Touched

I don't think I've ever blog about movies or shows.  Cos I seldom watch movies, and they seldom come close to my heart.

I watched Les Miserables on Sat night finally.  It wasn't a easy decision, it wasn't easy in terms of logistics.  After watching the show, I'm very glad and thankful that I caught it.

I watched the musical many years ago, in Singapore.  I fell madly in love with the musical.  The storyline is great and it has so many fantastic songs.  I really do not know how to write about it to give it the justice it deserves.

When I came to know about the movie a few weeks back, I was not sure if I should watch it.  I wonder if I will be disappointed, and if it will dash the perfect image that I have of the musical.  So I did some "research".  Firstly I asked for my colleague's feedback, and was told that everyone, including Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, sang well, with the exception of Russell Crowe (she called him the weakest link).  I was discouraged by that, because Russell Crowe's character is my favourite in the musical.  Then I watched the trailers on you-tube that night, and I wasn't impressed by what I heard.

That weekend, I kept thinking about it, but I couldn't find time anyway.  Then last Friday, I was exchanging SMS with Wee San, we actually found a barely suitable slot (Sat night 840pm to 1120)  at GV Yishun, and we made the effort to go for it.

That night, when I'm suppose to leave the home, Lynn refused to let me go.  She wailed and clinged onto me.  I was delayed at least 5 mins, until WK came out to stop tear Lynn away from me.

On our way to the cinema, WS told me that her friend, who had watched the musical in London, was very upset with the movie because Hugh Jackman (he played the lead role) sang terribly.

So, I watched the movie with very low expectation, and a very open heart.  At the end of the day, I enjoyed the movie very much!!

The movie is very different from the musical.  Other than Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe the rest of the cast were extraordinary.  They either sang like a musical actor/actress, or even better!   For example, Anne Hathaway acted in the role of Fantine.  I never liked this role in the musical because the singing is way too technical and the voice too rich.  But Anne Hathaway sang with so much emotion, I was so impressed.  The rest of the young cast sang so so so so well too.

As for Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, I have only praises for them too!  I think they are very smart.  There is no way they can do well in singing because that's just not their forte.  So they put in a lot of effort in their acting.  I think they are both very convincing in their roles of the kind hearted Jean Valjean and the self-righteous Javert.

So some words for my young friends who watched this movie and not the musical before:  go watch the musical.  At the musical, listen to how the 2 male leads use their voices and songs to deliver the story.  I thought that the best duet in this show is not the ones between Ephony/Cosette and Marius, but is the one between Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert (at the hospital where Fantine died).   Read the lyrics of the songs if you have the chance, then you will be able to appreciate how each song links to another in the show (very poetic).  Listen to "Bring him home".  It is not my favourite song, but I'm recommending this because the "real" song is beautiful and Hugh Jackman's version is a joke...

To sum it all up, I'm still madly in love : ))

Super touched. Super glad that I watched it.

Diary of new P1 mum - Update

Just wanting to jot down some events and thoughts in week 4

1) Shopping:  This actually happened last week, not on week 4.  She came home with a new hi-lighter (pink), and told me she got it at the bookshop for $0.50... me faintz....  shopping at P1...

2) Dexter's book:  I was checking her school bag, and I exclaimed "Lynnette, what happened to the plastic book cover of your spelling book?"  [all her books are wrapped].  We stared at it, and then we realised that she had taken her classmate's book....

3) "Smooched":  The moment I stepped into the house, WK's mum told me that Lynn got knocked down during recess and got a swollen upper lip (a cut).  I Couldn't get much detail from Lynn..
Me: was it a big boy or big girl or your friend who knock into you??
Lynn: Big boy..
Me: what did you knock into??
Lynn: No.. big boy knocked me..
Me: I mean the bruise on your lips.  Did you knock into his ... tummy, his elbow, or his head, or did you hit your lips on the floor or.. so what did you knock into?? (the cut/bruise on the lips doesn't look like she knock into something very hard)
Lynn:  Err.... errr... I fall down...
Me: so the bruise on your lips, did you hit your lips on the floor/wall when u fall or hit the boy's body when he knock you down?  Or he kissed you???
Lynn:  ???!!!!!...
[ok, maybe it's my fault for confusing her. I just feel like making fun of her, cos I can't understand how she can be not injured anywhere else but only on the lips]

4) Getting a new water bottle .. again..:  The first one, WK's mum said that it was leaking.  It was an old one, which she used during K2.  So I got her a new one.  It only lasted 2 weeks, cos it cracked, I believe when she got knocked down during recess (above).

5) Stationery woes: A boy at her after school care bite and flatten her pencil holder, broke her eraser to pieces and kept borrowing her stationery.   When she told me about it, my respond to her was that I will write an email to her teacher and ask her teacher to inform the parent of the boy to stop borrowing and vandalising Lynn's stuff.  I thought that this is the correct way to handle this kind of problem.  Later on, I told WK about it and ask him what he think should be done (I didn't tell him what I promised Lynn already).  To my surprise, he said that Lynn should learn to solve the problem by herself (tell the teacher), and take the consequence of her own action/inaction.    I thought about it.  Although I'm not totally convinced that we should introduce this method at this young age, I decided that no harm in giving it a try.  

The following night, I asked Lynn if she told the teacher.  She said no and that the boy changed his seat to be in front of the teacher as he always sleep in class.  So I can't tell yet if Lynn is capable of standing up for herself or not.  Anyway, we shall monitor and see how it goes from here.

Wishing upon a birthday cake

I was wondering if this would be a year that I do not blog about my birthday, then I decided against it.

As one grows older, birthday just become less significant.

My started with a yummy and praceful breakfast, after I sent Lynn to school. These were my indulgence:

During lunch, my colleagues got me this small bouquet. They said thanks for always buying them flowers :)

A colleague who has a great passion for cake baked these. After singing me the birthday song, when I was about to blow the candles, I heard a lot of "screaming": "don't blow yet, make a wish". I pretended not to hear them, and blew the candles. Well, I don't believe in making a wish at a cake. Every year I do it to "appease the crowd". This year, I don't feel like entertaining anyone, hahaha!!

Diary of a new P1 mum (part 3 of 3)

(This is written on 20th/21th Jan)

12) Sensitive kid vs "bad" teacher?  Opinionated child-turn-mummy
A friend shared on FB that she misunderstood an instruction so her daughter brought the wrong book to school, and got scolded by her teacher.  She's upset because her gal felt "lousy" about being scolded.  She's concern that her gal will be dishearten about going to school , and she don't understand why the teacher was so harsh on a P1 kid.  I agree totally and share her concerns.

I'm lucky; Lynn didn't meet such a teacher.  And Lynn is not as sensitive.  She vomited and cried in class and teacher never notice, but it didn't bother her.  When I asked her "why teacher didn't see??", she just shrug her shoulders..

I have my own little story to tell.  I never wanted to be a teacher, because at the young age of 8 (Pri 2), I met a bad teacher, which made me realise that not all teachers are role models.  He was my chinese teacher.  On normal days, he would conduct his boring lessons with text book and chalk board.  One day, he came to class with lots of picture charts, sentence construction slips and other fancy materials.   It was because there's a inspector from MOE to observe his class that day.  He taught with heightened enthusiasm.  I felt disgusted, that's why I remembered it till today.  Along the way, I met other equally bad teachers, esp the ones who show favouritism to an unhealthy extent.  I realised that it's because this profession doesn't attract the best people in the society; many of them are just doing a job. 

On the other hand, teachers nowadays face a lot of stress due to demanding and unreasonable parents, all of them as opinionated as I am.  So this is what I believe and strive to do: (i) Do not depend nor expect teachers in school to teach values and moral; I will count it as a bonus if she meet passionate and sincere teachers.  (ii) Pay attention/get to know the problems that Lynn encounter in school.  I am never close to my mum, so even if she had been a SAHM during my primary school days, she didn't know what went on in my sensitive little mind.   But Lynn is different from me, and sometimes I think she is more like my mum, hahah!!  Hopefully she will the cheerful yet obedient little girl that most teachers like!  

13) My birthday
Did I mention anywhere earlier that WK was away during the 2nd week (ie 7 Jan Mon - 11Jan Fri), during which Lynn vomited (on Monday) and I had this outburst at her (on Wednesday)?  I wonder if things would be different if he was with us during this 2nd week of adjusting to P1 life. 

My birthday was on Fri, the last day of the week.. A lot had happened during the week. Lynn is too young to remember my birthday, and WK's mum never did. That morning we carried out our activities per normal. No special behaviour, no peck on the cheek from my little diamond.   But then I wasn’t expecting anything.

I left office early that day, and went for treatment and window shopping.  Supposed to have dinner with WS, but it didn’t materialize.  I reached home late, at 10pm, and realized that WK’s home already.  I was very surprised that Lynn was not home; she and WK’s mum only came home at 1030.  I felt angry, but I can’t scold them (one is my mother-in-law, the other one is the innocent party with no control over time).  I chased her to bed, wondering how exhausted she must be to be up from 6.30am to 1030pm...   I felt “heart-ache”.  All the stress and battle that I went throu’ to get her go to bed early and to wake up at 630am, all the routine and discipline that I fought so hard to incorporate, all disregarded for a Friday night out with 2 energetic 20s-years-old.   Who will understand the dilemma that a mummy will face on weekend mornings (do I let my baby sleep in late?  Do I wake her up early so that she has no problem falling asleep at 9pm on Sunday?  What kind of monster will I face on Monday morning)?

14) Boo-hoo-hoo, the 3rd week cry baby [14Jan - 18Jan + 19/20Jan]          

One of my friends who responded to my FB posting the week before is Lili, who said that I have not yet experience the stage when long term exhaustion (of having to wake up early) sets in so that the P1 will be extremely cranky and refuse to go to school.  I thought that we experienced a little of that on week 3.

Lynn was probably also feeling a little unwell (exposure to so many children/virus).  Whatever the reasons were, she cried in the morning of Wed, Thurs and Friday.  We had to use all sorts of tactics (scold, negotiate, comfort, distraction) to get her going. 

During the weekends, I reflected on the events of the past weeks.  We asked Lynn what she likes about school, and her answer is “recess”J.  There’s still a very long journey for us, and for her.  As a mother, sometimes I am thankful and grateful that my girl is healthy, happy and is simply here with me.  Sometimes, I secretly hope that she will become a high achiever, a class monitor and a school prefect, and a shiny star at CCA.  I told my aunt about the posting on FB, complaining to her that I was deemed by my friends as too stressed and too high expectation.    She went like “no way!”, and we discussed (gossip, haha..) about cousins/nieces/nephews results.  She joked that she wanted to tell my gal to beat my PSLE score, but was told by WS “pls lah, she only P1!!”    

15) Good luck, and enjoy
OK, there’s plenty of time next time to blog about school systems, exams, results, stress, problems, etc. Back to my new P1 mummy diary, it is Monday, 21 Jan today, and this morning it was smooth.  She drank 1 out of 3 oz of her powdered milk, probably less than 1 oz of Meiji brand (cold) strawberry milk, 50% of a slice of Gardiner pandan flavour bread with nutela (yuck!!), and a few ml of running nose medicine.  She didn’t cry, and was in quite a good mood when we were walking to school.  I’m going to end my posting about the first few weeks of P1 here.  Good luck to Lynn, myself, and all mummies and kids out there.  I hope she will enjoy primary school more than I did!

Diary of a new P1 mum (part 2 of 3)

(The following is written on 20th Jan, Sunday, 6am)

7) After school care arrangements
I had blogged about why we decided to put her at after-school care.  The extent of logistic didn't hit me until the eve of P1 (1st Jan).  Although we had packed her school bag on the 31st, I left the preparation for after school care only till the night of 1st Jan.  As I packed for it, I "fumed"..  These were the 3 things to bring daily: raincoat, a set of home clothes, towel, and these were the 2 things to bring at beginning of week: shampoo n soap, and slippers.  Her school bag was already heavy enough, and I can't believed it that we let her go through all these when she actually has a grandma who can fetch her and let her bath and eat in the comfort of the home!  When going from the school to the after care centre, she will actually pass by our house!!

Haha, here I have to say that me and WK are already married more than 10 years, so the way to communicate with each other has been kind of established.  My strategy was to persuade him daily about changing this arrangement to fit slightly better what we want.  I reminded myself not to be too aggressive, so that our discussions wouldn't turn into arguments.  Anyway, it took only 2 days, haha, and the loving daddy finally agreed to my suggestion.

So now, the arrangement is that Lynn will not go to after school care immediately.  WK's mum will bring her home to feed and bath her.  She will then bring Lynn there only at 3pm.  This is still a non-ideal solution, but it is slightly better than going straight.  Actually what I minded most was not the extra stuff that she got to bring (we found a solution for that, which was for WK's mum to bring the stuff for the next day when she fetch Lynn from the centre in the evening), nor was it about her having to eat or bath by herself using common facility.  What I can't accept was that she goes from one classroom straight to another.  At least now she has a 1 hour break in between.  Not ideal yet, but better than before.  Long term, we need another solution, but this is it for now and the near future.

8) Thousand and one questions, and the million dollar question
I worked late on 2nd Jan, and reached home only about 8pm.  The moment I stepped into the house, I started asking her questions about her new school and centre.  There were so many, so many things that I wanted to know, such as who's the form teacher, who's the Chinese teacher, what did she eat for recess, did she sit in the front or at the back, what is the name of the girl sitting beside her, etc, etc, etc (can't remember all of them now).  Toward the end, I suddenly remembered that there's this most important question that I still had not asked, which was did she finish her bottle of water in school and if she had a refill at the centre.  I think that now that she's still young, she is still "controllable", so I need to help her build as many good habits as possible.  I don't think that she will entertain this kind of "interrogation" when she's older.

9) Break the routine on weekends?
Being a kan-cheong mum, the first weekend was a little stressful too.  I was very concern about what time she should sleep and what time she should wake during the weekends as I'm afraid this will impact her routine on Monday.  So far, so good, these 3 weekends, she slept between 930 -1030pm, and woke up between 730 to 830.  It is 1-2 hours off her weekday routine, but so far, it was still manageable, ie no major hang-over to deal with on Mondays.. Perhaps, the physical exertion of swimming class on Sunday afternoon helped.

10) Day 4 - Monday 7 Jan
That morning, she woke up complaining of feeling not too well.  Personally, I think this is one big dilemma that all mummies face.  The kids can't tell if they are really unwell, or if they are just deprive of sleep.  When she's in childcare, it was easier because we can linger around at home to monitor and determine if she should stay home or to proceed.  Now it is tougher because waking up at 630 am is just not natural for kids (even adults), no matter how early she sleeps (9pm to 630am is technically enough).  Will talk more about this later.

Anyway, that morning, she wasn't really running a fever yet, so we still proceed to school.  Later that day, Lynn told me that she actually vomited (probably a little) in class before recess, but her teacher didn't take notice.  She also said that she cried in class (will talk about that later).  It was only at recess, when she was queueing for food, that she threw up more.  So the school called home, and when WK's mum couldn't get hold of me, she went to the school to fetch Lynn home.

I told my boss that I need to take half day, and I went home at 3pm.  It was a low grade fever, which was easily under control with medication.

Again, I'm happy with the school system.  Lynn told me that she was taken to the sick bay, and she actually fell asleep there while waiting for her grandma.  And I'm happy that we started reaping benefit of putting her at the school "downstairs" already on day 4.  Technically WK's mum could and in fact had handled everything well (she fed Lynn fever medicine when they reached home at 10am), so I did not have to go home at 3.  But since I have a boss who has 2 very young kids, I knew that he will be generous towards this kind of flexible working arrangement.

That afternoon, I emailed her form teacher Mdm Ong, to inform her that Lynn will be back in school the next day.  I thought that it was a great opportunity for me to establish contact with the teacher, to be a little bit "more special".
 
11) Day 6 - Wed 9 Jan - too high an expectation?(!)
A special day in my P1 mummy journey, no thanks to FB.  As expected, the most stressful part of P1 life for me is not the homework, or the results (not yet), or whatever, but the 6am to 7am routine.   I wonder how many of those kind mummies (and kind aunty WS) who replied to my posting understand my situation, but I think they all do to different extend.

Like I explained, it wasn't that I packed her 630 to 7 with lots of activities such that she can't cope.  It's really about how I have to be the one chasing after her for every single step that she takes.  For example, if she's brushing her teeth, I need to constantly remind her to brush properly and also to get it done and over with and get out of the bathroom.  Need to remind to feed her hamsters and fish.

What are the consequence if I don't play that role?  For example, her teeth will be yellow and or will decay.  Yes, these are consequences that she will have to bear for herself in the future.  But as a mummy, am I responsible?  I think so...

I have a colleague, she is a step mother (she got married only last year).  Her hubby was a single father for many years, who bought a pet dog for his teenage daughter (she is now about 18 or 19, at time of purchase she was probably 14 or 15) upon her request.  My colleague is actually scare of dogs, but she learn to accept and live with it.  Over the years, it is her hubby, the daddy who took care of the dog.  Because he got to work, and nobody had the time to take the dog for toilet training lessons (ie it shits and pee everywhere), they had to lock the dog up in a cage in the kitchen the whole day until they come home.  I did ask why is the daughter not taking care of the dog, and the reason is that once she got over the initial "fun period",  she had never taken up the role and responsibility of a pet owner.  I really really pity the dog, who is at a very high risk of going crazy.  I pity her hubby/the father too; I think men are just too soft-hearted, and are not that great in bringing up children.  Mummy is a tough but also 伟大 job.  I do not think it is right that I take over the task of feeding the hamsters. I don't think I should suggest to Lynn that since we do not have time or do not want to take care, we can give them to someone else.  I'm an animal lover myself, I expect her to learn the commitment an owner has to pets.  I've been told that I'm too hard on myself, too high expectation on Lynn.  Ok, I accept that.  I can take that as a "criticism" or I can appreciate that as a well intended advice from concerned friends, so I choose the later.  But I will persevere on what I think is the best moral education for my only kid.

Part of her morning routine is also a small breakfast.  Again, I have strong views about training kids to eat breakfast.  To put it shortly (i) breakfast is important and beneficial and (ii) habits must be inculcated from young.

After 3 weeks of trial and error, lots of tension and my screaming at her, several negotiations, and re-desiging, this is what we will do.  Firstly, I will take the role of the "reminder", because from the feedback on "stoning" that I got,  some children do that, and unfortunately Lynn is one of them, so I will give her a few more years to learn to take charge by herself.  Secondly, I cut her "hamster role" to the minimum.  Thirdly, we agreed on what she will have for breakfast next week, cos she's super picky (rightfully so I guess) on what she will eat sooo early in the morning.

Sigh.. mummy is a tough job..

Diary of a new P1 mum (part 1 of 3)

Realised that this is going to be a super long post, so shall split into 3.  This first part was written on
17th Jan, Thursday, 10pm

School had started for close to 3 weeks already.  The new routine and lifestyle had more or less settled in, but of course it hasn't been exactly smooth sailing, which is kind of expected too.  Time to jot down a few lines, on the interesting journey into P1-hood for the whole family.

1) Who's more anxious?
Who's more anxious and excited, the kid or the parents?  My vote - the parents, ha!  I may be wrong, cos while I know what my own feelings are, I can't know what my "baby" is feeling.

I started feeling anxious only the night before.  I had done all the preparations needed in the month of Dec.  So it was only when I placed the school bag and shoes (socks) near the door, hung the uniform outside the wardrobe, and chased Lynn to bed at 9pm, that it hit me - P1 had started at that moment!

It had been a long time since I set the alarm clock (I just wake up on my own, even on weekdays).  That night, I set the alarm, and then I set a 2nd one (my iPhone), just in case.

2) Morning rush hour
Not referring to the traffic when school reopens; it's the frantic 6am to 7am in our home.  I must confess, that I myself is a very "tu" person in the morning.  In the past, I usually wake up at 630, and gets out of the house only at 8 or after 8, meaning I need 1.5 hours at least to get ready.

So I planned, over and over in my head, the exact sequence of activity, and the allocated timing for each activity, that I need to complete in that hour.

I straight away realised on day 1 itself, that it was extremely stressful for me.  Cutting the time by 33% is quite a feat!

I will write more about this later.

3) FB - pic of our little diamonds
You all know why I call the kids "diamonds" (*wink* Winny**).  We left home on 2nd Jan at 7pm sharp.  I took a few pics of her in her school uniform, of her going up the stairs of the school hall, and posted on FB.  As expected, there were many postings of the same nature, by Lili (of Cedric) and Vicky (of Renee).  It is not the pics that I want to talk about.  It is the wonder of internet social media, which allows happiness, excited-ness, and basically any kind of emotions to be shared instantly with  friends who are physically so far away.  It's really heart-warming, to see pics of innocent 6 years olds, in their school uniform, going to school in the wee hours in the morning.  It's like a support group going on, when we read each other's captions of our first experience.

Day 1 (2 Jan 2013)

Stairs leading to the hall.  Lynn's the one on the left, at the middle section of the stairs

Day 3 (Friday 4Jan) in her PE uniform

4) Walking her to school, rain or shine
All schools, including KC, allow parents into the school compound on the first 3 days of school.  It is a good strategy, because it allows the schools to showcase their systems, which gives a peace of mind to parents that their children will be well taken care of.

We walked with Lynn from our block to blk 85, walked the full length of shop houses along blk 85, up the stairs of the school back gate, along the pathway parallel to the field, entered the school building, made a few turns, and reached the foot of the stairways to the hall.   Along the way, we observed how Lynn handled her trolley backpack.  We took notice of other KC children who were going the same way, wondering if they were P1 or older.  We took notice of unsheltered areas.  Like I said, we (the parents) were probably as excited than the kids.

From last Monday (7Jan) onwards, we can only send them to the back gate.  On last Thursday (10Jan) morning, it rained (drizzled).  All the parents were allowed to bring their children into the school building.  Again, I'm quite impressed with the systemic way that things were carried out

5) "Reward time" for me, after 715
The whole process of walking her to school only tok less than 15 mins.  After parting ways at about 715, I would decide if I go to my workplace immediately, or if I engage in one of the most enjoyable activity - eat a nice and slow breakfast at the coffee shop.  Breakfast at coffee shop is a "luxury" for me,     cos I usually eat boring, low fat breakfast at home to maintain my weight.  Now, sometimes I will go for a cup of Milo Kosong, or if more indulging, a cup of Kopi si Kosong.  Mostly I will still eat bread that I've prepared and packed from home.  Sometimes, I will "let go" a bit and eat a soon kuey or bao/siew mai.  Haha, super weight conscious me taking about luxury of breakfast here!

6) "Bring your kid to school leave" / Recess
When Lili told me that her company grant such a leave on 2nd Jan to employees with children, I wan't
impressed at first.  While I was at work on 2nd and 3rd Jan, I saw the pics that she (and some other friends) posted of Cedric having recess.  Again schools only allow parents to observe the recess during the first 3 days.  I was not worried at all that Lynn can't handle recess (930) or school dismissal (130), so that's why I didn't think that taking annual leave on 2nd Jan to attend both events.  After looking at the pics, I realised that it's our only chance to observe and know the process.  So I asked WK to attend if he's free on Friday morning (I gave him very short notice, only on Friday morning after walking Lynn to school, so he said he's not free), and then I asked WK's mum to attend.  Haha, the concerned daddy turned up nevertheless, and sent me 2 pic of Lynn taking recess.  Another hahah...  cos when sharp-eyed mummy-me saw the pic, enlarged it, and then sms daddy-him to ask....

"Why is she drinking ribena??"  Lynn is somewhere in the middle of this pic.  On the table is a pack of ribena.

Extended family Phuket trip Nov 2012

As mentioned before, this Phuket trip took place in Nov, which is more than a month ago, but due to the huge number of photos by 3 cameras+i-phone, I have problem deciding what to write about and which photo to post.

There are 3 bloggers amongst us, and Winny and Lixing have already blogged about this trip.  After reading their postings, I have decided to piggy back on there post and do my the simplified and "free style" one.  **So thanks gals and I will point my other readers to your blog, ok?

This trip was supposed to be for 4 families, but because Mavis and Mabel came down with Chicken-pox, their family of 5 withdrew, so we end up with 3 families:
(i) WK, Lynn, Me and WK mum:

(ii) Derrick, Brayden, Winny, Chloe and Derrick's Mum:

(iii) Nanny's family - Lixing, Daniel (Qiu Yun's nephew), Qiu Yun, Mr Tan and JJ :


I'm a sucker for extended family trip. In Dec 2011, I brought up this subject with my 2 SIL and BIL. We discussed places like HK, Taiwan, Korea, Genting, Phuket, etc. But extended family trip is very difficult to organise. So I must say a very very BIG thank you to Winny for organising this and the April HK trip. Both were very successful.

For this Phuket trip, our accommodation was 2 private villas. One of the villas has 4 rooms and the other one has 3 rooms, and each comes with a pool. Each room can take 2 pax and each villa can add one or two extra bed. There's also the option to "open" less rooms and pay less. For example, Winny and our family stayed in the villa with 4 rooms, and we only uses 3 rooms, thus we didn't have to pay the rates for the unopened room. QY and family stayed at the villa with 3 rooms, but only open 2 rooms. Technically the operator can rent the other rooms to other people at the same time, but I think the chances of that happening is low. At least it didn't happen to us, so we pay for 5 rooms and enjoy 2 villas to ourselves.

I like this trip more than the HK trip because (i) I like resort/beach holidays and (ii) it's very heart warming to have our 2 families and the Nanny's family sharing such close and fun relationship and holiday. Fate has really brought us 3 women (and families) together.. Here's 2 photos of Qiu Yun with her own and her "other" kids:
QY and kids at pool:

QY and kids in living room


We did not take any big group photo.  Here's one photo of us gathering around the table for dinner on the first day that we arrived. One of the plus point for this villa stay is that dinner and breakfast's being prepared and cooked at our villas' kitchen by the villa staff, so that the "aunties and mummies" in the families can sit back and enjoy, except maybe for feeding the children, which we were preparing to do below:

(I wonder who took this pic, cos all the bloggers are in this pic???)


For more detail on the villa, refer to Winny's blog postings:
http://aquariusstoria.blogspot.sg/2012/12/two-villa-holiday-phuket.html
http://aquariusstoria.blogspot.sg/2012/11/phuket-4-days-3-nights-relaxing-villa.html

As for Lixing's blog, her's is a young adult's way of expressing her thoughts:
http://lxingg.blogspot.sg/2012/12/long-story.html

Sometimes I feel like commenting on her postings, but then I want to refrain from doing that too. It's for each of us to experience for ourselves the ups and downs, joy and pain of 18/19 going on 20s.. 

Lynn and Chloe love their Jie Jie:

An interesting photo taken by Winny:


In the Villa, Lynn and her cousins had lots of fun in the bath tub too.  Here's 2 "sexy" pic of Lynn:



I remember there were some photos of the rose petals that the kids sprinkled into their bubble bath tub, but I just can't find them.   Here's Lynn's collection in the mineral water bottle:


On day 2, we went to the beach.
http://aquariusstoria.blogspot.sg/2012/12/surin-beach-phuket.html
The waves at the beach was very strong. I don't know if it's so the whole year round, or only this time of the year. Lynn didn't go in the sea until we wanted to get on a jet ski. When Lynn and myself couldn't get on the get ski because of the huge waves (JJ and Daniel went with WK in our place), we played at the shore line for awhile. Here's a pic of her head awash with sand

Winny took a few pics of me, and these pics turn out very nice.





The beach trip lasted for half a day, and we went back to the Villa for the afternoon.  That night, we went for seafood dinner and stroll:
http://aquariusstoria.blogspot.sg/2012/12/lotus-restaurant-phuket.html

We took a full day tour package on day 3.  The first stop was a temple.
http://aquariusstoria.blogspot.sg/2012/12/wat-phra-thong-or-golden-buddha-temple.html

I like a lot of those pics taken by Winny and Lixing of the temple (very artistic and tranquil), and had a hard time deciding which to post.  In the end, I will just post 2 pics taken by ... myself, haha..

Purple pom-pom flower on her hair

Temple window

The next stop was Elephant ride.
http://aquariusstoria.blogspot.sg/2012/12/an-exciting-and-different-elephant-ride.html

It's my first, so I enjoyed it tremendously.  Some parts of it were down slope and up slope on muddy path, so it's rather interesting.  There are tonnes of pics on the ride, so here's just ONE:

Afterwards, it was a visit to the butterfly garden.  Most of us were not interested as we need to pay to enter, so only I took the 2 girls in for a spin while the rest relax at the cafe.  Here's a pic of a butterfly resting on Lynn's pants:

For our lunch, we went to a restaurant on a hill: http://aquariusstoria.blogspot.sg/2012/12/tunk-ka-cafe-restaurant-phuket.html.  The photos of the 3 families which I posted above were taken here after finishing our lunch.  Other than those, the ones the got most pics here were WK and myself.  Again, winny took these 2 beautiful pic of us:



These 3 are from my iPhone. Not that great in technique and quality, full of wrinkles and saggy skin, but very fun and natural:

I love this pic too:


In the afternoon, on our way from one place to another, I snapped this pic that proved there that PSY is all over the world:

We did some shopping at 2 different places in the afternoon.  Finally, we were suppose to watch sunset at Karon View point, but it was too cloudy that day.
http://aquariusstoria.blogspot.sg/2012/12/karon-viewpoint-phuket.html

Here's some final pics I'm sharing for this great holiday:

WK mum:

Derrick and mum:








Really hope that we will have one with the whole family soon..   

Wow, took me 3 hours to write this....

To 1st Jan, From me, with love and zest

Trying hard to think for a suitable title for this post on the new year, but my mind kept going back to my birthday in 10 days, and about how "old" or how "young" I am.

I'm only 39 (in 10 days time), so physically, I'm 39 years young. But I feel like an old person at heart, which makes me 39 years old.

I had a good day yesterday (31 Dec). Spent some quality alone time at Bishan Park Mac on breakfast, and setting my new year resolution. In general, I hope to live 2013 with more zest. My top 4 priorities for 2013: Health, Time management, Enrichment, Simplify and enjoy life. Strange? : )) (ok, got the title!!!)

A special year it was

I don't feel inspired to write this post now, but I have the time now, so I shall jot down a few words on my year 2012.

It was a special year, in which I embark on a new beginning, a new job.  9 months into this job, I rather not talk about how I feel about it right now.  Can only say that, "change" is what life is about..

At the home front, things were good.  It was not due to the many holidays, nor due to any major event or happening.  It's just that raising a child, in a harmonous family environment where everyone's grateful of the stable life style, is very fulfilling.

I blogged a lot in 2012, so there isn't anything that I've not shared yet.  A year that's generally rather "down" in feeling, so I really hoping for a much better, more spirited 2013.  Best wishes to myself and my family and friends .