Festive season

Christmas

With the Christmas lightings all around the island and Christmas songs playing repetitively round the clock, it is hard not to soak in the festive mood. We dont really celebrate Christmas but it is one of my favourite times of the year (apart from Chinese New Year). Everyone just looks so happy, and many people go on leave, which means much quieter in the office as well.

Papa, all I want for Christmas is the BIG teddy bear!

Christmas tree at Vivo City
A pose for the cameraCandy house at Changi Airport - grab as much as you can fit into the small containerIn front of the candy house
Hi, I'm a little bunny and I want the carrots over there

Chinese New Year
Ahh... another favourite time of the year. This time with decorations all over the house, clothes hunting, inserting crisp new notes into red packets, attempting to clean up the house (but not very successful). Although no one's visiting our humble little abode, I like to create the CNY atmosphere at home.

I put up the decorations 2 weekends ago while Kaelyn was asleep. When she woke up, she immediately noticed there were many new red objects hanging around the house. She excitedly pointed to them and made many comments (which unfortunately none of us could figure out what she was saying).

To me, every year's CNY is the same. On the first day of new year, we would visit both sets of parents and grandmothers. And on the second day, we would visit David's uncle and stay for dinner. Same as the year before and the year before last ..... I always look forward to CNY not because of the visitings or giving out red packets. But more of the festive mood and new year food and goodies which I indulge in only once a year. It is only during this period I get to eat my grandma's home made fried glutinous rice and 'kong ba pao' - Hokkien dishes that I love for as long as I could remember. There would also be my mum-in-law's home made specialties like 'ngoh hiang' and 'popiah'. My mum will also whip up my favourite 'chap chye'. Not forgetting abalone and yu sheng are a must as well.

Although I was nursing a bad throat infection hence missed out on the yummy goodies, and had to rush a bit of work over the CNY period, it still didnt dampen my spirits too much. I will still look forward to next year's CNY (a little too early, you think?).

Reunion dinner with my family on eve of CNY eve - lao yu sheng followed by steamboat

On the first day of CNY - getting ready to start a day of visiting with the cheeky gal

Tradition to have a family picture taken on first day of CNYMy grandma, Kaelyn's 'ah zu'

Kaelyn's 'ah zu' and 'gu po' (my aunt)

'ah yi' (my sis) and 'gu ma' (my sis-in-law) found Kaelyn too cute to resist, especially in her new Japanese outfit with bells, which we bought from Hokkaido.

Kaelyn with her other great-grandma (David's grandmother)
Second round of lao yu sheng at in-laws on first day of CNY

Kaelyn with cousin Gaven at their ye ye / nai nai's house

Kaelyn's outfit for second day of CNY - another one we bought from HokkaidoPosing for cameraA grouchy Kaelyn with her 'biao gu' (David's cousins)
She refused to be carried by them so we had to plonk her on the sofa between them

Jurong Bird Park and Zoo outings in December

I realise my last post was more than a month ago. Surely it cant be that long.. it seems like just a week or 2 ago when I last blogged.. Anyway I must have been busy reading other people's blogs that I'm beginning to neglect mine..

We visited the Jurong Bird Park and Zoo in December, using David's corporate pass to enter for free.

Jurong Bird Park
The last time I've been to the Bird Park was more than 15 years ago. If it werent for the free passes and bringing Kaelyn to see her favourite animal (or so we think) - birds, I wouldnt have thought of going to the Bird Park.

Honestly, it wasnt that fantastic (maybe cos I am not a bird lover). Also, when we arrived it was drizzling and we had to walk aound holding umbrellas. But we managed to catch a few interesting species of birds.



The Zoo
Compared to the Bird Park, the Zoo is much better, due to the wider variety of animals. After they revamped the zoo, it's easier to navigate around. There's also a Rainforest Kidz World, which consists of a large water play area and some ponies and rabbits enclosures. Kaelyn enjoyed herself thoroughly. Not an exciting task for me to chase after her and ensure she doesnt go to the deep areas.

Rebellious Kaelyn

Kaelyn has become more and more rebellious as she goes into the Terrible Twos..

Her favourite word - 'bu yao' ('dont want' in Chinese)

Us: Kaelyn, drink your milk / water.
Kaelyn: Bu yao bu yao (and pushes the bottle away)

Us: Kaelyn, finish your porridge
Kaelyn: Bu yao bu yao (and turns away from the feeding spoon)

Us: Kaelyn, go sayang and kiss Ye ye / Nai nai..
Kaelyn: Bu yao bu yao (and scoots off)

Actually i dont know where she picked up this phrase from. We've always said 'No' or 'Bu ke yi' to her, and very seldom tell her 'bu yao'. She could have heard it from someone somewhere and found it to be a very useful phrase!

To get what she wants - Scream, cry, wail, sit on the floor

She doesnt let anyone hold her hand while walking. And would very much prefer to venture around on her own, even when there are many people around. When we try holding her hands fearing she may get lost in the crowd or near the roads, she struggle really hard to break free. Of course not fogetting to scream her lungs out and plonk herself on the floor in protest. Sigh...

I hope this will all go away as she grows older...

Kaelyn's first overseas trip - Bintan

6 - 8 December 2008 : Kaelyn went on her very first overseas trip - Bintan, Indonesia. Even though it was only an hour ferry ride away, it was still a trip that required a stamp on her passport.

We chose Bintan for our trip because we are a little bored with Sentosa already. We've stayed at the Rasa Sentosa twice within 6 months, and made several trips there on weekends. The other alternative location was Genting (which was first on David's list), but got thrown out after considering the fact that it was a 6 hour bus ride away! No way is our hyperactive girl going to sit in her seat for the 6 hours (not even for half of that time). It proved that we made the right choice when she couldnt even sit still for a 15 min bus trip from the Bintan ferry terminal to the Angsana resort!

We all had a great time, both Kaelyn and us. Kaelyn had so much fun interacting with other kids and playing with the other guests - she's not afraid of strangers and is really friendly. She also had 2 swim sessions, played on the beach and with toys in the kids room.

As for David and I, we had the opportunity to go for a spa session, and also just to lie on the deck chairs beside the pool with a good book in hand, fall asleep, wake up for a swim, and come back to the deck chair and fall asleep again..... Ahhh, I never know this can be so enjoyable too. I used to wonder why some people's idea of a holiday is to just sit by the pool and read. Now I know.... But if we were in New Zealand or somewhere in Europe, I wouldnt spend my time like that!

On our way back, I had a bad bout of seasickness. Kaelyn too. She was screaming in discomfort as the ferry bobbed up and down in the sea. Poor little baby... but she fell asleep not long after so it wasnt that bad.

Comparing this trip to Sentosa,
- Sentosa's Rasa Sentosa is better in every aspect
- Beach in Bintan is much better than Sentosa. Natural is better than man made!
- More mosquitoes in Bintan than Sentosa
- More attractions / activities in Sentosa than Bintan

Here are the pics:

On the ferry - on the way to Bintan

Kaelyn getting all excited weaving in and out of the rows of chairs in the reception room, playing hide and seek with us and other guests at the Angsana Resorts and Spa.

Ahh, the comfortable bed in the room

Toys galore in the kids room

Having a whale of a time on the beach building sandcastles

She's a water baby, happily splashing around in the pool. Doesnt matter if the water lands on her face - she'll gladly slurp it in!

Having some time of our own while the tired gal's sleeping..

A parting shot before heading back to Singpapore

A very good friend's wedding

I attended a very good friend's wedding 2 weeks ago. I've known her for about 13 years now, being in the same JC, university and first job. I'm really happy for her to have found such a great husband. I dont know him well, having met him only once before the wedding. But from the brief conversations, the church ceremony etc, I know he's going to be great husband.

I remember my own wedding more than 5 years ago (OMG, has it been that long already?!), she took a day off work to help us out during our wedding shot for the wedding album. She was also my 'personal assistant' on my actual wedding day itself, and helped me a lot on the preparations. I'll never forget that..

Yet, on her wedding 5 years after, I was not able to reciprocate the gesture. What I can give her is my sincere blessings and share in her joy. I did not even have the chance to get her a decent wedding gift, or tell her truly how happy I was for her. She being stationed overseas and me being tied up with my family and work here were the main reasons.. Now thinking back, I think I was really terrible as a friend.

But I know she will not put this to heart, definitely not. That's the best thing about good old friends. You may not see or speak to each other for a long time, but when you do, you are never at a loss for words. And you still know how each other thinks or feels.

So, I attended the wedding just like any other guest. It was a slightly different wedding from the others I have attended, not just because she was a good friend. But I remember being touched several times by the pastor's and the groom's speeches. There were a few moments when I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and memories of my own wedding and images of my small family of 3 flashed across my mind. I dont know why I have suddenly become so emotional, given that I did not even feel this way on my own wedding! Must be due to child birth (at least that's what I attribute to all the changes I went through over the past year...).

Congratulations once again. All the best, and we will still continue to be in touch..

Our weekend outings in November

8 November - East Coast and Marina Barrage

When we reached East Coast that day, the skies started to darken and it looked like it was going to rain. We've arrived with Kaelyn's beach toys and were prepared to have some fun in the sand, so I refused to believe the rain was here to stay. But just in case we really were so unlucky, David decided to put his 2 man tent into good use. It was a great idea! The rain didnt come and we had great fun in the tent and on the sand!

After our East Coast trip, we had a rest at Ye ye & Nai nai's house, where Kaelyn posed for the camera with her cheeky look

In the late afternoon, we left for the Marina Barrage for a walk. Quite a nice scenic place except that it was crowded with families and the restaurants were not opened yet. But Kaelyn had a great time there, running around on the grass and playing ball with other kids. She's one sociable baby, always looking for children to play with.

Kaelyn: 'I see people playing ball! I want to play too!'

Yay, I got the bal!

Mama asked me to return to Kor korKor kor, next time we play again together, ok?A shot with Mama

15 November - Singapore Flyer (surroundings only)

I have been wanting to go to the Singapore Flyer ever since its opening but didnt have a chance to. But today, we finally are able to make a stop there. Didnt go up on the flyer itself - David says wait till the IR is ready or else we will just be looking at all the ongoing construction sites. Well, which is quite true. So we decided to just roam around. Kaelyn enjoyed herself thoroughly at this stuff toy making shop, running, pointing to the toys, hugging the bears etc. There was nothing really much there other than the flyer. A couple of restaurants, some shops and a small 'rainforest walk'.

Where's the Singapore flyer?

Look at the dog - woof woof!

All I want for Christmas is this cuddly bear!

16 November 2008 - Popo's birthday

Today's my mum's (Kaelyn's popo's) birthday, and we celebrated over dinner at the Straits Kitchen at Hyatt hotel. Pre-dinner, we walked around the hotel lobby. Kaelyn was running and prancing around, chuckling happily at the same time. Must be the large area available for her to explore. The dinner was good, with a wide spread of food. But I still think that The Line at Shangrila is better.

Eh, what is that?

Happy birthday, Popo!A kiss for Gong gong. Oh, what a darling!Peek-a-......Boo! Ha ha, I see you!