10 kg Dorado & 15 kg Shovelnose Ray

Another successful fishing trip.. Martin went off for another three days and when he got back last Thurs he had various lil reef fish n two of these beauties with him!

On the first night itself, he was abt to give up n hit the sack when in the wee hrs of the morning the shovelnose ray decided to literally wake him up. says it was a fantastic fight but a bit sad to have had to bring it in as generally dont keep sharks n rays as a rul its tail got wrapped up in another's line..

As for the dorado, it was caught in 75m deep waters.. just under the surface it took the bait under the boat and subsequently put on a good display of flips and lunges ... tangled up a few lines which upset a few anglers but hey, tough luck. finally succumbed... was a good one.

took the pair to the fish market n got one of the guys there to do the biz.. usually we go to my mom's house n i play fisherman's wife.. thank goodness i get to escape this time cos i wouldnt know what to do with the two monsters! hehe..

the dorado is good eating and the ray just tastes like a ray..but bigger n meatier.. anyway.. martin is a happy chappie.. n so m i. ;-)

A Disaster called Cebu!

As you can tell from the above.. haha.. Cebu was definitely an experience.. not as bad as i make it out to be, but definitely not a bed of roses either.. the only good things i can say about it is that the scenery was relatively nice (nice sunset pic by martin), i had great baby bonding time and it helped us understand baby's filipino nanny better... oh so much better! hehe..

to begin with we booked the trip during a travel fair so we got the tickets at a good deal. we hv a fellow englishman friend Richard who goes to Cebu Phil pretty regular (only 1 hr 50mins direct flight from here) so we decided to relax for a week in scenic Cebu.. lol.. anyway.. the moment we arrived the excitement started! our suitcase that was barely a day old was ripped but luckily nothing was stolen.. we then had to fill in forms and dump our belongings in bin bags to get it to the service apartments.. hehe.. till today Malaysian airlines hasnt sent us an update so we figure its a gone 'case', excuse the pun!

we met up with another english guy Steve who married a local, owns his own fishing boat 'Blue Sky' and a nice western cuisine bar and grill called The Marlin at the Cebu Yatch Club. The next 4 days were spent in and around the islands off Cebu called Camotes (ka-moh-taste).. again the views were great but the service dire and the food dreadful! they kept messing up simple stuff like french fries and tuna sandwiches!

everyday martin n the guys would go out fishing and come back empty handed.. looking in on the corals from the boat, it was so depressing to not even be able to see tiny reef fish.. guess the locals r bombing the reefs to oblivion (came up in the local daily when we were there). The only nice things to look at in the waters were the many starfish.. guess the locals havent yet developed a way to eat em! On the 3rd day we couldnt take the terrible service any longer (one place we waited 2 hrs n when we enquired they handnt even started cooking so we left with the ingredients!) so we jumped on the boat n looked for another resort.. it was almost night when we finally found a homestay.. luckily.. or i dont want to imagine having to sleep on the boat, all 7 adults n 3 kids at the same time.. would be really uncomfortable!

anyway.. a week of fishing and what did the men catch!? Almost zero! one pathetic 4 inch trigger fish and a 20-inch long spanish mackerel. 1000 USD down the drain.. besides that we discovered that the ppl there r pretty gross.. almost all the cab drivers tried to cheat us, one literally kicked us out of the cab, they all drive like mad cows in the mid of the road and beep, beep, beep their horns every 2 mins buldozing their way through traffic which drove martin bonkers! They opened the doors at traffic light stops n just spat noisily onto the road! ewww.. ppl take out their willies n pee on the walls of shops cos they cant be bothered to find toilets! and it looks like a cartoon town cos all the jeepneys like in this pic, are cartoon-colourful.. and we found out that the fuel they use they buy from shanty pitstops which sells fuel in old coke bottles which they then fill into a plastic container attached to tubes that are right beside the driver where the handbrakes normally are.. damn, if they drive and smoke ciggys at the same time i'm surprised there r still plenty of them around!

anyway.. to cut a long story short: other 'highlights' include getting body searched when entering shopping malls that sell guns, ammunition and knives anyway... so whats the point exactly??!?! god only knows! and marji our baby's nanny eats tons of rice 5 times a day for breakfast till supper because everyone there does that! they cant live unless they eat a mountain of rice on their plates plus a tiny bit of meat. eatin veges denotes they are poor ppl so they just dont eat veg if they can help it! yikes! and everything is either too sweet or too salty! haha.. all their bread rolls n cookies are drenched in sugar before baking and thats exactly how they like it!

right.. so that's enough abt cebu.. haha.. needless to say we wont be going back there anytime soon.. it was nice as a one off.. but i doubt its a 'repeater'... anyway.. this last pic is of baby n i at danao lake on one of the islands.. dont worry.. its only a wood carving..

28 Nov: My 30th Bash!

My mind had gone round and round in pointless cirlcles for months now thinking of how to celebrate my 30th (yes, i know.. i'm officially OLD now!) and in the end i decided against everything. in fact, i thought i was going to have a low key birthday...

but hey, my fabulous sister michelle organised a nice dinner with family and close friends at a really posh revolving restaurant on the 18th flr. was nice that for once i didnt hv to do any planning and organising and i could just sit back and enjoy being pampered..

at abt 4pm.. went to her place for a lovely body massage, manicure n pedicure as well as eyelash extensions! haha.. then was whisked off to dinner and luvy n hubby brought a gorgeous choc cake from starbucks called Ipanema.. my fave! tons of ppl showed up including hubby of course, my immediate family n soon to be sister in laws and ppl like Paul, Dom & wife and even Jenny who dropped by even though she couldnt stay for dinner.. me very happy! weeeeeeeeeeeeee

guess growing old is not so bad after all! hehe.. anyway, i know this entry is a bit outdated.. but better late than never eh.. curtains drawing on 2008 as december comes to a close.. i've got a bit more to report on what i've been up to.. see blogs above cos i wanna include pics n prattle abt them too!

Jailhouse Rock!

Baby girl is doin the jailhouse rock! If you concentrate real hard you can see a lil Elvis in her! haha.. so adorable.. thanks MamaBea for the cute bodysuit! Pic was taken in Cebu, Phillipines while on our first family international holiday.. nov 29th till 6 dec 2007.

Wild thang.. ya make mah heart sing!

Purrrrr.. My lil wild princess! Doesn't Besra look absolutely so incredibly cute! She's starting to really look like a really hot lil chick! Watch out boys, daddy's got a shotgun all loaded up! hehe..

Just walkin along the beach with my girl..

Words cannot express the sheer joy a child brings into a mother's life.. and a father's life too for that matter.. baby is just starting to walk.. with a lot of help but definitely gettin there!

Wahoo: 15kgs..(noncholant grin)

Last week martin went on one of the local boats for a 3 day 2 night trip inclusive of 10 hr travel each way. within 6 hrs of travelling out he hooked up this nice wahoo at 15kg which was initially not thought to be a wahoo because it didnt swim towards the boat as is the norm. instead, it gave him a great fight with some good long runs. weather conditions were calm but rainy as to be expected now that the monsoon season is about. we've now got a whole freezerful of fresh fish and if his winning streak continues, we'll have to buy a chest freezer soon!

my brother alex also went on this trip which was handy cos he speaks the local lingo.. at one point, martin did his catch and release thingy with one of the giant trevelleys he caught (not good eating apparently) and when he chucked it back into the sea, everyone, and i mean everyone on the boat gasped in horror and gave alex the 20 questions about his crazy brother in law! one guy sauntered up to martin after that and said that if he was going to throw such fish overboard in the future, he should just hand it over! haha.. crazy locals and their 'eat anything, eat everything' mentality!

anyway, the pic below with the snapper like fish was also one of the bigger catches. was definitely a good trip for them.. happy that he's happy.. ;-)

Martin's latest exploit! 6kg Saddle Tailed Sea Perch

This is Martin's pride and joy...

This whole mass of mud is martin's future fishpond! he's gotten the contractor to dig out a 5ft deep 40x40m (i'm guessing!) pond so that he can hv his very own fishing venue! that's us in the background.. me holding Besra and martin's green ford ranger to give the pic some depth.. hehe.. martin n his fish..go figure!!

Uncle Richard gave Besra some exotic plants..

that were around the same age as Besra which he got from somewhere overseas.. anyway, we went to our little piece of land and planted them and these are the pics! we're hoping to make it a birthday tradition where we take a pic of the trees and besra as they both grow taller and taller! Maybe one day the plants will fruit so we can actually tell what kinda trees they are.. as it is, no one's the wiser! hehe..

We are both recovering from runny noses.. baby actually snores cos of the congestion.. but other than that all is well.. she crawls like a lil bullet now.. cruises (walks by hanging on to tables/chairs) and watches Playhouse Disney tv all the time now! hehe. so adorable..

Happy Birthday BESRA AI-YING WILES!!!

Our lil girl's not so lil now isn't she.... sweeeeetie pie!

Weeeeeeeee! Besra & Natalia in the pool! Mommy's lil angels.. awww!

Gorgeous Besra in her Pink-Polkadot 1st Birthday Dress.. ;-)

Baby is now One!!

We cant believe it.. a whole year has passed! Seems like just yesterday i popped out a little cutie baby.. got stuck 4 days at the neonatal ICU n then brought baby Besra lovingly home... and now she's ONE!

We had a little party at home on the 26th.. just me, baby and the nanny cos daddy was off fishing again.. no worries cos we had planned a pool party for her on the 28th Sunday at martin's ex-workplace and what a party that was!

I bought her a lovely pink and silver tiara and a pink butterfly wand to go with it as can be seen in the pics.. and on her actual birthday Marji and i sang Happy Birthday and at the end of the song baby used her magic wand to 'swipe' out the candle! it was hilariously amazing! i cant put to words how amazing it was that she 'blew' out the candle with her magic wand at the exact time the song ended PLUS she managed to do it without flicking the candle off the cake or squashing the cake itself! it's definitely a story i'll tell over and over again... so adorable!

well on the 28th she was the belle of the ball.. i mean, which other 1 year old gets a pool party! hehe.. tons of friends n family dropped by and gave lotsa gifts n ang pows (red packets with $, it's a chinese thingy!). Her birthday dress was a white frock with a bow decorated in tiny pink polkadots...I bought lil party favours for all the kids - the boys got balls and the girls all got pink star magic wands with ribbons. of course baby's pink tiara and butterfly wand was the coolest! Liza (martin's ex-boss) got her a gorgeously delicious choc cake. then all the kids including her godsister Natalia jumped into the pool for a splashing good time. was definitely a day to remember... Hey a big thank you shoutout to everyone who remembered it was Besra's big day.. and millions of thanks to people everywhere who sent in pressies especially Aunty Sue & family in England and Liz in Oz.. Baby loves you all, i'm sure!

Cindy Lou: Our latest addition

as i mentioned in a previous blog we now have a puppy!! here's a pic of my girl facinated with our new addition.. we had to modify our tiny living room to include her own space.. cindy lou is very sweet but like all puppies cant stop biting shoes!! and of course, martin has already spoilt the little thingy!! ah well..

Suitably chastised by Ashley..

hello.. as the title implies.. i've been a naughty girl, hvnt had the time or the inclination to update my blog with more baby tales.. will do so now before i get another stern warning! LOL..

well September was a nice month.. we went away twice to the tip of borneo.. if you look at the map of sabah, it looks like a dog's head with pointy ears on the top and a muzzle/mouth on the right of the state. the tip of borneo 'Tanjung Simpang Mengayau' is actually the top left dog ear.. the first trip was a nice overnight camping trip just martin and i.. and we organised a day trip two weeks or so later so my mom, marji the nanny and my lil girl could experience it all too. in another car, Leslie and Pilot Paul, our good friends also convoyed with us. it was a brilliant day as the weather was not too hot and sunny and we spent the whole time stuffing our faces as usual as is with any family trip planned by yours truly.. life is too short, live to eat and not eat to live!!

as for martin, he's much happier these days as he still 'works' occasionally if you can even call it that.. basically, his ex boss invites him for fishing trips or sometimes to be a fishing guide for VIPs.. doesnt pay him which is fine cos he gets to fish to his heart's content and at the end of the day, my freezer is filled with fish! wee!

aside from that, our land has been cleared..Marcel aka pastor aka our contractor brought two caterpillars and flattened the ground in a day. he also dug out a 30 by 40 feet pond.. so work is underway now and maybe in 1 year and a half our house will be ready.. the only downside is that marcel discovered a burst water pipe in the middle of the land and its been gushing out water for years.. consequently its flooded the land and made it all soggy.. guess we will hv to wait about 6mths before we start piling. anyway, its good to see things in motion now as it took ages to settle the land title thingy.

as for me, october is great!!!! lotsa holidays and outstation duties .. so i reckon i'll be in school for a total of 7 days this month! hehe weeeeeeeee.. u dont know the sheer joy of waking up late without the annoying alarm clock in my ear unless you've worked every day like a dog for the past 4 mths straight! sighs.. someone's gotta pay the bills right! hehe..

anyway, a final bit to add: besra is almost a year old, gosh.. she's maybe 12kgs now, loves standing and can pull to stand but cant be bothered to crawl which is fine.. hehe.. keeps those knees nice and smooth! she loves running around with the help of her walker and playing in water aka bathtub, baby pool, adult pool, sea.. hehe.. all bodies of water basically. she cant pronounce "M" so i'm still "NaNa" and i love it when i hand her back to her nanny and she cries her little eyes out.. hehe.. feel so loved and needed, i bet all new mothers can relate to that eh!

right, so october highlights include an overnight stay at Mesilau which is at the foot of our Mount Kinabalu (4101m) on 15th n 16th and baby's birthday on 26th. not sure what we'll do for that but i think it will involve close family members and a cake of some sort.. will decide closer to the time.

anyway.. hug hug kiss kiss to all..Selamat Hari Raya cos any holiday is an excuse to have fun!!! and of course sleep late! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Slagon homestay.. 31 August 2007

We just got back from a holiday with most of my family..grandma n grandpa, steeve n jo, alex n jo, luvy n family: was really great! we stayed at a nice homestay.. which basically means someone's home.. something not unlike a bed and breakfast in UK.. except they dont provide breakfast.. stayed there over the long weekend as malaysia was celebrating her 50th independance year..

it was about 1.5 hrs drive from town.. up past majestic mount kinabalu (4101 metres although the HQ is abt 1000+ metres only) and down to Ranau, a small township. It was a continuous food fest! fresh crabs, prawns, winkles (just learnt the word!), pasta, BBQ chicken, fish, beef and to cap it off a steamboat too (DIY soup dish)! oh and it was basically a fruit orchard so yummy durians and mangosteens everywhere.. so delish!

martin caught a 1kg plus 'patin' fish in their pond so he was a happy chappy.. and my brother alex caught 4 or 5 so he was happy too. at night we played black jack and i won some money: YAY! i love winning as you can tell.. hehe

anyway, the highlight of the trip was driving down martin had to step on the brakes as there was a little puppy stranded in the middle of the road and cars literally had to avoid it.. poor thing.. martin being martin jumped down and rescue the terrified little thingy so now we hv a new member to our family: Cindy Lou. will include her pic in the next upload but if u can imagine a little 4-5 week old white puppy with some caramel spots, well that's her! seems like everytime i come down the mountain i add a new member to the family.. last year in oct, i gave birth to baby Besra and this year an instant puppy! hehe.. we r going up again in october so who knows what then!!

The Onion & The Christmas Tree..

Those who know me well will also know my love for jokes and the telling of 'em.. i didn't win national storytelling champ for nothing u know! hehe.. anyway.. i just found this one online and thought it was hilarious! will definitely include it in my jokes repertoire.. *giggles..



THE ONION AND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

The family is sitting at the dinner table. The son asks his father, "Dad, how many kinds of boobies are there?" The father, surprised, answers, "Well son, there's three kinds of breasts. In her twenties, a woman's breasts are like melons, round & firm. In her thirties & forties, they are like pears, still nice, but hanging a bit. After fifty, they are like onions." "Onions?" "Yes, you see them, and they make you cry."

This infuriated his wife and daughter so the daughter says, "Mom, how many types of "willies" are there?" The mother, surprised, smiles and answers, "Well dear, a man goes through three phases. In his twenties, his willie is like an oak tree, mighty and hard. In his thirties & forties, it's like a birch tree, flexible but reliable. After his fifties, it is like a Christmas tree." "A Christmas tree??"

"Yes dear, dead from the root up and the balls are for decoration only."

Besra takes to water like a duck! Quack Quack!!

She was an absolute gem that day when we took her for her first dip in the sea. at first she was a little serious about it all.. then about 15 mins later when she was more confident, you should have seen her splashing about! She does like water a lot.. baths.. swims in the pool.. and now the sea.. guess she's destined to be like her daddy.. Megalus Fishermanus hehe.. but she'll be Minisculus Fishergirlieus.. ok ok. that was corny. haha.. couldn't resist!

Baby's first steps at the beach... this was at our beach at Melinsung Summer Bay..

Hv u ever seen a baby with just ONE TOOTH! Well here she is...!!!

Baby is almost 10 months.. this tooth appeared about a month ago.. hehe.. almost no one i've met n talked to has ever seen a baby with only one tooth!! Still.. she's as adorable as it gets.. and just a few days ago the partner to her bottom front tooth finally showed up.. PHEW!!! hehe.. guess she wont have to waste her christmas wish this year on teeth then.. LOL.

Our home-to-be... yay!

15kg Giant Trevelley: 5 days on local boat near oil rig in Miri, Sarawak

Total catch: 8 GTs between 5 - 15kgs.. conditions of vessel were dire, but martin says well worth it.. GTs r really good fight, but not good eating so proud to say that all were catch n release (which is almost unheard of in malaysia.. what they can eat they take home.. apparently GTs too unpalatable.. hehe)

Our lovely home-to-be ...

Awwww.. 3 cutesies!

I bet the kids will appreciate this piccy when they grow up.. amazing how pics capture the moment.. this one's priceless!

We even had a baby paddlin competition during the party! Weee!!

Double kisses - what a lucky girl you are Besra!

Daddy's 43rd.. i baked the pure gooey choc cake.. yummers!

Baby having a splashing good time!!!

Come watch baby laugh!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY-O!!

"DADA..DADA DADA DADA..DADA!!"

haha.. ok.. seeing as baby can't really speak yet and the only intelligible sounds she can make is "DADA" i suppose she means happy birthday daddy when she just says "DADA" hehe..

We threw a great BBQ party for him last Sunday, 2 days early cos it's the best time to have a barbie. Loads of people came round from 4pm and the last one didnt leave till late night. Martin is officially 43 years old now.. hehe.. who would have thought! He looks only 34, or so they keep telling us!

Anyway, honey.. you know your house-full of women - mommy, baby, nanny n ballsie the cat - absolutely worship the ground that you walk on.. oh and the same goes for boy-cat! May you be blessed with many more birthdays to come surrounded by your entourage! We love you, honey!

Look mommy.. I can walk! ok.. sort of.. hehe

Hello hello.. Baby is so big n strong now.. this is what she enjoys the most.. she can't seem to get enough of standing up.. i've heard some people say that they will end up bow legged but hey, according to the latest literature, it's all old wives' tales anyway. She's now standing proudly at 55 cms, 9kgs at just over 8 mths. what a difference from her initial 1.8kgs!!!

Anyway, what's happening in the Wiles' world... well i'm busy as hell with school.. got a really crazy principal who works us like dogs! plus all the other stuff i have one the side, ie tutoring in university, running my tuition centre and home tuition.. lol.. feel like an octopus sometimes!

Martin has officially submitted his resignation. He just got tired of working like a dog too.. and at the whim and fancy of his employers. Plus now he has something else to keep him busy.. did i mention that we finally found a gorgeous piece of land? It's a bit out of town but worth it if u ask us. In the future I might end up complaining like hell cos the drive to the uni each way is one hour but we are seriously considering hiring a driver cum handyman.. hehe so i might become a "Datin" after all!

More about the land.. it's in Papar in a village called Nagapas.. very scenic.. about 1.5acres with fruit trees.. and even part of the Papar river is ours so we will definitely build a tiny jetty. The house we intend to put up is roughly a 40x40ft one with many rooms as we intend to use it as a B&B aka fishing haven what with the river and the fully stocked pond with catch and release fish Martin plans to have.. anyway, that is for the future.. will try to put up a pic of the land but it is a bit messy now as it has recently been cleared.. not sure if you can make it out..

Anyway, suffice to say that i'm happy, and martin n baby are happy.. oh and i miss my best friend Beatrice who is now in UK.. but i am so happy for her that she has now settled down amicably well. i hope. LOL.. to friendship!

My baby girl can really strike a pose!

Baby is now really huge.. 8.5++ kgs.. 7 mths n a week. she loves smiling for daddy's digital camera.. and cos we can take millions of pics literally, we managed to get these priceless shots!

Let's see.. what other cute things does she do? Hmmm.. she likes to continuously suck in her upper lip, not cos she's hungry, but cos she can! you can't really imagine or appreciate it till u see it live!

Plus she still has this thing about projectile vomiting..haha! she's basically taken up where i left off, cos it's no secret that i puked all the way to the day before she was born at seven months. the amazing bit is that everywhere else is pukified.. while she remains spotless with a silly grin on her face as if saying: "Boy, what a relief!"

Anyway, she can sort of roll to the side now but doesnt quite know what to do with her one arm so consequently cant do the full roll.. she can put up her head as in the pics above and smile for the camera though! and she really loves standing if u hold her up.. in fact she demands to stand so she has a better view of the world.. otherwise the whingy monster in her surfaces and that's never a good thing!

All in all, i know i am super biased when i say i have to most adorable, intelligent and gorgeous babe in the whole wide universe!!!!! Yippee!!!!

263 Metres up in air, KL Tower.. with Petronas Twin Towers in background..

4th Prize for 1st try.. not bad indeed..

This was Martin's first shot at the Sabah International Fishing competition recently (early May) and he managed to get a good placing. Caught some nice fish but nothing as big as the 50kg escolar he caught in last year's Labuan IGFA tournament. My hubby's a winner.. he got me and baby didnt he!!! LOL..

Ashley, Zai, Zana, myself and a sleeping princess..

Just baby and mommy.. a day out in the sunny park..

And this is how you should paddle your feet, baby..