2 decades plus a year

March 2017

(I) A one night staycation at Fullerton Hotel

It had been 20 years since WK and I were together (and married for 18).  We went "steady" in Feb 1997.  Sometimes we do staycation without Lynn.   It was during the March school holidays that we did this staycation at Fullerton hotel.  Before our check-in in the afternoon, I drove Lynn and WK's mum to her cousins' house.  In the car, Lynn asked if WK and I were going to "ditch the 2 and do the mini-honeymoon thing".  Hahaha, I told her that she was correct on the "ditch the 2" part, but it's call "staycation" and not "mini honeymoon".

Here are some pictures


 

(II) A beautiful birthday party for 2 beautiful girls

In the last weekend of March, we attended the 21st birthday party of WK's cousins, Nicole and Natalie, who are twins.  When I got to know WK in 1997, almost all of his family members and relatives reside in Malaysia, except for his youngest aunt.  He was staying with his aunt back in 1997.  The first time I visited his aunt at her Yishun flat (where WK stayed at) was in 1997.  Back then, the twins were very young.  It was now (this year) that I realise that they were only 1+ year old then.  Oh, how these kids have grown!  I still remember the time when they were crying in the car trip from JB back to Singapore after May's wedding, and how I tried to coax them but failed.

There's a photo booth at the party, and here a few pictures.

Yap family siblings with aunt and the birthday babes.

A

Some other random pictures taken in March:

Chengdu Apr17

Went Chengdu for biz trip in April.  Went to it's famous food street in town for dinner one night, with colleague from Singapore and Huizhou (Guangzhou area).



On the last day, we went tracking at 龙泉山， with the local Chengdu colleague.












Free drink for all mountaineers.

You suddenly grew taller!

This is a Lynn catch up post.

For a few months in the first half of this year, she grew taller rapidly.  It was so obvious, almost everyone, including myself, made the remark "you grew taller!", one fine day or another.  And I have been watching like a hawk since; very soon, she will be going through puberty.  

In February, we attended TPY CDC Education Merit Award presentation ceremony.  This was the first year this award was given in a presentation ceremony.  In the past, we only receive the certificate in the mailbox.  And as an encouragement to the children for their hard work, there was a monetary award starting from this year too, which was a token sum of $80.



In April and May, we attended 3 secondary schools' open house. Ha! Yes we were quite KS; instead of doing this at P6, we started in P5.  I wanted to know more about these schools, to make informed decision about her P5 and first half of P6 studies.  We visited some of the top girls' schools, which are probably out of league for Lynn.  Nevertheless, we encouraged her to do her best.

It bothers me that all schools nowadays talked about was "leadership".  It used to be "creativity" and "entrepreneurship" that were the in-thing.  Our meritocratic society doesn't know how to appreciate and celebrate individuality and diversity.   Every cloud has a silver lining; every child is unique.  I hope my sweetie will be able to find her place in a nurturing environment during the emotional teenage years.  

At NYGH




The seeds she took back from NYGH grew beautifully.

At RGS




During June holidays, I brought her shopping, to a movie, and for baking class.

Here, we forgot to bring a skirt for change after swim, so I "made" one on the spot for her with my extra set of blouse :)

At the beginning of June, she performed a piece at her music school student recital.  I cajoled her to choose the pop song piece "Faded", which I had earlier bought (scores) for her online upon her request. I am very happy with her progress, as I have reached my aim of equipping her with a solid foundation in the instrument. As to how far she wants to go eventually, I promised her that it will be up to her.





Her Rocker outfit we bought specially for this performance.  The boots are mine!


Ms Qi Ke, our piano teacher.

Finally in July, she watched  the NDP rehearsal as part of P5 curriculum. I call it the highlight of primary school education. Having watched it live only once, I always remember the fantastically impactful atmosphere of that night.  I was glad that Lynn loved it too. She kept saying how hyper she was still feeling at 10pm, when I fetched her at the school canteen. She described the experience as "going deaf repeatedly during the whole performance".  

Her school (the 4 storey high building) at 10pm on a Sat night.


Airplane trail decorating our blueish skies during rehearsal months.  

And now (before start of T3 holiday), it's CA2.  Mugging time..

At the interchange

Work in progress; excited

https://millidream3.blogspot.sg

My first (group) date with a 6-year-old :)

(Testing out "Blog Touch", for it's mobile photo update; looks like it's going to work )

This national day holiday, we did a one night stay at Sentosa.  We didn't realise that 10th Aug is school holidays, so we booked the 8th-9th instead.  Over the past few years, we tried many different hotels.  As I remembered one of the most spacious one was Festive hotel at RWS.  The last time we were there was for Lynn's 5th BD (I think).  This time round, we managed to quite comfortably squeeze 6 pax.  Brayden took the upper bunk bed; the 3 girls took the queen size bed; WK and myself took the sofa bed (it's the size of in-between super single and queen).  We brought along a sleeping bag, which complimented the sofa bed.  My assessment is that this was the most comfortable one-room-fit-many hotel room.  

This was the first time that I brought Brayden out.  It had always been the girls.  Brayden is now 6++, going to be 7 in a few months' time.  Being old enough, he didn't give any trouble at all.  It was really fun for the cousins; that night, in the room, they played hide and seek.  I'm glad to have this opportunity to interact with Brayden.

The kids and the teens clambered for the bunk bed.


The teens claimed to have missed lunch, took off for food.  So I took the kids for a swim.


WK and MIL arrived at 3+.   After we washed up, the whole gang head out for beach station.  WK and the 5 cousins tried the skyline and luge.
 




The skyline ride does not stop at all; passengers have to disembark while it is moving.  WK took this nice pic of the girls in motion (jumping off and away from the skyline carriage).


MIL and I waited for them at the bottom.  One by one, they come down by the luge.

Dinner for 8


Here's one pic for remembrance.  Say cheese...


The next morning, we brought them to do the indoor sky diving.  Brayden was underaged; Lynn did it before and didn't want to try again.

These 2 had a blasting good time.


After this, 3 of them did a 5 minutes Segway, while Lynn and myself hang out at the beach.    

Heading back to the hotel via the Casino entrance, for check out at 12pm.


Me at Siloso beach..




Happy Birthday Singapore!

Timeout when at work

Instead of blogging, I decided to do some photo management.  Here are some photos that didn't make it to my Ig.

Amara hotel

at Ikea tampines

 at Vivocity

Huizhou, China