A day out at sea

So one fine Sunday, we went out to sea =) We were invited by a friend of hubby to go on his yacht. We thought that we were just going on a spin and I had no idea that we were going to spend the next 7-8 hours or so onboard the yacht. Thus, we were ill-prepared. No appropriate swimming clothes and only Joshie had a change of clothing.

Joshie and mummy on the top deck as the yacht ventured out into the sea. Cool sea breeze.....it was cold coz it was still drizzling a little.

Joshie standing with the older boys as they tried to fish. I was a bit paranoid that my son might fall into the sea.

Joshie and daddy having a blast on the jet ski. Daddy then brought him to the beach where he had plenty of fun. Did not want to go back to the yacht for his lunch.

After his late lunch, he watched Toy Story dvd and ended up dozing on the couch. He did not nap very long, only about 40 minutes as he was awoken by the older boys screaming when the jet ski fell into the sea. The jet ski was lifted up onto the yacht as we had moved on to another island where the water was not so choppy.

I think he was still tired and thus did not want to play outdoors anymore. Daddy offered to bring him on the jet ski again but he declined. So the two younger kids ended up watching tv for the rest of the evening.

It was nearly 6pm when we headed back to Sentosa.

Here is a picture of Joshie driving us home =P.....just kidding!

A visit to the Singapore Flyer

It's a tourist attraction which I have visited twice, and TWICE when I am pregnant. I was the one who suggested that we bring Joshie and ask his best friend's family to come along too. It was rather unfortunate that we chose to go on the day of the National Day Parade rehearsal. The roads were blocked and we couldn't park at the nearby carpark. Instead, we had to park at Marina Square which was 15 minutes walk away. Thank God we brought their strollers, I can't imagine walking along the busy road with 2 active boys.

As we were early, (we reached by 9am), we managed to get our own private capsule.

Here's a picture of me and the 2 boys before they got all rowdy again.

Inside the capsule.

The view.

Joshie watches as Gaspar monkeyed around. Thank God we had our own capsule as the boys were really noisy. Jumping, singing and dancing away.

I think the admission ticket was around $20 per adult and free for kids below 3 year. Good view of Singapore and the boys had fun trying to spot objects such as car, fire engine, etc etc.

Jurong Bird Park

A very backdated post as usual. I have been really busy and tired of late, thus the slowdown in blogging.

After 2 years of residing in Singapore, we finally brought Joshie to Jurong Bird Park. He's been to the zoo twice, but not the bird park.

We had to pay an admission fee of $18 each (for hubby and I). It's still free for Joshie till he turns 3, I think. It was quite a gloomy morning as it was drizzling.

Here's hubby and Joshie with the penguins. We also had the opportunity to watch the penguins being fed small fishes. My little boy was very excited and for the next few days he kept on telling me "mummy, penguin eat fish."

Walked around a bit and managed to take pictures with some parrots in the enclosure. There was a bird each on our hands, with the exception of Joshie. Own camera not allowed and we didn't want to fork out money to buy our pictures so no photos of us with the parrots.

Wandered further and came across this lovely pink birds with long legs......the flamingoes!! They were a pretty sight.

Went in to the theatre for the King of the Skies show. Saw different types of eagles. They were really huge!!!! But I'd say nothing fascinating about the show, if you are not an eagle lover. Joshie quite bored in-between when no new eagles came out.

Also brought Joshie to watch Birds of the Skies show which was much more captivating as there were some performances, dancing and singing. The hubs and I were pretty much bored by that time and didn't bother fishing out the camera.

We left soon after the show. Walked around a bit to look at some other birds and we were out of the bird park before noon. I'd think the zoo is a much better place for 2.5 year olds.

Finally visited Universal Studios

We finally visited Universal Studios at Sentosa last month when hubby's best friend was in town. I tell you, it was 2 days of continuous fun for our cheeky boy, Lion King followed by Universal Studios the following day. However, the downside was that he was too tired to enjoy Universal Studios to the max, having slept close to midnight and still waking up at 7am the next morning.

Us at the entrance =)

And mummy with cheeky before his first roller coaster ride. He met the height requirement and we just decided to let him try. Before we lined up, we brought him aside, showed him the actual ride and asked him if he would like to go on it. Not knowing anything, he said yes, I think he was kinda excited seeing the roller coaster go so fast.

So I sat with him and I held his hands firmly. This mummy was a bit paranoid that he might get "blown off" since he's so small.......hahahaha. He was quiet throughout the ride. When the roller coaster finally slowed down, he told me "finish" and I asked him if he wanted another ride to which he replied "no"!!!

The weather was really hot and we left at 2ish pm. Hubby covered most of the rides while I took care of cheeky. The park is small, so can definitely cover all in less than a day.

E&O Hotel

My bedridden grandma lives in Penang, and we try to visit her twice a year. Of course once would be during Chinese New Year. Each time we go to Penang, we'd stay in a hotel as her house is too small to accomodate all three of us. Furthermore, there's no air-cond and I bet my high-class son would have trouble sleeping.

During the recent Chinese New Year, we actually planned to stay in Shangri-la hotel but due to our last minute booking, there was no room for us. Hubs then decided that he wanted to try staying at E&O hotel. So on the third day of CNY, we drove straight to this luxurious hotel after visiting grandma.

Our suite.

The view from our suite.

Cheeky goofing around.

This was taken in the morning after/during breakfast. As usual, Joshie stuffed himself silly with all the sugary breakfast cereals which I don't normally buy at home - Koko Krunch, Honey Stars, etc etc........ He followed hubby out for a walk after the hubs had finished but he still wanted to hold on to his cereal bowl. Sat down here and enjoyed the cool breeze while eating.

No baby pool in the hotel. Not very child friendly........but nevertheless, the little boy had a great time at the pool.

Of Penang and its food

After Ipoh, our next stop was Penang. We were to attend my high school friend's wedding dinner and at the same time, we wanted to visit my maternal grandma. Joshie's great-grandmother!

We drove down after lunch the next day as my mum also wanted to follow us. Arrived in Penang around 2ish and after dropping by at my grandma's house, we went to the market to buy some yummy kuih to fill our tummies =) Joshie loved the kuih, and kept on asking for more. By the way, I am a real "kuih person". And I can get really pernickety when it comes to kuih. I guess I have been too spoilt with the good nyonya kuih in Penang since I was a little girl.

We gobbled up everything and dropped my mum at grandma's house again before heading to the G hotel at Gurney Drive to check in. Josh and I headed to the reception first while hubby parked the car. The receptionist asked for the check-in slip. But we had just realised two nights ago that we had forgotten to bring the slip. However, our past experiences with other hotels assured us that it'd be ok. We just need to give them our name, photo ID and credit card to verify. Moreover, we have paid in full!!!!! We booked through Asia Web Direct and full payment was required, not just a deposit. Close to a thousand ringgit just for 2 nights. Should be no problem right? So, I just apologised and told her we had forgotten to bring the slip and it's in Singapore. Even showed her the confirmation email on my Iphone. Imagine my surprise when she told me she can't proceed with the check-in because I did not bring the slip! She just stood there and stared at me, as though expecting me to magically produce the confirmation slip. I was quite annoyed with her and asked her to check with her superiors regarding my case. She walked away and soon came back, telling me I can go to the Business Centre to print out the confirmation slip again. So both Joshie and I went in and after some trouble with the printer, managed to print the slip again. And hubby made sure they did not charge us for the cost of printing. Hubby, who travels so frequently said he has never encountered this with any hotel before. So anyway, we got our room and were annoyed with their service again when we needed to remind them a few times to deliver the baby cot to our room. And when the cot came, there was only a mattress in there. No pillow or blanket at all. If this were a lower class hotel, we'd understand but G hotel's supposed to be 5 star. And the rates aint cheap too! So, we called to enquire again and they came back with a pillow and a bed sheet as the blanket!

Ok, enough ranting about G hotel. Let's focus on food instead. That very night, we had dinner at Restoran Bali Hai, which is along Gurney Drive. My mom and uncle came over to have dinner with us. We had steamed pomfret, baked cheesy prawns, claypot tofu and stir fried broccoli with scallops. The food was really good. Actually, most of Penang's food are really delicious! For the next two days, we feasted on apom balik, curry puffs, kuih, char kway teow and Penang prawn mee. Since Joshie's already 2, I was more relaxed about what he ate and he also walloped everything together with us.

Here's Joshie enjoying one of Penang's delicacies.

Even has to lick the bowl. Bowl licking good!

What was he eating????

Something that will melt in your mouth.....=)

And a dirty Joshie post tau sar pheah. There were crumbs all over his face and hair. A very happy and satisfied boy.

And here's a picture of me and my high school friends at the wedding dinner which was held at City Bayview Hotel. The little cheeky had a gala time running around, playing with older kids and shouting at the top of his voice! =)

Main Convent class of 1999.

Baby Loves Disco

Joshua and Oscar went to their first ever disco last Saturday. The event was held at DXO, Esplanade Mall and tickets had to be purchased before hand.

Managed to get hubby to take a nice pic of Elke and I with our boys. This was at the entrance, before we headed into the disco.

This is what it's like inside the disco. Kiddos and parents shaking their booties to the beat of the music. Food was also provided. Soft drinks were free flow. There were also sculptured balloons given to the kids.

Joshie and Oscar joining the crowd. They were a bit dazed and was just staring at the disco lights and everyone else dancing around them. They were also a bit too young in following instructions and was practically motionless when the kids were instructed to lift up their hands, move sideways, strike a pose etc etc........Being the more sociable of the two, Oscar warmed up faster. Joshie only danced a bit and was more of an observer.

After two hours there, the hubs and I left with Joshie. We then headed to Melt at Mandarin Oriental for our buffet dinner! Quite pricey, at SGD70 per pax but the food was superb! The seafood was fresh and they had a wide variety of dishes. Practically every mouthful was so satisfying. Joshie had some bagel, california roll, bolognese pasta, grilled dory fish and mashed potatoes. For dessert, he had waffles with maple syrup and some of my chestnut pie. As for me, I ate a lot. Too lengthy to write what I ate =P Sorry, no pics of the food as I was busy eating and making sure my cheeky son had enough food on his plate before he fusses.......haha.

Our new favourite eating place

As hubby was having slight indigestion from our Sunday lunch at Shin Yeh restaurant, we decided to have a light dinner. Will blog about Shin Yeh some other time. It's a Taiwanese restaurant located at Liang Court and the food is really good. However, the mooncakes were a big disappointment =(

Actually thought of going to Bakerzin to have some soup and entree. However, as we were coming down from the escalator, we saw Old Town White Coffee. Decided to try out the food. We have tried the outlets in KL and they were pretty good from my memory. Might not be as good as what you get at the famous hawker stalls, but the food was pretty decent.

So in we went and ordered some food. Sorry no pictures as I was busy with cheeky.

Ordered a Ipoh Hor Fun, kaya toast and egg toast. The three of us ate a bit of everything. And we all (cheeky included) agreed that it was good! Really good! We hardly get to eat good hawker food in Singapore. Actually we've given up on the hawker food here after a few disappointed tries. So the food at Old Town White Coffee was superb for us! And we vowed to visit this place more often.

And we did. A week later, we headed there after church. This time, we ordered kaya toast, Hainanese chicken chop and curry potato toast. Again, the food was good! EXCEPT that the service is quite bad. Took a while for our food to come and the waitress was pretty rude when I went hunting for a teaspoon to feed Joshie. But, we'll go back again......close one eyelar......since the food is good. Hehe........

Here's Joshie enjoying the Ipoh Hor Fun. He was adamant on using the chopsticks.......just like an adult! My son is growing up too fast!

Our Saturday

Where did Joshie go today???

To the ZOO!

Daddy's bringing us to zoo today

Zoo today, zoo today

Daddy's bringing us to zoo today

We can stay all day

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

How about you, you, you?

You can come too, too, too

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

Hehe, Joshie had a great time at the zoo today, especially since it was a combined outing with Oscar & family! The boys were so excited and were making so much noise in the car, singing and chattering away. It was so nice to see them enjoying each other's company.

This picture was taken at the zoo entrance. Joshie kept saying "moo moo moo".

Aww......isn't that so sweet of Oscar? He's very generous with his hugs.

Joshie saying "hi" to the ostrich.

A picture of me with the 2 boys. Gosh, they can really drain out our energy.

Our weekend

I just realised I haven't blogged about our weekends for quite a while already. Lazy mummy...........hehe.

We went to East Coast beach last weekend. Was supposed to cycle but we reached quite late and furthermore, part of the cycling track was blocked for the Youth Olympic Games. Thus, hubby decided that we should just walk around and enjoy the cool sea breeze.

Joshie was happily playing with the sand and was quite captivated with the sand castles that other families were building. He went quite near to have a look and hubby was quite worried that he'd destroy their castle. So to distract him, I brought him to the shoreline to watch the water gushing in. He was a bit confused and worried at first but when he saw other kids happily playing in the water, he walked forward just as the tide brought the water in. Of course he got wet! And this smart mummy did not bring any spare pants. So the little cheeky was walking around in his diaper and a T-shirt after that.

I think we should indulge in more outdoor activities, rather than spending time in the shopping malls during weekend. Healthier and more cost-savings too. Hmnn, perhaps we should visit the Botanic Gardens next weekend........hopefully the weather allows us to do so =)

Japan - Day 11 to 13

We woke up on Day 11 feeling very very lazy. We had spent half of Day 10 just "recuperating" from our "hectic" 2 days in Disneyland and we (especially hubby) were enjoying the idea of just lazing around in our comfortable hotel room! But nevertheless, we got our butts out of bed and decided to head to the Imperial Palace East Garden as planned.

Hubby and Joshie at the entrance. It was really hot. And I wished I had a brolly!

We bought some cold drinks to quench our thirst in the scorching heat. The garden was beautiful but I was in a hurry to get out as I was seriously yearning for air-conditioning! Look at the pretty flowers behind us.

We left quite soon, I think we were only there for half an hour! Headed to Tokyo station to meet hubby's high school friend who is currently working in Yokohama for lunch. Following that, we decided to go to Tokyo Tower. His friend was really hospitable and volunteered to accompany us for the whole day.

After coming down from the tower, we went to Roppongi. Roppongi is famous for its night entertainments but of course we didn't have the chance to experience it! Walked around a bit but the weather was too hot. Oh and here's a picture of us with the Tokyo Tower in the background.

Went back to Ginza (where our hotel is) and walked on the main shopping street. This street is closed for a few hours on weekends!

We left Tokyo on day 13. Here's a picture of Joshie goofing around in the plane with Daddy.

Overall, it has been a fun trip. Not too tiring considering the fact that we lazed around a lot. Joshie was well-behaved, much better that we expected!

Oh, and one funny thing about Japan! It's very difficult to find a dustbin, even along the main street and in shopping malls. We were told that the Japanese actually bring their rubbish home!

Japan - Day 8 to 10

A rainy day greeted us on day 8. Hmnn, not good since we will be going to Disneyland. It was still raining when we entered the theme park. Thank God Joshie was relatively well-behaved, he sat in his stroller without much fuss. We used the rain shield and I am pretty sure it was stuffy but the little boy did not give us much problem.

Even though it was a week day, there was a huge crowd. We had to wait in line for about an average of 15 minutes for each ride.


Here's Joshie and I in front of "it's a small world". The disposable raincoats which I bought from Watson did not do a good job so we splurged on Mickey & Minnie raincoats. Cost us SGD70. Mickey for hubby and Minnie for me. Wanted to buy one for Joshie too but all the small sizes were sold out. Moreover, he can just sit in the stroller.

When Joshie took his afternoon nap in the stroller, hubby and I took turns to go on Space Mountain. Luckily we used our FastPass for this ride. It took us only a mere 5-10 minutes to get onto the ride as compared to a 40 minute waiting time. I had the "privellege" to sit in front and throughout the whole ride, I could literally feel myself flying through the starry starry sky =)

This picture was taken on day 2 at the entrance of Disneyland. As we were guests at the Disneyland Ambassador Hotel, we had the privellege to enter the park 15 minutes before the opening hours. Of course many other visitors had that special privellege too. We saw many "kiasu" visitors rushing into the theme park, they were practically running and here we were, taking a nice family picture.

My little boy with Mummy and Minnie Mouse on our 3rd day. This was taken at the hotel, where we had breakfast at Chef Mickey's restaurant. Besides meeting Mickey & Friends, Joshie met Chip and Dale too, but he wasn't very interested in them.

After having visited 2 Disneylands in a span of 6 months, hubby and I really bored already. So Joshie, no more Disneyland in the very near future! For more photos on Disneyland, do check out my Facebook pictures.

Japan - Day 6 to 7

Hubby had meetings to attend to on day 6 and 7 so it was just Joshie & I exploring Tokyo. I had initially planned to take the train to either Shibuya or Harajuku to do some shopping but after our not-so-good experience at the stations, I think it'd be tough for me. I forgot whether I had mentioned that we had to carry Joshie in his stroller up and down the stairs a couple of times as there were no elevators or escalators around. Not very stroller friendly.

Therefore, I decided that we should just stay in Ginza. Joshie was up early so I strapped him in his stroller and off we went to Hibiya park. It's not a very huge park but the flowers were very pretty. Colourful and cheery! Kinda reminds me of Carlton Garden in Melbourne!


Oh and this is something which I found really useful in Japan. A child seat in the toilet. Just "dump" your kid (max weight 20kg) in the chair and do your business (big or small =P) in peace. Haha. I was so happy that I could wee-wee in peace. No need to shout at Joshie not to touch this and that!

Basically, we spent day 6 and 7 just walking around Ginza. Didn't do much shopping as Ginza is a "rich city" as mentioned by my Japanese friend. Everywhere you go, you'll see branded names popping out. Chanel, Burberry, Hermes, LV etc etc..............The clothes in the department stores were also pricey so I didn't bother trying! In the end, I only shopped at Uniqlo and Gap. Spent quite a lot of money but the clothes at these two shops were decently priced.

Oh, and I brought Joshie to the Hakuhinkan Toy park. Eight storeys altogether but only the first 5 floors contain toys. We didn't explore beyond the 5th floor but apparently, there are restaurants on the 6th and 7th floor and a theatre on the eighth.

Here are a few pictures of Joshie at the toy park.

Japan - Day 3 to 5

We left busy Tokyo for peaceful Hakone on the morning of day 3. =) Boarded the Romance Car from Shinjuku station and reached Hakone 85 minutes later. Following that, there was a 20 minute bus ride to the ryokan.





This is our room at the ryokan =) Nice eh?


We immediately dipped our bodies in our private onsen. The water was rather hot but Joshie seemed fine and was happily scooping water out (as pictured above).

This picture was taken onboard the ferry at Lake Ashi. This leg-shaped lake is touted as the primary attraction of Hakone, due to the ability to view Mt Fuji from the ferry. However, the mountain is often hidden behind clouds and we were one unfortunate lot who did not have that privellege. Nevertheless, we think we saw the mountain when we were onboard the Hakone Ropeway the next day. Not really sure if it is though. =P

I read that part of Hakone's popularity comes from the chance to ride assorted modes of transport around the line. So since we were already in the region, we decided to give it a go. On our final day there, we boarded the bus to Togendai. From there, we took the Hakone Ropeway to Souzan and thereafter to Owakudani. Owakudani is a volcanic cauldron of steam, bubbling mud and mysterious smell. We walked uphill to where the boiling pits are. Here's a picture of Joshie with daddy.

The gases are poisonous so visitors are advised not to linger for long. Visitors can buy boiled eggs, turned black in the sulphurous water. We didn't buy since the minimum purchase is 5 eggs!

From Owakudani, we took the Hakone Cablecar to Gora and thereafter switched to the train for Hakone Yumoto station. It was evening by the time we arrived in Tokyo and we were dead tired! That concludes our 5th day!