TOP Voter Prize

Recently one of the Blogging Mommies – LZ mommy took part in a Blogging contest organized by Dumex. In order to win the contest, she needed as many votes as possible.

Being an ardent follower of her blog and knowing her to be such an amazing mommy to her 3 wonderful children and a loving hubby. I told myself that I would cast in as many votes as I can.

Every day, I would log on to the contest page and cast in my votes. Initially it was one vote per day as the organizer had arranged. Then it changed the voting system and we could vote every 3 hours..hehe. It was quite thrilling to see the vote’s number running higher each day and at times when another blogging mommy votes overtook LZmommy votes, I would feel the “pinch”…haha.

Nonetheless, at the end of the contest – LZmommy won the contest with a very HIGH VOTES and good lead.

The other day while on face book, I received a message from LZmommy telling me that I had won the highest voters prize.

It was quite a sweet surprise to me. I cast my votes daily on the basis that LZmommy is like a “cyber twin” to me and thus, I had to give all my best to support my twin, regardless if I win anything.

So after hearing what she told me, I went to the contest site and check out on the winning detail and true enough I saw my name on the Top 3 voters – I was the 2nd highest voters...hehe.

I contacted Dumex and told them about my name being mentioned on winning the contest. The person in charge was very nice and kind enough to allow me to pick up my prizes today, instead of tomorrow. ..: )

For the prize winner – we won for ourselves $100 Robinson vouchers & $120 Mamil Gold Hamper. Not bad for a 1st time voting contest for me and it’s a small windfall too..haha.

So we shall be doing our Christmas shopping soon, Thanks to LZmommy!!

十年了...

04-12-1999 是我们的註册婚姻的日子。当年的气氛好热闹，现在回忆过去，好开心。

十年了。。这一路走得还顺利。当然不是一切都没问题，只是我们都会尽量小事化无。记得阿姨一句话 – “婚姻是要好好经营的”。

十年不算长， 因为前面还有很长的路要走。

曾经读过一位朋友的部落阁，她也庆婚姻十周年。她的文章留给我很深的印象。文中提到能和丈夫过十年周念算是幸福美满了， 因为她提到生边许多好友不是离婚，就是分居。很难百头到老。

很多感触。。所以在今天只希望我们能继续共度十年。。。

It’s had been a smooth 10 years of marriage for us so far. I know the road ahead is still long and with our commitment and belief in each other, I believe we can walk another 10 years together.

Being married for 10 years is not considered long and to many – it’s just the beginning of more hardship. As our romance/love faded slowly, it’s take times to cultivate our trust and belief in one another so that we can support each other in our life.

This 10 years had not been easy on us, especially for me, I had taken so many different roles in order to fine tune what work best for the family. The sacrifices were small but the challenges were huge. I had not fallen yet but honestly at times, I don’t know how far I can stretch.

May we be blessed with more good years ahead and may I gain more knowledge in life to be a better wife to my husband, a better mommy to my children and a better daughter to my parents/in laws.

Happy 10th Anniversary to US!

Rainbow Restaurant

For this term of school, Anders has been learning about different kind food & fruits.

The teachers had been bringing them around to places like wet market, NTUC Supermarket and also they visited KFC to understand how a kitchen operates.

During school days, they also had “cooking lesson” and he came back telling me that he had been trying different dishes in school.

They were also taught of different roles in a restaurant; e.g. chefs/waitress/cashier etcs. All these were in preparation of the opening of their own new restaurant – RAINBOW RESTAURANT.

30 November 2009 was the official OPENING of the restaurant and parents were invited to visit the restaurant. So on Monday evening, with our invitation letter, I went to the official opening with Anthea. Anthea was very excited about the opening ceremony. We arrived at the restaurant at the time slot given to us 7 pm.

The waitresses were standing by to welcome all the guests. Then we went in and placed order on our food.

Anders was CHEF in charge of Drinks..haha.

They were serving drinks, egg mayo sandwiches, kebab & fruits salad. Anthea was going around the place and placing her order, using the coupons that were given to the guests. Then she registered her coupon at the cashiers.

We had a really fun time, seeing the “Chefs” all busied at work and the waitresses serving us diligently.

The foods served were delicious and the service was TIP TOP…: )

The shift ended at 7.30pm as the next group of invited guests were waiting outside the restaurant for their meals. (these were the K2 Graduation event)

Then the "chefs" changed shift and had their break after a hard day of work...hehe.

Anders has been displaying keen interest in cooking and each time when I bake/cook, he would come by my side and asks me a lot of questions. He also volunteers his help willingly. I have been telling Adrian – if he cont’d to display keen interest in culinary, maybe one day he will become a CELEBRITY CHEF….haha. Then I can enjoy plenty of nice dishes, if he’s willing to cook for me by then…hehe.

A “Windfall” Haji Weekends

We had another relaxing Haji long weekend break. It was a weekend of good food and good companionship.

On Friday, one of my long timed MJ kakis, Linda, organized a house warming and invited us to her newly bought 3 ½ room HDB flat in AMK for lunch. I had known this group of kakis since my SDS days. Yes, I was an active social development service member before and we had so much fond memories of our good old days. Matter of fact, I got to know Adrian via the SDS network…haha.

Linda’s ordered a mini buffet lunch for her guests and we had a great time catching up. There were many children in the home and it was very noisy and fun. I think we really WARM UP her house.

Then before we left her place for the day, I gathered all the kakis and asked them to pool in $10 for a small bet on the weekends 4D…hehe. So we decided on buying Linda’s new home unit number. There were 5 shares altogether. I am not a DIED-HARD 4D fan but when there is inspiration, I will be motivated and like what people say 有卖就有希望。。嘻嘻。

In the evening, we had dinner with my extended families at my youngest BIL’s home. After dinner, we had a quick game of MJ and in the end – I won $1.20…haha. Then we headed to the AMK Macdonald Drive through for our supper before calling it a day.

On Saturday, we went to Nova Furnishing centre and ordered a new study desk for Anthea. I was also considering getting a new wardrobe as the old one is giving way soon..hee.

In the evening, we had dinner with my parents and da-ge as my mom also had some small windfalls during the week with her 4D. I was planning to recommend them to try a new place – House of Seafood @180 but due to my negligence, we ended up at the wrong place and had different food instead. Anyway, it was the companion that mattered more to the food. (self-consolation : P)

Sunday was a relaxing day for us as we went around with our usual exercise routine and in the evening we had crab noodle from Mellben Seafood. My FIL will usually 打包the Crab Noodle from the stall and we would eat in comfort at my in laws place.

Then around 7 plus in the evening, I received a sms from Linda and she mentioned that our 4D betting number had came out and we had made a small windfall. Indeed a very good ending to the long weekends and I agreed with what Linda said – Group Luck = GOOD LUCK!! I am looking forward to our next groups gathering and hopefully we will have a chance to play MJ again… : )

三天两夜圣淘沙游/ 颁奖典礼

The title reminded me of my good old days working at the travel agent planning for inbound tourists to Sentosa : P The weather had been very kind to us for the last 3 days and I cannot be more thankful for it.

Friday, 20 November

In the morning, I attended Anthea’s school prize giving ceremony cum concert. The mood was generally happy and most of the children were happy to go on stage to collect their prizes. I was happy to see most of her tuition classmates were there and most of them were also 1st, 2nd & 3rd of their respective classes. Wow…the tuition teacher must be very happy to see all her students did so well…: )

After the ceremony, we had a quick snack at the canteen as Anthea said she was hungry. Then we went home to get ready for our resort stay in Sentosa.

In the afternoon, my eldest brother came and picks us up and we headed to Tiong Bahru Hawker for our lunch before proceeding to Sentosa for our check in. the new market was big and had many food stalls, we tried different varieties of the food and they were not bad.

Then my brother drove us all the way into Rasa Sentosa resort for our check in. We were allocated room 510 and it was seaview deluxe room as booked. The room size was comfortable. We had a twin sharing bed joined together and beside it was a sofa bed. So it was very comfortable for our family of 2 adult and 2 children. I had booked the resort Staycation package deal for the 2 nights stay and it came with daily breakfast for 2 adults / 2 children.

While we were checking in, I had a called from Cindy and she was asking if we had any plan for the day. She took ½ day leave to be with Angus and she had no planned of where to go. So I invited them to join us at the hotel and she agreed. The children were very happy to see Angus again and they immediately went to the poolside for their water fun.

The swimming pool has 3 children slides and the pool height was just nice for all of them. They had great fun at the pool and I saw that Anders was getting braver with the slide. He even tried different style of sliding into the pool.

Then they requested to go by the beachfront to play with sand. We went along with them. While the children played with sand, we had a good chat on our children examination results.

Around 5pm, we went back to the hotel room to change and they left for home as they had some prior dinner appointment.

For us, after bathing and changing, we took the hotel shutter bus to Vivo City to meet Adrian for dinner. He came after his event @ Marina Barrage and met us for dinner. We ate at Earl Swenson in Vivo City. As usual, Anthea & Anders enjoyed the salad bar buffet. After dinner, we headed to Toy R Us to buy her present from my PIL. Because of her good result, my FIL had told her to go and chose herself a present. Finally she chooses the Scooter for her gift. : )

Then we bought some donuts for our late night supper and drove back to the hotel. Parking at the hotel is complimentary and based on 1st come 1st served basis.

We had a very relaxed evening in the hotel room and the children enjoyed the games too.

Saturday, 21 November

We woke up to a bright and sunny beautiful morning. We went for our buffet breakfast and the spread was very sumptuous.

After a good breakfast, we started our itinerary for the day…hehe. Our 1st stop was the Sentosa 4D Magix and we watched the Pirates show. The show was very interesting and the 4D effect was very entertaining too. Anders was a bit scared of the pirates and dare not put on his glass. : P

After the show, we went for the Sentosa Luge & Sky ride. As we were at the hilltop, so we started with the luge ride 1st. Anthea shared a cart with Adrian and Anders shared one with me. The ride downhill was very exciting and Anders kept saying he had great fun and asked if we can go another round..haha. Then we took the sky ride back to the hilltop.

There was a new Megazip Adventure Park and we decided to check it out since we had a Free ticket from the hotel package. But we were there too early; the park opens at 2pm, so we had no choice but to give it a miss.

As it was almost lunch time, we decided to pack lunch back to the hotel room. Anthea and Anders had requested to go to the pool, so I took them for a dip before lunch. Adrian took the opportunity to do his studies in preparation for his test on Monday.

The children had great fun at the pool slide again.

After about an hour of water fun, we went back to the hotel to bath and change and then had our lunch in the room. Yes, we packed Subway sandwiches and a pizza for lunch. Then the children had their power nap. Around 4.30pm, they woke up & Anthea went to the resort Toot’s club and did a face painting session at the club. This is like a kid’s club and parents can sign in their children into the club and the parents can do their own stuff around the resort.

In the evening, we were booked for Song of the Sea show at 7.40pm. We reached the show place around 6.30pm and saw a long queue for the show. We made query with the show usher and was told there was a FULL HOUSE Situation for the show and since the seating is based on 1st come 1st served basis, we decided to go in and chopped the seats 1st.

While waiting for the show, the children had some light snack as we planned to take dinner after the show. The show started exactly at 7.40pm and we were all mesmerized by the show. The show featured pyrotechnics, water jets, brilliant lasers, captivating music and other dramatic effects. It was a fantastic show and Adrian commented that he was surprised and impressed we were capable of such spectacular show on Sentosa Island.

(these are the special laser graphic that was caught off the waterjet..i am happy that my new camerca can capture these...)

The children also like the special effect and kept talking about Oscar the fish and the beautiful Princess, even after the show.

Then we headed to Sake Sushi for our dinner and took the beach tram back to our hotel and rested after an eventful day.

Sunday, 22 November

We woke up to another bright and sunny beautiful morning. We proceeded to our buffet breakfast and this morning the café was crowded with tourists. We saw many families with children, so presumed that they were also holidaying in Sentosa : )

After a good hearty breakfast, we went back to our room to rest our stomach. Then we went to the pool again. Adrian joined us at the pool and since he was there watching the children, I took a quick swim at the adult poolside and it was great.

The children simply enjoyed the pool slides and had great fun going up & down.

Around 12 noon, we checked out of the hotel and since I had bought the Merlion Tower tickets in advanced, we did a quick tour of the tower. The tower was quite ok but nothing much for the children, luckily I only bought 2 tickets and Anders went up with me. Anthea was too tired to walk the Merlion Tower and stayed with Adrian at the car park. : )

We decided to have a quick lunch at Kou Fu at Palawan beach before leaving the island for home sweet home. The place was crowded with tourist and families who came over for day trip.

Overall, the 3 days 2 nights Sentosa discovery has been a very fruitful trip for the family. The children enjoyed the hotel and its facilities and of course, the buffet breakfast...haha.

Next year, when the Resort World is operational ready, we will plan for a family trip there again, to explore the new Universal Studio.

A Special INVITATION & My New Camera

2 weeks ago, Anthea showed me a letter from her school regarding the following week schedules and also the dates of collecting and returning of the report books. The school also mentioned that there will be a Prize giving ceremony cum concert on Friday, 20 November 2009. Only parents of prize winners, all P6 students and performances need to attend the event due to space constraint.

I saw Anthea’s SA 2 results and told myself that likely we need not go to school on the Friday, so we just need to prepare ourselves in the morning for our Sentosa check in on the same day.

However, on Monday, she showed me a form after school. Yes, it was the INVITATION for the ceremony on this Friday. I was very surprised and happy to see that she is one of the prize winners as she is 2nd in her class. : )

I was totally over the moon with the news although I had not seen her report books yet, I knew she did well enough to gain 2nd placing in class.

Today is the report book day and she has made me a very proud mother with her wonderful results.
English – 94.0%

Chinese – 99.0 %

Mathematics – 88.0%

She scores Band 1 for all the subjects and A’s for all the others subjects – Art/Social study/Health education/ Music & Physical Education.

Only her Math was below 90% and after seeing her papers, we know where her weakness was and hopefully she will learn from it.

So this Friday, I will be attending her prize winning ceremony and thereafter we will proceed to Sentosa for our grand celebration.

For this special occasion and our Sentosa weekends stay, I decided to invest in a good camera to capture more photographs…haha.

I had been considering getting a DSLR camera and was seriously considering Panasonic Lumix DMC GF1 after hearing some very good feedback from the Club Snap forum. I had visited MS Color shop in AMK 2 – 3 times to check on this camera but so far, the shop does not has stock of the camera and advised me to wait till next month.

Today, I went to Chinatown to run some errands and there were few shops selling different models of cameras and I told myself to try my luck to see if the shop has my preferred camera. Yes, it has the G1 model that I was looking for…: P

Immediately I made my queries with the sale person and he showed me the camera.
The salesman explained to me the basic function of the G1 DSLR and also the pros & cons. In order to get a good zoom, I would need to buy extra lens and he said that would cost about another $600 (almost a price of a new camera…: P )

Then after knowing my needs, he recommend me another Panasonic Lumix – model FZ35.

This camera has what I wanted and he also mentioned that for a beginner to photography, this camera will suite me better than a DSLR. He said once I get used to playing the FZ35, he said I can go back and look for him for a DSLR camera. There was one sentence he said and impressed me – he said the FZ35 will make the photo “看起来有生命力”. Wow what a way to put it and the price was few hundred cheaper than G1. So it’s a win-save situation for me.

Finally I bought the FZ35 and the package include a 8GB SD Card, camera case, a tripod and he even gave me a free card reader and lens cleaning stuff.

I truly admired his professional knowledge and he was so openly sharing his knowledge with me and talking to him really make me learnt so much about the camera. I am really grateful to have met him in my pursue of a new hobby.

Okie, now I am reading the operating manual for my new camera and hopefully on this Friday, I can capture 有生命的照片。。哈哈！

New Toy / New Haircuts

We had another busy weekend. Ever since Anthea & Anders tried Angus’s Yo-yo, they have been bugging me to buy one for them.

So as usual, how can I say No to them, right..: ) . On Saturday afternoon, I brought both of them to Toy R Us @ United Square to search for the recommended Yo-Yo. Before hand, I had a quick checked with Cindy and she recommended the Super Yoyo Stealth Raider model for beginner. However, the outlet does not have stock of this model and the children were disappointed and they would not go off empty handed. Finally, we bought another model Yoyo but instead of 2, I told them we would only buy one and try another outlet for the recommended Yoyo. They were both agreeable to the decision.

So now at home, both of them are practicing the new tricks on their new toy – Yoyo.

After buying the Yoyo, we had our lunch at Macdonald. I am still short of a few properties to get one of the monopoly prizes…hee.

Then we walked to Novena for our favorite dessert – Yummy Yogurt. After our dessert, I brought Anders for his haircut at EC House and while waiting for Anders. I try to persuade Anthea to cut her hair too. She has been keeping her long hair for a while but I had some problems with her maintaining it. She is too lazy to comb her own hair after each wash and I had to keep nagging at her. Also she does sports and swim, so keeping long hair is quite a chore.

I told her of all the good points of keeping short hair and finally after some consideration- she said YES. Immediately I bought the coupon at EC House and told the lady hair dresser that I would like her to cut Anthea’s hair.

After 10 minutes, she came out with a new look and the hairstyle suit her well. Anthea said she was happy with her new hairdo…phew.

We all went home feeling very happy with our achievements..haha.

In the evening, we went for a House warming gathering of one of Adrian long time buddy. He also upgraded his home from a 5 room HDB to a Condominium. They hold a dinner buffet at the clubhouse. We had a good time catching up with his buddies and wives. His buddy brought us to his unit and shows us the beautiful home. Very happy for them to have find their new home sweet home.

On Sunday morning, I went for my Boot camp training and this time round we had a new trainer and he was more on cardio training. After the session, my whole body felt the effect(aching) and I told Adrian it was a very good workout…“ 花钱买罪受。。哈哈”

In the afternoon, I baked some milo cookies for the family and my working colleagues.

In the evening, we brought Anthea to one of her classmate home as she requested to go over to play with her.

They had a good time at the condominium playground and we brought along our badminton gears for them to play. We finished the playtime around 6.30pm and headed over to Charco for our dinner. It was our 1st time trying the food and it was not too bad.

We went home, feeling happy & satisfied and ready for a new week ahead. Now I am looking forward to our Rasa Sentosa Weekends stay.