Bye Bye Daddy.. See You Soon

We woke up and had breakfast with daddy before daddy left for work. Then we relaxed around the room and I finished the last of the packing. Then you left a message for daddy and off we went to take a taxi to the airport. After checking in (and thank goodness we had no problems doing so.. our bag was 19.9kg!!) we went into the terminal and took the sky train to Terminal 2 then Terminal 3. We even had time to take some pictures:

You were smiling for this picture. And the reason you posed so willingly and happily was because I had to allow you to take a picture of me first. (No, Ee-ee Evan didn't drop the camera *grin*).

After buying the duty free items we were asked to buy, we headed back to Terminal 1 to take our flight back. Before that we stopped to have a quick lunch then took a few travelators before going into the lounge. That was when the paper bag which was carrying your Lego gave way! Thank goodness I had packed an extra paper bag and also daddy's back pack so I managed to stuff all the things into those bags. Then I asked you to sit with the bags as I filled your water bottle. The man who sat next to you told me that you were a good boy and didn't move at all as I asked you to. You certainly made me proud.

Soon we were boarding the plane. And we headed back to Penang. After clearing Immigration, we collected our luggage and Ah Ma was already waiting for us. What a nice holiday it was.

4 more days in Singapore

As daddy had to go to work for the rest of the week, we kept ourselves entertained. On Monday we took our leisurely breakfast in the hotel, went upstairs then slowly got ready and watched TV and when we were finally ready we headed out to walk the many malls on Orchard Road.

After walking for a short while, you decided that you were hungry, so we headed to Food Republic in Somerset 313 (Somerset became our favourite haunt as you liked to cross the pedestrian crossing; you just wanted to press the button, to this mall which was just a stone's throw away from our hotel).

Soon we were tired so we headed back to the hotel for a rest before heading out to swim in the pool which we'd checked out in the morning. Just after we left the pool, it started to rain. We both fell asleep for a while then headed to Somerset again for dinner. We had Italian food in mind, so we went to try out Trattoria Cucina Italiana. We were seated and while I was trying to decide on what to order you were given crayons. Happiness for you *wink*

So this was my placemat:

An axed out car and another car which was satisfactory to you.

We spent the rest of Tuesday shopping too. This time we took the MRT for a ride. Just one stop but still fun. The people on the MRT were very kind, offering their seat for you. Lunch was eggs and toast and warm Milo.

On the way back to the hotel, we decided to drop by Cold Storage in Centrepoint Shopping Center. There we spotted some interesting trolleys:

Trolleys with "TVs". Ah.. so of course although we had nothing in particular to buy, I think we spent a good 20 minutes in Cold Storage, so that you could enjoy the "on board" entertainment. Of course we bought yogurt and this was what you had for tea time in the room:

We had dinner plans with daddy on Tuesday evening. So our dinner date was in Black Angus Steakhouse. Although this restaurant was on Orchard Road, it was at the opposite end from our hotel. And lazy you (thank goodness) said that you could not walk and wanted to take a taxi. So we hopped into a taxi and arrived there (probably longer by taxi than walking) after driving through the traffic jam. Dinner was nice and very filling. Then we took a slow walk all the way back to our hotel. Seems like the walk is not so tiring when it's a leisurely walk and when we're not hungry!

Wednesday was filled with more shopping. We walked all the way to Paragon. As usual, shortly after we arrived, you insisted that you were hungry. Went to Ngee Ann City and you did not want to have lunch in the food court *sigh*. So we took the lift up and found Breeks cafe. Ok. Simple enough.. Before walking into the restaurant. We saw "BricksWorld" the Lego shop which we had visited in Plaza Singapura on Sunday (and had already bought a ginormous Lego set for you). After lunch, you still wanted to look at the Lego in the shop, so we stopped by there. They had some for children to play with you here you are creating something with the many pieces of Lego:

Tada...

A jet fighter

We walked around and made several stops at some shops before heading back to the hotel. Of course, we had to stop by Cold Storage (again!!) for you to take a trolley ride (so easy to please).

Another round of yogurt

After a rest and shower, we headed to Plaza Singapura for dinner. We had a simple dinner in Ajisen Ramen. The headed back to the hotel after wandering around and to pack up. It was time to head home the next day.

Sunday in Singapore

We woke up early and had our breakfast in the hotel and when everyone was ready, we started off to Sentosa Island for an early day there. Ee Poh had told me that it has been raining in the afternoons, so we wanted an early start to avoid the rain. We took a taxi and soon we were at the casino entrance.

Did a little window shopping, walked around and soon got bored. We did not plan to go to Universal Studios as high chances you'd want to go home 10 minutes after we'd entered the park! You do not like the heat outdoors and would insist on going home after a while. So we decided to make a trip there another time.

With daddy at the "Lake of Dreams"

Looking at the water fountain. Daddy tried to convince you to run and try not to get wet.


In your new Ben10 t-shirt

After that we spotted the chocolate shop. Of course, we went in and didn't leave the shop empty handed.

All excited posing with the giant syrup

Excited with the Hershey coin box

Soon it was time to leave as there was nothing else of interest to look at. So we decided to take a Jewel cable car ride. We ended up paying for the return ticket which would let us take a longer ride from Imbiah Station pass the Harbour Front to another stop and back to Harbour Front. But in the end, we went all the way back to Imbiah Station and took the monorail to Vivi City and then from them took the MRT to Orchard station.

With daddy in the cable car

We walked around and ended up in 313 Somerset. There we tried out Marvelous Ice Cream which was supposed to be like Cold Stone which we had in Japan, but we were a little disappointed. We saw another shop with the same concept upstairs but we were too filled with ice-cream so we didn't have anymore. After shopping for a while, you started complaining about your tired legs, so we headed outside to the alfresco area to have a drink. Found a nice little place called Brotzeit German Bier Bar & Restaurant. Daddy and I had a drink each. I wanted to share my drink with you but you didn't like it.

My fizzy apple juice

Daddy's 1 litre Paulaner

We went back to the hotel to rest after that then it was time for dinner with Ah Pek and Ah Mm. They picked us up to go for chicken rice. The place is called Boon Tong Kee. Can you imagine we had to take a number then wait for a table? We finally got a table, ordered the dishes (no not only chicken) and dinner was served rather quickly from there. THey dropped us off after that and shortly after that you were in dreamland.

Flying in the Jet (Star)

We took the JetStar flight to Singapore. As daddy was going there for work, we decided to take a short holiday to Singapore too. Daddy went to Singapore on a later flight by SilkAir and we left Penang first. When we reached the Singapore airport, I had wanted to wander around the duty free shops first but SOMEONE insisted that he wanted to ride on the travelator (as usual...),so in the end we walked and walked around Terminal 2 on the travelator and I didn't get to see anything at all *sob*

As we didn't have any specific place to visit, we didn't bring daddy's DSLR. Instead we borrowed ee-ee's compact camera and this is a picture of you willingly posing at the airport while waiting for daddy's flight to arrive:

After clearing immigration and collecting our luggage after daddy finally arrived, we headed out to take a taxi to bring us to our hotel on Orchard Road. Checked into our room and headed out to have lunch. As it was rather late, we decided to have lunch in the food court just downstairs from our hotel. As daddy was ordering chicken rice for you, I saw a sign saying "Char Siew Wan Tan Mee". Big mistake. I'd completely forgotten that Wan Tan Mee in Singapore had tomato sauce in it. Well, this didn't. I reckon it was sweet sauce which tasted OK initially, but halfway through, I could not take another bite more!

After filling our tummies, we headed to Plaza Singapura which was just a short walk from the hotel. I headed to Daiso while you and daddy wandered around the toy floor. When I met up with you again, daddy said that you'd found a shop of interest: a Lego shop! We went to take a look at the toy that you wanted, but daddy convinced you to have a look at the selection in Toys R Us. So we headed back to the hotel to rest a little and to find out where Toys R Us would be. Just as we were heading out, it started to rain. You got upset and in the end, we decided to take a (expensive) taxi ride to Paragon.

Found Toys R Us but they did not have the set you wanted. No time to look around anymore as we had dinner arrangements with Ee-Poh and family so you picked a Hot Wheels car and we headed back in the drizzle. Daddy had to carry you and run/jog all the way back to the hotel. Poor daddy's arms were killing him by the time we reached.

Dinner was in the restaurant in the hotel, so when they arrived, we headed down and joined them for the buffet which included ordering crabs cooked any way you want. This was one of the dishes ordered:

Lobster Thermidor

After dinneer, Ee Poh, Teo Kong, Julian Ku-ku and Ashley Ku-ku came up to the room to have a look at the room before heading home. As usual Ee Poh brought you a little gift. A Ben 10 T-shirt. Lucky you. Shortly after they left, we all KO-ed. Who wouldn't be tired from such a long day, especially poor daddy's arms!

Muffin anyone?

Found this really yummy blog recently. And as I was browsing around, I found this yummy recipe "Banana Crumb Muffin". As we were in the market yesterday, I decided to buy banana's to try out the muffin recipe.

I asked for 5 banana's but one was taxed yesterday. It was a simple recipe and lazy mummy decided to mix everything in the mixer. Yay! Easy peasy. Shortly after it was done, you could not wait anymore. It was a little warm and you ate it all up. In fact you had already "tested" the recipe BEFORE I baked the muffins!

Here's how they looked like:

Wanted to take a nice shot of the muffin. What do you think?

Dang, I only realised I took a picture of a muffin with a cracked top :( Oh well, this muffin is already in my tummy cracked or not cracked!

New Year, New School

We had registered you over a year ago for this other school (for the 5 year old class. There was no opening for the 4 year old class). Then last year a few days before the new term started the school called to ask if we were interested to let you join the 4 yer old class. We brought you to the school and after taking a look, you said that you did not want to go to this school!

Anyhow since your old school had moved to a new location and we still had a place in this school, we brought you to have another look at this school and you said that you'd like to go to this school. So here you are today at your new school.

We arrived quite early but there were already other students in the school. You got to know your teacher, Mr Tan and soon you were happily sitting on the floor building with the toys. We decided to leave shortly as you seemed to have settled well in class.

When we told you that we were leaving, you did not even blink an eye. In fact, you barely bothered to acknowledge us and to say goodbye!!

We picked you up later and you said that you had a good time in this school. Hope all goes well for you.

Short Holiday

We headed down to KL for a 3-day holiday after the Christmas weekend. Furthermore, there was a planned outage of water supply on Tuesday. So this time is was the 5 of us. We tried to make an early start for the drive to KL, but since daddy and I had a wedding dinner the night before and you had waited up for us (till 12 midnight!) by the time we all got out of bed and got ready we left the house at 9am. Not too bad in my opinion!

As I was trying to get you out of bed you asked me "Are we going to the airport?". "Er.. no. Why?" "You mean we're not taking aeroplane to KL?". Wah.... you think we print money?? No we drove to KL.

First stop was not Ashley Kor-kor's house. Instead we headed directly to The Gardens to have our dim sum fix. Ashley Kor-kor met up there for lunch then later Uncle Dennis joined us. The moment we got home, we were introduced to the newest family member:

...Pepper. He was so excited when he saw us, Ashley Kor-kor had a tough time trying to control his excitement. Another thing you were introduced to in KL was the "iPad". The moment you were "acquainted" to it, it was the first thing you touched the moment we reached home from wherever or the moment you wake up!

We had dinner in Kota Kemuning. The next day it was Ikea. Before that we had yummy "yong tau fu" then headed to Ikea. I think you remembered there was food sold in Ikea. Shortly after you arrived, you insisted that you were hungry (what??!!). So off you went with Ashley Kor-kor and you guys took so long I called her to check if everything was OK. She said that you had just managed to get your food. So as you both enjoyed each other's company the rest of us slowly walked around Ikea. Dinner that night was in Grand Imperial Restaurant in Bangsar Shopping Center. Yvonne Kor-kor and Uncle Peter joined us that day for dinner.

As we were getting ready to leave for Penang you told me "I'll miss Pepper". We had the seafood curry mee then headed to Kor Poh's house to collect the yam cake before heading back. We stopped by Ipoh before continuing all the way back to Penang.. where there was barely any water still until 10pm that night!

School Day Tomorrow

After many weeks of "I no need to sleep early, tomorrow no school", you've finally gone to bed early today. Tomorrow is a school day! As this year you'll be starting in a new school which is further meaning you'll need to wake up earlier so that you aren't late for school and daddy and I aren't late for work.

I've told you many times for the past 2 weeks that when school starts you'll have to go to bed at 9pm. So what time did you go to bed today? Well, we went upstairs to bathe and get ready for bed at 8.15pm. But at 9pm you insisted that you wanted to "try" the bread I had made today. So down we went had the bread and came back upstairs.

And just less than 10 minutes ago you were snoring right next to me! Hope this means a good start to the new school year for you.

*Goodnight, sweetie..*

New Year's Eve Party

As most of the usual suspects were not around during Christmas eve and Christmas Day, Ah Ma decided to have the dinner party on New Year's Day instead. So what was on the menu? "Surf and Turf" that's what Ah Ma called it.

Daddy was the steak chef for the night, with mummy taking orders for how the guests wanted their steaks to be cooked. On top of the steaks, we had lobsters on the grille, pork chipolata's and salmon. The kids were each given a hamburger (I should call it "pork-burger" instead) with chippies.

After stuffing ourselves with dinner, we sat around chatting and the kids opened some Christmas presents. Then it was time for dessert:

Haagen-Dazs Ice-cream Christmas Log Cake

Sponge Cake baked by Great-grand Aunty

Apple (?) bought by Uncle Sin Chuan from Cameron Highlands. Everyone thought it was more like guava than apple

As the next day was a weekend, everyone stayed a little later, but they did not stay till midnight as they were worried about traffic jam getting back home.

Happy New Year 2011!

Lego Creator 3-in-1

The worst part (for me) when your Lego is when you want to change into something else. Really bad for my nails as I try to separate the parts for you! Arghhhh... my poor nails.

We found more creator sets and picked this one which can turn into 3 different types of car as your Christmas present. Right after you opened your present, it was time to start creating. And of course you picked the most difficult design. There was over 50 pages of instructions!! Good thing it was not my job to help you to build the sports car.

At long last you managed to build the car with minimal help from daddy. How long did this creator take to make? While the last creator set took you about an hour to complete building it, this one took TWO HOURS! I think daddy was more tired than you were building this as he had to watch you and guide you where necessary.

Presents on Christmas Day

I was still dead asleep when you woke up. Daddy had gone to golf but you were all excited when you woke up. Reason? It's Christmas Day and you've been waiting for a long time to open the presents under the tree.

Too bad you still had to wait for daddy to get back from his golf game as he wanted to be there when you opened your presents. Poor thing.

But you were quite well behaved and happily agreed to wait for daddy to get back from his game before opening and not once did you ask to open first.

Shortly after we got back from lunch, daddy also got home. He showered and at long last, it was time to open the presents. Before that, you had to pose several times before daddy got a satisfactory shot of you with the Christmas tree and presents. You were beginning to get impatient but we finally got a good shot:

And no it was not time for you to open your present yet. First you had to be the little assistant to distribute the presents to Ah Kong, Ah Ma and kakak before you finally got to lay your hands on your present (and rip apart the wrapping paper in record time!!).

Here you are all excited (can be seen with your tongue sticking out.. your current favourite way of indicating happiness).

Another Lego Creator set.

What We Did On Chritstmas Eve

Unlike other years, we had no plans for this year's Christmas eve and none for Christmas Day too. Ah Ma had mentioned the day before that she's be cooking fried beehoon for dinner on Friday (*gloom*). But our surprise when we got back, there was chicken roasting in the oven and Ah Ma was also cooking spaghetti marinara on top of that. Yummy!

Dinner was eaten early that day as we wanted to bring you to the (quite) newly opened Straits Quay to have a look at the Christmas tree.

We quickly got ready, waited for Ah Kong and Ah Ma to have a quick shower and off we went. First stop was to look at the Christmas tree. You weren't too interested in the tree surprisingly, but we did manage to get a picture before wandering around to see what shops were opened there.

We headed home and it was a good thing the traffic condition all the way home was not too jam yet. It was probably too early for the party goers still.

Merry Christmas!

Lightning

source

.. McQueen. You started to call him "the 95 car" and finally managed to learn his name.

You are just crazy over him lately. You've got a t-shirt, a book (or two) and even a model of the car. And you know what he says after you shake it "Speed.. I am speed" or "The checkered flag is mine".

Looks like you are still crazy over cars as ever!!

I Love You

Sometimes you can be so sweet. It was just one of those days and we were in the car on the way out:

Evan: Mummy..
Mummy: Yes Evan?
Evan: I love you
Mummy: I love you too, sweetheart.

Evan: Daddy
Daddy: Yes Evan?
Evan: Close the gate
Daddy: *hurt* I thought you were going to say "I love you"
Evan: Yes, I love you too daddy

We had a good laugh... But you managed to placate daddy too...

The Penang Bird Park

As Ah Kong and Ah Ma were only due to be back on Thursday evening and daddy had managed to clear off his calendar at work, we both took the day off to accompany you. We could not go too far as we had to be back for dinner to celebrate Tou-tou's 93rd birthday and we also had to pick Ah Kong and Ah Ma up to join in the dinner.

The night before I was trying to convince you to go to the Penang Bird Park. But you kept saying that you didn't want to go. You wanted to watch another movie, but there was no more movie suitable for little children. There was no showing even of Megamind 3D!!

So on Thursday you both woke up really late and after a little more convincing, we decided to head to the bird park. By the time we arrived at the bird park, it was close to 11.30am. And we were just on time for the show. So after paying for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 camera (yup daddy's camera needed an entrance ticket too!!) we rounded the corner from the entrance to wait for the show to begin. There was a school excursion of kindergarten children who were excitedly waiting for the show to begin. You on the other hand, was just waiting to go home. Sigh.. it's just like the last trip to Singapore's Jurong Bird Park. I had to persuade you to wait for the show. To be honest the show was not very interested, but you liked it when the birds swooped right above our heads. Before the show ended we wandered off to look at the many different types of birds in the park.

Waiting for the show to begin

We saw many beautiful and colourful birds. You even seemed to be trying to enjoy yourself. (or else suffer mummy's wrath??). Since you were unwilling to let daddy take any pictures, he changed lens to his telephoto and took some nice shots of the birds:

There was also some crocodiles but you were so afraid of them, despite being in an enclosure. You refused to go anywhere near them. So when we reached the back of the park where there was a BIG python, I warned daddy not to mention the snake in case you got a fright from seeing such a big snake.

We left after spending about 1.5 hours in the bird park as it was getting really hot and we were starting to feel hungry too. Lunch was yummy yam rice in Chai Leng Park, although I'd have preferred yam rice from BM.

A Little Drawing Time

I wasn't well on Monday so I was at home with you and daddy who was supposed to be with you continued to work at home instead. So what did we do? I had bought several pieces of mahjong paper (really large sized paper) the week before. So we decided to do a little painting.

Instead of painting outside like we did the last time, we painted in air-conditioned comfort as it was a little too sunny in that spot. So we set up the newspaper, the paint and the container of water and the drawing paper and you started to draw. Of course I was not excluded from this too. So we both drew for about ah hour.

Daddy took some shot of you posing with your artwork. You seem to love drawing so much. We've signed you up for art classes during this holidays. Ah Ma brought you to the first class on Friday and you loved it. I guess at least you've got something to do since you are not attending any holiday camp this long holiday.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Daddy finally turns XX (censored) as we're not telling everyone how old he is. While he was off this morning, we woke up, had breakfast and made banana cupcakes as daddy's birthday cake. As we didn't have candles, we bought a pack and after a yummy dinner of Japanese buffet, we went back to have the most important part of a birthday "the birthday cake".

I tried to pick the nicest looking cake and you put the candles. You decided to put 4 candles for daddy (no he's not 40 years old today).

Oh yes, you also made him a "birthday card". Um, not able to take a good shot of the card so will post it up when I've gotten our "photographer" who is king for the day to take a nice picture of your artwork.

Happy Birthday to a wonderful daddy. Hugs and kisses from us both.

We Went For a Movie

We woke up and had no specific plans. Ah Kong and Ah Ma are away in Hanoi for a holiday with their friends. So after we woke up, got ready to go out and headed to Gurney Plaza. The only movie suitable for you was Megamind which was only in 3D and when daddy asked if you wanted to watch it wearing spectacles, you didn't. So we finally opted on :

Picture Source

Yup, Rapunzel. You said OK when daddy asked, so we decided on this. We hurriedly had lunch after buying the tickets and headed to the cinemas. So which part of the movie did you like most? I'd say you only started to pay more attention when all the popcorn were gone!

Of course you loved it when Rapunzel bopped Flynn on the head with the frying pan. You laughed out loud every time she did that.

It was a lovely cartoon and we all enjoyed it. Despite it being SOOO cold in the cinema.

Drinking Juice

It's never easy for us to introduce you to something new. Or even to re-introduce something to you. You used to love mango. Now you wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. You'd take orange juice but never touch an orange (not in juice form).

Tonight we went out for dinner as you had asked to have rice for dinner and that is something neither daddy nor mummy is very good at preparing. *Ah Kong and Ah Ma are away on holiday* Daddy ordered his favourite umbra juice with sour plum and when he offered it to you, you surprised us by agreeing to give it a try. Even more surprising is that you loved it!

Even got you to pose with your drink.. for the record!

Now, if we could only convince you to take vegetables willingly...