Dancing Girl

I had to warn you not to gatecrash the first dance or the dance with their parents.. as we all knew that was the highlight of your night... the dancing.

Day 8: A BIG Day

The day has come, the reason we're back in Melbourne for the second time within 6 months!! The wedding of Natalie Kor-kor and Uncle Ollie. 

We had a lazy morning, eating food at home (trying to clear the food we'd brought and bought with us-- which was A LOT). Then we dressed up to head to the Lavendar Farm for the tea ceremony. 

When you got there, you found more new cousins (the ones from New Zealand.. and better still.. girls!!) so you ran off to play with them while the adults conducted the tea ceremony. 

Next it was time for the kids to gather and collect the ang pow from Uncle Ollie. 

Missed out a photo of Ko-ko collecting his ang pow. But got one of Mei-mei:

Showing off the ang pow:

Then it was time for a family/guests photo. Everyone was invited to the porch for a photo. But since it was a large group and there was a little tree blocking the photographer's view, he took the easier option to get the picture -- climb on his car (instead of removing the tree).

Went back in and had a little family picture taken:

After the tea ceremony, we headed back to our farmhouse to get ready for the wedding ceremony and dinner. Before we left, Ah Mm put for you the "glittery eye shadow" as you had requested earlier in the day:

We got a little lost getting to Red Hill Estate. But we finally reached. Here is Ashley Kor-kor giving instructions to the page boy and flower girls:

Had a family picture taken with the beautiful vineyard background:

This picture was taken by Mei-mei of the bride and groom

Aw.. our two sweetie pies..

Max's Restaurant where dinner was held:

We were supposed to take pictures and attach them to our names:

Mei-mei had her own drink. Which came in a bottle and cap with it's own straw.

All the kids had them:

Mei-mei had a good time eating all the jelly "lips" and marshmallows:

Our menu for the night:

Evelyn's dinner:

Beautiful flower setting:

Father and mother of the bride:

Our appetizer:

Kids having fun before being served the mains:

Evan with Denise Kor-kor. He said they are about the same height:

Most of the names had pictures to them as the night went on:

Evelyn even got to dance with the photographer:

She was so happy to get the flowers:

By the time we reached home, Evelyn was flat out as she did not have a nap. She did not even move when I changed her into her PJs. Ko-ko on the other hand, was still awake and joined mummy, daddy, Denise Kor-kor and Yvonne Kor-kor for supper before we all went to bed. 

Melbourne Day8: Wedding Party

We tried to sleep in for the morning ahead of an expected long day, but we heard your cousins running around by 8a.m.. 

You didn't come into our room as you did not know which room daddy and mummy slept in. So it was a little more peaceful for us *grin*

We had to get you dressed earlier as you had a "job" to be done: flower girl. So you were all dressed up and then daddy, Jack Chek-chek and I hopped into the car to drop you off at the wedding venue and also to buy lunch on the way back. 

Here you are all dressed up like a princess, posing for mummy at the hotel lobby while waiting to be brought up to Denise Kor-kor's room to have your hair made up. 

Did not have any pictures of you doing your "job" but it was an exhausting job obviously as you dozed off during the cocktail session.

You kids were not left out as you all got a special gift at your seats. This is Mei-mei's unicorn which she named Binky-Boo:

And Ko-ko like the rest of the boys got a Lego set:

Here are my prince and princess:

All smiles as she got served vanilla ice-cream. Surprisingly Mei-mei could not finish all the ice-cream. Although the sugar in the ice-cream was sufficient to give her enough sugar rush to be dancing the whole night!!

Our menu:

Dancing, but it was too dark to get a clear shot:

You'd have thought you would both sleep as soon as we reached home, but nooOoooOooo... it took me a lot of coaxing before you slept (even after Ko-ko slept!!)

Day 3: Wedding @ Cuffey's Cove

IT was the day of the wedding. So we had a leisurely breakfast then a walk around the hotel compound before heading back to our room to get ready for the wedding. It was to start at 1.00 pm and we planned to reach by 12.30 giving us some time allowance. So we got ready with the plan to leave our hotel by 10.00 am. 

Here we are all dressed up. As daddy did not plan to bring along his camera, we took some pictures of us all dressed up for the occasion before settling into the car for the long and windy 2 hour drive to Cuffey's Cove.  

Here's the beautiful view which i snapped on my phone along the way:

We crossed this river and soon reached the ranch:

We just had to stop for this beautiful view which was 5 minutes from the ranch:

The wind was blowing so strongly when we reached, we quickly ran into the farmhouse. Daryl Ko-ko was there and told us we had to make our way up to "there" which he pointed. Thinking it was the barn which was halfway, we opted to walk only to discover it was very uneven and windy, So ran for shelter in the nice, warm barn and waited for one of the shuttles to drive us to the location where the wedding ceremony was to be held. Daddy on the other hand, opted to continue with the walk and carry Mei-mei along.

The location of the wedding ceremony boasted a beautiful scenery. The wind was very strong and we felt very chilly despite the sun shining brightly. 

Thank goodness, Elizabeth and Will (the bride and groom) planned it very well. There were blankets set out in baskets for the guests to wrap themselves up in, If you look closely you and Mei-mei are all wrapped up. And my hair is blowing in all directions despite it being tied up already:

After the ceremony consisted a little Chinese (tea ceremony for the elders) and Western (saying of wedding oaths) we headed back to the warm barn. This time we all (expect daddy) hopped into the shuttle and reached the barn very quickly. 

The barn was all nicely decorated and we quickly found our seats. The festivities continued here with appetizers and drinks being served. That was later followed by more food and drink.

The simple but beautiful decoration inside the barn

Here's everyone getting ready for the bride and grooms first dance:

We had a group picture taken outside (it was getting colder and the evening approached). And soon had to make our way back to the car parked at the farmhouse as sunset was at 8.30 and we wanted to at least pass the winding section of the journey before dark.

We all dozed in the car while poor daddy had to drive us back with no one accompanying him as he drove.

Went back to the hotel to relax a little before going to sleep. 

The Wedding Day

The next morning, I woke up earlier so that I could have enough time to get ready and also to get you ready. As the night before was a late night for you, it took me a while to get you up. Finally we were all ready and headed to Ashley Kor-kor's suite to await the groom's arrival. Here's a shot of us together which daddy took before we went to "hide" in the bridal room i.e. to take care of the door. Yup, we're the second barricade consisting of 1 heavily pregnant lady and two 6 year olds!

At last Uncle Dennis and his buddies got through the "test" eating all the scary concoctions prepared for them. Then time to get through our door. The bribe was SGD1000. We pocketed it (but was later confiscated) and opened the door for him to come in and claim his wife.

When all the necessities were settled in the bridal suite, they headed to the special room provided by the hotel for the tea ceremony. After the tea ceremony, we had group pictures taken. Here's one of our family with the bride:

After that, we headed back to the room for a quick change and then headed to Starhill for our steak fix. Then mummy went off for some retail therapy and you and daddy went back to the room for a snooze.

We woke up refreshed and went to the pool again for a dip. Then started to get ready and have a light snack knowing dinner was to start late. It was a good thing that you were excited about dressing up. So at around 6pm you pulled on your long pants and behold.. mummy had packed the wrong pair. This was a VERY small pair! Oh no. You told me it was fine, but you looked really odd in the pants. So we quickly changed and "ran" (almost.. how to do it with my big belly...) to Pavillion. And I tell you, searching for black slacks is no easy feat! In the end, we settled for something black and decent enough to pass as slacks and headed back to the room to change and get ready.

Phew.. very stressful. But we were on time. Everyone was still mingling around having pre-dinner cocktails. You stayed with Ashley Kor-kor's friend who briefed you and her son along with Hailey and Jamie on what to do later when dinner commenced. Yup, the 4 of you were the page boys and flower girls.

Ta-da.. here's the bridal couple making their entrance:

Dinner was a pleasant event. It continued way into the night and after a while, we headed back to our room first. You KO-ed almost immediately, despite the afternoon nap. And I soon joined you. Daddy who had changed continued in the suite for more alcohol and laughter with the aunties and uncles before heading back to the room to sleep.

Going to KL

We all took Friday 10th August off to head to KL. This time mummy had to sit in the front passenger seat as my everywhere has swelled up so I'm not able to squeeze at the back with you in your car seat and Ah Ma. Way before our trip, I had to work on you so that you don't complain or make a fuss come Friday.

So early on Friday morning you woke me up before my alarm clock rang. Guess what the time was? 4.30am! Yikes.. it was dark outside and I told you to go back to bed. When it was the "real" time to wake up, it was easy for me to wake you up, as you were so excited to go to KL.

When everyone was finally ready, and the car was packed, off we went. It was close to 9 by then. Hhmm.. we planned to leave by 8am, but that was not to be.

We took a leisurely drive and had a stop in the Bidor rest stop to stretch and also to use the facilities. Through the ride, you reminded me to exercise my feet just as Dr. Low had advised and you even demonstrated to me how to do it.

At last we arrived to our first stop. It was Empire Shopping Gallery. Yup.. you had not forgotten the slide, so off you went 3 round. After that we were caught in a slight traffic jam, seeing it's Friday and lunch time. Next stop was Ikea for lunch and to pick up a few small items (boot was too full for anything bulky anyway..).

Finally, we headed to the hotel off Jalan Bukit Bintang. By the time we arrived, most of the clan had already arrived. There was a wait for our hotel room. And at long last we were given our room. Here you are checking out our bed:

As the reception knew that we were getting angry from the long wait for our room, they offered to give us a room with king sized bed and an extra bed for free. The bed was brought in after we'd left the room to go for a swim. Here's your bed complete with the toiletries for you:

Daddy managed to get a nice picture of Eason who was smiling happily for the camera.
Daddy also took a shot of the bride, Ashley Kor-kor:

I got a shot of Uncle Dennis trying to relax before the big day:

And here's one of us together before we headed back to the room to shower and get ready for a little kai-kai before dinner:

After our shower etc, we headed to Mercato in Pavillion to pick up some milk for you and me, some snacks for you and some wine for everyone. Went back to drop the items in the room before heading to Li Yen for dinner. For dessert, I ordered mango pudding, my favourite dessert. You took one taste and decided to tax my pudding. But you were so excited with it that you choked and all your dinner came out with the pudding. Aihh.. good thing I noticed your "funny face" and pushed the bowl in front of you, so good thing there was no mess on the restaurant floor. Sigh...

We went back to the room to rest and also have supper. We decided on pizza and even called daddy to come back to the room (he was off for a drink.. or two.. or three.. or more) to join us for some pizza. Then it was time to call it a day and go to bed.