Back from the HOT POT!

Whew! We are finally back in Singapore from the HOT HOT MELTING POT of Beijing! The weather had been horrible there, hitting an average of 38 deg cel from Monday to Thurs! Luckily Friday and Saturday was better with the smog but we mostly stayed indoors since we've more or less covered the attractions by then and headed to the cooler malls.

When we were in China, I couldn't access blogspot so I couldn't update our daily activities but I had managed to upload all the pictures on shutterfly so everyone can look at them first hand.

The kids had a great time there despite the weather, and no one got heatstroke or dehydrated so far. They enjoyed the climb to great wall, visiting forbidden city, summer palace, echo wall, the bird nest, the aquatic bubble, etc. They learnt much from the World Park and had the most fun at FunDazzle.

Will update more when I have the time...meanwhile, it's sleep time for me!

2 more days to go!!

2 more days to go and we'll be out here to Beijing! It's very exciting for me as I'll be travelling for the first time with my parents. I've been to Brisbane 2 years back with my mum and mother in law with the kids (only Hao and Ee) but I've never travelled with my dad before. We didn't have any extra money to travel together when I was a kid and the only time my parents brought their kids overseas was to Genting when we were in Secondary school and back then I had my holiday job and couldn't join them, so they only brought my brother and sister along. It's really hard to convince my dad to take some time off to travel as he has to work 2 jobs even till now. It's only after he had the mild stroke that he finally realised how short life is and with his age, he felt that if he don't enjoy now, he might not have the energy to do so in a few years time when he has the time. That prompted him to slow down his pace and started to work less hours and execute his travel plans. He went to Hong Kong with my mum, sis and Kevin earlier this year during the Labour Day long weekend and will be travelling with us to Beijing in 2 days' time. Maybe end of the year he's thinking to visit Taiwan with my mum and then after he get back, he'll plan his travel trips for next year. Not too bad for a year...not bad at all :P

Busy Holidays

This week has been a busy week for all of us. Firstly hubby had to go to Shanghai for a business trip and left on Wednesday morning. As usual, the whole family was there to send hubby off and after that we lingered at the airport for lunch, brief shopping (bought MIL's birthday present there ~ need not pay GST!) and also went for the Dora bouncy castle. Too bad the Dora show is only on Thurs to Sun so we didn't manage to catch the show much to the kids' disappointment.

After lunch on Thursday, we made cookies for a special person and then went to Parkway Parade with my sis for dinner. Over there, the kids went to play at the Disney Playhouse booths and had fun at the games and activities there. The best part is that I only need to drop them off at the counters and fetch the kids 30mins later after they have completed the games. I managed to get a pair of jelly shoes at 50% the usual price and its very very comfortable walking shoes. Also managed to get a pair of bermudas for Hao as he's outgrowing his clothes very fast and is in need of new clothes.

Today we popped over to Takashimaya early at 11+am as sis wanted to look at the baby cot there. Luckily she managed to find something she wanted within budget and finally bought the cot from there. During lunch, we managed to catch the Transformer show at the civic plaza (we were having lunch at Delifrance, which happens to be just a floor above the performing stage and could see the show without any block). The kids went wild when they realised that Transformer show was on, although only the Optimus Prime and BumbleBee was there. It was good enough for them. They even wanted to stay for the 4pm show but we didn't agreed to that :P After that, we went back East to Ikea at Tampines to get would-be-born-Princess Ashlyn's bathtub. Hao was delighted to be able to spend time again at the playground there for an hour and luckily it wasn't too crowded. By the time we finished for the day, it was nearly 5pm. Sis dropped us off at my parents place and I stayed for dinner and my dad sent us back home to rest for the day.

It has been a busy and very exciting week and we are now gearing up for the gathering party at my in laws' place tomorrow evening. Hao's swimming lesson is cancelled tomorrow so I am thinking what we should do tomorrow. In my mind now I am deciding between going for a haircut and getting my mum to babysit for prob an hour for that, or bringing them to the supermart or shopping centre again, or simply laze at home to recuperate after one busy week. Hmm..will ask the kids tomorrow :P

The Missing Moon

The story of The Missing Moon occurred last weekend when we celebrated Hao's and Wen's birthdays.

Hao celebrated his birthday on Saturday while Wen (BIL's younger daughter) celebrated her birthday on Sunday (her birthday is on the 9th but she insisted to do it earlier on the 7th at my in laws place). After dinner and the celebration on Sunday, we were in the car heading back home when Hao noticed that the moon was big and round that night. He said to me "Mummy, the moon tonight is so big, round and bright...maybe it knows that it's Wen's birthday and so it came out especially for her...but Mummy how come the moon wasn't out yesterday? Is it because the moon forgotten all about my birthday and so didn't come out big and round for me?"

I was speechless for a while, wonder how a 7 year old can have such sad thoughts. I told him that the moon was much bigger and brighter and rounder last night but because there were some dark clouds overcasting the skies and so he couldn't see it at all. He felt better after that and was in silence all the way back home.

It didn't occur to me that he actually made comparison to the attention given to both him and Wen and felt a little left out that we didn't make a big deal out of his celebration. Obviously he had a happy birthday and loved the presents he received and that we took him out for his favourite food (soup dumplings) but he wanted more. This might not be healthy as I find that they are getting more and more competitive in seeking attention from the adults and that might just make them resort to pitting against each other, which will heighten sibling rivalry. Kids nowadays are getting more and more intelligent and complicated in their thoughts and sometimes I feel that we might not be ready for such intelligent little beings. How I wished they were the same little happy boys who would squeal in joy for the little things that we do to make them happy...they are so much more demanding now and we might not be able to fulfill them in all ways...

Happy 7th Birthday to Hao!

It's Hao's 7th birthday today. I woke up real early not because of his birthday but Min woke up at 5am and didn't fell asleep till nearly 6.30am. He doesn't usually does that but since I am up, its quite hard for me to fall back asleep and anyway the kids will be up at 7plus, so I got out of bed to do some housework. Managed to get some stuff done so am spending some time on my netbook to check mails and update some work online.

1 week of the school holiday has passed. Amazingly, having 3 kids at home for the past 1 week isn't that bad. They had fun playing together and Hao has already managed to finish his holiday homework. Next week hubby will be travelling again and it'll be home alone again with 3 kids. Luckily sis will not be working next Thurs and Fri, so we are thinking of getting the kids out of the house for some fun (hopefully)!

We are not having any big birthday bash for Hao. I got tickets for the Big Club Show at expo on Thurs and he enjoyed the show tremendously, although Ee got frightened and had to get out to me halfway through the show. Yesterday sis brought Hao to the Popular bookstore to get his present (Geronimo Stilton books) and also a birthday meal at Pizza Hut. We have not decided where to go today but will definitely get a small cake for him and let him choose what he wants to eat for lunch. Tomorrow we'll be having lunch with my family. I am sure this will be a wonderful birthday for him to remember, as were previous years!

A very Sad Dream...

I had a very sad dream a few nights ago. In the dream, I was on a tour with hubby. There's nothing unusual with that but the thing is in my dream, I was 6 months pregnant. I didn't know how I knew it was 6 months but I had a big tummy and at one point I could even feel the kicks in my tummy and hubby was smiling and feeling it. I knew it was a girl. Don't ask me how but I just knew in my dreams I was 6 months pregnant with a little girl. Then I tripped and fell in the dream. Next thing I knew, I had miscarriaged. It was very very sad. I was very sad in my dream and it was so real. When I woke up, I felt sad too. It's a strange and sad dream and I don't know why I had this dream but definitely not pregnant in real life. Maybe I wished I had a little girl ~ a daughter. Or maybe I am feeling excited about my sister having a daughter. Or maybe I loved being pregnant BUT one thing I am sure I'll not be having kids anymore. 3 boys on hand is already a much difficult task, and I definitely don't think I can handle having another baby. Will just be satisfied with my little niece and looking after her :)