TT & CC Beautiful Wedding

We woke up to a nice & cool Saturday morning, got ourselves ready to go over to my In-laws house. The wedding couples were scheduled to arrive at 9.30 – 9.45 am.

We reached my In-laws place around 9 am and helps out around. One by one the relatives started to arrive. The buffet caterer was very prompt and the set up was ready by the time we arrived.

At 9.30 am, the main coordinator arrived and told us that the Groom and Bride had arrived and we were all supposed to “hide” away. This is a tradition that has been practiced. This is to avoid “clashes” with the Bride/Groom. The couples went straight in to their matrimonial room, once they are inside, all of us started coming out of our “hiding places”.

Anthea was tasked to serve the wedding couples a bowl of 汤圆 each. I believe this is to symbolize their marriage as “圆满”. Then after that the tea ceremony started. Traditionally, it used to be served in ranking orders. But nowadays, things are simplified to 1st come 1st served...hee : P

So after my in-laws drank their “媳妇茶”, then followed by the seniors ranking relatives, then it was our turn. TT & CC had to address us as “阿伯/伯母”; I believe this is to follow how their children will address us the next time. So I got promoted once again.

After the tea ceremony, it was time for the children to jump/roll on the matrimonial bed – symbolize “早生贵子”. One of our aunties even guided us to let Anders jump 1st before the 2 girls – Anthea and Faith joined in.

Then Cherry changed to her tea dress and the couples return to Bride’s home for their tea ceremony.

We had a quick lunch and went back home to let the children had their power nap around 1 pm.

Around 3pm, I brought Anthea to my usual Make-up artist to do our make-up and hair. Initially I had planned to ask my SIL aka Eve to do Anthea’s make-up, since we were at the salon to do her hair, I thought might as well do her make-up. Glad that I made this decision because at the hotel, Anthea needed to do the walk in rehearsal with the Live Band singing. So time was quite tight for her. Also I had to go & pack MacDonald Happy meals for the children to have some light bites before the dinner.

The moment of truth started around 8.15 pm when the Emcee announced the grand entrance of the Bride and her father. Anthea was the Flower Girl and when the ballroom door opened, the light was focused on the main door and she was standing there with the flower petals. Then she started walking in to the tune of “Butterfly Kisses” sang by the Band. Then Cherry and her dad walk in. It was a Lovely and Beautiful moment for the Bride, her dad and Groom.

I am also very proud of my little princess as she did her task very well, much to the satisfaction of the wedding couples. (she got BIG ang pows from Uncle Terence & Aunty Cherry for job well done. My MIL also rewarded her with an ang pow.)

The wedding walk in song is very touching and lyrics are very meaningful:

She'll change her name today.

She'll make a promise and I'll give her away.

Standing in the bride-room just staring at her.

She asked me what I'm thinking and I said "I'm notsure-I just feel like

I'm losing my baby girl."

She leaned over...gave me butterfly kisses with her mama there,

Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair

"Walk my down the aisle, Daddy-it's just about time."

"Does my wedding gown look pretty, Daddy? Daddy, don't cry!"
Oh, with all that I've done wrong I must havedone something right.

To deserve your love every morning and butterflykisses-

I couldn't ask God for more, man this is what love is.
I know I gotta let her go, but I'll always rememberevery hug in the morning and butterfly kisses. “

The solemnization began and it took about 15 minutes and the JP pronounced them as husband and wife. The ceremony ended with the JP wishing everyone good health.

Dinner commenced and we were all treated to a 9 course sumptuous food. During the dinner, Adrian had the chance to catch up with all the relatives. Food was good and service was excellent too. We had an enjoyable evening, also viewing the few montages that Terence and Cherry had specially prepared - thanking the parents and the family.

The whole event has been very well coordinated and I think Terence and Cherry has put in great effort to make this their very SPECIAL DAY. I know they will remember it for a long, long time.

Aces family wishes them a very Blissful Marriage and welcome Cherry to the Tan Family.

Dearest Terence & Cherry,

祝:你们百年好和， 永浴爱河！！

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.

< Final Leg> Rehearsal for the Wedding Day

4 more days to go and it will be my youngest brother in law – Terence and his wife to be – Cherry Wedding Day.

We are all very excited as we are into the final leg of the week. Yesterday, Terence and Cherry arranged with the hotel to have a march in rehearsal for the actual day.

Terence had requested for Anthea to be there for the rehearsal which I agreed to. Being a “花妈” for the 1st time, I am also excited and want to ensure that Anthea can accomplish her task. So I took ½ day off to meet them at the hotel to preview the rehearsal.

My Mil is on leave and Adrian also claimed his off day for logistic support. In the afternoon, they went to the hotel to have buffet lunch as my MIL has lunch vouchers. After work, I met them at Plaza Singapore as Terence and Cherry needed to get the stuff for the flower basket. We went Spotlight and Daiso to shop for the DIY stuff. Luckily, we can find all the material required.

We went back to the hotel at 3pm to meet with the Banquet Manager. She brought us to the Ballroom and gave us an introduction to the layout. Then after that, the rehearsal for the march in started. Cherry’s father was there too as Cherry wanted her dad to walk her down the aisle before handling her off to Terence.

As a flower girl, Anthea responsibility was to walk in before the bride and her dad. She will also scatter rose’s petals as she walk down the aisle. So during the rehearsal, we need to pace Anthea steps so that she is within the timing of the music. After rehearsing for a few times, she managed to grasp the steps and petals throwing and it went quite well. Both Terence and Cherry were satisfied with her performance..Phew!! What a relief it was to me.

My 2nd BIL and his wife – Louis & Eve also came by to the hotel to give their moral support. Like I say, it is a BIG Family affair… :)

In the evening, we met up for dinner with the extended families for Clay pot rice, a treat from Terence for our effort. After dinner, we went back to my PIL’s house. Adrian has been tasked a reception for the relatives and he called himself the “Specialist”. He did an “audit check” with my PIL on the relatives’ guests list as he wanted to match faces to names. As he went through the list, he discovered a few missing “usual wedding dinner relatives” and highlighted to my PIL. Then after some scrabbling, then it was confirmed that the relatives were invited for the wedding but missing from the guests list. So immediately, our Specialist went through the whole list and did all the sorting accordingly. One of the 2 reserve tables is now being utilized.

Luckily, the Specialist did his check, otherwise, if we discovered on the day itself, it will be quite embarrassing and also caused chaos to the arrangement.

It has been a tiring but very fruitful day for us and most important the agenda has been finalized and we are all set & ready for the day.

Finally..Playhouse Disney!!

Eversince we travelled on Qantas and the children had the chance to watch Playhouse Disney channel, Anthea had been asking why we can't watch it at home. So adrian and myself has been explaining to her of the Starhub kids group only include Disney Channel (ch33), Nickelodeon (ch32) and Cartoon networks (ch35). For Playhouse Disney (ch34) we need to pay extra.

On Saturday morning, to our sweetest surprised, when Anthea turned on ch 34, there it was - Playhouse Disney. I read from the screen that Starhub had included Playhouse Disney to the Kids Basic Groups. So this mean from now onwards, Anthea and Anders had an additional channel to enjoy and like all Disney Princess stories - DREAMS DO COME TRUE.

As the weather had been very hot this week, i have been brewing barley water dilligently for the children to drink. Hopefully, this will helps to cool down their body heat and we also reduced our outdoors actitvities to minumum. My little niece had succumbed to the heat and was having fever for the last few days. Hopefully she will recover well this coming week and enjoy the weekend stay at the hotel... : )

Today, my eldest brother invited us to join him and my mom for lunch. We went to Raffles City and had lunch at Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar. It had the same concept as Marche and it serves all kind of Japanese food - Sashimi, Teppanyaki, Udon/Soba, Japanese Pizza, Omu rices & soups. There were so many varieties and i told da-ge that must come back and try the others..hee : P

After lunch, we shopped around Robinson, Anthea and Anders had a good time at the toys section. Now there is a new donut outlet at the mall and i bought some to try - J.Co Donut & coffee.

We went home for the children afternoon nap before meeting the extended families for dinner at Jade Palace Seafood restaurant @ Forumn Galleria. Terence joined us for dinner and gave us an update on his wedding day itinerary. Looks like we are all set for a fun filled and Auspicious day.

Tomorrow is the rehearsal for the wedding night marched in. I took 1/2 day off to be there as Anthea will be there with my MIL.

May Day Fun

In the morning, Adrian decided to bring the children to the watch a movie – Ironman. So while they were at the movie, I did my own errands.

I decided to get my hair rebounded on May Day because it is a Public Holiday and also from previous experiences, I know that I need to “rest” my hair for 2 days before washing it. So this means I am still ok to do my weekends jogging routines. Also the wedding is just a week more to go, so doing my hair this week is just in time, chinese say: "有头有脸 见人"..haha : P

As my regular hair saloon is closed for the Public Holiday, I had to source for other saloon that are open. After doing some research, I found this saloon in Ang Mo Kio Central that is open and does rebonding + cut + treatment at a good price.

I was quite amazed at the number of hairstylists that they had – almost 15 of them. I must say they are very systematic and every walk in customers was entertained. The teamwork effort was so well displayed in this outlet. At one time, you can have 3 hairstylists blow drying your hair. This actually helps speed up the process. I noticed each time when a hairstylist is done with his client; he/she will be looking around to give the others a helping hand. From their tone, I believe most of them are Malaysian.

I had my hair rebounded and colored within 4 hours which was quite good. When I did rebonding at my regular saloon, it already took 3 hours plus.

I was happy with the end result and best part is the hairstylist did not push any of their products to me. She just recommended. I think I won’t mind going back again for my next hair treatment.

When I reached home, Adrian and the children were having their afternoon naps. I had a light tea break and did some ironing.

After that, Adrian went for his gym session while I had a quick rest. In the evening, we had dinner at the YES restaurant at AMK hub. This is our 1st time trying this restaurant food and I told Adrian that the food was good. Both Anthea and Anders love their house special – baked potatoes. After dinner, we had Macdonald’s ice cream and took a walk at the Pasar Malam that was along Ave 3.

This has been a relaxing Labour Day for me.

过大礼 – 三部曲

Saturday, 26 April

第一部: 彩礼篮

On Saturday morning, I received a call from my Mother-in-law to inform me that she could not seem to find the 3 tier basket for the dowry session on Sunday. I told her maybe she can search for it in her house storeroom. Meanwhile, my immediate reaction was to call the shop to check for details.

During the week, I had been doing some research on the web to check on shops that provide such services. Quite luckily, there was this shop – Gin Thye 锦泰饼家, which specialized in such occasion. They provide the use of the basket for FREE as long as you ordered the cakes and whatever items from the shop, no minimum spending required.

MIL called me to confirm that the basket is not in her house. So together with my PIL and the 2 A’s, we went to the shop. Luckily the owner was quite accommodating to our request and we bought some items from the shop. We got the BASKET… mission accomplished. The shop owner ever provided us information on the arrangement of the auspicious items into the basket. It was an eye-opening session for me as I learnt more about tradition.

After buying all the stuff, we headed to MacDonald to packed 2 child meals for Anthea and Anders. We headed toward Sembawang Hill estate hawker centre for lunch. We had a nice fish soup and pastas for lunch. After lunch we went home to rest. Dinner was at Zhou’s kitchen @ Novena Square 2 as we had a 20% discount for UOB card. During dinner, there was discussion on the dowry ceremony and also the upcoming wedding dinner, 2 more weeks exactly.

Sunday, 27 April

第二部：送嫁妆

The auspicious hours for the ceremony are between 2 – 5 pm. At around 1.40pm, Adrian made his way to my PIL house to meet with Terence and my 2nd BIL, Louis. The 3 Tan Brothers were missioned to carry the stuff over and present to Cherry’s parents. Heard from Adrian that the exchange went smoothly. Then they brought the stuff back to my PIL house after Cherry’s parents had done the changes:

- exchange 12 oranges for 12 oranges
- presented the “四点金”
- presented the “聘金”
- presented 4 boxes of cakes and cherry’s parent returned 2 boxes
- presented 2 bottles of Red wines and cherry’s parents returned 2 bottles Ribena
- presented the tradition Teochew pastries and cherry’s parents returned ½ of the pastries

第三部: 结婚仪式及欢庆活动

Popiah Gathering and wedding day briefing. Cherry’s parents organized a popiah party for the 2 sides of families to get together also a get –to- know you session. Cherry has 3 younger siblings – 2 brothers and a sister. One of her brother is married. We had nice home made popiahs and there was even Hainan coffee. Her parents just went for a holiday in Hainan island and bought back the Hainan coffee. The coffee was very nicely brewed.. : )

Terence did a briefing on the agenda of the wedding day event. It will be a busy day for the Aces family as each and every one of us has been assigned a duty: P

Adrian –Reception for relatives and guard of “wedding ang pows”

Anthea – Flower girl (rehearsal session on 5 may and need to report early on actual day for final rehearsal)

Anders – Opening of car door when Terence and Cherry arrives at PIL’s house for tea ceremony
Astee – provide logistics support of flower girl and boy in attendance

Really looking forward now to 10th May 2008 !!

伤心的理由

刚从修车厂把车拿回来。。。心好痛。损失惨重 – 总共还了$1681. (可以买一个名牌 LV Bag !!)。

伤心 1 ： 无缘无故损失钱， 都怪自己的不小心。

伤心 2 ：修车一事，我都没有被问过意见。

伤心3 ：凡事我都不要再参与了，每次问什麽,答案都一样,决定了！！

伤心 4：就是伤心。。。唉 ！！

什麽都提不起劲了。。。难过。 其实我已经被“警告“过了- 不要再提此事。不管它了，张学友都能唱 “一千个伤心的理由”我才立了四个，算不错了。

Choke

Anders had this tendency to get choke quite easily…sigh.

The previous Saturday, he requested for a sweet and I gave him permission to have one. It is one of those hard sweet. I told him that he should not bit the sweet and just allow it to melt slowly in his mouth. He listened to my instruction and did not bit it. Then I told him to take a bath as we were going out for dinner.

As he walked to the bathroom, something happened. He swallowed the sweet and I think it got stuck in his throat. I was with him in the bathroom. His face turned very red and had some problems with his breathing. I did an abdominal thrust (Heimlich maneuver) repeatedly,

hoping to clear his blockage. At the same time, I gave him some water; he tried to drink a little at the time. He started crying and it was a sign to indicate the object may have clear from his throat. It was a relief and what a fright I had.

Anders seem to get choke quite easily, I think sometimes, he wants to do too many things at one time. Usually for dinner, I will make sure all the vegetables and meat are cut into small bites before mixing with the rice. Also, I will tell him not to talk when eating his meals and most important to bit his food before swallowing.

I do hope that as he grows, this problem will go away. But meanwhile, I have to be very watchful over his mouthful of food intake... : P

Life interlude:

Last evening, we were watching the 9pm Chinese drama “迷图“。The male actor (志伟)
gave a bouquet of flower to the female actress（淑贤）.

淑贤 : 今天不是情人节，为什么送花给我？

志伟 : 这是我第一次送花给女孩。

Anthea: mommy what is 情人节?

Anders: 情人节 is Valentine ….

Me: yes, Anders, you are right. Who taught you this?

Anders was all smiled.

I was totally caught off guard and surprised that he knew of this. Probably he may have overheard this before and remembered it. Glad that he is able to use it in the right way!!

How are we doing?

Last year this weekend, it was a sad Saturday for us as Siti, our domestic helper returned home for good.

For the past one year, we are still in contact with Siti via SMSes; she will send us messages to say how much she misses Anders. I do hope that she will have her own children real soon; I know she will be a very dedicated mother.

Time really passed so quickly, it has been a year that we had been without a domestic helper. How are we faring? So far, I think I AM doing fairly ok with my new multi-tasking skills at home – being a maid & mother.

Housework chores are endless and fetching the children to and back from childcare centre is also very tiring. Luckily for me, I do not need to cook as we ordered Tingkat dinner delivery. Also my mom comes once a week to help me with some house chores which I am always THANKFUL of.

With all these daily routines, sometimes I do miss Siti as she is such a wonderful helper to have.

Since day 1, she does the household chores on her own schedules; I don’t need to give her any timetable.

She cooks whatever I buy and we eat whatever she cooks – no complaints.

She loves the children like her own, so that was why I managed to returned to workforce and leave Anders under her care.

If I ever get a domestic helper, will I be so lucky again…: P

Expensive Lesson

Eversince we had our own family car in 2006, i took refresher course to polish on my driving and parking skills.

So far, driving the car is not difficult as it is an auto car. I do had some problems when parking as my judgement is still not up to par. So whenever the car is available, i will take the opportunity to drive, in order to keep improving my skills.

Yesterday as Adrian was on leave, so i drove to work as per normal. I was also planning to bring back a laptop to test its wireless function. (I am actually typing this entry on the office laptop). So with the car, it was more convenient to bring it back.

After work, i drove back and as normal enter our multi level car park to park the car. I was doing the reverse and i sweared that i had looked very carefully to ensure that the car was in the correct angle and away from the pillar. So with this assurance, i reversed slowly and surely into the lot. Then suddenly there was a small "BANG"...*sh*t*...i thought to myself - hopefully nothing major. So i drove out and adjust the parking and finally when the car was parked. I went to checked on the damages.

Sigh...the side hit the pillar and the bumper was a bit damage with the paint work also destroyed. I told adrian of the "accident" when i reached home and he went to check the car. I told him that we can send it to any of the car workshop in SIN MING Automart to do the repair but he said he does not trust those unreliable source. So he insisted on sending it back to Borneo workshop.

Needless to say, I had to pay a hefty sum for this lesson...sigh. (WE should have gone to any AH Beng car workshop because i really think it's pointless to pay so much just for a simple repair!!)

Anyone has a good car mechanic to recommend? i will put it in my list to standby...hee : P

Financial Independence

One of my colleagues is a high earner. The other day we were chatting about our children primary school after school care provider. She has 2 daughters and the eldest is the same age as Anthea.

I told her that my ideal plan is to work ½ day morning and be able to look after Anthea after school, if she is in morning session. Otherwise we have to work out other options .

She said her husband also asked her to work part time or quit her job. He felt that she should spend more time with her daughters, guiding them in the education.

She said: “No, I do not want to give up what I am earning now, unless my husband can match it. “
She said : “ I am enjoying my financial independence and I can buy what ever I like and I want, no need to ask my husband permission. “

I was thinking – indeed, ask any mommies - who do not want this kind of independence. But when it is your CHILD versus MONEY, I think the answer is quite obvious. There are exceptions, of course.

For our family,if we were to rely on Adrian sole income, it will be a bit taxing on him. I don’t earn much but enough to support my own insurance policies and also builds up on children education funds.

In Singapore, we are considered lucky as we are able to employ maids to look after our children or send our children to after school care services. So working mommies still have the options to remain in workforce.

To work or not to work – that’s a question for me, comes 2009 !!

"Lobangs"- “ 特惠家族”

This is a weekends of "Lobangs" for the family.

Friday's Lobang : Anthea's 1st Tooth drops

In the evening, when I reached home, Anthea told me "mommy, I want to show you something.” Then she showed me the thing. It took me a while to find the thing as it was quite camouflaged among the papers. Finally I saw it...it was one of her Front tooth and it has finally dropped. It has been shaky for the last few weeks and there is few more now waiting to come out. So that her permanent teeth will start to set in.

Saturday Lobangs: 3 Crabs @ Jumbo NSRCC

My extended families and we are great supporters of any discount vouchers or restaurants that had special card promotions because we dined out on weekends. Last Saturday we went all the way to Jumbo Seafood restaurant @ NSRCC in Changi, simply because my PIL had a $50 discount vouchers which can be used at selected outlets. We were a table of 10 + 1 infant. We ordered 3 CRABS (steam, chilli & pepper – my personal preference is still the steam crab). This is the 1st time our families ordered 3 crabs instead of the usual 2. It was a very good crabby meal with other nice dishes.

Then what happened next is really our “catch” – the captain gave us another $100 cash certificates for our next visit to ANY Jumbo restaurants. And the plus point is no minimum orders required, so you can use on any amount for your bill. FIL already made plan that we shall eat at Jumbo@Dempsey as this will be their latest outlet due to open on 21 April 2008. This time I think we can make it 4 CRABS… : )

Sunday Lobangs: My Dinner Dress & UOB Voucher

As mentioned in my previous blog that I would need to get a decent evening dress for the wedding dinner. After a good prata breakfast and coffee. I told Adrian that I would like to visit Celia Loe’s boutique @ Thomson Plaza. Also we can do our groceries shopping at NTUC and have lunch at the food court. So it is hitting 3 birds with a stone.

Down the memory lane a little – I bought my ROM Dress from Celia Loe’s boutique almost 10 years ago. And also I bought a dinner dress from Celiana for my best friend – Cindy’s wedding dinner. So whenever I need a nice and classy dinner dress, I would consider Celia Loe’s boutique.

Back to shopping, so at the shop, I tried a few dresses recommended by the Sales associates and Anthea. After trying them, it seem that all felt that the 1st dress was the best match for the occassion,. When I saw the price tag, I had 2nd thoughts but Adrian said to go ahead. The sales associate seems to read my mind and asked if we had HSBC Card as there is a 10% discount.

I remembered that my MIL has a HSBC Card, so Adrian tried calling her and asked her for the favor. However I knew that she was babysitting my little niece, so I told Adrian, we can reserved the dress and come back on a weekday. Then later Adrian received a call from my BIL and he said he was on the way to meet us but as the Car park at the plaza was full, they could not drive in. Arrangement was made for my SIL to meet us at the boutique to make the payment for us. I was so grateful and thankful for their immediate activation to our call…and paiseh to make them rush down just to pay for the dress… : P

Due to their kindness, we enjoyed the 10% discount for the dress. I think it’s still a bit expensive but luckily recently we received our ERS from the Govt, so it helps to bring down the guilt level. Now that I bought my dress, I would need to buy a pair of matching shoes...hee : P

Dinner was at Crystal Jade Golden Restaurant @ Paragon as my FIL had the UOB $50 redemption voucher. (Didn’t I say we are STRONG SUPPORTERS Of vouchers). As usual the food quality was very good and we had an enjoyable dinner.

At Paragon Metro, I managed to get a pair of shoes for Anthea to match her dinner dress, so her mission is accomplished.

We took a stroll at the basement of Paragon and surprisingly there was an Ah-Mei Café in the building. We had cups of teas and chat at the café. Everyone is now very excited and looking forward to the event of the year.

Counting Down (UP) !!

Wedding:
“Mommy, how many more days to Uncle Terence and Cherry jie jie wedding? “ Anthea has been asking Adrian and myself this question often, after she bought the dress & Tiara. I think she is the one looking more forward to the wedding than anyone else...hee : P

“Today is 10 April 2008; it is exactly 30 days to Uncle Terence’s wedding.” I told her. Her face brightens up. This reminds me that I also need to go and get myself a decent dress for the wedding dinner. I heard that all the men in the family are going to be Suited Up. So as the 大嫂 of the wedding couples, I must also look presentable. Now what should I wear?? Ps: Adrian had suggested that I get a pink dress to match Anthea’s dress. I don’t know if this is a good idea… : P (伤脑筋)

So this weekend, I must start shopping, shopping & shopping.

ERP:
Extract from Mr. Brown:

“I wonder if you know, how they live in Toa Payoh
Please lah tolong, only Lorong. Not Expressway also tio!
Fast and furious! (Kena!) (Beep! beep! beep!)
Spread like virus! (Aiyah!) (beep! beep! beep!)”

Starting this Monday, if I drive to work, I will kena this “Beep” as my office is in Toa Payoh. So now I will need to plan my TIME strategy. I have decided that on those days if I am driving, I will try to time myself to reach the ERP Gantry after 9 am. This means I will be a bit late for work but will stay back longer to compensate for the time lost. My working hours are 9 am to 5 pm. So 5 minutes +/- should be alright with my Boss… I hope.

A DOLLAR A DAY is a lot, especially nowadays prices of everything and anything is going UP & UP…sigh. $ 1 x 5 days = $5 x 4 weeks = $20.

Add another few dollars can buy a tin of Abbott Growth milk for Anthea, u say leh…it’s really “牛车轮” to me.

Happy MacFun Party

Today is the birthday party celebration for Anthea in her childcare centre with her classmates. They are in K2 and this will be their final year together as classmates. Comes 2009, they will go to different Primary schools, some may still be school mates, and some may not.

So the best way for her to have a memorable 6th birthday is to Party with her Friends. I took a day off and Adrian was on leave too. The Mac Fun party was scheduled to start in the afternoon. So in the morning, I managed to complete some tasks.

Task 1 – medical checkup. I used to do annual medical checkup when I was working with my previous company as the company subsidized such claims. Ever since I was retrenched in 2003, I stop doing so. After giving birth to Anders, I would still have review with my gynae in 2004. Then I stopped going for medical checkup. Recently I found out that there is a NTUC Medicare Family clinic in AMK Hub and they offered some screening package, so I decided to give it a try. Today, I did the advanced health screening, Blood test & Pap Smear. The result will be out in a week and I will return to the clinic for review.

Task 2 – couple times with Adrian. Since we had children, we hardly can manage couples times during weekends, so usually we will rendezvous on a weekday during our off day. After my medical checkup, we had lunch together at Botak Jones @AMK Ave 10. Adrian ordered the Ribeye steak and I had the Lamp with rosemary sauce. We shared a Caesar salad. It was an enjoyable and relaxing lunch. Adrian mentioned that we hardly had chance for a peaceful meal like this...hee : P

Task 3 – photographs developing. After a good lunch, I went to the HUB to run some errands. I managed to developed photographs stored in the SD Cards. It is always handy to have copies as the children childcare will at times request for family photos.

Task 4 – THE PARTY CELEBRATION!!

At 2.30 pm, I went by to the childcare to wait for the MacDonald party staff. Adrian went to collect the birthday cake. The party staff arrived around 2.45 pm to set up for the party.

It started with the Happy Meals – as it was the children snack time, so they started with the food. Each child had pre-selected their own choice of main/side and drink. So the party staff handled them their orders according to the list that was provided to them. The children had a good time eating their Happy Meals. Anders also joined in Anthea’s class for the meal.

After enjoying the food, they proceeded to the centre multipurpose room for the game session. The party staff started with a warm up game called the Action Game. When the staff shouted a certain actions, the children have to follow her action. It was quite fun to see the children following orders and some even got “lost” during the commands.

After the warm up session, they were divided into 2 teams. So the teacher told them to follow their usual RED / BLUE team in class.

The 1st game they played was Pass the Balloon Game. They had so much fun at this game and the whole room was full of their cheers “oh...we win…we win.”

The 2nd game played was the Pyramid game. Small cups were given to each team and they were supposed to build a tall pyramid with all the cups. Both teams put in so much effort in building the pyramid and Teamwork was the emphasis of this game.

The 3rd and last game played was the Fruits game. 2 children were given the same fruit name. And each time when a fruit name was called, they need to find an empty space to sit down. When someone shouted “fruit ball”, all must changed seats. It was really fun to see them played the game and enjoying themselves so much. Ms Loh also joined in the last game.

After the game session was completed, it was cake cutting ceremony. Anthea had requested a Sleeping Beauty Princess cake. So I ordered a 2 kg cake for her to share with her classmates and teachers.

Her classmates sang the English and Chinese version of the birthday song for her. She was very happy. After eating the cakes, it was time for her to give the happy meals toys to her classmates. Ms Loh made her present each toy to her classmate personally and they even had a handshake with each other. It was like an award ceremony. Each child had a Macdonald balloon too but Ms Loh said she will give them when they are going home.

It was a very well coordinated party and all the children had so much fun. Anthea was a very Happy Birthday girl and a Happy Host. I am glad we had this birthday celebration for her and I know she will remember it for a long, long time.

Happy 6th Birthday to Anthea

Anthea turns 6th years old on 09 April. We decided to have a small dinner birthday celebration for her on Sunday with the families.

My eldest brother has kindly given me a $50 Tung Lok voucher, so needless to say, the dinner is held at one of the Tung Lok’s group. Seem like we are BIG share holders of Tung Lok restaurant.

After some discussion with Adrian, we choose Lao Bei Jing located at Novena Square.
Mainly the place is near to Toy R Us in United Square, I know from experienced that the doting grandfather will usually bring his grandchildren to Toy R Us to shop for their presents. Actually yesterday, they did go to United Square but to shop for her shoes for Terence’s wedding dinner.

According to my FIL, there was a very nice pair of shoes for her but it was 1 size bigger, so they will try another shop, another day. Seem like the shoes is the one that is more difficult to get instead of the dress...haha. What a surprise it is to me.

I booked a table for 12 adults + 1 infant at 老北京. Since I arrived earlier while the rest were either shopping/ on the way or in church. I took the initiative to order the meals. After some good recommendations from the Captain, I managed to order a few dishes & a Peking Duck.

(this is a prawn in crusty nest dish,SIL commented that it looks like water flowing out,good symbol)

We had a sumptuous dinner with a bottle of red wine. As usual I enjoyed my dinner because of good companionship. Anthea was also having a good time, ever eager to open her presents and also showing off her new bought Tiara. Before dinner, she even asked me to wear it for her. I told her the Tiara should be reserved for Uncle Terence’s wedding.

After dinner, we had the cake cutting and this round I ordered a 1 kg Black Forest cake. Her Princess cake will be shared with her classmates during her party. During the cake cutting, Anthea even asked Da giu to dim the light as we were in a private room, luckily the other table of dinners had left the room, so we had the whole room to ourselves.

Anthea received some story books from her Uncle Louis,Aunty Eve and Faith mei mei.
When we were home, she started on the 1st book for her bedtime reading. As for Uncle Terence & Cherry, they still owe her One..haha.

As usual ah pao & da giu gave her ang pows which mommy here will deposit to her saving account.

It was a Happy Birthday celebration for my little Princess and happiness was all over her face.

Dearest Anthea,

Happy 6th Birthday to you and may you be filled with Happiness everyday .

Love,
Daddy, mommy & di di.

(ps: during dinner, i had a photographer in training..and below are some of the photos he took.. : P )

Flower Girl In Waiting

This morning after a good breakfast of home baked chicken pie and cup of brewed coffee. I told Adrian that we should go & shop for Anthea dress for Terence wedding. Adrian claimed that it's too early. I told him it's ok, better to start early than till the last minute, in case, we really can't find anything that Anthea likes. (ps: i am not being Kiasu, just being careful...)

We arranged with my MIL & SIL with her little darling to have lunch in Toa Payoh hub. We had Ichiban sushi for lunch and then we headed to Kiddy Palace to shop for Anthea's dress. I know that Anthea may or may not eventually be the Flower Girl, subject to the wedding couples final decision. Since this will be very FIRST TIME to be a flower girl, so i thought that she should get a nice dress. Even if she is not a Flower Girl, she will still be dress to the occassion.. : )

When we reached the dresses department, it was such an easy choice. Anthea saw one dress from the rack & she said she wanted that dress. So i took 2 different sizes for her to try and when she wear it..i know it was the RIGHT DRESS. She looks simply "stunning" in the dress. It was pink in color as requested by the wedding couples. Then we managed to get her a Tiara as requested by Anthea, herself.. : P

We tried to get a pair of matching shoes but can't find her size. So we had to try to look for it another day.

It was a Fruitful trip and i know that my girl will be very happy and proud to show off herself on the actual wedding day.

After shopping, we went home for the children's nap. In the evening, we met up with my PILS and SIL with Faith for dinner at Zhou's Kitchen @ Far East Square (again!!) haha..seem like this is one of our regular hangout at the moment.

Anders had a good time bonding with Faith,his little cousin, playing 'hide & seek'. It always send a smile on my face when i see my little niece smiling and laughing away. It's so contagious !! Now that she is learning to be more vocal, her voice can be heard so clearly..hee : )

Anthea and Anders wanted to have ice cream after dinner, so we tried to look for a dessert outlet around the area but seem like there isn't a cafe that was opened. In the end, we saw this new Japanese restaurant - Shin Kushiya and it serves Japanese ice-cream. So we settled down at the restaurant and ordered the ice cream. Much to our surprised, the desserts that we ordered - Azuki Parfait (red bean ice cream), Uji Matcha Parfait (green tea ice cream) and Satsuma imo macha ice (green tea ice cream with jap sweet potatoes) were all very delicious. We had a good time sampling all the different favours. Yummy !!!

(a quick preview of Anthea in her dress and tiara, i have requested for my SIL to do her make up on the actual day.)

Anders 4th Year Old Assessment

On Wednesday I brought Anders to the Polyclinic for his 4th year old assessment. The nurse did a routine check on his vision and tested him on his motor skills as well. After that she referred us to the doctor and he did another round of check on his medical condition.

We were given an OK for the check up and his next review will be till he starts primary school. The only remark that left a bit of concern is – Anders is underweight. He falls below the 50%.

I believe it could be due to the recent holiday that he lost a fair bit of weight. During the trip, he didn’t eat much. I must admit that this boy is quite a typical “china boy”, he prefer Asian cuisine to Western meals. He prefers noodles and rice over fish & chips / spaghettis. I do hope he will grow to like other types of food than just Asian food.

Now that we are back to our normal routine, I will make sure he eats and eats…hee
: P

To me, the most important thing is he is healthy and happy.

Recently, my SIL blogged about kids saying the darnest thing…here goes one of my own recent encounter with Anthea:

Anthea: “mommy, I don’t know what to name my baby.”

Me: “why is that so? “

Anthea: “all the names are already taken by my friends and also the princesses (these princesses are from Barbie stories.)

Me : “dear, not to worry, when you have a baby, you will sure know what you want to name your baby.”

Anthea: “ok…”

I know i will have more of this kind of conversations as she is maturing into a little girl.. : 0

Gyming ~ Cupcakes

Last Friday, my sister in law attended a Cupcakes baking class at Shermay’s cooking school. The Aces family has the honored of sharing the “cups” of her labour. On Sunday morning, we had cupcakes for breakfast and they were delicious. I simply love the Nutella cupcakes.

Also on Sunday morning, Adrian went with my PIL’s for Qing Ming Prayers to our grandparents. He brought home the famous Tanjong Rhu Bao, fruits and drinks. So we had the minis叉烧包 and 肉包 at breakfast too... : P

After a good breakfast, we decided to bring Anthea and Anders to the Kid’s gym at Safra Toa Payoh. Adrian had mentioned this gym a few times whenever Anthea and Anders played at the Macdonald children play area. He said the gym is much bigger than Macdonald and true enough, it was BIG. Anthea and Anders had so much fun at the gym. The price is very reasonable at $4.00 per child. It can be used for the whole day during opening hours.

While the children were at the kid’s gym, I took the opportunity to go to the Energy One gym at the club. Adrian is a member and he has some Complimentary guest passes. The gym is also very big and had many types of equipment. I had a good workout.

After our gym sessions, we left the club and went to the Macdonald Drive Thru to buy Happy Meals for the children for their lunch.

In the afternoon, the children had their power nap before meeting my PIL for dinner. We had dinner at Jumbo Seafood by the River walk. My youngest BIL - Terence and his GF, Cherry joined us. During the dinner, there were so many discussions on their upcoming wedding in May 2008.

It is a BIG family affair and Anthea is looking forward to being the Flower Girl for the wedding march in (if there is no change in the plan...hee : )

Terence had suggested for Anders to be their Rings bearer but I have reservation on this request. I know Anders is a shy boy and he may not be able to perform to the task. Now they are considering another alternative or may not even has one... : P

Gold Coast - Ultimate Theme Parks Trio

We are back from our Ultimate Gold Coast Paradise experience. It has been a very enjoyable and wonderful family holiday. Many 1st times experience for our family and also we learn a lot more for our travel pattern.

Now it’s time to do our Aces family ATR (after tour review) and hope that it will be a good sharing experience with our family & friends.

Day 1: Good Friday, 21 March - Singapore → Brisbane (QF 52) Dep: 2105 / Arr :0655 hr

This is my 1st time travelling on Qantas flight and I must say – the service was very good. The air stewards were very friendly and served with sincerity. The service crew was made up of about 90% male and 10% female. It was a 6 hours flight. There was a menu cum journey planner given to all passengers. It indicated the schedule for the 6 hours flight and also the supper and continental breakfast menu was provided. Both Anthea and Anders had child meal requested for the flight.

The children enjoyed the In-flight entertainment which had all their favorite movies – Enchanted, Mr. Bean, Disney Playhouse and games as well. Luckily they managed to catch a few hours of sleep on the plane.

Day 2: Saturday, 22 March - G’day Brisbane → Sea World

Upon arrival at Brisbane International Airport, we proceeded to the Coachtrans counter for our seat-in coach transfer to our hotel, Courtyard Marriott. It was about 10 am when we reached the hotel and the room was not ready. So we decided to do our SeaWorld tour. As we had the 5 days Super Pass, we had unlimited door to door coach transfers to the Theme Parks and unlimited use of the local Gold Coast bus network. We got directions from the hotel concierge and we were on the bus to Sea World.

In Sea World, we managed to watch the Fish Detective Sea Lion Show. Anthea and Anders also saw Dolphins swimming in the Dolphin Nursery. Then we went to the All New Sesame Street beach for all the children rides.Both of them enjoyed the different rides. Then we took the cable car to the Aquarium and see the Dugong. We had 3 hours of fun at the park and then returned to the hotel for our check in.

Courtyard Marriott is centrally located along Surfers Paradise and there is a main shopping mall by the hotel. Hard Rock café is also located by the hotel.

The room that we had was very spacious and we had 2 queen sized beds in the room. Every room had a private balcony. Noticed that all hotels and service apartments in Gold Coast come with a Balcony, I reckon people simply love the sun and the sea.

After checking in, the children had a short nap before we headed to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.

After dinner, we took a walk along the street and I am quite surprised and pleased that shops in Surfers Paradise do not closed at 5pm, like those in Perth & Melbourne. Matter of fact, there are so many 24 hours conveniences stores and also late night pubs.

On the way back, we even had Baskin Robbins ice cream and the children simple love the kid’s cone. Then we went back to the hotel to rest for the night.

Day 3: Sunday, 23 March - Gold Coast → Paradise Country Farm

We had booked a morning tour to the Paradise country farm. After a sumptuous hotel buffet breakfast, we were picked up by the coach to the Paradise Country farm. At the farm, Anthea and Anders had the chance to see Koalas and hand fed the Kangaroos. They even had chance to feed milk to the baby sheep’s via the milk bottles. It was a lot of fun for them. Then we saw farm shows – Billy tea making, stock horse, and sheep shearing and finally boomerang throwing display. Lunch was included and we had BBQ steak and chicken. It was indeed a “Paradise Experience” for the family.

After the 3 hours tour of the farm, we returned to the hotel. The children had their power nap before heading to the swimming pool for a quick water play. The sun in Australia is very scorching and sun block is a must.

Dinner was Japanese noodles at a noodle outlet very near to the hotel. Then we bought some supper back to the room to enjoy life. We had pizzas and chicken burgers. There is a pizza outlet that sells pizza by slice and each coast AUD$2.80. Consider quite a good deal and there were many selections. There are many fastfood outlet around the hotel, so getting food is not a problem.

Day 4: Monday, 24 March - Gold Coast → Movie World

After a good hotel breakfast, we went to a designated bus stop to wait for our coach to Movie World. This is a day of Action packed fun. We started with Batman Adventure – the Ride 2. Anthea and Anders had so much fun with the simulated ride and were all geared up for more. Then we watched Shrek 4D Adventure show. It was a real thrilled for the children to watch 4D shows. Then we went around the Kids Fun zone and they both had fun going on the different rides.

We had lunch in the park and for a kid’s meal that we ordered, we had a Batman mask.
After lunch, we watched the Street Parade and the children were so happy to see all the familiar characters up close and personal – Batman, Wonder Woman, Sylvester & Tweety, Bugs Bunny and many more. What a Treat for the eyes!!

After the parade, we carried on with a few more adventure rides before we ended our day and returned to our hotel. They went for a quick swim before we had dinner in the room. The children slept early after a full day of fun.


Day 5: Tuesday, 25 March - Gold Coast → Dream World

This is supposed to be our Free & Easy day, so we decided to go ahead with a tour to the Dream World.

Upon arrival at the Dream World, we took a ride on the train to the Australian Wildlife Experience. Anthea and Anders had chance to see Kangaroos and Koalas at this place. Then we headed to the Tiger Island and saw some white tigers. We had lunch at the theme park. After that, the children had some fun on the rides.

We ended our tour around 3pm and returned to the hotel. Children went to the pool again before dinner. I managed to squeeze in some shopping time for my MIL’s shopping list. I bought back some chocolates for my colleagues and Adrian bought some for his collagues.

Day 6: Wednesday, 26 March - Gold Coast →Brisbane → Singapore (QF 51) Dep: 1345 / Arr 1930

Our coach picked us to Brisbane International Airport for our Qantas flight. We had a very good flight home. Upon arrival, Anthea and Anders were happy to see yeye & nainai waiting for them at the arrival hall.

It was Home Sweet Home.

It had been a fun 6 days for the family and there are things that we learnt from this holiday. I was quite glad that we did not follow guided tour as original planned. I think F&E still suits us better.

Gold Coast is indeed a Surfers Paradise and definitely a good option for family with children to visit. Mainly because of it theme parks. Otherwise, it’s also a good place for people who love the Sun, Sand and Sea.

I do hope that we will be able to visit Australia again and perhaps does a farm stay on our next holiday...hee : p

We are OFF.

Quite thankfully Anders fever had subsided and his temperature is back to normal. I am keep my hopes high that he will be well to enjoy Gold Coast.

We are now all packed and in about an hour time we will be making our way to the airport for our Qantas flight to Brisbane. This is our 1st time taking a "Red-eye" flight and i do hope that the children will be able to sleep on the plane..hee. Being a mommy, it's natural that we worry of this and that...hee : P

Last night, Adrian even went over to my BIL place to pick up a Travel Medical kit, it has everything inside and along side, i packed along paracetemol and Ibufen (i hope that i do not need to use them...)

Thanks Louis & Eve for your thoughtfulness !! & Aces Family wishes:

"Happy 1st Birthday to Faith on 23 March 2008. May our little niece has a wonderful day with her LOVE Ones. "

Okie dokie...Aces Family will be signing off from now till next week. As the famous quote "I (WE) will be BACK!! "

Cheerios !!

FEVER !!

The flu season is back…sigh!!

On Monday morning, I received a notice from the childcare that the centre had 2 cases of HFMD and the children were from Anders class. *FAINT*FAINT*

I was in panicked mode but since I had to work, I had no choice but to leave them in the childcare on Monday.

In the evening, when I fetched them home, both Anthea and Anders were still fine. Then later in the evening, when I checked their temperature, I noticed that Anders had low grade fever – 37. 6 degrees. Immediately I fed him a dose of paracetemol. Then I called my mom and arranged for her to look after the children on Tuesday, hopefully, this will reduce the contact with the virus in school.

On Tuesday, Anders was ok during the day but when I brought them home, his temperature went up again. So I gave him medication again, hopefully it’s just the fever virus and nothing else; otherwise, we may need to cancel our holiday.. : (

On Wednesday, I was given a day of MC by the GP for my throat irritation, so I tend after the children at home. I brought Anders to the family GP to seek for professional advice. The GP mentioned that there were no rashes on his hands & foot, there was one ulcer in his mouth but she can’t confirmed it’s HFMD as the ulcer could be due to heatiness. So her advice was to monitor him for the next 2 days for the other symptoms, which I hope will be negative.

Today is Thursday and this morning his temperature is back to normal, I hope it will remain like this. I check his hands, foot and mouth – all look normal. Now I am keeping my fingers all crossed that he is back on the recovering track and tomorrow we can make our way to the airport as planned.

Wising all a Happy Easter Holidays!!

Happy 4th Birthday to Anders

March is a month of birthday for our families – my mother in law, myself, my niece and finally, it is my son's – Anders 4th Year old birthday.

Anders actual date of birth is on 22 March but since we will be going to Gold Coast for holiday, we decided to have an early celebration for him.

It was a simple celebration over a dinner gathering with the families. I was very happy that my parents and eldest brother was able to join us for the occasion. We brought along 2 bottles of wine (one red/ one white) to the dinner, courtesy of my youngest BIL, Terence.

I booked a table for 13 people at Zhou’s Kitchen @ Far East Square.

The restaurant was considered quiet for Sunday and we had an enjoyable meal.

Needless to say, the most important part is the cake-cutting ceremony. Anders was very happy and he wanted to cut his cake. The main reason is the Uncle Terence said he can open his present after he ate his cake... : )

I ordered a Disney Car cake for Anders; he had made his own cake choice via the Bengawan Solo cake catalog. He was very happy when he saw the cake.

After eating his cake, he quickly went to his presents and open up the wrappers. Boy, he just can't wait…hee.

We left the restaurant around 9 pm and when we reached home, the children were so excited with the presents that they started to play with them.

Many thanks to people who had made Anders a Happy Birthday boy on this special day :

1. Ah gong / Ah po & Da Giu – for their ang pows and also presence to the dinner.



(anders with ah gong/ah po and 大舅)


2. Yeye / Nai nai – for their ang pow and also effort to bring Anders to buy his present.

(ye ye & nai nai with the 3 grandchildren)


3. Uncle Louis / Aunty Eve & Faith mei mei – Transformer AutoBot


4. Uncle Terence/ Cherry Jie jie – Transformer Off road Iron hide.

Without all your blessings, Aces family will not have such a memorable celebration for our dear Son. Thank YOU!!


Dear Anders,

Happy 4th Birthday to you and May you grow up, always happy and be strong in your emotion!!

Luvs,
Daddy, mommy and Anthea jie jie.

Beachside Birthday Party

In celebration of my niece 1 Year old birthday, my BIL made dinner reservation at this beach restaurant located on Sentosa Island – Café Delmar.

We reached Sentosa around 6pm and since we were early, Adrian brought Anthea to try the Luge which I highly recommended him to do so. Otherwise, we will never come to Sentosa.
While they were at the ride, I brought Anders to the restaurant and when I reached the entrance of the restaurant. I was totally shocked and speechless…hee : P

The restaurant set up was similar to what I always see in CSI Miami and there were loud music playing by the in-house Deejay. The place was full bikinis babes and board short clad dudes. (I was thinking to myself – I am too aunty for this kind of place...hee.)

不认老都不行了！！

My BIL booked 2 tables for the families and also invited relatives. Drinks and food were ordered and they were served promptly. Service was good but I find the price a bit on the high side, considering it’s on a beachfront and not some Hotel setup. Well, I guess everyone had a great time with the food & drinks.

After the cake cutting ceremony, we left the place around 9pm.

(ps: I did not manage to take any photos because my head was “pounding”so heavily with the in house music, I can hardly even move myself around..: P , think I have been out of touch with techno music for too long..Sigh)

Happy 1st Birthday to Faith Tan!!

You’re Invited!!

In less than a month time, Anthea will be celebrating her 6th year old birthday. As this will be her final year in K2 and with this childcare. I planned to let her celebrate her birthday with her classmates.

She has a few good girlfriends whose names I hear almost everyday. They are the Winx Club “fairies” – Lydia, Claudia and Huda. Of course, not forgetting her new found “boyfriend” – Han Yong.

So I thought it would be quite meaningful for her to have a small celebration with all these good friends, whom I think she may or may not get to see after they all graduated and go to different Primary Schools.

There were a few options that I considered but finally short listed one that I believe most children will Love / Adore. It is the McFun Party organized by McDonald. I contacted their Ang Mo Kio outlet and gathered all the information.

My original intention was to have the Party at the McDonald outlet. Last week when I asked 罗 老师 for the class name list to write the invitation cards. 罗 老师asked me when / where is the party. When I told her it would be at the restaurant, she asked Anthea: “为什麽 不要在学校庆祝，老师也可以和你庆祝？

Then I started to ask Anthea if she would like to have the Party in her school since her teachers would like to celebrate this special occasion with her. She said OK.

I had sought the Principal permission to use the school Multi Purpose room for the 1 ½ hour party and she had agreed to it. The party is set for tea time from 3 pm to 4.30 pm.

Last week, I went to pay the McDonald outlet to pay the deposit and collected the invitation cards. At the same time, I will prepare a spread sheet for the child’s parent to select their Happy Meals.

Hopefully all her classmates will enjoy the Party and my Princess will be a Happy Host on 08 April 2008.

Easter Holiday In Down Under

On Friday morning, I had an appointment to consult an orthopedic for my hip issues. I was referred by my company clinic to go to Changi General Hospital and I am happy to be able to have an early appointment for the review.

The orthopedic review my X-rays and asked me a few questions concerning my exercise routine. It was confirmed that I had a muscle strained and I was advised to stop my yoga sessions. Most importantly, he gave me the “GREEN LIGHT” to go ahead with my holiday plan….yippy.

We had planned to go for a family vacation to Gold Coast, Australia. Our travel dates are set for 21 – 26 March 2008. The main reasons for going for a holiday during this time is because comes 2009 onwards, we will need to follow school holidays for our family vacation as Anthea starts primary school next year…: P


On Saturday morning, we went to the travel agent – Jetabout Holidays to collect our tour tickets & vouchers. We had booked our F&E package through this agent. Originally, I had planned to go on a packaged tour but it seem like most of the agents do not have a confirmed groups departure on 21 March 2008. So we had to make do with the 2nd best alternative.

We booked the Gold Coast plus Warner Village Ultimate Theme Park Trio from the agent.

I guess going on an F&E tour would be better for Anthea & Anders, so they can spend all the time in the Theme Parks, which is our main target. As for farm stay, we will try to do it in our next family vacation. (I got good tips from my Blogger Twins – LZ mommy of the theme parks, I know Anthea and Anders will enjoyed the parks.)

After collecting our travel details from the agent, we had lunch at Crystal Jade Kitchen in Takashimaya. Then we headed to Tangs to shop for present and shoes for the children. Anders was totally engrossed with the Transformers toys while I shopped for both their shoes.

We had a fun time shopping and after getting what we wanted, we went home to rest. In the evening, Adrian brought the children for dinner with the extended families while I rested at home. I had simple meal of porridge with some home cooked chickens that my mom brought over.

While I was having my dinner, my mobile rang and Anthea was on the line – she was crying and I thought what had happened to her. Then she said: “I missed you, mommy…” Think my little girl is really starting to mature. I told her not to cry and I am fine at home.

On Sunday morning, I received a sms from my brother that my dad had made Bird Nest soup and asked us to go back and drink it. So in the afternoon, while the children were napping, I went back to my parents place to pick up the soup. My brother told me that he had booked a Vietnam package tour for my parents and himself. The departure date is on 21 March as well.

Wow….this Good Friday; we are all busy doing something or going somewhere.

In the evening, we had dinner at Vittles and I had an enjoyable meal with the families.

Looking forward to a good family holiday & "Howdy Mates!!"

My Special Day

Today morning when I on my mobile, smses started coming in:

"Happy 37th Birthday!” (From my long time good friend / 姐妹- Cindy)

“Happy Birthday : - * “( from another long time good friend/ same 姐妹幫 – Andrea)

“Happy Birthday! Need cosmetic/perfume?” (From my eldest brother who is in Manila for business trip and coming back today.)

I am really happy because on my special day, friends & family still have thoughts of me.

Yesterday afternoon, Adrian called me around 4pm and said that he need not report to work and is free for the evening. He went to buy a small birthday cake for a simple family celebration. It was a Mango Cake from Emicakes shop.

After dinner, we had the cake as dessert. Both Anthea and Anders were very happy. They sang the birthday song for me – English & Chinese version. I felt so happy, especially with all my LOVE ones with me.

The cake was very nice and Anthea loves the Mango fillings. She kept asking to have the mango... : )

No big dinner, no fanfare, just a simple celebration and it’s a very fulfilling moment for me.

Another year older and I look forward to another good year ahead. No special wish as I know I have what life wants me to have.

寶貝們, 謝謝你們為媽媽唱的 生日快樂 歌， 開心，我真的好開心！！

In the office, my colleague also bought a small cake for a simple tea birthday celebration. Really thankful for their thoughts... : )

“HIP” to be Square

Nope, don’t get me wrong, I am not doing some kind of hippy dance like those 65’s MPs : P

For the whole of last week, my right hip has been giving me some aching problem. I consulted my company doctor and was given some painkiller. I was referred for X-ray which I did on Saturday.

However, on Sunday morning, the pain got a bit too much for me to bear with, so I told Adrian to bring me to the A&E and we went to Tan Tock Seng hospital A&E. We brought Anthea to my MIL place and Anders followed us to the hospital. MIL volunteered to look after the 2 of them but we were worried as Anders could be a bit too handy for her.

We reached the hospital around 10am and while registering, I nearly fainted. The nurse in attendance immediately wheeled me into the room for the doctor to check on. The doctor checked and asked me some questions concerning my pain complaint. I was put on drip as he mentioned that my blood pressure was low. Then after that, I was brought for X-ray and then observation room while waiting for the result.

While I was at the observation room, Adrian brought Anders to have his lunch at the food court. After 2 hours of observation, the doctor came and advised that the X-ray was fine. He mentioned that the pain could be due to wear and tear of the bone, thus he is referring me for an appointment with the Orthopedic. I was given 2 days of MC for Sunday & Monday. The doctor also prescribed some painkiller and ointment for application to the affected area.

I think the cause of this pain may has resulted from my lunch time yoga as Adrian suggested, he think that I may have over stretch myself thus causing the muscle to sore. Anyway, I am now waiting for my review with the specialist to see what is happening to my Hip. Hopefully, this will not dampen my March holiday plan... : (

HAPPY BIRTHDAY To 奶奶 ！！

My mother in law celebrated her birthday on Saturday evening. We had a family dinner at Bar & Billiard Room in Raffles Hotel. Being a Raffles card holder, she had some certificates of discount, for this dinner, she get 50% discount off food. At the same time, we had a bottle of complimentary red wine for dinner.

It was a buffet dinner and needless to say, the spread was simply FANTASTIC!! I think it should be a Lobster theme cuisine. Every counter has a lobster item. There was a grilled section at the patio of the restaurant.

Anthea and Anders wrote a birthday card for 奶奶，wishing her Happy Birthday and anthea even wrote: I LOVE MY GRANDMOTHER.

We bought a small present for my MIL and hope that she will like it.

It was a lovely dinner.