Too many things to remember

18 October 2013 (Fri):

Too many notes cramping into my mind that I need to borrow this blog to jot down the events, least I forget. :P

Lionel:
22 Oct ~ P2 Writing Exam
24 Oct ~ P2 English Paper
25 Oct ~ P2 Maths Paper
28 Oct ~ P2 MT paper
23 Nov ~ Abacus Grading

Rachel:
23 Oct ~ K2 English Paper
24 Oct ~ K2 MT Paper
25 Oct ~ K2 Maths Paper
15 Nov ~ CSTD Ballet Exam, Primary (am)
             ~ P1 Orientation (pm)
22 Nov ~ Parents - Teacher - Conference
24 Nov ~ Combined Ballet Rehersal
23 Nov ~ Abacus Grading
30 Nov ~ K2 Graduation cum concert
07 & 08 Dec ~ Ballet Concert @ SCGS

There is something else on the 07 December, besides the ballet concert... What was it?  Memory failing me :(

The Singapore Memory Project

28 August 2013 (Wed):

Received a comment on one of my blog post (though non related to the post), inviting me to share my blog memories via:
http://singaporememory.simulation.com.sg/Public/Pledge

The Singapore Memory Project (SMP) is a nationwide movement which aims to capture and document precious moments and memories related to Singapore; recollections not merely from individual Singaporeans, but also organisations, associations, companies and groups.

Launched on August 2011, this project aims to collect 5 million personal memories as well as a substantial number of published materials on Singapore by 2015. It will do so not only through its own efforts, but via partners embarking on similar collection drives.

Source: http://www.mci.gov.sg/content/mci_corp/web/mci/libraries/community_and_outreach/the_singapore_memoryproject.html

LOL... Daddy gave full support. Will be contacting the PIC soon...

Long weekend - 07 ~ 11 Aug 2013

11 August 2013 (Sun):

you have been warned: no photos...only words :P

07 Aug (Wed):

The school celebrated National Day & Hari Raya. All students were encouraged to come in their red & white attire or the traditional Malay costume. School hours were from 8am - 1030am, so the kids had most of the day free. :)

08 Aug (Thurs):

Being a PH ~ Hari Raya, i gave a day off from doing assessments books. The kids were elated; they can play all day. However, instead of being a couch potato, we headed off to Henderson Waves. But instead of crossing over to Hortpark (which was what we usually did), we walked along the main road after the end of the tree top walk, towards Labrador MRT station. There ia a boardwalk behind the station which leads out into the open sea & all the way across, ending at Marina @ Keppel Bay. Boy! That was a long walk, and with the rain coming down on us, we were wet, tired & hungry.

In the evening, the kids went for a buffer dinner with ah ma & us 2 went for our dinner at Balestier.

09 Aug (Fri):

Daddy planned to go into JB for a little shopping. He needed to get some stuff for his client. After looking at the traffic condition, we opt for entry via Tuas Checkpoint.Our destination was Pasir Gudang. By right, entry ito JB via Woodlands Checkpoint wld be nearer but we did not want to waste our time, gettin stuck in the jam( for goodness know how long.

So we followed directions for Pasir Gudang after exiting from customs. But as u know lah, the roadsigns disappeared halfway & we did not know if we were driving in the right direction. Daddy made a u-turn & followed directions for Johor Bahru instead. We were down on our luck. The shop was closed & would only be open on the 12 Aug. We did not expect them to close. Arrgghhh...

So Daddy said to go where we were the week before as there were many interesting shops, cafes & restaurants. I told him that's Bukit Indah. We wanted to visit AEON shopping centre. But what Daddy had in mind was Bandar Uda Utama, that's along Jalan Skudai. We had a little miscommunication here. Daddy thought that Bukit Indah was in fact, the same as Bandar Uda Utama. Well....

We drove back via Senai Airport, followed directions for Skudai but somehow, we ended up along some ulu village road. Not wanting to continue for fear of losing our way more, we followed signs for Kota Iskandar instead as I remembered Bukit Indah was in the Iskandar town area. Or was it? I am confused myself.

Somehow, we ended up at Gelang Patah ( God help us). Quickly we made a u-turn again. I told Daddy to stop going round in circles. Go to Skudai & just drive on. We stopped to ask for directions & was told Bukit Indah was just: turn right at the traffic light, go all the way & turn right. Before turning right, I saw the indication for Jalan Skudai was to turn left. I was not thinking straight already. Which was which??

We stopped for dinner at what Daddy thought to be Bandar Uda Utama ( I had clearly mentioned this was Bukit Indah). We walked around the whole area, looking at all the interesting cafes & restaurants. Daddy said we should proceed to Jalan Skudai. So i said okay, that's the other direction. But after a few mins of driving, we realised the place was not what we saw the last time. I told Daddy to stopped the car & I had to explain everything to him again...

.You want to go Bandar Uda Utama. That's the place we passed up the last time the Kueh family went with us to Legoland. We stayed at the uncle's house, remember?

.The place we went last week was Bukit Indah. You kept on saying its Bandar Uda Utama just becos u remembered seeing Lu Bang & Courts. I told u that was not as I wrote down the street name & its not the same place.

.Now u insisted i gave u the wrong info. I did not. This is Bukit Indah & NOT Bandar Uda Utama.

Time: 2150hrs. Both is us were a little heated up & Daddy decided to drive back to Singapore. The radio station 933 had already mentioned there were major jam at the Woodlands custom & Daddy still wanna take a chance. I was pissed off but i kept quiet. True to it, there was a long queue & Daddy filtered out & proceeded towards Tuas direction again. We passed by Danga Bay & I wanted to get out. I needed fresh air; I was so angry. But the man drove on.

Finally, we arrived at Tuas Checkpoint, cleared immigration with ease & reached home at 1030pm.

10 Aug (Sat):

No worries. Our tempers were short fused & we were alright upon reaching home. Daddy & I even joked about the TV show we watched in the night, lauging with the kids.

Being a Sat, its back to our daily routine of assessment exercises. I had set them revision tests (English, Chinese & Maths) for today & they settled down to complete it.

In the evening, we caught Smurfs 2 at the cinema. Will it be Turbo next?

11 Aug (Sun):

Its the last day of the long weekend. Back to school & back to work tomorrow. :)

Pre Trip Concerns

04 May 2013 (Sat):

Hey Hey! Good to see everyone again. I have been away for awhile, planning, deciding, worrying, monitoring, wondering, asking, enquiring, etc...

What's all the fuss about? Well, since end March, a few of us (that is, my friends & I) have been planning a trip to Korea. But in early April, the threats between NK & SK have become so intense that we put our plans to halt. Everyday, we checked the internet for news, sourcing for reliable info & checking around with friends who have been to Korea or who were in Korea at that moment.

Finally, we believed the threats were empty since 15 April was NK's big day & there was no tension at all. NK seems to be at peace & there were celebrations going on. There were mixed feelings on this particular trip: ~

Happy & Excited: after such long planning & dicussions, we were finally going on a vacation together.

Worried & Concerned: what if after the flights & hotel accomodation were booked & all POIs planned,  NK decided to go into a war for real?

Greatly missed & Sadness: leaving my 2 darlings behind although i know they will be in good hands. But it does seems something is missing when they are not by my side.

Putting all concerns aside, we got on with our trip; doing some last min shopping to get stuff, checking weather conditions to determine the clothings we need, etc... At long last, the day we have all been looking forward to.... 22 April 2013 SIN/SEL via KL on Malaysia Airlines.

Bloggy Break

22 April 2013 (Mon):

My apologies to all. There hasnt been any exciting happenings these past few weeks, hence the lack in updates. Will be on a bloggy break though for another week or so. Will be back with exciting & wonderful stories.

See ya on the flip side. :)

Rooster Parade?

31 January 2013 (Thurs):

While having breakfast this morning at the coffee shop...

Rachel: " Mummy, look, rooster parade. "
Me: (Rooster Parade?! Thinking that there was a parade of roosters, I turned towards the direction she was pointing & saw no such rooster she was mentioning.) " Where? "
Rachel: " There " (pointing again)

It was then i realised what she was talking about & nearly fell off the chair, laughing. Rachel was pointing to a signboard that reads ~ Jin Ma Che (H.K) Roasted Porridge & Noodle House. She read the words 'Roasted Porridge' as Rooster Parade!

I corrected her & have her repeat after me the correct pronounciation. :)

Xi'An (China)

13 Jan 2013 (Sun):

This is just a little joke to share for the night. We were on our way home after dinner this evening & Daddy was saying we should plan our overseas trip to China for either March or Sep this year when the weather would be cooling.

Daddy suggested An'Xi & all of a sudden, I was wondering where the heck An'Xi is??? So i ask Daddy what's there to see in An'Xi? He told me An'Xi is the place to see the Terracotta Warriors...

I feel like hitting Daddy on the head. I told Daddy: " For goodness, that is Xi'An... NOT An'Xi... " *faint*

I cant help lauging away...

A New Schedule Proposed...

09 Jan 2013 (Wed):

2nd week of school since school reopened on the 02 Jan 2013.

Since Fri, 04 Jan, Daddy has been ferrying Lionel to school every morning. We would have to leave the house at 7.30am (if possible) since Lionel has to be in school by 7.45am. But we would usually leave home later than 7.30am... :P

Rachel & myself would follow along & we would have breakfast together after dropping off Lionel at his school. Not to worry, the kids would have their breakfast at home already.  Rachel would just pinch bits & pieces from Daddy & Mummy on whatever we were having. :)

Mummy here woke up at 630am ( sometimes getting a shut eye for another 10mins..opps) & prepared their breakfast. Woke them up & while they were having their breakfast, Mummy would shower & changed. And since i do not start work till 10am, i have some spare time after our breakfast for a little bonding time with Rachel at my ils' shop.

This would be our new daily schedule unless Daddy has something on, then Mummy would then be the one to send Lionel to school. Some of you may be wondering why Rachel needs to wake up this early as well since she's in the PM session for K2. Well, we like to get her into the habit of waking up early as she will be in P1 next year & that will be the AM session.

So far, no given homework & no spelling list yet. Lessons schedule has been given out & again, each subject would be for a min of 2 periods & would stretch to 4 periods on certain days. And yes, Daddy has increase Lionel's pocket allowance to $10/week as Lionel needs to have lunch in school on every Mon & Tues. Lessons will only end at 230pm on these 2 days.

For last week, since its only 3 days of school, Daddy gave Lionel $6 & he managed to save $2.50. The other $3.50 were used for ordering the name tags. He did not buy food during recess as he requested to have bread packed for his recess.

Let's see how much can Lionel save every week with $10 allowance given.

1st day of school - Primary 2

02 January 2013 (Wed):

Woke up at 645am this morning & it was difficult. Lionel wanted bread with kaya, butter & cheese for breakfast so we went to get those last night.

I prepared the bread & milk & woke Lionel up, who sat up for awhile before falling back down, asleep again. LOL. He wanted another piece of bread for his recess break.

We left the house at 730am & both Daddy & Lionel proposed to walk. Yikes... its already 730am & they still wanna walk?!?! Lionel's supposed to be in school by 745am. Okay. We reached the school just in time. However, parents are not allowed to walk their kids up to the hall. A teacher was at the foot of the stairs to maintain order. This year, the P1s & P2s were gathered at different parts of the school.

I picked Lionel up at 130pm & he told me he's appointed group leader. His FT is the same as last year. :) Lionel told me he need to bring some of the other textbooks back to school tomorrow for his teacher will be collecting them, including 2B textbooks + 2A workbooks, part 2.

Nothing much for 1st day of school.

Not able to gain entry into LEGOLAND even with the Annual Pass??

18 Dec 2012 (Tues):

Daddy told us he saw the news reported on Sunday that even with the Annual Pass, one may not be able to enter LEGOLAND due to the huge crowd. The management is restricting the number of visitors. Uh-oh!!

And that is only a Sunday. So what about Xmas weekend? Isnt it worst? So here's praying & hoping our plans to visit LEGOLAND on a weekday (24 Dec - Xmas Eve) will not pose a entry restriction.

But i did tell Daddy - Xmas Eve is also gonna be a crowded day... but his reasoning; its a Monday & still a work day for some. We gotta arrive early & hope for the best.

The kids are gettin excited as the days draw nearer & we really do not wish to disappoint them and for some obvious reasons, the adults too. 

LEGOLAND Malaysia

15 December 2012 (Sat):

Plans were made in early December to visit LEGOLAND Malaysia during Xmas but we kept putting it off as no confirmation can be given from neither one of us working parents.

Finally we decided to stay put on our initial decision & a look at LEGOLAND's website last night sent us into a frantic mode.

Firstly, the promotional rates on the Annual Pass will be increasing soon & the last day to apply will be 15 December 2012.

Though its just a $50 increase, it is still an increase..

We decided to go for the day pass but yikes, the dates are all fully sold out during the Xmas period, marked in red.

We did not think that such a thing would occur; I mean, c'mon, tickets are sold out for a certain day??? Okay, maybe these were done online so they have a restricted number.

What to do next? We can try & see if they have tickets on sale at the tickets booth itself on 23rd or 24th December but there is a risk involved. What if they are no more admission tickets left??

The booking for the Annual Pass was also sold out but we spotted a little box that said " Book Online" and presto, it brought us to the payment page where we have to fill in all the neccessary details.

Quickly, Daddy filled in the details & got the system to start processing our booking.

Tadah!!! We got our vouchers that enables us to skip the queue & redeem our Annual ID Card at the counter inside the park. All we need to do is to scan the barcode.

** I logged onto the website again this morning but was unable to see the little box that said " Book Online " anymore. The system only allows us to click on the Day Tickets purchase instead. We were lucky to be able to purchase our pass at the old deal. :)