Today is 31 December 2007, the best thing to blog is to "turn back the Blog" and reminisced the year.
2007 had been a good year for the Aces family and we are very happy and looking forward to 2008.
Aces Family Blog 2007 :
January - both anthea and anders started their childcare in a new childcare centre. The decision was right and both of them had good times in the centre.
February - Aces family celebrated CNY 2007.
March :
- Astee and Anthea had their 1st holiday in Hong Kong Disneyland, together with my MIL.
- Our little niece , Faith Tan, was borned in March 2007.
- Anders celebrated his 3th Birthday.
April :
- Siti , our domestic helper, returned home after 3 years of working with us.
- Aces family started Tingkat dinner delivery.
- Anthea celebrated her 5th birthday.
May:
- Anthea and Anders were confirmed with HFMD, luckily it was a mild one and both recovered well.
June:
- Daddy celebrated his birthday.
- Aces family attended NDP rehearsal
July :
- Aces famil weekends stay at swissotel the stamford.
- NDP Preview .
August:
- Aces family (1st trip) to KL/Sunway lagoons.
September:
- Celebrated mid autumn festival.
October:
- Island princess introduction.
November :
- Aces family 1st time on Starcruise Virgo.
December:
- watched LIVE Shows (Dora, Barbie as Island Princess, Thomas The train).
- Chee Kheong & Angelyn wedding.
Looking back brought me very fond memories of those family time we had. Now counting down to 2008 and hope that it will be a peaceful year for Aces Family.
Dear All,
May it be a prosperous year for everyone, Happy 2008 !!!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Gatherings weekends
This had been a busy weekends of gatherings for the aces family.
On Saturday, one of Adrian colleagues invited us to his house for a lunch gathering. His colleague stayed in one of the Condominum in Punggol and it faced the punggol park.
At the gathering, we had a sumptous lunch of friend bee hoon, chicken curry, fish fritters, prawn fritters and nice dessert of cakes and drinks. Adrian had requested that i baked a dozen of the chocolate chip muffins for the gathering. So we do not go empty handed..hee : )
Both Anthea and Anders had fun at the gathering, there were few other colleagues who brought along their children, so all the children had fun playing with the owner's dog. At the gathering, i also get to linked faces to names that Adrian had mentioned to me. These are all the people that worked hand in hand, sweat to sweat in Sudong Island.
We left the place in the late afternoon for the children to have their nap before joining the extended families for dinner.
My MIL used her hotel membership and booked a room for a weekend stay in Fairmont Singapore. During my last gathering with my Travel friends, i was told that Fairmont groups had bought over Raffles The Plaza hotel. This is the 1st Fairmont Hotel in Singapore. The Fairmont Hotel is nicely furbished compared to the old Raffles the Plaza, as i can remembered it.
Anthea room in with my parents in law on the weekends, she was so happy.
On Sunday morning, we brought Anders to the hotel to meet up with my MIL and Anthea. Adrian watched over Anders in the swimming pool when i had my 1 hour gym workout. The gym facilities was really good and the spa was equally top class. Too bad i didn't bring my costume to do the jacuzzi... : )
After our swim and gym, we packed up and checked out of the hotel and headed towards CPE to fetch my FIL.
We sent them back and then headed to Adrian's buddy place for a gathering. His buddy's - Ong celebrated his daughther 1st Year Old birthday. We brought along a present for Baby Cheryl. Ong didn't tell us about the celebration, he just mentioned that it was a gathering. Luckily, i still remember that Pauline delivered some time last year...hee. So looking at my blog entry, indeed, Cheryl was borned on 30 Dec 2006. Cheryl is a chubby little girl and so cute.
Ong stayed in one of the condominium in AMK, both Anthe and Anders had so much fun at the children playground.
Life in a condominium is good with so many facilities within reach... : )
Well, we can only dream of it and hopefully if one day, strike Toto or Big sweep....IF. haha : )
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Christmas Day SPECIALS..
It's Christmas DAY...
It's a relaxing day to wake up to. The children had a late night, so they both woke up around 9.30am.
After a simple breakfast of home baked muffins and good cup of brewed coffee. We decided to go to town for a walk. Well, rather it was "I" who decided to go Marina Loft to try the 车仔面 by Old Hong Kong. I read on Sunday Times about this place and thought of trying it. Now i am into 茶餐厅 craze and love to try all the different kind of Hong Kong food.
Both Anthea and Anders enjoyed the noodles and i love the ingredients. It's a bit like our local mixture of "kauy chap" and "yong tau fu". No bad.
After lunch, we walked around the Marina Square and ended up in JL. I had the chance to shop around for clothings while Adrian brought the children to the Toys Department. I was pleasantly surprised that i managed to fit into a M size denin skirt when i tried it. I was looking for either the L or XL but there were only M left. So i though...what the heck..just try for fun.
It FITTED me...OMG!! This made my day...haha. Actually i would think that it is the cutting of the skirt, rather than the size. Anyway, i am really glad that the Personal Training is doing me good, specially now that my backache had subsided to a great extend.
Needless to say, i bought the skirt... : P
Happily, we went for tea break at Killiney Cafe, Anthea and Anders enjoyed the kaya toast, eggs and teh-C. Then we left home for the children's nap.
This Christmas - 25 Dec 2007 is SPECIAL because all members of the Tan Family are in SG, compared to 2006 when Louis & Eve were in US/UK for work and pleasure.
Since the Master Chefs are back in town, the chefs KITCHEN opens on Christmas Day. Beside being X'mas day, it is also Louis's Birthday. So we must celebrate it in style..haha. Dinner was a special treat at Louis & Eve's place.
Aunty SK and family, together with Aunty SG came over to join us for dinner.
The menu included - Home roasted Turkey and stuffings (prepared by the birthday boy), Quiche and a special mexican wrap ( prepared by Eve), Special beef rolled with golden mushrooms (prepared by Terence & Cherry), combinations of sausages and mashed potatoes ( contributed by the Aces family), Special baked rice ( prepared by aunty SK). There were fruits and desserts and a Durian Birthday Cake from Jane's Cake Station. ( Contributed by mom & dad). Last but not least , a bottle of nice champagne and white wine for the occassions.
This is the 1st time we had a home roasted Turkey and i must compliment the Chef/s for a job well done. The meat was still tender and juicy when we ate it, it was roast to PERFECTION.
Both Anthea and Anders had so much fun playing with Wen D's girlfriend, Sharon jie jie. The whole house was full of laughters by the 3 of them. We left the place around 10 pm, feeling so happy and truely the spirit of Christmas.
This Christmas, Anthea and Anders received so many Christmas Presents from all the love ones.
Anthea :
1. Ponyville ( Yeye & Nai Nai)
2. Princess Swim robe towel ( Uncle Louis & Aunty Eve)
3. Barbie as Island Princess Doll ( Uncle Terence & Cherry Jie Jie)
4. Dress - Barbie as island Princess ( Daddy & Mommy)
5. Playdough ( Childcare gift exchange)
6. Scrabble - children version ( Aunty SK)
7. Monopoly for both of them ( Uncle Louis & Aunty Eve)
Anders:
1. Thomas the Train set ( Yeye & Nai Nai)
2. Spiderman robe towel ( Uncle Louis & aunty Eve)
3. Transformers Truck ( Uncle Terence & Cherry Jie Jie)
4. Lego sets ( Daddy & mommy)
5. Fraction Learning Set ( Childcare gift exchange)
6. Ultraman Agul / Justic ( Aunty SK)
7. Ultraman Cosmo VCD ( Sharon Jie Jie)
Also 2 of them received a color pencil sets from the childcare. Abundance of gifts.
They are really very lucky to have so many people who thought of them during this festive season. I always remind them that they have to appreciate all these presents and especially the people who bought them the presents.
Another wonderful day of precious moment with the families. It is a Merry, Merry Christmas for the Aces Family.
It's a relaxing day to wake up to. The children had a late night, so they both woke up around 9.30am.
After a simple breakfast of home baked muffins and good cup of brewed coffee. We decided to go to town for a walk. Well, rather it was "I" who decided to go Marina Loft to try the 车仔面 by Old Hong Kong. I read on Sunday Times about this place and thought of trying it. Now i am into 茶餐厅 craze and love to try all the different kind of Hong Kong food.
Both Anthea and Anders enjoyed the noodles and i love the ingredients. It's a bit like our local mixture of "kauy chap" and "yong tau fu". No bad.
After lunch, we walked around the Marina Square and ended up in JL. I had the chance to shop around for clothings while Adrian brought the children to the Toys Department. I was pleasantly surprised that i managed to fit into a M size denin skirt when i tried it. I was looking for either the L or XL but there were only M left. So i though...what the heck..just try for fun.
It FITTED me...OMG!! This made my day...haha. Actually i would think that it is the cutting of the skirt, rather than the size. Anyway, i am really glad that the Personal Training is doing me good, specially now that my backache had subsided to a great extend.
Needless to say, i bought the skirt... : P
Happily, we went for tea break at Killiney Cafe, Anthea and Anders enjoyed the kaya toast, eggs and teh-C. Then we left home for the children's nap.
This Christmas - 25 Dec 2007 is SPECIAL because all members of the Tan Family are in SG, compared to 2006 when Louis & Eve were in US/UK for work and pleasure.
Since the Master Chefs are back in town, the chefs KITCHEN opens on Christmas Day. Beside being X'mas day, it is also Louis's Birthday. So we must celebrate it in style..haha. Dinner was a special treat at Louis & Eve's place.
Aunty SK and family, together with Aunty SG came over to join us for dinner.
The menu included - Home roasted Turkey and stuffings (prepared by the birthday boy), Quiche and a special mexican wrap ( prepared by Eve), Special beef rolled with golden mushrooms (prepared by Terence & Cherry), combinations of sausages and mashed potatoes ( contributed by the Aces family), Special baked rice ( prepared by aunty SK). There were fruits and desserts and a Durian Birthday Cake from Jane's Cake Station. ( Contributed by mom & dad). Last but not least , a bottle of nice champagne and white wine for the occassions.
This is the 1st time we had a home roasted Turkey and i must compliment the Chef/s for a job well done. The meat was still tender and juicy when we ate it, it was roast to PERFECTION.
Both Anthea and Anders had so much fun playing with Wen D's girlfriend, Sharon jie jie. The whole house was full of laughters by the 3 of them. We left the place around 10 pm, feeling so happy and truely the spirit of Christmas.
This Christmas, Anthea and Anders received so many Christmas Presents from all the love ones.
Anthea :
1. Ponyville ( Yeye & Nai Nai)
2. Princess Swim robe towel ( Uncle Louis & Aunty Eve)
3. Barbie as Island Princess Doll ( Uncle Terence & Cherry Jie Jie)
4. Dress - Barbie as island Princess ( Daddy & Mommy)
5. Playdough ( Childcare gift exchange)
6. Scrabble - children version ( Aunty SK)
7. Monopoly for both of them ( Uncle Louis & Aunty Eve)
Anders:
1. Thomas the Train set ( Yeye & Nai Nai)
2. Spiderman robe towel ( Uncle Louis & aunty Eve)
3. Transformers Truck ( Uncle Terence & Cherry Jie Jie)
4. Lego sets ( Daddy & mommy)
5. Fraction Learning Set ( Childcare gift exchange)
6. Ultraman Agul / Justic ( Aunty SK)
7. Ultraman Cosmo VCD ( Sharon Jie Jie)
Also 2 of them received a color pencil sets from the childcare. Abundance of gifts.
They are really very lucky to have so many people who thought of them during this festive season. I always remind them that they have to appreciate all these presents and especially the people who bought them the presents.
Another wonderful day of precious moment with the families. It is a Merry, Merry Christmas for the Aces Family.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Thankful Christmas Eve
Today is the Eve of Christmas.
Aces family has many things to be thankful on this special day.
Today morning, Adrian checked his examination result and he was told that he passed the exam. It was the Best Christmas Gift for him.
The children childcare was supposed to have a X'mas celebration but because of some cases of chicken pox going around, the Principal decided to cancel it. I was actually prepared to attend the party. Since it was cancelled, i went home while the children had their mini class celebrations.
Both Adrian and myself went to the temple to offer our thanks to grandma/grandad who had been watching over us. We are thankful that Anders is ok and the little incident that happened was a reminder for us to be more careful.
After offering our prayers, we went to the gym for our workout before heading to the childcare to fetch the children.
Both Anthea and Anders came home, very happy and with their X'mas exchange presents. I am thankful that both of them are enjoying every day of their school.
In the evening, dinner was at lao ma's place. As usual, we are thankful to my parents and my brothers for always looking after us in their special own way. Especially to lao pa for always cooking our favorite dishes.
Tonight dinner - Leg of lamp, slice roast beef, honey baked ham, baked potatoes, salad, baked bean, soup and a great bottle of white wine. What more can we asked for...as we are in the company of our love ones.
All these while, we are also very thankful for our extended families for sharing all our happiness and joy.
It's now 11.30pm and anothe 1/2 hour to Christmas Day. Aces family would like to wish our families, relatives and friends :
"A Merry Christmas and may your Dream comes True."
Aces family has many things to be thankful on this special day.
Today morning, Adrian checked his examination result and he was told that he passed the exam. It was the Best Christmas Gift for him.
The children childcare was supposed to have a X'mas celebration but because of some cases of chicken pox going around, the Principal decided to cancel it. I was actually prepared to attend the party. Since it was cancelled, i went home while the children had their mini class celebrations.
Both Adrian and myself went to the temple to offer our thanks to grandma/grandad who had been watching over us. We are thankful that Anders is ok and the little incident that happened was a reminder for us to be more careful.
After offering our prayers, we went to the gym for our workout before heading to the childcare to fetch the children.
Both Anthea and Anders came home, very happy and with their X'mas exchange presents. I am thankful that both of them are enjoying every day of their school.
In the evening, dinner was at lao ma's place. As usual, we are thankful to my parents and my brothers for always looking after us in their special own way. Especially to lao pa for always cooking our favorite dishes.
Tonight dinner - Leg of lamp, slice roast beef, honey baked ham, baked potatoes, salad, baked bean, soup and a great bottle of white wine. What more can we asked for...as we are in the company of our love ones.
All these while, we are also very thankful for our extended families for sharing all our happiness and joy.
It's now 11.30pm and anothe 1/2 hour to Christmas Day. Aces family would like to wish our families, relatives and friends :
"A Merry Christmas and may your Dream comes True."
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Nearly CRUSHED...
This little incident happened on Saturday after the wedding dinner.
We were walking down the escalator and heading towards the carpark. Halfway down the escalator, Anders started crying...i looked at him and he was pointing to his left leg.
His crocs shoe got caught in between the escalator gap...i panicked and got frightened. Adrian saw it and quickly ran infront of us. In the nick of time, he pulled the shoe out from the gap. The shoe tored into 2 pieces. At this point, we were all off the escalator.
Anders was crying and Anthea also started crying and she asked : "didi's legs broken already?" She was very frightened and upset by the incident.
When the whole commotion cooled down a little and the children stop crying. I checked on Anders feet. Very luckily that his feet was not caught inside of the gap otherwise, i really dread to imagine what will happened.
We asked him to walk a little and he was ok. Then Adrian carried him to the car and then we drove home.
I was very shaken by this little incident. All these while, i have been very cautious when the children are on the escalator, i always make sure that they are on the safe side of the escalator. However, on that night, it happened so quickly..sighed !!
This is an important lesson for the Aces family and i know from now on, i will be super alert.
We were walking down the escalator and heading towards the carpark. Halfway down the escalator, Anders started crying...i looked at him and he was pointing to his left leg.
His crocs shoe got caught in between the escalator gap...i panicked and got frightened. Adrian saw it and quickly ran infront of us. In the nick of time, he pulled the shoe out from the gap. The shoe tored into 2 pieces. At this point, we were all off the escalator.
Anders was crying and Anthea also started crying and she asked : "didi's legs broken already?" She was very frightened and upset by the incident.
When the whole commotion cooled down a little and the children stop crying. I checked on Anders feet. Very luckily that his feet was not caught inside of the gap otherwise, i really dread to imagine what will happened.
We asked him to walk a little and he was ok. Then Adrian carried him to the car and then we drove home.
I was very shaken by this little incident. All these while, i have been very cautious when the children are on the escalator, i always make sure that they are on the safe side of the escalator. However, on that night, it happened so quickly..sighed !!
This is an important lesson for the Aces family and i know from now on, i will be super alert.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Beautiful Wedding & Happy 冬至
22 Dec 2007 is a beautiful day of Happy occassions.
Today is a BIG DAY for chinese as we celebrated the 冬至 (Winter Solstic). At lunch time, we went to my lao ma place for a good meal of home cooked hainanese chicken rice with other dishes. The main important dish for the day is none other than - 汤圆. My mum bought the red/white mixture from the market and rolled it into small balls and cooked them in ginger soup. It is a very refreshing drink and both Adrian and myself Love it.
Today is also a BIG DAY for our extended family - it is the customery wedding cum dinner for Chee Kheong & Angelyn. (chee kheong is the eldest son of my MIL's 2nd sister). It was definitely a family affair. In the morning, my MIL brought Anthea along to my aunty's house for the tea ceremony. In the evening, the Tan family attended their wedding dinner at Swissotel The Stamford Hotel.
Today is also a BIG DAY for our extended family - it is the customery wedding cum dinner for Chee Kheong & Angelyn. (chee kheong is the eldest son of my MIL's 2nd sister). It was definitely a family affair. In the morning, my MIL brought Anthea along to my aunty's house for the tea ceremony. In the evening, the Tan family attended their wedding dinner at Swissotel The Stamford Hotel.
This is our first timei attended a wedding dinner in this hotel and i must say - the food quality was good and all commented that it was delicious as well.. : )
The most important is the gathering of the relatives whome we only met during such occassion.
The dinner ended around 11 pm and we stayed around to chat with the aunties and we had so much laughter. Anthea and Anders enjoyed the wedding, they especially had fun playing with Uncle MK.
May the new couples lead a Blissful life ahead and start their own family soon...
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Fun Day at The Zoo
The childcare centre is closed on 19 Dec and 21 Dec, so i took 2 days of my childcare leaves to be with them.
Earlier on i applied for my company Zoo corporate card and this time i was lucky. I got it for the 19 Dec and the card to be returned on 21 Dec since 20 Dec is a Hari Raya holiday.
We decided to go on 19 December becaused from previous experience Hari Raya is always a rainy day..hee : P
In the morning, Adrain drove us all to my office to pick up the Zoo card and then we made our way to the Singapore Zoo.
When we arrived, Adrian went for his jog around the Mandai reservoir while the 3 of us went for our zoo visit. We made arrangement for Adrian to meet us after his jog.
Our 1st stop was the Pony ride as Anthea wanted to do that. So i bought a ticket for Anthea's ride. Anders was a bit hesitant when i asked him if he wanted to take the ride. When we were at the Pony ride area, there were no one else, except us. So the Zoo keeper was very kind, he allowed Anders to go on the ride, eventhough he does not had a ticket. Both of then enjoyed the Pony's ride.
After the ride, we went for The Elephant show. It was an enjoyable show and i was truely impressed with the work that our Asia Elephants displayed.
Adrian met us at the restaurant for lunch. At the lunch place, there were some displays of snakes and both Anthea and Anders had a good chance to go up closed and personal with the snakes.
Then we went to the children play area. As the weather was bright and sunny, the children had about 20 minutes of waterplay.
Thereafter, we went on to see Hippo and Kangeroo before calling it a day. As usual, our last stop is Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
We headed home after a good, fun day at the Zoo. We were blessed with a day of very good & sunny weather.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Thomas & Friend Live Show & My Gathering.
This has been a super busy weekends for Aces Family.
On Sat afternoon, we were target to watch another Live show, it's none other than Thomas, the train show. The show took place on our own turf - AMK HUB, so there is no excuse to miss it.
So after a light lunch of porridge, we walked over to the hub to Q for the show. We reached there around 12.15pm and there was almost 50 people infront of us. So we joined in the Q.
As usual, the show started at 1 pm, with the introduction of the show by the Fat Controller. It was an entertaining 30 minutes after and after the show, Anthea and Anders had the chance to take a photo on the stage with the character. They were so happy.
After taking photo, we went to the 3rd storey for the Train ride. Purchase above $50 at any shop in the HUB, the children had a chance to take a ride round the shops.
Due to the Christmas festive, there are many events happening in the Hub and Friday night, it was a late night shopping event. Also Santa Claus was going around distributing goodies with Miss Santa.. : )
Saturday dinner was with the families at California Pizza Kitchen, after a nice meal of Pizzas and salad, Terence & Cherry brought the children to Toy R Us to shop for their X'mas presents. Terence laid down a condition for them - They can only open their presents on X'mas day.
Now both of them are waiting patiently for the 25 Dec..hee : )
On Sunday, a group of my ex-colleagues from my travel industry days came to my place for a small gathering. We had such a wonderful catching up with one another. There were altogether 7 of us so it is equivalent to 2 markets (三个女人，一个巴刹).
We chatted non-stop about our current affairs and reminisced about those good old days. We have been friends for almost 15 years.
Time passed so fast and now we are all doing different jobs with a few still in the same industry.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Our 1st Visit to Ikea Tampines
On Sunday morning, it was raining quite heavily, so Anthea did not go for her usual swim with my MIL.
Since we are home and Adrian is also not working. We decided to visit the IKEA Mega mall in Tampines. When we reached the place, our 1st stop was lunch. The food mall was big and very crowded. Luckily we found a table for 4 of us. We had their famous spaghettis with meatball, kid's meal - spaghettis and chicken nuggets. The children enjoyed the food.
After we finished our lunch, it was shopping time. While shopping, we met Uncle HT and he was there with his family. Both Anthea and Anders were so happy to see their uncle MK; they wanted to play with him. We told them after buying the stuff, we will meet with them again, then only they were willing to move on.
2 weeks back, we did some furniture changes to our current beds arrangement. All these while, Anders had been sleeping on the mattress on the floor. Having read from the Baby Forum that it was no advisable for children to sleep on the floor for prolonged time, so he now sleep on the Queen size bed with me.
So this mean that one of our rooms is now empty and Adrian decided to used it as his reading room. So we shifted our study desk to the empty room.
With the study desk gone, we need another simple table to put our laptop and printer, so our main intention to Ikea was to get it.
We found the exact table that we wanted – Vika Amon / Vika curry table. The price is at $39.00.
Then we saw this very nice chest of 6 drawers include a built in mirror – MALM series that cost $249.00. I love it because it was slim and small, save space. We bought it as well.
Since we are home and Adrian is also not working. We decided to visit the IKEA Mega mall in Tampines. When we reached the place, our 1st stop was lunch. The food mall was big and very crowded. Luckily we found a table for 4 of us. We had their famous spaghettis with meatball, kid's meal - spaghettis and chicken nuggets. The children enjoyed the food.
After we finished our lunch, it was shopping time. While shopping, we met Uncle HT and he was there with his family. Both Anthea and Anders were so happy to see their uncle MK; they wanted to play with him. We told them after buying the stuff, we will meet with them again, then only they were willing to move on.
2 weeks back, we did some furniture changes to our current beds arrangement. All these while, Anders had been sleeping on the mattress on the floor. Having read from the Baby Forum that it was no advisable for children to sleep on the floor for prolonged time, so he now sleep on the Queen size bed with me.
So this mean that one of our rooms is now empty and Adrian decided to used it as his reading room. So we shifted our study desk to the empty room.
With the study desk gone, we need another simple table to put our laptop and printer, so our main intention to Ikea was to get it.
We found the exact table that we wanted – Vika Amon / Vika curry table. The price is at $39.00.
Then we saw this very nice chest of 6 drawers include a built in mirror – MALM series that cost $249.00. I love it because it was slim and small, save space. We bought it as well.
My current dressing table is one of those OLD-fashioned and bulky type.. : P
The 2 items that we bought are under self- serve, so we have to navigate ourselves to the different racks / sections to pick up the items. I must say, the warehouse area is HUGE and very spacious.
After paying for our 2 items, we headed for home, it was quite a challenge to pack the carton of drawers into our car and we managed.
Adrian had set up the table which was a simple task. As for the drawers, it was not easy but I am proud to say: He DID it. Adrian is quite a DIY person, anything that breaks down at home or whatever needed to be fixed, he will try to put them back.
The 2 items that we bought are under self- serve, so we have to navigate ourselves to the different racks / sections to pick up the items. I must say, the warehouse area is HUGE and very spacious.
After paying for our 2 items, we headed for home, it was quite a challenge to pack the carton of drawers into our car and we managed.
Adrian had set up the table which was a simple task. As for the drawers, it was not easy but I am proud to say: He DID it. Adrian is quite a DIY person, anything that breaks down at home or whatever needed to be fixed, he will try to put them back.
We had a fun time at IKEA and i told Adrian that we must come again - visit the Giant Megamart that is just across the road.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Dora the Explorer "Live" Show
December is always a busy month of chasing Live Shows for the children.
On Saturday morning, after a nice breakfast, we started getting ourselves ready to go for the Dora Live Show at the United Square.
As usual we took the MRT since it is just 4 stations aways from our place. We reached United Square around 11.45am and we saw that people are que-ing up. So we quickly joined in the Q. Luckily we were early and the Q got longer and longer, compared to our Q for Island Princess show last weekend.
The show started on time at 1 pm. Both Anthe and Anders were very happy to see Dora and her friends. The 1/2 hour show was very entertaining.
The only "complaint" that i have is - many parents started to shove their children to the front of the stage and resulted to the children standing and blocking our view. Anthea kept saying : "mommy, i can't see, they are blocking me." Imagine we were at the front row..sigh. In the end, i had no choice but to ask her to stand up and watch. This meant that she will be blocking the others behind but what to do... : P
After the show, we had lunch at Bakerzin with the extended families. The children had pizzas and spagetties. My In Laws returned from their enjoyable Hokkaido trip on Friday evening.
My father in law brought the children to Toy R Us after lunch and he bought each of them an early christmas present. Anthea choosed for herself a Ponyville House and Anders choosed a Thomas the Train Lego set.
Both of them went home, happy & tired. They had their usual power nap.
Dinner was at my in laws house with Uncle Leong's crabs and other Tze char dishes. It was a nice and simple meal. After dinner, we even had a rare chance of playing a game of MAHJONG..hee.
What a Treat & exciting day for the Aces family.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Passion & Friendship.
This morning when i was reading the Mind Your Body section of The Straits Times, December 5, 2007. I was pleasantly surprised when i read this article by David Hume - Let Passion Give Way to Friendship.
After my previous blog on my 8th Years, reading this article made me understand that we are on the right track.. : )
The author mentioned that the essence of romantic love (eros) is want. In other words to be in love is to be consumed by passionate longing for someone.
Extracts from the article :
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Love & liberty - "love is restless and impatient passion, full of caprices and variations: arising in a moment and suddenly extinguishing after the same manner. Such love requires liberty above all things."
But once two people commit to being "a couple" (by marriage), they are no longer free to live and love as they please. Their actions and affections become bound by constraints.
Marital Friendship - Although eros cannot survive without liberty, friendship can. Unlike eros, friendship thrives under constraint. The stuff that chokes the life out of passion (duty, responsibility and routine) causes friendship to flourish and bloom.
This is why successful marriages are not characterised by swoons, sighs and palpitations of the heart, though they will have had their share of these things at the beginning. They are characterised by care, consideration and tenderness.
The happy couples have managed to transform the passion and ardour they had in the beginning into Joy, Gentlenss, Gratitude and Trust, into happiness in being together."
In other words, into FRIENDSHIP.
***********************************************
This is a meaningful article to me and i hope to put it to good practice in our marriage and one day, we will be just like the cartoon.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Happy 8th Years
4th December is the day we took our vows - 8 years ago.
8 Years of marriage is still consider as very "young" couples. But we already felt like "old husband old wife"..haha. Probably as we matured, we looked at anniversary differently. Most important to us is our Mutual Trust & LOVE.
It's a normal day with no dinner celebration or flowers but we know the significance of the day, deep in our hearts.
The other day i was talking to Adrian on my mobile, after i ended the call, my colleague who was with me asked : "were you talking to you hubby ? how come you and him talk like friends?"
I was puzzled by her question because that is how we always conversed, ending our conversation with a "thanks or see you."
Indeed her question had left me to think about relationship / marriage. Didn't a relationship started as friends before we proceeded to become man & wife. After marriage, does it meant the Friendship also ended?
Nope, to me, the Friendships extended further to becoming mutual understandings friends.
Now our friends group extended to include our children. So definitely there is no endings to it.
Then next time he will be my soulmate and listening ears, as we aged together.
Dear, Happy 8th Anniversary !!
Thanks for everything.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Barbie as The Island Princess Live Show & Sayonara.
Anthea has been a BIG Fan of Barbie's shows and this resulted to me being a mommy's fan. We have been to a few of Barbie Live Shows - Pegasus (Year 2005) & 12 Dancing Princesses (Year 2006).
This year, without fail, Barbie is coming as the Island Pricess. We have watched the VCD many times and again i must say, this musical was another hit with the Aces Family.
When i saw the promotion mailer from Robinson indicating on the Live Show, i told myself - we must go & watch..haha.
On Sat, 1 Dec, the Live Show starts and it is at the Raffles City Shopping Mall. Since it's a Saturday, how can we not go for it. So after breakfast, around 11 am, we (anthea, anders & myself) took the MRT to City. Adrian was helping me with the housework and decided to join us after. We decided to take the MRT because i wanted to let the children go on MRT, as they always request to take MRT.
We reached Raffles City Shopping Mall around 11.30 am and went to the Atrium to check out on the Q status. From Experienced, i know to get a good view, normally will need to Q an hour before the show. Luckily, there were no one Q-ing yet, so we walk around the Atrium. Anthea and Anders were very excited when they see all the Island Princess toys and dresses, espcially Anthea.
At 12 noon, we saw the Barbie crew start putting up notices on the Live Show and Anthea said : "mommy, let's go & Q". Wow..she is even more "kan-cheong" than anyone else. So we went to Q and got Q No. 8 - 10...hee. This show how "ks" we are..haha.
The show started on time at 1pm and the children enjoyed the 1/2 hour magical live show. I was impressed by the whole setup and also the crew. The singers are really very good. Only thing, there was a slight hiccups, some of the mikes were not working at the start, so we could not hear the first few songs clearly. Regardless of the small hiccups, the crew still put up their best performances. Well DONE !
In the evening, we went to the airport for dinner. My parents in laws are going for a 7 Days Hokkaido Tour with Tradewinds.
After dinner, we took the skytrain to Terminal 3 to take a new look at the home to A380. Wow...our Terminal 3 is really big. As it was not fully opened yet, so we only took a quick peek at the departure hall.
Then we went back to Terminal 2 to do the check in for my in law's departure flights on SQ. The group counter was crowded with school holiday tourist. Many are in family with children. Looking at them, i told adrian, in 2 years time, we will also need to follow school holiday crowd when anthea starts her primary school..hee.
Around 10 pm, my in laws went in to the boarding gates to wait for their departure flight. Aces family wishes them a Happy vacation in Japan and till we see them next Friday, it is now "Sayonara..."
This year, without fail, Barbie is coming as the Island Pricess. We have watched the VCD many times and again i must say, this musical was another hit with the Aces Family.
When i saw the promotion mailer from Robinson indicating on the Live Show, i told myself - we must go & watch..haha.
On Sat, 1 Dec, the Live Show starts and it is at the Raffles City Shopping Mall. Since it's a Saturday, how can we not go for it. So after breakfast, around 11 am, we (anthea, anders & myself) took the MRT to City. Adrian was helping me with the housework and decided to join us after. We decided to take the MRT because i wanted to let the children go on MRT, as they always request to take MRT.
We reached Raffles City Shopping Mall around 11.30 am and went to the Atrium to check out on the Q status. From Experienced, i know to get a good view, normally will need to Q an hour before the show. Luckily, there were no one Q-ing yet, so we walk around the Atrium. Anthea and Anders were very excited when they see all the Island Princess toys and dresses, espcially Anthea.
At 12 noon, we saw the Barbie crew start putting up notices on the Live Show and Anthea said : "mommy, let's go & Q". Wow..she is even more "kan-cheong" than anyone else. So we went to Q and got Q No. 8 - 10...hee. This show how "ks" we are..haha.
The show started on time at 1pm and the children enjoyed the 1/2 hour magical live show. I was impressed by the whole setup and also the crew. The singers are really very good. Only thing, there was a slight hiccups, some of the mikes were not working at the start, so we could not hear the first few songs clearly. Regardless of the small hiccups, the crew still put up their best performances. Well DONE !
In the evening, we went to the airport for dinner. My parents in laws are going for a 7 Days Hokkaido Tour with Tradewinds.
After dinner, we took the skytrain to Terminal 3 to take a new look at the home to A380. Wow...our Terminal 3 is really big. As it was not fully opened yet, so we only took a quick peek at the departure hall.
Then we went back to Terminal 2 to do the check in for my in law's departure flights on SQ. The group counter was crowded with school holiday tourist. Many are in family with children. Looking at them, i told adrian, in 2 years time, we will also need to follow school holiday crowd when anthea starts her primary school..hee.
Around 10 pm, my in laws went in to the boarding gates to wait for their departure flight. Aces family wishes them a Happy vacation in Japan and till we see them next Friday, it is now "Sayonara..."
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