The road trip - Part 2

Kuantan was 2 years ago. How time flies. The kids have grown and so did the adults - horizontally.

We almost could not make it as the hub crashed the car for the 2nd time this year. I fear the day I receive the insurance letter premium renewal next year.*shudder*

With a timely stroke of luck and blessings from my parents, we took their car and head off to Malacca with the usual suspects - The Lims and this time, the Tans joined as well.

We stopped over at JB for the famous bak kut teh for breakkie before the long drive.

Arrived around 1-ish and we were famished! Nancy's Kitchen was highly recommended by one of my colleague who frequently visited Malacca.

 

 

  

 

The kids of course enjoyed each other's company. Jayden is a water kid, he needs to at least have a dip in the pool, despite the rainy season.

I can so understand why we can complete Malacca in 3D2N. There weren't much tourist attractions to begin with. But the beauty of travelling with a group is that we get to explore the places together, unravelling hidden food gems - every meal is a fiesta!

Thanks for the awesome company Lims and Tans! Let's do Part 3, 4 & 5 soon! ;)

In less than 100 hours

When I was young, the ideal beach vacation as distorted by the media was Hawaii. The land of "Aloha" and super chio dancing ladies in straw skirts. Of course now, we all know that there are other ideal beachs around the world.

However, it is still one's dream to visit the beautiful island - at least one of your top 100 places to visit before you die. 不是吗?

And so, we decided to go on this escapade to end 2012 on a sweet note. I want to be like the lady below, soaking in clear blue water, sipping what it looks like pineapple juice. To top off the cherry, if I can have her body as well. Just kidding.

Can't wait!

That time of the year

Jayden's 5th Birthday

For the past 4 years, I will block my office calender and make time for the kid, on this day - rain or shine.

This year proved to challenge my limits as I was told to go on a work trip 16 - 19 Oct. 为何啊？！

Anyhow, the kid will still get his celebration, his goodie bags for his friends, his cake, his presents. And he was pleased to receive them earlier too!

Jayden was excited and helped out to pack the goodie bags. He even made suggestions who he thinks will like what. It is very endearing to witness the child being such an observer with his friends.

What's in the bag - pencil case + color pencils + snacks
 

 

Jake and the Neverland pirates cupcakes

 

 

 

 

The Son very blessed with presents from everyone. Thank you all!

 

Happy 5th Birthday my dearest boy!
You have grown to be such a vocal and sensitive child. Teachers in school mentioned that you enjoy interaction and plays a big brother role to your pre-nursery sleeping buddy. Something we don't get to witness at home!

You always show a keen interest in school performances and we truely enjoy watching how you shine on stage. You love the sand, sun and sea - that's why we put you in swimming classes, hoping that this skill will bring you further.

Your inquisitive mind never stops you from asking, sometime incessantly but curiousity for a young mind is good! Never stop learning my child!

We're so proud to have you as our son and hope you continue to nurture to be a fine young man. Stay healthy and happy always!
XOXO Mom + Dad

Big Uncle's wedding on 20-Oct

At the age of 5, Jayden had to wear many hats for his 1st Uncle wedding. Imagine being the page boy cum 'bed jumper' cum ring bearer all in a day! And the kid did not once whine or suffered a meltdown.

I am truely proud that he performed all the tasks dutifully and delivered the ring pillow with no glitch!

Of course, the day is also important to me as my younger brother upgraded himself to a married man and we welcome another family member. Coincidentally, the wife shares the same surname as Dylan. We sniggered at the thought that the Tans and Yips are fated together. Here's wishing Mel and Von everlasting marital bliss!

 

 

Guilty as charged

I have the iPad to blame. Every since I bought the unconniving device to catch up on my K-dramas, I have abandoned the laptop. Blogging has taken the back seat, correction, it is out of the window.

I am almost appalled to discover the amount of "undownloaded" photos in the SD card.

So once again, what has been going around?

There has been a few "First" for us.

Formula One

We watched F1 after it's 4th consecutive run thinking that it will be the last - until the government decided that noise pollution wasn't enough yet.

Singapore Flyer

It was a "First" alone with the Son - complimentary of Auntie Leng. I don't think the kid remembered taking the Flyer when he was only 2. So it was a good refresher for us.

1) He discovered that he could see the world from the Flyer.

2) He discovered there's a water fountain at the bottom of the Flyer.

3) I also discovered that Belgian choc ice-cream has liquor when the Son commented that it was so delicious. -_-""
 

 

 

Hobby + Collection



 

Knowing that Jayden has never inherited my 'artistic' interest, I bought some 'peel and paste' artwork for him to try.


Verdict: Kept him busy for a while before he decides that his "Cars" collection are more interesting that deciding what color a peacock should look like.

 

 

 

His 1st Sports Day
 

Being an athletic person myself, I was excited about the Son's 1st sports day. Especially I was told that he would be part of the cheerleading group! Who says cheerleading are for gu niang only?

So proud of the little one when he performed in front of the entire stadium! Definitely another first for us too. I really have to give credit to the Japanese coach who can make my restless boy remember ever move and cheer.


 

 

1st encounter with Lego

 

I know he's slower than some. Only recently, he took an interest in Lego. But it has to be Cars Disney related or vehicles. Will show some of his small model fix-up another time.

 

Now back to my iPad.

 

The reason for my hiatus

And so what seemed like it happened just a while ago has already past for 2 months.

Why have I stopped blogging? Where are the photos?

3 rounds of celebrations

2 back to back buffets (yes one lunch, one dinner)

2 large and very yummy cakes to finish

2 brunches and a lunch later... ....


怎么可能不肥呢?!?!

While I was editing the photos, I looked at myself in horror. The evil hub has secretly converted me to look like him. Like they say, if you cannot lose weight, then make your partner look like you. Ok I don't know who said that but I'm sure that must have been the plot.

It started with a very innocent off-day with C at the spa.


Spa was fantastic and we were even lamenting why it only lasted for an hour. And then C suggested we have a good brunch for my birthday treat. I suspect it meant to 'compensate' our short-lived luxurious day. We had brunch at Antoniette Mandarin Gallery and a very good time gossiping.

One of the perks of being a middle aged woman is that we have the ability to slurge on something we like. We did our nails, went shopping around town - very wrong move to do that when you're in the midst of GSS. C lured me to onPedder and said they had sales. Bought a Stella Mccartney faux python clutch at a steal!

We were all out to be a full fledged tai tai for a day - except the difference was we were using our own money. *hur hur hur* (Mental note: Must not jio C out for shopping on a weekday again. Very dangerous)

  The following day, I went back to Mandarin Gallery to try Wild Honey. Imagine it had a queue on a Mon 2pm!!! People no need to work one huh!     And mini celebrations with the peeps in my life. This has got to be most interesting cake. It was so life-like, I thought it was REAL xiao long baos and a candle! Very creative idea Bon.         The back to back buffet happened on my actual birthday. Met up with the sis for asian buffet at Hotel Rendezvous where they served a myraid of durian bites. I half suspect Liv picked the place for the godson instead. :P And then come evening, the hub planned a surprise get-together with my family members at Scotts buffet. How to eat 2 buffets in a day!!! 怎么可能!   Sharing some photos I took using instagram. :)

 Thank you everyone for your love, your gifts, your well wishes on my birthday. Every single gesture is deeply remembered. And I wish everyone good health and a smooth-sailing life!   Wallet courtesy from the hub. Thanks Dear! :D  

Eat, play, shop

Yes, this was basically what we mainly did on our recent trip. Ever since I visited Hong Kong last summer, it has become a yearly ritual to come to this shopping haven and sweep everything off their sales. Of course this time, there was a little tweak in the itinerary.

The son came along. After having combed 4 Club Meds for the past consecutive years, we decided we should break away from the beach vacation and introduce the boy the other side of the world. Also to see if he can sit through longer flights - Bless the inflight entertainment and iPad!!

Off to HONG KONG!!!





And so we arrived at our hotel - Regal Hong Kong at Causeway Bay. For once, we acted like responsible tourists and even bought an Octopus card for Jayden.
Since we arrived in the early afternoon, we decided to visit the Peak on a weekday to avoid the crazy crowd we encountered a year ago.
The Peak

Guess who took this photo for us? :)

 
We monkeyed around, took photos at breath-taking Hong Kong. Had our dinner at the infamous Bubba Gump (no photos as I edited it and it didn't save somehow) before hitting the sack. We had to perserve energy for the big tour the following day.

Day 2 - Hong Kong Disneyland

It drizzled in the morning and we were lamenting if we should still head to Disneyland. We wanted to avoid the weekend crowd. But it appears, everyday looked like a holiday at Disneyland.
Filling our stomachs with yummylicious dim sum before the long walk.
I ordered every single item that was recommended. People usually go to the one at Mongkok where you usually queue like crazy for an hour before you get a seat. Having an impatient kid with us, we decided to pay a slight premium for our comfort level and went to their IFC branch instead. Turned out not a bad decision, no queue, food was just as good. :)

  Our photographer for the day aka the Son asked us to say "Cheese", hug each other and smile. :) 
 As usual, the hub and the son had no impatience to wait for the Finale, much to my disappointment. And so we went to the City of Lights.  
Day 3 & 4 - Shopping Time!

The next 2 days were saved solely for venturing good food and appease my shopping hunger. I can see that the kiddo is not complaining either as he sets on a quest to hunt for his Cars Disney collection at EVERY Toys R Us outlet. We combed almost all of them and he never left one empty handed. *hears wallet crying*

 When one comes to Hong Kong, one must eat breakfast the Hong Kong style way. :)    
As you can see, we left the country satisfied with beautiful memories created, another inch to the waistline and an empty wallet. We almost had no HKD to have lunch at the airport! Hur hur.

Jayden @ 4.5

We have moved into our temporary home for about a month and a half now. Nothing has changed much except getting used to a new environment and a smaller space. Most of the stuff are still in boxes which we have no intentions of unpacking unless absolutely necessary.

Sleep had been an issue. Not only because it's a new place but also largely due to the unforgiving weather coupled with no air-condition in the house. (YES. NO AIR-CON)

And so to get our minds off the hot climate, I decided to cook (after a gazillion years later) on the HCP (Happycall Pan), which was bought half a year ago!

The son was my guinea pig when Dylan was outstation in KL. Safest choice to cook for a kid - Claypot chicken rice with lots of hot dog. Conclusion: He loves it! :)

Other than cooking, I got the son to understand the concept of housechores. I let him had a go at stiring the hot syrup to make Jelly! He was very delighted of course and stirred it really carefully without getting too close to the fire. End result: Ice cold jelly on a hot hot day!

So at 4.5 years old, Jayden has grown to be quite an independant boy. He wears his own clothes,  helps to do simple chores in the house and brushes his own teeth. Though sometimes, the kiddo does ask for treats in returnbut we gladly rewarded him.

This year on Mother's and Father's Day, we both received a personalized card from the son. Although I cannot compliment on his abstract drawing, the thought of it just fuzzes my heart even though he made our faces green. Tee-hee. And in return my son, we're bringing you to Hong Kong Disneyland in July! It's your first trip to a non-beachy country. We hope to create more beautiful memories with you. We love you too - Daddy & Mummy

His first Singlish lesson

This is one incident that made me realized that my boy has grown again. He has started to rationalize conversation and query when in doubt.

Grandma: "Cannot suka suka do this"
Jayden: "Por por, what is suka suka?"
Grandma: *gives a very bewildered look*
Mommy stepped in to the rescue.
Mommy: *in deep thoughts to choose the correct words* It means "anyhow"
Jayden: *very enlightened* Ok. I will not suka suka get upset next time.

I wonder if it's even a good thing to even expose him to Singlish. -_-

Goodbye to our nest

They say a house is a true reflection of oneself. How true indeed.

Other than revealing the style we've incoporated into our house, I am also ashamed to admit the amount of clutter we have accumulated over the years. Before marriage, it was just a roomful of things and a suitcase packed to my new home. I have lost count of the number of boxes I have packed, half of which are things that I have no inkling clue of the last time I saw or touched it.

I am only glad I've managed to sell off some furnitures and appliances to make space for the temporary smaller place we'll be holding up at for the next 2.5 years before our EC is ready. Some asked why did we not consider buying a readily available development - well, with the current ever-rising prices, it takes alot of courage to sign your name under that large mortgage loan. We were actually thinking longer longer term. Hopefully, we can use this 'mortgage-free' period to accumulate our CPF savings and invest in a 2nd property in future. :) Hopefully.

Ok back to the our house. Dylan has been urging me to pack since the day we sold our house. So kan cheong spider. I hesitated for quite a while. Not because I was lazy to pack, but I was overwhelmed with emotions. After all, this is the first home I've owned, built, decorated and have had lots of memories in it. Saying goodbye was not that easy.

I started to re-collect the times where we went around house-hunting - covering places from the North to the East almost every weekend. 35 houses, we viewed 34 houses before we were satisfied with the 35th one. And the ironic thing was we wanted to find a house which was very much in its raw state from HDB. Alot of places were nicely decorated but it wasn't our style. We wanted to over-haul the entire place. So, we thought finding such a place was almost impossible, cause who wouldn't renovate their house right?

Well, no. 35 house proved us wrong. The place was as raw as it can get. Almost zero renovation done except for the kitchen cabinets. PERFECT. We even managed to seal the deal 30k below valuation. Where to get such deals these day right?!?

My last words to my beloved home (I know very cliche) - You've provided us good shelter and ample space throughout these years. You have also kept our friends comfortable and made every gathering enjoyable and memorable. Thank you for bringing us warmth and I hope you'll be happy with your new owner. I'm sure they will continue to keep you clean and tidy. Farewell my humble abode.

Luck ran dry

We had 2 piece of good news at the start of the year.

#1: We've sold our flat for a decent price! Offer came in when we were travelling in Bangkok in early Feb. Although I must say, we never expected a middle age lady to appreciate our house reno. But still, we're glad that we're going to handover our nest to a nice lady. I felt a momentary loss when I accepted the cheque. After all, we have stayed in this home for the past 5 years. I didn't know we can experience seperation anxiety at this age too. Hahaha.

#2: We've bought our new place when I was travelling in Taipei!!! All happened in a span of less than a month. We spent a few months of deliberating on where our next place should be - priority was the Son's future school. But after reading all the possibilities and non-possibilities of trying to secure a school purely using distance, we decided to play safe and just put Jayden at either one of our school. No need to lose hair anymore. Heh.
So choosing a home become no boundaries. We wanted somewhere near in-laws but anywhere near Bishan is very very expensive. :( My only bottom line is I do not wish to stretch the dollar and stress ourselves over mortgage. So we shelved finding a private condo and decided to go for EC. After all, it is our last chance to get a subsidized house from HDB.

So we went around to look at a few current launches. The only EC that caught our eyes was Twin Waterfalls from Frasers. We love their layout and location was very near future Watertown - the next Centerpoint in a suburb. So we took our chances and went for the balloting. And bless our souls, we got it! :D Very high floor, the layout we wanted - everything penned out nicely!

So everything went well and smooth in Feb and early Mar. But our luck suddenly ran out in mid-Mar.

Dylan got into a minor car accident - thankfully unharmed but the car is disfigured. :(
A series of unlucky things happend on me too.

I am hoping it is just a temporary 'suayness'. After all, the biggest contentment is that we've found our new place but only ready in 2015!!! We'll take this 3 years to save up and hopefully can invest in another small unit for future investment. :)

As for now, we'll be busy busy busy in moving to a temporary shelter.

Let's hope April will be a good month for us!

Foodie trip 2 - Taipei

WARNING: The following entry will be mainly on food and shopping. If you have a weak stomach or compulsive buying disorder, please note that I will not be liable for any impulsive decision to fly to Taipei. Although I will be very delighted to share with you the locations =)

So after what seemed like 2 years from my 30th birthday wish, I finally got onto a girly trip with Liv and 2x Irene. The only agenda on the trip was - FUN. We couldn't even care if we came back a few kilos heavier or maxed out a credit card. Ok I lied. I was VERY VERY concerned I gained a good 2kg!!! =(

When I meant girly trip. It was a lie too. Girls are young and poor. We matured ladies have the power to spend. So of course even airline must be the best. :p We came to Taipei prepared - biggest luggage, enough warm clothes and a mind set to just spend, spend, spend! :D

Day 1

Arrived at Howard Hotel with a very angry stomach. So Irene brought us to her favourite "yi-mian" store near the hotel. The food was YUM-MEH and super super cheap!!! Of course, always end the meal washed down with a cup of bubble tea.

Come nightfall, we went to Tonghua night market for some street food and shopping. Was that just our dinner??! Nah. We went for supper at a nearby teahouse. I am guilty to acknowledge that I have broken my "no meals after 8pm" rule on my 1st night in Taipei.

Day 2

Irene wanted to bring us to try BBQ. Unfortunately, the one we wanted to try was closed so we settled for a random restaurant. Turned out the choice wasn't so bad. BBQ on a cool day never tasted so good!

Another must try dessert. You pick your main - either grass jelly or bean curd and then add 3 more ingredients. I picked yam balls, pumpkin balls and barley. Ultimate shiokness!

Very random shot of me posing with my pumps. Shoes are madness cheap in Taiwan!! Everytime I hesistated to buy a pair of shoes, the evil voices from the girls rang in my head "It's just $20 nia....." Gone case. I succumb to the voices eventually... ...

Day 3

Ok. Come to Taipei must do some touristy thing. Like patronize their Toilet Theme restaurant. Everything is toilet related! From the bowls, cups, table, seat - yes we were literally sitting on a toilet bowl while eating! Food wasn't so bad either.

After lunch, still got space to finish a bowl of "Ah Zhong mee sua". Recipe for a good bowl of mee sua on a cool day = Lots of garlic, chilli oil!

Don't be mistaken, the dumpling fest was during dinner time. After all the feasting, what rewarding way to work out the calories than shopping in the night markets!

Super love the pumps! It is so comfy and uber uber cheap! Each of us got a pair and a color of our favourite choice!

Day 4

We skipped breakfast just to have this for brunch. It is a Sichuan restaurant opened by a few Taiwanese celebrities. The restaurant was at some random street that you would hardly notice. But the food was fabulous! We even had to make a booking a day prior in case we meet the lunch crowd.

And off to Danshui - almost the end of Taipei to get some local goodies!
Disclaimer: Notice that most of the photos were just Irene and me? We're the buddy partner for the trip. Liv brought her partner along. So Irene and I, sleep, eat and take pictures together most of the time. The only thing we didn't do is bathe together la.

Come nightfall, we went to the famous Shilin Market. I must say, even Tonghua and Shida beats Shilin hands-down.

Day 5

After 4 days of combing night streets, we decided to pamper ourselves with a good meal. When I meant GOOD, it was a 5 course meal with a decent size portion at only $60/pax! Where to find this price in Singa-exhorbitant-pore!!!

This is also the day Dylan and I got our 2nd piece of good news for the house! :) More on that later.

For the past 2 consecutive nights, both Irene and Liv had their own plans to do. But both of them took turns to keep me company. To reward ourselves, also at the expense of making Liv salivate while she was at a concert, Irene and I tried shabu shabu! $20 for free flow of 五花肉! Tell me worth it or not!

Day 6

Finally, our trip came to an end. By the last day, all of us were living by the last dollar in our pocket. We almost had problem having our last meal. Hahahah. It is alarming to know all that we have stashed on the ground is a 4 figure sum!

We went back Singapore with everything expanded - expanded luggage, expanded waistline and an expanded credit card statement.

Suddenly, holiday trips with the husband seem so lacklustre. :p