Auntie Galy's place & Breinigsville's playground

It has been quite sometime since mommy met up with Auntie Galy. I guess the cold winter really kept everybody indoors. From my earlier post, you should know that Auntie Galy has a daughter called Grace who is one month older than Sheri. Yesterday, mommy brought Sheri to Auntie Galy's house. Grace has lots of new toys ever since the last time we went to her house. She is such a lovable girl that she is always so willing to share her toys with Sheri.
After some catching up, Auntie Galy suggested going to the playground at Breinigsville since it was such a sunny day. As I have told you in my earlier post, it is difficult to find common playground here, so mommy is always exploring new playgrounds in the vicinity, especially when the weather is so pleasant nowadays. It feels like having free air-conditioning in the air.

Well, it turned out that it was really a good recommendation from Auntie Galy. The playground at Breinigsville is much larger than the playground that we used to go at Macungie Memorial Park.

Playing hide-and-seek with mommy!

Sheri: Should I try the rocking horse?

Little girl laying her hands at the drums!

Two little cuties playing together!

Grace: Here's your hat, Sheri!


There are two baby swings at the playground. Here we go.....

One last parting shot before we left

Little Gym's introductory class

Last Saturday, we brought Sheri to the free introductory class at Little Gym. Our little girl is getting more and more active nowadays, so naughty daddy and mommy thought it might be a good idea to exhaust her energy through the gymnastic class.
Even though we were running a bit late at first, we still managed to arrive at the class ten minutes earlier. All thanks to daddy who managed to get our little princess out of the house on time. Our little girl trying to balance herself on a narrow beam.


It's time to crawl through the small tunnel. Sheri: I guess I can do this myself.


How about a good swing at the pole like a monkey!


The main focus of that lesson was to get the kids to walk sideways on the parallel poles. Brave Sheri was the first to try. She completed the course successfully even though she did look a bit fearful when she went up onto the pole. Good job, Sheri!

After all the gymnastics, the instructor took out some balls for the kids to dribble. Sheri managed to catch hold of a blue ball.


The lesson ended with some bubbles. Look at our little Sheri! She was completely mesmerized by the bubbles.

An avid cheese lover

Even though daddy and mom are not avid cheese lovers, our little girl loves to eat cheese. Inevitably, cheese has become part of her diet. However, she is pretty selective in the kind of cheese that she eats. Here, the supermarket has a wide selection of cheese. According to daddy. she will shun away from certain cheeses, but she will open her mouth widely on some of them. Here is the piece of Argentina cheese that we bought for her on Saturday.

This greedy little girl could not wait to munch the cheese even before we checked out.

Spring party at moms' group

Last Thursday, mommy brought Sheri to the spring party at moms' group for the second time. This time, the kids had the chance to do some handicraft work. Unfortunately, Sheri is too young to participate in this activity. Even though mommy tried to hold on to her to do some colouring with crayons, she did not seem to be too keen on it. Instead, she was more interested in putting the crayons into her mouth. In the end, mommy had to give up and let her wander around as she wished. See how naughty she was in climbing up to the chair herself. Occasionally, she would play with the board or push around the little truck.

After the spring party at the mom's group, we went to Auntie Jess's place. As usual, she would just wander around. One of her favourite activities at the Auntie Jess's place is to climb up the stairs. She seemed to have forgotten the fact that she fell on the hardwood floor from the stairs the last time we came. Mommy had to watch this little girl carefully to make sure that she did not miss her step. Yummy! The french fries was delicious! Thanks to Han who was willing to share with Sheri his fries.

Be the time we got home, it was already one o'clock. Sheri took a 2 hour nap before we went out to the park to take a walk. We were lucky to chance upon a cycling race at the park. Sheri was excited to see so many cyclists sped past her. It was also the first time that mommy witnessed a cycling race at such a close distance.

Beautiful day in the park!

Today's weather is beautiful. Frankly speaking, I was unable to appreciate this statement in the past, however being in a country with four seasons really makes me to be more appreciative of the weather. Every day seems to be different depending on the weather.

Today's weather is very pleasant with temperature hovering around 65 Fahrenheit (18 oC). Finally, we could sense that spring is in the air. Mommy could not resist the idea of bringing little Sheri out to take a walk. After being in the cold for so many months, it is very uplifting to get out of the house without the hassle of putting on thick jackets.

Off we go!

Nowadays, little Sheri likes to utter the word 'sit' whenever she sees a rock or a bench in the park. Well, mommy interprets it that she wants to sit on it. So, here she is, happily sitting on the rocks and benches!

Dinner with Uncle Jerry and Auntie Danielle

Last Saturday, we had dinner with Uncle Jerry and Auntie Danielle. Uncle Jerry was daddy's sister ex-boss when he was sent to Singapore to set up an office. When he came back to the States, he took good care of daddy when daddy was studying in Princeton.
This was a much awaited dinner as we could not really find a good time to meet up as Uncle Jerry travels frequently. I think the last time we met up was in last summer when Sheri was just about 7 months old. Even Auntie Danielle commented that Sheri has grown so big since the last time she met her. Time flies. I guess we do not realise it until you see how much kids have grown.
We had dinner at this Japanese restaurant called Murashi. It was daddy's colleague who recommended this place to us. The ambience is good, but more importantly, the food is excellent too. Daddy and mommy decided to go on a splurge . We had seaweed salad as the appetizer, sushi and sashimi combo as the main course followed by fried cheesecake as the dessert. The sushi and sashimi combo was the most expensive main course on the menu, but it was so fresh and succulent that it was worth every single cent that we paid. The only drawback was that mommy could not enjoy the meal to the fullest as I had to keep our little girl entertained all the time. Nowadays, she is so active that it is difficult to keep her seated in the baby seat. She is more interested in wandering around. Fortunately, the restaurants here allow us to pack the remaining food home, so mommy could continue to enjoy the sashimi when we went home.

Uncle Jerry had recently gone to Singapore for business trip, so it was nice to hear about the changes he had witnessed in Singapore during his trip. With great company and good food, it was an enjoyable evening for all of us.

First Mom's group meeting

Last Thursday, mommy went to the mom's group meeting for the first time. Unlike the spring party that we attended a couple of weeks ago, all the moms can deposit their kids in the nursery so that they can relax and get together in the mom's group meeting without the hassle of watching after their kids. At first, mommy was a bit apprehensive about leaving Sheri in the nursery as she had not left us ever since from the day she was born. However, at the same time, mommy was also curious about how she would react if I were to leave her in an unfamiliar environment. Anyway, I went ahead as planned. Daddy sent us to Auntie Jess's place in the morning to hitch a ride from Auntie Jess. Auntie Jess has a big dog in the house. His name is Aramas(I hope this is the correct spelling). Sheri loves dogs. Even though Aramas is much bigger than her, she does not seem to be afraid of him. See how tender she was in stroking Aramas. Aramas used to have very nice fur, but they seemed to have trimmed it off recently.


We were running a bit late when we reached the place, so mommy did not have the chance to say 'bye bye' to Sheri when we left her in the one year olds' nursery. The people who took care of the kids in the nursery are mainly retirees whose kids have grown up, so many of them are very experienced babysitters. Frankly speaking, mommy should be able to set her mind at ease, but somehow, mommy could not really concentrate in attending the workshop. Breakfast was provided at the mom's group and they had also arranged for a speaker that day who is a family counselor to speak to us about good parenting skills. After the talk, we had small group discussions to share with each other any insights about the talk. It was very beneficial for mommy as most of the moms in the mom's group have at least 3 kids at home. Domestic help is hard to come by here, so it is pretty amazing to see how they can take care of so many kids singlehandedly at home. One of them even home schooled all her four kids. However, mommy's mind seemed to be with little Sheri all the time even though I was not with her physically. Thinking that the baby sitter would come and get me at anytime because little Sheri was crying miserably for her mommy, mommy could not help but turned my head towards the entrance everytime I heard someone opening the door. Mommy waited and waited, but miraculously, nobody came to get me. So, little Sheri survived the two hours in the nursery. I'm so proud of her.

When I went to get her in the nursery, I could hear her cries before I stepped into the room. The baby sitter told me that she must have smelt my presence. Anyway, most of the parents were there picking up there kids, so she must be thinking where her mommy was. Anyway, she stopped crying the minute she saw me. The babysitter told mommy that it took her quite awhile for her to roam around in the nursery as she started crying when I left her. However, considering that it was her first time she left mommy's arms, she said that she was doing well and she believed that she would do better the next time. After mommy brought her out of the nursery, she was back to her usual self, roaming around freely and fiddling with things she could lay her hands now.

Well, this was a short separation from mommy. Through this, mommy just wanted her to learn to adapt to new environment and develop a sense of independence. Hopefully, this will put her in good stead when she goes to playgroups in the future.

Sunny and chilly Saturday

Spring should be officially here. However, the weather has been pretty freakish nowadays. It can still be pretty cold on some days. Last Saturday was a sunny day even though it was pretty cold with the wind chill. However, mommy still brought Sheri to the park to enjoy the lovely sun. See how this little girl poses with her summer hat.



With her newfound mobility, she seems to be more insistent in going in her own way. Mommy really has to watch this little girl carefully as she may end up stuffing something into her mouth or chasing after other people's pets.

Field shots

Unlike in a city where mommy and daddy grew up in, there is more greenery here. There is more open space for kids to roam around here. Furthermore, the air is always so fresh and crisp, especially in the morning. I don't deny that this is an ideal living environment for nature-lovers.

The only determining factor is the weather. Since the weather is getting warmer nowadays, mommy will usually try to bring Sheri out in the daytime for her to roam around . Last Tuesday, mommy brought her to the field beside our apartment complex, thinking it might be fun for her to kick the ball on the field. Well, it turned out our little Sheri is not interested in playing with the ball at all.

Even though daddy was not with us, we just wanted to let him know that...........

Playground

Last Saturday, we brought Sheri to the sand pitch again. Since it was a weekend, Daddy came with us this time.
Ironically, daddy and mommy had more fun playing sand than Sheri. I guess we were trying to relive some of our childhood memories. Mommy is certainly better at making sand molds than daddy. This is her mini artwork. We had to take a picture of it quickly before Sheri destroyed it.
On Sunday, mommy wanted to bring Sheri to an outdoor playground. Here, it is quite difficult to find a public outdoor playground. Mommy and daddy chanced upon one last year. It was Macungie Memorial Park. It took us quite awhile to find it. All thanks to Daddy!

Time flies. Sheri was just a small baby the last time we brought her there. Now, she is a toddler , roaming around freely in the playground.

Excellent Customer Service

After being the chief finance manager of the household for the past few years, mommy has learnt to be more sensitive to the prices of items during grocery shopping. Mommy just wish to share one interesting encounter with my readers during our weekly shopping trip on last Saturday. I bought a pack of ground pork from 'Giant' supermarket on Saturday. After checking out, I decided just to have a quick glance at the receipt before I drove off. I noticed that the price of the ground pork was listed as $3.99 on the receipt even though I remember vividly that it was listed as $2.99 on the shelf. Thinking that they might have over-charged me, I went to the customer service to check it out. Actually, I would not have gone back to check it out if I have gone home since it is just a difference of one dollar.
Anyway, they later found out that the discrepancy arose because they did not change the price tag even though the price of meat have increased recently. Initially, I thought they might just refund me one dollar for the difference. To my surprise, they decided to refund me $3.99 which was the entire price of the pack of meat. I'm deeply impressed by the level of service that they rendered to me. Actually, this is not the first time that I have encountered such an excellent service from them. There was once I wanted to buy some catfish that was on special discount. However, there was only one piece left. To avoid any disappointment, they issued me a raincheck which allowed me to buy the catfish on another day at the same price. From my experience, I certainly have not encountered this type of excellent service in my home country.

Foo Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family search - Family history