Sweetest blessings in my life

Taiwan Day 5

2011-12-30T09:51:00.027+08:00

After leaving Cing Jing, we made our way to Tea Plantation.

There, we tasted the flavourful tea biscuits and Oolong & green tea.

We were all sold on the advantages of "yum cha" and all of us bought the tea pack back.

After the "healthy" purchases, we dropped by at Ear Art Resort Village ( 牛耳石雕公园) located at Nantou County Puli Town for lunch.

To digest our lunch, we roamed the park and enjoyed the greens

After a nice walk around the park, we were brought to Miaoli NanZhuang Old Street of Miaoli country in Central Taiwan. Almost every town in Taiwan, there's an old street. It's a fairly short street and the more obvious stuff sold were Osmanthus related food stuff. No wonder it's also named as Osmanthus Alley.

By now, it's late noon and the kids were sooo looking forward to the next destination - Flying Cow Farm. We reached there late evening.

Taiwan - Day 5 (Cing Jing)

2011-12-29T03:23:00.004+08:00

We reached CingJing farmstay late the night before and these are the pictures that was captured on the way up.

There's Starbucks at Cingjing! We stopped over and the kids sipped some hot chocolate from Starbucks to keep themselves warm. It was abt 1 deg then.

Took a half group photo before we went up to our hotel.

Immediately when we arrived at the hotel, the log fragrance lingers the lobby.

Our Dinner

The morning view

The breathtaking view

Taiwan - Day 4

2011-12-29T03:00:00.032+08:00

Set off in the morning to Miaoli Fruit Ranch. There, we enjoyed the fresh crisp air and explored various breed of tomatoes.

We did not pluck the tomatoes. Instead, we chose to buy the tomatoes. Look at the different shapes and sizes of the tomatoes and all tasted sweet.

After the fruit farm, we went for the hot spring. But Seth was adamant about not going down and lucky thing he did not, cos it may be too hot for him. Since daddy tried hot spring in Kobe and Korea before, he "scarificed" to be with Seth. Then again, he said the hot springs he tried in Kobe and Korea had more pools and much much nicer. He's resourceful enough to spot this bumper car area that could entertain Seth while we were soaking away.

After a theraphic sulfuric hot spring, our next stop is neiwan old street. Again, it's filled with street food and we practically ate all the way up and back.

Thereafter, we made our way to CingJing Farm.

Taiwan Day 3 - Ximending

2011-12-29T02:45:00.000+08:00

Day 3 was a F&E day for us. After breakfast @ hotel, we strolled to the train station @ Ximending. This is the whole troupe of us!

We took the MRT, just a stop away to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Departmental Store. When we reached, the store is not opened but there were already many people queuing outside to go in. Their sale must be really worth waiting for.

While queueing, photo taking time! No photos for the rest of the day since we needed to chiong for shopping!

The store was celebrating some anniversary and had good promotions. Some of the happy purchases included:

1. SK-II, the biggest bottle (215ml) @ S$158 after tax rebate.

2. Down feather jackets @ S$40+ each, originally priced at S$150+

Presenting the male models...

and the female ones..

3. Kids' Fila shoes @ S$30 for a pair.

In the evening, Allan's local friend brought us to try their local zhi char for dinner. Zhongyang Shichang (中央市場生猛海鮮) is suppose to be one of several fresh seafood and a reasonably priced restaurants on Changan East Road. Neon signs blast the price to be NT$100. We did not get to see the menu as the friend had helped us pre-order several dishes. I don't really recall that we ate much seafood though. Instead, I think we ate quite a number of Veg dishes.

Anyway, the reason for my "poor" memory was because I wasn't enjoying my meal then. My extremely playful Sky and Issac were swinging the rotating platform on the table and the next thing i knew, the most unimaginable incident happened. He managed to swing it so hard that all the glass on the table smashed to the floor. That made me so angry with him and it totally spoiled my appetite. So that explains the lack of photo and the memory of it.

That's the end of Day 3.

Taiwan Day 2 - Cont'd

2011-12-29T02:00:00.001+08:00

We reached Wufenpu 五分埔 late afternoon, Taipei's biggest wholesale clothing market and started our shopping spree. It is fashion paradise - they follow the latest fashion trends and prices are cheap! If not for the rainy weather, the whole shopping experience would be much much nicer.

Clothes are stacked in bulk and sorted by basket.

While I was happily shopping, DH and kids were happily eating along the way. We really like the fried chicken (NT50) and bought a few packets. Their fried chicken is crunchy and aromatic and with the steamy weather, it just gave the exra oomph feeling! And not forgetting the bubble teas to go along. Extra hands were used to hold umbrella and pushing pram, so no hand to take pictures of food. We shopped for a good whole 3 hours (definitely not enough!!!!) and made our way to our next shopping pit stop - The Raohe Street Night Market, one of the oldest night markets in Taiwan.

On the way there, we spotted a Camel, a HUGE and gentle camel near the MRT station. Am surprised to see a Camel in the city and the kids did lots of posing with it.

We spent another good 2hrs or so shopping and eating at the night market before we made our way back to hotel @ Ximengding.

And guess what? After settling into the hotel and leaving the kids with my mum. A few of us, Gluttons, went out again to find the famous Ah Zhong Mian Xian for supper. We liked it! But since their version does not include oysters it may be a disappointment to those oysters lovers.

While we were eating, we spotted this and it reminds me of the time I used to sling Seth out often. Sooooo cute!

Koi Tea and Gong Cha infamously spread the bubble tea wind across Sg and they were recognised as tea from Taiwan. Yet throughout the whole trip, we never see Koi nor Gong Cha. We tried different brands of bubble tea though.

After vermicelli, we walked along the streets of Ximending and couldn't resist the fragrant from chicken chop again and ended up getting few more packets. SINFUL.

Till tomorrow.

Taiwan Day 2 - Wulai

2011-12-29T01:30:00.000+08:00

Woke up at 7plus to have a simple breakfast at the hotel before setting off to Wulai.

A shot at the hotel before boarding the coach.

Zoomed and we are now in Wulai, taking the Log cart uphill to see the famous waterfall. It's raining and all of us are decked in ponchos except for Seth. Don't mention ponchos, I could hardly get him to wear his winter jacket.

Queueing to take the log ride. It could only take 8pax each trip and so we went up family by family.

The log cart

Got to walk our way up to the waterfalls zone after the log ride.

A shot at the scenery during the ride

Oooh...we reached! We lingered there a while to take all the pictures we wanted.

Browsed through the museum after we had enough of soaking the waterfall experience

A rest at the museum

Boys enjoying their ice-cream.

Somehow, ice-cream is extremely appealing in cold weather.

We gotten the piping hot crispy shishamo (pregnant fish)! No regrets!

We spent the morning there and subsequently took the cart ride back and made our way to the Wulai Old Street.

Buying prunes & ginger sweets.

For lunch, we settled to try various small bites along the market. We were enticed by the soya yellow bean dumplings and the porridge. Not bad, my mum also bought the beans back to sg to cook.

Just right after finishing the dumplings and porridge, the guys hearsaid that the mutton soup at the opposite stall was great. And, yes, we hopped over the other side and tried few more dishes. And yes, we managed to stomach these down. The soup and vege are delicous! Especially the mutton soup, it has no offensive mutton smell. Personally, I don't fancy the prawns much.

Besides the above, we also tried their wild boar sausages that can be found in all street markets.

Spotted another museum at the end of the street and since it's free entry, we swung in to take a look. Within minutes, we "toured" the 3-storey high museum. Ok, we are not much of a historian to appreciate artistic stuff. I vaguely recalled that there's one storey catered to different fabrics.

Taiwan Day 1

2011-12-29T00:25:00.000+08:00

Thurs, 8 Dec 2011, - Taoyuan

Finally, all were well from several bout of bugs and ready for Taiwan. Reached Airport at 11.30am. Our whole troupe of 26 pax went on a tour to Taiwan concentrating central Taipei. God knows when was the last time we joined a tour agency. But due to the geographic nature of Taiwan and the sheer size of our group, we decided to sign up with an agency customised to our needs.

Seth's maiden flight.

By the time we reached Taoyuan International Airport, it's about 8pm in the evening. We quickly set off to the highly acclaimed Shin Yeh @ Tongling. The last order was 9.30pm and we had only an hour to eat and order. It was ala cart buffet and the food quality is excellent and simply scrumptious!

The dessert section. The variety of deserts are mouthwatering.

The huge oyster which I do not know how to appreciate

After eating, we strolled along the streets and went back to hotel happily with our first TW purchase - galore of shoes

Almost three!

2011-12-02T14:32:00.007+08:00

My little imp is going to be three soon and yet he seemed very grown up to me. Now that he's yakking more, I can easily mistaken that he's already 3 and counting. Hence, when he's naughty, he's also being treated as an older kid and gotten ~~cane~~ disciplined accordingly.

When he wants a kiddy ride, instead of asking to be seated on it, he would said, "Mummy, I want money."

Instead of playing with plush toy, he played with beyblade. Sky did not even know what is beyblade until he turned five?

He gave excuses for not going to school. "No school today, because raining." or "I'm sick, can't go school."

He's also my only baby that threw the cane out of the window! When I was looking up and down for the cane, Seth cheekily mentioned that it was out of the window.

Tess (our helper) even told us that she overheard Seth pulling another kid by the shirt in church (just because that kid snatched Seth's toy) and said, "I kill you!"

Seth's stubbornness outdo his two siblings. He absolutely detest shoes and had been swishing and swooshing in his Crocs regardless of any outfit he's in. And I can't simply make him wear other footwear. He's opined on certain things and it's very hard to change his mind.

Yes, that's my little monster!

Kumon vs CMA

2011-12-02T14:20:00.001+08:00

When Shan was K2, she was introduced to abacus through CMA. She likes it alot and it trained her to be mentally ready as it has a segment of listening to the question and jot the answer down. You will see her tweaking her fingers up and down and doing her mental calculations. But when she started P1, we dropped it as it was just galore of numbers. But that kind of served a good foundation for her and she's quick-witted.

For Sky, we decided to try Kumon as we thought he needed extra drilling. His progress was much faster than Shan than we expected. At K2, he was already doing multiplication and division. He's now doing division with remainder, something that Shan had not even touch it in P2 syabllus. Just last week, he proudly brought back a cert and felt upbeat about his achievements. This week, he's struggling with it and complained that he did not want to go Kumon anymore. Should I drop Kumon as he's going to pri school?

Hmmm..which one shall I send Seth to next time..*evil smile*

Sick!

2011-12-02T13:35:00.000+08:00

Except for Shan, almost all of us are feeling under the weather! Seth first caught a virus from school two weeks ago and it went viral. It passed on to his bro and he had bad throat inflammation. Both had fever like yo-yo. One day up and the other day down.

For me, I had never felt so sick all these years! The flu bug developed further into Sinusitis and caused me severe facial pain and headache. Today, things are starting to get back into normalcy. After some bad vomiting the day before, I started to feel lighter and breathe better. Maybe both Sky and Shan were farmed out to grandma and I have some peace in the house. Seth had been well though he was still kept away from school as he still had bad cough. This morning, he struggled to go back to school (whined that he can't go school because he's still sick!)

Next Thursday, we will be flying to Taiwan for holiday and I still can't get into the mood. Pray that we will be up and running for the season of celebration this month!

Long awaited gathering + a date with Disney

2011-11-26T17:12:00.004+08:00

Since our MFL days, we had stuck together and the kids were extremely good buddies. We formed wonderful bonds and have been doing family vacations year after year. The biggest gal of the troupe, Nat, had PSLE and finally when all kids had their exams over, Janice planned a gathering at her place early November. We also had a small birthday celebration for Nat.

In between, we left Shan and Sky there and brought Seth out on a "date" with Bec Bec and tagging along were their mummies of course! Their "couple time" were fancier than their mummy and daddy's! They went to watch Disney Live! at the high class Marina Bay Sands Grand Theatre.

But instead of sitting next to each other, they were stuck at our lap. It was a 80mins show with various characters including Ariel, the mermaid, The Toy Story and Aladdin. The little couple immersed themselves in the musical. For Seth, I doubt he's very much familiar with Toy Story and Aladdin. His eyes were glued to the show though. But each time when Mickey comes out to do a introduction to the next segment, he will get excited.

And during this time, the whole ching gang of guys were at Audi showroom test driving $200 - $600grand Audis!

Ballet Performance

2011-11-20T23:28:00.002+08:00

Last weekend was a tiring one for Shan. She was at SCGS for full dress rehearsal for almost the whole Saturday. On Sunday, she had to be at school by 9am and followed by two performances @ Khoo Auditorium at 2pm and 5pm respectively.

The mission fairies

Supportive brothers!

Seth starting on new journey!

2011-11-09T01:19:00.002+08:00

With my decision to go back to work, our original plan to let Seth attend Sky's kindy was cancelled. In fact, we had already registered him and before Seth could start, we had to withdraw him and forfeit the deposit made. We totally love CWK but weighing other considerations (aka, do not want Seth to get too close to our helper :p), we contemplated putting Seth in a CC instead. It was just timely when a new CC opened just within 2 mins walk away. After a visit during the open house, it wasn't too hard for us to decide to switch Seth to there.

We prayed for smooth transition to the new school and it was indeed so. Although Seth sobbed a teeny while when we left, teacher mentioned that he got over it quickly and participated in all activities. For the first three days, teacher let Daddy accompanied him till assembly time and these are the pictures took by him.

Seth so looking forward to go school.

This was taken on the 2nd day and he knows where to put his bottle!

Having breakfast

Play Time

Now, the only thing he hasn't get used to is taking a nap in the school. Usually at home, Tess would carry him and pat him to his nap. Last Friday, he merely took 15mins of nap. When Tess brought him home at 5pm, he complaint to her that Teacher never carry him to sleep and was tired. He promptly fell to sleep when he reached home.

Today, when I fetch him from school and while walking home, I asked if he took his nap. He cheekily mentioned that he do not want teacher to carry him. He requested for Mummy or Aunty to carry him to sleep! At 8pm, he announced that he was tired and slept! Study is tough. Long way to go, Seth!

Sky's Concert

2011-11-05T11:41:00.001+08:00

Thanks to another mummy who sat nearer to the stage and managed to take some videos of the concert.

Can hear Sky loud and clear at the start of K2 Victory's show

Musical Play

2011-11-05T11:34:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since I brought the kids to a play. Since Shan's exam had ended, decided to bring her and Sky to watch the musical play, The Elves and the Shoemaker produced by I Theatre. The kids relished every part of the play. As usual, the kids bugged to buy some books displayed and as usual, I couldn't resisted myself from buying a few.

Sky 毕业了!

2011-10-29T23:12:00.002+08:00

Sky went through his very first graduation ceremony cum year end concert today. The theme is about LOVE and how aptly as it's also the theme of the season for our church. It started with the opening address and opening prayer by the Chairman and pastoral staff of The Bible Church. The grand Graduation Ceremony then follow suit. The K2 graduands strutted up the stairs and sang a song. Seeing Sky donning the graduation gown stirred the emotional feeling within me. He's still so babyish to me and yet seeing him in his gown collecting his cert, it dawn on me that he will be going into another phase of his life soon.

After the cert collection, the graduands sang another praise song and followed by a prayer for the Graduands by another kindy board member.

Unlike his talkative Sis, Sky usually do not talk much about school. He did not even share a word about the items he's performing for the year end concert except that he played the horse part. For a while, I assumed that it was acting rather than dancing. When I asked him to do the dance at home, he lamented that it's difficult for him to dance as it requires team effort. They sang quite a number of songs and he did not even sing a tune for me! What I did not expect was that he was representing his class to do a 开场白. Imagine our surprise when he came out with his classmate fronting the audience doing a tongue twister of sort while his classmate beat the time with the musical instrument. And this was done in Mandarin! Gosh, this potato can actually enunciate the words so clearly! He's actually very cool about it, no sweat! We are all so damm proud of you, Sky!!

K2 Victory boys proudly presents "我爱校园"

Ending pose

Grand Finale

Better years await ahead of you, Sky!

Fidgets

2011-10-29T01:23:00.001+08:00

With a promising sunny morning, we had initially planned for an action-pack Pulau Ubin cycling trip on Deepavalli. Yet, like the previous days, the heavy downpour in the noon washes away our plans. With this kind of weather, it's nice to have a indoor playground where the kids could still let off their energy.

We decided to go Fidgets @ Turf City since Seth had never been there before. Boy, he had lotsa fun. He zoomed in and out and we had a hard time to capture him on camera.

Trial lesson @ Bibinogs

2011-10-29T00:33:00.001+08:00

Two Saturdays ago, Seth had a trial Mandarin enrichment @ Bibinogs located at Serene Centre. I was enticed by the fact that Bibinogs incorporated Hanyu Pinyin in their Mandarin class as young as 1yo.

It was a 1.5hr session and we were slightly late but the kids were still doing free play. The free play lasted for about 15-20mins before the proper lesson start. The lesson started with intro and Seth was able to pronounce his Chinese name (with some prompting from me of cos!) and pasted his name against his preferred car. They went on to do a few rhymes and story time before proceeding to the table to do some art & craft.

Followed after the craft work was snack time. I remembered reading the web that the kids would be given organic snacks but they were given Honey Stars. Not that i mind but it's 货不对版.

After snacks, they had some playtime before ending class with the reciting of hanyu pinyin and collecting stickers. Without saying, Seth and some other kids couldn't really understand and rattle along.

The teacher blowing bubbles

Behind Seth was the nicely pasted Hanyu Pinyin

I was not very impressed with the programme as it seems a lot of the items are "touch and go". What made it worse was that there was simply no staff to entertain your queries and after waiting a while, I just walked off. Seth is spared from other enrichment till further notice :)

Oooo, Exam over!

2011-10-24T22:37:00.001+08:00

Finally, it was over and I meant the Exams! Shan is only in P2 and experiencing her first serious exam in her two years of Primary School life. I was stressed and I think she was stressed that I was stressed. Anyway, I am glad that it's over now and ~~she~~ I can relax. I cannot imagine when it's PSLE time. I think I would not be able to sleep well. Oh yes, I think I would not need to wait long. Think Sky's "in his own world" attitude would definitely drive me crazy. I would have to start preparing him now!

Kiasu mummy signing off.. :)

Bookmarks!

2011-10-04T02:16:00.003+08:00

A friend of mine is manning a booth to sell children art pieces for charity (Sanctuary House) at Sunset Way Park this coming Saturday, 8 Oct.

She enlisted Sky's help to produce some bookmarks which he enthusiastically drew some (with the help of an art book borrowed from the library). Hope it's of "sellable" standard.

Seth's Favourite Book

2011-09-28T01:37:00.000+08:00

Seth absolutely adores this book. I remembered the two elder ones used to enjoy this classic as well. This is an old classic and it's so lovely to read to the kids. I spotted it in the library and borrowed it. And Seth never gets tired of listening to this story and demanded to be read to day and night. I guess I had read it at least 20 times and counting until I returned it!! Seth gotten so upset when his favourite book was gone. But all thanks to You Tube!

Botanic Gardens

2011-09-28T00:47:00.001+08:00

For a while, the kids had been cycling at West Coast Park. They finally shouted "BORING" and wanted to try new places to cycle. So last Saturday, we brought them to the next nearest park, Botanic Gardens. Initially, we thought of letting them cycle in Jacob Ballas Children Garden. And lucky we did not do so cos bicycles and scooters are not allowed in Jacob Ballas.

The kids cycled around the Swan Lake for a while, looked at the resident swans and are back at cycling for a more while before we went to Jacob Ballas. Shan & Sky are avid cyclists by now and we pretty much leave them to cycle on their own while we were with Seth who roamed around in the greens.

Recently, upgraded Sky's bike to the 18" and more horse power! He's loving it!

Seth looking abit grumpy cos he had no other choice but to take Shan's hand me down PINK tricycle.

Seth decided that running around and chasing the doves is a better idea than to be seen in a PINK tricycle.

After Shan and Sky were tired from riding round and round the Swan Lake, we then proceeded to Jacob Ballas. They played around the sand area for a while and we called it a day after they wetted themselves at the water play.

1 year on...

2011-09-24T13:10:00.002+08:00

I have made it, being one year as a homemaker! Do I miss the corporate world? Yes, I miss checking on corporate emails, the adrenaline of rushing for deadline, the joy of being recognised for the effort you put in your job, the comfort of $$$ deposited in your bank monthly, the laughter and gossips while having lunches with colleagues. Thou shall not talk about the negative aspects of it!

During this one year, I ~~watched~~ scrutinised my kids every moment, shared happenings in their lives. I "snatched" Seth back to me. He was quite close to Tess (our helper) and sticky about having her to carry him instead of me! I bonded with them. I became their GPS, direct and steer them to the right direction and almost trying to instill values in various conversations we had. I was enjoying my "tai-tai" life and yet felt a sense of un-fulfillment. I started to reflect and pray for directions.

This one day, I happened to flip the Saturday "Recruits" page, something that I would do on Saturday if I had the leisure time to read the papers. This position in the paper attracted me enough to get me sit in front of my PC wanting to send my resume. However, the application is done via online and I had to input seven section about me ranges from personal data to employment history. As I was filling up the info, I was wondering it was done in the name of fun (to test my marketability) or I'm ready to enter back to workforce.

Within a month, I got the interview and almost immediately after the second interview, I got the offer! It was timed so appropriately as I was given time to sign the appointment letter and only to start work after the September school holiday. It happened in a flash as this was the first and only job I applied. I contemplated if I should really be accepting the offer. First, Sky is going P1 next year. Have I prepared him enough? What about the holiday planned for the year end? Can I take leave since I just started work? Church retreat? Childcare for Seth? Shan going P3 next year, would it be a tougher year for her? I had not check out other jobs yet?!

Both hubby and I felt peace after praying and given many clear indication from God, I took up the offer! Things fell in place naturally. I was given many assurance that the kids transited well and still doing good despite me going to work. Almost every to-do list given to the kids were completed. Ok, I admit I am kiasu. I just can't stand the kids skiving and watching TV. Other than Shan who recently gotten her Star Pupil Badge, Sky especially surprised me. His tasks are completed duly (he used to whine a fair bit). I thought nothing of it when one fine day, I was showering Sky and he asked me if I knew why he does his work so fast and well recently. He then followed on to say it was because he had led God into his heart! Woah, I was amazed! Later on then I found out that his church kindy school counselor on a regular basis invites willing students to give personal bible story and kind of led them to receive Christ.

Looking back, I believe God had put me at home the last one year to lay the ground works. I was also able to handle the kids with the Daddy doing SOT early part of this year. I can imagine my mum (who's a non-believer) feeling uncomfortable with the many sessions of mock up cell and preaching done at our place if she was around to take care of the kids then. On a personal level, I was excited because I could tithe again and our Church's Arise and Build is starting soon. Hmmm, this must be partly why God gives me such clear direction that I could start work now. :p

Timing is so puuuuurfect! All glory to HIM!

Star Pupil Badge

2011-09-12T09:38:00.000+08:00

Shan in her super high spirit, ecstatically called me to report that she was awarded the Star Pupil Badge. It was a goal she had set for herself beginning of this year and it was a great milestone for her. I was overjoyed too but got to suppress it since I was not at home.

Frankly, I wasn't sure what was the selection criterion. What I briefly understood from her was as long you are a Monitor/Monitoress, you naturally qualify. Aside from that, I guess would be the form teacher's assessment of your overall character and academic results. In fact, her class already had 8 students with the badge. This semester, she's the only one in her class to be awarded. It was a heart pumping session for her as she need to collect it from the P at the stage during assembly time.

Shan, Mummy is very very proud of you!

Mooncake Festival

2011-09-09T16:52:00.000+08:00

Wendy and I knew each other since we were living in Yew Tee days. We knew each other when we brought our kids down to the playground. The thing about being mothers is that one can identify with each other easily over a common topic and click instantly. For us, our friendship lasted and it happened that when we moved over to Clementi, not too long after, they moved over to Clementi as well.

Now, the kids are also good friends as they meet quite often since they shared some enrichment classes together. We decided to celebrate lantern festival together and the kids enjoyed the evening with the sparklers, holding lantern and playing at the playground!

Batam

2011-09-07T15:58:00.000+08:00

After two days of rest from Bkk, settling the kids and making sure that kids had Teachers' Day gifts given out, we were off to another 2D1N getaway to Batam (without the kids again! Ok, we are not abandoning you, baobeis! You will be in for a good time year end, I promise). We bought this Batam package from Deal and it included Paintball (Range kind), Flying Fox, a 1-hr massage and a breakfast and lunch.

Our Travel buddies

The disappointed paintball session. We were expecting to play in a field and not just a shooting gallery. Got to be realistic for the price we paid! Anyway, for me, whether it's moving or stagnant target, it makes no difference. I can't hit it anyway! :D

We enjoyed the flying fox activity!

After these two activities, we were brought to our hotel and given welcome drink.

Our first lunch at the nearby seafood restaurant!

After the heavy lunch, we proceeded to the nearby provision shops within the vicinity and ta bao 9 packs (5packets in a pack) indomie back! It only costed around S$1 per pack! Cheap Cheap! Good for Tess who prefers cooking maggie mee if she's eating alone. So, each meal costs only $0.20. Where to find!? We also bought some tibits to munch along the way. We are really gluttons! And luckily, all of us share the same hobby of eating!

Afterwhich, we headed back to our hotel for a one-hour long Thai cum Oil massage! Next, we went to Nagoya Hill Shopping Centre. Nothing much to shop there, stuffs were not nice and not cheap. The only thing that is value for money is Wacoal lingerie! Similar pricing to Bkk! Despite the fact that I already got some in Bkk, I have to buy more to satisfy my shopping addiction. But not only us ladies, the men each got new underwears too!

After shopping, it's back to our favourite activity again, EATING! We settled dinner at Food Street in the mall. Ayam Penyet Ria caught our eyes and according to Allan, there is also one branch in Lucky Plaza.

It's cheap! Think it costed $2 or something like that. But the portion is rather small also. So, after topping up with a full glass of yummy Avacado milk shake, it can't really fill any part of your stomach.

Since A&W is now defunct in SG, we had to buy curly fries to satisfy our A&W cravings. It's rather costly and to our disappointment, the fries were cold and soft. To add insult, it was a pretty long wait for just these packets of "fast food" even though the restaurant looked pretty empty.

Fruit Salad

After eating, we shopped some more and went for more FOOD and in fact, more scrumptious FOOD. And during these time that we kept eating, my dear hubby kept LS-ing. Possibly from over eating in BKK. That did not stop him from eating though.

Black pepper crab

My first time trying locust prawn. It's juicy and nice but rather difficult to un-shell it.

Lobsters!

We finally finished eating at close to midnite and retired to our own rooms. For Day 2, we had a not-so-fantastic breakfast and lunch that came along with the package. The noon itinerary was mainly following the tour coach to see wholesale shop, fire and glass eating men and kueh lapis shop.

In the midst of it, the guys enjoyed a game of Go-Kart.

We ended the trip with the guys spending their last dollars doing shampoo and massage in a salon before we headed home sweet home.

Sky's solo performance

2011-09-07T03:59:00.001+08:00

Sky made his first maiden solo performance during his Kindy's Teacher's Day dedication concert. He passed the audition and was chosen to perform on Teacher's Day. The audition wasn't that smooth sailing actually. On the day of the audition, he blew it and totally blanked out. The teacher in charge called and said that Sky did not sing a thing. She mentioned that she would give Sky another chance the next day and if he still did not sing, he wouldn't be able to perform. After some praying and a small prep talk that he could do it, he gamely went for another try. The teacher subsequently called to say that he was in for the dedication concert.

Ok, Sky is not outspoken by nature. When I was working in my ex organisation, I cringed whenever I had to present to a large crowd. So, to sing in front of the whole school, I definitely can't do it. So, even comparing to one chap who sang Justin Bieber's most famous number "Baby",

or another one who had to recite 三字经,

Sky's simple song is really nothing to shout about. But to me, it's really BRAVO and a job well done!

Shopping, Eating, Massaging!

2011-09-05T02:34:00.003+08:00

Ooooh..back from a week of holiday! In fact, after a three full days of chionging in BKK, we had to have another relaxing getaway in Batam to beat the exhaustion. Endless eating, endless shopping and the heavenly massages (some were not that great though)! This time, we did not take much photos. Mostly, by the time we remembered to take pictures, we were halfway digging into our food.

We went back to our usual and must go haunts:
1. Ban Khun Mae @ Around Siam Square ~Authentic Thai food~
The mango salad, fish, tom yam soup and the desserts were superb!

2. Mount Fuji @ Siam Paragon ~Excellent Jap food at a friendly price~
The half finished food shown below really did injustice to the glorious things that we stuff into our stomach! We had much much much more than these.

3. TK&K Seafood @ Chinatown ~Succulent seafood~
Sorry no pics. We had our "dinner" there around 11plus after a Thai massage. It was too late and some items like squid were not available. Sad! Still, we took crabs and other stuffs.

4 Bird nests and Shark Fins @ Chinatown ~passable for thb300 / S$12
We had these after our dinner. Goodness, how sinful!

5. Vacum packed four guavas in cane juice from Siam Paragon back to Sg. In fact, Siam Paragon gourmet market is rather similar to the food hall at Takashimaya. Of course, the varieties offered are different and much cheaper!! This time, the kids enjoyed the guavas as much as we do.

We had dim sum lunch at our Anorma Hotel too. In my opinion, you can give it a miss.

Last year, the guys tried two tailors and they went back to this guy which is located at Sukhumvit Soi 11. He may not offer the best price in town but the quality and designs are rather superior. The shirts came up to about S$40+ with many details such as different materials for trimmings and initials sewn on.

We spent one and a half day at Platinum Mall. We were misson focused. Guys and ladies went separate ways. Guys were recalled when our hands were full and needed them to take over our purchases. :)) Just a year different, Platinum had another extension with another five levels of shopping! When you buy two or more pieces in the same shop, the price would be labelled as "wholesale price" and relatively cheaper. Being liked minded, when one of us found an item in a particular shop, another would also manage to spot another item from the same shop. So, we often bought the items at wholesale price. It's not only the ladies but the guys too!

The vain guys

Till next year!

SOT Graduation

2011-08-27T13:33:00.001+08:00

Daddy has finally completed his six months intensive walk with God last Sunday. He has graduated from School of Theology (CHC bible school) last Sunday. No, Daddy is not switching his career to be a church worker nor he is aiming be a pastor. He went with the intention to root himself deeper in his walk with Christ. The year before, his business partner cum buddy attended SOT while he concentrated to manage his team and this year, vice versa. It's really a blessing that both servants of God can work together with shared vision and similar teachings.

During these six months, he had to
- finish reading the entire bible (he's still trying to complete....shhhh...)
- read 10 books and complete the books reviews (few books went untouched...shhhh...)
- prepare for preaching tests
- prepare worship and lead mock cell group
- involve in ministry practicum (He chose Kids@Play as his ministry and how aptly! Because he needed to reach the church early to set up and sanitise the playground, Shan and Sky also chipped in their part to serve! Through this, the kids understand the hard work behind each nice facade)
- complete one misson trip

Seriously, without God's grace, he wouldn't been able to do it. He's one guy that doesn't really read. Newspapers is all he manages and sometimes only the "Money" section. The only stuff he read is probably financial news and information. Once he hit the books, his head would swing all over the place. God is really needed in this area to perk him up in order to read.

And because of his faithfulness, God never fail us. How possible that with one breadwinner studying and another one staying at home, we can still feed the family of 6 (including our helper!)? But God is good (all the time), just into one week of his course, he closed few business deals that were worth six months' of family expenditures!

Over these six months, he was like a ~~father~~ brother to his teammates. He was put in this team where the mean age of the members is only 20s. He was perplexed initially why he was put together with a bunch of young chaps. But God had his plan, he knew that he was badly needed in this team to counsel and help some of them in financial means and provide stability to the team.

As for me, the wifey, at times, I would grumble on some of his actions - on why he needed to open our house for preaching tests and mock cells (that may disrupt the kids), on why he spent time on certain member that seemed so lost, on why he's forever so generous. But during these time, we communicated better and because of these many virtues, (that sometimes i treated as vices), I appreciated him better and knew how blessed I am. Our relationship grew a notch higher with more communication and the kids learnt more life lessons through his sharing. Congrats Daddy, for earning this due Advance Certificate of Theology. The kids were especially proud to see their Daddy donning the graudation gown and motar board.

The kids with Kids@Play teachers

On screen

On stage

My Mum and Sis came down to give their support too! Have been inviting them to church on few occassions and church mega events but they also refused. Hmmph..Thank god that they came this time round.

The two bestest CGL, Xueling and Allan. They really complement each other nicely. They were in fact more than Cgl to us. Allan and Joanna are also our movie buddies and we are often out on couple dates. Jason also discuss with XL on industry movements (She and Eric were also in the same industry as Daddy). Both couples are our very good family friends!

Our Cg and Daddy's team at work!

Another Art Competition

2011-08-24T19:43:00.000+08:00

Happening at the other part of the Island on the same Saturday morning, Daddy had to bring Sky for Lantern Painting Competition at Chinatown arranged by his art school. This event was organised by Kreta-Ayer CCC and the kids would have to display their creativity on the lanterns provided.

Daddy said Sky took a long time and paying close attention to finish painting the grass round the whole lantern. By the time he completed the grass, his energy level depleted by half. LOL!

Cadence - A Celebration of Chinese Dance

2011-08-24T09:36:00.001+08:00

National Arts Council organised a platform to promote the appreciation and showcase of Chinese dance. NHPS's Chinese dance is one of its strongest CCA and has been winning Gold Award in Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) competitions. Along with other award-winning schools such as Yishun Pri, PHPPS, Anderson Sec, NTU, Dunman High, Hwa Chong and NAFA team, NHPS was invited to participate. It was held at NAFA Lee Foundation Theatre last Saturday with two shows at 3pm and 8pm respectively. Tickets were sold via Sistic at $10 each. Since I volunteered to be Mummy helper (helping the girls with their make up and hair-do), I was entitled a free ticket. Daddy, to show his support, rushed down after church (he got to be part of the SOT cohort which was graduating the weekend) and purchased tickets to see the show.

Gathered at school early in the morning at 9am wearing costume, doing make up and hair do

Waiting for bus to go NAFA

Given the VIP Reception Room

Shan and her friends. Those P5s were more "siong" as they have upcoming exams the following Monday.

Doing stretching before the show. Looks tough to me :p

Group photo of the girls

Shan with her teachers (whom are in charge of Chn dance). The one on the right is also her class Art Teacher. Interestingly, at one stage during break time, the girls were getting too rowdy and nosiy. To "punish" them, the teacher asked them to recite 三字经 and 月光光 (in Cantonese). I was pleasantly surprised that all the students were able to just recite it on the spot. I guess that's how the school builds up the Chinese culture.

Snap shots of various dance teams

We finally reached home at 11 and Shan felt torturous that she could not immediately jump on the bed. By the time she washed up, she could not even open her droopy eyes. I doubt she even knows that I was blow drying her hair. What a long day!

New Toy

2011-08-16T14:37:00.001+08:00

Shan got a pair of roller blades from Godma and Aunty Alice as birthday gift. Not possible for Sky to just drool and watch Shan blade alone, we got a pair for him too. As usual, we went back to our favourite haunt for them to practice their blading skill. And, as expected, Sky mastered it in no time. For Shan, her bum worked as hard too. Oh yes, must also give Seth his due credits. He worked as a bait for his Gor Gor and Jie Jie to catch him and in a way accelerated their learning curve.

Happy Birthday Shannon!

2011-08-13T03:06:00.002+08:00

Dear Shannon

Times files. You are now 8 yrs old! When you were a 18month old toddler, you think the world of Barney and Hi5. Now, you hum to the songs of Tayler Swift and Justin Bieber. You have since switched your ambition from being an air-stewardess, ballet teacher, fashion designer to the most recent, POP STAR! It's also because of you, I hope I have become a better MOM than 8 years ago. Of course, every stage and every year is different, So, I guess, I will be doing trials and errors as a mom for long.

You were once very "xiao jie". Now, you started to explore the world of your own and even completed the whole Tree Top walk without any whining. You have started to ditch those pretty dresses for pants so that your actions could be louder and bigger. Your vocabulary now amazes me because of your intensity of reading. Maybe because you are a first born, you aim to be first at everything, and suffer dreadful melt-downs if you're not. It comes in handy when we are trying to encourage you to achieve certain goals . I can only hope that this competitive spirit is one of the traits that gets you where you want to be in the future. Being Mummy and Daddy's only girl, you hold a very special place in our heart. And you are always ultra sweet, you wrote and drew various love notes to us when we were away for holidays or even when Daddy and Mummy are out for a date, we would come back with your love note hung at the door waiting for us. We kinda of treat it as a norm now and expect love notes every time we are away.

What gets into us is your love-hate relationship with your brother. While mostly, I try to leave you two to settle on your own first, your buttons are often being pushed and led to some undesirable explosion. Yet, the other minute when you have some goodies, you would never fail to leave some for your brother. I guess you may have felt that our love for you has somewhat reduce because of your two cheeky brothers. But God has enlarged our capacity to love.

You are sweet, determine and a young feisty girl. You are bubbly and yet emotionally sensitive. You talk a lot and you are not shy about it. With the gift of gab, your Daddy even strongly believes that you could follow in his career footsteps. But now that you wish to be a pop star, we will see how we could support your dreams. Since you love to dance and God has given you this gift, we are sure that if you continue to work hard and you should not be too far from your dreams.

Happy 8th birthday, Shannon. Please don't grow up too fast. :D

Love you always
Mummy

Happy Birthday Singapore!

2011-08-10T19:42:00.006+08:00

In celebration of National Day, entry to all the museums are free for the whole month of August. On Singapore's birthday, together with Ah Ma and Ah Yi, we made a trip to Singapore Art Museum to check out the Art Garden (Interactive contemporary art for children).

We went to the first station, "Mummy Dearest". This station is make up of a giant cake and cut-out paper dolls. The kids had full reign putting up decos for the cake and clothes and shoes for the paper dolls. Seth loved this station very much!

Seth and his work

Just around the corner is the next station, "Go", where the kids could drop a basket full of large coloured chips into the column. With lots of creativity, you could create many images. We noticed that many took photograph of their completed picture and pin it up on the gallery.

But there were also many kids, along with ours who just dropped the chips down without much thinking and coordinating.

The next corner is "Superhigh" where kids could glide the colourful stools and match them to their spots. The colours are so vibrant and loud. It just make you feel happy! No wonder, it's called "Superhigh"

Seth and Sky gliding them aimlessly!

Just behind "Superhigh" is another small station "Lightning Action". It's filled up with many plain white boxes. With the projector shone on it, the plain boxes are now given a name.

We went on to the next station, "Dancing Solar Flowers". The lively solar-powered mechanical flowers were moving gently in response to the indoor lights. Sky managed to PR with the security guard there and gotten the guard to take out his torch light to show them how some still flowers moved.

In the middle of the station sat two elephants. Kids could obtain stickers from the counter and decorate the elephants with the colourful stickers.

The kids signed up for a "Fun with cupcakes" workshop. While waiting for the workshop, we explored the remaining three stations namely "Paramodelic Graffiti", "Tree of Love" and "Fruits". At the "Fruits" station, kids could create their favourite paper fruit and keep it as souvenir. Sky was fascinated at the "Parmodelic Graffiti" station and he was upset that the train tracks building workshop was full.

The chapel was also showing various sets of film screenings for Ages 2 and up, Ages 4 and up, Ages 6 and up and Ages 8 and up. The kids caught some films before the workshop too! Seth watched till he fell asleep there!

The kids had fun decorating the "cupcakes" made from crushed newspapers and cotton wool.

Showing off their finished products.

While we were touring SAM, Allan, Joanna and family were touring Asian Civilisations Museum. We arranged to meet for dinner. Ooo..Seth sneaking a view at Bec Bec.

It's National Day after all and what could be a better way to end the night was of course to appreciate the fireworks! By chance, as we parked our car over at Shaw Tower, we realised that the carpark is one of the hot spot to catch fireworks!

Rider's Cafe

2011-08-07T00:39:00.002+08:00

After a strenuous morning last Saturday, we took it easy this morning and dropped by at Riders Cafe at Bukit Timah Saddle Club after Shan's class. Basically, other than the cafe, the rest of the area is cordoned off for members only. Oh yes! Pony rides at $10 are available too but only on Sunday 10am - 1pm.

There were quite a number of foodie blogs recommending this place for it's brunch menu but since it's an impromptu Saturday morning decision, we did not think of doing any reservations. And boy! it was crowded. But, thanks to a last minute cancellation by some other patron, we gotten a table fairly quickly. I wanted to try the famous fluffy pancakes and only to know that pancakes are only offered during Weekdays menu.

The occasional appearance of horses prancing along delighted the kids as we were savouring the hearty breakfast. With a very full tummy, we explored the place around before heading back.

I like this best..the french toast were so soft and had a tinge of vanilla fragrance

Scrambled egg and sausage toast..nothing to shout about

We were sitting just beside this sculpture.

This barren tree is so picture perfect.

Behind the netted fence were the horsies!

Riding School which Shan and Sky asked if they could enrol in

Riders Cafe

51 Fairways Drive
Bukit Timah Saddle Club
Tel: 6466 9819

HSBC Tree Top Walk

2011-08-03T10:18:00.001+08:00

On last bright Saturday morning, Shan gotta be at Forum for her piano aural practice at 8am. While she was in the class, Sky and Seth were enjoying brekkie from Macs.

We decided that it was a good morning to complete the unfinished Tree Top Walk (hmmm, few years ago?). So, as soon as the class was over, we drove to the destination.

Began the walk bright and cheery!

Seth was carried throughout the hiking walk. He came down for guest appearance aka photo taking only!!

Water break

400m to go

Look at Sky's shag face

Can't smile already

But this 公子哥 is different. Having ~~walked~~ carried for 800m, he's still as bright and cheery as before.

250m on..

Sky started to whine: "Daddy, can you piggy-back me".

Yeh! Finally reached

Still being carried

Spotted this cute little monkey on our way back

The kids were extremely worn out by the walk but...

this 公子哥who hasn't lift a leg was completely knocked out!

Women are GEMS

2011-08-02T13:53:00.000+08:00

A friend sent me this ^_^

****
Whatever you give a woman, she will make it greater.

Give her sperm, she will give you a baby.

Give her a house, she will give you a home.

Give her groceries, she will give you a meal.

Give her a smile, she will give you her heart.

She multiplies & enlarges what is given to her.

So if you give her crap, be ready to receive a ton of sh*t!

***

Teachable Moments

2011-08-02T13:43:00.002+08:00

Being a SAHM has its up and downs. Despite being on the job for a year already, I am still thinking if this is the direction that God is leading me. One minute, I will be treasuring the bonding time I have with the kiddos, the other minute, I will be flipping through the recruits and look for opportunities that I think I should have a go at it. I still harbour the thoughts of going back to work, reason simply, I like to stay relevant in the marketplace and having intellectual engagements (instead of "Do your homework", "A" for Apple, "B" for Boy and Poo Poo talk with Seth. But come to think of it, aside from toileting language, Seth don't really know other baby language compared to his Gor Gor and Jie Jie. Shan and Sky used to ask for "neh neh". But for Seth, he will ask for "Milk" or in a super good mood "Milk, please, Mama/ Aunty!"). Anyway, I thank God that there are always little moments at home where I could teach and mould them in their character.

******
As a mother, you have this thing called "Mother's instinct". And so last Tuesday, I immediately picked it up when she came home with a guilty-stricken look. To cut the story short, she later confessed in tears that she skipped her Chinese Dance practice the day before. The reason why she skipped was because her friend asked her to do so, so that they could have the free time to play. Anyway, I have heard enough about this girl from Shan and she seemed to be a bad influence.

Trying to contain my poise, I did not lecture her. Looking at her, she already knew her consequences. Her Chinese Dance teacher asked what happened to her the day before and her so called "Good Friend" played out on her. She's in the school team and they are preparing hard for the coming concert and SYF 2012. To be in school team, discipline is definitely a must! I believed that since that incident, she knew her responsibilities and consequences to any wrong-doing. She later seek God's forgiveness during praying time and I thanked God for her courage to own up as well as prayed for discernment in friendship and wisdom to do right at all times. From this incident, I also learned that I should not stopped praying for protection against accidents, injury or disease. I should go on further to pray for
wisdom upon her to choose godly friends or one that would never compromise integrity and have any immoral influence.

Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed"

*****
I'm not one mummy that stop the kids from eating junk food cos I'm one junkie myself. My only rule to the kids is that they have to finish their main meals before they are allowed to snack. One of those days, Shan mentioned that she could not finish her lunch. I was fine with it and put aside her lunch. About two hours later, Shan was doing her work and I casually picked up a pack of chips to eat it (I had forgotten about her unfinished lunch). Shan's most immediate reaction was "Mummy, can I go out to finish my lunch?" She finished her remaining half bowl of lunch promptly and hopped in to share the chips.

No teaching and nagging required. Super effective packet of chips!

Rocky The Baby Panda

2011-08-01T10:03:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday, Seth had a date with Bec Bec at Esplanade watching a 40 minutes play - Rocky The Baby Panda. It was interactive with familiar rhymes. The kids enjoyed hi-5ing the butterflies, panda and putting up the "bamboo shoots" during the show. Bec, especially is more responsive to sing to the rhymes.

The next PLAYtimes! is Oh, What a Noisy Zoo! It sounds fun and I will likely bring Seth to the play again.

While the young ones are enjoying the play, Allan brought Shan, Sky and baby Danielle to explore the esplanade library. Shan later expressed that the library do not have her usual selection of books and "boring" in her standard.

MBS

2011-07-28T10:45:00.002+08:00

Last Saturday, Alice's granny got a room in MBS and asked us to go over for a swim as well to catch the fireworks. As daddy was not around (away for mission trip in Bandung), I was still hesitating if I should go. But, it was a too good a chance to miss and I am sure the kids would enjoy it. We set off at 5pm. That's when the eventful journey started.

The gungho me not very well verse with routes and often directionless, whooshed the kids in the car and made our way to MBS. I do know the route to Suntec but super unfamiliar with the entrance to MBS. But I thought, what the heck, GPS could do wonder. But the silly me, not sure what did I do with the settings, ended up turning the GPS into driving stimulating experience mode and I was trapped when I went past Marina Square. Traffic was heavy and not knowing where to turn or stop, I literally go wherever there's "road". The joke of the day is when Shan woke up from her nap and asked Mummy why are we in Ang Mo Kio!! Little did she know that, Mummy had went past KPE, Orchard and finally reached AMK. Of course, on the way, I tried to make out what was happening to the GPS and swearing at it. Finally, after praying over the GPS, I managed to stumble into "Settings" and switched it back to "On" mode. Holy ghost, it was in "off" mode all the while!! Sign, I missed my man so much :p

Anyway, with GPS's help, we were back safely in MBS by 6+ (stopped by the the Shoppes and Johnny took over the wheels to drive into the carpark. Alamak! Just had to turn right from where I stopped).
After wowing at the room, the kids quickly got changed and dashed to the pool. It was totally awesome to swim with a breathtaking view.

Seth's happiness was short lived cos a while later, he was scared and trembled when the deafening jets flew past right above our heads. Sky was a happy man though to catch the helicopters and jets in action.

Seth not willing to go down the pool thereafter!

Sign, terrible setting on the DSLR and couldn't capture the night scene nicely. Another reason why I could not do without my man :p

Awww...the fireworks made the driving worth!

Coming to terms with death

2011-07-26T16:53:00.000+08:00

Last Friday, Shan came back from school feeling rather down and tired. It was also a short day for Sky as his school was celebrating Racial Harmony Day. Thus, I invited Sky's friend (with his mum) over for some playtime. Since, I had guest, I did not mind Shan too much. After a short while, I realised she was sooo tired that she was lying on the bed. It was very unlike the usual routine and I was concerned that she was not feeling well. Alas, she told me that her school teacher which is also one of her subject teacher, passed away and she had no mood to eat. By the time our guest went off, Shan was already fast asleep in her uniform. She had a brief one hour nap before she had to get ready for her Berries class.

On my way back from her class, Shan's form teacher called and informed me about the demise of the teacher. I had no idea until her teacher mentioned that Shan was one of the girls that cried very badly when the news was broke out to the students. So, the form teacher was worried that the pupils may have a hard time coming to terms with it. She was a rather young and well liked teacher who apparently passed away due to sudden stop of heart beat. There was also a circular informing parents to look out and monitor distress signs of the pupils (no mood to eat was one of the signs). I do not remember Shan even showed signs of distress when her Ah Gong passed away few yrs ago. Now that she's older, I guess she could understand this better and perhaps more emotionally expressive.

Ballet Under the Stars 2011

2011-07-26T14:00:00.001+08:00

We have been faithfully attending BUTS yearly with Karen's family. Unfortunately, Karen's baobei Charlotte was down with high fever the last minute and they had to break the tradition and missed it. But hey, this year, Allan's family joined us!

This year BUTS featured the whole ballet performance to music by Tchaikovsky. Shan was looking forward to Swan Lake at the finale. Unexpectedly, Shan was down with mild fever in the noon and was abit lethargic. That did not diminish her mood of going to BUTS though.

As usual, before the show, the kids would go for face/hand painting.

Ever sweet looking bec bec with small flower

Sky asked for a dog, car and bear!

A green car to match the green crocs

KFC-ing

Sky always relates BUTS to catching a fair bit of NDP's fighter jet. Understandably, he's not into ballet as much as Jie Jie :p However, he enjoyed coming to the event every bit since he could catch fighter jets in action, eat his favourite KFC or pizza, gorge on the tidbits without Mummy's nagging and relax under the stars. Too bad, this year, the fighter jets only flew by once and the fireworks were blocked by the large large rainforest tree. Nevertheless, it was a great evening for all of us. Till next BUTS...

West Coast Park II

2011-07-20T14:17:00.001+08:00

Other than riding in carpark, the other good riding place is West Coast Park. So, on the scorching hot Saturday morning, we brought the kids West Coast Park. Daddy decided to rent the Pedal-Go-Kart so that Seth could ride on it too while Gor Gor and Jie Jie were riding. Good workout for the kids!

West Coast Park I

2011-07-10T12:06:00.001+08:00

We have not been to West Coast Park for a while since it was under reno. Since 4 Jul was a declared school holiday, we (excluding Daddy since it's not a school hol for him) decided to check out the new features.

The kids were memerised by the tall "spider web" with slides added to it and wasted no time to climb it.

While Gor Gor and Jie Jie are busy playing themselves, Seth posed his signature look and did sand playing.

Flying Fox

Long sea-saw

super size swing

Record of a funny conversation

2011-07-09T20:49:00.002+08:00

Setting: A Jap restaurant in Ion

Veron was lamenting and causally mentioned: "Must find a 老公来养"

Shan quizzically asked "为什么要人家养，你又不是动物?

So mummy is now categorised as a "动物".

Art competition @ Marina Barrage

2011-07-07T01:25:00.001+08:00

Sky's art school participated in the "On-The Spot Art Contest" organised by Singapore Polytechnic and PUB for Singapore International Water Festival. To be frank, we were clueless about the event. In fact, we thought it's just a normal art competition and to our pleasant surprise, there were quite a number activities going on. So happy that the whole family went instead of just bringing along Sky. As the competition had yet to start, the kids started to play the activities first.

Seth's first try on the pirate ship! He freaked out when the ship got higher and higher and cried for mummy's rescue!

Sky and Shan loved to be in this big ball!

After the fun, the competition started and Sky had to go back. Not knowing what to draw, he did up a first draft trying to draw the pirate ship since it's on-the-spot drawing and the pirate ship is right in front of him.

Shortly after, the teacher brought them to walk around Marina Barrage to check out the happenings of the event and improve their visual.

After the inspiration walk, Sky decided to draw the flyer, dragon boat and buildings.

While Sky is drawing, Shan was watching some of the performances put up by various school and Seth was happily getting himself wet!

At about 11am+, Daddy brought Shan and Seth home since Shan needed to attend her ballet class.

By 12pm+, Sky was already touching up his artwork.

Ta dah, his finished art piece. His dragon boat looked like sea horse :p

Sky actually took this boat ride after he ended his drawing. Jie Jie and Seth already went home since Shan got ballet class. He had fun playing the bouncy castle too!

After note: received a call from Singapore Poly (the organiser) that Sky won a consolation prize and they will be mailing us his medal and some vouchers! Woah, am so proud of him since this is the first art competition he took part in!! Congrats, darling!

We are on local news!

2011-06-29T19:02:00.003+08:00

Earlier this year, because of Election, my ex work place chief became a famous star overnight being the election's Returning Officer. As such, a picture of a project (CCL charity fashion show) that I was involved in (My ex CE was one of the models too!) appeared in the news - My Paper . I did not realised until a friend SMS me!

Recently, MOS Halimah Yacob's recommended that employers should provide off day every week for maids. This stirred some intense debate over the various platforms and forums especially by the employers. Our fellow church journalist friend was doing a follow up on this report and through our CGL, we seemed to be a good fit for his report. So, this time, the whole family is on the news - The New Paper except the lead is our dear helper, Tess. The full recount can be found here.

In summary, we do give our helper off days (either once or twice a mth) but we do not ~~agree~~ think it's necessary to lay the legislation of one off day per week. It depends on family situation, maid's attitude and many other factors. I certainly cannot imagine how am I going to cope if my helper is given off day every week!

Tooth drop

2011-06-27T04:23:00.000+08:00

Sky dropped his first tooth on that fateful 23 Jun. And Shan happened to drop her 5th tooth at the same time. Talk about coincidences!

Sprint kids

2011-06-27T04:05:00.007+08:00

Signed the kids up for Sprint Kids organised by Safra Jurong just for fun. Too bad, the kids did not run fast enough to qualify for the finale. Nevertheless, it was still a good experience!

Science

2011-06-27T04:00:00.000+08:00

Saw a pamphlet Shan brought back from school informing about Plaza Sing's events and Robot Zoo caught my eye. It sounds and looks fun and so brought the kids to explore it. The kids saw the biomechanics of complex animal robots (giraffe, chameleon, platypus, bat) and played the interactives to move the animals. However, it's quite small scale in my opinion, within a short while, they explored the whole "Zoo".

It's been some time since we last visited Science Centre. Actually not very long ago, we just visited Science Centre during last Dec but mainly for the CSI experience and Shan was not feeling very well that time and missed the water play. Since hols were ending soon, I thought it's a good to visit and let the kids enjoy the water play again.

First, the kids watched a fire tornado that was on exhibit. See how ~~cool~~ hot it is.

"wow" by the spiralling fire tower.

We toured around and went for a balloon science talk show.

Carried on with a IMAX show at Omni Theatre. Since Sky is so into dinosaurs, we chose to watch Sea Rex. To the kids' dismay, they did not get to enjoy water play again as by the time they finished watching the show at Omni Theatre, Daddy was already here to pick us up! Sky was grumbling throughout the journey!

Last Shichida Lesson

2011-06-27T03:59:00.081+08:00

Seth had been attending Shichida for a year already and he has been enjoying it to the bits. Along the learning journey, he acquired ESP, image training, linking memory skills and many more. He had come far from when he first started (when he was about 15mths) and he was then not able to sit still while teacher was doing flash card. After Term 1, he was able to sit still throughout the flashcard session. Term 3 onwards, he was able to remember and recognize some of the linking memory cards until at Term 4, he was mostly correct. I'm so proud of him!! There's one thing that remained unchanged though. From day 1, Seth simply do not want to sit by himself. So, he had been siting on my or Daddy's lap while attending lesson.

It was actually very sad to end his Shichida class and Teacher Marge too can't bear to see him go. However, Shichida's schedule kinda conflicts with Sky and Shan's schedule and their holidays break are always outside of the school's holidays. Hence, we decided that a year was good enough. Mummy would have to be more hardworking to flash to Seth and do some linking memory stuff at home then. Cross fingers!

Seth's two other classmates were absent that day :( Seth with Jerraine and Katie

Katie can't bear to see Seth go too!

Sticker time

Seth seemed to know that it was his last lesson and gave a loud "Thank you Teacher Marge!" after choosing his sticker. This made Teacher Marge's day!

Planting a kiss for Teacher Marge

And a hug

Teacher hugging back

Cycling

2011-06-27T03:51:00.000+08:00

Of the many Saturday mornings, quite a number of them were spent in our nearby Multi Level carpark and to be more precise, 5th floor of the carpark.

Daddy made a pact that this year, he die die must make sure that Shan and Sky mastered the art of cycling! We failed last year and left it as that and only recently, Daddy decided the kids should re-learn this skill. And Viola, God prompted him that he could use the carpark as the learning ground since the 5th floor is rather unused. Perhaps, a year older, a year wiser and a year more steady for the kids, they picked up within two sessions of practice! Sky in fact picked up on the first session! Guess what, he consoled jie jie who was sulking away with these exact words "Jie Jie, it's ok, boys have better motor skills la" Made us burst out laughing.

Since both are now rather competent with cycling, Daddy bought a new 20in mountain bike as Shan seems to be too tall for the 14in bike. Daddy enjoyed riding the new bike too! He has used it a number of times to ferry Sky to his enrichment classes!

Whereas for Seth, it would be his workout aka running cum silly face making time!

Mother's Day (Backdated post)

2011-06-27T02:57:00.000+08:00

On eve of Mother's Day, Shan woke up super early to ask me what I wanted for breakfast and only to find out that there's no bread! So she creatively made a super simple cheese meal. Ok, I'm not complaining since there's really nothing in the house for her to showcase.

While we were taking breakfast, she went on to make our bed, mentioning that teacher reminded them to make bed for mummies since it was mother's day. Ha! She went on to change diaper for Seth who grudgingly cooperated with her.

As usual, we went to church on Sunday and surprisingly, Sky appeared in the Mother's day clip (1:59sec) produced by the Children Church. The clip is soooo cute!

Seth Praising God

2011-06-27T02:35:00.001+08:00

Tess was having her off day and I did not bring Seth to children service as Mike Connell was in town to preach. Instead, he accompanied us to the main service. Simply love going to JW premise (need to do so when there's events over at Suntec and we can't use the convention halls). The presence of God is so strong and you can immediately soak in his presence once you are there.

Thanks to Allan who helped to video him when he's praising God alongside with us. His stamina did not last long..right into worship, he asked to be carried and went into la la land while Pastor was preaching.

Seth's toileting milestone

2011-06-27T02:19:00.000+08:00

Ok..it's been ages since i last toilet trained the elder 2 and I seriously was not sure how to start for Seth. Since he turned 2, I have attempted to toilet train him.

First attempt: Brought Seth to potty every 15 - 30 mins. Didn't work out as he resisted and ran away before i could pull down his pants!

Second attempt: Asked if he wants to go toilet and he often gave a outright "NO".

Third attempt: One fine day, he grabbed his "you know where" and whoosh, i quickly brought him to toilet. In a bid of time, i made him stand at the toilet and pee just like how his gor gor did. I guess I had not realised that he's actually tall enough (with some support from me and him tip-toeing) to stand in front of the toilet to pee. Now, this actually saved us time and effort to wash the potty! And, Seth must had suddenly felt like a little man and so proud that he could pee the way just like his gor gor does. Since then, it's a breeze.

At 2yo 3mths, Seth's toilet trained (day). Congrats, my ego young man!

Hanging Out @ Alice's

2011-06-25T21:29:00.002+08:00

We regularly hang out at Alice's place. While the adults fellowship and often look forward to a nice meal at the end of the day, the kids enjoy wii-ing, swiming and Seth's all time favourite actitivity, feeding the fishes.

Seth fooling around with his float while waiting for Kor Kor and Jie Jie to get ready

OK! Enough! Let's get down to real stuff! This is one of the days when bec came to join in the fun.

After the tiring swim, the young couple ~~feed~~ stuff the fish.

"couple time"

Dino and Horses

2011-06-25T20:33:00.001+08:00

Can't keep bring the older kids out and left Seth out of the fun! So specially for Seth, we brought him to watch Barney which is showing in Marina Square. The ambitious me initially wanted to bring the kids to watch Bob the Builder @ 1pm at Millenia Walk before the Barney show @ 2pm. However, with 3 kids in a tow and bringing them out on public transport is no easy feat. So, we just settled for Barney.

Daddy picked us up after the show and we went to pick Joanna and the kids before heading to Turf Club. This was our first time to the Singapore Turf Club! They were having sort of open house for all ages and we decided why not take a look..

To enter, you need to go through the MRT gantry look alike

Queuing up for free popcorns

Horse carriage

Feeding and patting the horse

Watching a race

Big Eyes, Big Minds

2011-06-25T19:18:00.000+08:00

Huiling informed me about the films festival by Big Eyes, Big Minds and we arranged to bring the kids to watch it together during the school holidays. There were shows for 2-5yo, 5-10yo, 7-12yo and 10yo and above.We chose "Life in Small Bites" suited for 7-12yo which is a compilation of heartwarming documentaries and animated shows.

I especially like the documentary "Wahid's Mobile Bookstore" which depicts how Mumbai boys had to support his family and survive by selling books to the drivers or passengers on a busy road. The kids seldom watch documentary shows and it's a nice way of introducing them to culture and lifestyles of another country. And of course not forgetting to preach how fortunate are they living in Singapore. The kids of course loved "Ormie", an animated cartoon on how the pig tried to get its hand on a jar of cookies above the fridge. It was hilarious! The selection of the films were splendid and each ticket was sold at an economical price of $11.50!

Before the show, we dined at Aerin's.

Hungry boys!

Beautiful Choco

Posing at Parliament house

Sky's artwork

2011-06-25T18:45:00.000+08:00

Sky created this Jellyfish and lobster for his school project in April. Although he did not win the competition, he was proud of his artwork.

Kungfu Panda 2

2011-06-25T17:53:00.000+08:00

Seth first visit to the movie and he survived the big screen! Brought the kids including Seth to watch Kungfu Panda 2 together with Allan and Bec Bec. We were hesitant to bring Seth along as we were not quite sure if he reacts well to the big screen and whether he could have the stamina to last 90 mins. Since Allan is keen to bring Bec along, we brought Seth too as he got company. Surprisingly, he enjoyed the show as much as the popcorns and coke. Unfortunately, Bec Bec was freaked out by the "oversized" Panda and Allan got no choice but to bring her home within 30mins into the show.

Kids in the Big World

2011-06-25T17:38:00.000+08:00

Accumulated (Spent) enough to let the kids had a hands-on learning experience in United Square. Unlike other malls that hold Barney or Dora shows, United Square offered an innovative learning environment during the June Holidays. Every $60 spent, kids could choose to role play one of seven interesting occupations that include Scientist, Pilot, Journalist, Architect and Engineer which lasted for about half an hour.

Shan and Sky chose the Scientist profession. They get to wear a lab coat and learned the different chemical and how they reacted to each other. They took off a momento of their chosen career --- a clear liquid that turned blue upon shaking. In a more scientific explaination: "In the magic blue bottle is made up of chemical reaction between oxygen, methylene blue and glucose."

Both Shan and Sky were lamenting why they could not try out other professions and asked me to spent more $$$!!

The scientists at work

Ah Gong's birthday (May)

2011-06-22T01:01:00.001+08:00

Pu Tien provides comfort food that our whole family likes, especially to my dad who is very UNadventurous in food. So, for his big day, we had our lunch there. This year, there's an additional member that joined in the celebration ---- my sis's bf, KL.

Happy Birthday Pa! And many more good years to come!

In the evening, KL suggested that we go to BoatAsia at Keppel Bay since he has free tickets.

The kids were so excited upon seeing a large fleet of posh yachts.

We explored a few yachts and the interior are more or less similar. Aside from the yachts, Keppel Bay Marina is such a romantic and relaxing place to be in. Looking forward to be back again and have brunch in the highly raved Prive Bakery Cafe.

Sky celebrates his 6th Birthday (May)

2011-06-14T18:13:00.002+08:00

Sky turned 6 on 13 May and this would be the last celebration in school. We celebrated a day earlier as the actual day is the meet-the-parent session. He has been looking forward to this day and counting down since April. Unfortunately, Daddy couldn't be around due to SOT. Daddy's team is at our place since 8am for mock cell group and they were real sweet to record a "Happy Birthday" song for Sky.

Fooling around with his friends

His dino cake

Blowing his cake

His classmate was also celebrating birthday that day

With the girls

With the boys

With his English and Chinese Teachers

On the actual day, we headed to Swensons for lunch after meeting Sky's teacher in school and collected his progress card.

Boys fooling around while shan is hitting her book again.

Hmmm..yummlicious

Cheeky one

Gotten free ice-cream. Sky making his wish

And this is our birthday gift to him! The Lion King Musical! We really enjoyed the magnificent production. The kids were wowed by the props and thoroughly enjoyed every bits of the spectacular performance. Should have brought Seth along. Silly me, I assumed that they would not admit kids that young.

Outside MBS sand theatre

In the theatre..since we can't take any shots of the show, we could only take photo of ourselves.

My 3 baobeis

2011-06-14T02:24:00.004+08:00

Am in the writer's mood and decided to update and backtrack the little events that went past for the past six months. And of course, thanks to the kids' Ah Yi persistent nagging that I have been very unfair to Seth cos a large part of his development went unrecorded. I did not dutifully record his vocabulary list (not that he talks alot but he's slowly expanding his list although he's very not keen to say a 3-syllabus word. This gotten me quite worried cos his peers are already talking! Just look at Bec Bec! Sign, but Daddy is insisting that i think too much), his which # teeth sprout at which month, his naughty moments, his sweet moments and the list goes on and on. So now, you see that I'm trying to recall my memory through the photos (thank god that we still take photos!) and jotting them down bits by bits. The worst however must be Seth's empty photo albums. Until now, I have yet to develop a single photo of Seth! Oh dear....felt so bad! Another one of my to do list!

Anyway, was ransacking through the past few months photos and felt that these pictures really essentially capture the current demeanour of my three baobeis.

Shannon, a reader. She can read whenever and wherever. Though glad that she reads well, her reading habit can sometimes gets on my nerve. She reads during meal, reads while walking and reads the first thing she wakes up in the morning.

Skyler, simply playful and wry. I'm thankful for the time I can stay at home to push him more academically. Haha

Seth, an Ikid. Do I need to say more! Sign!

Labour Day Feast

2011-06-14T01:39:00.000+08:00

On Labour Day, we made an impromptu drive up to Desaru for seafood with some cg friends. We set off after church and by the time we reached there, it's dinner time. Frankly, I don't really fancy such ride up just to EAT. Few hours cramped in the car and just for the sake of eating. The food was not very very very fantastic as well. Luckily, we still made it for some grocery shopping at their hypermarket. To mummy, as long got some shopping, it's a passable trip. But poor Daddy, not sure what he ate. He got a bad stomach upset. Even as he was driving, his tummy is not letting him rest. He gotta run to the loo on few occasions. Thank God for Melissa who brought along charcoal pills.

Of Goats and Rabbits

2011-06-14T01:09:00.000+08:00

Tsk Tsk! Sky actually went out in his PJs. Since this event took place in April, I really forgotten why did I let that happened. It would be the first and the last time!

Anyway, the kids were begging to visit Animal Farm and to feed the animals. Daddy decided on Farmart since it's some time we've been to there. After the feeding, the kids are back for their usual ballet and art class.

Pinnacle@Duxton (Apr)

2011-06-13T17:14:00.000+08:00

The Pinnacle@Duxton is one of the unique Singapore Housing Board's project. Besides being the highest HDB flat at 50-storey high, it has two Sky Bridges linking the various blocks.

Mummy's cousin balloted a unit there and held a house warming party. With only 6 access cards, visitors took turn to go up to the Sky Bridge at 26th and 50th storey respectively.

The kids doing exercise at Sky Gym.

Hmmm, a cuppa to enjoy the cool breeze would be great, isn't it?

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (Apr)

2011-06-13T16:41:00.001+08:00

Set the kids and Ah Ma out for a nature reserve walk on a bright Saturday Morning. Really loved the Saturday mornings now that there's no rush for any classes. Remembering our last visit to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve was a fairly brief one, we decided to make a trip there again. Admission charges for adults are at $1.00 while kids and senior citizens are at $0.50.

We opted to do a mangrove boardwalk first by walking along the wooden stilt structures weaving the mangroves. At the various stop points, we saw the beautiful paintings on the shelters.

Good Morning, Singapore!

The Mangrove

After the mangrove walk, we ventured into another area where we could spot assorted range of monitor lizards. The kids were amazed by the sheer size of the lizards.

Can you spot the big monitor lizards?

Healthy living!

@ Visitor Centre. Lucky us, just as we left, it started to drizzle.

Sky and Lego

2011-06-13T02:57:00.002+08:00

Sky loves his Lego. He never gets tired of building Lego and often uses his free time lego-ing. His usual stuff are jet planes and ships. He can even share which section is for which "powers". Oh well, boys... I should say besides drawing, Lego is his other biggest interest. Things can get tricky when you have a younger bro cum "destroyer". Sky can get extremely upset when Seth crashes his creation. So if Sky happens to create any lego pieces before going to school, he always make sure Aunty places his creation beyond the reach of his naughty bro. Haha

Lovely shots of Seth and Bec Bec

2011-06-13T01:59:00.000+08:00

Seth's quirky habits

2011-06-13T01:57:00.000+08:00

Not sure since when Seth had acquired some quirky habits.

1. He absolutely dislike mummy to tie hair. If he ever spots me tieing my hair, he will demanded me to take down my rubber bands or clips or he will take it down himself.

2. When he's trying to sleep in the night, he will stroke my hair to sleep. If he sleeps with Aunty, he will stroke her hair too! BUT, he refuses to stroke Daddy's hair. Haha

3. He doesn't like me to pat him to sleep. Unlike his bro and sis!

4. And he's like a Koala in the night and try to sleep very close to me. If he does wakes up in the night, he will turn his way to me even though Daddy is just besides him.

5. He sometimes stand poo-poo-ing !! Arrrg!

Daddy is 37 (Feb)

2011-06-13T01:29:00.000+08:00

Just a simple cake cutting to celebrate Daddy's birthday. Daddy, thanks for supporting and loving us. We love you loads! I really thank God for sending this man to be my husband. This year is special cos right after his birthday celebration, he started on his SOT (School of Theology) journey. It was a courageous step forward to trust God and know God deeply and allow this faith to work in our family in his miraculous ways.

Valentine Seth turns 2! (Feb)

2011-06-13T00:39:00.003+08:00

Cracked my brain to decide what to do for Seth's 2yo party and after quick discussion with Daddy, decided option 3 works out the best.

~~1. Rent Popcorn and Candy Floss machine~~ Too unhealthy and after eating, what else?

~~2. Rent an inflatable bouncing castle~~ Space constraint

3. Face cum body painter-----Suggestion taken and approved :)

~~4. Pinata~~ Mummy too lazy to stuff them in Pinata and decided the best way to distribute the goodies are in the form of goodie bag :p

Surfed the net and came across Queenie. She was sweet and accommodated to my last minute request. The children were kept occupied and most enjoyed being painted to.

Seth was painted as a blue spiderman. He was squirmy and feeling uncomfy after a while but managed to withstand it until the whole face was painted. Quite a feat!

Showcasing the beautiful paintings on the children

Seth started to get irritated the the colours on his face and kept rubbing it. We washed it away and Queenie was nice to draw spikeys on his hand instead.

Seth and Queenie, the body/face painter

Singing birthday song

Seth's Barney Cake

Seth with his lovely friends

Thanks to the aunties, uncles and friends for the gifts!!

The next day which is also the actual day (14 Feb), Seth had a mini birthday celebration with his playgroup classmates. This was his birthday jelly cake.

Since Sky is in the afternoon session, he could join in the celebration!

Seth with his classmates

Seth and his wonderful teachers

Meet up with old time friends (Feb)

2011-06-12T23:27:00.002+08:00

Went to Aunty Karen's house for our usual catch up sessions during the CNY. We were surprised to see Allan and bec bec at the carpark when we reach there. Allan just "collected" their new helper. What surprised us more was that Seth upon seeing bec bec ran and rushed over to hug her! Woah! He must have missed her! Look at his happy face!

Sandy, Karen and me!

Shan and Charlotte

Getting ready for Lou Hei!

CNY Day 2 @ Sentosa Flowers

2011-06-12T23:01:00.002+08:00

Brought the kids to Sentosa to see the flowers exhibition. Think this was the third year we visited Sentosa Flowers.

Taking a stroll to Sentosa by the Sentosa Boardwalk

We stopped by Candylicious. You can't resist from buying a sweet or two when you are there!

Sky's Chinese Zodiac Sign - Rooster

We have never been to the Merlion at the Imbiah Lookout. Daddy decided to bring Shan and Sky up to check it out (Seth was sleeping).

At the mouth of the Merlion

Beginning the flower walk

When we were about to go back, it started to drizzle, so we took the newly renovated cable car ride back to Vivo. The kids were so excited!

CNY (Feb)..

2011-06-11T19:18:00.001+08:00

Simply love Februrary. It spells a month of celebration. It's CNY, Valentine cum Seth's birthday and Daddy's birthday.

First day of CNY, the kids looking sweet and suave. We made our usual rounds as in all these years.

West Coast Park (Jan 11)

2011-06-11T12:33:00.000+08:00

There's some rescheduling of kids' classes and we now have free time on Saturday mornings. Brought the kids to West Coast Park.

Macdonal's Breakfast

Caught several expressions of my little handsome!

New Year, New Day, New Start

2011-06-10T22:59:00.000+08:00

Oooops! I've been lazy!

2011-06-10T20:15:00.000+08:00

As a SAHM, i should have more time on hand and I should have taken a more consistent approach on my blog. But, I have been extremely lazy (no great pocket of time in the noon which i thought i have) and the spare time i have were spent on catching korean and HK dramas. Bad mummy! Poor Seth did not get as much updates as I liked to have. Would have to backtrack and do my postings. Surely and really, I would try my best to do as much updates as possible!

Cruise to Phuket & Penang

2011-06-10T19:35:00.009+08:00

For the last December holiday, 4 families of us decided to bring the kids to a Cruise. Since we had never cruised before, all of us were excited! Unfortunately, Daddy again was reluctant to bring Seth along as he won't really play and eat much and notwithstanding that, we will have to pay the same cost for him as well. We left him to the care of Ah ma and our helper again. Sob Sob! I promise, promise the next family trip (other than M'sia) will include Seth!

Day 1

By the time we boarded the ship, it was around 4pm+. We did not realise that many "chiong" to queue in order to secure seats for the gala dinner and we took our own sweet time wandering around and doing things such as:

1. Playing "Chess"

2. Taking phots of our balcony room

3. Taking late tea!

After wandering, the kids can't wait and went for a dip at the pool!

The welcome entourage were also at the poolside performing acrobatic acts and dances.

Except for Sky and Sammuel, all the kids loved the slide. This was also the first time, Shannon braved through a seemingly long slide. Sky on the other hand, couldn't overcome his fear.

While waiting for the dinner, the big boy joined the young men for some beyblade.

We had a sumptuous dinner and followed with an entertaining juggling show at the theatre. Every one of us enjoyed the show tremendously!

Day 2

Chinese brekkie

and not too long later, Chinese lunch.

We had our full before we disembarked in Penang.

1st stop: Nonya Museum

After the education tour, we went on to try several local delights which includes

-Famous chendol (even our PCK ate before! )

-Penang Char Kway Teow, laska, Crispy Cuttlefish, Oyster Egg and

this (which i do not know what shell creature is this). But it was GOOD!

After makaning, we made our way back where we had dinner (Yes, Eat Again!).

Day 3

As usual, morning half were spent gorging the breakfast and lunch.

We needed to transfer to Phuket island via a small ferry. The kids at the "upper deck".

In adventurous spirit.

Sky focusing hard...

Girls' turn

Ice-cream time!

The men and boys went for an exciting All Terrain Vehicle ride.

Looking cool!

The girls and us women chatted on..

When we were back to the cruise, we washed up and got ready for Gala dinner. This time, we secured tickets to the Gala dinner. Actually, it wasn't so grand as it sounded. They were not particular on the dress code as well.It was just another meal in the restaurant. The only "spectacular" part was that the first dish presentation was similar to wedding dinner where the waiters doing the first dish entrance and a little dance.

Last day

What else but eating again! We had our full four meals (including tea) till we were back in Singapore.

Making Santa hats!

Scrolling and explore more of the Cruise. The guys were playing basketball and Sky gotten into a small incident. Sign. He had a fall from daddy's back and bumped his head. Luckily, he was alright. It was a loud thud!

Dinner and farewell time!

Till our next trip...

Brothers moment

2010-12-18T00:49:00.004+08:00

Seth starts school!

2010-11-15T12:11:00.014+08:00

Started Seth on a playgroup. This is the second playgroup I enrolled him in. The frist, I felt the teacher was not up to standard and withdrew him when this playgroup near my place had vacancy.

I must say that this playgroup is a gem. The teachers are dedicated as compared with the first playgroup. While the first playgroup has 1 main teacher (whose English seems to be half past six) and an aunty to assist, this playgroup has a English teacher, Chinese teacher, an assistant teacher cum admin and an aunty assistant. I was able to sit through for the whole week to settle Seth in and at the first playground, I was whoosh out on the 2nd day.

For the first 15mins, the kids will go to the various corners i.e. artist corner, reading corner, cooking corner, etc. Seth likes the "Little Artist" corner best. The next 2 hrs includes circle time, literacy time, play time, snack time, singing and story time.