Universal Studios Singapore

Family outing at USS.

Nadine loved the Far Far Away castle, Shrek 4-D show and Shrek shop. But Shrek was nowhere to be seen. Only Puss. And by the time we met Woody Woodpecker, Nadine was half asleep.

USS really isn't very fun for a toddler. Nadine couldn't go on most of the rides. We queued for the dragon ride, but Nadine chickened out last minute. The 1 and only ride we took was the merry-go-round, totally non-happening. And Daddy kept looking longingly at the Battlestar Galactica ride, and consoled himself by saying, "it's so low". Yeah yeah ....

Conclusion - Nadine's too young for theme parks. What's worse, she's been super-sticky to Mummy. Kept wanting Mummy to carry her. So it was really tiring for Mummy. Maybe we should just stick to playgrounds, swimming pool and shopping centres, where she'll willingly run around and not demand to be carried.

Wiggling Along With The Wiggles

and trying to sing along as well!

Where's Jeff?

We're Dancing With Wags The Dog

The Monkey Dance

The sweetest declaration of love

Daddy's away in the US for work. Nadine has only asked for him once on Sunday. 2 days ago, Mummy asked her if she misses Daddy. Her reply, "I love Daddy". That really surprised Mummy.

Then tonight, while talking to Daddy on the phone, Mummy asked Nadine to tell Daddy that she loves him, and she said in a most affectionate note, "I love you Daddy". Daddy's heart melted. For that matter, Mummy's heart melted too.

Nadine's 1st piano

Daddy and Mummy saw this cute little grand piano at the shop and couldn't resist getting it for Nadine.

27 months

Nadine with the doll-house that Uncle Andy & Aunty Pearlyn bought for her for Christmas

Height = 85 cm

Weight = 12 kg

Nadine is becoming more and more like a little girl, rather than a baby. And because she speaks fairly well for a 2-year-old, Mummy sometimes forget that she's only 2.

Her favorite words now - "I don't want".

"I don't want shower"

"I don't want Mummy go work"

"I don't want sleep"

And she's very good at repeating the sentence just said to her. Eg, Mummy says "Nadine, do you want to join Daddy and Mummy for dinner?" Her reply, "I don't want join Daddy and Mummy for dinner".

She now doesn't just decide what she wears. She decides for Mummy as well. In the mornings, she'll pick out a pair of footwear for Mummy. And she knows that on Saturdays, when Mummy's in t-shirt and shorts, that's to go to the market, and Mummy should wear slippers. On weekdays, Mummy should wear heels to work.

She loves to imitate the actions of the cartoon characters and the Wiggles when she watches them on DVD. And amazingly, she doesn't seem to get sick of the DVDs - Toy Story, Shrek, Little Mermaid, Ponyo, My Neighbor Totoro, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, and Jungle Book. She must have watched each of these DVDs at least 100 times. She even knows what's coming next in the following scenes.

And yes, she still loves her Baby Signing Time. In fact, her signs have become more precise, and she's now even learning to sign letters.

There are a couple of books that she never gets tired of too - Goldilocks and the 3 Bears and Ugly Duckling. On some days, she can get Mummy or Bibi to read each book 10 times over.

She's also beginning to negotiate. Last week, after half an hour at the swimming pool, Mummy said to Nadine, "Darling, 5 more minutes and we go home k?" To which Nadine replied, "Go home later k?"

She's growing up tooooooo quickly!

2009 Babies

Gong Gong KK with 3 Year 2009 babies - Ethan, Nadine and Luanne - all of whom had boundless energy and together, created havoc at the restaurant we dined in last Saturday to celebrate Gong Gong KK's 51st. The older kids added to the din. But it was impossible to capture all of them in 1 photo. This one, is really a fluke.

Daddy commented on the way home, "this dinner with our good friends and our kids' good friends is like a huge family dinner, so fun hor!"

We certainly hope these kids will continue to be good friends as they grow up together!

Uncle Andy

Uncle Andy has always been really popular with kids. But for some strange reason, Nadine was scared of him for the longest time. Until 2 Saturdays ago, when we attended Che-Che Emelyn's birthday party together, there was a breakthrough. Nadine allowed Uncle Andy to carry her. Next day in church, and the following week, whenever she saw Uncle Andy, she'd happily call him, like they're best of friends. And now, she's happy to let him carry her too.

Western Australia VII

Day 8:

Albany

Named Dog Rock, this huge granite outcrop near the town centre of Albany resembles the head of a bloodhound sniffing the air. Around this monument, there is a Dog Rock Hotel and a Dog Rock Cafe. Maybe there were other "Dog Rock" shops that we did not notice.

The Gap at Torndirrup National Park. The massive granite outcrops, cliffs, and steep sandy slopes and dunes are just amazing. A bit hard and risky to navigate and walk with the kids. But the scenery is worth it!

The Natural Bridge, just next to The Gap.

A sweet old couple from Perth took this photo for us. The further south we went, the more unfriendly we found the people. People in Perth City were so friendly and helpful. People in Albany .... hmm ......

Whale World - saw the sign for this place while driving, and decided to go there, thinking that it'll entertain the kids. It's another expensive place - $25 per adult, but we were "attracted" by the 3 "state of the art technological theatres", including the world's first 3D animated film on whales "Giants Exist". Well, the shows were so "exciting" that Uncle Mel and Mummy dozed off. But we did learn something about whales and whaling from this place.

A very exhausted Nadine. 1st time in 9 days that she's dozed off at a site. She had, at most, dozed off in the car, never while we're outside coz it's always too exciting, too many things to see, feel, play, touch and explore.

Daddy, Mummy, and even Nadine had searched everywhere for a nice pair of shades for Nadine. Each time we go into a shop that sells shades, Nadine would pull out several pair to try. So girl! We finally found this cute pair that fits Nadine perfectly at Best & Less in Albany. She loved it. Kept alternating between wearing them and putting them on her head, imitating the adults. And after getting her own pair of shades, she no longer objected to Mummy wearing shades. In fact, she wanted Mummy to wear shades!

Day 9 was spent driving back to Perth City. No photos were taken. We spent most of the time in the car, even in the city. We were supposed to go to King's Park during one of the nights that we were in Perth. Never got the chance. So we thought we'll go there to chill and wait out till dinner. Turned out there was a huge concert at King's Park that night. There was such a bad jam going into the Park, and after half an hour, when we finally go into the Park, there was no parking available. And by then, it was time to go for dinner.

The red-eye flight back to Singapore was even later, or earlier (2am), then the flight to Perth. Nadine was very unsettled on the flight there. Hardly slept, and kept crying - meaning Daddy and Mummy hardly slept too. We prayed really hard that Nadine would sleep through the flight back. And she did! Except, we didn't pray specifically enough. She slept most the time on either Daddy's or Mummy's shoulders, and the last maybe 1 1/2 hr lying down. Well, at least she slept.

It was a wonderful 10 days (including the flight) together as a family. Such great bonding, especially for Daddy and Nadine, as Daddy carried Nadine most of the time, and even showered her a few times. Wish we can take such holidays every few months!

Western Australia VI

Day 7:

Pemberton + Travel down to Albany

A day of driving. We drove for about 2 hrs before reaching Pemberton, a forested area. And then another about 3 hrs before reaching Albany. Scenery along the way - trees, trees, trees and more trees.

Stopped for a break to go look at the famous Gloucester Tree, which is 72m tall. Daddy had his one and only adventure of this trip - climbing to the top of this tree, with his slippers.

This is the view Daddy enjoyed at the top of the tree.

It was an extremely hot day. And up to this point, we had not been able to find a suitable pair of shades for Nadine. These ones that she's wearing are Gor-Gor Gerald's.

For some reason, Nadine did not like seeing Mummy with shades. She kept telling Mummy, "I don't want wear Mummy specs". Mummy kept correcting her, but that wrong grammatical structure was stuck in Nadine's head and she just couldn't seem to get it right. Well, she's afterall only 2.

Western Australia V

Day 6:

Margaret River

We started planning for this trip with the idea that we'll take it easy, won't rush from 1 place to another, and that it'll be a chill and relax holiday. And almost everyday, Uncle Mel would say something about just going to 1 or 2 places, and then come back to the apartment to rest. That never happened. We were always out the entire day and since the kids seemed to enjoy themselves so much, we didn't have the heart to drag them 'home'.

River Mouth. Check out the clear blue sky!

It was low tide and the waves were already super strong! Can't imagine how it'll be like during high tide!

Hot chocolate at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory - the real thing - made with real chocolate and not chocolate powder. It was super rich and yummy! Besides the 2 marshmellows, Daddy also gave Nadine way too much chocolate (they had a huge bowl of samples for visitors to try) at the factory. As a result, Nadine did not sleep at all that afternoon, and was ultra hyperactive throughout. By evening, Mummy was super tired, and extremely annoyed at Daddy.

Lunch at the Bootleg Brewery.

The brewery owns a cattle ranch as well and their beef is excellent. The last time we were there, it was winter. We had the beef cheeks, which were soooooo tender, sweet and juicy. We were disappointed that their summer menu does not have the beef cheeks. Still, this was one of the best meals the group's had during this trip!

Nadine had her first sip of shandy, and didn't quite like it.

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse - located at the most south westerly tip of Australia, standing at the point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. We could actually see that the currents for the 2 oceans were moving in opposite direction!

Although the lighthouse doesn't look very tall from the ground, it's actually the tallest lighthouse on mainland Australia. And according to Uncle Mel, it's not an easy climb at all!