So happy to be home! He is knackered but had a great time!
He couldn’t wait to give me a recount of his camping trip so…
we both went for tea while he filled me in.
I was surprised that he enjoyed flying fox and archery most. These were the 2 activities that he was most reluctant to try. Before the camp, he kept saying “I don’t have to go if I don’t want to, right?”
He said that he accidentally let go of the rope in the middle of the flying fox so he was hanging upside down. He said that it was so much fun and really thrilling!
He missed his Asian food so he asked if we could have ramen.
Food at camp was all angmoh chiak such as steak (daddy’s steak is way better), burgers, lasagne (cannot compare with yee yee’s) and tortillas.
As he ate, you could see him getting more and more tired. Poor boy…
He was struggling to finish his food.
Haha grumpy coz TIRED
Early lunch. Making sure that the kid eats 饱饱 before he goes off to camp. Their next meal will be dinner and they had to be in school before 12.20 pm.
And haha you can see that we changed suitcase again…decided to go for a bigger one.
One with his bestie, E. Both kids were chattering nonstop coz they were SO excited. I am glad that both of them chose each other as bus mates. I am also glad that the kid will have a chance to play with his other friends as he will be sleeping with his other boy mates in the same dorm.
How time flies…year 6 already…
The Year 6s. All ready to go and have fun!
All the parents, kids and teachers were on time this year. Apparently last year’s camp drop off was chaotic whereas this year’s went nice and smooth. The kids boarded the bus at 12.55 pm and…
And off they go!! There were loud goodbyes, waving of hands and then…it was like a huge wave of silence washed over the lawn as the bus left. The parents looked at each other, said goodbyes and left one by one.
I have been busily packing the kid’s bag for his year 6 camp. He will be going away with his little friends for 2 nights and 3 days. I keep putting in more things then taking them out coz I am worried that he would not be able to carry the bag if it is too heavy.
Texted his friend’s mum and she said that E is bringing a suitcase and that the dorms are like chalets, so might be easier for them to push along suitcases instead of carrying duffel bags so I transferred everything over to his suitcase. I managed to squeeze everything into his little suitcase.
I don’t know how he is going to squeeze everything back into the suitcase though so I threw in a swimming bag and told him to throw anything that wouldn’t fit into the suitcase into the swimming bag 😅.
I don’t know how I feel about the kid being away for 3 days!! He has never been away from home, away from us before.
He was initially very nervous about going to camp because he was worried about the dark and obviously being away from us but the teacher said that he can bring a little night lamp with him and told him that they are just next door and will be patrolling throughout the night.
I am sure that he will have fun and saying “mummy, daddy, who?” when he gets there. He will be sleeping with his best mates and he is in the same day group activities as his besties.
I have a feeling I will be the one who will be feeling a bit lost and empty tomorrow 😅.
Haha last minute change backpack coz this backpack has more compartments and it can be clipped to his suitcase.
We turn 43 today. Gosh…43 and I sure feel my age…
Spent yesterday evening on my parents’ massage chair coz I tweaked my lower back 😅.
Haha my ah Pa came out with a pack of 60 salonpas and passed it to me so I kiddingly asked him “wah, my birthday present har?”
I have been teasing my nieces about gifting their favourite yee yee presents so I was really surprised when saitaomei came running with a card and two presents wrapped for me. Saitaoha gave me a card and a present too. Daitaoha said that both girls insisted on spending their pocket money on getting me gifts, their very first time spending their own money on someone and it is me! So touched 😭😭
So spoilt as a 43 years old. My ah ma treated both HC and I our favourite sushi place on Friday.
These 3 were most happy to finally be reunited again. Both Tristan and I have been MIA coz we have been down with colds.
I am so thankful that we are finally 95% recovered and that we are well enough to celebrate both HC and my birthday.
The best way to turn 43.
Dearest Daitaoha baked us a cake, Saitaomei played happy birthday on the keyboard, my ah Pa, on the guitar and the family sung happy birthday to us.
Happiness is being surrounded by loved ones, cherishing the moments spent together and being healthy and happy.
Gorgeous card from the kiddo. I am in my usual outfit, my uniqlo orange top and my black pants haha and he is in his favourite yellow t shirt with fishes and red shorts.
Aww 🥰 it is lovely how he thinks of me as his super mum even though I nag and scold him so much.
We thought long and hard how to celebrate our birthdays. TBH, we are quite sick of eating out but then the young master said “it is your birthdays! We have to celebrate your birthdays or else when would you celebrate?”
So this is how we ended up at Epicurean for lunch.
The kid said “you are going to Epicurean? I haven’t been for ages. I don’t remember how and what it looks like”. Aiyoh say until like that so we gave him a pleasant surprise by picking him up early and going to Epicurean together! He was so so happy!!
I was pleasantly surprised to see kingfish!! I only ate the cold food. Didn’t bother with the hot food. Haha 😛.
Stuffed myself silly with lots and lots of oysters, prawns and sashimi.
Yums 😋. I think I had more than a dozen of these.
My kind of birthday cake. Check out the colours
🤤. The oysters were small but juicy.
2nd plate. More oysters. Lots of sashimi.
Told you I only visited the cold selection.
Cakes which we shared. We were eating this when…
the waitress walked up to our table with this and asked “whose birthday is it today? Happy birthday!” and the young master said “daddy’s and mummy’s!” And she went “both of you?” in disbelief.
She wanted to bring us another cake but we told her we were stuffed and one cake was enough.
My tummy was exploding but couldn’t resist icecream. I had a few spoons then passed it to HC and the young master to finish.
We were still so stuffed from lunch that we decided to just go for cakes for dinner 😅.
Happy Easter 🐣. We came down to the lobby this morning to find free face painting but we were running late so we didn’t stop.
We were meeting daitaoha and family for buffet breakfast at their hotel.
The kids with their spread. The kid had a piece of waffle, some watermelon, some bacon, some salami and that was about it.
My choice of fried rice, raw veges and salami.
My choice of omelette, with ham, mushrooms, capsicums and tomatoes. Would very much like it with cheese too but I scared tummyache.
After a heavy breakfast, we walked to the Arts Gallery. Loved the colours, so nice and bright.
I thought this street art was very pretty 😍
Painting at the art gallery. I thought that this activity was a really good reminder. The kids were asked what common feature they could find in the photos in the room and they said trees, nature and were asked to paint trees etc. As you paint, the pics will slowly fade away showing that nature is quick disappearing and that things do not stay.
The artists and their artworks 🖼️
The kids were mesmerised by this woman painting and she was so nice to let us take a pic of her masterpiece
Went back to our hotel for a short rest and this kid said he hangry woh so we decided to go down to the bar in our hotel for lunch.
Complimentary drinks from the hotel. The young master chose apple juice, coke for me and the lao master chose coffee.
We were still full up from breakfast so I ordered this fish fingers from the kids’ menu for HC and me to share.
He wanted spaghetti bolognese with no Parmesan. They were very kind to swap the Parmesan with cheddar.
He must have been hangry coz he almost finished this entire plate.
It was very nice just chilling in the bar watching. It was lovely to take things nice and slow.
Then daitaoha came to join us for a while coz we were all going for a swim after!
Korean tonight.
We went for the korean bbq— marinated meats and pork belly.
Boneless chicken with cheese
Kimchi pancake and a sleeping beauty.
The kids really enjoyed the Korean bbq. We really liked their marinated meats.
Breakfast this morning with ah ma.
Both ah ma and I shared the big sarapan and HC shared his with the young master.
The ayam goreng was so good, so crispy.
Ondeh ondeh to share. I think my favourite kuih is ondeh ondeh. I love it when they burst in your mouth and you get a whole mouthful of palm sugar.
We were sending the sisters pics of our food and Kookycookie asked if we ordered their sweet potato doughnuts and how they were nice so we ordered some to try!
And they were indeed very nice.
We then went into the city for our staycation with daitaoha.
We are staying at different hotels though coz daitaoha stayed at the hotel we are staying at previously and she wanted to try something new.
Daitaoha sponsored our hotel room coz she said that it is a present for both HC and my birthdays. So nice hor.
We checked into our hotels then headed into the city for makan. This kid is so excited that he talked and sang non stop.
Bambamboo for lunch. We were still full from lunch so ordered dim sum to share.
The lo mai kai was super tasty. I liked the char siew baos.
The kid had most of the xiao long baos and some of these pan fried dumplings.
Daitaoha and family came over to our hotel’s pool to work off the lunch we ate. The pool in our hotel is nice coz it is heated. The kids had great fun turning somersaults, doing hand stands and swimming laps in the pool.
We met up with daitaoha and family at Yagan Square and walked over to Northbridge for a late dinner.
Settled for Vietnamese at Chopsticks.
Was deciding between pho or crispy chicken fried rice but last min when ordering, pho won.
No regrets coz it was a good, comforting bowl of pho.
Was surprised that the kid wanted pad thai.
He had no complaints but I didn’t like it. Thought that it was quite bland.
No surprises for HC who always sticks with his pork chop broken rice. It was a huge portion and I was surprised to see him struggling to finish it. He kept asking if we wanted more pork chop and so we did coz it was so good and tender. Saitaoha and Tristan loved it!
Did a quick rush to IGA and now we are back in our hotel room to relax.
Tomorrow we are meeting up for breakfast and then exploring the city!!
Alamak, daitaoha, no wonder HC and R are besties.
I had to do a double take this morning when I spotted this cord with hook in the laundry basket.
I thought that Tristan had mistakenly thrown one of his toys into the basket.
The genius of the husband had hooked this cord to our laundry basket coz the handles are broken.
I don’t know whether to laugh that he is so innovative or cry because he is so “frugal”.
Daitaoha maybe you can get him a new laundry basket for his birthday??!! 😅😂
Our good friend, J is back for the long weekend so we had a long good catch up with him yesterday evening.
So pai seh as we gobbled so many plates of sushi and J beat us to footing the bill.
We then headed to Domes for coffee. It was such a lovely evening hanging out with loved ones.
It has been very heartwarming to see my ah Pa’s garden slowly become a kid’s playground over the years.
My ah Pa and ah ma started with this swing and slide set for the kids when they were younger. The kids spent many happy years playing on this set.
A cubby house soon joined the garden too. Haha R even made it a nameplate “Cupcake House 22C” coz my parents’ address is 22A. The kids loved playing restaurant in this cubby house, pretending to sell us icecream and fries through the window. This cubby house also became a place where they kept all their little treasures of different fossils and rocks.
Then my parents noticed that the kids were growing bigger and jumping and bouncing a lot more so they decided to get the kids a trampoline one Christmas.
They also noticed that the little monkeys have been climbing and doing little stunts on the swing and slide set so guess what?
They have been eyeing a jungle gym set for the kids. It arrived on Tuesday and the daddies gathered early this morning to put it together for the kids.
And the monkeys trying out the jungle gym. It was a tad too hot for them to play long with their new toy so we are returning again late this evening for them to play.
I have been trying different drinks with lactose free milk. I was yearning for iced mocha yesterday so we went to Domes for dinner. I saw Iced Chai Latte on their seasonal menu and couldn’t resist.
It was soooo good.
I tried their salmon nourish bowl and ordered scones to share.
The salmon was a tad dry but everything else was delish 🤤.
The kids had a blast playing on the jungle gym this evening.
We stayed for dinner coz ah ma made this yummy yam rice. So good that I beh paiseh and asked to tapao the leftovers. I love such one pot dishes.
Hi Cal,
It’s been a year since you left us. A year exactly without you and we still feel it everyday.
I and I am sure the rest of the gang miss you a lot. I have to admit that it hasn’t been easy. It’s been hard coz I am reminded of you here and there. I find myself walking through Belmont Forum hoping and wishing that I could get a glimpse of you. I wish that we could rewind time so that I would make sure that we had more of our gatherings and that we could hold you closer and tighter.
I wish we could talk about you more but I know that if I bring you up, it will make all of us all sad and cry. It still feels so raw.
Don’t worry too much about us. We are still sad but we will keep each other strong.
Today is just extra hard as it reminds us that it was today last year that we lost you forever.
Should have read the comments before attempting this dish. The recipe called for 20 mins but no, it took me 2 hours!
After cooking, I went to read the comments and everyone was commenting “where got 20 mins, more like 2 hours!”
Another commented “20 mins my ass, try 2 hours and a hell of a clean up!” Hahaha 🤣
It is one great tasty dish though. The kid, my biggest supporter loved it and declared it his favourite dish.
I have been trying to cook new dishes. Cooked this pumpkin rice yesterday with pork belly, lap cheong, mushrooms and dried shrimps and it was so…good!
I told ah ma how good it was and she said it sure looks good and how she would like to try it one day so we delivered it to her.
Luckily she liked it :).
We headed to Enak Kopitiam after our church service yesterday. Our church service finishes at 10.30 ish so nothing is open then.
I didn’t have a good experience with Enak Kopitiam previously but I was pleasantly surprised this visit.
Ah ma and I shared the Assam laksa. I liked that it wasn’t too spicy and that it was slightly sweetish. Even Tristan could eat it as it wasn’t spicy.
I was surprised that the kid asked for Singapore bihun.
He is not a bihun sort of person so I kept asking “are you sure you want bihun? Are you sure you don’t want fried chicken rice instead? Are you really sure you want bihun?”
He got annoyed and said “yes, bihun! I want bihun! I am sure I want bihun!!”
And bihun it was. Very nice, full of wok hei.
My ah Pa went for their char kway tiaw. Also very nice and full of wok hei. I beh paiseh and said “wah as good as mine!” 😁
I am glad that I gave Enak Kopitiam another chance coz I think they have improved over the years. I am keen to go back and try their other dishes.
He was thrilled when I told him that we will be going to mah mah’s after church, instead of going home coz HC went grocery shopping and we didn’t have the keys to our house.
He was super pleased that his cuzzies came over and they got to play.
Tspellstrouble 