Sat, 21 Oct - Deepavali

Since Deepavali was on Saturday, it didn't really feel like a holiday. In the morning TT had to send some of his overseas visitors to Changi Airport, so we decided to take the kids for a short excursion to the airport via MRT. Since TT would be taking the car, we would meet him at the airport itself. My sis and kids also wanted to come since they had nothing else to do that morning. We met at Queenstown MRT and took the train all the way to Changi Airport Terminal 2. At the airport we took the skytrain from Terminal 2 to 1. We met up with TT and then went to the viewing gallery to look at some of the stationary airplanes. After that we had lunch there at the staff canteen before TT drove us all back home. I'm sure Isaac enjoyed the trip because he still mentions "skytrain" and "airplane" in his baby talk. Here are pics of the kids in the train...

Sun, 15 Oct - An Interesting Sunday

In the late morning the whole family went for Mass at Holy Cross Church at Clementi with our neighbour's family. This is rare because TT is not catholic and I don't force him to attend church with us. But occasionally I will nag him :P. Today I managed to get Cheryl and Isaac to receive blessings from Fr. Val.

After that we headed for Great World City for lunch. We managed to get a pair of white shoes for Cheryl's coming school concert. Isaac had a short nap while TT carried him. We went home after that. TT had to return the goods van back to Tampines, so we decided to all take a ride on the van and later take the MRT back. Our neighbour Sean and his dad Ryan decided to go for the excursion as well. Isaac sat on my lap at the front while the Cheryl, Sean and Ryan were at the back. Everybody had a bit of fun in the van. After returning the van, we took the MRT back from Tampines station since the kids wanted to take a ride on the train for some time now. These are pics of us in the van.

We planned to meet my sis and family at VivoCity for dinner, but they reached there first and said that the place was really crowded. So we changed our plans and met instead at SAFRA Mt Faber where we had dinner at the Japanese restaurant again (we had gone there last week for TT's birthday).

Sat, 14 Oct - An Electone for Cheryl

This evening, we arranged with my aunt to move my cousin's old electone organ to our place. TT borrowed a goods van from our brother-in-law in Tampines. In the evening, we drove to my aunt's place at Bt. Batok and transported the electone back to our place. It is still in good condition, and now I'm trying to figure out how to operate the buttons correctly. Now Cheryl will have a proper keyboard to practise on, though we'll need to always find some way to keep Isaac from interfering with her practice... This is a picture of Isaac tinkering at the electone.
Our place is already so crowded with so many things, and we still managed to squeeze this electone into one corner of the living/dining room. I will really need to throw some stuff out or move out to a bigger apartment! We don't know how long Cheryl will be able to keep up her interest with the keyboard. We're hoping she'd eventually progress to play the piano when she's older. Otherwise, I thought I might just pick up my electone playing again. Isaac is also showing some interest, so maybe the electone may still be of some use.

Mon, 9 Oct - Spinning Ferris Wheel art & craft

Cheryl and our neighbour Sean were bothering me to do some art and craft. Inspired by the recent trip to Genting Highlands, Sean suggested doing a Ferris wheel with a paper plate. With some improvisation, this was the end result...

We used coloured paper for the spokes of the wheel and individual carriages. The kids drew the people in each carriage and I helped them staple each carriage to the plate. I poked a straw through the centre of the plate so that the plate actually spins like a real ferris wheel, though at one point everyone will be upside down!

Here are some other crafts we did previously with paper plates and straws.

Snowman: (right) This one uses plates of 2 sizes. Stapled straws to the plate for the limbs and wrapped a strip of unwanted wrapping paper round the neck for the scarf.

Butterfly: Cut the paper plate so that it looks like wings. Used brown paper for the body and stapled a folded straw for the anteanae. Cheryl used a hole puncher to get all those colourful confetti which we pasted on the wings.
Realise I don't really use paints because I'm too lazy to clear and wash up... We just use markers or coloured paper.

Sun, 8 Oct - Haze is gone! At least for today...

Woke up to a gloriously clear day this morning...no haze in sight. Never thought I would feel so grateful for such unpolluted air! A visit to the park was definitely in order. Cheryl wanted Pasir Ris again, but TT & I wanted Botanic Gardens! Two votes against one! Cheryl's bad behaviour returned today, starting with a tantrum because she forgot to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on cable...*sigh*

Ignoring her whines, we made our way to the main lake of Botanic Gardens. We managed to feed one of the two swans there. The turtles and fish seem to be much more reserved than the ones at the Symphony lake. After that we went to the nearby field to play frisbee. This is me trying to imitate the sculpture.

Unfortunately, I was not strong enough, and Isaac was a wee bit too overgrown. TT had more success, but he's got no boobs like the sculpture... haha! Cheryl managed to collect some leaf specimens from the ground, and later at home I helped her to make this picture collage.

In the afternoon, we had some friends and their 2 kids over at our place for a swim.

Sat, 7 Oct - TT's Birthday

I'm making a note of today because it's one of those rare occasions when Cheryl seemed to be influnced by her good angel! In the morning, without much fuss, she had her breakfast and I took her for her chinese class.

After class, she asked me to help her make a birthday card for Daddy. Hmmm, I'm thinking..."Very last-minute leh ... I'd been reminding her all week to make a card." Anyway I helped her to write the words in glue and she sprinkled the glitter on it. I drew a cake and she coloured it and added balloons to the picture. These are pics of our handiwork...
Then I asked her to practise playing on her keyboard as she was going for her music lesson in the afternoon and had been too lazy to practise all week. Surprisingly, with me coaching her only a couple of times, she managed to play quite well, and of course I praised her profusely, because I was really quite pleased. During the lesson, I was glad she was able to play well too, and I think it boosted her morale that she was actually able to play a couple of songs properly all by herself. She was even attentive during class. Over the last few weeks, I was almost tempted to stop the classes because she seemed to be losing interest and was too lazy to practise. I hope she'll be encouraged by her own ability and be motivated to practise this week. We'll see...

As a reward, I bought her a bar of FruitTella and a box of ink stamps to play with. She only ate one sweet and said she would eat the rest some other time! *Shock!* Even my sister noticed her good behaviour!

At night, my sis and I brought TT out for a dinner treat at a Japanese restaurant at SAFRA Mt. Faber. We really stuffed our faces with meat and grilled shishamo (pregnant fish) and other food in the a la carte buffet. Too bad we all don't like raw fish, so I can't comment on those. But the food items we ordered were yummy. After dinner we rushed back to celebrate the TT's birthday with the usual cake and candle-blowing. The kids were eagerly waiting for this as you can see in this pic...

Sadly, Cheryl's good angel did not return the next day... sigh...

Fri, 6 Oct - A Hazy Mid-autumn Festival

My sis family came over to our place after dinner so that the kids could get together to play lanterns. The haze was really bad, I think PSI 150 for that night. The kids went downstairs to play with their lanterns but lost interest quickly because they wanted to play with sparklers. Isaac shook his lantern so vigourously the flame just went out, so that was that, I didn't bother to light it up anymore! So they spent most of the time playing sparklers and running around. But my niece developed some difficulty breathing after all the running in the haze and we decided to retreat back home. The air smelled really bad. We closed our windows and switched on the air-con. Then we ate mooncakes and pomelos and drank chinese tea (wah, so traditional! heh).

Tue, 3 Oct - Lantern exhibition at Chinese Garden

My company offered these tickets at 20% off, so I bought lots of tickets for family and friends. I bought weekday tickets because we're so crowd-phobic. I enjoyed the displays for the previous years and decided to go again this year. This year's theme was various landmarks around the world, like the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower and Leaning Tower of Pisa. Some displays were too gaudy for my liking. It was nice but I liked the previous years' themes better (like safari or sanrio characters). Anyway, important thing was that the kids enjoyed the themselves.
Click here to see more pictures...

Sun,1 Oct - Fun Day for Kids

Cheryl fell sick with fever on Thursday and Friday. Not sure why, maybe she caught something from Genting, or maybe from school. Fortunately, by Sunday she was well enough to suggest Pasir Ris Park, which we obliged, grateful that she had recovered. The both of them only played with the sand there, so actually we could have just gone to West Coast park which was much nearer.

Everyone had a good nap in the afternoon, and in the evening we went over to Seletar Country Club with my sis' family for a swim and dinner. This is Isaac in the pool and the kids having fun in the children's play/ball room (Oli is Snow White, Cheryl is Bozo the Clown!)

Sat-Mon, 23-25 Sept - Genting Highlands Trip

DAY 1
Having just gone to Genting only a few months back in May, I wasn't too anxious about the trip this time. This would be my third time there in two years. I reused the list I drew up the last time to pack the stuff for the trip, leaving or adding stuff based on past experience. Most troublesome is having to pack the kids' milk powder and remembering to bring a hot water flask.

It was my sister's idea to go to Genting to coincide with my niece Olivia's 5th birthday. We have three families going this time, our family, my sis' and my neighbour's. Going in a group is more fun, especially for the kids, but it was a little harder to coordinate and communicate. We set out about 9.30am after our breakfast. Right after going through Malaysian customs via the second link, we stopped briefly while Cheryl went over to Sean's car. As with the previous trip, Sean and her watched Bob the Builder dvds on the way there. We "synchronised" our walkie talkies to the same frequency. We and our neighbours had bought one set each for this trip. Previously we had used a friend's set and found it very useful for communication on the roads and up at Genting itself.

The trip was quite smooth except for a slight hiccup - my neighbour's car got stopped by the traffic police, apparently for speeding. So they made a "donation" of RM50 and was let off. Our first rest stop was at Ayer Keroh. The kids played at the playground there while the adults had some refreshments and lunch.I had packed some sandwiches. After that it was straight to Genting and Isaac slept most of the way there, so it was quite uneventful.

There was a slight jam at the exits of KL and Cheras, but it was mostly smooth. We reached Genting Skyway around 4pm.The plan was to have the kids and the wives take the cable car up and the guys drive the cars up to Genting Highlands. We would meet at the First World Hotel lobby. There was no queue at all and we boarded the cable car almost immediately after buying our tickets. Isaac has been looking forward to this cable car ride and has been talking about it since our last trip. As expected, the kids enjoyed the ride and view up to Genting Highlands, excited about being in the clouds and the stone animals along the way up. Compared to Singapore's cable car ride which costs $12 per adult, this one way trip of RM8 per head was really value for money.

Once up there,I put Isaac on the pram and we made our way to First World Hotel, which was quite a distance from the cable car station. Since it wasn't our first time, we had little trouble finding our way there, we just followed the signages. Our timing was perfect... by the time we reached the lobby, the guys were already checking in at the reception. We had booked our reservations via the internet. My neighbour got a World Club room while my sis and our family managed to book deluxe rooms because the world club rooms were booked up. We didn't mind even though it's much smaller because it costs half the price. Because we had different types of rooms, my neighbour was at Tower 1 while we were at the newer Tower 2. The deluxe rooms were indeed much smaller than the world club room we had the last time, but it was ok, since it was just nice for the 4 of us with the 2 super single beds.

After settling down, it was almost time for dinner. We had some hot noodles and rice. After that we walked around the area and the kids played some of the kiddy rides. The guys took the kids for the monorail ride while the ladies went shopping. My sis' kids were tired, so they retired to their room earlier. Later that night, after the kids were in bed, the guys went out to watch soccer and visit the casino.

DAY 2
Breakfast was complementary at the hotel's gigantic cafe, but it was really bad. Maybe because it had to cater to such large crowds.

After breakfast, we bought 1-Day Indoor/Outdoor passes for both kids and adults. Unfortunately the weather was rather wet and very chilly/cold, so we retreated to the Indoor theme park. We took the Ferris Wheel and Antique Car rides. The weather got a little better and so the kids went to the outdoor theme park to take the Flying Jumbo, Astro Fighter, Rodeo Rider and Teacup rides. Cheryl felt rather queasy after the teacup ride and had little appetite for lunch - porridge. After lunch, Isaac took a nap in his pram while the rest of us took the Venice Gondola and Ferris Wheel rides.

Later in the afternoon we went outdoors again and took rides on the Double Decker Carousel, Ferris Wheel(outdoor), and the Rodeo Rider (see picture) again. The smaller kids also enjoyed the Busy Bugs and Circus Carousel. Then we went indoors again to take the Flying Dragon ride (a slightly thrilling roller coaster ride), Ride de Paris (kiddie ride around the Eiffle tower), and the indoor Carousel (the best of all carousel rides). Then we had a hearty dinner at Pizza Hut. After that it was more rides for the kids - Rio Float, Reindeer Ride (both agonisingly slow rides traversing within the indoor mall) and more Carousel rides. By the time we went back to our rooms, Isaac was already asleep and so we didn't bother to change him to his pyjamas.

DAY 3
I packed up our stuff in the morning as we needed to check out by noon. We decided to skip the free breakfast at the cafe and just ate some tuna sandwiches my sister made. The kids were still keen on going for the theme park rides, so we bought 1-day indoor passes for them. So they took ride and after ride the whole morning: Ferris wheel, Tour de paris, Reindeer ride, Carousel. Unfortunately the fun had to end around noon and we proceeded to check out of our room and we went up to my neighbour's World Club room to have a quick lunch of instant cup noodles we had brought along. They had extended their check-out to one more hour. Thereafter, the guys dropped us off at the cable car station so that we could take the cable car down while they drove the cars down Genting. This is a pic of Isaac enjoying his cable car ride.

We spent a short time at the station below to buy stuff from this big shop selling all kinds of preserved fruits (kanas) and snacks. We left the place around 3pm. My sis and neighbour headed straight back to Singapore while we planned to stop by at Johor Bahru. We drove down to Seremban, where TT had his fix of nasi lemak and teh tarik. He said it was delicious. Along the way, Cheryl took a short nap while Isaac slept most of the way. Even then, I had a challenging time entertaining them with masking tape during their waking hours in the car! We reaced JB town around 7+ in the evening and headed for Holiday Plaza, the place notorious for all the horror stories that happened to other unlucky Singaporeans. We ate at McDonalds, and the kids had fun at the indoor playground there. We managed to get some *ahem* contraband items there before we headed home. By the time we reached home, it was almost 10pm, but the kids were still energetic!

As with previous trips, the kids proved to be good travellers. Isaac surprised me by staying belted in his car seat for long periods of time without too much of a fuss. Somehow he knew we were going on a long journey and behaved himself. It helped that he slept for about half of the journey both ways, so I was relieved of entertaining him during these times. I was also grateful they didn't get any sickness during the trip which would have made me very anxious.

All in all, as expected, the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly with all the park rides and having each other to play with for 3 days. They just can't get enough of Genting. Isaac never fails to be entralled with the sights around him, especially while in the cable car. Three weeks on, he's still asking to "go cable car"...As for me, I'm already quite bored with the place but the cool air is a nice change. The trip was anyway for the kids, and I'm glad everybody had a good time and came back safe and sound!

If you need any advice on Genting - how to get there, temperature, what to do there, etc...drop me a line! I'm no expert, but I can tell you a thing or two!

Click here for more photos of the trip...

Sat, 16 Sept - Isaac turns Two!

It's Isaac's birthday today and we held a a party in the evening. Since most of the decorations were already up since Cheryl's birthday, only thing left was to blow and put up "boy-coloured" balloons (blue, silver etc.), and paste "ISAAC" on the wall. The food was be western, so I cooked spaggetti bolognaise. My sister contributed a yummy shepherd's pie. On the side we had cocktail sausages and other fried finger food and cut fruits. Again, I forgot to take photos of the food because we were all so busy.

The birthday boy didn't manage to sleep enough for his afternoon nap and had to take another one around dinner time. Fortunately he woke up in time for the candle-blowing and cake-cutting, though he appeared rather grouchy in the picture. For the cake we ordered ice cream cake from Swensen's again which had little train sugar figurines on top. Cheryl had the same cake two years ago and all the kids were clamouring over which figurine they wanted. The same thing happened again this time. It was a total madhouse when we brought in the cake box. Isaac managed to blow out the candles by himself.

The kids made such a racket, I'm sure the neighbours really hate us...:oP Other than that, things went quite smoothly.

Sun, 10 Sept - Horses at Pasir Ris Park

We decided to go to Pasir Ris Park today as we were going to Tampines later to visit my in-laws. We wanted to go to the playground area but I remembered reading about the other adjoining park having some stables where we could see and ride horses, so we decided to make a slight detour to have a look at the place.

It's called Gallop Stable and they have a number well-kept horses. The area looked clean and there was hardly any stench. We were too late to book a pony ride for kids so we'll try again another day though Cheryl said she was not that keen to ride a pony. We did, however, manage to touch the horses and Cheryl got one to eat hay from her hand.

After that we proceeded to the part of park where they had the really large playground and all kinds of apparatus.The weather was cloudy, so even though it was past noon, it wasn't too hot. The kids had fun climbing, swinging and playing around with some new apparatus which we didn't see the last time. One of them was this revolving cup which got Cheryl rather dizzy (see pic below).

After lunch at TT's sis place, we went back home as our maid was taking half the day off. In the evening we went to Suntec City for dinner. At the last minute, Cheryl got "kidnapped" by our neighbour Sean and she decided to have dinner at Sean's place instead of following us! On the way there we saw the really beautiful flowers planted along the roads for the IMF meetings. The workers were still doing some last minute planting. The food court at Suntec City was suprisingly not that crowded and we managed to find a parking lot with little problems. We figured most people stayed away from the area because they thought it was closed for the IMF-WB meetings. But road closures would only start from 10pm later that night and we figured we should be heading home before that. Also school would be restarting tomorrow, so families with school-going children may not find it a good idea to go out tonight...

We arranged to meet my sis' family at the food court. After dinner we headed to Toys R' Us where we got Isaac a train set for his birthday, and also a Mr. Potato head toy for Olivia whose birthday was also approaching. My sis bought her a Polly Pocket toy. I think she was the happiest girl today. Isaac also had a mighty fine time without his sister. He was riding on all the kiddy rides along the way, climbing up and down staircases, running around the store with a toy pram (!!) He must have been so tired he slept in the car on the way back.

Personal Favourites

PLACES TO GO
Pasir Ris Park
One section of this park has a very good playground area, not as big as West Coast park, but with equally engaging playground apparatus. The other section is where Gallop Stable is. It's more serene in this part and more suited for cycling. You can also do bird watching, walk through the mangrove, play in the garden maze, or just sit beside the beach to enjoy the breeze. This was one of our favourite parks before Isaac came along.

Sat, 9 Sept - Singapore Discovery Centre

Yet another excursion suggestion from Sean, our neighbour. We decided to bring Isaac along even though it coincided with his naptime. After lunch, we picked my sis' kids up from Clementi and headed to the place at Jurong. Cheryl followed Sean and his parents. TT and I found the whole place rather boring, but the kids seemed to enjoy it, especially the talking robot (called Little George), building of a cardboard city and also an exhibit where you can see yourself dance on the screen. Isaac managed to take a short nap there. The viking show was rather interesting, but I don't think the kids could really appreciate it at their age.

(Photo source: Singapore Discovery Centre Website)

I'm also convinced that there is someone manning Little George the robot in the little room behind him. Some of his responses were way too intelligent. I'm quite sure it's a one way mirror behind the robot...

Anyway, my first and last time there I'm sure, if I can help it.

Fri, 8 Sept - MC

The cold and cough finally got the better of me. Was feeling really bad the night before with a bad headache. This morning I felt slightly better but the headache was still there. Went to the doc's in the morning and after that "escaped" to my mum's place nearby to rest. Once in a while we take refuge at my mum's place when we do not wish to be disturbed by the kids. I know I wouldn't be able to get any respite from the kids if I had gone back home. I even managed to do a little bit of packing while I was there. Threw out some stuff (some of my ex-boyfriend's love letters! haha). I left quite a bit of stuff (including toys) behind at my mum's place when I moved out about 3 years ago. I brought the whole lot of plastic animals back home. Gave them a good wash in soapy water and left them near the window to dry. Isaac and Cheryl would have some fun playing zoo, safari or farm.

By 1pm, I was feeling much better even though I didn't take any medication given by the doc, so I decided to go home and have lunch since I was also hungry. So I managed to spend some time with the kids after all in the afternoon.

Wed, 6 Sept - Books warehouse sale at Expo

Took leave today especially for this event. I already have so many books at home but cannot resist! Must buy more books! Finally caught the runny nose and cough from the kids but don't care, still must go!

Spent the morning doing stuff with the kids. It's so rare for me to be present during the daytime on weekdays. Cheryl's so happy mummy is at home to play with her. My partner in crime (for the book sale) was my sister. She and her kids came over to my place around noon. The kids had their lunch of porridge first before we set off. We had to sneak off quietly or Isaac will cry if he sees us all leaving. Unfortunately we won't be bringing him to the Expo as he's still too small to endure the warehouse sale. We stopped by at IKEA first as the sale doesn't start till 3pm. The kids played in the ball room while my sis and I had lunch at Subway at Anchorpoint. The IKEA cafe was just too crowded with the lunchtime crowd.

After that it was off to the Expo. There were 2 other major events there and we knew it would be thronging with people, even on a weekday. I shudder at the thought of the crowd during the weekend. One was the John Little warehouse sale and the other was World Food Fair. Food and Shopping! Things that attract Singaporeans like ants to sugar (besides the latest gadgets). The Expo carpark was quite full, but we managed to find a lot a little farther off. Already there was a queue forming outside the hall for the book sale. It's still about 10 min before 3pm. This was a preview sale for members. The actual official sale starts the next day. It's great to be the first to browse as everything was so neatly arranged when we first entered the hall. I headed straight to the children's books while my sis headed to the magazines section. The kids were more interested in playing with the plastic baskets, so we chucked them at a corner with popcorn and other snacks while we did the serious job of gathering the books. Once in a while we returned to this corner to let them read the books we had got.

Generally the book sale did not disappoint. There were mostly good quality books going at really low prices. I got many children books suitable for Cheryl to read, some easy books and a train book for Isaac, and 3 web design books for myself. These were glossy coloured books going at $6 each! They were shrink wrapped, so I opened one to examine the contents. I liked it and got the other 2 without even checking what was inside. Should be equally good. Was quite pleased with the books I got, and spent $101 for everything. My sister spent just under $100 for her books and magazines, mostly on cooking, home design and also some children books. After about 3 hours, the kids sections were already quite messy, with people dumping their unwanted books back. Had to sadly put back some books too. If given a choice, my sis and I wouldn't mind going back again during the weekend, but we're quite scared of the crowds, and also of being tempted to spend more money, so I think we won't come back. Must control...control...

My sister's hubby joined us for dinner at Burger King and after that we popped by at the John Little sale. My sis hubby got some long sleeved shirts. I didn't want to get seriously started on looking at the kids' clothes and other stuff, so I simply walked quickly along the aisles. It's mostly the same as previous sales, so it wasn't too difficult to control myself. Moreover the kids were tired, and I was keen to go back. I only bought a little round pink cushion for Cheryl to be put in the car, so that the 3 girls wouldn't fight over the existing 2 cushions. We didn't even have time to look at the Food fair. Cheryl slept on her new cushion on the way back home. By the time we reached home, it was almost 9pm. I ate some more dinner because Mum cooked kiam chye arhk soup (salted vege soup with duck), my favourite! She said she managed to cook it in peace because the kids were not around to bother her! Felt a little guilty for leaving Isaac at home for most of the day but it's for his own good.

Ahh... a tiring but satisfying day. Wish I could shop longer (without the kids)!...

Friday, 1 September - Mars Spectacular, My Foot

Wrote to both newspapers again regarding teachers giving wrong information to students. Also appeared in the online forum of the Straits Times.

I know being a teacher is a really tough job. But they should be responsible for verifying the correctness of the information, especially if they choose to tell the students about it. Anyway, Happy Teachers' Day to all you teachers out there! Your words are gospel!

Here is the TODAY link.

Isaac, our IMF Embassador

The fever's gone and Isaac's back to his cheeky self. Here are some pics of him... From left:
1) Isaac escorting IMF guests in his car decorated with state flags.
2) Everything's taken care of at the IMF, thanks to Police Chief Isaac (Daddy's currently on police reservist, hence the police hat).
3) Isaac promoting Singapore as The shoppers' paradise!

Sunday, 28 August - Botanic Gardens Again

Isaac's cough which I thought was getting better came back again, or maybe he's got the flu since there was fever as well. Generally not eating well, so we're not forcing him, just trying to get him to take in more liquids. Cheryl has runny nose and cough too which have been going on for ages. Just hate it when the kids are sick.

Cheryl wanted to join my neighbour's son, Sean, to church, so we let her. We brought Isaac to Botanic Gardens. Felt quite strange to be only having one child to look after for the day... We went to the newly renovated part of the park. The place is quite nicely done and now they have a really big basement carpark. The fishes at the main pond are much larger but less hungry. We saw a really large turtle lurking around in the pond, it came up to eat some of the bread bits I threw to the water. Judging by the size of its head, it probably was about 1m long. TT and I managed to take lots of pictures of flowers, our favourite subject. Here are just 2 of the macro shots I took. There were also the 2 regular white swans which swam out occasionally to make guest appearances.

After the park we went to TT's sis' place for lunch at Tampines. Had to give Isaac his paracetamol again as his fever seemed to be creeping back again. We didn't stay too long as Isaac wasn't feeling well.

By the time we reached home, Isaac was asleep. Cheryl was having fun at my neighbour's place baking chocolate chip cookies. They were going to give them as Teachers' Day gifts. Cheryl didn't seem to have missed us one bit. From the looks of it, Cheryl already seems to be married to their family, haha.

Sunday, 20 August - Maidless!

Our maid took the day off today as the Indonesians are having some event at their embassy to celebrate their national day (which is also the same day as her birthday). Quite an eventless day, except in the evening where we picked up my sister and kids to go to West Coast Park. The kids had lots of fun at with the sand and the various apparatus. Was too busy watching over and guiding Isaac to take pics. Feel like getting the Sony Ericsson K800i so that I can take reasonably good pics whenever and wherever I like. My current phone takes quite crap pictures. So often I miss photo opportunities because the camera's not with me.

Thursday, 17 August - Kakak's Birthday

We forgot about our maid's birthday till the evening itself, so we decided to get a cake at AnchorPoint after dropping off my mum home. And Cheryl was really indiscreet about it... Before we left the house, she exclaimed, "Kakak, you know we are going to go and buy a cake for you now?" With her bionic hearing, she overheard my conversation with TT about buying a cake. Cheryl chose the same blackforest cake she chose for her own birthday celebration at school. And she actually didn't fancy eating the cake itself, unlike Isaac who ate more than his jie jie. The kids just enjoy seeing the candles being lighted up and then blowing off the candles. Isaac has been practising and should be able to blow out his own candles in September!

Tuesday, August 15

My letter got published in TODAY paper. Quite fast response, considering I emailed them only the day before. However, Straits Times emailed me to say they couldn't publish it. Not too surprised, as they receive lots of mail everyday.
Click this link to read the letter.
Not sure if the actual TODAY link is still valid.

Fireworks Saga (in 5 parts)

Part 5 - Saturday, August 12 (Team France)
Today was quite a busy day. In the morning, my sister and I decided that we wanted to go for the Library book sale at the Expo. BIG MISTAKE. As we entered the carpark, we saw the large crowds at the entrance. No way man, I've had enough of mingling with people this past week. Not so hardup about buying cheap books. So immediately I made my way out of the carpark. What a waste of petrol plying up and down the AYE! On the way back we managed to pack duck rice for everyone at home for lunch.

After lunch, the kids wanted to go for a public transport "excursion" according to the itinery planned out by Sean, our neighbour: MRT ride from Queenstown to Outram Park, then switch over to the north-east line down to HabourFront. From there take bus 409 up to Mount Faber. Then take a cable car round trip to Sentosa and back. Sean and his dad, TT and the kids (Cheryl, Isaac, Lauren and Oli) went for the excursion. My sister and I enjoyed some peace and quiet at home for a while....About 2 hours later, I drove up to Mount Faber and picked all of them up to go home! MRT -> Bus -> Cable car -> Car!




After dropping off Sean, his dad and Isaac (who would be taking his nap), we headed to the National Library to drop off the books we borrowed 3 weeks ago. TT then headed off to his badminton game. We milled around the Library for a while before heading to the Jubilee Hall (Raffles Hotel) to watch "The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other Stories by Eric Carle" at 4pm. I had booked the tickets quite some time ago through the internet and we got pretty good seats. The kids enjoyed the show where puppets were painted in flourescent and illuminated by ultraviolet lights. I thought the chameleon was really cute and tried to take a short video clip using my camera, but got stopped by the wardens! After the show, TT picked us up and the kids went swimming in the evening. Phew! What a busy day!

I was totally put off by the crowd the day before, so enough of closeup fireworks for me. I was sure I didn't have enough energy nor will power to lug 4 children through the thick crowds. But TT was still very enthusiastic and he decided to go ahead alone while I stayed at home with the kids. The kids watched the fireworks from our home windows. According to TT when he came back, the crowds were worse than the night before and he only managed to take videos from across the road near Fullerton hotel. And his view was slightly blocked by a building. I'm really glad I decided to stay at home. This is the pic of the fireworks TT took.

Rating: 6/10 (4 marks for the faraway, not-so-impressive view of the fireworks, 2 marks for watching the display in the cool and breezy comfort of my bedroom window with Isaac huddling in my arms.)

Part 4 - Friday, August 11 (Team New Caledonia)
Not totally deterred by Tuesday's failure, we decided to have another go at watching the fireworks closeup. This time TT and I set off earlier, around 7.45pm. We took the MRT to Raffles Place, and as we walked towards the merlion park, lots of people and families with children were also moving purposefully in the same direction. It was around 8.30pm, and the merlion park was totally filled up, so we decided to make our way to the Esplanade Drive bridge (see pic). We squeezed our way through till we were midway on the bridge. The whole place was lined with photographers with tripods and other spectators. We found some breathing space there and decided this would be our viewing spot.

This is a pic of TT and Isaac and Merlion at the backbround. We noticed that the protruding part of the Merlion park had been cordoned off for VIPs and probably sponsors. The rest of us "commoners" had to endure the discomfort of people packed like sardines. We had to wait about 20min before the fireworks began. The display was spectacular and impressive and it almost felt worth the discomfort we experienced. Cheryl and Isaac seemed pretty awed and probably slightly frightened by the heart-thumping explosions of the fireworks, and not to mention the immense number of people. After the show, it was another crazy squeeze to make our way out of the bridge to cross the road to Fullerton hotel side. Since Cheryl and Isaac have already experienced the fireworks closeup, it would be unlikely for me to attempt to brave the crowds again anytime soon. Taking the train back was less of a hassle, and we were back home by 10pm and Isaac probably enjoyed the MRT ride home more than the fireworks. I am definitely writing in to the forum about closing the roads during such events.
Rating: 8/10 (Full marks for the fireworks, minus 2 points for the bad crowd experience)

Part 3 - Wednesday, August 9 (National Day)
I can't tell you the exact details, but we managed to catch the fireworks from the balcony of a condo along Meyer Road near East Coast Park. We were at the 25th floor, and the city view as well as the sea view was simply breath-taking! The fireworks display did not disappoint although I fancied the duration was much too short. However, I was still not quite totally appeased by the episode of the previous day. TT took a video of the whole thing, so I don't have any shots of the fireworks.
Rating: 8/10

Part 2 - Tuesday, August 8 (Team Singapore)
The following is a pathetic tale indeed. If you wish to revel in my ill-fortune, read on...

Not content with watching fireworks from our home window, I was determined to bring the kids to watch it from a relative's office at Suntec Tower 3 on the 41st level. But I had a pilates class after work which ends at 7.30pm. TT was playing badminton from 7-9pm. His badminton time is non-negotiable, but I wasn't willing to give up my pilates class either. So after class I rushed home by cab. By the time we (my two kids, maid and myself) set off, it was 8.15pm. Reached Queenstown MRT but just missed the train! Damn, got to wait 7 minutes for the next one! #%@! The train finally came and it wasn't too crowded (yet). Two kind souls offered their seats to us. By the time we alighted at City Hall, the train was packed. Even the train station was brimming with people. Heard over the public announcement: "The station is very crowded. If you are not boarding the trains, please leave the station!" (wah fierce). 8:45 - We made our way to Suntec via the CityLink. Looks like everyone's rushing to see the fireworks too. We had to carry Isaac in his pram when we encountered stairs because the escalators were way too packed. It was a real workout getting from City Hall to Suntec. And totally pram-unfriendly. Time suddenly went twice as fast, the malls appeared much longer, and our strides seemed so small. We could only walk as fast as Cheryl's legs could manage. I had hoped the fireworks display wouldn't start on time, but it did. #%@! We had just reached the convention centre when it began. By the time we reached the foot of Tower 3, they were firing the final blasts. We managed to see some of it through the tall buildings. 9.10pm and it was all over. Hey, wasn't it supposed to be 15 minutes of fireworks, not 10 minutes? Felt so cheated. Went up anyway to the office to catch the view of the city and smoke. Tired. Hungy. Hot. And Fedup. And then later we had to contend with the traffic jam when my sister-in-law drove us back. Cars from the carparks were now trying to get out of the place, and this was like an hour after everything was over. It was Hell! Nightmare!

I knew I should have set off earlier, but I almost made it you know... My kids didn't seem to mind, the journey was quite an adventure in itself. But I can't help feeling upset about the whole episode. On hindsight, I must have been out of my mind to brave the crowds with two kids in tow using public transport... Plain stupid. But at least I tried.
There must be a better way to catch the fireworks...
Rating: 2/10

Part 1 - Saturday, August 5 (Team Italy)
We just watched it from our living room window. We can only view fireworks from the Festival displayed at the Marina Bay. We cannot see the display fired off at the National Stadium as it is being blocked by the opposite HDB blocks. Today's display lasted a good 15 minutes.
Rating: 4/10

Sunday, August 6 - Splash! Glup, Glup, Glup

It's off to our favourite park again, but I'm not sure if it's Cheryl's one anymore...

The highlight of the day: Cheryl's bike fell into the pond! Fortunately she was not on it... Nobody knows how it happened. TT was looking after Isaac on the scooter, and I was taking photos of some flower (yes, again!) Cheryl was pushing her bike and I guess it veered towards the edge and just slipped off. Glup, glup, glup... and the bike was no more. TT claims it's my fault (as always!) Moved by torrents of tears, we went to Toys R' Us later in the evening to get a two-wheel kick scooter for her (supposed to be a Christmas present). Here is Cheryl with her new scooter.

Plastic Supermarket

Trying to get Cheryl off watching too much TV takes quite a bit of effort. We have to take time to do some activities with her. So for the past evenings we've been playing supermarket using all the plastic playfood that she has. After picking our food into a plastic trolley or basket, we have to pay up at the cashier. The cashier has a barcode scanner and even accepts credit cards! After supermarket, we usually go on to play masak-masak, and Cheryl will cook up meals of lunch (rice and dishes) and dinner (western - meat and fries). I'm sure you will be impressed with these pics.

Thursday, July 27 - Black Pepper Crabs

Took leave from work on Thursday, Jul 27, so that we could celebrate Cheryl's actual birthday with her classmates at school. Packed 20 or so goody bags the night before. After my breakfast of chee cheong fun (see Personal Favourites in my previous blog) at Alexandra Village, we picked Cheryl up and went to Tiong Bahru Plaza to get a cake. We wanted to redeem our Bengawan Solo 1st month cake cards given to us by our friends. Cheryl chose a blackforest cake.

After the celebration at school, TT & I had teochew porridge for lunch at a Henderson coffee shop. Wah, the heat was terrible! Then TT dropped me off at IKEA because I wanted to check out sale (nothing much though). In the evening, my sister's kids popped by for a swim while we adults went to have a meal black pepper crabs. It was also to celebrate my birthday which is on July 31. We went to the famous crab place... Eng Seng Restaurant located at the junction of Still Road and Joo Chiat Place. TT went ahead first to get a table and order the food first because we could only reach there at 6.20pm. (Go there early to avoid queueing or waiting. 5pm if you can, or else 5.30 to 6pm). This is our favourite spot for black pepper crab. It didn't disappoint! The other food was so-so. If you intend to try the crabs, please read this other blog for a comprehensive guide on this place (it's written by someone also called Karen also, but it's not me, and I don't know her). And contrary to newspaper reports, the boss who served us was very polite (maybe because we were settling the bill).

Later we had teh tarik at the muslim shop opposite... bleah... quite tasteless...

Personal Favourites
FOOD
Black Pepper Crabs (First Grade Seafood Place at Eng Seng Restaurant)

Sunday, July 23 - The Day After ...

Phew! The party's finally over! I'm quite happy things went according to plan and there was enough food... It's all thanks to me... the best Mummy in the World! a.k.a The Super Anal Organizer Mummy! HaHa...

With the party out of the way, I can now look forward to a relaxing Sunday. While the kids were having their own breakfast and watching PlayHouse Disney with our domestic helper, TT and I sneaked away for a quick breakfast at Alexandra Village food centre. We both had the Depot Road Claypot laksa, which was delicious with all the harmful "harm" (cockles)! Unhealthy and yummy!

Then it was off to Botanic Gardens, our favourite park, with the kids... Weather was pretty good - cloudy and not too sunny. Still, it was hot and humid. We did our favourite activity, which was to feed the fishes and turtles with all the leftover bread "donated" by my sister. Thereafter TT played badminton with Cheryl, while Isaac played with his ball. I took the opportunity to exercise our new Canon IXUS 800is camera, taking macro shots of flowers and insects and also closeup shots of the kids.

Back home in the afternoon, while Isaac was taking a nap, I finally found some time to patch the grouting of our floor, and Cheryl even helped me for a while. But somehow the colour of the grouting appears lighter... I dunno, got a feeling it'll start to disintegrate soon, if Isaac and Cheryl continues scouring the house with the trike and scooter. (Update 1 week later: As expected, grouting has all come off already)

Isaac woke up in the late afternoon, and he had an early dinner of porridge. Then we set off to the National Library to return the books we borrowed three weeks earlier, but decided to have our dinner first instead. We ended up at a restauarant called Mint Cafe, along Seah Street which was situated at the basement of the Mint Museum of Toys. I had mushroom penne in cream sauce while TT had seafood ariabiata, and Cheryl had kid's spaggetti. Food was good (even Cheryl said so), serving staff was very friendly and the place was very cosy, though I don't know how they can survive with so little tables. I figured the place must be pretty new, because Isaac was the first baby to use their brand new Mothercare high chair! The kids had lots of fun at the large cosy lounging area with comfy designer sofas and also clammering up and down the white stairs leading up to the street level. They also provided activity sheets and crayons for the kids (but probably should invest in better crayons).

After dinner we walked back to the Library. We had less than an hour before closing time at 9pm. It was Cheryl's third time there, but Isaac's first, and he loved the open spaces and the children's area. He played hide and seek with the rows of bookshelves and it was really difficult to control his delighted giggles and laughter. On the other hand, Cheryl was the model library goer, reading a Madeline book with Daddy. They had designer plastic chairs (called Troili designed by Eero Aarnio) which TT thought was really ingenious. You can use the chair at 2 heights and also use it as a rocking toy. I wish I had brought my camera to take pictures, but you can see them here anyway. It costs ₤95 each! We borrowed a couple of Madeline, Eric Carle and other books. We couldn't find any Harold and the Purple Crayon books which we had returned earlier (thinking we could find them again later... without paying renewal charges of 50cents... cheapskate right?).

Personal Favourites
FOOD
(All 3 stalls mentioned below are located at the outermost column nearer to DBS Bank at Alexandra Food Centre)
Depot Road Zhen Shan Mei Claypot Laksa.
Mee Pok (1st corner stall facing Bt Merah Rd). TT likes this stall.
Teng Yu Chee Cheong Fun. I like this stall's handmade chee cheong fun with fillings of prawns or char siew. Sauce and chilli is also unique. May need to wait sometimes because it is made only when ordered.

PLACES TO GO
Botanic Gardens. Shady and cool even on sunny days because of all the big trees in the park. Lots of fishes and turtles to feed. Bring lots of leftover bread. Some people even bring fresh loaves though I think it's rather wasteful. Parking at the visitor centre can be a nightmare.

National Library. I love the open spaces there, though the central borrowing area at B1 is a little crammed when crowded. Children's area is pretty cosy but lack non-fiction & information books compared to say, Queenstown
Library (the other library I frequent). Or maybe I just haven't got time to explore the place, having to keep an eye on Isaac most of the time. I haven't really explored the rest of National Library yet but anything new is nice! Love the clean toilets too!

BOOKS (Children)
Harold and the Purple Crayon (Crockett Johnson)
Magic Beach (Crockett Johnson)
Madeline Books (Ludwig Bemelmans)
Where are you Going? To See My Friend! (Eric Carle and Kazuo Iwamura)
Draw Me a Star (Eric Carle)