1st night in Tokyo

After a long tiring day at the park, the kids are still full of energy. And here, they were having fun entertaining each other, with Nadine wearing one of her 3 Minnie Mouse hair-bands.

Tokyo Disneyland Day 1

We visited Disneyland on our first day.

From the hotel, there was a Disney shuttle bus that took us to the monorail station, from where we took the Disney train. Aaron loved those Mickey Mouse bus and train rides.

At Disneyland, we went straight to FantasyLand, and Nadine zoomed in on the Madhatters' Tea Cup ride. She'd done that in Hong Kong Disneyland, and loved it. So she was excited to see the same ride in Tokyo. Aaron slept through the ride though.

The kids had fun playing at a playground, which Nadine said "is like a farm" because it has many animal sculptures.

Then it was off to the It's A Small World ride. When we took this ride in Hong Kong, Aaron was too young to understand anything. This time round, he was so amused by all the dolls from around the world. We could see that he was just taking in all the sights throughout the ride. 

We'd wanted to take the extremely popular Winnie the Pooh ride, but the queue was toooooo long. We ended up just walking around a bit more, soaking in the atmosphere, and waiting for the parade to start.

Nadine took this photo for us.  

The atmosphere at Tokyo Disneyland was just amazing. The Japanese were extremely polite, friendly and pleasant. Everybody gave way to each other, and everything was so extremely orderly. Made the whole visit so enjoyable.

Tokyo Disneyland / DisneySea - Getting There

Last week, we brought the kids to Tokyo Disneyland. And since Nadine's not in formal school yet, we decided to let her skip 1 week of school, so that we can avoid the school holiday crowd and peak period rates.

Aaron was super cranky throughout the flight, and kept crying. We tried all ways to entertain and humor him - food, candies, toys, ice, water, juice, etc. He was entertained by ice for the longest time. But still, not long enough for the 7-hour flight. It was a relieve when we finally landed. Saving grace was Nadine behaved really well throughout the flight, and did not give us any trouble, except that she was still spooked by the toilet flush. So we put on a diaper for her.

When we finally arrived at the hotel - Hilton Tokyo Bay, we were pleasantly surprised to find a Kids Corner just opposite the reception desk. The kids were happy to run and jump around in the enclosure, releasing their pent-up energy after the long flight.

Mummy had booked the Hilton, one of Tokyo Disneyland's official hotels, after reading reviews on TripAdvisor about its Happy Magic Room. But nothing beats experiencing the room itself. It had hidden switches that reveals surprises for the kids, such as the magic mirror and the gate on the wall. The kids loved the room.

Chinese ....

Nadine brought home her Term 1 report today. It confirms our worry about her Chinese - NEEDS HELP! Sigh .... looks like we really have to send her for Chinese enrichment class! :/

Nadine's happy face

Nadine made this happy face while Mummy was tying her hair.

We noticed that she has developed a certain style for her happy face drawings, paintings and art pieces. Always an oval-shaped face, big eyes, with eyelashes that hit the top of the head or sometimes, even beyond the head, straight line for nose, and a gentle curve for the mouth. Not sure if this is a "still-a-young-child-who-can't-draw-very-well" style, or really her own sense of artistry. We'll see .....

Aaron - 19 months old

Aaron is a lot of fun to be with now. He's extremely interactive, and is unable to understand instructions, and a lot of what we say. He imitates Jie-Jie a lot, and wants to do whatever that she's doing.

He's also stringing words together now. His longest sentence so far: "Daddy Daddy, wake up wake up, go swimming"

Other words and phrases that he can say now:

amen

phone

hello

hand

eye

nose

leg

pillow

piggyback

fall down

sit down

good night
fix it
carry
blanket
want some

CNY 2013

For Chinese New Year this year, we decided not to dress the kids up in traditional Chinese garb. Mainly because Nadine is resistant. She still sometimes say that she's not Chinese.

This year, both Nadine and Aaron had a great time feasting and playing with their cousins. We also made more efforts to take some family photos over at Mummy's side of the family. But again, forgot to take 1 of just our little family of 4!

Nadine and cousins

Aaron and Yi-Ma

Mummy's side of the family

Crazy things that the siblings do

Now that Aaron is older, and can enjoy more interactive play, he actually plays quite well with Jie-Jie. Although every now and then they will fight over stuff, in general, Nadine is a pretty good Jie-Jie, who will take care of her little brother, and let him have a go at whatever games or toys that she's playing with. Or, when she doesn't want to share, she'd at least distract him with alternatives. 

So far, Nadine's the one doing all the talking, and instructing, to Aaron. Can't wait for Aaron to start talking to his Jie-Jie! Am sure it'll be quite hilarious, and hopefully, heart-warming too.

In this video, the 2 of them were going crazy on their little merry-go-round.

Father & daughter

Mummy came out from the bathroom one morning to find Daddy and Nadine sleeping in exactly the same position. So uncanny! Really father and daughter!

Little drummer boy II

Daddy advanced his drum lessons for Aaron to include earphones, with which Aaron can hear himself. Aaron was totally amused, and certainly inspired!