Toys, Toys and More Toys!

I haven’t had the chance to resize the photos taken during the family visit last week but here’s some that I managed to do.

Hamley's Dublin

We brought my niece, Nadia to Hamley’s last week because she was telling me she doesn’t remember much about the place and I don’t blame her because I think she was only 4 or 5 at the time.

I was adamant to show her the one in Dublin because this one is less crowded than the one in London, and we’ll get more proper photos taken here to show to her mum back home. You can see how empty the place is on a typical weekday afternoon in the photos below. It looked like we owned the store!

Happy to be back in her old playground

And look at these two, any girl would be happy in Barbie Land!

To be honest, I have a soft spot for this toy store too – my very first Barbie was from Hamley’s and I still have it till today.

When we were there, Aidan played with the toys too.

First was the pony that was selling for 260 euros, I would love to buy him one of these one day but I'll get a cheaper version of it.

Next was the penguin that waddles and squawks like a real one!

Then came the orang utan, the horse and the elephant. There's no need to go to the smelly zoo when you can get it all here

Then we plonked Aidan in the middle of these gigantic soft toys.

Mummy wanted a photo too

Next was Aunty Zeileen feeling like a queen

Not to forget Aidan's 2nd cousin Nadia! It's all in the genes, LOL!

And finally,

This giraffe was on sale for 4655 euros! I bet the real thing doesn't cost as much. Hehe.

Blooming Marvelous

We had a great day out at Bloom yesterday. I was looking forward to attending this garden festival after hearing great reviews about it, for some reason we missed the previous years and I think probably I was too busy working.

The festival was very lively and packed with people when we arrived, there was something for everyone and no wonder they called it Ireland’s largest gardening, food and family event.

I’ll put up as many photos here and let them do the talking so that you can have a feel of the festival.

The first marquee was brimming over with wonderful plants and flowers. Believe me, these are REAL vegetables on display.

Garden enthusiasts would go crazy here and aren't these flowers beautiful ? They were on sale for 50 euros a pop.

Just outside, we took in the beautiful surroundings of the 25 show gardens.

The one below was my favourite, very calm and serene and something I would like for my own garden.

It even came with a 3 piece orchestra. I don't mind having one in my garden too

More garden ideas

The artisan food market had a huge variety of foods on display, we had a fun time munching on free cookies, brownies, yoghurt, bread and Aidan especially loved the homemade orange juice.

The food market was great for foodies alike

All kinds of bread to choose from, we bought custard and almond bread.

There were plenty of stalls offering crafts, toys and other beautiful household items too.

Wooden jigsaws

Puppets

We bought a bubble gun for Aidan, I think the daddy was more interested than him

Or maybe the mummy ?

Oh, we fell in love with these gigantic pillows which were all over the field in the concert area courtesy of the company selling it.

All sorts of colours - green, orange, blue...

Aidan was more interested in the boy smiling across us. Look at the sea of people behind, we were lucky to get hold of the pillows!

They were also selling these cool hammocks for 49 euros, I was hoping to let Aidan have a go but none of the kids wanted to get off!

Next we went to discover the children’s play area hosted by Imaginosity.

So true!

There were competitions for the bigger kids with prizes for the winners,

little toddlers like Aidan went for the sand pit

We went back to the concert area and parked ourselves in front of the jazz band.

In search of the best spot

Aidan kept himself busy with the blondes

These 2 were busy chasing each other

All set to support England in the World Cup

Next, we spent the last hour walking around enjoying the ambience and that’s when we found an eagle and a donkey!

Aidan was intrigued by the eagle but terrified of the donkey.

My first face to face encounter with an eagle, what a beautiful bird. The guy insisted we take a picture with the eagle , our lucky day

The cute shaggy donkey

And to top his little zoo experience, he played with some hay!

Phew, this must be my longest post to date. So that’s how we spent our weekend, a fun day out with the family.

We had a blooming marvelous time at Bloom, and hopefully we'll be back next year!

Bounce, bounce!

Aidan’s been jumping in our arms for a while, so we thought we’d give this a try – the Jumperoo!

So far, he’s loving it that he could spend a good 30 minutes jumping and jumping to his heart’s content!

It’s a great way of keeping him occupied whilst I’m in the kitchen making meals.

The downside? The music can be pretty irritatting after hearing it over and over again

Time To Chill With A Bunch Of Freebies

After last week’s scare, I am beginning to feel like a human being again. For a moment, I was beginning to hate my job as I have been getting one bug after the other since I started working with children. My consultant has warned me again and again that ‘There is no escaping if you want to become a Paediatrician as that is what the job entails’ .

As I lay in bed last week feeling awfully low, I was already considering a career change like Radiology or Pathology (like my cousins who are both doing so well in their respective careers) but I know deep, deep down, my passion still lies in Paeds no matter how tough and physically demanding it may be. We’ll see.

Enough of the boring stuff. Anyway, now that I am back to my normal self, I can’t wait to get my hands on these books.

My therapeutic escape from the painfully boring medical books

I recently watched the movie Twilight sometime in December and I am pretty much hooked on it. One of my Consultants gave me a book voucher for Christmas and so I bought the whole series and another ‘Please Perk Me Up’ book. I think book vouchers make the best present ever as I can never get enough of books. Hubby didn’t really favour the movie though and thought it was just another tween movie like High School Musical! ( Like what???) So you can imagine how much fuss it would have been if I were to buy the books with my own money. Heheh.

Hubby’s consultant gave him a voucher too for Christmas and this is what he bought for himself. ( Dia boleh pulak beli benda macam ni? )

Wii Zapper and House of the Dead

We haven’t really played it yet as we have been so busy with exams, work etc but I think I know where we will be this weekend, just chilling at home

Legendary

We spent our Sunday watching this popular musical.

I had heard so many good reviews about it last year and we were lucky that this trip home coincided with it’s second running.

Out of the blue, as we were contemplating whether we should go, A & F offered us 2 tickets and we thanked our lucky stars for it is not always that something free comes along.

We were very impressed with the show and found it just as excellent as other West End Musicals with superb actors, excellent choreography and extravagant sets.

I rate it 9 out of 10 and my only criticism would be that the music was too loud which muffled the singing at times. If given another opportunity, I would definitely return and I am sure many others would agree with me too.

Mii Love Wii

Look at him- just back from work, still in his work clothes and playing boxing on the Wii. (And dinner’s waiting on the table)

If you’re wondering why I have been quiet on the updates, this is the reason why. I am in love with my birthday present!

The Wii Fit is very addictive and I am trying my utmost best to do at least 20 minutes of yoga per day.

My Wii Fit age says that I’m *cough* 10 years older so lets see if I can tone these flabby muscles to at least , my actual age.

Pretty Incredible

We spent the last Saturday of April watching ‘The Incredibles’ at Millstreet, Cork.

We love the movie but this one had a different storyline to it. It was rather entertaining although I was expecting more, but no regrets there as I am a BIG fan of figure skating.

So much so, for the past 3 years, I have been religously watching Dancing On Ice. I was literally glued to the TV every Sunday evening for a couple of months!

I especially love this year’s champion – Suzanne And Matt, and here’s a video of them performing in the finals. I think I have watched it a million times, such a mesmerizing and graceful performance !

Very hypnotic, eh? Somehow, her flying moves reminds me so much of Tinkerbell.