First proper family picture

Last weekend, we took opportunity of the fairly good weather to take some 'Fall' pictures before the season ends. The woods was just 15 minutes stroll from home. Here are some of my favourite shots from that day.

Looking at these pictures make me so happy. I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful son. What more can I ask for? 

Happy One Year Amanda Grace!

Exactly one year ago, Amanda Grace graced us with her presence. She was and is beautiful. To her parents, my brother and sis-in-law, she was their first child and daughter, to my parents, their first grandchild, to me and my two other brothers, our first niece. So imagine  the joy, pride, gratitudeness and to some, maternal-paternal instincts she exuded from people around her. Amanda Grace is a blessing.

 

 Other observable facts about Amanda;

• She likes structured objects rather than cute fluffy ones. Like you give her a teddy bear and a hard disk. She'll be fascinated with the latter and totally ignored the former.
• She makes a lot of sound. The grunt-like ones and it's quite hilarious.
• She sneezes like a 'Jilimin'. You see, my family, we don't do 'polite sneeze'. We do over-the-top sneeze. And she proved that brilliantly when she's barely three months old.
• She gets hyper and cranky when she's sleepy. Almost like her aunt. *Cough* me.
• She's a light sleeper. Slightest sound awakes her. So when she's home, we had to tip-toe around.
• She loves music, cartoons and crackers.

So Amanda, when you are old enough to read this, know that Aunt Melissa loves you so so much. Happy Birthday Amanda Panda Kiddo!

Gut und nicht sehr gut

Today was hectic. Workwise, everything was peppered with urgency. You see the likes of 'soonest', 'urgently' and of course, 'ASAP!'. Aber, heute, I received eine postcard von Amsterdam. It made my day.

On a not so good note, God decided to take one of my closest, most beloved aunt. You know how when someone close to you pass away, you try to recall all the memories you had with that person. Your mind sort of play the rewind button. Pause. Watch it play for awhile and went on to whatever comes next.I had that. But it was all good memories.

It's gonna be a long weekend. Keywords: Strength and serenity.

Meet Amanda Grace Malcolm Jilimin!

I got back from my New Zealand trip a couple of days ago and was greeted with a wonderful news. My sister in law, Liza, gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl.

So, I just want to give a shout out and welcome the new member of the family, Amanda Grace Malcolm Jilimin.

Ain't she adorable??!

Anyways, I'm still in the midst of editting pictures of New Zealand trip and plus, I'm swarmed with work since I got back.

So, I guess later, then.

It's just one of those days

Just spent a long break over the weekend. The family was back. Celebrated Grandma's 73rd Birthday on Saturday night. Catch up on Season 5 and a bit of season 6 One Tree Hills. Had two Starbucks Ice Caramel Macchiato. Did some studying on GMAT Maths. Read three quarters of Sophie Kinsella's The Undomestic Goddess. Overstuffed myself with Durians, Rambutans, Mangos and Mangosteen. All the things I love. Missing one person though.

Otherwise, it would have been perfect.

While It Last (Part 2- Scuba Diving)

First, I want to say that scuba diving ROCKS! You see, I was a bit skeptical about scuba diving because first, I can't swim. second, I have this love and hate relationship with water. You may assume that, I'm a little phobic when it comes to water. Which is why I don't like to bath. Just kidding. Really. Don't give me that look. Anyway, third, I actually tried diving. Once. I could barely be in the water for more than a minute. Okay, I panicked. And thus, I gave up. That was two years ago. So, when the rest chose scuba diving over white water rafting, I was, like i said earlier, skeptical. But we went ahead, booked ourselves Discovery Scuba Diving course with a dive operator called Downbelow (Highly recommendable), and the next thing we knew, we were on a speedboat to Gaya Island. This time around, the group consists of me, Oliver, Lucas, Steph and my two younger brothers, Mitchel and Marshal.

Mitchie and half of Marshal

The Crew!

Anyway, we departed from Jesselton Point, Kota Kinabalu and it took the speed boat a mere 15 minutes to reach Gaya Island. Once we reach the island, we were led by Ashley to the reception area to register and sign some forms.

Applying sun block all over

On our way to Gaya Island

Ashley (Downbelow Staff) briefing us on the program

Signing some forms

This was us fitting into our dive suit! Cool right!

Meet our dive intructors, briefing us on some basic knowledge on scuba diving.

And off to our preliminary dive in the confined area which is about 5 metres deep. *Gulp*

So, first we were learning how to descend into the water and vice versa. Double gulp. Anyway, the rest did fine while I was struggling at first. But once I overcame my panic attack, I managed to dive with the rest. But not without the dive instructor who was patient enough to guide me all the way. Like literally pulling me along during the dive.

So not cool.

Anyway, preliminary dive lasted for about 45 minutes. We took a break afterwards. Went hiking for a bit around the island, and had lunch.

Off to our second dive. The real deal. This time, it was out on the open sea near by Sapi Island. Water depth, 12 metres. Yikes. But, the second time around, surprisingly, the dive was smooth. I was more calm than previous dive and I was able to actually enjoy looking at the corals and fishes. It was really cool being underwater.

The boy who did not check his oxygen tank level

But the second dive was cut short because, Marshal, my youngest brother, did not check his oxygen tank and thank goodness, Oliver checked on it and noticed that the oxygen level indication was a little alarming and when Oliver notified Kelvin, true enough Marshal's oxygen tank was nil. So, we ended our dive and swiftly made our way up to the surface. And yeah, that was pretty much how our scuba diving went. We got our certificates, took group pictures, and sadly, it was time to return to Kota Kinabalu. Thus, the end of our scuba diving trip.

Everyone agreed that it was an awesome trip and maybe next time, we will take the actual Open Water Diver course so we can dive all over the world. Alrighty then. Next post would be on our Mountain Climbing adventure and of course, one of the most memorable moment for both Oli and I. For now, that will wait. :)

Resminicing island days.

And missing each other.