There is a gym in the hotel but the area around the hotel looks to be a popular area for morning jogs. I see people jogging in the area and have taken to do a morning walk. I would get breakfast as early as 5.30am and then go out for a run at around 6.30am. Takes me around 30-45 minutes to go one run and that's good enough. I get to see the area, enjoy the open space, cold breeze and emerging sun.
This is my first experience of entering a restaurants with half dressed ladies in bikinis trying to sell you drinks and food. It's pretty normal and decent place ... nothing shady. But what was surprising to me was seeing families coming here for lunch ... with teenagers and kids. I guess it's so common place here in the US that no one really finds it odd bringing young ones to such a place. Don't matter to me, I'm just enjoying the sights!
I had to take United this trip as United is the major regional carrier in Texas. So it was a gruelling 16 hour flight to San Francisco and then 4 hours to Houston George Bush International before another hour half flight to McAllen airport. Throw in 5 hours of layover and it sums up to a 26 hour journey.
I skipped most of the meals on the first leg ... I don't want to have to go potty on the plane. It was 10pm when I cleared customs at San Francisco so every restaurant was closed. I bought a cold sandwich from a convenience store to get something in the tummy. My first real meal was when I reach Houston. It was like 6am so many restaurants were still close and I had to settle for breakfast from a fast-food joint.
It wasn't all that bad, surely better than anything they served on United economy. I was just happy to get a hot drink and able to stretch out my legs before the next flight. The next one was on a small small plane. They didn't have any space for carry-on so I had to dock my luggage at the door.
Because it was a short flight it didn't ascend into the higher attitudes and I was able to catch sights of the landscape.
I finally landed at McAllen close to noon. The airport was a single storey small airport. I quickly got my carry-on luggage at the plane exit and went hunting for the Hertz counter.
Our maid finally left earlier this week. Thank goodness ... she has been getting more and more toxic over the last couple of years. So with her gone we are revamping the balcony area slightly. We took out the tall Ikea shelving to replace with the Muji ones. And when we moved them, there is a thick layer of dust, hair and whatever else that happen to fall into the tight bottom of the shelves.
I'm trying my best to clean up the area before I fly off to Texas for work on Saturday. It is too difficult for Meimei to be moving all the shelving by herself. She insists she can do it but I'm definitely not going to let her try on her own. It's already bad enough that I'm going to be away for a fortnight during the renovation. So I do what I can before I leave to lessen the burden she has.
The balcony looks so open after moving the shelves away. Well, it's going to get cluttered again once we move the other Muji shelves in but we will try keep it clean and tidy.
No memorable conversations recorded on WhatsApp or notepad this month. As the kids get older it's more of the frustrating teenager attitude from 萱萱. And that usually triggers 阳阳 as well into a meltdown of sorts. Meimei gets the brunt of it and I'm constantly amazed and glad she takes it in stride and continues to try and educate 萱萱 on the right way of things. Many parents would have just gave up and ignored 萱萱 with what she is dishing out.
Every tile except the floor ones goes. The old tiles were still available at Hafary but our ID didn't want us to use the same again. Although he mentions that the tile popping are not due to the tiles but rather the cement mix that was used back in the day. But out of an abundance of caution ... and mostly pan-tang on his part, he advised us against it. So we made several trips to Hafary to pick out the kitchen and toilet tiles. Hopefully the tiler does a better job this time.
The tiler made quick work of the tiles and managed to hack and clean up in just 2 days. We start tiling next week and then probably start carpentry measurements the week after. So exciting!
We had the fridge, washer and dryer moved to the living room so they can start working on the kitchen. To prevent the rest of the house being covered in construction dust, Meimei had a plastic sheet stuck on the beam to protect the dining area and rest of the rooms on the other end.
This is our reality for the next month while the kitchen and common toilet receives an overhaul. Hopefully the renovation can be completed quickly. We purposely chose this period as it's the school holidays for 萱萱.
We started the renovation proper yesterday. They tear down all the carpentry so the hackers can come in to take off the rest of the wall tiles. Once the cupboards came down, you can start to see cockroaches resting on the walls that was originally covered. They don't seem to notice that the cupboards are now gone and they are exposed. Which is a good thing because I went after them and managed to kill 8 of them on the first go. Their carcasses littered the floor and it gave me immense joy to clear them out. 2 of them got away though by darting into the wall tiles. I'll get them over the next few days ... there is very little place they can hide now. We need to exterminate as many as we can before cupboards go up again.
It's unfortunate that our carpentry has been the comfy home the roaches have found and nested in. This explains why we've always had a cockroach problem in our kitchen. Would the new cupboards solve it? Probably not. But for now I can take 'revenge' on them and they have no where to run!
萱萱 qualified for a Education Merit Award this year. It's a small award of vouchers but it helps to motivate students to work harder. So we were at HeartBeat today to collect the award. It was quite a wait for everyone to take their turn to get on stage for the presentation. I guess it's part and parcel of the experience of the kid's schooling years.
The kids were given a box and it's amazing the creative use they came up with. This is exactly how kids should play. They could do better with proper cleanup after building the helmet though but that's asking too much when they are so excited with the helmet.
Meimei has been busy planning on the design and usage of new cupboard we are building in the living room and dining area. It has been stressful for her but I'm glad she is up to it. I would never had plan to such detail. It helps that she has her iPad to doodle and mark all the designs on. Sharing them to show off all the hard work Meimei is putting into our renovation.
It's a joy seeing the kids play and sing together. We all appreciate that YeeYee and XY makes the effort to come over every evening. It gives our kids the chance to interact with XY and basically learn to be big sister and brother.
My parents never have us play with our cousins. On my dad's side it's mostly because my uncles don't get along with each other and that includes my dad. So that follows down to my generation where we are not close at all. I see my cousins maybe once a year at best during Chinese New Year. In some cases, not at all.
Thankfully we are breaking that cycle with our kids. We try to meet my nephews when we go to my parents' place but it's hard to meet up together unless we deliberately plan it. It's always hard when we live 30-40 minutes apart.
The kitchen has been needing fixes for almost a year. The tiles have cracked in some place, some are in danger of falling off the beam and held up with duct tape and other places are starting to show wear and tear. I've been holding out on doing anything drastic and opting to just stick with it.
But it is time. A good bonus this year helps on the decision to invest in a tidy sum for the renovation. Meimei chipped in too to fund the renovation. So instead of making small upgrades, we went for a total overhaul of the kitchen and common toilet. Plus we threw in carpentry for the living room too since we are at it.
We were at Songcho yesterday to look at the kitchen racks and then we went to see sample slaps of Caesarstone at Suntec today. Meimei has always dislike the dark tabletop so we are going with a light one this time. It's fun to run around to shop for stuff.
The things kids do when they are terribly bored. Lol ... I was minding my own business at the dining table when I caught them doing the silly waddle chant and going around mimicking the animals they are singing. Started with the penguin then a duck and they even did a polar bear. It's just so cute to see them do these silly things. They grow so fast, these moments are just so precious.
