Good Friday 2014

Good Friday, we thought we'd go utilise the free Universal Studios tickets that Daddy's office gave out. And we thought we'd be clever and park at Vivocity, instead of Resorts World, thinking that it would be hard to find parking lots at Resorts World.

When we got to the monorail station at Vivocity, there was such a scarily huge crowd that Sentosa staff were holding signs, asking people to walk to Sentosa, instead of taking the monorail! We decided not to join the crazy Sentosa crowd, and stayed at Vivocity instead.

We first went for a train ride, which the kids enjoyed a lot.

Then we went to Singkids, an indoor playground. The kids loved it!

The last time we were at this playground, Aaron was still a baby, and Nadine was only as tall as this pole that she's holding!

http://journeyingwithhope.blogspot.sg/2011/09/singkids.html

Aaron loved the boat, and pretended that he was catching fish from the boat. So happy!

I love it that both Nadine and Aaron are extremely imaginative. They'd think up of all kinds of scenarios and pretend games to play. On the boat, Nadine pretended that the boat was going to capsize, and shouted to me to save them. Aaron then played along.

Not exactly the outing that we'd planned for, but it was still a lot of fun for the kids! USS another day!

Nadine's Chinese writing

This was Nadine's Chinese homework last week, when I was away. She did it herself, and amazed us with her neat handwriting. MaMa kept saying her 家 is so well-written!

So proud of her!

Ambition

Nadine's ambition at 5: Doctor

Every time she goes to Dr Kevin's or Dr Chia's clinics, she'll busy herself with all the gadgets the doctors have on their tables. She likes the gadgets, and the idea of healing people.

Aaron's ambition at 2 ... almost 3: Pilot

Probably inspired by the cartoon 'Planes'.

Conversation with him yesterday:

Me: Do you want to send me to the airport later?

A: Yes .... when I grow up, I'll fly the plane for you!

Me: Really?

A: Yes, the colorful plane. But only when I grow up.

Nadine's art class: Dinosaur

Nadine did this t-rex head cut-out 2 weeks ago. I think she probably had quite a bit of help from her teacher but still, it was a great effort by her!

Goodbye Taiwan!

After 5 wonderful days in Taiwan, it's time to go home.

It's been a really good trip. Gorgeous weather, except for Day 5, great hospitality from Yi-Ma, and excellent food. Yi-Ma looked after us really well, and it was great to be able to stay in a home environment, rather than a hotel. We saw so much more of Taiwan than the last time we came 3 years ago, when it rained all the time.

Nadine's all grown up this trip, compared to the last. She was actually not fully well, but kept strong during the day, and crashed at night. She's in bed by 9 almost every night, and didn't need me to lie beside her to watch her fall asleep.

Aaron, on the other hand, is at the stage when he doesn't want to miss out on any action. He struggled to keep awake every night, sitting in the living room with us and wouldn't go to bed until Daddy does. He ended up falling asleep on the sofa every night.

With both kids now older, holidays are also more interesting because we can show and explain a lot more things to them. Until the next holiday!

Taiwan Day 5

On our 2nd last day in Taiwan, we went around in public transport, to satisfy the kids' desire to take the bus and train.

We went for a yummilicious (probably the most frequently-used word in this series of blog) steamboat lunch. Excellent spread of seafood, beef and pork at a steal. In Taiwan, it's so much cheaper to eat in restaurants than in Singapore. And the service is so much better too!

We then went to do the touristy thing - take a photo with Taipei 101. Didn't go up the building coz Daddy and Mummy had done it before, and didn't think the view was spectacular. Plus, it was an extremely cold day! The coldest during our visit to Taiwan.

Then, we went to 貓空纜車. The kids loved it coz the cable cars had a Hello Kitty theme. Kitties everywhere. 

Kitties as sign ages for the washroom too!

And it's really cheap - NT$120 (about SGD 5) for a round trip and the trip lasted about half an hour! It went really high up to the mountains. Too bad it was a cold, rainy and foggy day, otherwise we'd have been able to get a really nice view of Taipei.  

For dinner, we went for a mandatory Din Tai Fung meal. Din Tai Fung in Taiwan is far better than in Singapore. And again, cheaper as well!

Taiwan Day 4

Day 4, we started out late, and took it slow. Everyone was still tired from the previous day's packed itinerary.

We went a yummlicious Japanese pork chop lunch. Again, didn't take any photos of the table full of food, so took one of the window display after lunch. The pork chop was super tender and its batter was crispy and tasty. There was free-flow cabbage salad with fabulous dressing. The cabbage was so fresh and sweet that even MaMa, who doesn't like raw vegetables, had several helpings. And it was cheap! Each set, with pork chop, rice, radish salad and free-flow of cabbage salad was less than SGD 10!

After lunch, we went strawberry picking. The kids loved the experience, even though they do not like strawberry.

The strawberries may look small, but they were very sweet. And of course, fresh! 

The farm that we went to.

The farm grows different fruits and vegetables at different time of the year.

After strawberry picking, we went shopping at Costco. It was our family's first time in Costco, and we were so amazed by the super-sizes and super-packs of stuff! Everything's either packed in bulk or are in humongous sizes, and still much cheaper than regular shops and supermarkets!

There were even ready-to-eat food. We bought laksa, roast chicken and sashimi for dinner - all yummy and super cheap!

Aaron had an extra outing that evening. Yi-Ma saw him constantly rubbing and poking his ears, so suggested that we bring him to an ENT specialist. It's cheap to consult medical specialists in Taiwan. So Daddy and Yi-Ma brought Aaron to the specialist that Yi-Ma sees ... whenever she has a flu! Nobody sees a specialist for a flu in Singapore, but in Taiwan, with their medical insurance, everybody can afford to see a specialist.

Turned out that Aaron had 2 enormous pieces of ear wax in his right ear, and another even bigger piece in his left ear, which had probably accumulated since birth. The doctor had to drip a special oil into his ears, and remove the ear waxes carefully. Apparently, the shape of his ears made it difficult for ear waxes to fall out. That explains why his ears are always itchy and he's always asking for his ears to be cleaned! The doctor told Daddy to bring Aaron back to him in 6 months' time. Yeah ..... The treatment may be cheap - SGD 20 per visit. But the air fare is not!

Taiwan Day 3

On Day 3, we hired a taxi to bring us to 野柳地質公園, 基隆, 金瓜石, 九份

At the entrance of 野柳 are these very cute dolls. Nadine insisted on taking photos with all of them.

The weather was fabulous that day. We were expecting cold sea breeze but instead, it was sunny and hot.

野柳 is famous for its rock formations, and the most famous is the Queen's Head (at the right hand corner of the following photo). There was a long queue of PRC and Korean tourists waiting to take photos with the Queen's Head. We didn't bother.

After that, we went to 基隆廟口夜市 (open in the day) for lunch. Forgot to take photos again.

The 鼎邊趖 (rice noodle with mushroom, bamboo shoot, dried shrimp, pork, etc) and braised pork rice were yummy!

After lunch, we went to 金瓜石, a mountainous area that used to be full of gold and copper mines. It is situated between the mountains and coastlines, with lots of nice rock formations as well.

This is the famous Gold Waterfall 黃金瀑布 in the area.

We also went to the Gold Ecological Park 黃金博物園區 located in a mountain town. We had to climb many many many steps up to the museum. Daddy, MaMa and Aaron chose to have coffee and wait for the rest of us in a cafe at the foot of the town instead.

Next, we went to 九份老街, a very nice, quaint cobbled street, with lots of local eateries. We tried the Taiwanese version of yang tau foo and a local favourite - yam balls.

The steps going down from the 老街 were long and steep. And there were so many interesting tea houses.

Next we went to 十分老街 to 放天灯. We could draw/write whatever we want on the lanterns before releasing them to the sky. Nadine had great fun drawing on the lantern.

And the finale - our driver bought us a box of fireworks!

By the time we were done with these exciting lantern and fireworks, we were all super exhausted. No energy to go anywhere for dinner, so we bought onigiris from Seven Eleven home. The onigiris were good! Why don't we have them in Singapore?

Taiwan!

During the 1-week March school holiday, we went to Taiwan.

Daddy fulfilled his wish of bringing MaMa overseas for a vacation. Taiwan was an ideal choice for MaMa's first trip overseas - the culture and language are similar to Singapore, and she loves Taiwanese soap opera! Plus, we could stay with Yi-Ma in a nice, comfortable home setting. MaMa didn't have to be stressed about staying in the strange environment of a hotel.

The vacation didn't start off very well though. Aaron had just recovered from a week of fever, and Nadine developed a fever a day before our departure! Although she was ok on Sunday morning, before we took off, the fever came back during the flight. She was absolutely miserable.

But she perked up the moment we landed. We took it easy that evening. Had a short rest before heading out for a sumptuous Japanese dinner, and then were back at Yi-Ma's for an early night.

Forgot to take photos of the huge spread we had at dinner. And throughout the next few days, we kept forgetting to take photos of the food .... coz the food was super yummylicious and we wasted no time in wolfing them down!

On Monday, Yi-Ma took us to Yangmingshan National Park. It's a huge mountainous area famous for its unique volcanic geology, topography and hot springs!

The above photo was taken at a calla lily nursery. Photo taken by Nadine. Along the way, we saw lots of vendors selling calla lilies.

We had lunch at a local eatery in a shed. Very very kampong but there was a looooong queue. When we finally sat down to eat, we understood why. The food was fabulous! 

After lunch, we went to a few different spots around the park, to see the volcanic rocks, flowers and other scenery.

Aaron fell asleep a few times, and Nadine couldn't stand the sulphuric smell.

The weather was really good that day. Sunny, though not always warm. But as a result, we saw maybe about 20 couples taking wedding photos!

Nadine - K1 Term 1

Nadine seemed to have really enjoyed her first term in K1. From the school observation report, she's doing well, even for her Chinese.

What we're really happy about, is how she will automatically do her homework right after lunch. We never had to remind or coerce her to do homework. Although I do wish that she'll wait for me to do her Chinese writing together, so that I can guide her in her strokes. But I guess really shouldn't complain about her diligence! Hope she keeps up with it throughout her school life!