Of Kaamatan & School Holidays

Kaamatan (Harvest Festival) this year was pretty much the same as previous years coinciding with the school holidays and all. There was the birthday celebrations of our little May monsters ie nieces and nephews on 30th May at my parents home. This year we celebrated birthdays with a barbeque for:

1. Jimi Adam (turned 7 on 30th May)
2. Jill Avie (turned 6 on 20th May)
3. Jayro Abel (turned 2 on 17th May)
4. Melissa (turned 1 on 22nd May)

Then on 31st May, we joined our family reunion/Kaamatan celebration for our families in Kinarut (Matangkas family). This year it was held inside the church hall. Cousin Stephen Jinius J. received an incentive for his SPM 2008 performance (6 A's = RM180)!

When we arrived at the hall we were greeted by cousin Chairmaine Menson who was all dressed up for the Ratu Fesyen Kanak-Kanak (a mini version of the Unduk Ngadau competition):Jill Avie with her "Auntie Ah-men"

Charmaine has really grown. I still can't get over how she surprised us all when she went on stage with this big beautiful smile during the competition. Here are just a couple of pictures that Jill Avie took of her Auntie:Ah-men got 3rd place in this year's competition but she was happy with her win: RM60, a bouquet of flowers, and a chance to compete again next year!

The following week was fun. I took the lil' monsters - Adam, Avie & Anne Anne swimming at Penampang Sports Complex & Waterworld @ Bukit Padang. Mind you, Waterworld is pricey during the school holidays (double the price of a normal weekday ie RM10 per pax). Seeing how the lil' monsters were enjoying themselves in the pool and waterslides made it worthwhile though. There were moments I had to hold my breath as Adam and Avie decided to go for the high slides. Gotta hand it to them though, they're real daredevils, at least we know they're not afraid of heights!
We also manged to fit in time to go to Citymall for SandArt sessions. As usual, I got duped into allowing Adam and Avie do 2 Sand Arts each! I just felt so sorry for them because they'd be leaving to go back to Sandakan in a few days. Plus, they've been behaving very well on that day.
On 6 June, we celebrated my mum's 55th birthday at Kg Nelayan. It was a good thing we booked the VIP room as having 7 kiddies/toddlers was quite a handful. Overall, it was an interesting yet wild evening:

• There was Abel hitting Adam's face to the point his (Adam's) nose bled a bit. That was before dinner even started.
  
• Avie was playing paparazzi with her mum's camera.
• Adam was playing paparazzi with my camera.
• Adam and Abel wanted to be superheros with napkins.
• Avie and Anne wanted to be fashionistas with napkins.
• Melissa wanted grandparents' attention.
• Then the kiddies were fighting over who gets to cut grandma's cake.
• Adam licked the birthday cake knife immediately after cutting grandma's cake.
• Group photo - forget it! While arranging the grandchildren, Abel and Avie were having a punching session which ended up with Abel crying.

Our cameras were hijacked by Adam and Avie, and here are the pictures taken: