dave's 1-yr old party

It was on a lazy Saturday morning that darren was all strapped in his car seat, looking like a tauke besar, ready to hit the highway.  

 We were heading back to my house in Malacca to attend the birthday party of my lil nephew, dave.

 The parents had arrived early from Singapore in preparation of their precious one's one-year-old party. A huge inflatable Mickey (which i learned is dave's fave cartoon character), welcomes the guests into the house. Yes, bow to Mickey if you want to pass the doorway.

The air of festivity loomed all around the house and there were balloons everywhere that darren can't help but grab one for himself. Now if only he learned to wipe that guilt look off his face.

 We're talking about serious balloon business just by looking at the size of that helium balloon pump.

sis busily pumping away lil' rabbit balloons

Food was laid out, relatives and close friends came and it was time to parthayyy! We actually catered from this small-scaled Nyonya restaurant right outside our neighbourhood known as Family Heritage Cafe. 

 Sorry i did not managed to take photos of the individual dishes served, as it got TOO RED under the tent. Things became a bit too red to look at after a while. Lesson learned - never choose a red tent for a mini outdoor event. Even your plain water looked like you were drinking syrup water.

 It was also a great time for aunties, uncles and cousins to meet up and find out who's gotten taller or fatter or richer or whatever. Also a whole lot of unfamiliar faces for timid darren to gawk at.
So, here's what happened when darren met my cousin Alicia...

 Alicia became the camera-shy one instead and took the disguise of Spiderman. By the way, that Spiderman mask was my brother's primary school project. The paint on it was still in good condition after more than 30 years!

 When darren meets his second cousin, Jarrett who's just a couple months younger. Second cousin coz his mum's my cousin so that puts them both on a different branch of the family tree. Confusing? Wait till you hear what's a third cousin.

Ready?

Ok, from Wikipedia....

Term	Definition	Example
First cousin	The children of two siblings.	Bill and Sally are first cousins because their fathers were brothers.
Second cousin	The children of two first cousins.	Bob and Sarah are second cousins because Bob's father, Bill, and Sarah's mother, Sally, are first cousins
Third cousin	The children of two second cousins.	Brian and Stephanie are third cousins because Brian's father, Bob, and Stephanie's mother, Sarah, are second cousins.
First cousin once removed	Two people for whom a first cousin relationship is one generation removed.	Bob and his father's first cousin, Sally, are first cousins once removed to each other. They are one generation removed from the common generational relationship between Bob's father (Bill) and Sally.
First cousin twice removed	Two people for whom a first cousin relationship is two generations removed.	Brian and his grandfather's first cousin, Sally, are first cousins twice removed. They are two generations removed from the common generational relationship between Brian's grandfather (Bill), and Sally.
Second cousin once removed	Two people for whom a second cousin relationship is one generation removed.	Brian and his father's second cousin, Sarah, are second cousins once removed. They are one generation removed from the common second cousin relationship between Brian's father (Bob) and Sarah.

Are you as lost as i am?



Finally it was time for cake-cutting. I could only guess it was a green tea cake, but i do know that it was self decorated by my bro and sis-in-law themselves. Yup, they bought all the decorative items from Singapore. Those tiny tiny colored 'stones' you see are fully edible. And they taste real nice too.

 Birthday boy Dave with his proud parents.

 Dave's constantly giving us the 'watshappening' look. Wish he'd flash his million-dollar smile more often. =D
Rare smile because i'm guessing you gotta pay a million dollars to see it.

 Only one year old....here's to an entire lifetime ahead of you, boy! :D

 dave with his new bunny-cycle.. (because he was born in the year of the wabbit). That's as good a grin that i got from him that day. *grin*

 ..And then darren decided to take Mr Wabbit for a spin too.
Umm, legs are not yet pedal-reachable at this point of time.

Looking at this photo taken with his gong-gong, reminds me of my nickname for darren......"BULAT" ....coz  everything's just so ROUND when i look at him. 

 My mum is very much tickled at the fact that every time she puts her face very close to darren like this, he lets out a soft purrrr.

 Then we had darren's take of 'smiling under duress'....

And finally, just want to show everyone another major highlight of my weekend in Malacca.........!!

Yet another thorny surprise cooked up by dad! yummmm.