温馨的感觉

Yes, this has all the while been my feeling when I 回娘家。。。哈哈！Not that my own home is not warmth enough but it’s just that whenever I stepped home to my parents place – the 1st thing that greet me is always the aroma of my dad’s home cook meals.

My dad used to work as a chef before he retired so he can really wok up a storm for the family, especially when he knows we are coming back for dinner.

Last evening, we had dinner at my parent’s place and there were simple home cooked dishes – 药材鸡汤，牛肉炒芹菜，酸甜虾和 烤鸡腿。

I had a very enjoyable meal as at the same time, I had the chance to talk to my 2 elder brothers and catch up with their latest happening. My 2nd brother even brought Anthea & Anders downstairs for an ice-cream treat while I had my dinner in peace.

After dinner, we rested our stomach before eating our dessert – 顿燕窝。And my dad also baked some chicken pies and we had one tray to bring home with us. Yes, my dad always pampered us in his own way.

This coming week, my dad will be going on his one month stint in China and I know we are going to miss his home cook meals for the time while he is holidaying.

Last night while at my parents place, I also brought back some of my old photographs/stuff from my brother wardrobe. Saw a lot of photographs that brought back lots of fond memories. Best thing was – I found my 1st airline amenities pack, this was from Northwest Airline – the 1st company I worked for….hehe.

My 1st flight experienced was with Northwest Airlines too…so can imagined how “lucky” I was to be on an aero plane during those days. My children now had the luxury to fly at such young age.

March has passed by so quickly with so many birthday celebrations and a full month celebration. I am now looking forward to another month of celebrations with the Easter Holiday ahead.

Happy Easter to ALL! !

Happy 6th Birthday to Anders!

Anders will be 6 years old on 22 March 2010. As this is his last year in the childcare centre, what other better way than to celebrate this special day with all his good friends.

With this in mind, I organized a Mac Party for him in his childcare on Friday, 19 March. Also since this week is the school holiday and Adrian is also on his 1 week leaves, all of us could attend his birthday party.

Yesterday around 3.30pm, we went to his childcare centre with his birthday cake. He chose for himself a Transformer cake.

When we arrived at the centre, the Macdonald team was already there. The children just woke up from their nap and were getting ready for the tea-break. I had ordered a Happy Meal for all of them – Mac nuggets, Apple dipper & apple juice.

The children enjoyed their happy meal and most of them managed to finished the whole meal. Anthea also had a set of happy meal. For the class teachers, I ordered Mac Chicken meals for them.

After eating the happy meal, the party began. The 1st game that they played was Musical chair. All of them knew the game well as they played in school before and they obeyed the rule well. Finally the winner was ANDERS…haha.

The 2nd game was Dog & Bone – it was quite an interesting game and the children also had a fun time playing with it. I was enjoying it by the sideline and busied taking photos.

Following the game was the cake cutting ceremony. Everyone was excited to see the cake and they started singing the birthday song when prompted. They sang total of 4 versions of the song – English, Chinese, Malay & Indian. I was impressed.

After that Anders made a wish and cut the cake on his own. Then he started giving out the cakes to his teachers & classmates.

The final part of the party was the giving out Party pack to his classmates. Macdonald had prepared all the packs nicely and Anders was happily handing all the packs to his friends.

For my Dearest Anders, May you have another Blessed Year Ahead and grow up happy each & everyday, just like the Happy Meal!!

4 Day 3Nights Club Med Bintan, 13 – 16 March 2010

1-2-3 here we go again….yes, it’s 1st time for Adrian, 2nd time for Anders & me & it was 3rd time for Anthea…haha.

As usual on day of coming home, both the children were “complaining” the stay was too short and they wanted more days. Ok..Point noted and will try to arrange a longer trip next round.

Once again, this place had proved itself to be a World of Happiness, there were no agendas to follow, and it was simply relaxing following the Sun, Sand & Sea.

Day 1: Saturday, 13 March

Singapore → Bintan (TMFT )Dep: 1400 / Arr 1345

For our outbound trip, due to some mistake done by the Ferry operator, 4 of us were upgraded to the Emerald Class cabin. It was like business class on airline..hehe.

We were given priority boarding and do not need to follow the crowd who were queuing. Then on board, we were seated on the upper deck. The seats were able to be inclined. When the ferry started, drinks were served on board for the Emerald class. It was a very good experienced for the family. Especially the children – they simply enjoyed ordering their drinks.

Upon arrival at Bintan, we went to the Club Med counter to do our check in. the reception gave us our rooms keys and towels cards.

Then we were transferred to the Club Med. A little incident happened – as we disembarked from the bus to the resort, Anders missed a step and felt back on his back. He had a slight cut on behind his head and bruises on his back.

The resort doctor immediately brought us to the clinic and attended to his injuries. She cleaned his wound and applied some antiseptic. Then the GO came in and asked if we were ok, then she escorted us to our rooms.

We had 2 adjoining rooms for the stay – one room with a King Sized Bed and the other with a double twin bed. It was a surprised to me as I was only expecting one room.

After checking in and making sure Anders was ok, we went for a tea-break at one of the snack bar.

Then we went back to take a short rest before starting our holiday.

In the evening, I brought the children to the pool for a swim and we met their good friend – Peter. He was a mini club teacher when we were in club med in 2008. Now he is a life guard. We had a nice time at the pool and Adrian went for his gym routine.

Then we went back to change and got ready for dinner. It was buffets for breakfast / lunch & dinner. So the children went around freely getting their own food. Not forgetting their favorite drink bar too. There was free flow of juices & soft drinks.

After a sumptuous dinner, we went to the poolside to watch the entertainment program. It was a very nice aerobatic performance by the GO’s. Then after the show, there were games stall by the poolside and we had a fun time trying out the different games.

Then around 12pm, we went back to our room and call it a night.

Day 2: Sunday, 14 March

We woke up to a sunny & beautiful morning. After a good breakfast, we went around to check out the activities. We had wanted to try Archery but the Q was quite long. So we decided not to wait. I went to do the aqua aerobic while Adrian brought the children to the beachside for some water fun.

The aqua-aerobic session was very enjoyable and following it was a water polo game among the participants. It was a really fun session and I truly enjoyed the sun and got tanned right after…haha.

As usual we had our lunch and managed to watch a special Hollywood show by the poolside. It was a comedy and we had a good laugh.

Then we took our afternoon rest before going for our evening activities. Anthea & Anders played a game of badminton with Adrian and I went to the gym to do some workout.

We had dinner after we went back to shower & change. We went to the theatre after dinner to watch the night entertainment. It was a standup kind of comedy and it was very hilarious. Anders was laughing non-stop throughout the show. Usually before the night show starts, there will be children game for the kid’s club children and Anthea enjoyed watching the games. Anders even had the chance to go onstage to join in one of the game.

Once again after the show, we were all led to the main bar for the crazy signs dance and we had so much fun doing the dance. Then there was another round of movie mania performed by the GO’s.

While watching the show, Anthea & Anders ordered their own drinks from the kids section of the bar. They really know their way around & enjoying the special privileges.

We went back to our rooms around 12 midnight again…haha.

Day 3: Monday, 15 March

I woke up early in the morning around 6.30am. I wanted to book the Terrace restaurant for dinner. This restaurant served grilled food and they only allowed reservation guests.

Since it’s school holiday and with so many Singaporean around, I need to be a bit KS and true enough, when I went to make the booking, we were already the last few to be seated for the 1st dinner seating.

Since I was early I had my breakfast and went for the morning power walk. It was a good walk around the outside of the club.

After the power walk, I met up with the children & Adrian at breakfast table. They were enjoying their breakfast. I had some bite before going for my aerobic sessions at the gym. The 2 hours session was very strenuous but was very energizing for me. It has been a long time since I do classes.

We met up by the pool and the children were having a good time too and they got so tanned.

In the evening, we went to the beach again and they managed to kayak for a while. Then we had water play by the beach and the pool.

Dinner was at the Terrace and we had a good meal of grilled sotong, crabs, salmon, lobsters with special sauce and many more food.

After the dinner, we went back to the bar for a drink before going for the show again.

Yes, we ended in bed around midnight again…: P

Day 4: Tuesday, 16 March

Bintan → Singapore

Simply rest & relax till our departure at 1400. Arrived Singapore 5pm.

It was our home sweet home day, although we were all a bit sad to go home but I know we will be back for more again, one day.

It has been another memorable and enjoyable family vacation.

My Special DAY!

On Saturday morning when I switched on my mobile, I received chains of birthday greetings from friends & family. Yes, it was my 39th year old birthday and I told myself – it’s my day & I would take the opportunity to enjoy the day.

In the morning, I treated myself to a massage session at the Asmara Spa. The 2 hours session was very therapeutic and after the massage, I was treated to a complimentary piece of cheese cake by the spa as they knew it was my actual day.

This was the best cheesecake I had – simply because I was enjoying it in a very surreal environment with totally no disturbance. It was just ME in my own world of enjoyment. : )

Then in the evening, dinner was at Café 2000 in M Hotel with the extended families. It was a semi buffet and the spread was sumptuous too.

I had a very enjoyable dinner, sitting & chatting with the families. The café also had a piece of complimentary cake for birthday person, so I was treated to another piece of birthday cake.

Of course, we had our own birthday cake for the families. Since it would be my last chance to see 3 BIG Candles on my birthday cake, I told them to light up all the candles. Yes, the next one onward will have 4 BIG Candles..hehe.

The children were delighted to see so many candles and everyone was waiting for the chance blow the candles. Immediately after the song, all of them blew the candles off.

We had some cakes with the coffee/tea served. Then we finally left the cafe around 10pm.

On Sunday, we were treated to a nice family dim sum lunch with my parents & brother. We had Peking Duck, Steam Soon Hock, Special doufu & fried noodles with a few dim sum dishes at 大东酒楼。This is a long timed& very established restaurant and their food are really good too.

After lunch we walked around Chinatown area and wanted to try the traditional desserts but the place was too crowded to we try other place instead.

Then after dessert, we went to shop around the market place and I managed to buy pyjamas for the children.

Overall this had been a very memorable weekends for me. I hope that I will have a blessed year ahead and most importantly – age gracefully…: ).

I’m Loving it…

Nope, I am not advertising for Macdees and hope they would not sue me for infringement…hehe.

Yes, this is my exact feeling for the month of February 2010 and I hope this feeling will continue as I progress.

February has been an amazingly great month for me. Besides welcoming the Tiger Year in happiness & joyous mood. It was also the 1st month of my new job/new role.

I had started my journey as a work-from-home mom and I am really enjoying this new privileges.

First and foremost – no more morning rush hours. Secondly, I had included a morning jogs into my new routine. Thirdly – I have ample time to prepare or buy lunches for Anthea & myself. Last but not least – household chores are all within my area & control.

I had been through a few training sessions with my oversea colleagues on new area such as co-ordination of Virtual Meetings and also virtual demonstrations for our members.

It has been a wonderful learning curve and as I progress into in the new role, I am hoping I can build a career out of it. I knew a few of my other colleagues started just like what I am doing now. As their children grew up, their profile changed and they are still enjoying the job.

As for the part on being lonely since I am all by myself at work. Honestly, I don’t feel lonely at all. I have friends who are communicating with me via msn/yahoo. Also face book friends who are giving me all the encouragement. I am grateful to all the companionship from all my wonderful friends/families.

Now I am looking forward to another wonderful month of celebrations in March and continue the Loving feelings...: )