Happy Birthday My Love !

Today is Adrian's 36th birthday !!

We had a nice dinner birthday celebration for him last night at Grand Shanghai restaurant, organized by my Parent in Laws. My MIL had a FREE birthday cake voucher and also enjoyed 50% discount on the meal.

There were about 4 birthday celebrations at the restaurant. The singer sang the birthday songs 4 times..hee.

At the end of the day, Adrian was very happy and said to me: “thank you for the arrangement of the tour and also looking after the children.”

I am glad that he had enjoyed the tour and the birthday celebration. Both Anthea and Anders were so happy at the dinner and both had a good time gulping the hazelnut cake. It was delicious and yummy.

A month more to go and Adrian will need to travel for his work detachment. It's not going to be an easy time for him too as the family is here and he's a FAMILY MAN. Anyway, I gave him my 100% support and will try my 100% to take good care of the remaining A's while he is away.

Happy Birthday to you, my dearest hubby. May you have a good year ahead!!

4Days / 3 Nights Phuket Family Special

We are back from the Phuket – “Pearl of the Southern Thailand”. It was a very interesting and eye-opening experienced for our family.

We would like to share our experienced with all of our friends and families.

Day 1: Wednesday, 25 June

Singapore → Phuket (MI 754) Dep: 1320 / Arr 1410 hr

Upon arrival at Phuket airport, we were transferred to our hotel – Laguna Beach resort.
Welcome drinks was served while the hotel reception assisted us with the checked in. We had 2 rooms and we were upgraded to Sea view deluxe room. The rooms were very spacious. There are 2 queen sized beds in the room, with an additional sitting/dining area inside the room. Also each room comes with a balcony.

It started raining upon our check in, so we decided to have a quick rest before dinner. As recommended by Louis & Eve, we went to the Watermark restaurant for dinner. We had a very good meal of Tom Yum goong, keeyo wan; Pan roasted golden chicken breast on creamy parmesan risotto, Chinese aromatic duck kway teow. The children had the children set and ice-cream was included. The dinner was delicious and we had a great time watching the huge yacht that was at the dock. The restaurant provides free shuttle transfers to the hotel.

Day 2: Thursday, 26 June

PHUKET Safari (including ½ hour Elephant ride)

After a good hotel buffet breakfast, we met up with the local tour representative for our Safari tour. We were brought to the Siam Safari meet up point. Together with few other tourists, we boarded a special jungle car for our ride up the jungle.

Both Anthea and Anders were very excited as this was their time to a real Jungle. The ride up the jungle was quite a thrill and the children kept making noise (like they were on a roller coaster). Luckily the few tourists on our car were quite accommodative and after a quick chat, we realised that they were from SG too...haha. They are a family of 10 pax and the woman we chat with mentioned that they are US citizens and her husband is working in SG. She was a very nice lady and even volunteered to help us take family photo.

The Safari tour was very interesting and it included:

- How coconuts are processed to make coconut milk and oil
- How Thai Curry was made
- How rubber trees are tapped to produce natural rubber latex
- How monkeys are trained to pick coconut and learn about buffalos
- How young baby elephants are trained. Anthea and Anders had the chance to feed the elephants with fruits that we bought at 50 Baht.

-Trek on Elephant back in Chalong Highland. Anthea and Anders thoroughly enjoyed the elephant ride and I know the memory of this ride with stay with them for a long, long time. As the elephants were trekking in Chalong Highland, at some point along the trek, we were able to get a good view of Phi Phi Island.

After the Safari tour, we were transferred to a jetty for our cruise on a traditional wooden junk in Chalong Bay. A sumptuous buffet lunch was served on board the cruise. The cruise was very relaxing and the children had a great time riding with the Captain of the junk.. : P

We were transferred back to our hotel after an active, educational and rewarding adventure.

In the evening, we decided to go to Phuket town for dinner and also to see the place. After checking a few options, we finally decided on taking the Local Taxi. There was a “taxi stand” in front of the hotel but the drivers had never once crossed the “borders” and touts. I believed there must have been a mutual agreement. We agreed on the price of 1500 baht for a return trip for our party of 4 adults and 2 children.

The trip to town was about 30 minutes from the hotel and the taxi driver dropped us at the Robinson shopping centre and we would meet him at the same venue for return. We walked around the area and decided to eat Pizza, as requested by Anthea. Luckily, my parents were fine with Pizzas and Pasta.

After dinner, we took a walk around the area and we saw many roadside stalls selling Thai local dishes. I was telling my parents that all these stalls reminded me of my childhood days when SG was still very “kampong” and we ate from all these stalls.

We ended at Robinson shopping centre and there was a counter selling all the local products. I took the opportunity to buy some to bring back SG for the family.

We met up with the taxi driver at the time arranged and headed back to the hotel. Upon arrival at the hotel, the driver was very kind to tell me that for his car, we will only need to pay 1200 Baht. We had a good night rest after a fun filled day.

Day 3: Friday, 27 June

Phuket City Tour & Phuket Fantasea Theme Park

After breakfast, the local tour guide met us at the hotel lobby. Together with us, there were 4 British tourists on the city tour. The tour provided us with the opportunity to be familiarize with the holiday island and take in the island natural beauty as we drove along the beach roads through Patong, Karon, Kata and Rawai beaches. When we drove passed Patong, I was quite impressed and told Adrian that if we ever visit Phuket again, we should stay in one of the hotels there. We had a photo stop at Karon viewpoint and the views were magnificent.

We had another stop on top of the mountain where people worshipped the God. There were a lot of elephants sculpture and according to the guide, people who had their wishes fulfilled will return to thank the God with the small sculpture.

After this, we visited the Buddhist Temple – Wat Chalong. Tourists of different nationalities were offering their prayers at the temple. I also prayed for good health for the families.

Our next stop was the Cashew nuts factory. It was a real treat for the children as both of them get to sample different kind of cashew nuts and local products. At the same time, we were shown how a cashew nut is hand pick out by the local. No wonder this nut is so expensive. We bought some goodies from the factory outlet.

Then we were brought to a GEM Factory. Honestly I would think not many tourists will buy gems during these kinds of exotic vacations. Nonetheless, we were provided with free drinks… : P

The tour ended with this as the last stop and we were transferred back to our hotel. It was bright & sunny when we reached the hotel, so I brought Anthea and Anders to the swimming pool. Adrian brought my parents for a Tom Yam lunch at the restaurant by the beach.

The pool was lovely and it even had a slide. Anthea tried it and she loves it. We played for a while and went back to change and rest before our next event. The children had cup noodles in the hotel room and they simply enjoyed the meal. (Ps: I packed along some cup noodles and they came in handy..hee.)

We were picked up at 6pm to Phuket Fantasea theme park. Upon arrival at the park, we went to collect our tickets and entered the park. We went for our buffet dinner and it was really a grand feast. The foods served were international and included some Thai dishes. Coffee & tea were also served at the dinner buffet. I ordered a glass of Red Wine for my dad. After a full meal, we walked around the theme park, there were many carnival stalls and tourists were enjoying the games. We had the chance to take a photo with a Baby Tiger @ 400 baht.

The show started at 9 pm. Phuket Fantasea not only showcases the charm and beauty of Thailand, but also enriches ancient Thai Traditions with the wonder of cutting edge technology. The 1 ½ hour show was truly mesmerizing and I am glad we had the chance to watch it.

Day 4: Saturday, 28 June

Phuket → Singapore (MI 753) Dep: 1455 / Arr 1740 hr

In the morning at breakfast, Anthea and Anders had the chance to see the “residence” Elephants and they even managed to feed the elephants. As the weather was very good, we decided to take a swim by the pool and Anthea had fun at the water park slide. Then we went back to our room to change and get ready for our departure pick up at 12.15pm.

The flight back to SG was also very smooth and Anthea helped herself with the juices that were served by the stewardess.

When we reached SG, our usual welcome gang was there to receive us. My eldest brother came to pick my parents for dinner.

Overall, it had been a very enjoyable and memorable trip for the Aces family and I do hope that my parents enjoyed it as much as we did. True to the advertisement promotion – it was indeed a HOLIDAY Planned for the KIDS (Big & small..haha)

The 3 top most things that we did during this trip:

1. See the most Elephants. (everywhere we go, elephants are all over the place, you can feed them and ride on them at your own expense)

2. Tip the most (as recommended on our travel brochure – it is a custom in Thailand to tip for good services and it helps the local eke out their somewhat meager income.)

3. Going on the same road the most (it seem like there is only one road to and back the hotel and so we travelled this road the most)

Off to..Land of Thousand Smiles

We are all set & ready for our family trip to Phuket.

Flights checkin and boarding passes had been printed..haha. : )

Our tour dates are from 25 to 28 June 2008. I am really looking forward to a good relaxing trip. Hopefully can get a TRUE Traditional Thai Massage at the hotel.

Will be in silence mode for the next few days and will catch up with all the blogs reading when i am back on Sunday, till then, lao jer gun !!

Side Track a little :
Today, i heard a piece of Bad News from my Blog Twins - LZmommy . Z hurt his elbow and was due for an operation and i think by now, he should be out of the ops room.

I wish Z a speedy recovery and may LZmommy remains as strong as ever to go through this ordeal. Take Care!!

Our 2nd Lunch Meet

Today i had a very good lunch gathering with Idy, Stardust & Clement again...hee : )

Idy is clearing her leaves and thus she initiated,again, this lunch gathering. Thanks so much, Idy.

Honestly, i truely enjoy my lunch time with these friends, it always seem like we had endless topics to discuss and time is never enough. Since we last met in January, this is our 2nd Lunch meet. This time the venue is none other than Ichiban Sushi @ Novena Square. Both Clement and Stardust working place is near Novena Square. For Idy & myself, it is just one train station away.

As usual, the MAIN TOPIC is CHILDREN...haha.

From Idy - she is going through quite a challenging stage especially with her little Princess - Ilis who sounds to me like a "Heavy Weight " champion of ITF (IT Family). Personally i felt that Idy is a supermom who can self-handled her children as her husband need to travel frequently for work purposes.

From Stardust - she shared with us her Tingkat experiences with Buffet Paradize and now Kim's kitchen, i am waiting for her feedback on her next potential vendor. I also admired her strength of carry her Prince - Vincent in the MRT as she mentioned that he does not like to sit on the MRT seats. Another supermommy !!

From Clement - heard a piece of very good new that his friend Baby is home and Clement had the chance to "jam" his musical talent at his friend place while visiting the family. Clement (& Angelcow) is enjoying their little Princess - Jaimie. I can feel his LOVE for Jaimie especially when he expressed how he enjoy his little chats with his little Princess at bedtime. She is indeed so Loveable, whenever i read their blogs, it just sent a smile to my face. Great Daddy.

From me - i shared mainly my concern on Ander's being toilet trained. I was telling them that Anders requested not to wear pampers at night, but LAZY ME...still insisted that he wears them. I really need my sleep..lazy excuses..haha. I will try when my mental is ready to take the challenge : P

See what i mean when i said our TOPIC was mainly about children. But learning from different parenting style sometimes give us an insight of how we can do the same and if certain theory may suit our own family lifestyle. There is no right/wrong or SOP to parenting. I know whatever we do, we do it out of LOVE for the family & CHILDREN.

Last but not least : "Clement, THANK YOU For the LUNCH!!!".

ps: Next Gathering, we must take a photo..hee.

Happy Birthday Dad !! & Touched !!

Today is my Father in law 62nd years old birthday and it is also this day that he is officially retired.

We had a simple celebration last Saturday. My MIL hosted a Buffet Dinner at Window on the Park Café at the Holiday Inn Parkview. Actually it was more like the usual family dinner because there was no birthday cake. I had asked Adrian if we should get a small cake but my MIL mentioned that since it was a buffet, so no need for cake... : P

The Aces family bought yeye a small present and Anthea was so excited that she asked Yeye to open his present at the dinner table. Luckily Yeye was all smiled when he saw his present, so this means as he LIKES his present.

During dinner, my MIL was sharing with me her Farewell montage and gifts from her colleagues. Coincidentally, my MIL is also retiring end of this month. So both my In-laws will be Retirees.

However for my MIL, her current employer had offered her a 2nd career – either as Part – timer or contract staff. Then my MIL told me that her intention would be to get a morning Part time job so she can take care of Anthea in the afternoon. The primary school that I will be registering for Anthea is a single morning session school. After hearing what she said – I was really TOUCHED and felt so Happy for Anthea that her Nai-nai is ever so Loving towards her. Of course, I told my MIL that I will try to find a Part Time job to look after Anthea after school.


Honestly, my PIL's had worked so hard for the family and I think it's time for them to enjoy their retirement. They are welcomed to look after the grandchildren, as and when they are free. But I don't want to tie them down with the routine of childcare responsibilities. They should have the freedom to do what they like and go where they want to - 自由自在的享受退休时光 ！！

Sincerely and truely, I am still very THANKFUL to my In-laws for always keeping us in their minds.


Aces Family : Wishing our Dad a Happy Birthday and Mom a Very Happy Retirement !!

Anders PTC & Anthea Vision Screening

Anders PTC was scheduled between 10 am – 10.30am on 21 June 2008. After breakfast, I went to the childcare to meet the teachers. This year Anders is in Nursery and he has 2 new teachers. For English lesson, he is taught by Ms Kelyn. For his Chinese lesson, his teacher is 张老师。

I had a quick chat with both the teachers on his progress in the class and generally, the feedbacks are positive and encouraging.
His progress reports were as follow:

勇学是个文静但有时又好动的孩子。他肯学，并积极参于一切活动。

Anders is a cheerful and active child. He enjoys playing and interacting with his peers. He has also shown his ability to complete tasks independently. He is able to express himself more confidently to teachers too. Keep it up!

I am glad and happy that Anders is doing well and enjoying his time in the class, I know it because every day he will come home with a story to tell...haha.

Anthea Eye-Screening

Anthea had her vision screening in her childcare on 30 May 2008. This is an arrangement by the Health Promotion Board for all the children. It is a National Myopia Prevention Programme. The result came out as:

Vision LogMAR Computed Snellen
Right/ Left Right / Left
Without glasses 0.00 0.00 6/06 6/06

Stereopsis Normal

Examination Notes: Vision Screening done – Normal Vision

I am delighted with the result. So far at home, we are maintaining a perfect Eyesight score. None of us is wearing spectacles or contact lenses. So I also hope that the children can do without them for a long, long time. This means we must continued with the effort of bringing them to the park more often as greenery improves the eyesight.

Just the 3 of Us.

The childcare was closed for the Teachers training curriculum, so I took my childcare leave to look after Anthea and Anders. I applied for the company Zoo Card and Science Centre card but was not Lucky, so the trip to Zoo/Science Centre did not materialised. During the week, thought of different venues to bring them but in the end, I told myself: Let's see how the day goes. In the morning, as the weather was very good, I decided to change the bed sheets; usually I will change them on Saturday for Sunday wash. The laundry dried real quickly as the sun was bright & sunny. Since the weather was so nice, I told the children: “let's go to the pool...” “YEAH!!”...was the answer to my suggestion. Both of them changed quickly and packed their goggles and off we went to the pool nearby. We had fun at the pool and enjoyed the coldness of the water on such a lovely day. The pool was not as crowded as I had expected. Anthea was asking me: “mommy, why so long we didn't go to the pool.” I told her it was all because of HFMD, so I am very hesitant to bring them to Public Pools. After the swim, the children requested to have noodles for their lunch and they wanted to eat what I had eaten the other night as dinner. (Actually I had maggi noodle and because it will be expiring soon, I did not allow them to share with me.) We went to shop and save and bought a new packet of Maggi noodle and some cheese sausages. Then went home to cook their lunch. Both of them enjoyed the noodle with cheese sausages very much, anthea even had a 2nd bowl. I know by all mothers standard – this will be unhealthy meal, but for my case, I would like them indulge in anything, once a while..hee. (Just my lame lazy excuse...!!) The children had their afternoon nap after a nice lunch and a tiring morning swim. Adrian had to attend a wedding dinner at Intercontinental hotel, so I decided to bring the children along to Bugis for dinner and at the same time, shopped for Anthea's travel pack milk. Recently, Adrian was offered some promotion by Citibank and he accepted it. So in returned, he received some vouchers. One of them was a FREE WAFFLE with Ben & Jerry Ice Cream at Billy Bombers, so I decided to bring the children there for dinner. We had a delicious dinner and both enjoyed the free waffle so much, ate till the last drop of the ice cream..hee. (Anders was our "camera-boy") When we were done with dinner, we shopped around Cold Storage and managed to buy the travel pack milk..What a relief!! Then we shopped around BHG for my FIL's birthday present. Anthea was very excited and she started to look around the departmental store for ye-ye's present. Finally she chose a nice and colorful polo T-shirt for her favourite yeye. I do hope my FIL will like his present..: P Then around 10 pm, we went to the hotel and met up with Adrian. He managed to eat the 4th dish of the course and said that he wanted to go back too, as he had his gym session on Saturday morning. So we left the hotel around 10.20pm, all happy and satisfied. Today has been a great day for 3 of us – Anthea, Anders and me. Very soon, our routine will be just the 3 of us when daddy is on his oversea work detachment.

Our Dinner

On Monday when I open the plastic bag which hold our tingkat dinner, there was a notice in it and the 1st line caught my 100% ATTENTION!

"DISCONTINUED OF OUR NORMAL DINNER SERVICE”, I read on and realized that Buffet Paradize decided to go PREMIUM, like those PREMIUM BUSES which provide express service from HDB to CBD areas. Well, the word PREMIUM is always link to HIGHER PRICES.

Currently for the normal dinner delivery, we paid $200 for 20 meals. We had 3 dishes and a soup for 2 person servings. The PREMIUM Price for 20 meals for 2 persons will now be $400 for 3 Dishes & a Soup. According to the notice, it claimed that the company had received positive feedback and numerous requests for the PREMIUM DINNERS.

Honestly, I have no clues who these people might be but I know they must be RICH!! Cost of things is going UP and UP and yet these people can ask for PREMIUM DINNERS.

Needless to say, we have to change our Tingkat Dinner Company. Our current contract end mid July, so now I have to start doing research for any good recommendation.

Like what the Chinese says : 天下没有不散之宴席 ！！

Trial Saturday & Happy Father's Day

Adrian was on Guard Duty on Saturday and I took it as a trial for us when he is on oversea detachment.

In the morning, I prepared home-made sandwiches for the children and we had a good breakfast. Then around 10.30am, we were off for Anthea's MPM class. I had to bring Anders along and while Anthea was doing her lesson, we take a stroll at Popular bookshop.

After her lesson ended, we walked to the hawker centre nearby and bought their lunches. We went home and the children ate their lunches. They had their usual nap after their lunches.
I managed to do some ironing while they napped. Soon after they woke up, we met my in-laws for dinner at the AMK HUB. The day went passed quite smoothly. The only thing I missed was my 2.4km job..hee : P

Today is Father's Day. When Adrian reached home this morning from his guard duty, the children greeted him “Happy Father's Day”.

I brought Anthea and Anders to my parents place for lunch, so that Adrian can have his rest. I usually treat Father's Day as my Dad's birthday. Simple reason – his IC does not has a date of birth, it only show the year. (Don't ask me why… : P )

So today, I gave my dad a small token of appreciation, honestly, he has been the BEST DAD I can ever have. Since young, he was the one who really doted on me and taken real good care of me. Probably I am the only daughter..hee. Anyway, no amount of words can describe my deepest THANKS to my 老爸。On this day I just want to wish him “ 父亲节快乐，永远安康“。

We had simple lunch of roasted chicken, herbal soup, vegetable and fish. I enjoyed the meal and the company.

Looking forward to our family trip to Phuket with my parents. Hope they will enjoy the tour.

Friday the 13th Bad News

Sister Shirley is in town again….this time to settle a Matter of Heart issue. Recently she had some operations and was actually advised by her doctor not to travel. Because of her LOVE for the man, she travelled all the way from USA to SINGAPORE, hopefully to get an answer and has a proper closure to the matter.

Last night she called me and I was happy to hear from her again. We chatted a little and finally when I asked her if she had the chance to meet with the man? She said she went to his home and met his father whom confirmed her worst nightmare – the truth was revealed.

The MAN was a MARRIED MAN WITH 2 CHILDREN (4yrs, 2 Yrs old). I was really very angry and agitated when I heard this from her. According to her, the relationship started when he had his 1st child and she was really shocked that he had even proposed to her.

He is a real SCUMBAG!!!! How can he do this to my most beloved sister....ARRRGHH!!

I know sister Shirley is really by hurt by this SCUMBAG and the betrayal. It took her so long to get over my 三哥。Just when I thought finally she found her LOVE of the LIFE, it turned out to be a THRASH...why why...must it happens to her?

Now I just prayed hard that Shirley will be strong to get over this episode and recover well for her health.

Aces Family will always be here for you.

Readings

i Anthea and Anders enjoy bedtime stories and will request that I read a story each night. When I am not too tired, I will oblige to their requests. At times Anthea will read the stories on her own. I will let her do so and helps her with words that are a little difficult for her.

Usually we will borrow the stories books from the library. Previously both of them will voluntarily go to the library with me. But nowadays things seem to have change a little. Anders preferred to stay at home to watch his Mickey Mouse show on Playhouse Disney and Anthea preferred to stay home to play games with Adrian.

Last night, when I asked them if they wanted to go to the library, both said no. Anthea told me “mommy, you just borrow books that you know that I can read...” (Like that also can...hee : P )

So with this mission in mind, I went to the AMK Library ALONE...haha. Actually I am happier at the library without the 2 of them. I can focus better and find suitable books for them. When they are around, they will always run here and there, pick the strangest books etcs.

I discovered that during this period 24 May to 30 June, we are allowed to double our loan to 8 or 16 books...that's a real treat. I busied myself at the book shelves and started looking for books for both Anthea and Anders. Finally I managed to get 6 books, if I had more time; I would have borrowed 8... : P

With mission accomplished, I took a slow walk home from the library. Along the way, I saw some Chinese book sales at the Central Pasar Malam. So I browsed through some and bought 2 cook books – a soup recipe and a simple home cooked dishes recipe. (I hope to widen my soup/dishes so I can prepare them for the family).


Then I went to Prima Deli and bought Peanut butter waffle for Anthea and Anders, they Love waffles. At night during bedtime, we had a good time reading the new books.


I am not a reading person, i guess it's because of time and routine. However, i would love to cultivate this good hobby to both Anthea and Anders and encourage them to read as much as they like. This will not only improve their language and of course, the more they read, the more they learn.

Kungfu Movie night and a Special Wedding Lunch

Movie Night, Friday, 06 June 2008

On Friday night, we decided to bring the children for a movie – Kungfu Panda. Both Anthea and Anders has seen the movie thriller on TV and requested to see the movie.

Under the UOB Rewards program, card holder can use their existing points to exchange for instant Movie tickets at Cathay Cineplex, so I thought of using my points to redeem for the movie tickets. And after work, I went to the AMK HUB Cathay Cineplex to book the 3 tickets for the 8.05pm show.

After getting the tickets, I fetched the children from school and went home to change.We had a quick dinner at the coffee shop near our house. The children were very excited when they knew we were seeing the movie. Adrian joined us at the coffee shop as his meeting ended late but lucky was still in time for a quick bite before the movie.

We reached the cinema around 7.55pm and they just started seating for the movie we were watching. We were in luck again...we bought 3 seats for the movie as usually Anders will sit on my laps. The seat at the corner was empty, so we actually had 4 seats and Anders sat comfortably on his own seat throughout the whole show. The show was very entertaining and the story line was quite good. Both of them enjoyed the show whole heartedly. I also had a good time and learnt an important lesson from Master “乌龟” – he said: “yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a Gift, that's why it's call Present.” ..hee!!

After the movie, I think both Anthea and Anders also learnt a new skill – KUNGFU. Both of the started practicing what the Master taught once we reached home...and it was really so hilarious. Hmm..i should consider sending them for martial art class.

Wedding Lunch, Sat, 07 June 2008

This is my 1st time attending a wedding lunch and it seems to be a trend now that wedding couples are hosting their wedding banquet at lunch time. Not a bad idea.

It was the wedding of Avin & Hui Qiong (Avin is the only son of my FIL's youngest brother.) So needless to say, it has to be a SPECIAL ONE. I think special is an understatement, it should be a SUPER SPECIAL AND UNIQUE Wedding... : P

(with Beautiful flower girl, Jasmine)

Usually after the couples walk in, dinner/lunch will commence. However, unique as the name suggested, the groom's father aka Uncle Philip decided to commence the event with table game. He prepared 2 questions for the audience and provided answer ang pow on the lunch table. Once we had written the answer, he will pool all the ang pow into a bowl and then conduct a Lucky Draw. 2 tables won table gift, the 2 tables was 31 and 16. The lunch commenced after the games ended with everyone already “warm up”.

The 2nd uniqueness of the lunch was the hotel service staff did a bit of “Grove” when they walked in with the dishes. The dance move was well choreographed and although it was just a few simple steps but it was really good effort on the banquet staff.

The 3rd uniqueness of the lunch is we were all served individually. Usually at a banquet, only the VIP's tables get such treatment but in this hotel, we were all given VIPs Treatment. The food served was very high quality and the service was excellent. I guess with all the IR and F1 events upcoming, all the hotels are gearing up their service to meet the marks.

The 4th uniqueness was when the couples did their 2nd walk in. The groom actually sang “Falling in Love” when he appeared suddenly among the audience and the walk to the door to bring in his Bride with him, the moment was so touching when you see the couples see eyes to eyes with this song. When they reached the stage, both of them sang a love song together. It was beautiful.

The 5th uniqueness – there was Live performances throughout the lunch; the couples friends had voluntarily go on stage to sing for the couples. We were entertained with familiar tunes of “一人一半” and other songs. The couples are really blessed with all the songs from their friend.

The last but not least uniqueness is Table Photography. Usually for a wedding, there will be A professional photographer, at this wedding, we not only have 1 or 2, we had 3 photographer taking our table photo…isnt it just amazing…haha.

I think the standard of weddings had gone up so much since our times and each one just get better and better. Of course, the market price of giving ang pao is also UP and UP. Lucky for me, my mom was available to look after Anthea and Anders at home, otherwise, our pocket will sure “burnt” a BIG Hole. : P

I am really glad that I had the chance to witness this wedding as this may be the final wedding among cousins on my FIL’s side of relatives. It may be a long long time again before we will have the chance to meet all the uncles/aunties /cousins again.

"Sawasdee Phuket…"

Adrian is clearing his annual leaves end of June 2008 and he suggested that we should take a family vacation before he goes on his LONG oversea work detachment. It seem like his trip may stretch beyond 2008 till end January 2009.

(Honestly, I hope that the detachment will end December 2008 as original plan. I do wish that he will be around when Anthea starts her Primary 1 in 2009)

Again when work is concerns, we have no CHOICE…sigh: (

Likely, this Phuket trip may be our ACES family final vacation for 2008, so I agreed to his suggestion.

The other factors that make this trip possible are:

1. the mid year BONUS and inflation budget that Adrian will be getting… : P

2. I want the children to spend quality together with their daddy. We will soon miss him for a LONG, Long time.

3. I need to re-charge myself badly, so a holiday and a good rest will be ideal way to do it.

With all these in mind, I started sourcing around for suitable venue for a family vacation.

I am not sure if it’s fated or we are plain lucky – I was browsing the UOB Privileges May 2008 booklet and under the Great Escape section, there were package tours for UOB card holders.

One of the tours caught my attention – 4D3N Phuket Family Special from $1368 per family. The travel agent that organized this package was none other than Jetabout Holidays – this is the same tour agent that we booked our memorable Gold Coast trip.

Of course, my 1st action was to contact the same tour consultant who assisted us the last time. She was very prompt in answering my query and I proposed the package to Adrian and he said OK. So Phuket, here we come…. Haha : )

The other good news is my parents are joining us for this trip….yippy. It has been “Donkey years” since I brought my parents for tour. When they agreed to go with us, I was really happy. For the record, my eldest brother is sponsoring them for this trip…: P

We are now booked on a 4D3N Package and prices includes:

- Return economy airfare to Phuket on Silkair
- Choice of 3 nights accommodation with daily breakfast.
- Return airport-hotel-airport transfers by seat-in-coach.
- Complimentary half day Phuket City Tour.
- Phuket Fantasea Park with dinner and transfer.
- Half Day Phuket Safari Tour with Lunch on Junk.

And the most attractive parts of the package:

A holiday planned for your Kids!

Ride on Elephants
Lunch Cruise
Grand Buffet Dinner at Phuket Fantasea
Free Upgrade / Late Check out *
Children dine free*

So it was really the most ideal package for our family of the young, old and middle age travelers… haha. Chinese say: “老少咸宜“. This is the 1st time that Anthea, Anders and myself are going Phuket, so i think it will be an exciting trip for us.

I am now looking forward to another wonderful family vacation experience.

(ps: waiting for some good "lobangs" from my BIL's family as they just had their holiday in Banyan Tree Phuket... : ) ).

迷失方向

最近 精神上 和肌体上 都觉得好累 !! 连去上班 的步伐也变得很沉重 !! 心事叠丛山。。好烦，有点 心有余而力不足的感觉。真想 好好 休息。

女儿 明年就要上小学 一 年级 了，我 开始为她放学后 由谁照顾而烦。当然，由自己照顾是最理想 的。但是想到经济和 物价一直在涨，实在没有办法靠单收入。

现在努力的在找 半日的工作。虽然收入 会减半，总比零收入好。另一个想法是请个女佣， 既可以帮忙做家务，又可以照顾女儿 – 一举两得。但是，要请到理想的女佣 也是一个问号。。唉！！

人生就是如此，总是要做 决定， 不管是好是坏，都要承担， 别无选择。总之就是很烦,希望能尽快找回方向，继续生活的节奏。

接下来的日子会更艰 因为 老公会到 国外公干 一段时间。 家里只剩孩子和我。到时我会“失去”我仅有的周末运动和将二十四小时对注孩子们 和做家务。有点不堪设想， 我能否胜任。老实说 – 我也不知道。。时间会 证明一切

Her 1st Call (date)

On Thursday evening, I received a call from an unknown number on my mobile phone. Nope…I didn’t win any lucky draw this time round.

Actually the caller was looking for Anthea !!! It was from her BOY classmate – JP. As of this month, she has a new boyfriend in class. Her ex-boyfriend has been taken over by her another girl classmate. Looking at the rate that they switch Boyfriends, I am quite “worried” and “concerns”. Hopefully as they grow, the speed of changing will become lesser… : P

So, JP was looking for Anthea and they had a quick chat. He asked her what time she was going to school on Friday. Then on Friday when I fetched Anthea from Childcare, she said JP invited her to his house for dinner. I told Anthea that we already had dinner appointment with Ah-gong, Ah-po, so we had to reject JP’s dinner invitation.

Adrian commented that: “now at 6, already got phone call from boyfriend.”

Then around 7pm, JP called her and invited her to go to his house after dinner. So Anthea ate her dinner quickly at my parents place and kept saying that she wanted to go JP’s place.

After dinner, we called JP and I managed to talk to his Father and asked his permission to visit the house as all these while, the “invitation” was set up by the 2 kids...haha.

We went to JP house which is just a street away from ours. Their house is facing the Park and Swimming pool, so the view is very good.

JP shared his vcd/DVD with Anthea while we were at his house. He doesn't have as much toys as the other classmate that we visited before. Then I had a quick chat with his father and his grandmother. They are a Christian family of 4, JP has an older brother. (Hmm..Do I sound like I am prospecting a future son-in-law...: P?)

On Saturday, JP called Anthea, again, and said that he wanted to come over to our house in the evening. Anthea was very excited and requested that we dined at home. She was willing to forego her “enjoy life” evening with her ye-ye & nai-nai...haha. Well, since they were so keen to meet with each other, I can't say no to her request. So we stayed home on a Saturday evening to wait for JP.

Sad to say, JP didn't turn up for the date. I guess his parents may not have known of this “date” as well. Anthea cried as she was so looking forward to his visit. Anyway, I told her it's ok; probably JP's parents had brought them out for dinner and spend time together. They will still see each other next week.

I am glad that Anthea is enjoying her friendship time with her classmates. Soon they will be graduating from the class and each will embarked on their own new journey.

Friends or not, it will be up to FATE!!

Forms - CDA & LUP

Over the span of one week, we received 2 forms from the Government. One is from MCYS (Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports) and another one from Lift Upgrading Programme Working Committee.

MCYS Forms – when I delivered Anders in 2004, I was entitled to Baby Bonus scheme and under the scheme; we started a CDA (Child Development Account) with POSB. This account is solely for the purpose of saving monies and when we save a $1, the government will match the same. This is up to the capped of $6K for 2nd child.

Now MCYS decided to outsource the Bank provided. It had shortlisted 2 Banks – OCBC and Standard Chartered Bank. I have decided to choose OCBC because there is one outlet at the AMK HUB, so it will be easier for me to do any transactions.

So far, I am using this account to pay for Ander's childcare fees and I believe by end of 2008 or mid 2009, the monies in the account will be totally depleted...hee : P

LUP Forms – our constituency is due for a LUP (Lift Upgrading Programme) and the working committed has written to the residents to update us on the cost that we need to pay. At the same time, there is a Preliminary survey for them to assess the support for the LUP. The final decision will be made at a formal Straw Poll to be held at a later date.

For our 4 room unit, the cost for the LUP is $1035 (flat owner’s share), $1035 (town council share) and $11,730 (Govt’s share). So needless to say, we are all for this LUP.

If this goes through, we will have lift landing at our door steps; this means that our Bicycle dreams may just come true...hee. : )

This is a useful programme especially for our matured estates which comprised of majority elderly and some are even on wheel chairs. Also there are families with young children with prams etcs. With this programme, everyone will benefit from it, I do hope it will materialized