Future Photographers

We went to KL this weekend to get a couple of more estimates on our cars that we are in the process of selling and for one last trip to Chinatown...and for one last stay in our "home-away-from-home" - The Ascot Hotel! Since we didn't have much else on the agenda we had an extra day that we used to take the boys to this indoor theme park at a mall called Times Square.  They had a fabulous time!  It was really great, it was a huge place - it even had an indoor roller coaster that Andrew and I rode while Marte watched the boys - and even better, it was inside away from the heat!  The boys got to ride a fun train that went through a couple of spooky tunnels, a merry-go-round (we rode about 6 times), this car ride that was on tracks and had some really annoying horns they LOVED to honk, a crazy bus that was a sort of ferris wheel (Cooper didn't care too much for this one!) and E got to ride a fun bumblebee ride that went up and down and also did the bumper cars (which Andrew was a little skeptical about letting him on since he thought he might get too scared, but it ended up being one of his favorites!).  The last 2 rides I mentioned had a 3ft height restricition so Cooper couldn't get on them just yet and this DID NOT make him happy one bit....thus the multiple merry-go-round rides!  And wouldn't you know, we finally visit this place after 3 years and I forgot to recharge my camera battery!  This is where the title of the post came from.....my 2 little photographers played with my camera all evening long the night before and exhausted the battery and I totally forgot to plug it in later that night.  I was able to get a few shots with the 10 minute charge I gave it before we left the hotel!  Oh well, we'll just have to remember this one on our own! 

We had a great visit, once again...and got a few more deals in Chinatown on our last visit - I had to get one more handbag, more sunglasses and a couple of wallets and Andrew ended up with a new watch, new sunglasses and a new tie!  And we couldn't leave without getting the latest season of Entourage, which by the way we have already finished watching...I love that show!

So like I said, I had a couple of little photographers this weekend who had a great time playing with Mom's camera!  Since I didn't get many pics of our time this weekend, I thought I'd post a few of the ones they took....

These were through the eyes of Evan James Thompson....

And now through the eyes of Cooper Price Thompson...at dinner!

NICE!

Is Daddy really smelling his dinner....what is it with the Thompson boys always smelling things?!?  Nice catch, Coop!

 And one of Mommy, of course!

And here are a few that I managed to get with my remaining battery..

 Some hotel playgym fun time

 Our favorite Ascot Hotel thing to do...feed the ducks and fish

 Waiting for the indoor theme park to open

 Daddy and Evan on our first ride

 And then one of Coop and Marte in the jeep in front of us.....and then no more camera!  Bummer!  The boys had such a great time, wish I'd been able to capture more of it!

Evan's 1st REAL picture!

So for the longest time the most we would get out of E in terms of a picture were squares, circles, lines, triangles or just letters....this weekend for the first time (or at least that I've seen at home, maybe he's done more at school that I haven't seen yet) he drew his 1st "real" picture!  I was totally impressed once again! Daddy had brought him back some Ben10 crayons while we were out shopping during their naps, so A told him to draw the Ben10 guy that was on the cover and this is what we got....

Notice the 2 sets of hair....the first time he drew it too far above the head so he had to try again!  He drew the right arm first and I was so impressed that he put 5 fingers on him, but must have just been luck because the left arm got about 8 fingers!

I'm so loving this age, he is becoming so creative...with his pictures and his storytelling....as well as his VERY detailed descriptions of his everyday doings!  He's almost deveolped a sort of stutter with his "uh, uh, uh, uh...then ..uh, uh, uh...then" - although I think it is just his mind moving alot faster than his words, but I do see him organizing his thoughts a bit more lately before he talks so I'm guessing it will pass soon enough! In any case, he is an adorable little boy with ALOT to say!  I shouldn't dare say it, but I do think we might be getting towards the backend of those terrible 3's now! Just in time to get ready for my little Coop to hit the terrible 2's, which by the way we started seeing signs of about 6 months ago! Oh the joys of little boys!

Off to work we go...

After 3 years, we finally made it out to see Daddy's office!  We've been out to the plant before, but we never actually went in to see his office.  Well, today was Melaka Day and it was a holiday so no one was supposed to be in the office, so we thought it the perfect opportunity (no people to disturb) to finally see where Daddy has been spending all his days the last 3 years (and well since we will be leaving soon, we weren't going to have many more opportunities)!  He had to go in to print out some moving stuff, so we decided to tag along.  When we arrived, we were surprised to find 5 or 6 of his co-workers actually working on their day off, so we got to meet a few of them!  The boys had a great time playing in Daddy's office - first coloring and then marking and erasing everything on his dry-erase board.  I got a couple of great pictures of both of them in his hardhat!  Then once all the newness wore off and they were out of things to play with, I decided I would take both of them and venture around the rest of the complex and let Dad get done what he came to do.  We got a few pictures in the foyer and then ventured outside (since it wasn't too hot out yet!) for a few more!  We had a good visit and were really happy that we finally got a chance to see where it is that Daddy goes everyday!  Of course, we heard "Dada work" almost the entire way there and the entire way back from Cooper!  He is such the little yapper....wonder where he gets that from!?!?!?

The entrance to the Finance Dept

"Working with Daddy" 

Future ConocoPhillips hands... 

 

 help Bubba!

 Hanging onto one another

 Outside in the "smoking area" - or at least that is what is looked like!

 

 The Melaka Refinery

 The Melaka Tree

 Posing by the pretty purple flowers

 Now by the yellow flowers....can you tell they've had enough?!?!  I think at this point Evan even said "I AM looking at you!"

 Wait for us!  See the black hose in the background...Cooper was afraid of it because Evan told him it was a snake!  Here I thought he was my fearless one!

 Also known as "Jennifer's" - A's favorite lunch place!  Believe it or not, the boys and I have gone out and joined him for lunch here several times...it has some of the best Chinese food we've had since we've been here!  Of course, I never even thought about going back and checking out the kitchen or else I might never have gone back...nor did I ever think about using the "toilet" after what Andrew and E told me about it! Ahhh, the things we'll miss about Malaysia!

 Another of Andrew's favorites...Nasi Ayam "Chicken Rice"!  Unfortunately we never made it out join him here...maybe we'll have to in the next few weeks just so we can say we tried it!  Chicken Rice is one of all of our favorite dishes, we are definitely going to miss this dish when we get back to the states!

How to Train Your Dragon.... for Emily's 6th Birthday Party!!

E and I went to our 1st 3D movie together as part of Emily's birthday party.  My poor little Coop was just dying to go "Mama....go...mo mo!"  He cried and cried as we drove away!  I hated not being able to take him, but it was right in the middle of his naptime and I know he still doesn't have it in him to stay put for an entire hour and a half movie! Marte said he stopped crying soon after we left because Cecelia and Janet (our neighbors) came by to see him - that made me feel a bit better!  As for mine and E's afternoon, it was great.  We started out over at Ocean Palms for some birthday snacks, games and of course, some yummy cake!  Then we headed over to the movies for "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D...Tania, myself....and 7 kids in tow!  Mike, her husband joined up with us as the movie was beginning.  Have you ever been to a movies with 7 kids, most of them under 7 years old.....CRAZY!!  One runs in one direction while the others run in a different direction...luckily it was a Monday afternoon so it wasn't as crowded in the mall as it usually is!!!  I felt a bit bad for the people directly in front and directly behind us (actually the entire theater at times!) because it's hard to get 7 kids to use their inside voices when they are itching for popcorn!  As for Evan, he did awesome!  I thought he was going to get annoyed with his glasses on his face the entire time, but he didn't once try to remove them.  He sat still the entire movie (even as some of the older girls began fidgeting after about an hour) and loved it.  It got a bit scary when the bigger dragon made his appearance at the end, but he didn't seem to be bothered by it!  After the movie...as if we hadn't had enough (E and I finished an entire box of popcorn together), Emily's mommy treated everyone to McD's!  Another chaotic moment as we tried to sit and eat (I was the only other mommy that went along, I'm not sure how she would have made it just by herself and Mike, it seemed like still too much for just 2 people), but the kids enjoyed themselves and it was a successful party....even better every kid made it back home to their respective parents!!!!  Evan was exhausted by the time we got home, that he gave Cooper the toys from McD's that he brought back for him and was then ready for bathtime/bedtime!  He was in his bed by 8pm and knocked out by 8:10!  I, too, was exhausted and just as ready for bedtime.....after cleaning up Cooper and Daddy's mess from playing in the evening!  Dad was on duty since Marte apparently got food poisoning and was in the bathroom the majority of the evening, so he said he had his hands full with little 'Mr. Trouble'.  I think he thought with just having one of them, it was going to be a piece of cake, but he said Cooper didn't stop talking for more than 1 minute the entire evening!  Guess Coop thought he had to get all of his bonding time in with his Daddy while he had him all to himself for one evening! It was another great day!!

Ready for some cake

Emily cutting into the cake

The party crew with Tania and Mike and her parents that are in from Belarus

READY for our movie!! Evan had to go and stand by Christina, the tallest (and oldest) one there as if he wasn't already the smallest....although still the youngest by over 1 1/2 years

Loved his first 3D experience and a good show by the way!

Bring on the Happy Meals!

Christina

My precious bug!

Emily, the birthday girl, and her uncle Pasha (Tania's 10 year old brother)

Margot

 Micaela

Mama....Hope...Up!

Well, when Evan was about the same age Cooper is right now, I think I've already blogged how cute I thought it was that he would yell "Mama Mia, where are you....come up!" when he was ready for me to go collect him from his crib after a nap or in the morning - granted he could say a bit more than Cooper can right now, but Cooper has started saying something maybe not as equally sentimental, but just as cute!  For the last few weeks, he has started saying "Mama....Hope....Mama...Hope....up!"(over and over again) when he is ready to get out of bed!!  When he first said it, I'm not sure that is exactly what he was saying (although he does know Hope is my name because he will tell you when you ask him "what is mama's name"), but I walked into his room and said..."Are you calling me Hope" and he responded "yes" and I laughed and said "Don't you call me Hope, call me mama"....so of course, as soon as I told him not to do it, he thought it was the funniest thing to say it over and over again.  I think since I thought it was so funny (and always continue to point out that he shouldn't call me by my actual name), he continues to do it all the time now - it's pretty adorable, although I really am not sure if I like him calling me Hope!  My little stinker!

Here he is with T as I was driving off to go pick Bubba up from school....I just had to get a picture! You know, we really are going to have to get him to start calling Evan by his real name soon...."Bubba" is going to sound pretty "country" once we move back to Texas!)

Just a swingin'

We had our weekly pool day playdate with Emily, Alex and Micaela today.  The boys are getting so much more comfortable in the pool now, it's really becoming alot more fun to take them.  They love to splash around and E loves to go underwater now.  We play games where I'll toss him in the water and he doesn't freak out anymore about gaining his balance and standing up on his own.  He also does the slide alone and isn't scared any longer. Cooper is also great at going under and loves to kick his legs while hanging on to the side.  It's a shame we are leaving when we are because a couple of friends of ours finally got together a group to take swimming lessons at Ocean Palms.  The swim academy originally told me that the boys had to be 5 before they could start lessons, but since there was going to be a bigger group of expats, he told me we could try it out for a few sessions to see how the boys would do....but guess we'll have to wait now!  With summer around the corner in the states, it will be a great time to enroll the boys in some lessons there as soon as we move back.

It started raining on us while we were swimming, so after playing in the water/rain for awhile, the boys got dry, changed into some clothes and then had their dinner under the covered patio.  By the time they were done eating, the rain had stopped so they even got in some playground time.  The sun was setting by this point and it was breezy, so it made for some very enjoyable outside time!

And oh yeah, guess Evan is over his fear of swings, too.....although he still doesn't like to go "too high".  As for my little Coop, the higher the better!

 

One VERY large ear!

YIKES.....is all I have to say!  Although, he claims it doesn't even itch or hurt! My poor guy!  I think he must have gotten a mosquito bite while we were out having dinner last night at Bert's and tonight it got very swollen...to say the least!  I told Andrew he looked like Will Smith in Hitch when he gets that allergic reaction!  Ouch!  This was on top of about 15 other small bites he got all over his face, neck and arms a couple of nights ago when he woke up about 2:30 in the morning claiming something was buzzing around him. After we shook out all his blankets, I stayed in his room with him for about an hour to see if he still felt it.  It bothered him a couple of more times, but he told me it wasn't biting him, just making a buzz sound. I thought it might have just been a gnat or something, but in retrospect I should have turned on the lights and sought it out....poor little man woke up with all these bites all over him!  I'm not sure what it was - I don't think it was a mosquito because they were really small bites that are now almost gone....but who knows!  I know these sorts of things are possible in the states too, but they seem to occur too often here!  It's just one more reason why we are ready to move from the jungle!

And earlier in the day, after going to have lunch with Daddy and after some great naps, it was an afternoon of snacks and art time.  Cooper is loving school these days (such a huge change from just 2 weeks ago - he was practically kicking me out of the door today!) and loves pretending to play school with Evan afterwards.  So they have been having art time the last couple of days and it's the cutest thing.  As Cooper colors, he'll say "bubba, nice?" as in asking his older brother if he is doing a good job!  I think they use it at school ("nice or not"), so I can definitely tell he is picking up a thing a two!  Evan usually tells him "yes, nice....but you have to stay in the lines, Cooper!". The best thing is that they are still continuing to play well together....I love it!

So much for staying in the lines!

"Ahhhmmm, Cooper!".....Evan's reaction as Cooper misses his coloring page and colors on the letter mat instead!