Hasif, Hani, Hafiy, & Hakim...

Our Most Recent Visitors

2011-12-05T23:28:00.006+13:00

Early last month we had the pleasure to host some visiting loved ones, namely our Nani Mah and her lovely daughters Nana and Faji. Although it was a short visit, we managed to spend a wonderful time with them doing several activities, such as salmon fishing in the beautiful Mt Cook area, conquering the world's steepest street, braving a chilly wildlife nature cruise, setting off our very own fireworks display, enjoying the Botanic Garden in full-bloom spring, viewing the whole of Dunedin up high, cockle-picking in almost blizzard conditions, and most importantly indulging in home-made meals together :-) Here are a few pictures of our escapades, the rest can be seen at the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150437351468293.393258.555808292&type=1&l=93fd6e0513

P.S. And today 5th December is Nani Mah's birthday. Happy birthday Nani Mah! May you and your family always receive Allah's blessings and protection, amin.

Snow, Snow, Snow in Overdue Winter

2011-08-17T12:54:00.018+12:00

We thought that we managed to escape the bitterly cold grasp of winter, but we were wrong. It finally come with a bang, not once but twice. First over the weekend our grandparents and aunty left just before Ramadhan(glad Nani and Atok were spared from it, but disappointed Nana couldn't join in the snowball fight with us!) and second just over the last three days. Really hope that this will be the final snow dump this year.

Here are pics (apologies for the poor quality pics though, our cam's AF's no longer functioning properly, and some pics were taken using iphone) of the snow deluge which besieged us, closing down roads, airports, schools and universities. The first set of pics below are from Monday (two days ago) which saw us stuck at home due to snow for 3 whole days. While the second set further below are from the earlier cold snap at the end of July which saw us stranded in Oamaru for a night as we couldn't drive back to Dunedin from Christchurch.

SET 1 - 15 August 2011
Not too happy having to be all bundled up before heading out into the cold!

But any unhappiness was quickly forgotten when the joy of snow took over :-)

Little snowball-maker following in the footsteps of big brother snowball-maker.

Hafiy showing how its done, better watch out he's a mean fighting snow-ball machine ;-)

Look out, here's a snowball coming at you (a snowball suspended in air caught on cam).

Building an igloo in our backyard, not easy especially when fasting with a blizzard on the way!

SET 2 - 25 July 2011
Getting ready to make our way home after being stranded overnight in Oamaru (spot Hafiy!)

Along part of the coastal route (SH1) from Oamaru to Dunedin, snow all the way down to sea-level.

Beautiful seaviews with snow all around (but you wouldn't want to touch the water at all!)

The highway was still closed (from the day before) due to snow & ice so we had to wait it out by the roadside.

While waiting (for over an hour), had time to play with the snow, can't seem to get enough of it.

Hasif got himself a "souvenir" from the roadside and put it to good use chilling Ayah's drink.

Lots of cars had to be abandoned by the roadside the night before as drivers ran into havoc negotiating the hilly iced roads.

Some of the more unfortunate abandoned vehicles (even the grit truck wasn't spared), luckily we weren't one of them.

Ahh, home sweet home! A pristine white backyard awaited us with the kids raring to have a go at it.

But apparently we weren't the first ones back here, looks like someone's been visiting before.

Our poor abandoned vege patch, looks more like a snow patch now!

Us enjoying the snow while it lasts (and later paying the price for it by succumbing to the winter flu bug).

Our Family Story So Far

2011-04-19T21:41:00.002+12:00

Our Big Fishing Adventure

2011-02-03T22:48:00.003+13:00

Another Year Has Passed

2010-12-07T10:57:00.006+13:00

Tomorrow is maal hijrah here in NZ, as we a approach another new year, we reflect on the past one and endeavour to create an even better one this coming year, amin. While doing so, we say our syukur to Allah for all that He has given us, and seek His ever indulgence and compassion to continue showering us with His berkah, amin. Here's some snapshots of us celebrating one of His greatest gift, a family.

Before that, if you're interested, here are links to MUIS prayer texts to be read during this time, pls doa for us as well, jazakallah khair:
Doa For End of Hijrah Year (Arabic and English)
Doa For Beginning of Hijrah Year (Arabic and English)

What We've Been Up To

2010-10-11T12:39:00.006+13:00

In random order, these are some of the things we've been up to recently this past month:

- Lots of colouring, arts & crafts as usual (looking forward to start scrapbooking which Ibu has promised to do with us, but just need to keep bugging her to do it 'cos she's too busy with work hehe)

- Computer-work & play, carwashing, chocolate-making, & catching zzz when we're too tired & forced to sleep

- Going for evening walks & stopping by at nearby playgrounds along the way

- Welcoming new friends at school (meet Hakim's nursery friends: Mud & Snow)

- Playing at the big field behind our house when the sun comes out, which is still very unpredictable even though we're well into spring (still feels as cold as winter at times)

- Planting seeds to start our spring gardening (making sure Nani's & Atok's plants are in full bloom when they arrive)

- More gardening, weeding, clearing, digging, etc

- Gardening is hard-work, but we just love it

- Ayah says we're very helpful little gardeners indeed

- Lego-mania has besieged us, we want more legos please

- Entered dress-up contest and won (yippee, costumes our uncles/aunties/grannies bought are put to good use))

- Enjoying the occasional McDonald's, our fav fries & apple-pies

- Going to the Gardens & enjoying the beautiful spring flowers

- And not forgetting, praying & fishing!

Celebrating Eid by Ourselves

2010-09-23T09:35:00.005+12:00

We would like to wish everyone back home, a very very belated Eid Mubarak (hehe better late than never right!). Anyway, although its very hard celebrating such a joyous occasion away from all our extended loved ones, we make do with what we have, enjoying the simple things in life and most importantly being together in this small family of ours, and for that and many other blessings from Allah, we are indeed very thankful, alhamdulillah.

Celebrating Ayah's Birthday

2010-03-21T12:44:00.006+13:00

This time round, Ayah celebrated his birthday by treating us instead, at Chipmunks! These are some of the things we did there. Thank you Ayah!

We also had an outdoor dinner picnic at the gardens, with Hafiy and Hakim chasing the seagulls and ducks. While Hasif and Hani had a good time showing off their artistic skills (presenting their self-portraits) during their informal school assembly to start the weekend.

Turning a Year Older

2010-02-09T15:45:00.009+13:00

The last 2 months have been a flurry of birthday activities, as all 4 of us celebrated turning a year older. Today, being the last one with lil Hakim turning 1 :-) Phew now Ibu & Ayah can rest a little, before another round starts again end of this year LOL!

Nevertheless, Ibu & Ayah look forward to seeing all of us grow each year into exceptional individuals, who insha Allah will remain steadfast and righteous in our life's journey, amin. So here's to a great year ahead and many more to come!

More pics can be found here:

Sweet Lil Birthday

Princess Hani's Birthday

December Birthday Boys

Toward the End of 2009

2009-12-29T02:35:00.002+13:00

Before 2009 ended, we had quite a number of events, which included a short but memorable visit by Uncle Lan, Aunty Mas, Kakak Khairun & Haziq.

Right now still having our summer break from school, so keeping everyone at home busy entertaining us. Luckily for Ibu & Ayah, Hafiy & Hakim will be back to preschool/nursery around mid January.

However, our primary school will only reopen in early February. Before then, we still have Hani's birthday party to look forward to, and not forgetting Atok's farewell, *sob sob* will miss you Atok!

Below, are pictures of some of the things we were up to toward the end of 2009.

Cockle Picking with Cousins

Ayah's Convocation Ceremony

December Birthday Boys

Seasider Train Trip

Activities in October & Syawal

2009-10-28T15:01:00.000+13:00

Since we couldn't celebrate Hari Raya with our dear loved ones back in Singapore, we have been keeping ourselves busy this past month with quite a number of activities, below are a few of them.

Pick flowers from our garden & backyard, then place them in vases in the house to 'make our home nicer', as explained by Hani (we actually do this all on our own as Nani has trained us well) Not forgetting, go out on short trips & errands (with Haklm still getting used to being belted up, we just give him biscuits to munch on & that'll keep him quiet till he falls asleep yet continues eating!)

Do lots of baking & cooking, we just love to help Ibu & Ayah in the kitchen. While we might not eat alot/finish the food we cook, we just like to help with the preparation of it. So far, we've helped bake buttermilk cookies, cheesecake brownie, cornflakes cookies, banana cake, carrot cupcakes, choc fudge cupcakes, etc and we've helped cook lontong, lots of pastas, countless soups & other dishes (we're very good at peeling, grating, chopping, sorting, and all those mundane stuff....when can we do more exciting stuff huh, like actually frying something? But so far, Ayah & Ibu says not yet 'cos we're still too small for that, hmmppp!)

While the weather has been really unpredictable so far, even though its mid spring already, its actually colder and wetter than normal. Nonetheless we did manage to go to the beach over Labour weekend when the sun came out for awhile. We had a really nice time, been so long since we've managed to play in the sand and sea. Even though the water was superchilly (believe it or not, even though it looks sunny, it was only around 15 degrees and actual water temp probably not more than 10 degrees!). Anyway, that didn't deter us at all, we are that water-crazy! Besides playing with the sand and water, we also did some fishing and went on a long beach trek for about 5kms.

We also managed to sneak a trip to the 'dinosaur' playground, go for a bike ride, entertain backyard visitors aka our outdoor 'pets' i.e. a mummy duck & her ducklings, on those much sought after sunny and warmer days. And last but not least, celebrate Eid here, for the 3rd time, with the Muslim students and local-based families. While we definitely miss everyone back home (especially the kuih and duit raya ;-P) it was still a nice but bittersweet experience.

Little Batman Goes to Nursery

2009-10-01T22:41:00.005+13:00

Hafiy's fav superhero is Batman, and he loves to dress the part now, not letting anyone take the costume off till he's ready and done with it.

Today he went to nursery dressed up as Batman, and boy did he love showing it off to his teachers and friends, who thought it was cool.

At home, he would play superhero and act out the action/play-fighting scenes with his big bro, both are superhero fanatics!

Meanwhile, the other 3 "wild things" have been busy as well. The bigger 2 enjoying a long-awaited trip to the movies.

Plus a short stroll around town, just taking random pics while waiting for Ayah to pick us up.

Admiring the cherry blossoms and pretty flowers, especially the striking red tulips, which are blooming in spring.

While the littlest wild thing is becoming more confident and cheekier by the day. Don't be fooled by his sweet smile!

OK, just a short note here, hope you all had a nice time celebrating hari raya, don't forget about us here k, Meanwhile here's a vid of Hafiy as Batman!

More About Hakim

2009-09-08T09:23:00.003+12:00

Our baby brother, Hakim, has grown quite a bit. We can't wait for him to grow even more so that we can play rough and tumble with him ;-) For now, we need to watch out that Hafiy doesn't ride horsie on Hakim like he does with his Abang & Kakak!

Some Recent Adventures

2009-09-01T15:02:00.004+12:00

These are a few of the things we did with some of our visiting loved ones awhile back (the pics below were actually done for Hafiy's nursery profile book, hence titled Hafiy's Adventures, but we all took part & boy did we have a lot of fun, we really miss our extended family in Singapore, come again ok!)

Queenstown Quickie Breakie

2009-07-15T15:32:00.006+12:00

Before our dearest Nani & Aunty Nana left, we took them, together with Uncle Mimi, for a quick trip to Queenstown.

Enjoyed awesome views & hot spa amid freezing wintry temperatures, woohoo!

Not forgetting the white powder up the slopes, coolness :-)

Snow's In, School's Out

2009-06-16T14:51:00.003+12:00

Been snowing since last night and on/off whole of today. Everyone's been told to stay in, so no school yippeee!

More pictures here:

Birthday Wishes for Aunty Dada

2009-05-26T12:33:00.004+12:00

Hakim's Growth & Hasif's Recovery

2009-05-04T22:43:00.006+12:00

Our two boys here have undergone a lot these past 2 months plus.

Hakim has grown wonderfully into a smiley & sociable lil' gem.

Gave his 1st real smile at 3 weeks, had his 1st swim at 2 months, ...

Hakim's off to a great start, likely to outdo his siblings in his milestones achievements.

Meanwhile, Hasif has been making several trips to & fro Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital.

The 1st trip was the longest, lasting 2 nights, luckily there were lots of fun stuff to do there..

The operation went well, alhamdulillah, but it was tough to be casted for over 8 weeks.

Thankfully, it's almost over, just another 1 week plus before Hasif will be cast-free.

Other than that, we've all been doing the usual stuff: play, sleep, learn, clean,...

... attend parties, do lots of drawing/arts/colouring, pose for pics, play some more...

... help nani do gardening, mess up then clean the house, and go to school everyday.

Yup, that's mostly what the 4 of us have been up to (and not forgetting the regular bickering :-p)

Welcoming Our Newest Addition

2009-02-20T23:53:00.012+13:00

On 9th February 2009 at 5.18am, we welcomed the latest addition to our family, our baby brother, Muhammad Hakim...

At 3.83kg and 52.3cm, Ibu and Ayah say Hakim (pronounced as 'Hakeem') is the biggest at birth among the four of us!

While he may end up being the biggest among us when he's grown up, he will always be our baby brother :-)

Well maybe Hafiy can be the big baby brother though hehehe, he's always wanting to try and fit into the baby stuff!

Now that there's four of us, we are so going to get Ibu and Ayah working much harder looking after all of us!

But we do so appreciate all that they do for us, as seen from our lovingly made cards below for Ibu after Hakim's delivery.

But being the hyperactive kids that we are, we just can't sit still. Luckily, we have a nice big backyard to let lose once awhile!

Not only that, the backyard also opens up to a huge field :-) Plus we can do some gardening, ride our bikes, and even chase chickens.

Or just wander around inspecting every nook and cranny like Hafiy does, and occasionally tumble around on the grass.

Oooppss, sorry for the digression, now back to our main topic, Hakim. Oh yes, we are so in love with our newest addition...

He's now a baldie just like we were once. Can't wait for him to grow bigger so that we can wrestle around with him as well.

In the meantime, when Hakim is not sleeping or feeding, we will sing to him our alf-ba-ta and surah/doas especially when he cries :-)

What We Did This Summer

2009-01-28T23:01:00.012+13:00

We are now back in Dunedin once again. After an awful first week of readjusting, where all of us fell sick with some gastric flu and suffered from fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea, we have now comfortably settled in at our new place and started school once again (except for Hasif who will only start primary school this coming Monday when the new school term begins here in New Zealand).

Phew, what a summer it has been for us. After the very busy November, December proved to be an even busier month for us, but we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. We just wish that we could bring everyone over with us to Dunedin so that we could continue the fun times together, wouldn't that be sweet :-) Anyway, here's a recap of the highlights of some of the stuff we were up to this summer...

Upon our return to NZ, Hani celebrated her birthday at preschool with a yummilicious choc cake made specially by Ibu.

Said goodbye once again to all our loved ones in Singapore before we went on another long and tiring plane journey back to NZ.

But before we left Singapore, managed to have an advance birthday celebration i.e. cake-cutting for Hani over there.

Our Aunties Dada and Nana brought us out on several excursions, one of which was to the Escape theme park, where we got to go on a number of fun rides.

Thank you Aunties Dada and Nana for bringing us out, we enjoyed ourselves each time, and sorry for the times when we misbehaved!

Now, we just want to focus on growing bigger and taller so that next time we can go on all those cool "bigger kids'" rides!

We also made several trips to the beach, where all of us really enjoyed playing in the sand and sea, especially Hafiy who experienced this for the first time.

For Hasif's birthday, Nenek and Datuk brought us up on the Singapore Flyer, which we've been looking forward to since we saw it being built when we were back in 2007.

Hafiy also enjoyed many simple firsts, such as bathing in a tub on his own without having to worry about being cold, and going on cheap coin-operated rides!

We also had a small birthday party celebration camping by the beach (one of several cake-cutting sessions, in total 4 cakes have been cut among us 3!)

More importantly, this gave us a chance to have more waterplay. Gosh we are really crazy about the beach, wish we could go there everyday!

We also enjoyed eating out alot, since it was so easy to get cheap and halal food, especially those dishes/food which we have really missed.

This time we even managed to go to the zoo twice with free tix. The second time, Hafiy came along and had several close animal encounters, hehehe.

The zoo is definitely one of our favourite venues, and we never get tired of going there, as each time we always discover something new.

And a trip to the zoo is never complete without getting ourselves wet playing at the water playground there, and Hafiy totally agrees with us!

A quick visit to the newly opened Marina Barrage was also done, which gave us another chance to get wet :-)

Even though the water playground at the barrage wasn't that big, we had a lot of fun nonetheless.

Hehehe, as long as there's water and we can play with it, we are happy and contented!

We also went on lots of kiddy rides, our favourite being the battery-operated ones at Changi Village. Luckily Haify could share a ride with his big bro.

Other than all that, we also spent quite a bit of time at home (i.e. our grandparents') playing games, toys, dress-up etc.

Overall, Hafiy's favourite this summer, has got to be the beach (for the first time playing with the sand and swimming in the sea)

Meanwhile for Hani, it was dressing-up like a princess and celebrating her birthday with a princess cake.

And for Hasif, it was the fulfillment of an over a year long wish of going up on the Flyer which he had been intrigued by for so long.

OK, that's all folks. We will be back with another update once our long-awaited "package" arrives any day now, can't wait :-)

A Very Busy November

2008-12-02T09:04:00.012+13:00

We have been extremely busy this past month, what with packing and shifting house, or rather moving and storing ALL our endless stuff in a single room(!) at the new place where we will stay next year, in between that Hasif managed to squeeze in 2 school visits at George Street Normal School which he will be attending after the summer holidays when he turns 5, followed soon after with an almost 20-hour arduous journey to Singapore!

And things didn't just stop there, once we got to Singapore, we've been kept very busy (but happy :-) by our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other dearly missed loved ones, with various excursions to the hair salon, wet market, weddings, house visiting, birdpark, zoo, science centre, movies, etc... and basically just daily extended family bonding, currently doing our hot fav pastime of playing games on Uncle Mimi's Wii :-) Below are some pics of the hectic list of activities we did in November.

Our last 2 weeks in NZ, besides packing and moving stuff, we attended nursery+preschool as per normal, and also managed to shop for fireworks!

Despite the unexpected cold and snowy weather this near to summer, we still managed to light up our own spectacular Guy Fawkes fireworks, all togged out in our winter woolies!

After the mad rush of shifting and house handovers, we left for Singapore on a long and tiring 20-hour journey, made worst by the bad services we got on our Qantas flights.

Once in Singapore, we managed to make a visit to see our fav cat, Gila, who's at least as big as Hafiy, if not bigger, but still ever the softie :-)

We also attended 3 weddings so far, one of which was for our Uncle Ilyas' at the Sultan Mosque, just next to the Malay Heritage Centre at Istana Kampung Gelam.

Next up was a much-needed visit to the hair salon, where our grandma or nenek gave all of us new hairstyles, very short ones to cope with the hot weather here which is always making us sweat.

It was Hafiy's first-time getting a haircut at the salon, and unfortunately he was one very hard customer to handle! While Ibu held him, Ayah was kept busy entertaining him while poor Nenek had to hurriedly cut his hair.

As usual we were pretty happy with our haircuts. Here we are showing them off, Hasif with his spiky, gel-covered hair, Hani with her naturally curly locks, and Hafiy with a new short spunky look.

Nenek also brought us to the wet market. What an experience that was! While we enjoyed the discovering and shopping parts, we couldn't stand much of the smell and wet floors...couldn't wait to get out of it!

Several exciting excursions then followed, with our dear aunties Nana and Dada, as well as Nani and Atok (for the first few). First up was a trip to one of our fav places, the Singapore Zoo!

Followed right after by another fun, but tiring trip to Jurong Bird Park, on the same day as our zoo trip (no choice as our free tix were only valid for the same day!)

And then a free trip to the Science Centre as well, luckily this was on a different day :-) We had a funtime here as we could better understand some of the scientific concepts compared to our visit last time.

And lastly, our aunties also treated us to the movie, Madagascar 2. Although we couldn't sit particularly still during the later part of the movie, we still enjoyed it ;-P

Now, what do we have in store for December? Hmmm, looking at our list, it seems that it's going to be just as full as November! Will update on them later ok :-)

Over the Long Weekend

2008-10-30T14:12:00.003+13:00

Last weekend, we had a long lazy weekend, with Monday being a holiday because it was Labour Day here (while over in Singapore it was Deepavali). Although Ibu & Ayah wanted us to do some cleaning and packing up, instead we probably made a bigger mess instead!

Not only that, we also enjoyed a delicious chocolate cake, just because we felt like having one :-)

Afterwards, we managed to go for a walk at the Botanic Garden when the weather was warm and sunny.

The Rhododendrons were in full bloom and there were so many of them in different shades and colours.

There were also a number of pretty tulips, but only in a few limited colours. No red and yellow ones like those on our front lawn.

All in all, we had a very nice time, even though it was only for a short while. We are saving up our jalan2 energy for our upcoming long holiday ;-)

More pics from our garden excursion can be seen here (can just view it thru' the slideshow below or click on it for the full album).

Hasif's Trip to Starship

2008-10-17T22:34:00.005+13:00

Two weeks ago, on 3rd October, Hasif, accompanied by his Ayah, went for a long overdue follow-up check on his right foot at Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland. It was a tiring one-day trip which started at 6am in the morning and ended after 8pm at night, with them taking at least 3 different flights with stopovers in Wellington and Christchurch!

While Hasif did enjoy his trip, unfortunately, the news isn't so good. Doc says his clubfoot has relapsed quite a bit and so he has to go for an operation and 6 weeks casting after summer :-( But the good thing is, this will be the final procedure and everything should be ok from then onwards, insha Allah.

Mugshots & Chipmunks

2008-10-14T22:39:00.005+13:00

During Ramadhan, we experienced a minor miracle, our passports which were lost several months ago, out of the blue were found by the Police (or rather someone finally surrendered them to the Police). And all in the nick of time, as we had just submitted applications for new ones, but luckily the High Commission had not processed them yet, saving us a massive $500 in application/processing fees, phew, alhamdulillah!

Below are the mugshots which we had planned to use for our new passports, so do we look grown up enough ;-P

Unlike us, Ibu and Ayah had to make several attempts to get a good one of Hafiy, who was more interested in grabbing the camera!

After Ramadhan ended, we celebrated Eid by going to Chipmunks, an adventure playland, or rather the mosque committee here had booked a whole afternoon slot for all the muslim kids and so we were invited to attend for free. What fun we had, even though we didn't get any duit raya :-)

Selamat Hari Raya

2008-09-30T06:00:00.002+13:00

This year, once again, we will be having a very quiet and lonely time celebrating hari raya eidil fitri. No kuih-muih, no gassy drinks, no jalan raya, and no duit raya :-(

Just quick very early morning eid prayers, followed by maybe a visit to a Muslim family home for lunch, then everything goes back to our normal routine. That's it, the same as two years ago when we celebrated hari raya away from S'pore.

While we did not really understand before what all the celebrations were about, having had a taste of it last year, we will really miss it this time round :-(

Nonetheless, we wish all our family, relatives, and friends, no matter where you are, a 'Selamat Hari Raya Eidil Fitri, Maaf Zahir & Batin'. Make sure you eat lots of kuih for us ok :-)

P.S. Below are special pics/hari raya cards made two years ago (when Hani was abt 20 mths old and Hasif 33 mths old) for our family, relatives, and friends, back in S'pore. Unfortunately, no one received them then because they were sent as a single batch and actually got lost in the post!

All About Hafiy

2008-09-29T01:16:00.005+13:00

It's only been less than ten months since Hafiy came into our lives, but he sure has grown lots. Here are pics of him developing, growing, and basically becoming more inquisitive and ever cheekier by the day...

Michael Phelps Was Here!

2008-08-26T22:09:00.008+12:00

Every Saturday, we eagerly look forward to our swimming lessons at Moana Pool. We so love to swim, so much so that even if we're sick we would pester Ibu & Ayah to not skip a lesson, which happened last weekend when we were down with fever, fortunately it wasn't so bad when it came time for our lesson :-)

However, we are still down with it even after almost 6 days now, suffering from above 40'C fevers esp. at night, stomach pains, vomitting, very bad coughs, blocked nose, and headaches (Hasif seems to be the worst afflicted while Hafiy, in addition to these symptoms, also has conjunctivitis and now skin rash from being allergic to the medicine...so we're off to the Dr's for a 2nd time this week). Hopefully, we will be much better by this Saturday :-(

Anyway, ever since we found out that Michael Phelps (or as Hasif would call him "Big Michael", to differentiate from "Small Michael" his similarly named preschool buddy!) actually ever swam at our pool (Moana Pool), we are even more excited to go there for our lessons.

Each time Hasif talks about "Big Michael" he would further emphasise his admiration by holding up his fingers to show the 8 gold medals he had won, and to emulate this Hasif even made his own medal during arts & crafts at preschool and proudly wore it around his neck the whole day (and to sleep if Ibu would have let him!).

But since the Olympics has now ended, and so we can't watch the "Olympic people" (this is the term Hasif and Hani came up with on their own to call the athletes!) on TV anymore, we will ask Ibu & Ayah each time we go to or pass by a sports or recreational venue, like the bicycle park, gym, skating rink, harbour, stadium, etc, whether any "Olympic people" has ever been there before! We would be so stoked if the answer is yes or maybe ;-)

Here's Hasif during one of his lessons, currently he's in the 'Flying Fish' class. Now he's learning how to swim freestyle and starting on some backstroke as well. He insists he swam just like Michael Phelps during his latest lesson last Saturday!

Hani's in the 'Star Fish' class and well just loves to play around and submerge in water, so much so that she sometimes ends up in a world of her own, just like her fav cartoon character the Little Mermaid.

Meanwhile Hafiy, who's in the 'Aqua Totz' class, is one water baby as well and loves to scoop up the water with his mouth (aka taste/swallow the pool water!) while swimming around with his Ayah.

Besides being able to hang on to the side of the pool on his own (but not for too long though, 'cos he'll start to slip and sink!), Hafiy can also dive/submerge in the water for a few moments (will post up a video of that later).

Plus, now that Hafiy is also very mobile on land, as his Abang and Kakak, we are constantly told by Ibu & Ayah to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't pop anything small into his mouth (the other day Hani managed to catch him with a small piece of clipped nail in his hands which he somehow found from who knows where!)

Among his fav spots to explore are: under Ayah's study chair, under his excersaucer, under the low dining table, near anything electrical/with wires or switches (esp. electrical plugs in wall sockets!), anything in boxes or drawers, and lastly towards the vacuum cleaner when its switched on and making lots of noises!

Its Fun Being a Threesome!

2008-08-14T21:22:00.003+12:00

We love playing (& arguing!) with each other. It is so much fun having siblings 'cos then you can get up to more mischief as there's never enough new ideas and adventures to try! Here are just some pics of us having fun together the last 7+ months.

More Birthdays & Celebration

2008-07-27T14:53:00.004+12:00

Hani, the Fairy Princess, has two special birthday announcements & wishes to make...

The first (together with a hug from Hasif, the Malay Prince) goes out to Uncle Hisham for his birthday on 27 July

While the second (which comes with a roar from Hafiy, the Polar Bear) goes out to Uncle Husni for his birthday on 28 July

Once again we celebrated without you all, this time with a much-anticipated dress-up party at preschool!

Actually it was a mid-winter celebration organised by our preschool, we enjoyed ourselves tremendously!

A Birthday Announcement

2008-07-16T15:08:00.004+12:00

Hafiy has an important announcement to make...

It goes out specially to our dear Aunty Nana...

We wish her a very happy birthday today...

So, remember don't eat too much cake :-)

While we sadly can't celebrate with you...

We will therefore celebrate without you!

By going camping (indoors!)...jadilah ;-)

Just the Five of Us Once Again

2008-07-01T21:15:00.003+12:00

Its now back to just the three of us together with Ibu and Ayah, since all our visiting loved ones have now departed :-(

This means that we will have to revert back to sneaking into our parents bed in the middle of the night or early in the morning when the mood strikes us!

Although we are sad to see our beloved grandparents, aunties, and uncle go, we still have each other to keep ourselves (and specifically our parents!) fully occupied.

So Nani, Atok, Aunties Dada and Nana, and Uncle Nuni don't be sad leaving us. We had so much fun with you all, thanks so much for coming.

In the meantime, we will keep on smiling (and run our parents ragged looking after us!) until we see you all again :-)

Over The Last Weekend

2008-06-11T11:17:00.004+12:00

It was quite cold over the weekend, so Ibu and Ayah (the ever kiasu parents) made us bundle up in our robes and all.

But when we looked outside, the sweetest site greeted us...snow! Yayyy, we've been wanting to play with it again for quite awhile.

So, we hurriedly put on our layers of shirts, jackets, pants, gloves, hats, socks (yikes so much stuff Ibu!) and out we went.

Hani wanted to have a snowfight but couldn't throw it far and quick enough to catch her big brother!

Hasif wishing for more snow so he could slide down our street, which gently slopes downwards. But biking will do too!

We couldn't get enough of the snow and didn't want to go back in till our fingers were totally numb and snot was dripping down our noses!

By evening, all the snow had melted away, boohoo, sorry Aunty Nana and Uncle Nuni, the snow couldn't last till you get here!

Road Trip to Nelson & Beyond

2008-06-04T23:28:00.003+12:00

In March, during the long Good Friday and Easter holidays, we went on a road trip all the way to sunny Nelson, the place with the most sunshine hours in New Zealand.

On the way there, we also celebrated Ayah's birthday and made a number of great side trips and excursions, among them at Hamner Springs, where we took dips in the awesome thermal pools, and Kaikoura, where we got to ride on a cute black pony.

Overall, we had a really great time, can't wait to go on another trip, this time to the snowfields (been bugging Ayah and Ibu constantly about it :-) Below are photos from our trip.

Moeraki - Hamner

Nelson - Havelock

Kaikoura - Christchurch

Wake Up Already!

2008-05-29T12:00:00.002+12:00

OK, OK, still a bit sleepy here....

Now, fully awake & ready to go!

Let's get something to eat first...

Relaxing on the swing after a meal.

Contented baby just lounging around.

Here are more photos of Hafiy taken & uploaded over the last 5 months(by his aunty, as his parents are a bit too busy to do so at the moment)

Deep in Thought & Slumber

2008-05-26T10:57:00.004+12:00

Our current inactivity is due to the fact that we are in deep thought & slumber. Will awaken soon!!!

In the meantime, happy birthday Aunty Dada!

Here Comes Hafiy

2008-03-11T14:04:00.007+13:00

Hafiy is now almost 3 months old, and he's getting bigger and more talkative by the day. We can't wait for him to join us in more of our activities, like swimming which he simply loves!
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Here's how Hafiy looks now, he's a very smiley baby :-)))

Muackkksss, we want more of Hafiy, we love to plant kisses on him!!!

Besides playing with Hafiy, we're also kept very busy with other activities.

But we do bring him along for some of them, like walks in the park.

We also love celebrating birthdays (like Ibu's recently here & Ayah's coming up).

We also got belated birthday presents all the way from the US (thank you Uncle Mimi!)

Hani loved her princess get-up so much, she almost wanted to go to sleep with it.

But most of all, we just love hanging around with Hafiy :-)

Here's how Hafiy lost all his hair, courtesy of Ayah's DIY skills!

Hafiy was very puzzled about the whole event (or maybe he was just worried how he would look in the end!)

Once Hafiy became a baldie, he got to wear a lot of hats to keep warm.

But we think he looks just as cute without them, our little smiley Hafiy.

The Journey So Far

2008-01-24T00:53:00.000+13:00

Today, 23 January 2008, Ibu and Ayah celebrated their 8th anniversary by looking back at the journey they have gone through as parents to the two, oopps, three, of us.

Hasif's Birthdays

Hani's Birthdays

Hasif's 1st Year Activities

When Hani Came Along

Hasif's Favourite Things

Hani's Many Faces

Welcoming in the New

2008-01-09T00:41:00.000+13:00

Maal Hijrah to everyone, may we all continue to be blessed and always in His protection, amin.

First and foremost, this is going to be one very long pictorial entry (to make up for the long absence :-) so bear with us and hope you enjoy the pics.

On 16th December 2007, at 1945hrs (NZ time) we welcomed our long-awaited baby brother (well to a 3- and 4-year-old, 9 months is a long time to wait for a baby to arrive!). But before we talk about him, let's revisit what we did before he arrived...

Sweet Singapore Hiatus (cont.)
Well, we spent the remaining portion of our Singapore trip celebrating Eidulfitri with all our loved ones...

Not to mention visiting numerous grandaunts, granduncles, aunts, uncles etc etc etc and had our first "real" angbao collection (now we understand what all the excitement's all about :-)

We also managed to do a few last-minute shopping trips and Hasif even managed to have his circumcision done just in time before we left for NZ!

Return to the Land of Kiwis
And before you could say "The Land of the Long White Cloud", we were back in Dunedin, New Zealand.

We returned to preschool, moved to a new place, went on nature trips, and had an overall bubbly good time as usual...

Our Exciting New Addition
Then on 16th December, our baby brother finally arrived! We wanted to name him 'Batman' but Ayah and Ibu chose 'Muhammad Hafiy' (meaning gracious and generous) instead. He has now gained 1kg in just 3 weeks up from his original 3.4kg, and also just had his circumcision done.

Oh well, we can still call him 'Batman'sometimes right?! We just can't get enough of him and love him to bits.

He is so cute (and quiet unlike us when we were babies, according to Ayah and Ibu) and we can't wait for him to grow bigger so that we can teach him all our tricks!

And Our Exciting Birthdays
Besides Hafiy's birth-day, we also celebrated Hasif's 4th birthday on 18th December with a cool spiderman cake and celebration at preschool...

And a much-anticipated bike for a birthday present, thanks Ayah and Ibu.

So two down, one more birthday to go. Hani's 3rd one is coming up very soon on 13th January. Here she is wondering what she will get for her birthday this year ;-)

Sweet Singapore Hiatus (Part 1)

2007-10-04T22:10:00.000+13:00

We are finally back in Singapore! Besides visiting and spending time with loved ones, we have also been busy with lots of other activities. Here are some of the things we've been up to recently...

On the flight back to Singapore from Christchurch, the in-flight entertainment helped to keep us quiet... for awhile at least!

One of the first things we did was to visit our grandma's salon and got ourselves a free haircut and wash :-)

Then off to the swimming pool we went, for a much-awaited dip on a warm sunny day...ahhh coolness.

After that, we did some shopping, or rather window-shopping, with lots of breaks to take kiddy rides... until our coins ran out!

We also visited the Science Centre, where we had a wet and busy time at the Water Works Exhibition and watched the huge imax movie 'Dinosaurs'.

We also managed to do a little bit of jetty fishing and caught lots of bait fishes which we then fed to the hungry beach cats.

Last, but not least, we visited one of our favourite places in Singapore... the Zoo... and had a sweaty good time!
(To view our zoo-visit photos, click on the arrow below to play the slideshow or go to our album here to see the whole collection.)

The Southern Lakes District

2007-08-14T16:07:00.000+12:00

"One of the most diverse and beautiful regions not only in New Zealand but also the world. From soaring mountains to a wild and deserted coastline, golden hill country to crystal alpine lakes, visitors are captivated by the breathtaking scenery and culture of the area...[for more, click here]"

We went to all three regions during the last leg of our Southern Scenic Trip earlier this year (finally have uploaded the long overdue photos of the last installment of this trip i.e. DAY 3, DAY 4 and DAY 5). Posts on the first two days of this trip can be found here and here.

Last weekend, we returned to Queenstown once again for our last snow trip of this year, as we might not have the chance to do so later since we will be going back to Singapore for Aidilfitri (wooooohooooo can't wait :-)It was a wet and wintry day on arrival in Queenstown but that didn't stop Hasif and Hani from enjoying themselves as always.

The second day, before we proceeded up to the snow field, was much better though with the sun and views out for all to enjoy.

Apparently the cold wet weather from the day before had just dumped an extra 60cm of new snow overnight (with snow junkies declaring it the biggest snow dump of the season yet)...so we had a looooot of snow! Every time we tried to walk on a new patch, our feet would just sink into the snow, all the way up to our knees.

With so much new snow, all cars had to put on snow chains. So we took the shuttle up instead of driving (since the carpark was full anyway). Boy, were we glad we did 'cos it snowed buckets just before we left and lots of cars were skidding (luckily not off the mountain!). Hasif, unperturbed by what was happening, was busy enjoying licking his ice-block (which he had picked up somewhere and refused to leave behind!)

Meanwhile, Hani was zonked out after all the snow-play and slept soundly on the journey down while Hasif after finishing his ice-block, wanted us to take his action-angry-photo-pose as seen here.

All in all, we had a really nice time-out in Queenstown but can't wait to go back to Singapore (in fact, this has become a daily request from Hasif and Hani i.e. "Ibu/Ayah, can we go back to Singapore..NOW?!") and see all our loved ones there. So until then, take care everyone and see you very soon :-)

Winter Has Truly Arrived!

2007-06-23T14:20:00.000+12:00

We woke up today (Saturday, 23 June 2007) to the wonderful sight of...snow!!! Yup right outside our house, almost all were blanketed with the pretty white powder like dusting of icing sugar :-)

At first we debated whether to leave the comfy warmth of our beds for the cold chill outside. However, Hasif and Hani once they were fully awake just couldn't go back to bed and so out we went...

While Hasif and Hani built snow castles, even the cat was curious and came out to play with the snow (or rather tried her paws at scratching it)!

The cat was one of our regulars... yup our backyard is kind of a lepak hangout for the neighbourhood cats (with free meals on offer at times). So far, we've managed to catch six of them on camera as seen below.

Although we don't have any live-in cats (as Ayah is allergic to their fur and worries that we might be as well), we did try our hand at rearing our own pet dinosaurs! It was really exciting watching them hatch and grow!

After all the excitement and hard work of taking care of our dinosaurs, it was Ibu's and Ayah's turn to take care of us as we came down with fever and flu. For once, Ibu and Ayah said the house was peaceful and quiet as we were to sick and tired to quarrel and fight with each other (but only for awhile!).

Before we fell sick, earlier this month, we managed to spend a really nice time with Kakak Khairun, Aunty Mas and Uncle Lan who came from Singapore for a short visit.

We mainly spent time with them at home before going up to Christchurch for a quick trip and to see them off at the airport. We miss you all back home but we'll be seeing you soon ok!

As Autumn Nears Its End

2007-05-22T18:37:00.000+12:00

The weather has been really lovely lately. In fact, we've had very little rain (which is good for us but not for the farmlands and animal stock), heard it's one of the driest May in the last 30 years or so. Hmm, not sure how winter will shape up to be but we're just enjoying what we have now, even though Ibu and Ayah are really busy with work and stuff. Below are a few pics of the autumn scenery and what we've been up to this month.

Spending Our Time Together

2007-04-26T23:51:00.000+12:00

Nowadays, going to preschool everyday keeps Hasif and Hani very busy (and very happy because they get to enjoy unlimited freedom to do whatever they want without having to worry about any clean-ups or scoldings!). When they are not at school or glued to Playhouse Disney, these are some of the things they get up to:

- go out with the many Malaysian families and friends in Dunedin as well as those from out of town

- spend time with Ibu and Ayah doing our usual list of stuff like tramping, fishing, taking walks and just enjoying the sunshine

- try to catch a glimpse of our resident backyard hedgehog (which Ayah initially thought was a rodent sneaking around!)

- feed the many hungry ducks in the various parks around town but need to watch your fingers (Hani's got nipped as she was holding on to a large piece of bread for a lil too long and the ducks got impatient!)

- snack on delicious smoked salmon (yes, surprisingly they really love and can't get enough of salmon!)

- and after all that, sleep soundly and snugly enjoying the warmth from the woodburner (but they are very active sleepers who can't sleep in one spot and end up sleep-crawling all over!)

Southern Scenic Trip (Part 2)

2007-04-18T22:10:00.000+12:00

Here's the second installment of our southern scenic trip. After overnighting in Invercargill, we continued our journey along the remaining half of the Southern Scenic Route, seen in the map below, all the way to Te Anau, the heart of the world heritage region of Fiordland.

Enjoy the snapshots shown here or you can click on our album link below for more details of these idyllic places.

Southern Scenic Trip Day 2

Our Southern Scenic Trip

2007-04-10T12:38:00.000+12:00

In early January, we brought our visiting loved ones on a 5-day Southern Scenic Trip (to the bottom half of NZ's South Island). The first half of this trip consisted of the Southern Scenic Route (rated #15 out of 101-must-dos-for-kiwis), which is New Zealand’s oldest touring route, and also one of its most spectacular. We started in Dunedin, with the route taking us to the stunning scenery of the southern South Island, passing through the Catlins, Invercargill, and Fiordland. After that we continued further in land to the Southern Lakes and Fruit Country before heading home.

The partial map below (from the hardcopy brochure) shows our 1st day road itinerary. The full map (Page 2 of the brochure) can be viewed here. While the brochure cover (Page 1) is available here. Alternatively, you can visit the main Southern Scenic Route website.

Snapshots of the more accessible places which we managed to stop at on the 1st day of our trip (from Dunedin to Invercargill) are shown below, while other pics can be viewed at our photo album link seen here (we will be adding the rest of the trip photos later, so watch out for them):

Southern Scenic Trip Day 1

Nugget Point/Tokata - Walking path leads to lighthouse. Spectacular coastal views. NZ fur seals (kekeno), Southern elephant seals (Ihupuku), NZ (Hooker) sea lions (rapoka), sooty shearwaters (titi), the rare yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho) and many other seabird species. Binoculars recommended. 20 minutes return.

Purakaunui Falls - Walk to view Falls through beech and podocarp forest. Also NZ's most photographed falls. 20 minutes return.

Curio Bay - One of the world's most extensive and least disturbed examples of Jurassic fossilised forest. Best viewed at low tide.

Waipapa Point - Golden beach and rock platform. Lighthouse. Scene of New Zealand's worst civilian shipping disaster in 1881 when 131 lives were lost in the wreck of the Tararua.

Special Drawings for Nani

2007-04-03T19:21:00.000+12:00

Being away from extended family can be quite tough especially during special occasions and events. Although Hasif and Hani have adapted very well over here and are very happy, overactive little tots, they do miss their grandparents, aunts, uncles etc back home.

If they were to see something (like finding a left-behind item belonging to their dear Nani, Atok or Aunty) or be reminded of these faraway loved ones, they will never cease to ask whether we could hop on the aeroplane to "go and see" them (rather Hasif would insist that we do this and do it NOW! He's a little bit commanding nowadays, demanding his requests, whatever they may be....like getting the white kitten which he has fallen in love with a few weeks ago at the pet store.... be met "NOW").

Our usual answer would be, of course we will go and visit them but not yet because we've got to save money first and then divert their attention with a lesson on being thrifty and the importance of savings :-) Hopefully this will appease them for the time being until we finally do manage to go back for a visit, insha Allah.

Here's Hasif's special birthday drawing for his Nani, consisting of a cat and a barely recognizable car!

While Hanisah drew five balloons (or rather six, one was on the wrong side of the paper!)...

A Little Bit About Dunedin

2007-03-27T20:46:00.000+12:00

Dunedin has just over 120,000 people (out of which approx. 25,000 are students) living here but its land area is over 4.5 times bigger than Singapore's, so imagine the space (and lack of crowds, which can be great or boring at times). It's a nice place to grow up and live in, at least for awhile if not long-term. So we are taking our time exploring it and the beautiful surrounding environs. More info about Dunedin City can be found here. Or you can have a quick online "tour" via our photo album below (almost all the photos there have been taken by Aunty Dada during her trip here).

In & around Dunedin City

Dunedin beckons and welcomes visitors and migrants to be part of it...

The University of Otago, the axis around which Dunedin City revolves...

Tourists and visitors (especially chocoholics) have much to enjoy in Dunedin...

But the top draw here is undoubtedly the beautiful surrounding environment...

Four Seasons in a Week

2007-03-16T15:21:00.000+13:00

Here in Dunedin, the weather is quite unpredictable, this month alone the temperature has ranged from as high as 30ºC to as low as 0ºC and all within the space of a week! Crazy huh? Yesterday it even rained sleet or hailstones when the temperature dropped drastically within a few hours. While today it's as sunny as can be! But what a shame, summer's almost gone (even though it was one of the coldest summer on record for Dunedin...read the Climate Summary for Summer 2006/2007 here). Hmmm, but maybe if the current cold weather pattern stays the same, we might get snow in our backyard this coming winter, who knows :-)

Here's a look in front of our house at some of the hail which fell...

As usual, Hasif & Hani get excited when there's something cold to play with...

If it's very cold outside, Hasif & Hani will snuggle in their sofa beds downstairs...

And here they are caught sound asleep after tiring themselves out from messing the house!

Daily Dose of Playhouse

2007-03-08T15:24:00.000+13:00

Everyday without fail (unless we're too busy playing in our backyard pool or outside), we'll have our daily dose of Disney's Playhouse Channel (our fav show is 'The Little Einsteins' where 'Rocket' is Hasif's fav character), so much so that Ayah & Ibu complain that we're always hogging the TV and they can't watch anything else (so now at night Playhouse stops airing, which is what Ayah & Ibu say although we find it hard to believe, and its the adults' turn to watch kiddy-tune-free TV) It's hard not to enjoy TV in our comfy sofas and best still is to take part in the singing, dancing and antics, such as acting as 'momok'!

Biking & Birthday

2007-02-28T23:41:00.000+13:00

This week besides celebrating Ibu's birthday, we took part in the Mayoral Bike Challenge, which saw us cycling around Dunedin city (or rather Ayah & Ibu did all the hard work while we enjoyed the breeze from our comfy bicycle seats :-). Upon completing the route, we got cool balloons... a blue sword & scabbard for Hasif and a cheeky pink monkey for Hani (which unfortunately for Hani only lasted for around 2 hours before she started biting and deflating the poor monkey).

Back to Just the Four of Us

2007-02-09T14:46:00.000+13:00

Well, everyone has left now... Nani, Atuk, Dada, Nana, Nuni, and Dada's friend (Aunty Sharifah). We had a wonderful time with them... went on picnics, walks, scenic drives, picked fruits, watched wildlife upclose, and basically just spent quality time together at home.

Miss them all terribly much, everyday never cease to ask Ibu whether we can go on the aeroplane to fetch them and bring them all back here, but Ibu says got to save money first :-)

Hmmm, still haven't organised the photos taken over the last few months, but will try to do so and post them up soon. In the meantime, here are a few sneak peeks...

At Lake Tekapo aka the Blue Lake, with Mt Cook (NZ's highest mountain at 3755m) in the background.

Snow & ice (in summer!) just before Homer Tunnel, heading towards majestic Milford Sound.

On top of Signal Hill (just 3 minutes' drive from our place), overlooking the coastal city of Dunedin.

At Dunedin's Botanical Gardens (just a few streets from our place), NZ's oldest garden occupying almost 30 hectares.

Self-taken family portrait during our first Hari Raya Aidilfitri alone overseas

P.S. Here's a link to the special Hari Raya cards which Ibu made last year but unfortunately the whole lot got lost in the post, so that's why nobody got them :-<(They were sent as a batch to Eunosville, in the hopes that they could be distributed on Hari Raya day itself. Oh well maybe we'll try again this year).

Against the beautiful backdrop of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, NZ's adventure capital

P.P.S: Ibu & Ayah celebrated their 7th(!) wedding anniversary last month, treated themselves to unbelievably fresh & sumptuous seafood (oysters, salmon, scallops, mussels, prawns, calamari, dory, shrimps... what more can you ask for :-)

Keeping In Touch With Everyone

2006-12-23T13:57:00.000+13:00

Finally, decided to have a blog, figured it's a good way to update everyone back home on what's happening with us here plus wanted to give those interested an easy yet interactive avenue to keep in touch with us as well. So far, we're still doing well, alhamdulillah.

By the way, we've since migrated our current Flickr photos to Picasa instead as our free Flickr account doesn't allow us to have more than 3 albums at any one time, which is a bummer 'cos Flickr was great to use. Picasa's not too bad though, it's tied in with Google and has a simple, clean layout albeit doesn't provide stats, but hope that will change in the future.

Currently, only have the following web albums below available online, have lots more to upload but those will have to be done later after Ibu is done with her paper and likely after we come back from our holiday excursions with Tok, Nani, Nana, Dada, and Nuni who're here visiting us till next month. We're having loads of fun with them :->

Well, will let you know once we've uploaded some more pics, keep a look out for them. In the meantime, salam aidiladha, happy holidays, and a wonderful new year to everyone from the four of us...