Sunday, 15 November 2009
Friday, 13 November 2009
Happy Halloween Revisited
31 October 2009
It was past 8pm, the door bell rang. Wati, thinking that it was Cold Storage home delivery, opened the front door without checking and had a good fright from a pair of ghouls dressed in black complete with full masks donning skeleton designs from head to toe. You should have seen the blood-drained look on her face; she didn't even have energy to jump out of her skin - she, the most cowardly in the family, who hailing from where she came from (a small village in outlying areas of Indonesia where the most exciting thing they do is a trip to the wet market), strongly believed in 'hantus' (ghost in Malay) and spells. Hehehe, cruel but funny. Hmmm, I wonder if this is the effect of having spent too much time in the company of boys, cruel but funny boys.
Well, that inspired my boys to do their own (with a little encouragement from me). Here is their get-up:
S.P faithfully greeted everyone who opened the door, "Happy Halloween" with a deceivingly sweet smile. Honestly, it was my first time doing this. It was the best excuse to check out all the homes of our neighbours, who lived in which unit, what TV programmes they watched, what decor themes (if any) they had, if their shoe cabinets were tidy, who went to bed at 9 and what they wear to bed. Seriously, if not for my sons, I would never imagine myself having such boldness to press on the doorbells of so many strangers. Hey, I got to meet more of my neighbours in one night than I ever did in the last 5 years we lived there. And here's the treats collected by Peanut, S.P. had another trick up his sleeves:
He succeeded:
Now, it's my turn:
Quite pathetic. He was just happy greeting away. Receiving treats was not high on his priority.
It was past 8pm, the door bell rang. Wati, thinking that it was Cold Storage home delivery, opened the front door without checking and had a good fright from a pair of ghouls dressed in black complete with full masks donning skeleton designs from head to toe. You should have seen the blood-drained look on her face; she didn't even have energy to jump out of her skin - she, the most cowardly in the family, who hailing from where she came from (a small village in outlying areas of Indonesia where the most exciting thing they do is a trip to the wet market), strongly believed in 'hantus' (ghost in Malay) and spells. Hehehe, cruel but funny. Hmmm, I wonder if this is the effect of having spent too much time in the company of boys, cruel but funny boys.
Well, that inspired my boys to do their own (with a little encouragement from me). Here is their get-up:
S.P faithfully greeted everyone who opened the door, "Happy Halloween" with a deceivingly sweet smile. Honestly, it was my first time doing this. It was the best excuse to check out all the homes of our neighbours, who lived in which unit, what TV programmes they watched, what decor themes (if any) they had, if their shoe cabinets were tidy, who went to bed at 9 and what they wear to bed. Seriously, if not for my sons, I would never imagine myself having such boldness to press on the doorbells of so many strangers. Hey, I got to meet more of my neighbours in one night than I ever did in the last 5 years we lived there. And here's the treats collected by Peanut, S.P. had another trick up his sleeves:
He succeeded:
Now, it's my turn:
Quite pathetic. He was just happy greeting away. Receiving treats was not high on his priority.
Thursday, 5 November 2009
So this is what a cruise is about . . .
23-25 September
Yet another backlog entry. Wati was on home leave for 2 weeks and as I did not have (and still do not have) any experience as a housemaid in my cv, I had little confidence that I would be able to cope with housekeeping, chores and managing the kids. Hence, we planned 2 holidays, one after another. Well, we survived. But, next time, I know better than to do it this way - it's no fun having to pack and unpack and repeat the entire exercise for another trip. The logistics is just too much for me. Though having a checklist helped - it didn't help that I couldn't remember where I placed the checklist after we returned from G.C.
Had always wondered why cruises were so popular. Still have yet to figure out. The pain started with the neverending long queues at the check-in counter for our tickets. It took us an hour or more - whatever happened to the ever-efficient Singapore systems we often blow our trumpets about? And it didn't end there, we had to next join another snaking long queue to clear immigration. Clearly, the cruise centre was not designed nor staffed to cope with such capacity. It was not something I had anticipated - it was supposedly low season. But the place (and afterwards, the ship, Superstar Virgo) was swarmed with tourists from China and India with a handful of Indonesians. We were so relieved when we entered our rooms that it didn't matter that the rooms were like small, had very low ceilings and a toilet with customised fittings to fit a standing shower, a sink and a cistern all in an area which is half the size of a car park lot. The only compensating feature was the balcony and the seaview. Oh, there was one other feature which we had specially requested for - there was an adjoining door between our room and my in-laws' room - it provided endless fun for the kids during our trip to KL and back.
The wonderful thing about a cruise is you need not plan your itinerary or worry about where to go for meals. That pretty much summed up our cruise holiday - eating, swimming and sleeping. Yes, we did not step foot on the shores of KL. Still the kids had a great time. It takes so little to keep young children happy and I'm so thankful for that!
Yet another backlog entry. Wati was on home leave for 2 weeks and as I did not have (and still do not have) any experience as a housemaid in my cv, I had little confidence that I would be able to cope with housekeeping, chores and managing the kids. Hence, we planned 2 holidays, one after another. Well, we survived. But, next time, I know better than to do it this way - it's no fun having to pack and unpack and repeat the entire exercise for another trip. The logistics is just too much for me. Though having a checklist helped - it didn't help that I couldn't remember where I placed the checklist after we returned from G.C.
Had always wondered why cruises were so popular. Still have yet to figure out. The pain started with the neverending long queues at the check-in counter for our tickets. It took us an hour or more - whatever happened to the ever-efficient Singapore systems we often blow our trumpets about? And it didn't end there, we had to next join another snaking long queue to clear immigration. Clearly, the cruise centre was not designed nor staffed to cope with such capacity. It was not something I had anticipated - it was supposedly low season. But the place (and afterwards, the ship, Superstar Virgo) was swarmed with tourists from China and India with a handful of Indonesians. We were so relieved when we entered our rooms that it didn't matter that the rooms were like small, had very low ceilings and a toilet with customised fittings to fit a standing shower, a sink and a cistern all in an area which is half the size of a car park lot. The only compensating feature was the balcony and the seaview. Oh, there was one other feature which we had specially requested for - there was an adjoining door between our room and my in-laws' room - it provided endless fun for the kids during our trip to KL and back.
The wonderful thing about a cruise is you need not plan your itinerary or worry about where to go for meals. That pretty much summed up our cruise holiday - eating, swimming and sleeping. Yes, we did not step foot on the shores of KL. Still the kids had a great time. It takes so little to keep young children happy and I'm so thankful for that!
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Day 5 in Gold Coast
17 Sept 2009
Finally, the last instalment on this holiday trip. Seaworld was our final theme park -more kiddie rides and more performances. We saw some dolphins, pelicans, penguins and stingrays. That's about it. Looking back, I doubt the kids would associate the experience with a theme park that has the ocean as its theme. Afterall, we spent more time at the Sesame Street kids' world than any other part of Seaworld. Here are some of the rides:
And for me, this is what I will remember of Seaworld:
The Flume Ride
Finally, the last instalment on this holiday trip. Seaworld was our final theme park -more kiddie rides and more performances. We saw some dolphins, pelicans, penguins and stingrays. That's about it. Looking back, I doubt the kids would associate the experience with a theme park that has the ocean as its theme. Afterall, we spent more time at the Sesame Street kids' world than any other part of Seaworld. Here are some of the rides:
No regrets, this was probably the theme park that Sweet Potato would remember for the longest time; he saw his "heros" from Sesame Street performing on stage - Big Bird, Zoe, Grover, Cookie Monster, Ernie and of course, Elmo! He watched the 15-minutes' performance 2x live and a short excerpt of it many times more on our camera:
And for me, this is what I will remember of Seaworld:
The Flume RideTuesday, 3 November 2009
Live!
I am going to share something very private with you. 15 years from now, you can proudly proclaim to all and sundry, "Oh ... I saw him play when he was 2; I knew it then, I knew someday he was going to be famous!" Hehe ... a mother's secret dream ...to live her dreams through her child ..nah. Enjoy anyway (I can't believe I chose those words. I mean, how can anyone possibly enjoy noise? Once upon a time, a long time ago or to be precise, what seemed like a long time ago, this household couldn't even bear to hear noise):
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
