balik few weeks earlier. There's no doubt, the best place to be in the world is to be together with the love ones, regardless where they are. The only thing missing around the house is the presence of almarhum ayahanda. Its kinda sad to see his favorite spot in the house are now vacant, the house was quite without his jokes. Tapi Alhamdulillah dpt juga la kami melawat pusara beliau.

Within one week, there are so much happening around, since mr ayah pun belum start lapor diri lagi. Nasib baik gak la dpt break for around one week. We went back to Tepeng for few days, and sempat gak la littleman merasa mandi sungai kat Burmese Pool / Batu Hampar. Kebetulan cuaca mmg tgh panas time tu, mmg sedap la berendam dlm sungai.

We are also were invited to Azad's 5th birthday party. Lama tak jumpa, dah besar dah Afif & Alida punya eldest hero ni. Littleman pun mula2 blur bila sebut nama Azad. Tak leh nak recall agaknya after setahun lebih tak jumpa. Tapi bila dah jumpa boleh diorang buat mcm Burger King kat Hartamas tu mcm bapak diorang ada share. Takpe la, asalkan budak2 enjoy. 

Next week, mr ayah dah nak kena lapor diri kat office pihak penaja. Tgk la nanti kena posting kat mana nanti.

Jenjalan US 2008 - Atlantic City-DC-Baltimore

Atlantic City-DC-Baltimore (April 3 - April 5, 2009)

This would be the first time siri Jenjalan US ni without mrs mama and littleman. Mr ayah went along for the trip with a few friends.

- besarnya kasino Pakcik Trump ni...

The trip starts on a rainy day in Atlantic City. Too bad it was foggy, so tak byk la gegambar yg clear. But at least I made it to Atlantic City.



The main purpose of the trip is to see the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. MasyaAllah punya la ramai manusia masa tu, sampai nak naik Metro pun payah. People come from all over the places for the festival. Byk la gerai2, and ada gak la parade. Cherry Blossom or Sakura was sooo beautiful. Dah la merimbun je sana sini.

On our back to CT from DC, we decided to make a quick stop in Baltimore, MD for a while.

- me: Excuse me, sir..
guy: Waddup, Yaw! I ain't got no time, man.

All in all, it was a fun trip, but it could have been better if mrs mama and littleman are around. I miss both of you.

See you soon...

Moments before leaving CT

last visit to toys r us...

last visit to ikea...

first and last visit to chuck e cheese...

manja ayah...

@York Noodles House, New Haven. Last dinner with anis...

yummy sundae @iHop

nutella crepes... heaven!!!

shrimp popcorn

before pergi airport, depan rumah...

with our landlord...

with anis...

@Newark International Airport...

Let the pictures speak...

Ada jemputan makan2 last saturday kat rumah Kak Laini in Colchester, CT (about 1hr 15mins journey). Byk betul kak Laini masak, tapi picture of the food tak sempat amik coz semua org kusyuk nak makan jek! Below are pictures lepas makan2 main menu ;)

manggo cheese cake, yummyyy!!!

those two on the right are tuan rumah, thanks for the makan2 ;)

Coach ginger sunglass yg menjadi rebutan. mrs mama kena pi beli lagi another 2 pairs ;)

Makcik dlm picture atas tu mak kepada Kak Laini. Rupernyer makcik nie sedara dgn neighbour sebelah rumah mr ayah's parents...

Sang Lobster Merah

After been talking about it dekat sebulan,  akhirnya we made it on last Friday nite. Dah lama gak dah sembang2 citer nak pegi Red Lobster ni. Asyik dok tgk iklan kat TV, mcm best je. Tu yg rasa kena pegi tu. There's no special ocassion pun sebenarnya. The TV ads is just too tempting.

We went for a dinner at Red Lobster in Bridgeport, around 20 minutes drive from New Haven. Ramai gak orang, tapi nasib baik the queue wasn't that long. Takde la mcm masa we were in NYC with mr Qirzah nak kena tunggu sampai 45 minutes. Can't wait that long, since we were all too hungry after the fasting plus shopping the whole day. Kira nak iftar kat Red Lobster la, but we end up in Bubba Gump. Maybe takde rezeki nak makan lobmonster dgn mr Qirzah.

We ordered Lobster Lover's Dream & Jumbo Shrimp with Lobster Butter. For the appertizer all of us share Lobster, Crab & Seafood Stuffed Mushroom plus Caesar's and Garden Salad. The whole meal was awesome, despite the highly accumulated cholesterol. All of us really enjoyed the food. Even the kids enjoyed their ice cream.

The So Called Birthday Party

Last Monday, Anis ajak main bowling kat Milford. Since the next day (Feb 24th)  is mr ayah birthday, dia kata dia nak belanja game mlm tu. Dah ada game free, kira on je la. She came over around 5.00 pm to pick us up. Lepas tu dia mintak hantar dia kat rumah K Tun dulu and bagi kami pakai van dia. Janji terus jumpa kat bowling alley @ 8.00 pm. We went to Costco & Marshalls before we meet up @ the bowling alley. Cari barang2 yg orang dok kirim. Sambil tu, sempat la littleman mintak belikan kasut Ben10 dia tu.

After we're done with the shopping tu, hantar barang2 kat rumah and terus pi pick up Sham and off we go to the bowling alley. All the regular bowling kaki were there already.

Sambil2 main tu, Anis keluarkan la birthday cake for mr ayah. It was a Bungalow Cake - a combination of vanilla and chocolate cake filled with fresh strawberries, fresh bananas, and whipped cream, and has a whipped cream frosting. Mmg sedap gila cake ni. We also had veggie pizza & cheese pizza along with it.

On that nite gak, littleman scored his personal best bowling score @ 71 points. Not bad! Overall it was a great nite, get together with a bunch of friends, bowling, pizza and the birthday cake.

Delivery from UPS

These boxes arrive today. Jenuh mamat UPS tu ngangkut :D

Anyways, from all those boxes, the smallest one (on the top) is ours. An item for rumah kota damansara :) Sudah unpack semua and repack. So takde la jadi sebyk tu dah ;)

A visit to Yankee Candle Village

Last weekend we traveled up north again. But this time nearer, just about 1 hr 30 minutes from our place. We promised to visit Mr. Yahman and family in Hadley, MA. Yahman was mrs mama x-boss, who moved to MA about 6 mths earlier b4 we arrived in CT.

After we had our lunch at Yahman's place, all of us went to visit Yankee Candle village, about 20 minutes away from their house. It is a very big store with scented candles. Sangat wangi dlm tu. Macam2 bau ader. Our most favorite smell will be Spa Fresh, very refreshing. We bought few for souvenirs, something to be remembered from Yankee Candle village.

Selain mrs mama and mr ayah yg teruja tgk deco dlm store tu, littleman tak kurang juga. Once we entered inside the store, looked up... railway all over the store. Trains moving all the time. As a big fan of Thomas and Friends, of coz la menarik perhatian littleman. And there's also Thomas's table inside the toys store, with many other friends. Lama la littleman leka kat situ ;)

Yankee Candle ni mmg kira main attraction kat area New England ni. Sape2 yg dtg area sini, haruslah dtg visit Yankee Candle ni. Apart from the scented candles, other attractions are mapple syrups, toy factory, the medieval age collections and the beatiful Xmas deco. Santa & mrs Santa will be there thru out the year, layan budak2.

From Yankee Candle, our host brought us thru a walk in the 250 years old town of Amherst. It is a nice & beatiful town. They brought us to see Emily Dickinson's (the famous poet in the 1800's) house/museum. Tapi tutup la pulak for the season.

After having a pizza dinner at mr. Yahman's place, we all head back to CT. It was really a great weekend. Thanks to mr Yahman, Nancy, Zach & Adam for being a great host. See you guys again.

Winter 2009 - New Hampshire - the Pictures

As promised, here are some of the pictures from our last weekend trip to New Hampshire. Tak upload semua... more can be found in our flickr (click on the pictures for bigger view) :)

Ski trails @Cannon Mountain

Our vacation house
view from the house


beautiful sunset @445pm

tubing @Loon Mountain
snowmobile @White Mountain (pic courtesy from hiekal)


the ladies...
the guys (2 org takde, pi checkout)

inside the Aeriel tramway @Cannon Mountain


all of us... (minus littleman and amin)

Winter 2009 - New Hampshire

It was fun fun fun!!! Great trip, great company... Trip to New Hampshire (NH) was the farthest we traveled up north. The weather was much much colder than our place in West Haven. Terpaksa la spend lebih sket for snow pants knowing we would be going up the mountains for some snow activities...

We planned the trip about 2 weeks ago. 10 people agreed to proceed with the plan (plus another 3 children). At first we planned to go to Vermont, but some suggested we go to New Hampshire for better scenery and activities.

On Friday afternoon kami bertolak ke NH (1 van, 1 4WD, and 1 car). The journey took about 4hrs ++. Along the way, putih je pemandangan. Takde tagging2, terus je janji jumpa kat Mittersill Alpine Resort, our place to stay.

We arrived at the place dkt pukul 5pm. Dah nak gelap... Our house consists of 5 bedrooms with 3 full bathrooms. Mmg sgt2 selesa utk 10 adults. Kalau setakat extra lagi 5 org pun ok. We unpacked semua brg2 and settled down a bit before we started preparing food for dinner. Dinner was nasi ayam... All are pre-packed from home, so just panas2 kan... and masak nasi lebih memandangkan semua org extra lapar dlm cuaca yg sgt2 sejuk!!!

Littleman and his fren mmg tak ingat lain dah... dok melekat je kat basement. TV diaorg punyer... byk giler VCD/DVD and toys for them to play.

Esoknyer, sedar2 org dah started preparing breakfast. We prepared chicken gyro wrap, and tuna sandwiches utk bekal ke mountains. Selain tu omelette with spinach and tomatoes , and nasi goreng for breakfast at home. No pedas2 food since we would be at the mountains for the whole day. Nanti susah nak ke toilet :D

One group went to Cannon mountain for snowboarding and skiing, while the other group (including us) went for snow tubing at Loon mountain. Littleman and mr ayah had so much fun tubing. Tapi penat jugak la dok menarik tube littleman (with him on the tube) panjat bukit snow tu. Mrs mama pun ader gak tarik naik ke atas sekali coz mr ayah dah semput hehehe... sib baik tak terberanak mrs mama dibuatnyer...

Littleman earlier buat perangai... ader ke nak cari playground kat situ! Tak dpt mengamuk!! Protes la takmo main tubing tu... Kami paksa dier main gak!!! Dah tubing sekali, naik syok!!! Again ayah!! Super fastttt!!! Fasterrr... adoila... Lepas habis littleman tubing, pi makan dulu. Mmg dah lapar sgt2 and penat sgt2...

Then mr ayah's turn for tubing. Mrs mama dok kat lounge je tunggu littleman yg mcm org nak tido tu. Habis diaorg tubing, gegas lak ke Alpine Adventures coz dah booked for snowmobile lak. Sementara org snowmobile kat White mountain, mrs mama and littleman tunggu kat kedai Alpine adventures je. Sampai tertido2 gak la kat situ. Temperature was expected to reach -23 degrees (fahrenheit bukan centigrade) at night. That was why the snowmobile session was cut short to 1hr only instead of 2 hrs. Kalau tak nanti ader yg beku atas snowmobile tu :D

By the time we reach our place, the temperature was already at 4 degrees... Semua org letih!!! Tapi takde saper berani tido, kot nanti ader yg pagi esok baru jaga ;) Lepas semua org dah relaks2, prepare dinner... roasted chicken, tomyam udang, sayur spinach, and sambal belacan. Berselera semua org makan...

That night, maser nak tido baru terperasan badan littleman panas. Demam pulak! Tak lena la kami tido mlm tu dok bangun few times tuam kepala and badan littleman, and refilled air humidifier. Sib baik gak la dlm bilik kami ader humidifier tu. Coz bilik tu sgtlah panas!!! Nak turunkan temperature, bilik org kat atas plak sgt sejuk... so guna je humidifier tu hala kat littleman. Nasib baik esok paginyer littleman sihat terus...

Sunday morning after breakfast, kemas2 barang... check out. All of us agreed to checkout the tramway in Cannon mountain. Angin sgt kuat. Terasa keras je muka kena angin sejuk tu. Kami naik Aeriel Tramway at Cannon mountain just to checkout whats up there. Most of the tram passengers were going for skiing/snowboarding. Kami je la yg naik without any ski equipments. Bersempit2 dgn diaorg. Sampai atas lagi la sejuk gilerrr... Tinggi gak tempat ni dlm 4180 feet. We just hang a while kat restaurant atas tu and wait for another tram utk turun balik. As expected, tram turun ke bawah takde org. Kami je la, 13 org dlm tu. Senang nak amik gambor, ke sana ke mari sesuka hati :D

Later all of us were on our way to Tilton outlet, except for 1 car went to Vermont. Macam tak complete plak kalau tak singgah outlet ;) We just grabbed the chance coz outlet in NH takde sales tax. Sgt berbaloi shopping kat situ. Tapi kami tak lama kat outlet tu. Mrs mama sempat shopped few stuffs for baby and a handbag for her (2 kali masuk baru beli muahahaha!!!)

Safely arrived our home at 8pm. Mr ayah demam...

Note: pictures will be uploaded in the next entry...

Fully loaded weekend

- Harvard Square with Harvard Store sighted

It was a very interesting weekend we had. It all started with searching for some stuffs for the to-be-born baby on Saturday. Merata la pusing dari Babies r Us sampai la ke mall. Not much choices yg jumpa when it comes to stroller system. Maybe sebab we have our preference set already masa browse online. Hehehe. We were out dari pagi sampai ke malam, dari West Haven sampai ke Westbrook. Alang2 sewa kereta over the weekend, guna la sehabisnya.

On Sunday, after having breakfast, we headed up north to Boston. Dah janji dgn Aina and family to meet them up. Since diorang baru sampai few days before Xmas, tak de chance nak jumpa lagi. Meantime diorang dok rumah Nina + Samir before moving in their new place later at Medford.


Since the trip to Boston ni ambik masa around 2 hours plus, we arrived at Nina+Samir's place around afternoon. We had a great time catching up over lunch prepared by our lovely host. The nasi beriyani sgt sedap! Mrs mama makan bykk... :D Nina+Samir ni our college mate dulu, kebetulan lak mmg dok Boston.

After lunch we decided to take a walk kat Harvard Square, tapi Nina+Samir decided to rest @ home, since saira tgh tido. It was fun to walk while catching up stories. Littleman and Yaya seems to get along very well very fast. Mcm dah lama geng pulak. Even masa kat iHop, diorang boleh buat mcm kedai tu diorang punya. Nasib baik takde org halau. Hehehe...

- Sweet Yaya and cheeky littleman

We drove back to West Haven around 10 pm and safely reached home around midnight. It was a fully packed weekend but enjoyable. To Nina+Samir, it nice to be able to see you guys after many many years tak jumpa, and thank you for hosting Aina and family temporarily at your place. And to Aina and family, all the best adjusting to the new environment as Bostonian and all the best in your studies. We'll catch up again soon.

*Actually we are waiting for the pic from nina's camera. takpe la, later la upload... nanti basi lak entry nie ;)