40th JWOC Promotion Ceremony & Dining In

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.

Montage 2009 & an Officer Sneak Preview

Last Wednesday, Anthea came home with some presents from her teachers in celebration of the children day.

Then she showed me a book titled “Montage 2009” and turned to a particular page that showed her name and an article she wrote.

I was very surprised and happy to see that her written work has been accepted by her teacher and printed on a book and given to every child in the school.

Prior to this, she only mentioned to me her artwork was chosen by her form teacher for some display purposes, little did I expect that her written composition cum artwork was printed into the book.

I am really proud of her little achievement and told her that she should continue her good effort in writing her composition.

Yes, her form teacher had mentioned to me during the PTC that Anthea is creative in her composition. The area that I should monitor her is her grammar…hee. I am not good in English grammar too, so I shall make an effort to try to learn with her and improve with her in this area. : )

Adrian’s officer course graduation will be in December and he already had his suit tailored for the formal dinner. The other day at the course, his officer wanted all the men & women to bring in their suit for inspection. So he did a try on and I quickly took a sneak shoot of him wearing the suit.

怎么样？ 帅吗？嘻嘻 ：Ｐ

Now I must get myself something decent and formal for the dinner, heard from his buddy’s wife that it’s going to be a very “boring dinner”. Think I should bring along one of the children DS to kill the boredom…haha.

爸爸。。一路顺风 and My New “SM”

Finally Adrian left for his one month oversea work detachment today.

As his flight departing around 2pm and he would need to be at the airport around 11.30am for his check in. we decided that we will not go to the airport for his departure flight.

Not that we do not want to go but today being a working day and studying day, it is hard to arrange and also would not be good for Anthea to miss her lessons.

This morning Adrian bid Anthea good bye and said he will see her in a month time. He will be home during her 1 week school holiday.

Then I left for work and we said the same Good Bye and see you soon.

By now we are quite used to this yearly event and our routine still goes on as normal.

Wishing daddy a safe journey and a smooth working trip.

My New Sandwich Maker

Yes, this thing has been on my mind for the longest time. The reason why I had not bought it is because I had a toaster at home and it works almost the same. I thought.

Recently, Anthea has been asking me to prepare snack box for her recess as she said she was getting a bit sick of buying the canteen food. So I thought to myself – it’s time to get a sandwich maker. Anthea love sandwiches, especially Ham & Cheese.

So with this in mind, I contacted my ex-colleague to check if there is any special sale for a sandwich maker. She told me no and advised to wait till National Day, they may have a ND Sale.

Then on Tuesday, I received her email about some NTUC Card promotion and the discount was going at 30%. So immediately, I got her help and bought a sandwich maker. As Adrian was on leave for these few days, he collected the sandwich maker yesterday.

This morning, I had my 1st trial at doing a sandwich toast and they turned out very good. I made a few sets of sandwiches. We had ham & cheese, egg mayo and tune sandwiches. I packed a set for Anthea to bring for her snack.

With this new sandwich maker, I can try different sandwich recipes. : )

Happy Birthday to Daddy!!

Today is Adrian’s 37th birthday. We had a simple birthday celebration for him on last Saturday.

We had dinner at Bottle Tree Park @ Yishun as Adrian had craving for its 炸猪手 (Chinese style Pork Knuckle). We arrived at the place around 7pm and the place was crowded with families. Compared to our few previous visits on weekdays, it was a vast difference. We booked a table of 10 for the air-conditioning dinning area.

Dinner was great and as usual, we brought our bottle of Red Wine for the occasion. My 2nd BIL’s family bought a Durian cake (猫山王榴莲蛋糕) from Pine Garden for him.

After dinner, we decided to adjourn to my youngest BIL’s home for the cake cutting ceremony and enjoy the cake in comfort.

I had originally plan to buy Adrian a birthday present but was too busy and occupied with so many things that I overlook on ordering his present…hee. Anyway, I had paid for his new mini laptop and will take that as his present, unless he decided to pay me back the monies… : P

Wishing daddy A Very Happy 37th Birthday and May his wish be fulfilled.

REUNITED!!

This morning I woke up at 5.15am and starter brewing the coffee. Yes, it’s THE DAY that Adrian will be home. I did a quick check on the tele text and his flight SQ 25 was confirmed to arrive at 6.32am at Terminal 3.

After the check, I started to change and get ready to go to the airport. Anders woke up after I changed…oops… I wasn’t planning to bring the children to the airport. So I tried to put him back to sleep.

My 2nd BIL had initially wanted to pick Adrian from the airport but due his injury, he is restrained from moving around. I am very grateful for his offer to go to the airport so early.

At 6am, my mom came as planned. I had asked my mom to come at 6am to standby for the children, so I can make my way to the airport. I didn’t mention to Adrian about my trip to the airport as I wanted to give him a SURPRISE!!

I reached Terminal 3 around 6.33am and when I checked the arrival information, I saw that his flight has landed at 6.35am.

I called his mobile around 7am and we had a quick chat. When I told him “see you at the arrival hall.” He sounded surprise and asked “you mean you are at the airport.” I told him YES…haha.

I know Adrian is a very FAMILY man and he would love to see the families. Finally, when he met and hugged, he 1st question was: “where’s the rascals (referring to Anthea and Anders)”. I told him that they are home with 阿婆。

Then we made our way back to home sweet home. On the way home, we saw my FIL’s car and Adrian waved to him. Adrian also called my MIL to let her know he has arrived home safely.

When he reached home, he gave BIG HUGS to Anthea and Anders…haha. Both the children were so happy to see that Daddy’s home.

This will be Adrian’s final trip for 2008. There are more of such trips coming up in the years. With this year as a stepping stone, we know what to expect for the future trips. Meanwhile, we will enjoy daddy company while he is home based.

我很丑,可是我很温柔。。。

Last Saturday evening, we had the chance to video- conference with Adrian. Noticing, he is more relaxed now. The interview had happened on 4 December 2008 – our wedding anniversary date. The feedback he received from his officer was “faired better than average. The only thing that can stop them from going to the course if their cohort back home did better than them.”

I am glad that the interview went well and Adrian had got good comments for his effort. During the conversation, he showed me a photograph of himself. He said his direct supervisor had prepared a CV for both himself and his colleague. The photograph was taken 2 hours before the interview.

The interviewers were quite impressed with the CV and I told Adrian that he looks quite good in the photo.

Both his colleague and himself even bought a new Polo Tee shirt especially for the interviews. As his superior said: “must dress well to show respect for the interviewers” which I totally agreed.

Now I will let the photo do the talking....

Oversea NEWS!!

Last evening, I had to chance to msn with Adrian and he was telling me on his current status.

It seems like he had “lost” a chef but gained 1 Master Chef & 1 sou chef for this trip. The best thing is both are staying in connecting room to his room.

They had curry chicken for lunch and dinner yesterday and he sounded very pleased with himself because he helped to PEEL POTATOES and plucked CHICKEN HAIR...haha.

Good thing that Adrian brought the induction cooker as his roommate had agreed to bring along a rice cooker. So their room seems to be the “official Kitchen” now. Adrian also mentioned of the number of premix the guys had bought is plenty. Top of the range is – Bak Ku Teh and they are planning to eat Bak Ku Teh on this weekends.

Then Adrian managed to borrow his roommate's laptop and we connected via MSN video chat. The laptop is very good because this time, we can hear him clearly and also SEE him clearly. Both Anthea and Anders were very happy. Adrian did a brief orientation of his hotel room. It's really very small. : P

It was the very 1st time we managed to chat and see daddy online and I must say, he is really lucky this time round to share room with JJ and the 2 chefs.

Today I received a sms from Siti, my domestic helper. Even though she is back in Indonesia, we still keep in touch via sms. She said she misses her sayang – Anders. Such a coincidence, the other day at lunch, Adrian and my mom was just talking about her and now I get her sms.

I asked about her well-being and guess what .... She is pregnant and should be due next month (If I decipher her sms correctly...hee : ) regardless, I am very happy to hear from her and know that she is doing fine. She is always like a family member to me and I remembered how she takes such good care of the our family.

Hope she will have a smooth delivery and happy motherhood. I know she will be a very good mother, just like she is one to Anders.

飞吧，爸爸！！

2 weeks of “home vacation” had passed by so quickly, today is the day for Adrian to fly back to his 2nd home for his work detachment.

His 2nd trip is longer than the 1st; dates are scheduled from 19 Oct to 30 December 2008. If there is no extension to the dates, he will be home in time to countdown to 2009 and see Anthea starts her Primary 1.

This morning when we were changing to go to the airport, Anders decided that he did not want to go to the airport. Adrian mentioned that he does not want to force Anders to go to the airport, so I was tasked to be home with him. Anthea went along to the airport with her daddy.

My MIL and 2nd Bil family met with Adrian and Anthea at the airport.

Adrian smsed me that his luggage of 27.8kg was cleared, phew..not need to pay extra. A few of his colleagues were not so lucky... : P

The last 2 weeks at home had been fruitful for Adrian, especially learning ONE important survivor skill – COOKING. Now he is quite well equipped with the necessities to cook simple dish.

Today is the beginning of our Trio life (Part 2). I know it's not going to be easy but like Part 1, I will do my best and keep the momentum going on, especially for Anthea and Anders.

三人行下集 从今天又开始了。路好长不过还是要继续走下去。。。大家都要加油！！

“Trainee Cook”

Adrian is now very keen to learn some simple recipes for his next working trip.

For the recent trip, he was quite lucky to stay with the Master Chef in the same hotel. The “CHEF” will usually cook some local dishes for the group who stayed there. Everyone will contribute their share for buying the ingredients.

Good things don’t last, for his return trip – the CHEF is staying in a different hotel. So now Adrian is trying to find some ways to be able to cook on his own.

So today we went to source for some cooking utensil – he needed an induction cooker. We went to NTUC XTra to look at the range of different induction cookers. Then we went to the hardware shop to look around for the pots and at the shop, the sale person gave us a better insight of what kind of cooking pot to get. We learnt a lot about induction cooker and pots today.

Then we went to NTUC Xtra to buy those premix seasoning and some ingredient as Adrian want to try cooking.

For a person who had NEVER Cook rice or any dishes before, this is quite a HISTORICAL moment. I let him take over my kitchen for ½ hour.

He started cooking his 1st Hainan Chicken rice. The end result was quite positive.
Both Anthea and Anders ate Daddy's chicken rice while both of us eat the tingkat dinner.

Both of them were full of praises for Daddy's cooking and it really gave daddy the confidence votes that he needed.

Now that he can cook this recipe and he will be trying other recipes taught by my SIL, Eve, within these 2 weeks and hopefully when he is back in Country X, he can cook a simple meal for himself.

13

“Mommy, it's exactly 13 more days and daddy will be home.” Anthea told me while we were walking to childcare. She has been trained at counting down days, especially when we are going on family vacations.

Indeed, we are living in very high morale counting down to Daddy's homecoming. Although it will only be 2 weeks that he will be in Singapore, I know we are going to make full use of the time that we will have with him.

As for Adrian, work is hectic over his end – working like 16 hours a day but I guess when you are counting down to coming home, these long hours will be insignificant to the mind...haha.

Recently on Singapore Motherhood forum, there was a Bulk purchase on some kitchens stuff. I saw 2 frying pans and thought that they will be useful in preparing some nice breakfast for the children.

Nowadays, for weekend's breakfast, both Anthea and Anders will ask for heart-shaped bread or elephant/pig bread. Then they will enjoy the “animals’ breads. So to add some more varieties to our shapes bread, I ordered a Heart-shape and Hello Kitty frying pans. However, instead of getting a heart shaped pan, I got a Star frying pan, well; I guess it should be fine with the children… : P

The 2 pans cost me $13.80. I am now considering another bulk purchase where there are some many Bentoing stuff...temptation is so great..haha.

My collection of the pans was at Yishun MRT this evening, so after collecting the pans, we took a walk in Northpoint. There was a John Little sale on Pillow/Bolster and I can't resist and ended buying 1 bolster for Adrian. His own bolster is already very OLD, so it's good chance to throw it away.

This weekend, I will wash daddy's mattress cover and prepared for his bed for him. Last Saturday, his blanket had been washed. Adrian always said “nothing beat his own bed/mattress at home.”

20082008

YEARS COME AND GO.......
BUT TODAY IS A SPECIAL DAY. . . .
20082008
DOUBLE MATCH........
IT HAPPENS ONLY ONCE IN A LIFETIME,
SO I WISH YOU
GOOD LUCK, GOOD HEALTH,
HAPPINESS AND PEACEFULNESS.
HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!!

on such a special day, i bought this ....

When i showed it to Anthea, she said "mommy, it's too big for my bag."

I said "ok, never mind, mommy can use or next time daddy can use it when mommy prepared lunch box.."...haha. : P

Updates on Daddy - Adrian has been keeping in touch with me via email daily and he will call and talk to the children on weekends when he's not working. Because of time difference and long working hours, it's tough for phone calls during the weekdays.

He had completed his 1st course and is now waiting for the 2nd course to start next week. The 2nd batch of his colleagues will be leaving this Friday to join them and his pair of Addidas shoes will be hand delivered by a very trustworthy mate - WH.

The hotel area that he is staying is similar to our Orchard Road, so getting food and daily needs are not a big issue. His hotel is by the beach and he will do his regular jogs.

It is defintely not easy for him to be working so far away from home and feeling so much for the family here. We know that this experienced that he's getting and what he is learning in the courses will be a very valuable asset to his career.

"Dear, like i say, you are building a better nest for the family to rest on, in future. Don't worry for what's happening now, in life, changes are inevitable and so far, i know it's for the better.

Have a wonderful 2008-2008 !!

Bon Voyage to Daddy !!

Today is D day for Adrian to go for his 2 months oversea working trip. He has departed on SQ 326 from SIN-Frankfurt and connects LH from FRA-TLV. At this time, he should still be onboard SQ flight.


In the morning after a good breakfast, we changed and got ready to go to the airport.
This is his 1st time travelling on Singapore Airlines for his working trip. He was very happy about it because he always drooled when he heard our extended families members always travel SQ for business trips... : )

The scheduled departure time was 1345hrs and we were at the airport Terminal 3 around 11am for him to do his check in. He was glad that he did not need to pay extra monies for his slightly excess baggage.

We walked around the Basement of Terminal 3 as this is our 1st time visiting the place. There was a very big food court and quite a few shops around the area. We had a simple lunch at the food court with the extended families joining us.


Adrian felt very appreciative towards his Parents, Brothers and Sisters-in-laws. Well, it has been a family tradition that whenever anyone in the family travels, we will make it a point to be at the airport either to say: Good Byes or Hellos, if time permits. This is how strong the family tie is. He enjoys their companionship and I know he will miss all of them for the next 2 months.

Saying good bye was not easy and I was very worried both Anthea and Anders may cry but luckily, they didn't cry at the point when Adrian went in. When we went to the toilet, both of them started crying...OMG, it was heartbreaking but I knew I must not tear in front of them or else it may worsen their feelings. So I told myself to be STRONG and the tears were all hold back. I try to settle both of them and thankfully, my MIL and SIL were with us at that moment and they managed to help to console both of them. A BIG Thanks mom and Eve and not forgetting Baby Faith for hugging Anders..It was so sweet.


Now I am home alone with Anthea and Anders, I do Misses Adrian ...but for the sake for his career advancement, I know we can go through these 2 months giving each other our Strongest Support.

Wishing Daddy a smooth working trip and a good 2 months stay!!

亲爱的：“一路顺风“

EXCITEMENTS!!

The Saturday Straits Times article "Condo-like flats for less than $700,00" got the families all excited. Adrian read the article and called my Parents in law to share with them the news. My Father-in-law is now working in the Property Industry as his retirement career. He started analyzing all the pros and cons of the units, judging by the picture on the article and ahem…we had “shortlisted” which block we would like to apply for. Knowing that we cannot afford a real condo lifestyle, I guess this is the closest we can get to…haha. My PILs and youngest BIL also planned to apply for a unit, looks like competition is going to be tough.

Eventually, it'll still depend on LADY LUCK at the balloting time.

Adrian is scheduled to depart for his oversea attachment on 2nd August and his return date is tentatively 04 October. The excitement at home is building up; he had started packing his luggage. Looking at him packed, I realized that our current Samsonite luggage bag is a bit small for his stuff. So I told him that it’s time to consider buying a new one. I told him that Samsonite had some kind of promotion, so if we are in town, we can check it out.

My MIL had to attend a wedding dinner at Marina Mandarin hotel, so it was actually to our advantage. We tagged along with my PIL and had dinner with my FIL at Swenson in Marina Square. During dinner, we had a very good discussion on our new potential home with my FIl and he was very encouraging toward us getting a unit. It has been 10 years that we had stayed in our current home and it would be good to make a change for the better.

For dessert we had a 1 for 1 Sundae coupon, so we ordered a Banana Split and Frosty Malt… : ) . We even managed to catch a glimpse of the “Black Knights” flying passed the hotel as there was the NDP rehearsal.

After a sumptuous dinner, we took a stroll to Suntec City – to the Samsonite shop. When we reached there, I had a sweet surprised – I met a long time friend – Lillian. She was actually a friend cum mentor to me during my Part time working days as a baggage promoter. I was so happy to see her after all these years. We bought our 1st samsonite bag through her almost 10 years ago. Now we bought our 2nd samsonite luggage with her again…this is 缘分。She even gave us 2 pencil cases for the children.

Now with the new luggage bag, Adrian managed to pack all his stuff inside and there are still rooms left. I am glad that we made this purchase.

We returned to Marina Mandarin hotel to wait for my MIL and since we still had time, we had a drink at the hotel lobby lounge. It was very relaxing and the children enjoyed their juices. We reached home almost near 12 midnite...what a day of excitements.

Happy Birthday My Love !

Today is Adrian's 36th birthday !!

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

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

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

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

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

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

IPPT - GOLD!

This blog is for my Dear Hubby.

On Tuesday, 06 May 2008, Adrian was due for his IPPT. All these while, he had been training for it in his gym session.

On the morning, I received a sms from him, “after gym training, IPPT seem to be for kids. I got GOLD. “

I was very happy to receive this message from him; his hard work and effort are all well rewarded.

At dinner time, he told me he scored full points for all his stations and for his 2.4KM run, he clocked 9.56 sec.

However, after his run, he vomited…oops…the medic brought him to the medical centre to rest. After drinking and resting for a while, he recovered.

He said for one of the station – Chin up. To get full point, he needed to pull 7 times, he did 10 times. The officer in charge asked him: “why you pull so many?”...hee.

Before the test, I told him before: “厉害就好，不要假厉害.”...ha-ha.

Anyway, he was very happy and proud of his achievement, after 14 years, this is his 1st IPPT GOLD.

Happy Birthday to Papa....

Today is Adrian birthday. As he is busy with the NDP rehearsal, so we didn't plan for anything today. Celebration will be tomorrow evening with the extended family.



So this morning, when i was at the market buying breakfast, i bought a small piece of cake for him to blow. The chinese always belief that a person must not celebrates his/her birthday late, otherwise...not sure what will happen...: P



So at home, Anthea and Anders sang the birthday song for daddy and Adrian made his birthday wish. After that we had a good breakfast with the cake.

"Dear, Wishing you a very Happy Birthday and many Happy, Happy moments..."