Aces Family

Tan Family Vacation, Penang, 1 to 4 Dec 2011

2011-12-05T12:58:00.008+08:00

The Tan clan consisted of the extended families which included my parents in law and my 2 younger brothers in law and their families. We were a total of 8 adults 3 children and 2 babies. After rounds of families’ discussions, we finally decided on Penang as the holiday destination.

Day 1: Thursday, 1 December

Singapore → Penang (MI 352) Dep: 1545 / Arr 1710

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the local agent with 2 mini coaches for our transfers to the hotel. We had booked the same package via a local agent and our accommodation was booked in the same hotel – G Hotel. We had total of 4 rooms and the hotel had given us rooms on the same floor – 1210, 1214, 1218 and 1221.

After checked in and settled down, we went for our dinner at the Gurney Plaza and we had it at Nandos. Same as previous experienced, the dinner was good and everyone enjoyed the BBQ Chickens.

As children were all tired at the end of the day, we decided to call it a night and went back to rest for the evening.

Day 2: Friday, 2 December

Our day tour started at 10am and our 1st destination was Penang Hill. The coach took us to the foot of the hill and we made purchased of the admission tickets and the ride began. Yes, the management had closed the Penang Hill Tram for about a year to change the tram to new ones with better and faster mechanism to bring the passengers from the foot to the hill top. The ride was pretty fun and thrilling and the children enjoyed it.

The view at the hill top was breathtaking and we spent a good hour and a half at the hill top. Children also had fun at the hilltop playground.

After 1 ½ hours, we decided to go for our lunch and we had it at Hei Yeong Seng Chinese Restaurant. I found this restaurant on the food blog review and thankfully, they served nice and good food. The families enjoyed the lunch.

We adjourned for a quick shopping tour after lunch and bought the usual Coffee Tree coffees and some other snack. Then we went back to the hotel for the kiddo’s nap.

Dinner was at Gurney Plaza at one of the Chinese restaurant. We had a light dinner as we planned to do early supper at my In-laws room. Yes, we packed fried kway teow, rojak, wanton noodles and appam (pancakes for the kiddos). Everyone enjoyed the supper and the children had a fun time playing in yeye and nainai room till we called it a day around 10pm.

Day 3: Saturday, 3 December

We had our buffet breakfast before setting off for our day trip to Butterfly Park. Penang Butterfly Park is reputable and had some good reviews. We bought admission tickets and when we walked through the entrance, we had a pleasant surprised. A park guide approached us and offered to give us a guided tour of the park. It was an eye opening experienced and we learnt a lot about butterflies and some other insects.

After the tour, we had lunch at Hard Rock Café Penang. Hard Rock hotel is located at the same place and the children had some beach fun after lunch. We even took a ride on a fishing boat and went cruising along the Batu Ferringhi beach. The weather was very nice and the view was great.

Upon returned to the hotel, the children went for their swim and we took a relax dip in the pool too. Dinner was at Kim Gary restaurant located in the shopping mall. Then after that, we adjourned to my in-laws room for our Last Night supper of Penang local delights. Children had their pyjamas party and it was really rare opportunity that they get to sleep in the same bed…for photos shooting.

Day 4: Penang → Singapore (MI 349) 1505/1655

It was a rest and relax day for all of us. We had late breakfast and then went back to the room and packed for home-going.

Overall, it had been another wonderful Penang experienced and it never long enough when we had fun.

Looking forward to our next families tour and till then….we shall remember these wonderful moments.

4 Days 3Nights 上海之游, 7 – 11 September 2011

2011-09-13T21:17:00.012+08:00

My work brings me the opportunity to travel and Shanghai is one of the places I visit often. In August, my Director asked if it was ok for me to make a trip to shanghai for a forum on 8 September. After some discussion with Adrian, we decided to make it a work cum family holiday as this week is the school holiday week. Anthea and Anders were thrilled to know that they are going to Shanghai and also flying on an aeroplane with TV..haha.

Day 1: Wednesday, 07 September.

Singapore → Shanghai (SQ 830) Dep: 1010 / Arr 1510

As usual Althea and Anders enjoyed the in-flight entertainment and their special children meal. The 5 hours flights seem to pass fast when they were having a good time.

Once we arrived and clear immigration, we went to the Maglev station. I had taken the speed train from airport to the main city centre. So I wanted Adrian and the children to have a try at it. Also this is one of the tourist main attractions.

At the main city station, we took a taxi to our hotel – Renaissance Yu Garden Hotel. We had booked 2 connecting rooms and enjoyed the luxury spacious accommodation.

Upon checked in, the children headed to the indoor swimming pool and Adrian went for his gym workout. Dinner was local fare around Yu Garden as I introduced them to my 2nd home.

Day 2: Thursday, 8 September

I had a full day conference and thus Adrian brought the children around on their own via the Metro services. Right in front of our hotel, there is a Metro station known as Yuyuan Station on Line 10.

The places that they visited were Century Park and Science Technology Museum. From the photos and their description, I could tell they had a great time.

Day 3: Friday, 9 September

I had another client meeting in the morning at 10am. Adrian brought them to the Insectariums and they had the chance to feed animal foods.

We met up around 12noon and I started my Tourist mode from here onward. We visited the renounced Confucius Temple and had a good time looking at all the wonderful architecture of the place.

After the temple, we had a quick lunch at a local lunch place and then headed to XinTianDi. Another famous tourist attraction for its food outlet and nightlife. We had a simple tea break of Hagan Daz ice cream before going back to the hotel.

In the evening, we decided to do the Bund Cruise but due to rain, we decided to postpone it to the next evening. We had a sumptuous dinner of Roast duck at the famous Lao Beijing restaurant.

Day 4: Saturday, 10 September

Adrian did some research before the tour and there are few children attractions. One of them is 锦江乐园, so we decided to bring the children to this park for an experienced. No regrets as they really enjoyed all the different rides in the park. We had about 2 hours of fun before leaving the park as the rain started to drizzle.

We had our lunch at a Macdonald outlet and Anthea claimed that the Fillet O fish tasted better than home…haha. After a good lunch, we decided to do some shopping. We headed to Nanjing Xi Road and shopped around the area. As I had some discount voucher from my client, I managed to get myself a pair of running shoes. Hopefully to prepare myself for the next run.

In the evening, we headed to the Bund for our pre-booked cruise. It was quite an adventure as we had a hard time finding the ticketing office to get the cruise ticket. Luckily we finally found it and managed to board the cruise ship in nick of time.

The cruise was very enjoyable and we had a good view of both the PuDong and PuXi of Shanghai.After the cruise, we took another slow walk back to our hotel.

Day 5: Sunday, 11 September
Shanghai → Singapore (SQ 827) 0810/1325

As it was a very early morning flight, we took a taxi from the hotel to the airport. On the way, both Anthea and Anders told me “mommy, I am going to miss Shanghai”.

Yes, for the last few days, we had so much fun exploring the city of Shanghai. I must said the children had really “walk a mile” during this trip. Every day, we were commuting to places via the local Metro services. Every point to point was walking and I am really proud that they did not complaint too much.

A first trip to our 祖国 – China, Shanghai and it had been a great experienced for the family and I believe this has open the door to more China Trips.

4 Days 3Nights Penang Holiday, 3 – 6 June 2011

2011-06-10T14:48:00.016+08:00

After our 1st trip to Penang, we (Anthea, Anders and I) felt in LOVE with the place. Simply because of its beauty, food and shopping. So this June school holiday, we decided to make a 2nd trip back to Penang. This time with Adrian and a main purpose – DURIAN. Yes, its durian season in Penang and according to the local, Penang durians is not exported due to insufficient supply for local demand.

Day 1: Friday, 03June.

Singapore → Penang (MI 352) Dep: 1545 / Arr 1710

The flight was smooth and snack was served on board.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the local agent whom was taking care of our arrival & departure transfers.

Once again, we were back in G Hotel, the same hotel we last stayed when we vacationed in December 2010. The hotel rooms had the added value of FREE Mini Bar and FREE WIFI. The mini bar was replenished daily and both Anthea and Anders enjoyed the drinks and the kit kat bars.
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After checking in the room, the children first activity was swimming. Adrian was busied checking out the hotel gym.

Children spent about 30minutes in the pool and we went back to shower and change after that. Our dinner was at Nandos located in the G Plaza shopping mall. It was the first time we tried this restaurant and the grilled chickens were delicious.

We took a slow stroll in the mall after dinner and had ice cream for dessert. Then we walked to the Gurney night market and experienced the husk and buzz of the night life. The last trip we didn’t get the chance to do this. Adrian bought a few famous dishes from the food stalls for his supper and we had them in the comfort of our hotel room. He had cuttlefish with kangkong and Penang Laksa. The children had cup noodles bought from the supermarket.

Day 2: Saturday, 4 June

We had buffet breakfast at the hotel café and as usual the breakfast spread was sumptuous. Our first tourist site was the Butterfly Park and we took a taxi from the hotel to the park. However, when we arrived at the entrance of the park, the guard informed us that the park was closed. Although disappointed but we proceeded to our next stop – Durian Farm. Yes, this was one of the main Bonus for the trip. The taxi driver drove us up the hill the along the way, there were few durian farms and he stopped us at one of them.

There were durian everywhere and according to the durian seller, it was the 604 breed that were available and 1KG cost MYR$20. We ordered 1 durian and were in for a real good “Taste-treat”. The durian was fleshy and sweet. The seeds were really small and we ate till we were so full. Both Anthea and Anders also enjoyed the durian.

After eating the durian, we bought some mangosteen back to the hotel. On our way back to the hotel, we decided to visit the Toy Museum as we missed it the last time. It was great fun walking through all the displays and figurines. The children were so excited to see so many of their cartoon heroes in the museum.

We headed back to the hotel and had late lunch after the museum visit. As usual, the children headed to the pool and had some water play before we went on our food trail. In the evening around 5pm, we took a walk from the hotel to the Tean Ean local products shop. We bought local products like 豆沙饼，马蹄酥 and some candies from the shop.

As we were walking along the Gurney drive back to the hotel, we went passed quite a few eateries and decided to so some food sampling at the different outlet. We had roti canai, beef noodles, spaghettis and tuna sandwiches. The food trail was very fun and Anthea liked the idea of the food trail and said she looked forward to more such trails in Penang.

At night, we went back to the night hawkers and packed Penang Fried Kuay Teow and rojak for supper. We also tried the Penang chendol. The children liked the friend kuay teow so much that they finished one packet in record time. Another fun filled day for us. Anthea was tasked by my eldest brother to do a journal (in Chinese) and shared it with them when we were back in Singapore. It was a good way for Anthea to practice her Chinese writing.

Day 3: Sunday, 5 June

We woke up around 9am and had our buffet breakfast. After a good meal, we headed out to George Town. We decided to visit the Peranaka Museum which was famous to Singaporean for its filming of Little Nyonya. We followed a guided tour in the museum and learnt some interesting facts of the Nyonya and its culture. The tour ended at the kitchen area when there was a little stall selling nyonya kueh and chendol. So we had a sample of the food.

We took a bus from the town and arrived at our next stop – a small shopping mall. As the mall was small and not so interesting, we decided to find the famous 義香豆沙饼 (Ghee Hiang) When we reached there, we were told 豆沙饼卖完了 (sold out). So we had to go back to the hotel empty handed.

In the evening, children had their usual swim before dinner and we had it at Gurney Plaza. Our late night supper was Fried Kuay Teow and Oyster omelets. Every night was a feast for us and we truly enjoyed all these local delights.

Day 4: Monday, 6 June

Penang → Singapore (MI 349) 1505/1655

We slept till late and had a good breakfast. Then went back to the room to chill out and I was busied packing for home-going.

We checked out around 1pm and did some last minute shopping before our transfer picked us up at the hotel lobby for our flight home.

It was another fun and memorable holiday for the family. Thought there were some misses but taking it in a positive manner. This only meant we had excuses to visit Penang again.

Till we meet again, thank you for the sweet memory!

Poll.Run.Results.

2011-05-27T12:05:00.002+08:00

Wow…it’s already end May…time really passed so fast.

In April, I had the chance to travel to Melbourne, Australia for my work trip. Weather in Melbourne was nice and I had an enjoyable trip for the few days of 11 – 15 April 2011.

In early May 2011, we had our General Election Poll 2011 and it was very exciting time for me and I had truly learnt a lot from the rallies. Thus it was an awakening time for me..:)

As for the children, they were busied preparing for the midyear examination and glad to say all is over.

Soon after the examination week, we treated the children to a nice hi-tea session at the Equinox restaurant located at 69th floor of Westin the Stamford hotel. The spread was good and the children enjoyed the good meal, especially the dessert counter with all the sweets.

I also managed to complete my first 5KM fun run on 21 May 2011. This was the 100Plus Passion Run organized by the People’s Association. I completed the race in about 37minutes and Adrian said that it was a good timing. So I happily gave myself a Pat on my back for all the hard work.

Both Anthea and Anders did well for their Semestral Assessment 1.We are now just a day to school June holiday and looking forward to another family bonding time with a vacation treat to the whole family.

Happy 9th Birthday to Anthea !

2011-04-11T15:46:00.006+08:00

Last year she had a Macdonald’s Party with her classmates. This year, she wanted a buffet lunch at Fullerton Hotel. After some discussion with Anthea, we finally decided on a birthday lunch at Ellenborough Café in Swissotel Merchant Court hotel. Much thanks to the Raffles Feed card from my in-laws.

On Saturday, we arrived at the hotel around 11.45am as lunch was booked at 12 noon. When we arrived at the hotel, both Anthea and Anders said: “oh…is this hotel, we came here for wedding before.” When we asked further, both said: “it’s Uncle Terence wedding.” We were quite amazed as they could still remember it was my youngest BIL got wedded in May 2008.

We were seated around 12noon and started our buffet lunch. Both anthea and Anders had a great time with the food selection. We had an enjoyable family lunch. At the end of the lunch, we decided to just have some photo taking with the birthday cake and keep the ceremony till dinner with the extended families. Anthea had chosen the Oreo Cheesecake off the cake counter from the café.

Seated beside us was actually a group of people attending a wedding lunch. This brought back very good memories for Adrian and me. We shared with the children that we had our ROM Lunch at the very same venue and area, back in Dec 1999. Now Anthea is already 9th years old.

We went home for a short rest and Anders had his swimming lesson in the late afternoon. Dinner was organized at the east coast seafood centre. We had it at Little Red House as Jumbo was full and the crowd was massive due to a heavy downpour in the evening. It was an enjoyable dinner and we had the cake cutting ceremony after dinner. Anthea shared her birthday cake with the families.

As it was still early, we decided to adjourn for another round of dessert. Original intention was Gelatore at Siglap Centre but the place was gone. So finally we ended up at Xin Wang café which had all the selection of cold/hot desserts. We ate desserts and chatted away happily, sharing our updates of the week. Around 11pm, we called it a day and Anthea was very happy that her special day had turned out to be SPECIALLY HAPPY.

Wishing my dearest Anthea – a Happy 9th birthday and May your wish comes true.

Happy 7th Birthday to Anders

2011-04-04T20:34:00.000+08:00

Anders had expressed his intention to invite his classmates for his 7th birthday celebration. As he just started Primary 1 and I am not too familiar with his classmates parents, so I told him we should celebrate his birthday in school so that all his classmates can be invited to the party. He was agreeable to the idea and with this – I started the Party Planning.

The 1st step was to get his form teacher approval and arranged the party at recess time. A few emails correspondences with the form teacher – Mrs. Phua and we were all set for the party.

On 22nd March morning, I went to collect his cake and headed to his school for the party. At 9.25am, the form teacher brought the children to the canteen and we started with the cake ceremony. After eating the cake, we had some simple beehoon with chicken nuggets, fishballs and dou fu for their main meal. We ended the meal with a bottle of Vitagen.

It was a simple birthday celebration and I believed Anders had enjoyed it with all the blessings from his friends and teachers. Happy 7th Year old, my dearest Anders!

Anders 1st Learning Journey to Harbour Front

2011-03-15T17:44:00.008+08:00

It was Anders 1st Learning Journey with the school and as usual, I volunteered my Parent Support for the outing.

The outing was on 9th February 2011 – we went to the school together and I joined in the morning briefing for the Primary 1 parent volunteer.

The journey started off at 8.30am and the children were all very excited as this was their 1st trip. I could see the excitement on their faces. Anders’s form teacher – Mrs. Phua had paired the children up and given them a number to ensure that they lined up according to the number.

The class children followed this line up worked out very well, on the bus and the road. I was impressed with the children adherence to the children instruction.

The 1st stop was the Sentosa Boardwalk. The children were introduced to the boardwalk and its official opening by the Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on 29 January 2011.

After the boardwalk, all the children were complaining of the heat and hunger. So naturally, our next stop is Snack break and we headed to the open Pavilion on the 3rd floor of the building. The children had their snacks and drink and enjoyed the shelter from the heat.

When we were done with the snack break, the teacher brought them to the next stop – the PLAYGROUND. All of them were really excited and started going around the playground to count the number of statues for their class assignment. Then after counting, they played for a while before we proceed to the next stop.

The harbor station was our next station. The children were tasked to draw a picture from the viewing gallery. It was really fun to see different child drawing their own thoughts. Some were more creative than other.

Soon it was 12noon and it was time for us to depart Harbour Front and returned to the school. It was a very fulfilling day for the children and I know they would surely look forward to the next Learning Journey.

女人四十！

2011-03-07T17:28:00.006+08:00

Over the weekend, I celebrated my 40th birthday. Yes, it’s the BIG FOUR but I know I need to welcome it gracefully.

On Saturday, I had a birthday dinner with my extended families. We had a sumptuous Korean BBQ dinner at a restaurant by the same name. It serves Ala Carte buffet menu so it was a good treat for the family. I had a vanilla cake which was redeemed by using my own birthday cake voucher when I bought my membership with Care De Café.

After dinner, we adjourned to the Fullerton Hotel for drinks while waiting for my youngest SIL whom was attending a wedding dinner at the hotel.

The day ended around 11.30pm when we called it a day and it was a simple but fulfilling day for me.

On Sunday which was the actual day – I had a dinner celebration with my own family. My eldest brother brought us to a very nice restaurant by the pier. It is the Famous Crab King place by the Marina Bay Pier side. We ordered seafood dishes of fried mussels, salad prawns, steam crabs and fish. The food was delicious and the ambience was very relaxed. We also ordered a bottle of red wine for dinner.

To me, nothing comes closed to family time and having spent the 2 days with people whom are closely related to me meant more than anything.

Also having such a lovely family of my own, I can’t ask for more…: )

On this special day – I said to myself “感恩和知足“. Many thanks for all the love and friendship that I have had for these 40 years of my life.

2011 新年快乐！

2011-02-14T17:24:00.006+08:00

This has been a very busy month for the Aces family. Yes, it’s the Chinese New Year and traditional festive gatherings with friend and families are the main event for the 2 weeks.

Day 1 – 正月初一

Our first stop is my parents in law place and after that we would go by my parents place for 拜年 and have a simple lunch with them.

Day 2 – 正月初二

This is the day where we go to my 大舅 house to 拜年 as all the relatives would be under 1 roof, thus making it easier for every to give and collect ang pows.

This year, cousin Ying Herng is back from Scotland to celebrate the CNY, thus it’s even more meaningful. She brought back a lot of culinary dishes.

The 3rd and 4th day were more of a rest days for us as we prepared the children for the school days ahead.

Following weekend was a gathering and feasting weekend. 2 Lo-Hei in a day with 2 different group of friends – my long timed sisters and Adrian’s buddies.

On Sunday it was the gathering of my secondary school mates from AMKSS.

Chinese New Year is a good time for good friend/families to catch up with one another progress. As day in and day out, each of everyone is busy with their own routine.

Rabbit Year – a good start for the Aces Family and may we take this chance to wish all our families/ friends: 心想事成，万事如意！

Company Event - Family Day at the Zoo

2011-01-24T11:29:00.000+08:00

On 26 Dec 2010 on our way home from a lunch gathering, we drove passed Mandai road and the children saw the Zoo billboard. Both said they wanted to go to the Zoo. In reply, I told them: “yeah, we would come to the Zoo soon.”

In 1st week of January 2011, Adrian told me his company was organizing a family day event – we were going to the ZOO!

On 22 January 2011 was the event and we only told the children of the outing on the day before as we don’t want them to feel overly-excited.

Early morning, we woke up to a nice breakfast and then headed off to the Zoo. After doing the registration and collection of our goodies bags. We started our Zoo tour. Both Anthea and Anders had a Zoo map and they started navigating which way to go.

We went through the common area to view the animals and also managed to watch 2 live performances before gathering at the Forest Lodge for the lunch. Lunch was KFC meals and Pizzas. Also there was some kind of ceremony and performance in the air-conditioned room.

Anthea had requested for us to go to the Kids World but we had to reject her request as we don’t have the luxury of time and I didn’t pack their wetsuit along.

Around 1 pm, we left the Zoo and headed home to rest. After few visits to the Zoo, I am beginning to find the place a little boring and also the animals are not as lively as some other Zoos. Perhaps it’s time for a major revamp….hehe.

A Perfect (PreFect) Dream..

2011-01-18T17:32:00.003+08:00

I still remembered when Anthea was in Primary 1 – she had an aspiration: “mommy, I want to be a school prefect.”

During a Parent-Teacher-meet, I told her then form teacher of Anthea’s dream. She told me: “it’s possible, she had the required qualifications.”

When school started this year, Anthea told me her name was on the Prefectorial board and she was asked to go for a meeting last Friday. After the meeting, she came home with her official title – the Prefect Tie and her duty roaster.

It was a very proud moment for her and as a mother; I shared her pride and joy. I just hope that she would be able to carry out her duties as assigned.

Anders, upon seeing Anthea being promoted to a Prefect, came and told me: “mommy, I want to be a prefect too.” I explained to Anders that I am not the one who gave her the rights to become prefect. She was chosen by her teachers. Also importantly, I told Anders – a prefect must display certain qualities in term of behavior and characteristic, in order for the teacher to choose them. He would need to ensure that he can build up all these to qualify for the role.

Hopefully, this would train Anders to become more responsible and take good care of his belongings…: P

Anthea has been sharing her next aspiration with me and it’s a HUGE one for sure. I would continue to support her and gave her my blessing and may she achieve her next DREAM.....: )

1st week of school in 2011..

2011-01-09T16:56:00.000+08:00

It had been an exciting start for Aces family for 2011. Yes, this year marked the beginning of 6 years of primary education for Anders.

On 1st day of school – 4 January 2011, I accompanied him into the school compound. Parents were allowed admission of the 1st two days of school. After saying goodbye to Anthea, I brought Anders to his class – 1 Bravery.

Most of the children had reported to class and I noticed only a few seats were left in the classroom. So he took his seat and waited for his form teacher to start introduction.

The school had kindly organized a Kopi Session aka Parents information session for the P1 parents. We were led to the AVA room on the 3rd floor. Breakfast of fried bee hoon was served with coffee/tea and water. During the 2 hours breakfast session, the school gave some valuable tips to the parents and also provides a breakdown of the P1 Holistic Assessment.

After the session ended, we went to the canteen and were allow to watch from far how the P1 children lined up and bought their food. Each P1 child had a P5 student to buddy them and help them with the buying of food for the 1st week.

Anders was very happy and I could see him enjoying his 1st purchase from the canteen. Then he came over and asked if he could buy a drink. I told him Yes. : )

Recess was ½ hour and when it was over, all the parents were asked to leave the school compound. I went home to prepare a simple lunch for them and returned at 1pm to fetch both Anders and Anthea.

Day 2 – 5 January: we had 2nd day of Kopi session provided by the school. This time, the different subject HODs gave introduction of the school curriculum and also some important pointers on social network behavior. There was also a talk given by the Parents Support Group and I signed up for some ad-hoc activities.

At recess time, I saw Anders bought himself a bowl of noodle soup. It was a good improvement and knowing that he was able to handle a hot item on his own was quite assuring.

Day 3 – I said goodbye to both Anthea and Anders at the gate and went off for my exercise.

Now that both of them are studying in the morning session, it makes it easier for me to plan my own morning exercise and work routine.

Recently we bought a new study table for Anders as he wanted something similar to Anthea and the new table was delivered on Wednesday. Now the room is my home office cum their study area.

A new year and a NEW routine with the new beginning. I am looking forward to an exciting year of 2011 !!

Farewell 2010!

2010-12-31T11:51:00.001+08:00

2010 has been a really fruitful and fulfilling year for Aces family.

This year in February, I started on my long timed dream job – work from home mom. My role is a Client Services Executive and as my office is in UK, I am able to work from home. This allows me to continue to tend after Anthea’s afterschool care.

Anders graduated from Kindergarten level in 2010 and he would be starting his formal primary education comes January 2011. It would be another challenging year for me, now that I have to look after both their afterschool needs.

Anthea did well in her Primary 2 academic results and we were proud of her achievement. Next year would be a more demanding year for her as she would be dealing with new subject in school – Science.

As for myself, I believe I would grow more in my role, both domestic and in work, and I hope I would have a better achievement for 2011 as well.

Adrian would be busy in his work and may likely be doing a Full time diploma course and so he would be looking at another milestone.

We have been blessed with love and care from our families and friends and we know we would not take all these for granted and we would cherish them more in the going years.

With this note, the aces family would like to wish all our families and friends a Happy New Year and all the best in 2011!!

Cheers!!

3 Days 2Nights WOW Penang Holiday, 9 – 11 December 2010

2010-12-16T22:36:00.015+08:00

A few weeks back, my eldest brother invited us to join him and my parents for a short vacation to Malaysia. His initial destination was Langkawi. We went to the Silkair Road show to try to book our tour packages. However, we were told all the Langkawi packages were sold out. As we were flexible with the dates and destinations, the consultant finally managed to confirm us for a 3 Days WOW Penang holiday. With this confirmation, we were all ready and looking forward to another great holiday experienced.

Day 1: Thursday, 09 December

Singapore → Penang (MI 360) Dep: 1320 / Arr 1445

We met up with my eldest brother and my parents at Changi Airport Terminal 2. As Adrian just took his annual leaves for the Phuket trip, he was unable to get leaves for this Penang trip, so it was just Anthea, Anders and I.

We checked in our 1 luggage and went in to the Duty Free area for a quick snack before our flight. Refreshment was served on board the 1 hour flight from Singapore to Penang. As usual, the children had their child meal.

Upon arrival at the Penang airport, we were met by the local representative and he drove us to our hotel – G Hotel. This hotel was highly recommended by the consultant who booked us for this holiday.

We had booked 3 rooms for our party of 4 adults and 2 children. To our delight, we were all upgraded to the Executive rooms. The hotel rooms had the added value of FREE Mini Bar and FREE WIFI. The mini bar was replenished daily and both Anthea and Anders enjoyed the drinks and the kit kat bars.

It was almost 4pm by the time we checked in and the 1st activity would be swimming for the children. While we went to the pool, my brother and my parents went around the hotel and check out the vincity.

We met up around 6pm for dinner. Our 1st stop was the Esplanade area. We took a nice stroll by the Esplanade and managed to even visit Fort Cornwallis before dinner.

Dinner was at the Red Garden and we had a sumptuous dinner of sushi, Penang yong tau foo, 芽菜和海南鸡肉。 After dinner, we took a walk to their famous Eastern & Oriental hotel to admire the hotel architecture. Then we called it a night and went back to the hotel to rest as we had a full day of sightseeing the next day.

Day 2: Friday, 10 December

For this trip, my elder brother had done up a tour itinerary for us and he was our official tour guide.

We rented a chauffeur driven mini car for our party from the hotel tour and transport desk. The charge was MYR$50 per hour. The driver was Mr. Tan and he was a very nice, elderly man. We proposed our routing and he even added on a few other ad-hoc stops for us.

Our tour of the day included:

1. Penang hill – view the closed site area as they are now upgrading the cable car. According to Mr. Tan, it should be ready by New Year.

2. Kek Lok Si – visited the famous temple and saw the 观音 statue.

3. Coffee Tree – bought coffee and some chocolates. Highly recommend for coffee lovers.

4. Fishing Village – En Route to tropical farm, we stopped by a Fishing village and saw fisherman came in with their catch – lots of fishes of different type.

5. Tropical Fruit farm – located at the hill top, we paid about RM$28 for an adult and RM$20 for a child for a guided tour of the farm. The children had a great time listening to the growth of different kind of fruits. At the end of the tour, we were treated to a Fruit Buffet and a nice cup of fruit juices.

On our way back to the hotel, we had lunch at a local coffee shop. We ordered the Fried Kway Teow and 炒面 and to our greatest surprised, the 2 dishes tasted very good, even though it was a small shop and the “chef” was a very young lady.

On way back, we requested Mr. Tan to bring us to local product shop to buy some 土产。He brought us to a shop quite near to our hotel – 田园土产 (Tean Ean Local Products (M) Sdn Bhd) located at 90 Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 10050 Penang, MY.

The 豆沙饼和马蹄酥were very fresh and tasty. We were very happy with our purchase.

As we had a long day of tour, we decided to do dinner at the shopping centre next to the hotel. We had Manhattan Fish market and it turned out to be a very good choice. As none of us had eaten it in Singapore…haha.

We had ice cream after dinner and then went back to the rooms for a good night rest. It had been a very FRUITFUL day for us, especially the children.

Day 3: Saturday, 11 December

We had buffet breakfast at the café and then we checked out 2 rooms and kept our room for late checked out.

We had booked the mini car and again we had Mr. Tan as our driver cum guide.
Our day 2 itineraries were as follow:

6. Reclining Buddha temple along Lorong Burma Road.

7. Khoo Kongsi temple - This temple has rich historical value and learning about it gives me the interest to find out more about my own root too…hehe.

8. 水上人家 - seeing the houses built on such condition reminds me of those old kampong days.

We had a quick tea break stop at a local coffee shop in Little India and tried the roti canai (aka roti prata)

9. Our final tour stop was Blue Mansion (Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion). There was a guided tour at 11am and we were brought around the Mansion and given a very detailed introduction. It was really an awesome tour and to learn so much about the history of the Mansion.

We left the place around 12noon and went back to the hotel to get change and checked out. We had a quick lunch at 小南国 at the shopping mall before our transfer pick up to the airport for our flight to home sweet home.

It had really been an enjoyable tour for the family and we learnt so much about Penang in such a short span of time. There are so much more places to see and things to do and I know we would be going back again for the Durians and fried Kway Teow.

Till we meet again…Jumpa Lagi Penang!!

Penang → Singapore (MI 355) 1805/1930

Our 11th Year together..

2010-12-04T16:17:00.005+08:00

4 December always bring fond memories as I remembered how we had walked together for so many wonderful years.

We have been lucky to have so many supports along this road that we walked together. Not only thankful to our families, we also had great friends whom had seen us growth as a family and shared with us all the joy and happiness.

On Saturday, 4 December 2010 - it was our 11th year anniversary and knowing that Adrian had always wanted to see River dance performance. We decided to watch the 8pm show. Before we went to book the tickets, we asked for some logistic help in taking care of Anthea and Anders.

When all were settled, we went to the Sistics Counter and bought the tickets for our evening show.

As this was the 1st time we were watching a Live Performance at the Sands Theatre @ the Marina Bay Sands, we decided to go earlier to check out the venue and had a quick before show dinner.

It was also Adrian 1st visit to MBS area and he was impressed at how big the place was and how exquisite some of the Celebrities chef restaurants were. We had a simple dinner at the Rasaputra Masters (aka Food court )..haha.

The 2 hour show was mesmerizing and we truly enjoyed the world class performance. We were also surprised and honored to see PM Lee and Madam Hoy Ching at the same performance.

The song and the dances are closed to our daily lives as we are playing so many different roles very day.

May our years ahead be strong just like the Dance as every step we move; it would be full of energy and power.

Happy 11th Year to us !!

4 Day 3Nights Phuket Rest & Relax Families Trip, 26 – 29 Nov 2010

2010-11-30T11:10:00.004+08:00

This was the Tan Clan inaugural families trip and I must say – it was a successful trip. We were a party of 8 adults, 2 children, 1 toddle and 2 infants. First time we managed to go on a short vacation with all of us included.

Day 1: Friday, 26 November

Singapore → Phuket (MI 754 )Dep: 1320 / Arr 1405

It was a 1hour and 45 minutes flight from Singapore to Phuket. We were seated all near to one another. It was the 1st flight experience for my youngest niece – Taeia Tan. She took it really well.

Upon arrival at the Phuket airport, we were met by the Holiday Inn resort representative and we had 2 minivans for our families transfer.

We checked into the hotel and was given a Superior king-sized bed for our family. The other families had queen sized bedroom. My 2nd brother in law booked a family suite for his family.

As usual the 1st activity was swimming. Yeah, the children were all very excited and had great fun at the resort’s kid’s pool. Even the 2 infants also came in for a quick water play.

In the evening, we had dinner at the Hard Rock café and then adjourned to the hotel lobby for the welcome drinks. Then we called it a night and had good rest.

Day 2: Saturday, 27 November

We had an enjoyable buffet breakfast and then the children went to the kid’s club and had some fun at the club.

Then we headed to the poolside again and they played for some time before we went back to the room to change.

Lunch was arranged at Jungceylon shopping centre. This shopping mall was huge and it housed many familiar brands – Robinson and Carrefour can be found in this mall. It’s very close to home shopping. We had lunch and then explored the shopping mall. After that, some of us took the Tuk Tuk back to the hotel and we decided to walk back. It was about 10minutes walk to the hotel and along the streets, there were plenty of street shopping and amazing discoveries.

In the evening, we went by to the beachfront and we negotiated a deal for a Banana Boat ride. Together with my 3rd brother in law, his wife and my Father in law, Anthea tried her 1st ride on the Banana Boat. The ride was very fun and they were overthrown at the end of the ride when they were near the beachside. She enjoyed the ride so much and kept telling us about the fun of it.

We had dinner at the Thai restaurant in the hotel. Then we headed back to the rooms for a good night rest.

Day 3: Sunday, 28 November

During our last trip to Phuket in 2008, we did Safari tour. So this time round, we decided to try something different. We booked our family of 2 adults and 2 children for the ATV (all terrain vehicles) tour. It was a 2 hours of thrilling ride in the mountainous terrain.

As it was drizzling in the morning, it made the slopes very slippery and muddy and these add on the excitement of the rides.

After the 2 hours, we were all dirty and tired. We headed back to the hotel for a quick bath. Then had our cup noodles lunch in our rest before resting for the afternoon to regain the energy.

For dinner, we headed out the beachside for some seafood dinner. It was a simple and nice meal by the beach. After dinner, we took a stroll back to the hotel. On the way, we even stopped for Haagen Das Ice cream.

Day 4: Monday, 29 November

Phuket → Singapore (MI 753) 1455/1740

We woke up to a nice and relaxing buffet breakfast. After that, we started to pack and got ready for our home going flight.

We took a minivan from the hotel to the airport it cost us THB 1200. Then it was checked in time and home sweet home.

Overall, the 4D3N had passed by very quickly. We had so much fun and great families bonding time with the extended families. So it was a really good experienced for the Ace family.

For now…we look forward to our next families travel, would this be Beijing 2011?? To be continue….

毕业典礼- Anders K2 Graduation Ceremony 2010

2010-11-23T21:29:00.005+08:00

19 November 2010 was a BIG Day for me. Yes, finally, Anders is graduating from his kindergarten stage and would be going to Primary 1 in 2011.

This time round, my first Skool had decided to do the ceremony as individual centre based rather than a combined concert with other centers.

The concert was much smaller in scale but the importance and significance of the celebration remained HUGE in meaning.

The graduation was scheduled to start in the evening at 6.30pm. Around 6.15pm, Anthea and I took a slow walk to the centre. When we arrived at the centre, we realized that the Guest of Honor – Dr.S Vasoo was already making his speech. We entered the centre discreetly and quite luckily, we managed to be seated in the 1st row of the concert.

After his speech, the graduation began. The K2 graduands marched in with pride. They were all wearing the graduation gowns and mortarboard. It was a very special MOMENT for all the parents when they saw their children and cameras were busy flashing away.

Dr. S Vasoo presented each one of them with their graduation certification. After that, they took a group photo with the centre Principal and Teachers in charge.

Then the concert began – the program was well lined up and we had great fun and were well entertained throughout the 2 hours.

Finally when the show was over, we were treated to some light refreshment prepared by the centre aunties. The food was simple and delicious. The children were having a great time, eating their food and chatting with their friends.

For some of them, this would be the last month attending the childcare as some would be going on the next stage in their life.

This was my 2nd time attending a graduation ceremony and I found it to be much more meaning than those big scale show. It really allowed the parents to see the talents in their own child.

Once again, I am a PROUD mother for the day!

亲爱的勇学，

终于毕业了。这是新的开始。。路会很长不过妈妈会陪着你！希望你会勇敢的学习。

爱您的妈妈。

Double UP…

2010-11-11T17:17:00.003+08:00

The children had been feeling a lot of excitement since the day we ordered the Double Decker bed for them.

Yes, after some consideration that we would be staying put in our home for the few years ahead, we decided to do some adjustment to the “hardware” of the home.

The children had been bugging us to get them a double decker bed. Each time when we went to the furniture showrooms, they would take the opportunity to try the different types of children double decker beds.

As our bedrooms are all installed with a ceiling fans, we were concerned about the safety issue, especially with the fan’s blade going fast and furious. A few months back, we decided to change the children room fan as it was having some technical problem. After some researched, we bought a new TDK Ceiling Oscillation fan.

Once the fan was changed, we went to Rozel furniture showroom and checked out their double decker beds. To our luck, they were having some promotion on one particular bed and we decided to go with that promotional item.

This week on Monday, they delivered the bed and it’s now the new novelty of the home. The children enjoyed the “Tree house” in the room.

忙碌的十一月..

2010-11-06T11:34:00.004+08:00

Just came back from another fruitful working trip in Shanghai. Weather is very cooling now in China and truly enjoys the walk in the cool evenings.

November had arrived and it’s going to be a very busy month for our family.

Work wise – I have loads of upcoming meetings and I hope to gain more out from these meetings.

Children – Anthea had completed her semestral exam and now we are waiting eagerly for her final results. So far, she had done very well for all her papers and we are very happy with her performance.

Anders will be having his K2 graduation ceremony on 19 November and now they are busy with the rehearsal. After that we will be attending his Primary 1 orientation. I am really looking forward to seeing him starting his formal primary school education in 2011.

Holidays – yes, we are going for our augural families holiday with our extended families in November. It’s going to be quite an experience for all of us.

A few months back Anthea felt ill and was pale from her illness. Then we decided to let her try Brand Essence for children. After the first few bottles, I noticed a slight improvement in her health. From then onward, she becomes a Brand Essence fan and she drinks 1 bottle everyday during her SA.

With some connection, I managed to get bulk purchase of the Brand Essence at a good rate and now we had stocked up on them. We will make sure the children drink them regularly to maintain their energy and health.

Looking forward to all the upcoming events and fun time ahead.

Happy Birthday to Terence !

2010-10-26T13:33:00.008+08:00

On Sunday, 24 October, we celebrated my 3rd brother in law birthday. As my MIL is an Ala Carte Member, she has meals vouchers which we could use at the Millennium Group. As usual, one of our favorite dinner place is Café Brio’s @ Grand Copthrone Waterfront and yes, its buffet spread is something that the families simply adore…: )

Usually for special occassion, we would dined at this cafe and like what my FIL comment :"it's an annual affair to eat here". Anthea & Anders were very excited about the Buffet dinner.

The spread was as usually good – the cold dishes even had Japanese Abalone with the usual fresh serving of sashimi, fresh oysters, cold crabs. The hot counters have mixture of western cuisine and some of our local favorites – hokkien noodle, chilli crab and seasonal vegetables dishes.

The favorite counter is none other than the Grilled counter – they have grills beef/mutton/prawns/cuttlefish ring and otah. Most of them were grilled to perfection by the chef in charge except for a few odd ones...: )

The children enjoy the food from all the different counters and the adults were also much busied going in and out of the main café to the grills.

We had an enjoyable dinner and when it was so called cake cutting time, I realized that there was no cake for the birthday boy…hehe.

Adrian said probably it was a buffet so no one thought of getting a cake…haha..: P

Anyway, both Anthea and Anders bought a birthday card for him and Adrian also gave him a birthday ang pow.

We wished Terence a very Happy Birthday and a good year ahead…!!

Discovering Melbourne, 9 - 13 Oct 2010

2010-10-17T17:28:00.010+08:00

The company had scheduled a Roundtable meeting in Melbourne on 11 – 12 October. Originally it was planned that my Manager would be travelling to Singapore for local meetings and then to Melbourne for the Roundtable meeting. However, due to some medical reason, she had to change her travel plan. As such, the company had requested for me to travel for the meeting.

I was delighted and definitely happy to accept the task as every travel is a great learning opportunity for me and also a good chance to meet the clients.

So I booked myself on Qantas flights from Singapore to Melbourne.

Day 1: 9 October, Sat – QF 9 Singapore – Melbourne.

Qantas fly the Airbus A380 on weekend and thus I was lucky to get my 2nd visit on the A380. Flight was smooth and service was great.

Day 2: 10 October, Sunday

Arrival in Melbourne at 6am in the morning. I took the Sky bus from the airport to the city station (Southern Cross Station) and then got a taxi from there to my hotel. I was booked into the Amora Melbourne located at 649 Bridge Road, Richmond, Vic 2131. It was located outside of CDB but very near to the factory outlets.

As it was still too early for me to check into the hotel room, so I decided to do my shopping first. Yes, I had a short list of shopping items to get from Melbourne. My family’s members are great supporter of Jurlique products. It is very costly to buy them in Singapore but in Australia, they cost ½ the price of Singapore. Each time when we visit Australia, we are surely to stock them up.

So my 1st stop was the Chinatown Duty Free shop which is located in Little Bourke Street.

I took the Tram services from the hotel to Swanton Street. It was very fast and easily accessible. I took the opportunity to explore all the shops along Swanston Street. They have everything and anything – from souvenirs, branded goods and essential needs.

At the Duty Free shop, I bought the Jurlique Essential oils and also some nougat for the families.

After a fulfilling trip, I went back to the hotel for the check in and prepared the meeting items.

In the evening, I had dinner with my Australia colleague and the 2 facilitators for the meeting. It was a good introductory dinner.

Day 3: 11 October, Monday

The meeting was scheduled to start at 9am and there was coffee and tea at 8.45am for the delegates. I had the chance to meet up with all my Australia’s clients and greeting them in person made the difference than on the phone. Some of them even mistaken that I was based in Sydney…: )

The meeting went very well throughout the day and lunch was a good time for networking too.

In the evening, we hosted a dinner at Boheme café which was about 10minutes walk from the hotel. Dinner was delicious and the atmosphere was relaxing. We talked and chatted about different topics and it ended on a happy note.

Day 4: 12 October, Tuesday

2nd day of the meeting also went smoothly, no major hiccups. The meeting was closed around 3pm and we bade goodbyes to each other and promised to keep in contact via emails/phones.

In the evening, it started raining, so I packed back dinner and ate in the hotel room.

Day 5: 13 October, Wednesday

Had a morning meeting with one of my new subscribers. It was my 1st solo meeting and I was glad that it went well and took note of area to improve for my next meeting.

After the meeting, I went back to the hotel to pack and got ready to leave for the airport. At the city station, I was hoping to visit the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. Sadly, it was closed on a Wednesday, so I missed the opportunity to see it.

Thus, I went straight to the airport, did my check in for the flight. As I was still early, I had a quick lunch and did some duty free shopping before boarding the flight for home sweet home.

Melbourne – a place I last visited 10 years ago and re-visiting it give me a sense of belonging and I had really enjoyed this work trip.

I was telling Adrian that maybe Melbourne can be our next family vacation destination….till we meet again,

G’ Day Mate!!

New Shoes/ Swimsuits

2010-10-05T16:46:00.005+08:00

It had been a very busy working week cum sport week for me.

I am having quite a few upcoming web conferences and I am busied preparing for them. Also I have an upcoming RoundTable meeting in Melbourne, thus I will be travelling again soon.

With Adrian’s blessing, I am truly enjoying my new home based job which allows me the time to be with the children, especially comes 2011, Anders will be in Primary 1 and I will be taking care of his after school needs as well.

Besides being occupied with work and housework, we are also kept busied with our Saturdays badminton session at the sport hall. I had been booking the badminton hall on all the Saturdays to give Anthea the chance to practice her badminton skill and I know it’s getting better each time. : ) also Anders is enjoying the sport too and hope that he will be able to join the school team too when he starts Primary 1.

Anders will be graduating from the childcare in another 1 month time. I am looking forward to his graduation ceremony in mid November. They had their graduation photo taken on last Thursday, 30 September 2010. Because of the photo, he was required to wear a pair of covered black shoes, so on Wednesday, I went to Marina Square and bought a pair of Reebok for him. Now he is wearing them for his badminton game.

The children celebrated Children Day on 1 October 2010 and thus there was no school on that day for Anthea. We decided on a morning swim at my 3rd BIL and both Anthea and Anders had a great time playing with their cousins – Faith, Saige and Taeia

I noticed that Anders had “bubbles” from his swimsuit and knew it’s time for him to get a new one. Since he is now progressing well in his swimming lesson, it was time to invest in a good swimwear for him. On Saturday, after dinner with the families, we went to Velocity @ Novena Square and bought him an Arena Swimsuit. He is now all ready for his new challenge. Let’s hope he will be able to do his bronze test soon.

上海之旅和放风箏

2010-09-21T14:09:00.007+08:00

After my last Shanghai business trip in May, my company had assigned me to make another trip to Shanghai for the RoundTable meeting. It was like going “Home” feeling as this will be my 2nd trip.

The only difference was this time round I am alone in managing the 2 days meetings. So it was quite a new challenge to me especially in a foreign land.

The meeting venue was the same as previous and thus getting from the airport to the hotel was a breeze for me since I had the 1st time experienced.

The 2 days meeting went by smoothly and I enjoyed the discussions so much and I had great takeaways from the sessions.

In the evening, I had the chance to explore 豫园 which is one of Shanghai famous tourist area. Also this time round I managed to try their Metro (MRT system). It is very similar to what we have in Singapore.

One of my friend commented that I am very brave to be alone on this business travel. I shared with my friend that Shanghai is a very easily accessible place and there are many similarities as Singapore, so moving around in Shanghai is not a problem for me. Especially when Language is not a barrier but a joy to use for me.

The new experienced I had from this trip is the RED-EYE flight I took from Shanghai to Singapore. As I purchased a very economy fare during the UOB Credit Card – Singapore Airlines joint promotion, I had no choice of the returning flight except for this flight.

The flight was scheduled to depart Shanghai at 0010hr, so I had to check in around 9pm in the evening. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the flight was FULL even though it was at such odd hours. Guess many people also enjoyed the special fare, like I did.

Overall the 3 Days 2 nite trip has proven to be another fruitful trip for me and I really treasure all these opportunities that the company is giving me.

On Sunday, there was a Kite Festival at the Marina promenade and my 2nd BIL’s family had gathered all of us for a families outing to Fly Kite.

When we arrived at the venue, the place was packed to the rim with people and it was very hard to find an empty space on the field. Since we were there, we decided to have a go at the Kite Flying session. My Fil became the trainer for the session and he taught the children and my 3rd BIL how to fly kite…: P

After a few failed attempts to fly the kite high, we decided to call it a day and adjourned for early dinner at the nearby restaurant.

It had been a fun experienced for the children, even though they didn’t really get the chance to uplift the kite, they had fun running around with the kite. We are now planning for our next 放风针 session and hope that this time will be better.

KKH ENT & Happy Teacher’s Day

2010-09-10T20:10:00.005+08:00

On 31 August we had an appointment made for Anthea with KKH ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) Specialist clinic.

Anthea has been having this “Ahem” problem with her throat. We had tried western and traditional Chinese medication but till today, the problem is still there. As we are worried that it may become chronic, so we decided to ask for the specialist opinion.

Our appointment was scheduled at 3.50pm and Adrian took a day leave to accompany us for the appointment. We registered her name and waited for about 45 minutes before the specialist see us.

The diagnosis was – mucus back drip. This means that her mucus is the one causing the problem and because of the drip back to the nose, it also block the airways to the throat, then created the “ahem” problem. The specialist prescribed 2 kind of nasal spray and we have to monitor the situation for 3 months till our next visit end November.

Hopefully, this will solve the problem.

On the same day, the children celebrated Teacher’s Day in their respective schools in the morning. As usual, we managed to buy small gifts for Anthea’s form teacher and Anders’s English and Chinese teachers.

A friend of mine recently started an online business and sell small items that are very sweet. This friend of mine enjoyed Stitching and she uses her hobby to build up a small business. I am always in full admiration of her capability – she is a SAHM and she homeschooled her own children, take care of the chores of her own and plus this new business.

I ordered the gift via her online store - Jean Stitch and when we received them in the mailer, Adrian also commented that they were lovely. I hope the Teachers will like their Teacher’s day gift as these gifts are sewn out of Love and Tender care.

LJ to Bollywood Veggie & ISH

2010-08-31T14:16:00.007+08:00

It was a very busy week for me last week. I had to attend a 2 days conference at the Marina Bay Sand Expo and Convention centre. It was a good 2 days of education sessions and general sessions. I had the chance to meet a lot of people from the travel industry and was good to see some “old friends”.

Then on Friday, it was Anthea School Learning Journey to Bollywood Veggie. This trip is in conjunction with their English lesson – A Feast.

I joined in the LJ as a PSG. In the morning I went to the school around 9am as the children had their Mother Tongue test before the trip.

As usual I was tasked to go with Anthea class as I am familiar with her classmates. Unlike the other regular PSG whom are familiar with almost every kids.

We set off around 9.30am and reached the farm around 10am. The children were breakout into a few groups and followed different Tour Guides whom brought them to the different plot of land. The guide make introduction of the different kind of plant/trees/fruits to the children. It was a great learning experienced for the children, especially to feel/sense/taste the different plants.

About 20 minutes into the introduction, the sky started to turn dark and lightning started. For safety reason, the organizer had to end the tour and the children went to the bistro area for their snacks.

While eating the snacks, Anthea and her classmates were very lucky to have the Professor telling them the stories of those portraits in the room.

At around 12noon, the rain got lighter and we managed to board the bus for our journey back to the School. At the boarding point, Anthea form teacher had the children to say Thank You to the professor for his interesting guide for the tour.

Although the tour was short due to the rain but I had managed to see quite a variety of interesting plant/fruit. I am sure the children had enjoyed the tour and found it useful too.

A few of my friends played badminton on weekend and thanks to their recommendation, I got to know about Indoor Sport Hall (ISH) booking for badminton court.

Last week I managed to book a hall for the Saturday and we brought Anthea and Anders for their sport. Adrian had the chance to train Anthea in her badminton while I played 嗒嗒球with Anders at the side of the court.

We enjoyed the 1 hour of sport fun and both of them commented that it was very fun to play in the hall. With these approval votes, I managed to book another hall for this Saturday sport fun, let’s hope we will enjoy once again.

“LIFT” us up

2010-08-16T13:47:00.004+08:00

Since our last E-polling in August 2008 for the Lift Upgrading Program, renovation work started about 1 ½ years ago. Yes, we endured all the inconveniences of daily dust, noise and walking up & down stairs when the old lift was out of order for a few weeks.

Finally after all the above, our new LIFT is up & operational few weeks back. Now we had lift landing on every floor. To celebrate the occasion, Anthea and Anders have been pushing their own bicycles downstairs in the evening and ride around at the open space.

Our old lift were built in those old days and it served mid floors to the units. This mean if I stayed on the 4th floor, the lift will only bring me to 3rd floor and I have to walk flights of stairs to get to my floor.

An ex-colleague of mine had asked me: “since you already had a lift, why do you want to VOTE for a new lift? You need to pay government monies.” He said his estate has been voting against LUP.

I told him - During my younger days, I was very active in sport and got a sport injury during a badminton game. I had a minor operation in my right tendon and was on hospitalization leaves for almost 2 months. At that time, I was in cast and had to walk around with crutches.

I was still staying with my parents during those days and thankfully the new block we stayed in had lift landing on every floor.

Yes, LIFT is that important to a person who is partially incapacitated because even one flight of stair proved to be a painful challenge.

Beside this point, there are other users like parents with prams, wheel-chaired bound person and senior citizens who may have difficulties in going up and down the stairs.

So the lift is a saver to many of us…: )

Now we are enjoying the convenience of our new LIFT Services and it has definitely lifted our spirit to a new level too… : )

Happy 45th National Day!!

2010-08-10T12:42:00.007+08:00

What a fun day we had on this 45th National Day celebration. We woke up to a rainy morning and Anders told me: “mommy, we can’t go cycling because it’s raining.” I told him not to worry; the sun will be out later. True enough after breakfast, the rain stopped and we started packing our stuff for a day at Pasir Ris Park.

Now that both Anthea and Anders both owned a bicycle and had learnt to cycle on their own. We would like to bring them to the park to let them get used to the crowd in cycling.

As Bishan Park is undergoing major renovation and most part of the parks are closed off. After some discussion, we decided that Pasir Ris Park would be more idea for the children as it is not as crowded as East Coast Park.

We headed off around 10 plus with both bicycles in our car. The drive to the park was very smooth and fast, as the road was quite empty. We off loaded both the bicycles and headed to the park and the children were all excited about cycling in the park.

They saw a big playground and started heading toward the playground. The playground was huge and had different kind of slides and play area. Both of them went to try the different slides and had so much at the playground.

Then after play about ½ hour, we told them to ride their bicycles to explore the other side of the park. As they were riding along the way and I was following Anders while Adrian jogged beside Anthea. I could see many families having their family picnics by the grass patch and some under the canopy. Most of them were dressed in our National Day color – Red & white. It was really fun and we can feel the National Day mood with all these colors surrounding us. One of the families was even doing BBQ under the hot sun…: P

We had water breaks in-between and I also brought along cheese buns for the children as snack. During their rest, we even had the chance to play 嗒嗒球 at the open field. We had so much fun doing all the different sport at the park.

Then at about 1pm, we started to get changed before lunch. Anders even took a quick shower at the changing room. We headed toward Elias Mall, which was nearest to the park, and had a simple lunch at the food court. Then followed by a good treat of ice-cream for a hot, sunny afternoon.

Finally we reached home around 3pm. The children bathed and had their usual afternoon nap. They had planned to dine-in to watch the LIVE National Day Parade on TV.

In the evening, we packed Macdonald’s for dinner and sat in front of the TV for dinner. We had so much fun watching the 2 ½ hours parade and the children sang along to the tune of the familiar National Songs.

At 8pm, we even caught a glimpse of the Mobile Column that drove passed our street. Then at 8.10pm, the children recited the Pledge and sang the final National Anthem and this brought us to the closed of the ceremony.

It has been an enjoyable National Day for our family and we were glad that we had discovered this new “GEM of the East”. We will be there again as the children said they really had a good time at the park.

A Toy Story Celebration

2010-07-28T09:46:00.004+08:00

Last week had been a very busy week for me. On Tuesday & Wednesday, I was busy with Round Table meetings. On Thursday, Friday and this Monday, I went along with my MD for meeting with clients.

It had been a very steep learning curve for me but I truly enjoyed these meetings and trying my best to soak up as much information as I possibly can.

Honestly, in Asia culture, nothing beat a simple handshake or hello and this will make a world of difference for future correspondences.

On Saturday, one of Adrian’s buddies – Kenneth, celebrated his son 9th year old birthday at his home. K’s wife (Joanne) had kindly extended the invitation to our family a few weeks back. As Adrian was scheduled to work on the NDP, I decided to bring the children to the party on my own.

As their home is near to Buangkok MRT, so our easiest route was to go via MRT-CIRCLE LINE- NEL. For the 1st time, Anthea and Anders had the chance to travel on the Circle Line. Honestly, it is pretty much like MRT, so it does not really make much difference to them. The only complaint they had was – why were we changing so many trains…haha.

We arrived at K’s home around 6.30pm and coincidentally, as we were walking toward his home, we saw the F16 flying passed us. They were heading toward the Padang for the aerial display.

The birthday celebration was held at the BBQ pit and there were lots of delicious BBQ food. Both Anthea and Anders had great fun at the playground located just next to the Pit. While we ate, we also had the chance to catch up with his buddies on their latest development.

I am impressed that all of them are upgrading to condominium and living an impressive lifestyle. Well, I guess that’s why the Chinese saying – “一种米养百种人“。 We belong to the Low-income family group, thus we can only stay in our humble HDB home…keke : P

To me, the utmost import thing is family happiness and health. Seeing the children growing each and every day and learning the right values in life beat the luxury of life. The best deal is we are debt free and I am able to choose my current role as a work from home mommy. Truly able to take things in my own stride and as the family progress, the role can be upgraded too. I believe in 一份根耘，一份收获。。

DisCoveries Saturday

2010-07-20T15:42:00.007+08:00

On Saturday, Anthea’s school had an open house event and this year event was themed as Discovery Talent on 17 July, 11am to 3 pm.

This year Anthea’s class is involved in the Speech and drama performance. Her class was putting up a short skit – The shoemakers and the elves.

Around 12 noon, I brought her to school after sending Anders for his tuition class. We reached her school around 12.15pm and she met up with her form teacher. They were doing a round of rehearsal before the real show at 1pm.

At 1.15pm, the parents were all seated in the classroom and waiting anxiously for the children to start the show.

Anthea and few other classmates had the role of the narrators for the skit and she did the introduction for the show. I was impressed with the play and thought that the teacher and children had put in great effort for the show.

After the show, Anthea went around the school compound to collect Stamps for the puzzle game. She was having loads of fun with her classmates.

Adrian brought Anders to join us after his lesson and we met one of his childcare friends, Pamela, at the school. The parents are deciding if they wanted to register Pamela into the school for her Primary Education.

Anders went around the school with Pamela and he had fun playing the games with her. Finally around 3pm, we ended our tour and went home for our afternoon fiesta.

In the evening, we went over to my girlfriend home; she had invited us over to her place to view the NDP Fireworks. Both Althea and Anders had requested to have a quick swim at the pool before dinner and firework.

We reached Cindy’s home around 6.30pm and they went by the poolside to have some water play. Angus also joined them when he reached home from his enrichment lesson.

Then we had dinner around 7.15pm, Dave had kindly went to packed dinner from a Zi-Char near their home.

While having dinner, we chatted and enjoyed the companionship. Interestingly Cindy and Dave are planning a yearend holiday to my DREAM destination. Now we are talking of a possibility of going for a holiday together, if I can convince myself over the LONG HOURS of flights….hehe : P

Around 8.15pm, we saw the fireworks coming out from the Padang area. The view was very nice and the children had fun viewing it. We even joked that we should go over to their home on National Day itself.

Anthea and Anders had fun playing with Angus games/toys and also they had the chance to play WII. Anders truly enjoyed it and asked if we could get a set too.

Both the adults and children had so much fun that we finally left their home around 10.30pm.

It was a great Discovery Saturday for us and simply gathering like this bring our friendship to another level of understanding, yes, Adrian just discovered that both Cindy & Dave are CSI Fans too….: )

友谊万万岁！！

2010-07-13T14:44:00.009+08:00

Last Saturday, I had a wonderful gathering with a group of closed friends at the Global Kitchen in Pan Pacific hotel.

I had known this group of friends since my working day with the travel agency. After I left the agency in 1995, we still keep in touch. A few of them are still in the Travel industry with their new employer and some left the industry totally, like me.

Our last meet up was 2 years ago at my house and this time round we decided on a Hi-Tea meet.
We arrived at the venue around 1pm and everyone started, eagerly, to find out who is doing what now and where the person is working in…hehe.Throughout the 3 ½ hours of gathering, there were so much laughter and noise coming from our table. As the saying goes - 三个女人，一个巴刹。。There were 6 of us…: P

Beside enjoying the food and great selection of teas, I truly enjoyed the company of my dearest friends. The 3 ½ hours passed by so quickly.

When the Hi Tea buffet came to a closed, everyone was asking “where are we going next?” well since the mood is so HIGH and MIGHTY, we should go to Marina Bay Sands. I proposed and all concurred.

So we took the FREE shuttle bus from Pan Pacific hotel to MBS. As one of my girlfriends has a contact point in MBS. She contacted the person in charge and the Sales person brought us around the Hotel, the casino and Convention area for a quick tour. We even had the chance to visit the Sky pool. The view from the 59th floor was magnificent and we took the opportunity to take some group photos.

After the tour of MBS, we said thank you and good-bye to the Host. It was almost 6.30pm when we left MBS. As the evening weather was still good, we decided to walk back to Pan Pacific hotel. Along the way, we saw the Helix Bridge and try a walk on the bridge. It was a bit shaky and my girlfriends commented that it felt like earthquake.

At the same time as there was NDP rehearsal at the Padang, we saw the Singapore Flag flying passed above us and also the F15 jets. They were flying so low and so near to us, the sound was deafening.

Four of us decided to adjourn for a drink while the other girlfriends left to join their family/friend. My girlfriend brought us to the Mandarin Oriental hotel poolside for a drink. We were considering viewing the NDP fireworks from the poolside.

We ordered our drinks and some light snacks to go along with the drinks. As we drank and enjoyed the snacks, we were watching our time. Yes, at 8.15pm, the fireworks started and we were pleasantly surprised that we had the best spot to view the fireworks. This year, the fireworks displayed not only came from the platform, there were also “firing” it off from rooftops of Ritz Carlton hotel, a few buildings in CBD and the Padang too. So imagine our excitement when we can see all the fireworks from the different spots. It was just too spectacular.

When the fireworks ended, the hotel guests whom were at the poolside with us, clapped their hands in appreciation. At that point, i felt so proud of our NDP Fireworks. : )

We continued with our drinks and food after the fireworks and chatted till our hearts contended.

We, finally, called it a day around 10pm and went home feeling so Happy and High in mood. This had been the best gathering for our group and I know there will be more fun outings with my 大姐们 and I look forward to our next meet. Till then – 谢谢你们真挚的友情和陪伴。祝我们友谊永柱！！

Anthea 1st pair of Badminton Shoes

2010-07-08T16:22:00.003+08:00

Beginning this year, Anthea started CCA with the Recreation Badminton group in school. As the name denotes, it was more for leisure playing than competitive playing. Before school holiday, she told me: “mommy, I have decided to quit badminton.” I asked her for her reason as I do not want her to quit for the wrong reason.

After hearing her out – citing as time waster as the teacher spent more time lecturing the children than on coaching them played. I approved of her decision. When school reopened, she went to her form teacher to tell her the decision to quit badminton. The form teacher mentioned that she will inform the teacher-in-charge.

Last Thursday, it was her scheduled PE lesson and they played badminton during the hours. The school badminton team teacher – Miss Ching was also doing PE lesson with her class and she saw Anthea played the game. Immediately she asked her aside for a chat. Ms Ching asked Anthea if she would like to join the school badminton team. After some persuasion from Ms Ching, Anthea decided to go for the trial training on that afternoon.

She was all smiles when I fetched her from school and she proudly told me: “mommy, Ms Ching asked me to join the badminton school team and I will be going for training this afternoon. You must sign the consent form, ok?”

How would I say “No” to sports, especially badminton…hehe. Yes, we come from a family of badminton players and athletics. Sport is naturally in our blood and we breathe the game too. : )

So since last Thursday, Anthea has officially joined the school team and her training is every Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Now that she is into proper coach training, I told Adrian we need to get her a good pair of badminton shoes. On Monday, it was Youth School holiday, so we took the opportunity to shop around AMK for a pair of shoes for her; we were unable to find a suitable pair.

In the evening, we went to Queensway shopping centre to look for the shoes. After some searching around the many sports shops, we finally decided on a pair of Victor badminton shoes for her. It was just the right size for her and she was very happy to own a pair of badminton shoes.

She is now very enthusiastic about badminton and I am really happy that she has this opportunity to be groom for this sport.

Hope she will LOVE it, just like Adrian and I did during our school days. : )

NDP 2010 Combine Rehearsal

2010-07-04T17:51:00.006+08:00

This year Adrian has been assigned NDP logistic duties again. Yes, his officer seems to like to give him NDP assignment..hehe.

Well, he took pride in his duties and has been fulfilling them on most weekdays and weekends for the practices. Missing out on our regulars weekends families’ dinner but he always tell the children: “Country comes 1st and he must serve it before his family.”

We are proud of him and for his scarifies, we were rewarded handsomely…hehe. Usually before the actual NDP Preview and National Day Parade, the organizing committee will have few rounds of combined rehearsals to improve on the parade for the actual day. For these rehearsals, publics were given tickets to attend the parade and show.

On Friday, Adrian came home with 4 tickets for the CR on 03 July 2010. The children were very excited and were looking forward to the parade. As we had an extra ticket, Anthea invited her best friend, Maya, to join us for the parade.

On Saturday afternoon, we had a light tea-break at home before setting out to fetch Maya for the Parade. This was our 1st time to the Parade@ Padang.

We reached Odeon Tower around 4.30pm and started walking from the building to the Parade Square. As we were walking along the road, we saw many people walking in the same direction and we were all dressed in REDS. Amazing support from the public, even though it was just a rehearsal, we still came in the DRESS CODE requested by the committee.

We had tickets for Blue Sector and the marshal directed us to the zone. As we walked, the marshals were all shouting to the public: “hi, welcome to NDP 2010”. I felt I walked in to a Giordano store…haha.

Our 1st stop was to collect our Goodies bags and this year tote bags are Designers bags. We are the 1st batch of public to get our hands on the bags and inside each bag – there is a Fun Box, bottles of water, Singapore Flag, a flipper and Poncho. The tote bag is so much neater & practical to use compared to those previous year goodie bag.

We got to our seats and settled ourselves before the parade commenced. Around 6pm, it started to drizzle and we took out the poncho from our bag and used it. I had brought along umbrellas too.

The parade started around 6.15pm with the marched in of the different contingents followed by the Guard of Honor. The parade & ceremony commenced after the “President” arrived. As usual the children were excited when they saw the helicopters flew passed with the Singapore Flag. The F16 saluted the Nation with their fly passed.

This year the MOBILE COLUMN is the main show display and there were many different Mobiles that were introduced. As we were seated a little too far from the main road of display, we had to keep watching the Big Screen to seen the different Mobiles.

It got a bit boring for the children and at this point, it was still drizzling. So we made the decision to leave the parade and head for our dinner.

We had Macdonald’s dinner at Odeon Tower and the children had a great time chatting with one another. Anthea truly enjoyed Maya’s companionship.

After dinner, we sent Maya’s home and we went home for a good hot bath and finally settling down to watch a good match of World Cup between Germany & Argentina.

Overall the children had enjoyed the NDP combined rehearsal and now they are looking forward to the actual National Day Parade and we will watch it from the comfort of the home.

The only setback I felt about his year NDP 2010 was that it was not as interactive as the previous 2 years shows. Also because of location – the show seem to be a little pale in comparisons with previous. Anyway, good thing was we managed to see it LIVE and experienced the real thing and of course, our Designer’s Tote Bags…haha.

Kids in Charge & Happy Birthday Daddy

2010-06-28T21:28:00.005+08:00

We had another sport-fun and indulgence weekends. Yes, it was the annual Kid’s in Charge event organized by Anders childcare – My 1st Skool. This year the theme was Sport and the event was held at Serangoon Stadium on 26 June – from 9 am to 12 noon.

In the morning we worked up early and had our breakfast. As Adrian was involved with the NDP, he could not join us for the event this time. We took a bus from our place to the venue.

Upon arriving, we saw the childcare teachers all busied escorting the children to the waiting area. Then the Guest of honor arrived around 9am and the “march passed” started.

After the march passed, the children were allowed to go to different corner of the stadium and play with the different sport. This will be our last time attending such an event. But somehow, I still like the one we attended in 2008 when it was smaller in scale and more personalized.

In the afternoon, we went back to rest before meeting our families for dinner at Eatzi @ Safra Yishun in the evening.

On Sunday, we had a Yum Cha lunch with the extended families. The original plan was to celebrate Adrian’s birthday at lunch but in the end, we decided to have the celebration at dinner time.

(aces family with our 1st niece - faith Tan)
My youngest Sister in law is doing her confinement and Adrian has been drooling for 猪脚醋and thankfully, my youngest brother in law invited the family over for dinner and Aunty ML has specially prepared the dish for Adrian…hehe.

So dinner was simple and yet sumptuous meal and Adrian ate till his heart was contented. I had picked up some tips from aunty and hopefully I can brew a good pot of the pig trotters…hehe.

After dinner, we had a simple cake cutting ceremony and everyone had a great time with the cake and also analyzing the World Cup results. : )

Happy CelebrationS!!

2010-06-21T15:21:00.003+08:00

This has been a very exciting week for me and also a happy one for the family.

On Monday, I attended a farewell lunch at ex-company. My Ex-manager had completed his 4 years expat terms in Singapore and is going back to USA. I had worked for him for 2 years and he was really a nice boss to work with. Took the opportunity to wish him all the best and may our path cross one day. I was really thankful that my ex-colleagues still regarded me as part of the team and invited me for the occasion.

On Tuesday, my youngest BIL and his wife decided to induce the delivery of their baby girl – Taeia Tan. And Taeie arrived in the early morning of Wednesday. All was well for my SIL and her baby, they were discharged on Thursday.

On Friday, together with Anthea, we went to visit my niece at my BIL’s home. She was very adorable and pretty. Anthea enjoy her time with her new cousin and kept saying she is cute. She even had the chance to sample some of the confinement food and she said it was yummy…haha.

After visiting, we went to the nearby food centre for our lunch; the whole place was newly renovated after the market was burnt down recently.

On Saturday, we had a dinner with my in-laws and 2nd BIL’s family. As Adrian was involved in this year National Day Parade and he was scheduled on duty, thus he could not join us. After dinner, we went to my 3rd BIL’s home to do a birthday cake cutting for my FIL. Also at the same time, we celebrated Father’s day for the 3 fathers whom were there, so it was double celebrations.

On Sunday, we had a late lunch at New York New York@ AMK Hub. As it was Adrian birthday this month, so he had some vouchers and freebies, so we decided to give ourselves a good treat.

In the evening, it was a Father’s day dinner with my parents at a Zi Char stall in AMK Ave 10. Anthea and Anders managed to catch up with their 大舅，阿公和阿婆。They were busied chatting away and asking them different questions.

After a very sumptuous meal, we went home to rest and also caught the World Cup matches LIVE on starhub. Yes, every 4 years, we will watch the LIVE matches and both Adrian and myself will analyze the scores and the situation. Sometimes we may even place small bets on the matches. It’s the thrill of watching LIVE Matches, especially when your dollars are on the underdogs…: )

“Executive” Family Treat

2010-06-14T16:18:00.011+08:00

We were booked for a weekend stay at the Fairmont Singapore and this time, we were given Executive treatment…hehe. Yes, my MIL has extended her Raffles Inc. membership and with the package, she is entitled to a FREE night stay at the hotel Executive floor and had kindly offered the room for us to use.

Since the last time we had already tried out the executive room in Swissotel Stamford. This time she booked for us the Executive Room at the Fairmont Singapore.

On Saturday after Anders’s tuition class, we fetched him and went straight to the hotel and checked into the room. We were given Room 2330 which was on the same floor as the Executive Lounge.

We had a Harbour View room and we can see the new Marina Bay Sands building from our room balcony.

As usual, the children 1st and foremost request is always – Swimming Pool 1st. So immediately we changed and went to the pool for water fun. The poolside was crowded with families with children. I believed many families were also enjoying the staycation fun.

After swimming and playing around for about ½ hour, we went back to the room to change and rest. As we were on Executive Floor, we had the privilege to use the lounge. Cocktails were served from 5 to 8 pm. So I went to the lounge and took a nice cup of drink and had some finger snacks. At the same time, the receptionist also allowed me to bring back some snacks to the room for the children. The lounge does not allow admission to children below 12 years of age so they allow parents to bring food to the room.

When I brought back the snacks to the room, both Anthea and Anders were delighted and had a good time enjoying their tea break in the comfort of our room.

My parents in law brought my eldest niece to the hotel room in the evening to meet with us before the family dinner. My niece had a fun time playing with Anthea and Anders in the room while my in-laws went for the cocktails at the Executive Lounge.

After their cocktails, we walked over to Asia Grand Restaurant @ Odeon Towers for our usual weekend family dinner. My youngest brother in law and Sister in law are now in great anticipation on the arrival of their newborn this week. So our family tree will likely be expanded this week…hehe. : )

We went back to the hotel room after dinner for rest & relaxation with the families. We had tea/fruits and nuts as dessert and the children continued their play on the beds.

At around 9.30pm, the families went home and we rested for the night.

The next morning, we had our buffet breakfast at the Alligator Pear, it was by the poolside. This was our 1st time having breakfast by the poolside and it was a nice experienced for us.

We went back to our room and have a good rest after a sumptuous breakfast. Then around 11am, we went to the swimming pool again.

We swam for a good ½ hour before going back to the room to shower and change. We simply chilled and relaxed in the room till our checked out time at 2pm.

Then it was home sweet home for us. Another great staycation for us and we truly enjoyed the Executive Experienced.

4 Day 3Nights Sunway Lagoon & Kuala Lumpur Trip, 3 –6 June 2010

2010-06-09T22:14:00.010+08:00

This is our family 3rd visit to Sunway Lagoon and 2nd time to KL and I must say – it gets better each time.

Day 1: Thursday, 3 June 2010
Singapore → Kuala Lumpur (MI 833 )Dep: 1615 / Arr 1705

It was a 45 minutes short flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Upon arrival, we were meet & greeted by the agent at the arrival hall. He briefed us on our next few days pick up itinerary and then fetch us to Sunway Lagoon Resort.

We checked into our room and I was happy and pleased to see that they had upgraded the rooms since we last stayed in 2006. The rooms seem to be modernized and also more hi-tech with all the electronic gadgets.

Immediately Anthea and Anders changed into their swimming gear and Adrian brought them to the pool for a quick swim. After swimming, they came back to change and we headed to Sunway shopping centre for our dinner. We had KFC as our 1st meal for this trip. I was so surprised that the KFC in Malaysia still served the bun which I used to dip with the whipped potatoes. : )

After a good dinner, we walked around the mall and discovered a few new shopping atriums. The place had changed and it is so much bigger now with so many shops.

Anthea and Anders had fun with the rides in the play area. After the rides, we went back to our room and rested for the night.

Day 2: Friday, 4 June 2010

We woke up to a nice sunny morning and had our buffet breakfast at the café. The Sunway theme park opens at 11am and we went in around 11.15am. The park admission ticket had now changed to include 3 parks instead of the previous Wet Park or Dry Park. So with our admission tickets, we could go to the Interactive Zoo and the Amusement Park within the theme park. Of course, the price of the ticket had gone up. For adult – RM$80 and Child is RM$65.

We had a whole morning of fun going round the different place in the park. Exploring the different rides and also trying a walk on the suspension bridge. The children were eager to get to the pool, so finally we ended at the poolside.

Around noon time, we decided to take a lunch break. As we had re-entry vouchers from the hotel, we were able to go back to the park later. So we decided to go for lunch and a short rest before going back again. It was the right decision as the children were tired out from all the slides and water play.

We had Macdonald for lunch and return to the room for an hour nap. In the evening around 4.30pm, we headed to the theme park for the water play. The children enjoyed them so much and finally left the park at its closing time – 6pm.

We went back to change and then headed to the mall for our dinner. We went to I Canton for dinner and the food was delicious.

After a good dinner, we walked around the mall a while before going back to rest.

Day 3: Saturday, 5 June 2010

We woke up to a sunny morning and had a sumptuous buffet breakfast at the café. Then we went back to pack up and got ourselves ready for our pick up from Sunway Lagoon to Kuala Lumpur Berjaya Times Square.

We arrived at the hotel around 11.45am and checked into our room on the 39th floor. Once again, we went straight to the swimming pool and had a quick swim.

Then we went back to change and headed to the Times Square shopping mall for our lunch. The mall is huge and it has about 10th storey of shops and restaurant. There is an Indoor theme park in this mall. It is the Cosmos Theme park.

After lunch, we went to the theme park, as requested by the children. We went in and they tried different rides at the children section. They had a whole afternoon of great fun going from rides to rides. Both of them especially enjoyed the bumper car. : P

After almost 4 hours of fun rides in the park, we decided to call it a day. We had dinner at a restaurant called Uncle Duck and I remembered this was the same outlet we had eaten before during our trip in 2007. The food was nice and price affordable.

Day 4: Sunday, 6 June 2010
Kuala Lumpur → Singapore (MI 321) 1215/1305

We woke up early for our buffet breakfast. Our pick up was 9am and we were all set for home sweet home.

It has been a wonderful family vacation and Sunway Lagoon seems to be like our 2nd home or 3rd….just like Club Med. It’s a very family oriented vacation and the children had a splendid time.

I am glad that Anders is now enjoying more of the water fun and he no longer has fear in water. As for Anthea, she is still enjoying the theme park rides and I believe if we go back to the Cosmo Theme Park, she will be too tall for the kiddy rides.

Our Vesak Special

2010-05-31T13:55:00.006+08:00

Vesak holiday was on Friday and so it was a long weekends for the family.

Friday morning, I was reading the newspaper during breakfast and noticed there were loads of sales and fairs happening. So after some discussion, we decided to head for the Singapore Book Fair at Suntec city.

We arrived at the convention hall around 11am. It was still early and many of the booths were still setting up. We walked around and the children were looking for books of their preference.

We found a booth that had Geronimo Stilton books at $7 per book. Immediately Anthea bought 3 of them. Anders bought for himself a Dino book.

Then we went to the food court for our lunch. After lunch we went for a bit of shopping at Carrefour before heading home to rest.

Dinner was with my extended families at Peach Garden. My In-laws were going to Hong Kong with my 2nd Brother in law’s family for the next few days for their holidays.

On Saturday morning, Adrian brought Anthea and Anders to my youngest brother in law place for a swim. I was busy with my Mariah’s duty at home.

Then in the evening, we went to Orchard Road for our dinner cum window shopping. Adrian likes the Mala Pot at 313@Sommerset. So as and when we were eating on our own, this would be our favorite hunt. We had Mala pot while the children had noodles.

After dinner, we took a slow stroll in Orchard Road and it was crowded. The Great Singapore Sale is on and people are busy buying away. We went to Takashimaya as the children wanted to go to Kinokuniya. Yes, seem like they had taken a liking to books and Adrian commented that he has companionship to bookstore now.

At kinokuniya, Anthea bought an Enid Blyton book and Anders bought a sport book. Both of them were very happy with their new books. At the same time, we managed to change our Malaysia Ringgit at the money changer in the mall.

Then we went to TCC@ Wisma Atria for our supper. We had drinks & cake and Anthea commented that – “this was a night out for our family, I really enjoy it.” Yes, there were TV Ads she had seen on TV that promotes Singapore night out and she always wanted to do one.

We called it a day around 10pm and headed home via the MRT.

It was a relaxing Sunday, Anders had his usual swimming lesson and Anthea went along to do her laps.

In the evening, we had dinner at my parent’s place. It was a spread of home cooked Beef stew and duck. As usual, the dinner was sumptuous and delicious. After dinner desserts were bird nest soup and my home made durian puddings. I was really happy that they enjoyed the puddings.

This has been a Zen and relaxing weekends for us. Nothing beat having the families around you and enjoying each other companionship on such occasion.

上海之旅 – 18 May to 21 May 2010

2010-05-25T18:31:00.016+08:00

The four days in Shanghai passed so quickly and this trip had been an amazing experienced for me.

Day 1 – Tuesday, 18 May

Departure – SQ 828 Singapore to Shanghai

Upon arrival, I took the Maglev Train from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to the Longyang Road Station. From here, I took a local taxi to the Renaissance Yu Yuan Shanghai Hotel. The Maglev train is similar to the “Bullet Train” in Europe/Japan and its speed can run up to 443KM/Hr. I was really impressed with its speed and it took me about 10minutes ride.

Upon checking in to the hotel, I met up with my UK Manager and we had a quick chat before proceeding to our 1st client visit.

After the meeting, we went back to the hotel and checked function room that we would be using for the following day Full Day meeting were set up in order.

In the evening, we had a quick meet up with the meeting facilitator and walked through a few pointers before heading off for dinner.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for a well-deserved rest.

Day 2 – Wednesday, 19 May

8 am to 4 pm was our full day meeting at the hotel. It was a very good meeting I was tasked to assist the facilitator in the notes taking. It was my 1st experience taking notes for such meeting and it was a great learning experience for me.

After the full day meeting, we had another client appointment at 5pm till 6pm in Pudong. As we were near the Financial Centre, my Manager suggested we take the chance to view the World Tallest Building - Shanghai World Financial Centre. Yes, we took the tour and went all the way up to the 100th floor of the building. It was a magnificent feeling when we were at the top. The only drawback was the view was a little cloudy due to the mist in the air.

Shanghai has all these supertall skyscrapers and each building has its unique “crown” to top the building and it’s an eye-opening experienced. Now I know our buildings are “small & pale” in comparison. : P

We had dinner at Tin-Tai-Feng at the mall in the building. As my Manager is a British and it’s her 1st time in Shanghai, I know it would be good to let her try as many Chinese dishes as possible. She truly enjoyed the 拉面和小笼包。

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and called it day. I went to the hotel pool to take a quick dip and at the same time took some photos of the pool, as requested by Anthea. At night, I had the chance to skype with Adrian and we updated each other on our happening in our respective S countries…haha. I also had the chance to talk to both Anthea and Anders on skype. It was assuring to know they were getting on fine and logistic had worked out fine too.

Day 3 – Thursday, 20 May

We had 3 meetings from morning till afternoon. It was a good exposure for me, especially to meet all these Clients in person and a simple handshake with everyone makes a difference.

As our last client’s office was based in an industrial part about an hour from city, so it took up our whole afternoon. Thank goodness, we had a very patience taxi driver, whom was willing to wait for us while we had a meeting with our Client. (He didn’t charge us for the waiting time…hehe.)

After the meeting, we went back to the hotel to change and freshen up before our next assignment. Yes, we visited another hotel recommended and took a quick look at the meeting rooms. After the viewing, we went to The Bund and had wanted to have our dinner there. However, some of the restaurants needed prior reservation and the one that was available cost a bomb, so we decided to find an affordable dinner venue.

The Bund night scene was simply beautiful with all the buildings of colonial designs. It felt as if we were walking in a part of Europe and it was also kind of romantic with the special lighting. However, the human traffics is equally BIG…haha. Just like what I heard before – 上海看人头。

As we were walking back to our hotel, we discovered a Chinese restaurant named 老北京and it was famous for 北京烤鸭. I brought my manager in and we had a very good meal of Peking duck with other small dishes. She enjoyed the dishes as much as I did.

Day 4 – Friday, 21 May

We had our final client visit at 11am and after the meeting, we went back to the hotel to do our checked out.

Then we headed off to the airport in the same taxi. My Manager was going to Hong Kong for other client’s visits and also to meet with her daughter who is doing internship in Hong Kong.

At the airport, we bade each other good bye and look forward to our next meeting…Singapore, Shanghai or London….just maybe…: )

Dep : SQ 833 Shanghai - Home Sweet Home.

Overall, I had truly enjoyed this working trip. I had the chance to learn so much and my best take away from the trip would be the Personal touch and saying hello to all my subscribers. Nothing beat this compared to all the nice flowery words on the emails.

Also another good take away on home ground is that they had learnt to be independent during my absence and logistic was all under controlled.

The doors are open and the opportunities are plenty. I look forward to my next challenge in the job.

Also finally i bought my own set of the 嗒嗒球!

I am “OFF”

2010-05-17T11:56:00.002+08:00

We had a very good weekend and enjoyed the bonding times with the families.

On Saturday evening, we had dinner at New York New York in Sembawang shopping centre with the extended families. We were all so amazed with the revamp of the whole building. Everyone was asking “what happened to the “lok-lok” place since we were there donkey years back…hehe.

After dinner, we explored the building and discovered there were many specialties shops in the building – there was even a Daiso in the mall…not bad.

I know we will go back again – to explore the children play area as I had seen via some mommies’ blogs.

On Sunday, Anders had his swimming lesson and Anthea went along for her swim too. The instructor brought him to the deep pool and advises him to use goggles. This was his 1st time swimming with a goggle and after using it, he told me: “mommy, it’s very good leh, I can see Uncle Julian’s legs in the pool. I want to use goggles for my next lesson.”…haha. Finally, I had been encouraging him to wear goggles whenever we go for water play but he refused because he doesn’t like the feeling. Now, he has grown to like it and I am really happy for him.

In the evening, we had dinner at my parent’s home. As usual, it was a good spread of western dishes. Roast of lamp was the main course and we ate to our heart fullest contentment.

Starting tomorrow I will be officially “OFF” for my business trip and my role as a Mother for the few days. So Adrian decided last night that he and the children will start their morning routine as of today.

At 6 am, he woke both of them up and had them to drink their milk. Anthea had her normal bread & butter breakfast, Anders decided that he will have breakfast at the childcare.

Then they changed into their school uniforms and left home at 6.45am. Adrian will fetch Anthea to school 1st and then dropped Anders off at the childcare centre at exactly 7am. We had been joking with Anders that he will be the 1st to arrive in school for this week.

I take it as a “warm-up” exercise for Anders as comes 2011, he will be going to Primary 1 and he will be in morning session for the following 6 years. I am really glad that both Anthea and Anders had no problem in waking up early in the morning…phew.

Now I am all packed, checked in my airline seat, bought my travel insurance and booked my transport for tomorrow morning.

Yeah, I am going to miss all my 宝贝from tomorrow onwards. Last night at bed, Anthea even told me: “mommy, if anyone bullies you, you called home and tell us.” This really melts my heart…hehe.

Meanwhile, I will make the best out of this trip and hope to prove my value to the meeting. Likewise to gain as much knowledge as I can during the trip.

My 1st Business Trip

2010-05-12T09:33:00.005+08:00

Last week while corresponding with my Manager at work, she made a request for me to join her in a Roundtable meeting and other client’s visits in Shanghai. I was thrilled with her invitation and started making flights enquiry. At the same time, I also asked Adrian of his opinion and he was all out for the trip. : )

After some discussion and arrangement, I am finally confirmed for my 1st business travel in this new decade. Yes, I am going to Shanghai…: )

Last Friday, I went to the agency to pay and pick up my documents for both our family vacation and my Shanghai trip.

Then I went to The Planet Traveller store in Ion Orchard and made a trade in for a new luggage bag. One of our old luggage bags is damaged and so it’s a good time to get a brand new one at the discounted rate.

I am now all set for the travel and will start packing on this coming weekend.

Looking back, I had not done any "solo" travel since my last business trip to Shenzhen in March 2007 with my ex-ex company. It was a team building event and after that I had an extended holiday in Hong Kong with Anthea and my Mother In law.

This business trip, however, will be a much different scale compared to the one I went in Shenzhen. Beside a Full Day round table meeting event, the other days are all packed with Client visits. As I am taking care of the Asia Pacific members, so this will be a good opportunity to say Hello to most of them face to face rather than just over the phones. It will be a good chance to build up the rapport too.

A few friends and families had asked if I am visiting the Shanghai Expo but judging at my meeting schedules, I doubt that I will have the FREE time to visit it this round. Anyway, I believe I will have more chance to travel once I cross this 1st trip…hehe.

Logistic wise while I am away, we had “sub-contracted” my role to 3 people – Adrian, my mother in law and my mom. Yes, I was joking with Adrian that my role as a main caretaker of my children seems so minute in its daily role. But once there is such a circumstance, then we realized the important of the role and it should not be taken for granted -The Greatness of WFHM...: )

Will I miss the children – YES… definitely. Like what my SIL always said “it’s a no brainer answer”…haha. I had never been away from them, even during our own holidays. So this will be my “official” 1st time without them on an oversea trip. I know it will draw significance emotion from all of us and i know it's a good time for them to learn to be independent.

Both Anthea and Anders have been telling me: “you are going away for SO LONG…” when I told them I will be away for only 4 days…haha.

I asked them “why when daddy goes for his 3 months working trip, you guys never said SO LONG…and now I am only going for 4 days to Shanghai? “ they just gave me the most cheeky smiles on their faces.

In about a week time, I will be travelling and I am really looking forward to this opportunity because I know that it will build up my profile and also hopefully – bring my career to it next level.

(Anthea, Anders & their cousin Faith; we celebrated Mother's Day @ Sze Chuan Court in Fairmont hotel)

Saluting the Mom….

2010-05-05T11:31:00.003+08:00

建康是财富。。。This has always been my belief and that’s why I am keeping my exercises routine.

After being beaten by the viral last week, I am even more adamant to regain my exercise routine when I am well enough. I know when I am down; the people I am most worried about will be my children.

Yes, ever since the day I became a Mother, they have been the main focus of my life. I had seen people who read daily motivator…and I joked that my children are my Motivators.

Without them, I don’t think I will push myself so hard. It’s hard work and 24/7 but if I don’t do it wholeheartedly, I don’t think anyone else can fulfill this role as well as me.

“Mommy, I love you…” I hear this everyday from Anthea & Anders at the end of the day when we are in bed. 3 simple words and it just make my whole day of hard work seem so little.

I remembered when I was young - my own parents had a very strict set of house rules for me, especially because I am the only girl. In our household, we seldom openly expressed our Loves for one another but deep in our heart, we know we will always love our parents, the way they love us.

Comes this Sunday – it is Mother’s Day. No need for fanciful dinner or big present, I believe what a Mommy wants – a simple family time with all her love ones.

On this special day…give her your salutation because she deserves it and remember to tell her: “Mommy, I LOVE you!”

My brother in law has a special Mother’s day Tribunal on Resraves, so c’mon in and join us in this special moment!

我的内疚

2010-05-01T13:18:00.000+08:00

Since last Sunday evening, I had been feeling ill till this May Day…

On Sunday evening, I developed a fever and started taking the fever medicine. On Monday morning, I went to the doctor and got some other medication for the illness. Usually within 2 days of medication, I would recover but somehow by Wednesday, I developed another illness – gastric.

This illness caused me a lot of discomfort. I had this very tight feeling on the chest and felt like vomiting all the time. I told Adrian it’s like having morning sickness minus the pregnancy.

Yesterday, I went to the doctor for the 2nd time and get medication for the gastric problem. Now I am feeling slightly better but still weak from all the drowsy medication.

This week I hadn’t been fulfilling my duty much, especially in the morning. My normal routine is to wake up 6am and prepare simple breakfast for Anthea. But this week, I can’t wake up at 6am. So in the end, she was “forced” to do all the morning routine on her own. Adrian told me “luckily, she is now quite independent.”

Yes, she now do her own breakfast, changed herself and get her ready before Adrian fetched her to school.

But one thing she will do for sure – she will come by to my bedside and say Bye Bye to me and then we will set a timing to meet after school. It was a consolation to me, at the least.

I have been feeling guilty this whole week for not being able to wake up in the morning for Anthea but I know I needed the rest to walk a longer journey with her. She will understand my situation. Also because of my illness, I know Anthea has grown to be an independent girl and she will be able to take good care of herself whenever mommy is down & out…: P

Having said this – I tell myself – 我一定要好起来！！加油！

My 1st Round Table Meeting

2010-04-25T16:36:00.002+08:00

In my new job capacity as a Client Service Executive, I have the opportunity organize Round Table meetings and also Mini Round Table meeting.

For the round table meetings, it would be held at a local hotel meeting room. As for mini round table meetings, it’s done via a digital meeting room, so all I need to do is to co-ordinate online.

So far I had done a few mini round table meetings and all had gone on smoothly. This week was my 1st time organizing a Round Table meeting and it was a very good experienced.

It was a 2 days meeting event and it took place on a Wednesday & Thursday. Originally my HQ in United Kingdom was supposed to courier the event documents to the hotel. Also my Service Delivery Director was supposed to travel to Singapore to host the event. However, due to the volcano eruption, all these did not happen.

So immediately I went into action to get the documents printed out via a local printer. Also as my Director could not travel to Singapore, I had to manage the meeting alone, with my facilitator and his assistant.

On Wednesday morning around 8am, I arrived at the hotel to do the setup and also meet up with the meeting facilitator and the assistant.

Around 8.30am, the delegates started to arrive and I manage to meet & greet all of them. It was a very good way to build the rapport with them as usually we would only communicate via emails or telephones.

The meeting started on schedule and all went very smoothly throughout the day. In the evening, I organized a dinner get-together with a few of them who indicated their availability to join for the dinner. It was a simple & enjoyable dinner with the group.

The 2nd day of the meeting also went on very smoothly and at the end of the day, everyone was feeling very happy and the mood was very cordial.

I had a good 2 days with the meeting events and i now look forward to my next event.. : )

Anthea was down with tonsillitis on Wednesday and was given 2 days of MC. Thanks to my mom, as usual, who came in to look after her while I went to work. If not, I would not have been able to manage it so well.

His 1st swimming lesson & “Never Give UP”

2010-04-19T12:10:00.005+08:00

All these while, Anders enjoys water play. Whenever we go for hotel stays or vacation, one of the main criteria for my hotel shortlist is – It MUST have a swimming pool. This is to keep the children happy & occupied.

Anthea took her swimming lessons and had passed her Bronze test. As for Anders, he just plays by the poolside and will usually need an adult to swim along to the deeper end of the pool.

We have been encouraging Anders to take up swimming lessons but each time we mentioned about lesson – he will give us some negative feedback about the lesson. Also the swimming coach had advised us to give him time to be confidence in water before starting his lesson.

With this in mind, we had not “forced” him to take up any swimming lessons but along the way, we encourage him to take it up by citing him all the advantages of being a swimmer.

Then last week, we talked about the lesson again and finally he AGREED to take up the lesson. I was very happy to hear him told Adrian “Papa, I am ready to learn swimming from Uncle Julian.” Immediately I checked with the coach of his available day/time for beginner class.

Yesterday morning, I brought Anders to the swimming pool and he started his official 1st lesson with the coach. After the 1 hour lesson, he came to me and said “mommy, it was really fun and good to learn swimming.” He was all smiled as he said it. I was really delighted to hear his feedback and I know I will be back to “Sunday Swimming Pool Mommy” routine but I have no compliant. : )

In the evening, we had dinner with the extended families at a new discovery – Benten’s Café. As I had read a few blogs about this place, so we decided to try out the food & it’s famous Ice-Cream. It was our 1st visit to the new shopping mall as well – Iluma.

The food selections were very wide and we were spoilt for choices. Adrian ordered the recommended Pork Cutlet curry rice. I ordered a Hawaiian pizza for Anthea and Seafood pasta in basil sauce for Anders. The dishes were delicious. Of course, we ordered their Ice-cream. We decided to try the "Never Give Up" instead of the gigantic bowl. It was a delightful & sweet dessert to complete the meal. Everyone was feeling satisfied and I know we would be back for more…hehe.

Then we took a slow walk around the building before heading home for the night. Another well spent weekends.

Top of the World Feelings…

2010-04-12T14:49:00.007+08:00

On Saturday, I attended a housewarming gathering at one of my ex-colleague place. Housewarmings are common and nothing special but this colleague new home-sweet-home is none other than the NEW KID IN the BLOCK – Pinnacle @ Duxton

Her housewarming session was scheduled for lunch and I arrived at her home around 12.30pm. When I reached her place, I saw many of the others ex-colleagues and we started chatting happily. Although I only work for this company for a few months but it felt like I knew them for a long time...haha.

After viewing my colleague unit and eating our lunch. We started our tour to the much talk about Sky Bridge. Each owner has 4 access cards to the Sky Bridge and each card can only admit one person at a time. However as we were in “group tours “we decided that one card shall admit few people..hehe : P

I went to the 50th floor sky bridge and took a slow tour around to view the landscape of Singapore. Impressive view but it was a bit hazy because of the Qing Ming Festival.

After touring the 50th floor view, we headed to the 26th storey sky bridge. There was a jogging track for the resident and a children playground. I heard that there will be a gym or fitness area soon. Not bad for a new Block.

It was really a good opportunity for us to view all these for FREE and I heard that Public need to pay in order to access to the sky bridge.

We had a good time at my colleague place and after learning some new dessert recipe from my colleague’s mother. I left for home.

On Sunday, Adrian was on his Guard Duty, so I was home alone with the 2 children. We had a full day of activities while daddy was at work.

We had Dim Sum lunch with my elder brother and my mom. Then we went to Popular and Anthea chose for herself another 3 Geronimo Stilton books – they were birthday presents for her from 大舅。Anders chooses for himself a set of Police station toy from Kiddy Palace. Also a birthday present from my elder brother.

After a good lunch and great shopping we went home to rest while anthea went for her revision lesson. In the evening we had a sumptuous dinner with the extended families.

我爱嗒嗒球!

2010-04-07T15:14:00.003+08:00

A few months back while playing badminton down stair, a China lady approached us and introduced us to a new sport – 嗒嗒球。That was my 1st time playing the new sport and I enjoyed it very much.

Last Friday after sending Anders to childcare I went to the park, planning to do my run. As I walked toward the park, I saw a group of people playing the sport and I recognized the china lady whom had introduced the game to me. I went to her & said hello and she invited me to join in the game.

I was delighted to join in the game and had so much fun for the 1 hour play. Also I got to know a few more new friends at the game. The china lady is actually here in Singapore to stay with her daughter and to take care of her grandson. She has been playing this sport for competition in China and she started introducing the sport to her new friends in Singapore.

Through a new lady friend, I found out that there is a group of people who come together in the morning to do exercise lead by an elderly lady. She was taught the set of exercises by a Hong Kong master and the best thing – the exercise is for FREE, anyone can just join in. So last Saturday, I went for my 1st group exercise and I found it very useful. This week, I have been following the group for the morning exercise and then played 嗒嗒球with the group after the exercise.

嗒嗒球 is a very interesting sport – it’s a combination of badminton & table tennis. What I like most about this sport is you can play anywhere as long as there is an open space. There is no need to book a court or find a table, as long as there is an open space, you can play the game.

Now I am slowly learning the right technique to play the sport and hopefully one day I can play as well as the China 大姐。

Now my next target is to buy my own set of bat / shuttles for the game. As this is a new sport, so the equipment is not available in Singapore. They can only be bought in China. So now I have to wait for families/friends that are travelling to china to help me to get my own set….hehe….: )

Happy 8th Birthday to Anthea

2010-04-03T17:19:00.014+08:00

Anthea will be celebrating her 8th birthday on 9 April 2010. As the actual day falls on a Friday, I had planned for her to celebrate her birthday earlier. When the calendar said that 2nd April is a Good Friday Holiday, I thought it would be the best day to celebrate such a happy occasion.

With this in mind, when I booked for Ander’s birthday party, I booked the same for Anthea. Instead of celebrating it in school, she would be hosting her party at the Macdonald outlet.

Yesterday, 2 April – her party time was booked from 1.00 pm to 2.30pm. At around 12 noon, I went by to the hub to pick up her birthday cake and we made our way to the Macdonald outlet at AMK Ave 10.

When we arrived, the party organizers – Suja and Sebastian were preparing the stuff for the party. There was a private section specially catered for birthday party. Suja told me that usually they don't host Birthday Party on Public Holiday. Her restaurant Manager had taken my booking by mistake and they were kind enough to accomodate to the party. I was so thankful to hear her said this. : )

Anthea’s friends started arriving as time passed. Most of the parents just left the children at the party and went on with their own agenda. A few parents stayed on for the party.

At 1.00pm, the party began. The children had their happy meals which they ordered with Sebastian. Anthea was eating happily and mingling around with her friends.

After a good meal, the party began. The organizer started the game session. The 1st game was called Caterpillar and the children had so much fun passing the balloons in their respective team. Amid the excitement, they were also screaming away – the energy level in the room was SUPER HIGH..haha. I had a good laugh watching them so excited over the challenge.

The 2nd game was a bit lower key but they were equally excited. The 2 team was given a list of items to collect. The children went round the room and pick up all the different items. Even parents were chipped in to help….haha.

After the 2nd game ended, the organizer told the children to cool down while they prepared for the cake cutting ceremony.

Anthea was all smiled when her friends sang the birthday song for her and she made a birthday wish (es) before cutting her cake.

She started giving out the cakes to all her friends and the parents. After eating the cake, it was time for her to give out the party pack to all her friends. Everyone was very happy to get a party pack & a balloon. Kids will be kids at heart, no matter how old they are. : )

The party came to an end and some of her friends bade her goodbye while some stayed on to play on with the balloons. They just ain’t had enough of games…haha.

Finally we left the place around 3.30pm after all the fun time. 8 years seem to pass so quickly, sometimes, I wish it will slow down a little. Anthea has been a great joy & companion in my life.

On this special day – my wish for my girl is to grow up Happy & Live each day to the fullest!

温馨的感觉

2010-03-28T11:20:00.004+08:00

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!

2010-03-20T21:02:00.016+08:00

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

2010-03-18T20:28:00.021+08:00

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!

2010-03-08T18:17:00.005+08:00

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…

2010-03-03T11:21:00.004+08:00

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...: )

Lion Dance

2010-02-26T17:29:00.006+08:00

Last Friday, Anders childcare celebrated Chinese New Year and had a mini Lion Dance performance.

As we managed to borrow a Lion head, Anders had the honored to Head the lion while his classmate tailed him.

Before the celebration, the teachers had made them practiced the dance steps. Being the eldest in the childcare, the K2 children had to perform for the toddles/nursery group and also the K1 class.

In the morning at 9.30am, I went by to the centre. As there were existing HFM cases, so parents were not allowed to go into the centre, we were allowed Window View..haha.

The 1st performance was for the toddles / nursery classes and the small children were all very excited to see the K2 children performed. It was a fantastic performance.

The 2nd lion dance was for the K1 children and one pair of the K1 joined in the K2 for the Lion Dance and they did equally well for this performance.

After the Lion Dance, they sang all the Chinese New Year songs and the atmosphere was simply joy & happiness.

Now Anthea & Anders are hoping to perform for the families before the Tiger Year roar away this weekends...

欢庆虎年

2010-02-19T15:36:00.007+08:00

除夕： Sat, 13 Feb 2010
Our reunions started with lunch at my parents place. As usual, food was abundance with dishes like: 鲍鱼，烧鸭/烧肉，鸡，虾，蔬菜和汤。 We also bought in a pack of 鱼生 for Lo Hei.

Lunch was very sumptuous and we had an enjoyable time with the food and companionship. Both Anthea & Anders enjoyed the jelly and drinks that my mom had specially prepared for them.

After a good lunch, we went home to rest ourselves before dinner. In the evening we had the chance to get some exercise before round 2 of great feasting.

Reunion dinner was at my Parents in law place and the usual practice was – 火锅 (steamboat). As usual before dinner, we had a round of Lo Hei to start off. Then the dinner started. There was also lots of good food that went down to the steamboat. We had beef, prawns, squids, codfish cakes, vegetables and fishes. Dinner was very relaxed and we ended with a good bottle of Red Wine.

Then we headed home to rest for the night. As it was the eve of Chinese New Year, both Anthea & Anders stayed up with me. This is a tradition that I practice – 守岁。We slept around 1am.

正月初一 : Sunday, 14 Feb

Our 1st stop for 拜年 is always my in laws place. So in the morning after a simple breakfast, we went over to greet my in laws.

After that, we went over to my parents place for lunch and at the same time 拜年。After lunch, Adrian sent them off to the airport as my brother brought my parents to Bangkok for a short vacation.

Then we went home to rest for the afternoon.

In the evening dinner was home cooked meal at my youngest brother in law home. We had a round of Mahjong game after dinner. Quite luckily, I managed to win a little bit of monies...hehe

正月初二：Monday, 15 Feb

In the late morning, we went to Shangrila hotel for a swim as the weather has been very hot for the few days. My youngest SIL had booked a room for my PIL to stay for the night.

In the late afternoon, after our nap, we headed to my 大舅house for 拜年. All the uncles / aunties & cousins were gathered at his house, so it was easier for me to 派红包。

We had a sumptuous dinner at my uncle house and then left to meet up with my extended families for after dinner drinks. As Adrian’s uncles/aunties were there, it was a good chance for them to catch up for Chinese New Year.

Anthea & Anders had a great time and was happy to meet with all the cousins & uncles for the day.

正月初三：Tuesday, 16 Feb

In the morning, I went early to 城隍庙拜太岁 as Anders & my Zodiac is against the Tiger Year.

The rest of the day was simply rest & relax.

This had been another enjoyable Chinese New Year celebration. We had abundance of food, happiness and Joy for the few days.

I hope that in the Tiger year – all will be smooth sailing for the family – 一帆风顺！

Learning Journey to Singapore Zoological Garden

2010-02-12T11:35:00.009+08:00

Monday Blues? What Monday blues, we were going to the Zoo…haha.

Yes, this was the 1st Learning Journey for the Primary 2 children and they were going to the Zoo.

I woke up around 5.30am in the morning to prepare Anthea’s breakfast and her snack for the trip. She had requested for sushi roll.

I was also going for the trip as a Parent support…hehe. We went to school together and I waited at the canteen with the other PSG for the children to assemble.

We started our bus journey around 8.40am. The children had an early recess at the canteen while waiting for the bus.

On the way to the Zoo, everyone was feeling the excitement and the children were busy chatting away with one another on the bus.

We arrived at the Zoo around 9.30am and started the assignment immediately. Each child has been given a set of notes to complete. There were 5 main stations for them to cover in order to complete their assignment.

The 5 stations were:

Station 1A: Polar Bears

Tasks: to find the names of the 2 Polar bears in our Zoo. One of the bear age and the year he was born. Also listing out the food that the bear eats. The children saw the feeding of the bears at the same time.

Station 1B: Wild Africa

Task: Find out the meaning of Orang Utan. Their Arms length and the shaped of the feet.

Station 2: Fragile Forest
Task: Life Cycle of a butterfly & life cycle of a cockroach

Station 3: Kidz World

Last Station: Elephant @ Work & Play show.

After walking for almost 1.5 hours, the children had a 10 minutes water break at the Kidz world zone. Most of them were hungry by now and ate their snacks happily.

At 11.30am, we were at the Asia Elephant area for the Elephant show. It was a 15 minutes show and it was entertaining, both for the adults & children. Some of them whom volunteered to sit in the 1st row of the show got a splashing good time from the Elephant and they were a bit wet. : )

After the show, we proceeded to the exit and took the school bus back to the school.

It had been an enjoyable outing for the children and I know they will bring back what they have seen in the Zoo to the classroom and shared with one another.

Too HOT to MISS..

2010-02-07T17:02:00.008+08:00

It’s the Singapore Air show and it’s happening during this week from 02 to 7 February 2010. The last 2 days are open to publics.

Adrian had been assigned duties during the air show and he had mentioned a few times of me bringing Anthea & Anders to the air show. I am quite reluctant to do so because of a few reasons – the children had tuition classes on Sat & Sunday & it will be too rushed for us to make it to the show. Another reason is the tickets prices are too expensive. And lastly from previous air show feedback – the public transport is madness and I have no intention to join in this game…hehe.

Till last Friday, Adrian smsed me and said that he had FREE tickets to the show and his officer had allowed him to be off duty of Sunday to bring his family to the carnival. So how can we say NO…hehe.

This morning, we woke up at 7am and had early breakfast. Then we changed and set off for the air show. Both Anthea and Anders were excited about the show as Adrian mentioned that they will get to see the fighter jet.

We decided to go earlier as we wanted to beat the crowd and also Anthea had her revision class at 2pm.

We arrived at the show around 9am and the crowd was already starting to go in. When we reached the F-16, the Q was already formed. We joined in the Q and it was really HOT. The children kept complaining about the heat. Yeah, they are too pampered.

After going on the F-16, Adrian asked if they wanted to Q to go into the Apache and both said NO..haha.

Then we just walked around the display area and view a few other planes that were on display. It was really hot and the children surrendered and said they wanted to go to the air-condition place. Then we went to the exhibition hall and there was air condition in the hall. We walked around and enjoy a bit of the cool air and then called it a day.

Finally we left the show around 10 plus and had brunch at Changi Village before going back to rest.

It was a good experienced for the family and understanding how hard (HOT) at work daddy is every day, we truly salute him

Family Day Event@ The Cathay

2010-01-31T12:09:00.005+08:00

Adrian told me a few weeks back that his company is organizing a Family Day event to watch a movie.

Yesterday morning we woke up at 7am for the family day event. Yes, we were watching a morning movie..haha. All these while, we had been watching late night shows at our own comfort. I can never imagine getting up at 7 am to watch a movie.. : P

After washing up & changed, we left our home at 8am. The venue was The Cathay and the movie was The SPY Next Door starring Jackie Chan.

At 8.30am, it was the registration and then there were children things around the cinema for the children. They had free candy floss and balloons sculpture. The children were enjoying themselves with the freebies.

Around 9.15am, there was a buffet breakfast for everyone. The spread consisted of fried bee hoon, sandwiches, nuggets and sotong balls, free flow of coffee & tea too. We had a good breakfast before proceeding to the movie at 10.30am.

This was our family 1st visit to the Cathay cinema and we were quite impressed with the theatre size. The Grand Cathay is BIG and it can house the whole company seating comfortably.

On each seat – we had a packet of popcorn and a can of coke. So it was a really treat for the children.

The movie was as usual very family orient – action packed but not violent. And we had a good laugh at all the special fighting scenes.

The movie ended around 12 noon and both Anthea and Anders had requested for KFC Lunch. We headed toward Chinatown for our lunch and at the same time, CNY shopping.

The place was very crowded and very lively with Chinese New Year mood. We had a good time shopping and looking around at all the goodies.

Then we went home to rest before meeting up with the families for dinner.

It has been a very fulfilling bonding time for the family and we look forward to more during the Chinese New year holidays.

A New Role - WFHM

2010-01-28T15:44:00.000+08:00

Yes, for the last few years, I had been job hopping. It’s not a good thing foe my resume but it’s something I needed to do for the good of the family, I believed.

Since Anthea started Primary One education, I had been her main after school caregiver. As she is in single morning session school, I would look for any Permanent Part Time morning hour jobs. So far, I had been lucky and found the jobs that met my needs.

Coming 1 February 2010, I will be starting a new role in my life chapter. I am going to be a PT WFHM (work-from-home-mom).

This week I am serving my 1 week notice for my current temp job. The company has treated me really well and I am experiencing mixed feeling in leaving the job.

Many friends had asked me how I managed to get such a job that allows me to work from home. : ) I replied them – “my lucky star shone on me. “

It started about 2 months - on 10 November 2009 when I was doing online job hunting and read about this position on Monster.com - Part time Client Services Executive. The thing that really caught my attention for the job is – it’s a home based job.

I wrote in for the position and after that forgot about it. On 20 November 2009, I received an oversea call on my mobile and the caller identified herself and requested for an interview time/date for the following week.

Then after a few rounds of interviews (via telephone & face to face). I was finally shortlisted for the position.

I had negotiated for my benefits and terms and glad to say, the company was agreeable to most of my terms.

Last week, my reporting manager was in town for a Round Table session and some client meetings. I took the few days off and did job training with her. It was a very fruitful session and she was a very good mentor for the job.

I had a clearer insight to my new job scope and starting next Monday, I will be officially granted the “WFHM” status.

I know I will miss out the “colleagues” part as most of the time I will be working on my own and liaising with my UK office. But like what a blogging friend told me: “you win some, you lose some.”

But having some many ex-colleagues and friends surrounding me, I know I will not be that lonely …hehe : P

Something to Raves about…

2010-01-22T16:20:00.001+08:00

“A Family that eats together, stay together.” It is with this belief that we meet with our extended families on weekends for dinners. Simply because during weekdays, everyone is working and studying, we hardly even get a chance to talk to one another.

So weekends are really precious time for the get-together. Especially for the children, it’s a good time to bond with their grandparents / uncles & aunties and of course, their little cousin.

As our family size is considered big for a dinner, we usually or rather my in-laws will make dinner reservation for table of 10 + 1. And this number will increase coming end Feb and mid June…hehe.

Yes, for such a family size, it’s hard to get table at times, especially on weekends and without reservation, we may need to wait for a table. For adults – we are fine with waiting but definitely not the children & pregnant mommies.

So RESERVATION is a must!!

Guess what?? Yes, my youngest brother in law has decided to come up with his own website and this is definitely a helpful website for our family. I believe many other families will enjoy such a link.

Resraves serves as a guide for good deals on different credit cards and the current promotion that the respective restaurants are having.

I find the link useful & informative and would like to share it with all my friends.

Your feedbacks are also important as my BIL would like to improve on the service. So Dear friends, your comments are GOLDEN!!

Please let us know how you feel after raving the link. Enjoy and the French said: Bon Appétit!

Teambuilding @ Focus Adventure

2010-01-17T12:10:00.007+08:00

This has been a very fast & exciting week for me. The office that I am currently doing temp job had their teambuilding event on the Thursday, 14 January 2010. The event was a kickoff event for the company year and staff from different offices in Asia Pacific joined in the event.

Although I am just a Part time staff there, I was really honored that they had included me in the event.

In the morning after sending the children to school and childcare, I made my way to the venue. The venue was Focus Adventure @ Sembawang. So it was quite easy for me to get to the location.

When I reached that around 8.15am, there was breakfast served while waiting for the rest of the people to arrive. The event officially started at 8.45am.

There were energy check games – these were to warm up our engine for the day. Then we were grouped into different group for a few games that tested our team’s focus, strategy thinking, cooperation and compliance. The games were all very fun but yet created such scenarios that were closed to work environment.

Around 1pm, after the 2 rounds of team games, we had our lunch & rested before we proceeded to outdoor for the High Element program.

Yes, as the name suggested, it was really high. The obstacle was about 12 meters above group. Each team did a different obstacle route and my team did the log walk.

I had never tried such obstacle walk in my life before and I told myself – I can do it. As one of my colleague said – fear is only in your mind.

With the team support, I made it and I know from this obstacle walk – there is nothing that can stop us in what we do except our own self.

The event finally ended at 6pm and we proceeded to the Sembawang SAF Yatch Club for the company gala dinner. The day ended around 9pm. Although it has been a long day but it had been a very fun filling day for me and I know I will remember this for a long time.

Birthday Boyz

2010-01-11T16:12:00.006+08:00

Today is the birthday of 2 Boys that we are acquainted with – my 大哥and Angus (he is the son of my very good sister – Cindy).

On Saturday, Cindy hosted a YoYo Birthday party for Angus at their home’s club house. Angus is a very lucky boy and each year for his birthday, there is always a special theme that coincided with his latest interest.

YoYo is supposing the latest craze in his school. Indeed when I saw all his classmates having their own yoyo’s, I admit it’s really a craze. Some of them even have a bag to hold the 7 – 10 yoyos that they owned.

The party was scheduled to start at 4pm with the arrival of his invited guests. Both Anthea & Anders were on the guest list. Both of them had a goody bag and Anthea’s goody bag as a brand new yoyo in it.

Then at 4.30pm, it was show time – there was a Yoyo performance by 2 yoyo masters from Spinworkx and their skills were truly amazing. The boys were all captivated by the performance. Even the few girls in the group were happily watching the yoyo show.

After the show, there was a mini workshop where the masters taught the children different way of playing the yoyo. After the workshop, there was a contest for the children and they enjoyed it very much. Both Anthe and Anders didn’t take in the contest but watched it from the sideline. The whole room was full of laughter.

Then after the yoyo performance, it was the cake cutting ceremony. Cindy ordered a very unusual birthday “cake” for Anugus. It was a R2D2 Agar Agar. What a coincidence, the same evening, the TV was showing Star War Saga.

Then the buffet dinner followed. The food was as usual – sumptuous. The parents started eating 1st while the children were still having fun at the playground. They came in as and when they were feeling hungry and have a quick bite at the buffet dinner..haha.

Both Anthea and Anders were having so much fun at the playground with Angus and his classmates/friends.

Finally around 8pm, we said good bye to the host and went home. As Star Wars episode 3 & 4 were showed that night, we had another late night and went to bed around 12.30pm.

It was a wonderful birthday celebration and we wish Angus a very Happy 8th Year Old Birthday!

On Sunday, originally I had arranged for lunch with my parents & 大哥 at one of the 肉骨茶 store in Yishun – this stall was recommended on 新成人杂志 programme. However, after some checking, I think I got the wrong place and so we change to another location suggested by my brother – Lavender Food Square.
(updated today – it should be 得运肉骨茶@ Blk 417 Yishun Ave 11)

No regrets as there were many different stalls of good food. We had different dishes and enjoyed a sumptuous lunch.

Then after lunch, we went to the City Square shopping mall to check out this 1st eco-friendly shopping mall. The mall has family parking lots and electric car lots…quite interesting.

We walked around the mall to check out the different stores. Metro & NTUC Fairprice were the anchored shops in the building. It is accessible via the Farrer Park Station.

Then we decided on dessert at Andersen Ice-cream. This was our small treat to my brother’s birthday. On this day we wish him a very Happy Birthday in the new decade, may he has good health & a prosperous year!!

Nothing beat birthday gatherings and family bonding time and we had double happiness on this weekend. It has been a very meangful weekend for us...

新开始

2010-01-08T16:54:00.000+08:00

This is the 1st week of school reopens and I am back to my normal morning rush hours. After a one month break, I was worried that Anthea may had a hard time getting back to the routine but again my worries were uncalled for..hehe. Matter of fact, she even said that she was looking forward to seeing her classmates again.

Our routine is pretty much the same as last year so I would consider us a “老鸟“。There are a few blogging mommies that I know had Primary 1 children and I can really feel their excitement in the air via their blog & facebook. To all these mommies – I said “加油！一切都会顺利的！！”

Also not forgetting my little niece, Faith, who is starting her nursery class, this week – May she enjoys her lesson and makes more new friends. : )

This week also marked the start of Anthea’s Chinese lesson at Tien Hsia. She had requested for a holiday break during December, so I let her, after all shel need her holiday. She is following the same teacher and I am really happy as 白老师 is really a remarkable teacher. As for Anders, he is still on waiting list for the K2 classes.

On Thursday, we had dinner at ION Orchard with my long time sister from the USA – Shirley. Yes, Shirley is in town this week and we had arranged to meet up. She was staying at Hyatt and we had the chance to view the hotel room & facilities and I know this may just be our next Staycation hotel…hehe.

We had a wonderful dinner at Republic Opera and I was quite surprised that we can find seats easily, compared to the last time we were there, but that was a weekend.

We chatted for almost 2 hours and finally called it a night and bid Shirley good night & good bye…till we meet again.

This first week has been a very smooth and relaxing week as the pressure is not here yet but I know as we go along, with more tests & examination in line, it will come surely but slowly.

A Peaceful Beginning

2010-01-04T16:27:00.001+08:00

The starting of year 2010 had been very peaceful and happy for the family.

Thanks to TCS5, we watched a few good late night movies from New Year’s Eve to New Year Day – Lord of the Rings & Star Wars.

The New Year Eve’s countdown firework display was also a world class display and captivating music.

We woke up almost near to 11 am and had our brunch. It was very relaxing and enjoyable, especially when we do not need to rush off to work.

On New Year Day, I brought Anthea and Anders to the Princess & Frog movie after reading so many good reviews from my friends. Indeed it was a very happy and meaningful movie to start the year. Then we had porridge dinner with the families at Oasis Taiwan Porridge place.

On 2nd day of New Year, we attended a baby shower. It’s was baby Tien Ya’s full month celebration. She is the niece of my long-time girlfriend and I am really happy for Andrea’s sister & brother in law for their newborn.

Yesterday afternoon, I brought Anthea to collect her Edusave Merit Bursary Award; she was happy to receive the monies and asked me if she can use it. But I told her it’s a cheque, so we need to deposit to her account.

Now we are tuning back to School days mode for the children, especially Anthea, after her one month long break.

新年新希望- 一切顺利和平安！！

再见 2009…

2009-12-31T16:40:00.001+08:00

Today is the last day of 2009 and in another few more hours, we will be welcoming 2010.

2009 has been a good year for Aces family. We were blessed with good health and happiness. Of course in between there were mixture of sorrow & sadness but these were part and parcel of life.
2009 marked the start of Anthea formal education life and we were very happy with her achievement, both academic & non-academic. This year also marked the start of my role as a Part Time working mommy and taking care of her after school needs.

So far the logistics arrangement had been smooth and along with great support from my parents and my in-laws, the year really swift by so quickly.

2009 marked our 10 wedding anniversary and being still happily married is considered a good sign for us and may we walk a long together for many more years.

2009 – Adrian finally got his long deserving promotion. On the other hand, this meant added responsibilities and travel frequency will definitely increase. Well, as the saying goes – 一份耕耘，一份收获。

2009 – a year that the family enjoyed quality bonding time through our travelled to Hong Kong & Sydney.

Yes, we really had gone through quite a fair bit in 2009 and now looking forward to 2010.

Knowing life is so precious and we should always Live each day to each fullest and not wait for regrets.

I am looking forward to a new role in 2010 if all goes well and may I take this special moment to wish families & friends – a BLESSED 2010 !!

圣诞快乐…

2009-12-25T13:18:00.005+08:00

It has been quite an eventful week for the family.

Yes, Adrian youngest cousin – xian had passed away on Saturday night after a few months of battle with her cancer. On Wednesday it was her funeral and we went to bide a final farewell to her and may she find peace in her new Home.

This week we did a 3 days 2 night chalet stay at Aranda country club. As this had been long booked before the holiday, we could not cancel the booking or else we would be penalized. Anyway, we stayed for a night and then went back to my mom’s place for the 冬至dinner on Tuesday night. I told Adrian since we were back in Ang Mo Kio; it would not make sense to go back to Pasir Ris to sleep for the night..haha. So we checked in on Monday and checked out on Tuesday.

The important thing for the stay was we had a good family dinner with my extended families on Monday evening and on Tuesday; the children had good fun at the wild wild wet theme park.

On Thursday when I opened the letter box for mails, I received a letter from People’s Association to inform us that Anthea has been awarded the Edusave Merit Bursary 2010.

I had received the form a few weeks back from our PM – Mr. Lee Hsien Loong stating that she had done well in her school exams and qualified for the award. So I thought I should just submit the form and see if she can get the award. She is now confirmed for the award.

She will be receiving the award on 3rd January 2010 and I am really happy for her. These monies will go into her education fund.

This week had gone by so quickly and today is Christmas Day and we will be having another families gathering at my youngest brother in law home in the evening.

May I take this chance to wish all families & friends – a Very Blessed & Merry Christmas!

40th JWOC Promotion Ceremony & Dining In

2009-12-18T18:29:00.012+08:00

17th December 2009 marked an important day in Adrian & our life. Yes, it the day that he officially graduated from his Warrant Officer course and promoted to his new rank.

For the last 10 weeks, he had gone through a lot of hardship and learning new skills and roles to his new appointment. I know he had set himself a very high target, even though he did not achieved what he hoped to, I told him he already did his best & we are all proud of his achievement.

The graduation ceremony was held at The Chevron. Adrian told me that we would need to leave the house by 2.30 – 3pm for the event.

So I arranged for my makeup artist – Lynnette to come over at 1pm to do the makeup session. Around 2.10pm we were done and I changed to my dinner gown.

We left our home around 3pm and arrived at the event venue at 3.30pm. Many of his course mates were already there and they were getting dressed up in the hall for the ceremony. I can feel their excitement as they dressed up and joked with one another.

Most of the spouses were also there and they were all beautifully dressed for the occasion too.

There were a few photos taking sessions happening and we went from Hibiscus room on 1st level to the Ballroom on the 3rd level for the photo shoot.

Then after that we went to the 2nd floor for light refreshment before the actual ceremony commenced.

The programme started at 5.30pm. Adrian had invited his CO – Major John to grace the event and he was to ursher Maj. John from the car park to the 1st floor room. I went with him to welcome his guest. There was a reception for all at the room while waiting for the Guest-of-Honour.

Then at 6.00pm, the GOH RADM Chew Men Leong, Chief of Navy arrived. After the reception, we went to the 3rd floor ballroom for the promotion ceremony.

The presentation of the ceremony was as followed:

• Entry of 40th JWOC Graduates
• Arrival of GOH at the ballroom
• Presentation of the Promotion Certificates
• Presentation of Book Prize Awards
• Address by GOH
• Valedictory speech by 40th JWOC course leader
• Donning of Warrant Officer Rank Insignia
• Singing of the “Warrant Officer Song”
• Reciting of the “Warrant Officer Creed”
• Presentation of Token of Appreciation

Yes, there were so many sequences to the ceremony and each sequence was a significance moment to both the graduates and their spouses/partner.

It was a very PROUD MOMENT in my life when I had the honor to don his new rank for him. In our 10 years of marriage, I had seen Adrian work hard in his job and I know he deserved this promotion.

When I heard the WO song, I was all smiled because Adrian had been playing the song at home and both Anthea & Anders had practiced singing the song too.

The office creed was another emotional moment for them and I know they would uphold the creed as long as they are in the force.

Token of appreciation was presented to spouses/partners & loved ones for their understanding, support and encouragement. Throughout the evening, I received words of Thanks from his CO and other officers for giving him all the support. Like what the GOH mentioned in his speech – we are the pillar of strength for all the graduates and I know I will always be there for him.

At 7pm, the ceremony ended and we went back to the 1st level Hibiscus room for the concoction ceremony and photo taking with the GOH.

Then at 7.40pm, we proceeded back to the Ballroom for our dining-in. It was a 5 course set dinner. Adrian ordered the chicken with red wine menu for me. Dinner was enjoyable and we had a great time chatting with his officers and friends.

After dessert was served, there was a loyal toast for the President of Singapore. Then the dinner came to an end when the GOH took his leave.

It was my 1st time attending a Military Dining In function and I would say the experienced was great and an eye opener for me. With so many Officers dinning in the same room, I would say – I really felt so honored.

THEY will defend Singapore with THEIR LIFE – as promised in their creed.

Bonus Staycation at Shangri La Hotel

2009-12-14T20:54:00.007+08:00

Thanks to my 3rd SIL – Cherry, the aces family had another wonderful weekends hotel stay at the Shangri La. Cherry is a Golden Circle member and the points that she accumulated earned her some complimentary stay at the Shangri La groups of hotels. We had the choice of Rasa Sentosa, Shangri La & Traders hotel. Since we had just stayed in Rasa Sentosa, our next choice is definitely Shangri La. We had stayed there once and we enjoyed the rooms and facilities very much.

On Saturday, Cherry went with us to the hotel and did the check in for us. She booked 2 connecting rooms for us. After that she went to meet with her friend for shopping spree.

After checked in, the very 1st request from anthea and Anders was “hit the pool”. I agreed with one of my ex-colleague – she said actually for our children, a hotel with good swimming pool is sufficient to entertain them, no need to travel oversea…haha.

Unfortunately for us, Shangri la hotel’s pool was under renovation. However they allowed guest to use the pool at the service apartment. Well, like I said, for my children – as long as I provide them with a swimming pool, they will be happy guests.

So we walked over to the service apartment for our swim. The children had as much fun as usual.

Then we went back to our room to change and took a quick rest. At the same time, my in-laws came over with my little niece and she had fun checking out the room facilities too.

In the evening we had dinner at Tanglin mall. As we walked back from the mall to the hotel, I took the opportunity to take some Christmas shoots for the children.

Then it was rest & relaxes in the hotel rooms.

In the morning, we had a sumptuous buffet breakfast at The Line. Complimentary breakfasts were included in the FREE room. I always enjoyed the spread at the Line. Their selections were so wide and we were spoiled for choices…hehe.

After breakfast, we rested a while in the room before heading to the pool AGAIN…yes, their favorite pastime. Then as we were going back to our room after the morning swim, the hotel staff informed us that their pool is OPEN and we were able to swim. Immediately we went to the pool and had a quick dip. That’s really satisfied the children’s needs.

Then we went back to the room to bath & changed. Adrian bought back Subway sandwiches for lunch. We simply dined in at the comfort of the room.

We checked out around 3pm as the hotel had accord late check out for the 2 rooms till 4pm.
Then it was home sweet home. This staycation holiday had proved that in SG, we still can enjoy ourselves to our heart content.

We are now looking forward to our chalet stay at Aranda Country club.

TOP Voter Prize

2009-12-07T15:39:00.004+08:00

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...

2009-12-04T16:09:00.001+08:00

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

2009-12-03T17:06:00.003+08:00

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

2009-11-29T21:11:00.000+08:00

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

2009-11-23T18:53:00.027+08:00

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

2009-11-18T20:03:00.009+08:00

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

2009-11-16T15:47:00.006+08:00

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.

JBG & A DREAM HOME

2009-11-11T15:00:00.005+08:00

On last Friday afternoon while having lunch, I got a call from my long time sister – Cindy and she mentioned that she was on ½ day leave and planned to bring her son – Angus to park for cycling. She asked if we would like to join her and we did. We had a good time cycling at Bishan Park and then we came back to our place to play badminton. Both Anthea and Angus had a fun time together.

On Saturday morning, Anthea told me that she wanted to invite Angus to Jacob Ballast Children Garden to play at the Treetop. So I called Cindy and told her of the plan and she was ok and we made a date for the evening.

Around 4.15pm, we met at novena square where Cindy picked us up to the garden. Adrian was having his test on Monday and did not join us for the outing. Anyway, he was also a bit under the weather so I told him to rest at home.

We reached the Jacob Ballast children garden around 4.40pm and Anthea played guide to Cindy, her hubby and Angus. This was Anthea 3rd visit to the garden and Anders 2nd visit. And it was Angus 1st visit …hehe.

Naturally, Anthea brought them around the fun places – suspension bridge, the log, the “fog” area and of course, the Treetop walk. The 3 of them had great fun at the slide and the climb. While they were busy playing, the adults were busy chatting and playing with our camera and sharing about photography.

After the Treetop, we went to the A-mazing race area and again they had Dave to “run” after them, trying to catch them.

Then our last stop was the playground area. They had fun with the sand and the different play stations.

We walked over to the water area to wash our legs…haha. Then we ended our tour of the garden.

The children were all sweaty and dirty from the sand and running around, we had them changed of clothing before proceeding to our dinner.

Cindy recommended Suki Sushi and this was our 1st time to this chain of Japanese restaurant. I was impressed with their menu and told Adrian we must go and try the outlet in Ang Mo Kio which was near my In-laws place…hehe.

After dinner, the children requested to go to Angus home to try a new toy – YoYo. Yes, Angus had about 7 or 8 of them and he wanted to show Anthea/Anders of his tricks.

So we went to her new home near Novena Square. I was totally in full admiration of her new home.

1st admiration – the property has a private life to each unit. This mean there is FULL Privacy. I know many properties are now built with such a lift but seeing it personally really make a different.

2nd admiration – her unit has a balcony and from the balcony we can see the main city view – flyer & a bit of IR. The night scene was just mesmerizing and the wind was blowing quite strongly on that evening. We had a great time sitting at the balcony and chatting while the children played WII games.

3rd admiration – her master bedroom bathroom has a Banyan Tree style bathtub and also a window view to the city. I can imagine how nice it would be to take a nice hot bath in the tub while the wind blew through your face/hair.

This is the kind of DREAM home for many people, especially me…hee. But I know it’s just a DREAM home, finally I will be back to my HDB Flat. : P

Nope I am not complaining because I know “同人不同命“。 Some people work hard and enjoy such luxury. I can only work hard to enjoy my family…haha.

假期计划和我的“新欢”

2009-11-07T11:08:00.001+08:00

Yes, in about 2 weeks time, the year end school holiday will begin and it will last for a month plus.

Being the family holiday planner, I had been thinking hard of where to go for our family holiday. After some thoughts, I finally decided that we are NOT going away for this December school holiday…hee.

Basically, Adrian is still doing his course and it will end only mid December and by then, it’s almost Christmas time. So I thought it would be too late to go for holiday and 冬至is around the same time, so we must still in Singapore for the reunion dinner..: )

Also at year end, it’s hard to decide which country to visit as most of the countries are in their winter season and it will be too cold for the children.

With these in mind, I am now starting to plan for some local VACATIONS…haha.

Yes, we are now booked for 1 Staycation Vacation at Rasa Sentosa Resort and 1 chalet stay at Aranda Country Club for November & December respectively.

In between the holidays, I have make plans for some local tours – Zoo, Duck Tour, Flyers etcs. As long as I can get off from work, I will bring the children around and enjoy Singapore…haha. We will make ourselves like tourist at home.

I believe the important part of the holiday is the family bonding time that we get when we enjoyed the time together, regardless where we are…: )

新欢

Ever since I started working in my new place, I had joined the morning express. In order to make the train ride from AMK to Raffles Place more enjoyable, I decided to borrow library books and read them along the way.

The other day I was at Bishan library borrowing the children usual reading stuff. At the browser return tray, I saw there was this one and only CHINESE Book and I took it and read a bit. I felt in love with the book immediately and borrowed it. Since then, my morning express is never the same again and I am thinking why the train rides to and back is so fast..hehe.

Yes, my new found love is the series of Chinese romance books – 寻梦圆。After my 1st book, I had followed up & borrowed another few more. There are a few writers in the series and most of the stories are like fairytales where the Prince & Princess finally live happily ever after. I think for me, the thrill is reading Chinese and the dialogue inside the books are so humorous which in real life – I can find none..: P

Now with this new Love discovery, I will be going back to the library for more and more..haha.

人生就是一场梦！！

FB “AGM”

2009-11-02T15:34:00.004+08:00

Nope, it’s not facebook I am talking about…it’s Friendship Bond. Chinese say: 朋友。

Yes, via blogging & babies forum, I had known a few good friends and the friendship bond had been ongoing amid our busy work / family routine.

These few 朋友 are Idy (IT Family), Stardust (All about Vincent) & Clement (Kinigu). Since our very 1st meet up in January 2008, we had been meeting like once a year; it’s also like an AGM…hehe. Since it’s an AGM, of course, there need to be a “Secretary” to take minutes, so I volunteered my service. : P

Since I started working Part time and looking afterAnthea after school needs, lunch meeting is not easy to arrange unless it’s during her school holiday.

Last Thursday when I received an SMS invite from Idy for a lunch meet on Friday, 30 Oct 2009. I told myself I must make an effort to meet them.

So last Friday, after fetching Anthea from school, we made our way to Novena Square for the lunch meet. When we arrived, we were a little late and part of the agenda had been spoken, so I can only partake what was balance on the agenda…: )

Idy – she is currently on a contract and hoping to go on a few months short break before she starts her new term. In her own words, she is facing mid life crisis. Indeed, I had this experience too when Anthea was about to start her primary education. I think it’s a norm for mommies like us who would like to take care of our children after school care needs personally.

There are many logistics issues and arrangement that needed to be settled in order to become a FTSAHM or PTSAHM. So I think all these concerns will make the decision a tough one. That's why she is on the cross-roads. : )

Anyway, I know Idy will find the right answer to her question when her son, Iden ,starts primary school in another 2 years time.

Stardust – she is expecting her No.2 in February 2010 and she is having a baby girl. She is a very pretty expectant mommy and we can see the glow in her face. She also shared with us her experienced on teaching Chinese to her son, Vincent. I know it’s not easy especially when we comes from an English speaking family but talking to them make me realized that I should start to change our language system in our family and introduced a new system.

She is also looking forward to become a PTSAHM when her son starts primary school..hehe.

Seem like more and more mommies are choosing this route.

Clement – he shared with us the progress of Jaimie and how she is becoming more & more ladylike with her new image.

I had never met Angie & Jaimie but by reading their blog, I could tell that this family is a hyper active family and they are always on the GO….there just isn’t a dull moment in their life…I am really envy of their energy level…hee.

The family will be making a short trip to Sunway lagoon for their vacation soon and I am looking forward to reading their wonderful experience.

As for my part, I shared my experienced as a Part time working mommy, it’s not easy rushing up & down but I am glad I am always here for Anthea. To oversee her smooth transition into primary one and also making sure the household needs are taken care of.

It was another very fruitful lunch meet and I am really thankful that each time we had different idea to share with one another.

Another important tip that we got from Clement – there is a $2 coupon saver for purchase of Ovaltine Crunchy drink and I heard the drink is very nice. Must go & find the coupon…hehe.

Last but not least – wishing Stardust all the best in her delivery and till we meet again in our next AGM !!

(ps: I had my camera but was so excited that I forgot to take photo…sigh : P )

Boot camp, anyone??

2009-10-29T20:33:00.003+08:00

Ever since I changed to working part time, I had gained back some of my previous lost weight…sigh. Must be the intake of all the sumptuous lunches with Anthea..hee.

And in this coming December I will be attending Adrian’s course graduation ceremony. I had finally bought my Gown and I must really lose some weight to look better in the gown.

Adrian had started his gym routine since his return from the last oversea trip. As the gym membership fees is too expensive for me to maintain. I decided to do my usual jogging routine at the track / park nearby. Well, so far I don’t really seem to be losing what I hope to lose…so I started looking around for some solutions.

Slimming Centers? Nope, this will be my last resort because it will surely cost a bomb for any treatments.

So I start looking around for some affordable gym or workout session. Finally I found this – Fitness Boot camp SG. I read through the website information and found that they had a training session at Bishan on every Sunday. So I wasted no time and registered myself for the trial lesson.

Coincidentally, this is also the same group of people that conducted the Boot Camp session for the Health Promotion Board program – HPB's Lose to Win Challenge. It is telecast on Channel 5 on every Wednesday.

Last Sunday was my 1st time to the session and I had a fun-tastic time. The trainer name was Matt and he was really easy going and fun too. There were another 2 ladies with me at the same session. One of them was also a 1st timer and the other one was a regular. What surprised me most was – both of the ladies were slim & fit and they are doing the Standard Chartered 10KM run on this coming Sunday. This leave me to wonder why do they need to attend the boot camp since they are already so fit…hee.

But after the session, I realized something important – it was the motivational push. When I exercised alone, I felt restless and just do my routine. But when I am doing group exercises, I felt more energetic and also with a personal trainer pushing you along the way, the effect was just amazing. After the 1 hour’s workout, I went home, feeling totally refreshed and my physical felt the fulfillment.

A day and 2 after the session, my whole body was aching but I told Adrian “痛到很爽!!”嘻嘻。

This Sunday I will be going for my 2nd session and hopefully by the end of the whole sessions, I hope I can hit my personal target – losing weight!!

欢乐一周

2009-10-24T10:33:00.005+08:00

This week school break had been a pretty fun and enjoyable one for Anthea and myself. As usually my mom was around to help me “babysit” Anthea for 2 days – Tuesday & Wednesday while I was at work.

As my eldest brother is also now taking a break from his work, he was available in the afternoon and we had arranged to meet for lunch after my work.

So on Wednesday, together with my parents and the children, I met them at commonwealth MRT and we headed to commonwealth crescent for lunch. Yes, after watching the TV reality show “抢摊大行动“, I had been telling myself that I must go and try the dessert stall- Bee Garden that celebrity chef Eric Teo had gave a “makeover”. Read more of the stall 遭遇from this famous food blog I Eat I shoot.

After a simple lunch, we had our dessert – we ordered the bubor cha cha and durian penyet. As we were already quite full, we didn’t try the mango pamelo and cheng tng, so this mean we will surely go back for more…haha.

Then my brother brought us to Labrador Park for a quick walk and the whole place looked new to me compared more than 10 years back when we were there for our fishing trip with my MJ Kakis. This walk brought back a lot of fond memories:)

On Thursday & Friday, I decided to take 2 days of no pay leave to be home with Anthea. In the morning, we would go to the library and spend about 2 hours for her SA revisions. We would then go for lunch at the nearby food court. She would take her usual afternoon naps after lunch and then in the evening, we would play badminton.

It was a good decision to be home to do the revisions with her, otherwise, I know she may overplay and when Monday comes, she will suffer from it.

Last evening, we went to Rider’s café at fairway place for our dinner. It was another wonderful discovery and again, recommended by my 大哥…haha. When it comes to food, he has many lobangs. We enjoyed a very sumptuous and relaxing dinner at the café and we would be back for more, as usual.

This week has passed by so swiftly and in another 1 more day, we will be back to our normal routine and it’s the final countdown to Anthea’s SA : )