It’s the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival in China, a time when people take a break from work and return to their hometowns for sessions of feasting and family gatherings.
For us, this time of the year is usually all about family reunions, food (the one time in the year that mandarin oranges are everywhere!) and red packets. Boleh2 lah the girl’s punya ang pows.. ;-p.
This year, we had a lion dance show at my in-laws’! We were told this one is a team from the group that won the World Championship in China recently. Check out this guy high up there trying to ‘eat the vegetable’. That’s on the upper level of the house! 
It was also great to have some friends from our Small Group join us at the Dinner. Had wonderful fellowship with them.
The girls donned the cheongsam this year. Don’t they look adorable?? 
This year we limited our visiting to just the family reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, the First Day at an aunt’s house & dinner at my in-laws in the evening. With the long holiday break, we wanted to spend the rest of the time just being together. It’s not often we get to be home all together everyday. So this was a good time.
While driving down Penampang road one evening, we caught sight of what looked like a park. We turned in and saw the sign, ‘Rainforest Park’. The first thing the girls saw after that was the playground! Apa lagi, sukanya mereka! So we decided to stop and check it out.
To our delight, we found that overall, the park has a very pleasant surrounding. We saw people jogging, biking and just strolling around the area. It was almost like Tun Fuad Park, except that it isn’t hilly. It was nice to still be able to breathe fresh air in full view of the busy road just next to it! Tapi kenapa they only open from 5-10pm ah??
The playground covered a big space, ranging from what looked like the ‘beginner’ playground to a more ‘advanced’ hang & swing adventurous apparatus. Naturally, the girls were excited to try them out. Every so often, my heart skipped a beat as they try harder manouvers (spell check!) and still make it.
The next day we had dinner with Peng, Bernard and Belinda for a time of catching up. Peng is leaving for further studies in New Zealand, and Bernard’s in town for the CNY. So we headed over to Sedco Open Air restaurant for some seafood. After eating pork and more pork during the festivities, steamed prawns was a welcomed treat! Yum! Here’s Bernard poking fun at Miss Mel.
Overall, we had a good CNY holiday. Of course, New Year celebrations go up to fourteen days where we will once again convene for dinner. Traditionally, Chap Goh Meh is also the day young maidens throw oranges into the sea with the hope to find a good spouse in the year ahead.
Well, thank God Cool Dad is such a wonderful hubby, and I didn’t have to throw oranges to find him. 
)
Happy Harvest Festival to my fellow Natives of Sabah.
I'm Didi. Housewife and Mom of 3. Desperate sometimes. Most times blessed. 
