It’s been a while…..

It’s been a while since I updated my blog…..

The last couple of months has been difficult, now I truely understand where my parents were coming from when they were trying to raise me.   As kids, all we wanted was to have lots of play time and nothing else on our little minds.  But as parents, all we wanted is for our kids to grow up well, eat and live well, get the proper education needed but the fact is, it’s usually never the case.

When the kids were babies, we always complain how hard it is to lose sleep and take care of a crying baby or a waddling toddler.  As they start to walk, we worry they fall and knock into things.  Then comes the time, they have to attend pre-school.  Then we worry about if they can adapt to school without us around.  Then when they go into primary school, you worry again…..how is my kid going to cope in such a big school with so many kids around?  The fact is, somehow, they are survivors and can somehow manage to surivie…..

Now, Rayner’s 9 and RayAnne’s 7.  Rayner is growing up fast.  So fast that I don’t seem to be able to catch up.  Both mentally and physically.  He has recently started lying, he can lie about anything under the sun, which lead me to think and worry that if I don’t do something about it, it will be too late.  I want him to get back onto the right track and grow up to be a useless and rightous person but I hope  I am doing the right thing for my child.

People often attribute it to no fatherly figure around but I doubt so plus I never quite agree that it is right for a child to not behave just because either of the parent is often not around.  Perhaps I am not good enough a mother to begin with.  I guess being a parent requires lots of training too, and not forgeting the patience needed.

Weekend updates

26 March 2011, Saturday

Nothing out of the ordinary.  Instead of having breakfast at home on a saturday morning and since Daddy’s home, we bought the kids to the West Coast MacDonald’s for breakfast.  The kids played the playground alittle before we made our way home.

Then we did some squirrel watching….

See the cute little squirrel…..

Didn’t hang around for too long because I didn’t want to tire out the little one because she still had her Sakamoto Maths lessons.  Since Daddy’s home, we decided to skip swimming lessons and made our way into JB, malaysia for some seafood dinner.

Dinner at a Kelong Restaurant…..

We had a cereal prawn, Malaysia’s famour Marmite chicken, black pepper crabs, a veg, Giant See-Hum (the size of our fist) and Giant Oyster (the size of a big soup bowl).  All that for under RM 150.  Value for $$ I say……

 

Check out the size of the Giant Oyster…..

To complete the dinner and evening, a lovely sunset….

27 March 2011, Sunday

The little wanted to go to Haw Par Villa.

Admission’s FREE but we had to pay $5 to park our car there.  Still it was nice going back there, Haw Par Villa has been a place all of us has been there at least once when we were kids.  Now, we are bringing our kids there….

Strangely when we asked the little one why she wanted to visit the Haw Par Villa, she said she wanted to visit the Ten Court of Hell.  There were a lot of owww, awwww, yeeeee and ohhh…..

As usual, it became a teaching ground for all parents to tell the kids, don’t tell lies or else your tongue would be cut off……other interest ones were be respectful to your elders and sibling, don’t waste food….etc etc….

Good thing was, the kids were both old enough to read the boards telling us which court was which and why they were punished…..they didn’t feel too scared seeing all the blood and guts.  So it was a good education tour for them.

Both knocked out after a 2 hour walk in Haw Par Villa.  Had a good sleep in the car as we made our way to Sunset Bar & Grill for dinner.

Waiting patiently for our food.

The famous spicy buffalo wings…..since the kids were with us, we were not able to sample the spicier levels of hotness.  We only went for Level 1 spicyness and it was tangy and nice, good enough to tickle our taste buds without burning our tummy.  It could go all the way up to Level 30 for spicyness.  Oh gosh, I can’t imagine who can stomach anything that spicy.

Food was ok but ambience was nice, very homely.

It was drizzling when we were going home and to my surprise, another lovely way to end the evening, we spotted a RAINBOW…..

I HAD a wonderful weekend…..

A Little Accident

I have been wanting to post this but been too busy to do it.  Over the weekend (06 March 2011), I bought the kids to the park downstairs my place for some bicycle riding, skate boarding and badminton.  It started off well but soon turned into a disaster.  I was jogging alone side RayAnne who was on her bicycle while Rayner was on his own skateboarding round the park.  After 2 rounds, we stopped for some badminton.  Just about 15 mins into the game, the little one fell and what I initially thought to be superficial scratches turned out to be quite a bad cut under her chin.  The skin had splitted apart and I left no chance and bouoght her to the GP to have it cleaned and covered it.

She cried a little but was soon smiling again because she didn’t want Mummy sad because I remember telling her once that Mummy feels very sad when she sees either she or her brother cry.  Ever since that, she has already been trying to hold back her tears and cry only when necessary…..hahaha

  MY BABY

Moodless CNY….

I am probably the wet blanket of the crowd now…..especially so when it’s time of the year when the whole world (almost) is preparing to welcome the Lunar New Year.

David made it back in time to celebrate my birthday.  Stayed for a week then flew off this morning.  Yes, this morning and yes, he will NOT be back to spend Chinese New Year with us.  The kids still have no idea that Daddy will NOT be around to spend Chinese New Year with us.  Couldn’t bring myself to break the news to them yet, will try to bridge the topic when I am not feeling so emotional.  We were all well aware that he may miss big hoidays when he took on this job but who knew it would actually be so painful.  I am sure it hurts me as much as it hurts him but work is work.  We are all working hard for our kid’s future.

Well, we will not be doing much this CNY, perhaps take this opportunity to rest.    Anyways, Happy New Year to all my friends and have a great CNY! 🙂

On a lighter and happier note, RayAnne woke up feeling happier to go to school because her brother would be staying back in school for his CCA and that he would be go home together with her.  Knowing that she would see her kor at the recess area and be going home at the same time made her happy.  No matter how much their views and thoughts could differ these days or how hard they fight and complain about each other, they still badly want and need each other’s company.  More so the little one as she is still adjusting to a entirely new environment and having her brother around makes her feel at eased.  I am happy too……

2011

This is the year my baby starts her primary school education journey.  It feels like only yesterday I was applying leave to be with Rayner, now it’s RayAnne’s turn.  Rayner’s an old bird when it comes to schooling, no more issues so far (cross fingers and toes).

My baby’s all grown up…..

Day 1 – 04 January 2011, Tuesday

I didn’t walk her to school because I was worried she is going to cry when it was time to leave Mummy behind at the school gate, so I chose to let her student care walk her to school.  But I promised her that I will see her during her RECESS TIME.  All went well…….

Happily munching away……

Day 2 – 05 January 2011, Wednesday

Today, I happened to come home and caught the kids outside the student care centre preparing to walk to school.  Didn’t want to chance her seeing me, I hid behind a wall in the carpark.  Then I saw her sobbing.  Had no idea what happen but knowing my girl, it would be a terrible time for her to see me, she will definitely break into a HUGE cry if she saw me.  Painfully, I stayed put where I was and like a pink panther, I followed them all the way to school.  Hiding behind every pillar everytime I came too close to the kids.  She sobbed all the way to school….haiz….my poor baby.  During RECESS TIME, she confessed that she cry earlier, when I asked her why?  She said because there were other parents walking with them, seeing other kids’ mummy around made her think of me and she started crying……I nearly died there, my heart felt so sore and sour…..

Managed to distract her, asked her to show me her classroom.

That was there and then we discovered the siblings shared the same class.  Rayner uses the class in the morning while RayAnne will be using the same class in the afternoon.

She even showed me where was her seat……right at the front, nearest to the teacher’s table.

It ended on a good note thou…..RECESS TIME over, so it’s time to go back to class…..

Day 3 – 06 January 2011, Thursday

Today will be last day the school will allow us to enter the school premises to be with our children.

She told me she didn’t cry at the student care centre but as soon as she found out that today would be the last day I would be around to spend RECESS with her, she started crying again and this time, she cried quite hard.  I hope she will be okay once I was out of sight.  I remembered when she was just started nursery 1, the first couple of days, she didn’t interact or talk to anyone, she just hugged her school bag and sat at a corner.  Only after a good week of isolation, she decided she is ready to open herself up and make friends.  History is repeating herself again, she hasn’t made any friends yet, or rather, she chooses NOT to make any friends at this very moment.  I am not going to push her, I shall let her take her time, she will do it when she is ready.

I hope tomorrow will be better because there will not be any more parents around and the kids can finally concentrate on what they are doing and teachers can concentrate teaching too.

Logistics wise, it has been a bit of a challenge these days.  Got to drop Rayner off first as he has to assemble in the school hall by 7.10am everyday.  Then I will have to make my way back to my place to drop RayAnne off at the student care before making my way to work.  Traffic around choa chu kang itself is crazy, just 2 streets away and I got to spent 30 mins circling around the estate.  Hope things will ease up soon.

Pre-Christmas

18 December 2010

We celebrated Christmas with Daddy earlier because he would be away during the Christmas period.  We did old skool, we baked our own chicken and grilled our own steak, had salad and mashed pototoe and mushroom soup.  The meal was simple and nice. 

The kids opened up their Christmas presents and started playing with them.  Rayner got his skateboard (those 2 directional boards, I have no idea what you call them) from Mandy and more beyblades from me.  RayAnne got more Sylvanian Families toys from Mandy and me.

We baked cookies with Daddy earlier in the afternoon and spent the entire day munching on the home made oatmeal cookies.  My love shaped cookies for Daddy.

Didn’t intentional made them out to be LOVE SHAPED….just so happen it became LOVE SHAPED after baking.

The kids had most fun baking……

19 December 2010

We were cycling in the park.  RayAnne tried on Rayner’s moutain bike while Rayner had the chance to try out the new skateboard from Auntie Mandy.

The first picture is her on her little bike.  She seems so over sized for her little bike.  The second picture is her on her brother’s mountain bike.  She mounted the bike and rode off with ease.

Then there’s Rayner working really hard trying to balance on his skateboard.  Bumped into his friend at the park and his friend was kind enough to offer his tips and advise.

It looks easy but trust me, it’s really hard.  Try to balance it while still moving forward is not easy feat but nothing too much for kids.  Once they set their heart to it, nothing’s tough.  They are much more agile and fast.  Center of gravity is also much lower so it would be much much easier for them to master it compared to us.

Tomorrow Daddy’s going away.  The kids have already starting missing him.  He would be due back sometime 3rd week of January 2011.  Yes, he’s going to miss RayAnne’s first day of Primary One.

Life is like this isn’t it, we are always happy when he’s back, we have a couple of day of family bonding….when you finally get used to him being around, he needs to go off again and we have to re-adjust not having him around again.  Kinda of cruel actually but this is life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                       

                                                           MERRY CHRISTMAS

Cameron Highlands – Day 3 (9-11 December 2010)

Day 3 – 11 December 2010

After checking out of the hotel…..

Did I tell you that David loves this hotel, simply because from our hotel room, we could see our car and…..

he has 2 personal jaga…..hahaha…..making sure car car still there!!! hahahah

We made our way down Cameron Highland.  The drive down and tougher than the drive up.  We took the new road up because we were not familiar with the roads and decided to take the old road down so we could see other sighting along the way. And we came across this roadside waterfall which is so much nicer than those we walked so far to see.

The drive to malacca is another 200km……took us another about 3 hours to reach malacca. 

The last time we were at Malacca, Rayner fell sick and we had to leave right after dinner.  This time, we decided to try our luck again.

Our kids simply love reptiles and everytime we see reptiles around, they would want to go touch and feel them….this time no exception so we paid the guy RM 10 to let the kids touch and take photo with the snake.

And of cos, how can we leave Malacca without a shot of the Red House???

We walked around Jonker Walk/Street and bought some food stuff back home for my family before making our way back to JB for dinner then it’s HOME SWEET HOME.

Cameron Highlands – Day 2 (9-11 December 2010)

Day 2 – 10 December 2010

We visited the Butterfly Farm…..entrance fee was RM 5 for adults and RM 2 for children

There were many many pretty and colourful butterflies in the farm.  Rayner’s more daring and RayAnne’s a little more timid whenever a butterfly landed on them.

There were alot of other things at the Butterfly Farm…..eg. snakes, bugs, worms etc

After that, we visited a temple nearby, then we settle our lunch at one of the chinese restaurant in town.  Simple food, even the Fuyong eggs and vegetables tasted especially nice.

We wanted to visit one of the attractions on the map, a waterfall.  We tracked a good 400m of muddy and narrow footpath to come to a pretty miserable looking waterfall.  Kinda of disappointing.

We tried another waterfall within the same area, much easier and proper path to walk but we were forced to stop half way because we felt it wasn’t safe to go any further, the group were wet and slippery and so we aborted the idea and turned back.

We also visited the smokehouse…..a place I fell in love with….

The place had a very homely feel to it, the flowers and the cottage houses and swing….I felt very attached to that place.  We had tea in the outdoor garden area.  The food was good and the environment and climate was fantastic.

My parents bought me to this place when I was a little girl and I had fond memories of this place.  I was happy to have been able to bring my kids to this very same place 20 over years later.

Dinner was steamboat again, but this time, it’s at a chinese restaurant and it’s much cheaper.  RM 50 for 4 of us…..

After dinner, we visited the night market.

The night pasar malam is pretty much like the singapore pasar malam.  They sell mainly strawberry theme products.  There are also things like honey comb, fried ice cream, corn, plenty of corn and lots of fruits.

After spending one hour at the night market, we decided it was time to retire for the day.  Went back to the hotel, showered and off to bed we went.  Tomorrow we would be making our way to Malacca before heading back home to Singapore.

Cameron Highlands – Day 1 (9-11 December 2010)

Day 1 – 9th December 2010

The kids first time to Cameron Highland and my 2nd trip.  David has never been to the Cameron Highland too, I went when I was around 10 years old with my parents.

We send off around 5.00am.  David drove the first 2 hours into Malaysia and I took over after that for another 2 hours so he could rest before we make our way up the Cameron Highland bends.

After a million bends (we lost count after a while) and 6 hours later….

FINALLY……we arrive at our hotel…..

We checked into the hotel, freshen up and made our way to the Big Red Strawberry farm but it wasn’t strawberry season so there wasn’t any strawberries to pluck……I was disappointed!

Nothing was in harvest, strawberries were tiny, tomatoes were still green and so were the grapes…..

Since we were not able to pluck strawberries, we decided to still get some at the farm (those harvested by their workers).

Boy were the strawberries SOUR……and I have the photos to prove it!

After a tour around the Strawberry Farm, we visited to Boh Tea Plantation.  The drive up was scary, the roads are just about the width of one and half car width and everytime a car came from the opposite direction, we have to keep to extreme left towards the bushes and the other vehicle had to keep their extreme left which was by the clift side to prevent hitting each other and at the same time careful not to fall over but it was all worth it, the view and the air was simply breathtaking……the air was crisp and cool!

Dinner was at the WaterCress Valley……

Nothing more warming than a nice and hot steamboat with cool air gushing in your face.  Steamboat set us back RM70.

We decided to call it a night earlier because we were both very tired after the long hours of driving.

December 2010

David came back from his Malaysia offshore job early december so we had a whole lot planned for the year end school holidays.

3rd December 2010

We caught Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows and Rapunzel at the  movies.  David watched Harry Potter with Rayner while I caught Rapunzel with RayAnne.

 

Enjoying our popcorn before the start of the movie.  By the way, the movie was great, we totally enjoyed the movie.

Chilling out at the Tea Dot Cafe at the Singapore’s newest Serangoon mall called the Nex (I think).

4th December 2010

We made our way to Queensway Shopping Centre and got the Nintendo Wii.  Daddy got it as a Christmas gift for the Rays.  They spend the next day playing with the Wii.

After a good workout, it was time to put up the tree……you don’t see me in the picture because I was busy snapping photos.

A Christmas tree is never complete without it’s shiny STAR….

We are planning to go on a short get away since David is back.  Nothing fancy because it was such short notice and air tickets have all been snapped up long ago.  We wanted to bring the kids to Cameron Highlands.  Yes malaysia again, not to mention I just came back from my department retreat (26 – 28 November 2010) which was also in Malaysia.  Department retreat nothing interesting to update so I shall not eleborate more.