Travel Memoirs: Where Time Stood Still

I was in Yangon, Myanmar (aka the old Burma) for the past 3 days for work. It is one of my favourite countries, despite the political turmoil that had been brewing in this rich country for years.

Time seemed to stand still in this resource-rich country - although I note with regret the increasing numbers of cars and taller, newer malls this trip.

As the plane descended into Myanmar, I was struck once again by the rich, fertile green lands that spread in total flatness, with not a single hill or mountain in sight, a luxuriant land speckled with meandering streams, and from the plane, I can literally observe how the majestic Irrawaddy River dissects the country, flowing from North to South. Try as I might, I could not detect the damage done by Cyclone Nargis because all I could see was dense green landscapes and sprawling emerald rice fields, as abundant and verdant as the famed jade that Myanmar is known for. But when speaking with the Myanmar people during the trip, I learned that the damage of Cyclone Nargis was widespread and severe - and totally under-emphasised by their callous government. Travel by foreigners to the Irrawaddy Delta is now restricted.

It is a land of highly religious people and it shows in the ready smiles and warm hospitality of every Myanmar person you meet. A land where on the roads, you see groups of monks from little boys to older men and graceful nuns decked out in pink flowing robes. I love their night market where the hawkers sell their wares of live chicken and vegetables in stark candlelight, as power outages are so common here. Where you can still get into a taxi with a hole on the car's floorboard. And where 20 to 30 men squashed themselves into a small lorry, some standing outside the lorry, just beside the wheels.

These are mere facades to deeper troubles in the country - where the rich and the poor are universes apart. Where government doctors earn only US$70 a month and salaries of US$300 a month for a private practice doctor is considered wealthy. It is saddening that this is a land of immense natural resources - full of jade as well as precious stones and gems of all kinds, not to mention their very fertile land - and yet, with a greedy government that usurps all these resources to benefit their own kind. Where all the citizens shun clear of talking about their government with the many plainclothes spies around, and where they speak of the government to foreigners like me in hushed tones, in a resigned manner. The common saying of "One cannot choose one's parents" can be applied here, where these souls are born into different destinies in a government system forced onto their wills. Yet, their resilience and cheeriness touched me.

The media and communications blackout shrouded the country like a black cloud - no mobile connection for non-Myanmar telephone numbers, where it costs US$2,000 to own a cell phone for the Myanmar people and where all the major news websites and web emails are banned through the Internet.

Still, for a foreigner like me so used to information explosion everywhere, this communications blackout is a halcyon reprieve for me. Sometimes I wonder, will we be more happy without being exposed so much to global information? Are we all over-exposed to too much information?

Anyway, the most enjoyable part of my trip is coming home to see Little Bee sleeping fitfully with her chubby cheeks and her sweeping lashes. I am now looking forward to fetching Big Bee from school, eager to see her expression of surprise as she hopped down her school bus :)

Portraits To Remember

It is a very long weekend for me :) I took leave on Thursday afternoon for a family photoshoot on Friday. The studio was somewhere near Chinatown, so we got to mingle with the charming chaos that is synonymous with Chinatown. I love the little heritage districts in Singapore - Chinatown, Little India, Arab Street, even Clarke Quay! Many friends gave me dirty looks whenever I suggest going there for a jaunt. Yes, these places may be touristy, but well, they give us a potent insight into the roots of our country. Better than us going overseas to visit other touristy areas!

Anyway, today, I was so contented to be immersed in the colourful sights of Chinatown, sniffing in the plethora of aromas, listening to the different dialects of tourists and locals, and seeing those little quaint touristy stuff that I never see for Singapore!

OK, back to the photoshoot. Big Bee was wonderfully behaved and followed all the photographer's instructions, being her sweet responsible self. Well, Little Bee, let's just say she was a challenge to coax. Those smiles in the photos below were sieved out through much hard work. And she was a real handful, tottling about everywhere but in front of the camera! Here are some exclusive photos - in low res ;)

Cousins Confluence

Val, Chloe and Little Bee overwhelmed by toys

A few nights ago, baby Chloe and baby Val came by to my place to chill out with Big Bee and Little Bee. Along came my cousin Irene, her mum and my 3rd aunt. My mother was a jolly one, with such close relations as good evening companions.

Little Bee was elated with cousins her own age to play with. It was Chloe's 1st birthday on that day, and Val's 1st birthday is also approaching. They are both very active crawlers now, and highly curious about their surroundings. Little Bee loves them - she kept whooping away with joy, sat by their sides to play with them and even crawling around to be like them (talk about peer assimilation!).

Baby Val loves the ball house!

Poor Big Bee felt a bit left out, I guess. She was highly amused by these 3 busy babies (or toddlers), but could not really relate to them, although on normal days, she does play very well with Little Bee. Funny thing is, she scribbled on her doodle board and displayed in the living room "3 babies in the house", and kept saying she was so bored. I guess she will be a lot busier next time once they grow a bit older!

Big Bee screaming "I am bored!!!"

It is funny to reminisce how the whole gang of maternal cousins of Irene, Fiona and I (plus Ian and Kelvin) used to play so often together as kids. And now, our kids are playing with one another :)

Big Bee with birthday girl Chloe

Chloe and Val can really crawl very fast!

A Wretched Mother

This was what I read with disenchantment in the news today. That a single Japanese mother left her twin toddlers in the care of her 6-year-old son, while she went gallivanting for 11 days with her boyfriend. Her elder son called her mobile for several dozen times a day but his calls were largely ignored. All she did was to place hamburgers, bread, cookies and other food at the entrance of the house once or twice a day. 9 days later, the 6-year-old called her to say his brother would not wake up. She returned to the house but did not have the courage to enter it. Instead, she went to a pub and got drunk. The next day, her son called her again, saying: 'He still won't wake up.' 2 days later, she finally returned home and found the two-year-old boy dead in a crib covered in garbage and faeces. She slapped the older boy's face and said: 'You are disqualified as my child. Though I'm responsible, you are also responsible. You must have eaten all the food by yourself.' According to the report, the toddler starved to death. The other twin toddler suffered from severe dehydration. She was sentenced to a mere 6 years in prison for this. But I am sure she will live a lifetime of guilt and despair. What's most saddening is that the 6-year-old told prosecutors: 'Mum told me I was fired because I didn't take care of the twins. It's all my fault.'

I cannot imagine this abominable act of neglect by a mother to her own flesh and blood. The physical destruction to her toddlers. The indelible psychological blemish to her 6-year-old child, at an age that is still too young to look after himself, much less a pair of toddlers, without a loving mother's protection.

Reading this story brought tears to my eyes, and I gazed at my 2 angels, vowing to protect them even fiercer for the rest of my life.

Sandy Foray

Last Sunday, the Bees descended unto the East Coast beach. The breeze was warm and gentle, caressing our faces, teasing our hair with a tinge of sharpness so typical of salty sea breezes. The 11am sun emanated its rays with a growing intensity, giving hint to the blistering heat it can potentially give out at high noon. I love the rhythmic sound of the waves, in and out, in and out.
Charlie's Angels?

We set up our little sanctuary beside the waves - a little mat for good ol' Mummy and loads of sand toys for some serious construction of sandcastles with Papa. This was Little Bee's second initiation to the sand. Like all little princesses, she was a wee bit disturbed by the grainy feel of coarse sand at first. But after seeing how her sister was enjoying herself, digging her feet into the sand, immersing her hands into the muddied sand bucket, she eased herself into earnest sandbuilding, never touching the sand with her bare hands, but always using a spade.

Hubby and I had loved the beach and the vast gulf of sea since our dating days. Big Bee had embraced our same love after our numerous beach resorts jaunts. And now, we are hoping Little Bee will share this same ardour as well.

The Debutante

I decided to bring Big Bee for my company's dinner and dance, much to her delight. It was a debutante ball of sorts for her. She was decked up in a beautiful yet romantic white long dress with layers of organza, pearls, satin, lace and tulle, and I thought she looked nothing short of stunning :)

She had been anticipating this dinner for weeks, and promised to be on her best behaviour. I am proud to say that she had far exceeded my expectations, charming my colleagues and bosses immensely, being her vivacious and confident self, putting on a sunny and cheery front despite the dinner ending an hour beyond her bedtime. She was such an enjoyable dinner companion that my hubby worries that she will take over his place very soon!

I am also very heartened to say that she told me she enjoyed the dinner immensely, listening aptly to the silly jokes of the host, observing the guests all dressed elaborately, participating in the table's conversation. I am so pleased to see her evolving to a highly sociable personality indeed.

Eleven Little Toddlers

This afternoon, I brought Little Bee for a gathering with the December 2006 mummies from the forum. The last time I met up with the babies was last October, and boy, had all the toddlers grown up! Total toddler turn-out: 11! We drew a fair bit of amused glances from the diners at Globetrotters!

There was minimal shyness amongst all the cute 11 toddlers. They were all very well behaved initially, sitting nicely in their nice chairs, all chomping one unified food - CHEERIOS! They all love it! Towards the last 30 minutes, we put them down on the floor and there was just a slight mayhem. It was really delightful to see them interacting with each other - waving, blowing kisses, shaking hands, giggling, squealing, patting. All their manners were very impressive!

Little Bee was amazed by the number of balloons in Globetrotter's, especially the adjacent party room. So, she used her charms, smiled and pointed at one blue balloon so pitifully that she beguiled one kind lady to bring out one balloon for her! That was rather hilarious to me!

Most of all, it was wonderful to see how these babies who used to be tiny bundles in our arms, nursing our bosoms non-stop, developing into sociable, curious and adorable toddlers approaching their 2 years in this world!

Here are some photos:

Beaming with Jovey behind her

Choosing between 2 handsome boys - Tim and Pin Heng
Happily standing by Pin Heng

Trying to be friendly with pretty Regina

Travel Memoirs: Train Travel

The romance of train travel had always been written and filmed by intrepid travellers, and I couldn't agree more.

This morning, I was on a train from Hangzhou to Shanghai for a work trip, coming back home. I spent a good portion of the 1.5 hour trip entranced by the scenary outside. We passed by lots of emerald-green farms with hardworking farmers bent double over their crops, pretty pine trees, meandering streams, duck farms with numerous white ducks spilling from their land abode to the river, ubiquitous lilies growing gorgeously in still ponds. Living off the produce of nature is simply wonderful. I felt refreshed and revitalised.

Still, it is even more marvelous to be back home with my family tonight.

Escape!

We decided to take a little break and escaped to Bintan with Big Bee. Poor Little Bee cannot go because she does not have a passport yet, and this trip was planned like a day in advance.

When I told Big Bee we are bringing her to Bintan, she could not believe her ears and kept asking.."is it true?" umpteenth times. She whooped with joy and skipped around with non-stop utterings of "I am going for holiday" in a sing-song rhythm whole day long!

It was glorious reprieve in Bintan. I love the wide expanse of ocean with the infinite horizon of nothingness, the dramatically sweeping curve of the bay that we chilled out at, the wild blossom of verdant forest at the end of the bay.

Big Bee in her full holiday garb!

Big Bee revelled throughout these 2 days, snacking on her favourite ice-creams and brownies, trying all sorts of new activities with us, grinning and beaming whole day long, waking us up real early to enjoy the crisp morning air. Some of the things I relish about this little getaway of ours:

1) Big Bee bouncing about the relaxation area in our hotel room, pretending to be a singer, performing gaily for the 2 laughing parents.

2) Jolting on an all-terrain four-wheeled motorbike through the forests of Bintan, with Big Bee and Hubby in a dune buggy behind me. It was a truly bumpy and muddy ride, zipping through dirt trails and muddy potholes filled with rainwater. We ended our little adventure with a finale, being caught in a heavy downpour for the last 10 minutes of our ride! I love the closeness to nature, but my maternal instincts ached for my poor darling Big Bee who was drenched to the core. Surprisingly, she simply loved this ride, and even grumbled I drove too slowly in front of her. I am so happy at this little adventurous streak of hers. I can see us trekking and climbing up mountains already...

3) Seeing the frown of utter focus and concentration on Big Bee's face as she tried her very best to beat her Papa at billiard (which she finally did in the end!) Though I wonder if her Papa lost on purpose. Still, she was an elated little girl hopping around at the end of the game.

4) Exploring the beautiful soft white sands of Bintan at evening's low tide, hand in hand with Big Bee and Hubby, traipsing on the seabed with the tide receding, and the sky slowly turning into resplendent lavender. The world just looks so expansive and free!

Big Bee chasing Papa around the whole expanse of beach at very low tide

5) Enjoying a succulent dinner of wonderful grilled fish and steak, and seeing Big Bee enjoying her food is ever so satisfying.

Eating her favourite brownie with strawberry ice-cream. Yum!

6) Building sandcastles - a grand medieval castle with a little township, really - in the sharp cool morning air, and observing oppressively large and ominously grey cumulus nimbus clouds approaching the sun in the rising wind, obliterating the cheery sunlight. Showing Big Bee the wonders of nature, the omniscient hand that pervades our entire existence.

A short, nearby getaway like this can be so very enjoyable simply because we can chill out with our family. It just doesn't matter where we are, so long as our closest ones are with us. I wish Little Bee is enjoying with us, but I am sure there will be plenty of occasions in future :)

Date Night

Every Monday night is our date for hubby and me. I thank my lucky stars that I have a supportive and capable mum who helps me so much with the kids that I can spare one night a week to spend quiet, quality and sometimes romantic time with hubby.

Last Monday, hubby brought me to a gorgeous marina for dinner. We reached there at 6.30pm, amidst ubiquitous yachts glowing in the golden rays of a departing sun. The golden orange sheen on the sparkling harbour casted a spell of enchantment over the whole establishment. There were prosperous yacht owners sauntering to their boats to retire for the evening and random groups of passers-by ambling around, admiring the majestic and peaceful yachts.

One of my favourite parts of the day approached slowly - the darkening twilight, brightened by the gradual twinkling of lights sparking up condominiums just across the bay. Soon, the world was awashed in fairy twinkly lights - magical, bewitching, wonderful.

We strolled around the bay after dinner, immersed in this little enclave of Singapore with no remnants of the typical ratrace.

Her First Day

Little Bee went to school for the first time today. She is merely attending Saturday morning classes but I thought it will be a good induction for her going into nursery one next year. I find Little Bee's initiation into preschool a challenge as she is a year-end baby, and true enough, she seemed like a baby compared to the strapping 2 year old toddlers in her class!

I am proud of her. Albeit scared and unsure on the first day, she merely had on her familiar pinched and worried expression and clung a bit tighter to me. But she did not cry. Oh, save for a 2-second melodiously loud wail when the teachers switched off the lights for a rendition of "Twinkle Little Star". Her bawl subsided with immediate effect once I picked her up for a snuggle.

She started warming up after an hour, which coincided with the Mandarin section of class (or maybe it could be that she has more affinity to Mandarin, as evident from the fact that she is starting to say 1-2-3 and many other phases in Chinese first rather than English, much thanks to my Mum!) She smiled shyly at the Mandarin story-telling and was contented to stroll around by herself. She was really excited when it came to singing "Row Row Row The Boat" because it meant that she can do her very favourite rowing action, but she was perturbed by the very different and unfamiliar lyrics in Chinese.

Her favourite activity was snack time (need I say more for my little foodie?) but she also enjoyed her playground time tremendously, squirrelling in those large toy houses and slide stations. She truly warmed up during the mass singing session at the end, and danced a fair bit with me.

I kind of learned from Big Bee's experience some years back to truly take cues from the kid's actions and preferences, and not force them into activities they do not want to do. Hence, I do think Little Bee kind of settled down nicely today. It is also tremendously nice for me to spend some private time with Little Bee as I almost never have enough opportunities to spend time alone with her. It's great bonding, I must say!

Close To Nature

Last Saturday morning, we went to Labrador Park for a jaunt. The view of the sea just beside the long walkway of Labrador Park was breathtaking. The sun was out cheerily - the weather was balmy with swaying, happy trees. The stinging smell of sea salt was invigorating, although it did make me and Big Bee sneeze a couple of times. Perfect.

We sauntered under the hot noon sun to the long lingering jetty, enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on our faces, waving to the abundant shoals of small fishes in the emerald waters. We even saw a pair of barracudas! Well, I am no fish expert, but at least they look like barracudas!

Big Bee was skipping all around, tiring herself out, sweating profusely. She enjoyed looking at the fishes a lot. Little Bee was trotting along beside us, stopping every 5 metres to oooh and aaah at any tiny crawling insect or leaf or anything she found interesting. She was very attached to her pink hat, kept adjusting it herself, trying to look pretty for the camera.

We decided to walk up the boardwalk into the shady cool of the forest. Respite from the heat of the sun! Hubby had to carry Little Bee, and Big Bee kept telling us how lucky Little Bee was. Well, there is absolutely no way any one of us can carry 24 kg Big Bee up the boardwalk steps!! So, walk she must.

The almost virgin forest is a gorgeous canvas for all the things we cannot find in our daily city life. Long trails of ants marching along an elongated branch, to Big Bee's fascination. Funny creepy crawlies never seen before. Fluttering butterflies with gorgeous patterns on their wings. We pointed all these natural miracles for the Bees to understand and appreciate Mother Nature.

And as Labrador Park used to be a fort during the World War 2, the forest was dotted with gun embankments (or whatever the term is). We even stopped by an old fort gun, climbing up the gun, pretending to blast at the dreaded Japanese enemy, much to Big Bee's excitement. She was climbing up and down the gun station, turning wheels here and there. Little Bee, however, was terrified of the gun, strangely. The moment we chanced upon the gun, her expression changed to one of worry and fear, her body turned rigid, her legs hugging my waist tightly, and her hands patted her chest fretfully.

We also had a little refreshment break at the resident restaurant, which is a nice breezy alfresco cafe perched beside the famed Labrador tunnels. The coke, which Big Bee and me devoured, never tasted more invigorating!

Animals In The Dark

We brought the brood to Night Safari 2 Saturdays ago, and it was an eye-opener for them. The whole place was dim, with only burning torches and dim spotlights as random references of illumination. The animal show was rather hilarious, and I was delighted to see Big Bee being very enthralled by such shows, laughing aptly at their jokes and scouring around in the dark during moments of put-up suspense. Little Bee was distracted after a while, and started smiling and playing with spectators who hailed from India sitting just beside us. Her little antics brought smiles and chuckles to them, and I had to literally drag her from them to prevent her from distracting them!

My favourite part is the tram ride, and I love that certain parts of the ride were immersed in total darkness, allowing the passengers to relish the cool serenity of a rainforest in nocturnal repose. Big Bee was a brave girl, sitting nearest to the side of the tram, peering at all sorts of nocturnal creatures around us. Little Bee was more timid than I thought, she had on a worried frown throughout the whole ride, clinging on to me or hubby for dear life, before slipping into a deep slumber at the darkest part of the forest - I think it's a form of escapism for her, so funny!

We finally got home - all hot and tired - by 10.30pm. But it was a good brush with the great wilderness for the 2 Bees.

Celebration

Big Bee and Little Bee celebrated National Day in school together! Big Bee was having a special performance for her kindergarten's National Day party in school, and for the first time, I brought Little Bee along! Mum and Hubby were there as well.

When the performance started, it dawned on me that Big Bee had grown so much since her very first teeny weeny performance in N1! The K2 class was simply amazing - they sang a total of 3 Chinese songs, 2 English songs and 1 Malay song (Rasa Sayang!), as well as performed a short skit. All the kids' voices rang loud, clear and melodic. Impressive! Credit goes to their K2 form teacher who is such a sprightly and bubbly woman!

As they sang, my eyes (and video camera!) zoomed into Big Bee, who was dancing very vigorously, with her singing loudly, highly focused and very motivated. As she sang songs of patriotism to celebrate her country's birthday and executed such intricate dance moves with profound lyrics, a lump ascended up my throat, pride scratching at my chest. For my little girl had truly grown up.

Little Bee was somewhat overwhelmed by everything going on around her. When she first arrived at the school, she was very shy...which was surprising, given her gregarious nature. Whenever people tried chatting with her, she will put her head on my shoulder, how sweet! During the performance, she was either staring fixatedly at the animated performers, or she will point excitedly at Big Bee, chattering "Jie jie! Jie jie!".

She warmed up to the environment by the time the assembly was over. Hubby brought her into their classroom, and she was toddling around like a cute little penguin, being fussed over by Big Bee's friends, and I glimpsed a look of soft pride on Big Bee's face.

What a lovely afternoon!

After school, we went to Turf City for a scrumptious dinner at Manis Manis, a yummy Indonesian restaurant. A perfectly palatable ending to a perfect day!

Tens and Ones

Big Bee is now advancing on her Mathematical concepts...learning about tens and ones. Everyday, I will try to alternate between teaching her English grammar, Mathematical concepts or hanyu pinyin. This is the rigorous primary school education that she has to be used to, sigh. So far, she had been enjoying doing her assessments with me, although I find it difficult to explain the mathematical concepts to her. It is truly challenging verbalising maths concepts, I find! Looks like maths tuition will be a regular thing of the future.

Last night, Little Bee doodled "1" and "0" when I asked her to write "one" and "O" (she refers to circles as "O", circle or "round and round"). I was so proud of her and got her to write these 2 characters many times over. She will grin and clap her hands whenever she completed, giving herself such a satisfied and cute little proud look. She is also recognising numbers and alphabets, saying "air" whenever she sees "A" and "theeeee" in her sweet little high-pitched voice whenever she sees "3".

Life Is Beautiful

We had finally gotten a place into the primary school for Big Bee (and Little Bee too!) :) The feeling is exhilarating, jubilant, intoxicating and unbelievable. Years of painful planning had come into fruition. Months of fretful anxiety evaporate into joy. Weeks of stressful worry emerge into colourful splashes of happiness!

As we only registered in phase 2C, vacancies - especially for a much sought-after primary school - are few and far between. By our turn, we were only left with a meagre 37 spaces! Hubby and I did our sums and decided to forge ahead and registered Big Bee on 29 July. We were the 23rd applicant living within 1km as at 10am then. Stress. Anxiety.

The next 2 days consisted of vigilant monitoring and hawk-eyed tracking of the registration numbers. Last evening, the number climbed up to 34 applicants (within 1km). Skepticism. Worry. Albeit tinged with slight relief that the magical number of 37 is not reached yet.

This morning, the registration number inched up to 35. Hubby and I were half elated, half hesitant. Should we speculate? Or celebrate?

Hubby urged me to call the primary school at 3.45pm, 45 minutes before the closure of the 2C phase. 35 still!

We encouraged and updated each other via sms the whole afternoon, counting down to the magic hour of 4.30pm. 15 minutes to go. 5 minutes to go. 4.30pm! Hubby's turn to call! Alas, he called me back, frustrated, highlighting that they needed some time to tabulate the numbers.

My turn now. My fingers tapped my mobile fretfully. A crisp female voice answered almost immediately. I asked about the outcome of the registration. The first thing she asked me was "Do you live within 1km?" I breathed out yes! Her voice softened considerably when she said "Then you are successful. All those within 1km need not ballot. There are 37 applicants within 1km!"

I had not smiled so widely, nor felt my heart so radiant in a long long time....

Her Little Quirk

Little Bee has a strange, cute little quirk.

At bedtime, she will ask for her favourite small bolster, and will insist on us pulling out the drawstrings at the 2 ends of the bolster. And then, her face will settle into a very satisfied, Cheshire Cat expression. She will then sink into her pillow, pulling one of the string towards her face and then using the fluffy ends of the string to tickle her nostrils, her nose, her eyelids (she closed her eyes in an ecstatic expression when doing this!!), her cheeks and finally the insides of her ears.

And then, full cycle starting from the nostrils again! All the while harbouring such a delirious, rhapsodic expression. This helps her drift to dreamland very fast.

I really wonder where she learnt to pick up this queer little idiosyncracy from! But it is lovable for sure...

Saltwater

In my entry below, I talked about Big Bee's assembly where she sang Saltwater, one of my favourite songs. Here're the lyrics below, and Big Bee, if you are reading this when you are older, you sang this song when you were 6 :)

Saltwater by Julian Lennon

We are a rock revolving
Around a golden sun
We are a billion children rolled into one
So when I hear about the hole in the sky
Saltwater wells in my eyes

We climb the highest mountain
We'll make the desert bloom
We're so ingenious we can walk on the moon
But when I hear of how the forests have died
Saltwater wells in my eyes

I have lived for love
But now that's not enough
For the world I love is dying
And now I'm crying
And time is not a friend (no friend of mine)
As friends we're out of time
And it's slowly passing by ....right before our eyes

We light the deepest ocean
Send photographs of Mars
We're so enchanted by how clever we are
Why should one baby feel so hungry she cries
Saltwater wells in my eyes

I have lived for love
But now that's not enough
For the world I love is dying
And now I'm crying
And time is not a friend (no friend of mine)
As friends we're out of time
And it's slowly passing by ....right before our eyes

We are a rock revolving
Around a golden sun
We are a billion children rolled into one
What will I think of me the day that I die
Saltwater wells in my eyes

Pop Culture

Last term, Big Bee and her class sang Julian Lennon's "Saltwater" in their assembly performance. I was highly impressed and moved, and so was their teacher, who emphasised to the parents that the kids only learnt the entire song in one week. They were all so cute, swaying left and right to the rhythm of the music, holding a sheet of lyrics in their hands, singing feebly, hesitantly at first...and then their chorus of sweet, angelic voices magnifying to immense sweetness, glorifying the theme of that term, "Environment".

The melody stuck in my mind, and back home, I tried singing together with Big Bee, and explained the meaning of the lyrics to her.

In this world of tempestuous changes and global damage, I hope my kids can be aware of the true beauty of our planet, and not be apathetic to what really matters in our world...

Secret Hideout

Last Sunday, we went to a desolate hideaway near Holland Road for dinner. Secret Recipe was there, nestled amongst a row of homely closed shops under some walk-up apartments. Tall, capacious raintrees sheltered the open-air carpark, and emanated a sense of serene tranquillity in the slowly descending dusk. The last remnants of sunlight lingered beautifully, reluctant to leave the violet skies.

Dinner was delicious, with Big Bee finishing off one Caribbean fillet all by herself. Little Bee, as her typical self, kept begging for food like a forlorn adorable pup. After dinner, we even had the luxury of savouring 2 huge slices of Chocolate Banana and Blackforest cakes, much to Big Bee's delight.

After dinner, we strolled in the thin darkness that is synonymous with early evenings, alongside the closed shops, glancing into the merry orange lights of the walk-up abodes above us. Peace, quiet, serenity - together as a family. This is what life should really be about.

My Two Angels

Last night before falling asleep, I stared hard at Big Bee on my right as she was sleeping, her eyes closed, her long lashes grazing the top of her cheeks, her mouth slightly open. And then I turned my head to my left and gazed at Little Bee who was also deep in sleep, her little chest rising up and down with every breath, long lashes sweeping her chubby cheeks, mouth shaped in a cute circle.

And realization dawned on me: Oh my god, they both looked exactly the same when sleeping!

So there I was, grinning foolishly, mesmerised by my two little identical angels right in the middle of their dark cosy bedroom...

Alfresco Dining

Check out the huge array of food!

Last Saturday evening, the whole gang of maternal aunts and cousins, together with all our kids, settled on a patch of lush verdant grass in Botanic Gardens for a scrumptious picnic! Food abounded - fried rice, curry chicken with french loaf, mcnuggets, fried popiah, roast pork - how lucky can we be!?

This picnic was organised by Irene, Fiona and myself, and all the mummies were really happy as it reminded them of old times! Big Bee was busy churning out big bubbles from a bubble gun, attracting a little crowd of children like bees to honey. Little Bee was highly adventurous, sauntering around the large meadow with a toy racket and ball, inviting herself to pairs of much older children playing badminton.

We gathered at 5.45pm and left only at 7.45pm - the descending mauve twilight beautifully enveloping the entire grounds with quiet and cooling serenity. Little twinkly lights lit up different parts of the gardens magically, and all of us were so charmed by this bewitching panoramic view. We left the gardens in the dark, hand in hand, with soft sounds of crickets in the darkening adjacent forests beckoning to us...

Smoky Dinner...

Dinner on Saturday night was spent with PF and family at our place - in full smoldering BBQ style. The kids had been bugging us to get together so they can play, and true enough, they did! Those 3 big kids turned wild the moment they met....and my place was filled with a chaotic cacophony of shrieks, yells, laughters, screams! Add billowing smoke from the grill in the balcony, and it was a rampant pandemonium with the euphemism of dinner! Big Bee was eagerly anticipating their arrival hours before the dinner and she had the blast of her life. Little Bee was also super enthusiastic but it was really tricky for her to dodge those fleeting big kids!

They finally left at 10.30pm, and we adults were the ones to drag them apart, ironically! Frenetic? Yes, but truly fun as well!

Mozart

On Saturday, we went to an interactive exhibition for kids in the National Museum, with Mozart as the main theme. The Museum is really awesome - majestic architecture, less crowds, artistic features and filled with myriad exhibits. The girls had a funner time playing in the creative play area (complete with a mini ball pool, a maze and a drawing area) outside the exhibition! Big Bee put up her painting of the ocean whereas Little Bee was thrilled with running around in the maze, hiding in corners, refusing to leave.

Inside the exhibition, I spent a fair amount of time explaining to Big Bee about Mozart's life, much to her fascination. She got to dress up as a noble woman from Mozart's era, complete with gigantic wig, beauty mole, blushed cheeks and a beautiful gown! And whichever activities that Big Bee engaged in, Little Bee will sure to follow her jie jie, right down to pounding peppermint leaves and cloves to make arcadian toothpaste! How cute. She was also very fascinated by many of the exhibits on display and kept pointing to the direction she wanted to head towards, saying "there!" ubiquitously, making me very busy! Little Bee was terrified by the herculean statue of Michelangelo's David (in full glorious pink!!!!) whereas coming-to-age Big Bee was more interested in the fact that David's...erm..nether parts were fully exposed and in a magnified mien!

We then went to Novus Cafe for a leisurely, quiet, idyllic lunch - the kind of lunch I fancy because it was peaceful and unhurried so the girls and us were really relaxed and happy!

Terrible or Terrific Twos?

Little Bee is 2 weeks past 18 months but her temper has ascended the steep slope of the terrible twos! These days, she will yell and bawl when she could not get or do the things she want. I usually have to do a lot of explaining and cajoling to soothe her. There are more signs of conflict between Big Bee and Little Bee, but I usually let them settle their conflicts in their own ways. And I am happy to see most conflicts solved amicably, after some minor catfights!

Little Bee is now running from point A to point B instead of her teetering ambling. And she is starting to have longer attention spans. This evening, I just sat a full 20 minutes with her, reading two books. Little Bee sat opposite me, intensely focusing on my reading and pointing to the relevant pictures whenever I asked her to identify things.

She is still not strong verbally, but that does not bother me, as with Big Bee's experience - they are now busy absorbing what we are saying to them, only to burst into explosive and colourful verbal spiels when the time suits them!

She is now interacting so well with hubby, Big Bee and me, and we spend a lot more time chatting with her. She tries chatting back with a talkative mien, albeit in her baby language, but these are good signs that she is ready to yak more! She is so aware of her environment, crying and following us, clinging to us every morning when we go to work, happily gurgling and clapping away on days we bring her down to the car for outings, shrieking in delight and running to us with open arms whenever we come home after work, beaming at Big Bee whenever she helps her with something, and then putting her head on Big Bee's chest to indicate her boundless adoration for her sister.

Terrible Twos? I think it's more like Terrific Twos :)

Busy Bee

Yesterday was the first day of school for Big Bee after the enjoyable June holidays. Needless to say, Big Bee has her own first day blues. But I am elated that she came back from school, happy and chirpy as ever, telling me happily about her day. This was so different from the teary Big Bee of yesteryears, much to my and her teachers' amazement.

She came back with lots of handouts about her Term 3 curriculum in K2. I am suitably impressed...and stressed! You mean my little girl has to go through these? Spelling, 听写，造句, 习字，weekly English or Maths homework, nouns, adjectives, verbs, past/present tenses! Drats. She is growing up fast, absorbing everything like a sponge. She wasn't stressed though, taking these in full stride, so I will try to disguise my stress.

No more plucking Big Bee from school for my weekday leisurely outings anymore
:(

Culinary Delights

I always like experimenting with cooking, but due to the lack of time, I virtually had no opportunity to indulge in this little whim of mine. To clarify, I am no gourmet chef like some of my friends who can whip up dishes and bake like professionals. I do NOT know how to bake, and when I do cook, I need to peer over a recipe right down to every word.

Which was why in the week that I turned SAHM, I was very happy with the liberty of time to tinker around with cooking dinner!

And I am quite happy to declare that hubby was very impressed with the below menus! I know these are common fare for many moms, but hey, I didn't even know how to fry an egg till 7 years ago!

Monday
Stewed chicken with assorted mushrooms
Long beans with sliced carrots
Corn soup with carrots and pork ribs

Tuesday
Curry chicken
Stir-fried caixin with shiitake mushrooms

Wednesday
Chicken stir-fried with bittergourd in black bean sauce
Stir-fried caixin with sliced carrots
Yang shen bu qi Chinese herbal soup

Thursday
Spare ribs in BBQ sauce
Stir-fried caixin
Mushroom and potato soup

Friday
Rendang chicken
Stir-fried kailan with shiitake mushroom
Corn soup with carrots and pork
Gyoza

Plenty of Bonding

This weekend had been really busy but truly enjoyable:

1) Hiking around the trails of Southern Ridges and traipsing across the majestic and lofty Henderson Waves. Big Bee loves the meandering bridge and ran around, whereas Little Bee fancies those little slopey seats along the side of the bridge (she thinks they are mini slides!). She can manouevre away from us just to walk back to those seats amidst rambling crowds! Such courage indeed!

2) Bonding with hubby's friends on a balmy Saturday night of succulent BBQ food. Conversation topics had evolved from fashion tips when we were undergrads to wedding proposals and preparations in our early 20s to our children now!

3) Taking our first family Ferris Wheel ride at Downtown East, with wide-eyed wonder from the 2 Bees.

4) Watching a movie (Kungfu Panda) as a family - Big Bee's 3rd movie experience and Little Bee's FIRST movie! She entered the dark cinema patting her little chest, indicating she was frightened, but Big Bee, hubby and me soon soothed her down with our over-exaggerated comments and laughter! It helped a lot with Big Bee there, munching popcorn and staring fixatedly at the screen. Of course, giving scraps of popcorn and biscuits to foodie Little Bee made a world of difference!

5) Having fantastic family bonding time with the 2 Bees' grandparents - lunch at hubby's parents' place and dinner at my place with my parents, brother and girlfriend. We had a blast looking through my brother's photos from their recent trip and the girls were jesting with their jiu-jiu in full glee.

On A Lazy Thursday Workday...

On a typical lazy Thursday workday, a FTWM took leave yet again to elude herself that she is actually part of the workforce. So, happily, she invited her friend YM and Sophie to her place and they had a really great time chilling out!

Yes, that's me. And if you think I am deluding myself from going to work, yes, that was exactly what I was thinking!

YM had lunch (together with Sophie), and the 3 girls had a wonderful time playing with toys, generally focusing on dolls and cooking toys. Oh, such girliness! Sophie and Little Bee are like twin sisters, according to Big Bee, who was busy snapping photos of the two of them - same height, same size. Little Bee was very fascinated by Sophie, probably because she usually played with big kids and now she was feeling amazed she has someone her age to play with!

YM and I had a great time yakking away. When they left at 1.30pm, Little Bee bawled in great distress when she saw her little friend entering a cab to be driven off into the distance. After they left, she insisted on walking the long long path outside my estate, chasing them futilely for a distance. She wailed again when I finally shattered her dream of finding her little friend by packing her in a struggling, kicking bundle back into my estate.

I wanted to make FULL use of my precious leave, so we did more socialising after dinner by going to PF's house, much to the elation of Big Bee (to be fair to her as well, since her little sister has her friend visit her earlier in the day!).

At PF's house, the adults drank this wonderfully tangy Chardonnay that PF and Andrew brought from their recent trip to Australia and chomped on delightfully scrumptious macadamia nuts, while the 3 big kids, Eugene, Claire and Big Bee, hung out in the highest of spirits and energy levels in their study room - right in front of a PC, playing games! Yes, their priorities had changed. No more playing with toys or chasing each other round the house. Sigh. But still lots of laughter and silly giggling from them. Little Bee kept following them around, wanted to be included but not comprehending why they were so fascinated by an immobile piece of boring junk! However, being the food connoisseur that she is, she perched nicely on my lap when we munched on chips and nuts, helping herself to some of these sinful goodies!

We left their place in high spirits (pun intended) - red, happy, slightly drunk...with the kiddos high as well...from sleepiness.

I wish everyday can be this fun!!

Grill Galore!

This evening, bored hubby and me decided to spice up our usual Saturday night routine by having a BBQ in our balcony with the kiddos! A little celebration of sorts...to rejoice about nothing other than the blessing in our lives with us and the kiddos.

This is the first time we would be using our outdoor grill set that we had purchased more than a month back. Hubby was the chef tonight, and the menu was impressive indeed! We had hamburgers with thick slabs of beef patties (eww..what happened to my objective of turning vegetarian!!), prime ribs (with honey and steak sauce, yummy!!), old English sausages (sweet and juicy!) as well as corn on the cob and baked potatoes (which we are keeping till tomorrow to eat as we were all SO FULL!). We even prepared salad with Japanese dressing, but uh-huh, there was absolutely no more space in our tummies at the end of our dinner.

All thanks to Hubby the chef, we had a wonderful grilled dinner. Big Bee gobbled down the hamburger with relish, declaring proudly that this was her first time eating beef, and she thought it was sweeter and yummier than pork. Poor Little Bee kept looking expectantly at Hubby when he fed Big Bee and me with morsels of delicious barbequed food, but nope, I am not ready to start her off on sinful eating yet!

Hubby was really busy, starting the grill, busy grilling the different food and then cleaning up the grill! And tomorrow's Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Papa :) And thanks for a memorable and delectable dinner - we loved it!

Playdates

Being a SAHM means plenty of time to let my kids play with other kids during the unfettered weekday hours. This week, it was fun going on 2 playdates - one with cousin Fiona on Tuesday, and the other with LP yesterday. Unbelievably, both dates were in Jacob Ballas Children's Garden!

Tuesday
We had a great time strolling around the gardens with Cousin Fio and 8-month-old Baby Val. What was heartwarming was how Big Bee and Little Bee held hands together and wandered buoyantly through the labyrinth, with Big Bee gamely shouting words of encouragement to Little Bee who was ecstatic to be caught in a maze!

Lunch was at my place where the kids chilled out playing with baby toys. Baby Val was really cute and feisty, and she was soooo sticky to Fiona. This is Fiona's first time out all alone with Baby Val and I think she was very steady. Good job, Fio!

Thursday
LP and I decided to drench the kids in some water play in the morning. The sun was radiant, the sky was a striking shade of clear blue and a light breeze was caressing our faces. Perfect weather for the popular water play at Jacob Ballas.

It was Little Bee's first time and she seemed hesitant, cautious, somewhat fearful of the jets of water that could appear and disappear all of a sudden. Very unlike her usual bold nature. However, she warmed up considerably and with me in tow, managed to have a glorious, happy shower with the other 3 shrieking kids soon after!

Lunch was at my place again, with Big Bee and WW running through the house like 2 roadrunners! Hectic but fun!

LP and I went for coffee at Guthrie House and chilled out with good coffee while the kids played catch outside the cafe. No crowds around, only leisurely mothers looking happy and relaxed.

What splendid fun indeed!

Three Magnificent Hornbills

Spotted on a languid evening stroll around my estate were three spectacular hornbills, literally a stone's throw outside my balcony! Big Bee had the rare privilege of creeping up to one majestic, motionless hornbill standing on a low parapet, viewing it in full glorious detail before it flew off, spreading its giant wings wide. It looked so....expansive!

Big Bee, Little Bee and me stayed in the courtyard, fascinated by one hornbill and trying to spot if there were more of them. Indeed, we spotted three! Swooping up the trees for pecks at the fruits, perching on railings enjoying the final receding sunrays of the approaching gloaming.

I wonder where these gorgeous hornbills come from. They are most definitely welcome here.

A Week Of Homely Bliss

My mom is on holiday in China this week, which means that I will be a stay-at-home mom for this whole week! Yippee!

5 things I love about being at home with the kids all day long:

1) Waking up the same time as them, loitering with the two girls over a slow, relaxing and leisurely breakfast, giggling at each other's silly actions or jokes.

2) Having the luxury of time to engage in a table session of Playdoh (Little Bee's first time touching the squishy squashy dough!), while Big Bee and I kept trying to stop gluttony Little Bee from eating the deliciously colourful Playdoh-constructed food, much to her displeasure with us.

3) Shopping for groceries and food with the kiddos on a Monday supermarket, where I can finally amble across the aisles, and take my sweet time selecting produce, rather than squeezing with the hectic weekend crowds!

4) Taking a slow stroll with Big Bee around my estate while Little Bee napped in the late afternoon, immersing in the pure golden sunshine of impending dusk, relishing the gorgeous light and assimilating the clear blue skies into my being, eventually feeling revitalised, rejuvenated, recharged.

5) Having the hubby come home to savour my rare bouts in the kitchen, praising my culinary skills and then helping to put the kids to bed so that I can finally have the me-time to enjoy an unhurried, relaxing shower.

Such are the little joys of today...

The Tooth Fairy Is Nigh

This evening, after dinner (and dessert of a sweet strawberry donut) for Big Bee, she suddenly exclaimed "Mummy, one of my teeth is coming out!"

I bolted out of my seat immediately and went to inspect her tooth. True enough, her lower right centre tooth was wobbling ever so slightly! We gazed at each other in wonder - Big Bee's expression of surprise was tinged with worry and uncertain fear, mine with pride and happiness.

For this is a milestone indeed! The first milk tooth to be discarded and delivered to the lengendary and elusive tooth fairy! This marks a certain maturity in Big Bee, and I scrutinized Big Bee's troubled face with a roller-coaster concoction of emotions: pride, bittersweetness, joy, happiness, worry (about whether I need to physically pluck out stubbornly wobbly teeth, ewww!).

My first baby girl has stepped up another notch in her journey to independence. One part of me rejoices at the speed of her growing up. Another more melancholic part worries at the aspect of her leaving the shelter and comfort of my protection, growing up to live her own life and dreams.

Sex And The City

Last Thursday evening, I took some time off to watch the "Sex And The City" movie with 2 of my best single girlfriends. The movie evoked vessels of laughter, tricklings of tears and scoops of bittersweet emotions. For the movie is about love, friendship and happily-ever-after...universal themes of what all of us seek in life.

I am thankful for my many best friends (the single, the married, the in-between!) who had accompanied me through life's many splendours and the occasional periods of darkness. For their listening ears. Their shoulders to cry on. For our shared laughter. Common woes. And ultimately for understanding each other, standing by one another.

Without my best girlfriends, my life would be bleaker and harder to manage.

"Making Telephone Porridge"

In Cantonese, "making telephone porridge" is synonymous with someone hogging the phone, making a large number of phone calls, and talking on the phone for ages.

And that's what Big Bee had been busy with. Brewing telephone porridge on a daily basis.

Her latest thrill with her friends in school is to exchange phone numbers with each other and call each other in the mornings or the evenings! The glow on her face when the phone rings and the caller ID reflects her friends' numbers is priceless. In fact, she is a CEO of sorts, screening calls to pick up. Whenever the caller ID shows up other numbers that are not her friends', she will refuse to pick up the calls adamantly. Luckily, Mummy's number is still in her "in" list - but I wonder when I will be bummed out (I suspect it will be soon!)

She has calls day in and out. And their conversations are so cute - they will discuss about what they are doing right then (children live immensely in the present, which is a perfect example of how we all should be living our lives), what their parents are doing, what TV shows they are watching. I even caught her gossiping about a party she attended and things that other friends say! Oh my. Is this the start of adolescent independence?

Food Connoisseur

Little Bee is fast becoming a ravenous food connoisseur. She is in love with food!

Yesterday at lunchtime, she screamed the moment she saw me bringing out her steaming porridge of fish and broccoli. She struggled and yelled in desperation as I was putting her bib on. And kept lunging her toddlership towards the dining table, her little face full of anxiety and angst, obviously beleaguered by the fear that the bowl of porridge will suddenly grow a pair of legs and strut off the dining table! I had to use all my mighty strength to prevent her from dashing right to the steaming hot porridge!

She finally calmed down with her first mouthful of porridge - pure bliss on her face, as if she is slurping on a rich creamy dollop of chocolate ice-cream. Pure bliss followed by immediate impatience when she swallowed that spoonful of porridge in 2 seconds to see slowcoach Mummy still frantically blowing on that spoonful of hot porridge! She tugged on my arm forcefully, and gabbled some gibberish in a really angry tone, as if I was going to eat up her precious food! Whew. This struggle went on for at least 6-8 mouthfuls with her sitting vigilantly by my side, eyeing her spoonful of porridge with a hawk's eye...before she gave a satisfied, Cheshire Cat grin and started pottering about in her usual mien. I guess her voracious hunger was comfortably gratified!

Her favourite word is now "mum mum" (note: "mum mum" for eating, and definitely NOT for "Mummy"). Right after her meal, if she sees us eating, she will stop whatever she is playing with, and trot to us with her infamous uttering of "mum mum" followed by frenzied finger pointing and distraught screeching at our food! And this action is ubiquitous - every time she sees us eating, irregardless of how full she is.

I read that fat genes start brewing in our bodies from young. And Mummy here has got fat genes before. So....I am keeping my fingers crossed that Little Bee can still maintain her current svelte and petite figure despite her voracious appetite!

Her First Love...

Big Bee had officially started her first BGR (boy-girl relationship). Yes. At a tender age of 6.

She came back from school last week and told me her boy classmate K told her she is his girlfriend, and that he will marry her and she will be his wife next month. Since when did these kids start to know how to draw the line between buddies and BGR!?

And when she attended K's birthday party today, he gallantly gave her a gigantic bouquet of practically all the balloons in the party. I am serious. That balloon bouquet was huge - at least 30 or more balloons. I thought she was going to float up into the air when I saw her dragging that enormous bouquet around!

Hubby and I also saw him fighting off her contenders when they tried getting their hands on the gargantuan bunch of balloons. What a knight in shining armour!

When I asked Big Bee after the party whether she likes K, she coyly and shyly shrugged her shoulders and giggled out "I don't know". How cute!

Kids sure grow up fast these days...

Party Queen In The Making

We went to Big Bee's friend's birthday party this afternoon and had a great time there. This is some sort of a debutante ball for Little Bee since her evolution into a toddler. Oh my god. She had proved my sneaky suspicions correct. She will be the next party queen in the making!

Never had I seen one minuscule toddler waddling in the midst of so many strapping 6-year-old big kids, grinning away, enjoying their company and interacting briefly with different big kids depending on where she walked to.

She was a very enthusiastic participant when the party organiser entertained his crowd of big kids - sitting down together with all jie jie's big friends, not caring if her good ol' parents were anywhere near her, just wanting to have fun with jie jie and her friends, and getting highly excitable when the party programme started.

Her favourite party companions were the many big green and black balloons strewn all over the living room, and she would hobble around on her tiny legs picking up a couple balloons and offering them generously, with wide-eyed pleasure, to all the adults surrounding her, bringing smiles to the adults' faces with her cheeky beams. Not needing Mummy or Papa at all. Such gregarious nature.

Get ready, world. Brace yourself for the next party queen.

Goodbye, Pebbles

Big Bee's first pet hamster, Pebbles, passed on this morning - just 45 days after we bought Galaxy and Pebbles (the 2 female hamsters for Big Bee's 6th birthday).

We are still at a loss as to what happened to Pebbles. Just yesterday, we bought the second mobile ball house where the hamsters can stay inside and "roll" about as they scampered in the ball house. I remembered Hubby telling us that Pebbles kept shivering. So, I wondered if poor Pebbles died of fear? Their poor little hamsty hearts could be just too weak for the shock (or thrill) of rolling all around the house in a fast-moving, dynamic ball?

Poor Pebbles. I wish you rest in peace wherever you are.

Big Bee was the first to discover Pebbles' death. Her morning routine upon waking up usually comprises of lounging on the bed with us, then she will troop with me or by herself to the kitchen and check on the hamsters to snoop on what they are doing in their cage. This morning, I was lazy to walk with her to the kitchen, wishing to loiter longer on my warm bed, so she went alone. Minutes later, she walked back into the bedroom with a worried frown on her pretty little face, telling me "Mummy, Pebbles looked like she is dead. She is just lying facing up in the bathing container, not moving."

Skeptical, I told Big Bee that Pebbles could be in deep sleep since the mornings are usually their snooze time. I walked with her to the kitchen.

True enough, Pebbles looked strange and distant...lying on her back, face-up, with a slight grimace on her furry rodent face. Big Bee bravely extended her finger into the cage to shake Pebbles but there was no movement. Only stillness. Oh my god. I was horrified. So soon, this little life ends without fanfare.

Once we confirmed that Pebbles is truly dead, Big Bee expressed her feelings saying she was very angry and why Pebbles had to die so quickly. Hubby assured her that no matter how long Pebbles lived, the most important thing is that Pebbles had lived a happy life. Big Bee seemed consoled by this fact.

In the afternoon, I called her to ask how she was feeling. She said she felt sad instead of angry, which is a good and natural transition. I told her I was also feeling sad...letting her know it is very normal to express our emotions out loud.

Goodbye, Pebbles. You will always be remembered.

Our First Art Piece(s)

For the first time last Monday, hubby and I went shopping for art gallery paintings to spruce up our new home! We went to this obscure and quaint boutique art gallery at Lavender called Moni Gallery. Hubby discovered it online over the weekend, and we were aptly impressed by their abstract/modern art pieces, hence decided to hop by their gallery.

There were 2 storeys of art pieces - all wonderful in each of their ways. Hubby and I just roamed our eyes over the different art pieces, allowing them to beckon to us...eventually, we agreed on 2 paintings that we can relate most intimately with - Motivation and Generation, by 2 Australian painters. As there is a substantial sale going on (whoever heard of art gallery sales!), we managed to purchase each painting for about $1,500, including mounting on a stunning black silk screen.

We were beside ourselves with excitement and elation - our very first art paintings at home!

And last night, we put up the Generation painting above our living room settee...after much hard work from Hubby who spent a good hour drilling in the screw to hang up the painting! It looks so cosy and at home, filling our home with elegance and warmth :)

Picnic!

My friends (YM and LP) and I organised a picnic gathering at Botanic Gardens last Saturday evening. We decided to go somewhere non-air con to escape the HFMD epidemic, and it is always wonderful to escape into the great outdoors when you have so many kids tagging along!

We met up at 5.30pm, and it was such a hot day! The heat from the sun was almost stifling and the air felt so heavy! However, as the clock ticked closer to 6pm, we could feel the tiniest caresses of a very gentle wind that gradually became a soft easy breeze. Whew!

The bigger kids (Big Bee and LP's 2 boys) were happily indulging in some bubble play plus ball games and chasing/running around. YM's girl and Little Bee were tottling here and there, enjoying the greenery and wide expanse of verdant space, waving sociably to adult strangers! It will be a while before they will learn to play with each other, no doubt.

As the gathering involved a picnic, we had 3 mats spread out on the grass ... and unhealthy Mac's for picnic! Haha, all of us were too lazy to really cook. Besides, Mac's is always a favourite amongst the big kids. The 2 little toddlers were fed porridge, and Little Bee seemed to enjoy her porridge alfresco-style!

We packed up at 6.45pm with lavender dusk closing in on us. It was so idyllic, slowly sauntering through the darkening twilight and looming shadows, heading towards the cool of the night...

Chilling Out

Yesterday was the May Day holiday - another day for our little family to chill out and have fun. Due to the HFMD endemic plus Little Bee's cough, we avoided all places air-conditioned, and instead, decided on nearby Holland Village to hang out!

The weather's hot and humid - the sun was blazing down on earth, as if to imbue its last remaining rays further into our atmosphere. We could feel its angry gaze everywhere! Whew!

Hence, we selected a cool table under some shade outside Haagen Daz and indulged in ice cream galore - no doubt Big Bee's favourite food! She had a scoop of strawberry ice cream, whereas I could not resist a shot of rich chocolate ice cream. The yummiest snack went to Papa, with TWO amazing scoops of cookies and cream as well as vanilla ice cream complementing a fantabulous scoop of potent, thick, gooey and moist brownie that stunned my tastebuds to bits! Absolutely sinful but totally delicious.

Poor Little Bee had nothing to eat, of course, but she was gamely sitting down in one of those adult lounge chairs by herself and grinning away. She just loves going out - anywhere!

We strolled around the idyllic Holland V area, through the old but colourful shophouses and past many new trendy shops and restaurants. Hubby and I reminisced fondly about this place being the venue of our fateful first date and many wonderful dates thereafter. And now - we're bringing (literally) the fruits of our labour back here!

We meandered around till 5pm before going back home for rest and relax as well as dinner.