Bye Bye Little one...

So quietly our little one laid in the comfort of the womb. Four tiny little limbs and the nasal bone were all visible. I could still remember last when we saw our little one, moving all healthy limbs when we did our OSCAR scan 4 weeks back. The results were good.

Yet today, when it ought to have been 15 weeks 5 days, our little one laid so silently without the flicker of a heartbeat. Our little one has left us to be home with the Lord without a din, not giving Mommy the slightest pain.... Doc said our little one departed just days after the last scan.

It just reminded us not to take things forgranted. Yes, we thank God for the two that we have, going through each pregnancy without a glitch. Each life is really a miracle from Him, the heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is His reward.

"All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Guess God has his plans for us to go through this. It's sad and painful to see our little one go without knowing why. However, probably time is just not right for us to cope with another. We will just have to rest our all in Him.

We will miss you little one and we know one day we'll see you in heaven in the Lord's bosom.

Xmas Presents

Our kids had their surprise after their night of rest after landing back on on Xmas Eve. Definitely happy with what they have!

Japan! Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea

Our first flight out as a family of four to Japan. It was certainly an adventure travelling with 2 young kids in tow and to a place real cold like Japan that is 7 hours flight away. Frankly speaking, we didn't do much planning as our dear friends, the Lians, had done the great job of organising the trip. In that 11 days from 14 to 24 Dec, we toured Tokyo, Lake Kawaguchi for Mt Fuji and Kyoto.

Since it was free and easy, we really travelled like the locals, loads of time on the rail and buses. Yes, we did get lost a bit on the rail as they have just so many train lines and not all come frequently or like us here whereby when you take the wrong train, you can just jump off the next stop to a train travelling in the opposite direction. Sometimes, one stop can be really far away. Bus travel was exciting as we went really local when we were at Lake Kawaguchi and Kyoto and not many spoke English there. However, pleasantly surprised that in Tokyo, most Japanese that we approached spoke some sort of English that was comprehensible.

Days were short during winter and night fell by 5pm. Sometimes it really felt like there was just so little time to move around.

Our flight out. The infant and child meals were pretty decent.

Even cold noodles onboard as appetizer for the adults.
Airport Limousine to our first hotel, Grand Prince New Tanakawa. Japanese are really orderly.

By the time we arrived on the first night, it was already about 8pm. Quickly we settled for a small eatery nearby at the Shinagawa train station. The food tasted quite typical of Singapore Japanese food. Well, more exciting food should come along the way. The supermarket just downstairs was closing and food prices were reduced. Looking at the prepared sushi and bento sets and all, we wondered if we could just had those at half the price we paid at the shop. Nonetheless, in the cold weather, we wanted hot food.

Decently big hotel for a price steal of 10,000yen per night! Erm, but the beds were a little hard and the pillows rather flat. One thing, the Japanese do have great toilet care. Warm toilet seats with bidet just made going to the loo a lot more pleasant.

Disneyland! We watched the parades and shows and took some kiddie rides which we enjoyed. Well, our kids were kinda afraid of dark so we had all the cries and screams when we went into 3D shows and rides in the dark. Guess they weren't too ready. There were just so many people at Dsneyland and they all seemed to know the parade times. They have all their mats ready and settled down to have their good views while we all squeeze behind the crowd to catch a glimpse.

Messing around Minnie's house. Yes, Minnie's still Keziah's favourite, ranked above all the princesses.

We ended the night in the dark with the Electrical Parade which was really nice. The characters were all on shimmering floats and the kids were all watching with amazement.

Disney Sea was quite different from Disneyland. The setup was over the sea and it was certainly a lot colder with the chilly winds. In anyway, the old archaic castle gave it a medieval feel.

Parade was at see. The characters all were onboard the boat and came to a floating platform to performed. Seemed like a lot more people over here at Disney Sea but probably coz it was smaller as well.

Popcorn with these captivating containers really got grips with the kids. Since at Disneyland, Keziah's been asking for one and we got her her favourite Minnie. It's really amazing how fast kids can finish a bucket of popcorn and asking for more.

Our Character Shoots....

Mermaid land - Ariel's playground - an indoor playarea for kids which was all heated! An escape from the cold.

There were alot of these old London vehicles parked along the road side in AmericaLand and the kids were enjoying imaginery rides on them.

We splurged tonight on Japanese which would have costed us easily $35-40 a set but it's worth the value. Yummy sashimi, hot udon and beef rice set, all with pickled veg as sides.
We ordered a kid's meal for Keziah and it was definitely a feast for her. It came with an activity page and even bib.

Night view of Disney Sea with the last parade on sea.

Rise and Shine the next day and we were off on a short train ride from Shinagawa Station to Shinjuku station to catch our coach to Lake Kawaguchi. Vending machines are everyone in Japan, even for purchasing noodles. We were quite amazed with this toilet at the train station where it even indicated which cubicles were unoccupied.

Japa...Lake Kawaguchi for Mt Fuji

We went on coach from Tokyo down to Lake Kawaguchi, one of the five lakes from which you can have a good view of Fuji or even take a daytrip to climb the mt if your fitness permits. Keeping the kids at bay on the ride was tough. It was meant to be a 1h 45min ride but with a detour, it took us almost 3 hours. Definitely not the most comfortable ride but we did get to see loads of the suburban. We only stayed a night at the ryokan, a traditional Japanese onsen hotel and wished we could just stay a night more to relax. The reception was marvelous, not to mention the room and the view.

Our meals were gorgeous! Dinner in the most traditional way. It's almost 10 course laid out in front of you.

Nothing beats a good dip in the hotspring. Surprising Keziah was quite comfortable with the temperature of the water. Certainly steamy in there but the kids had fun and mommies got a good hot towel on the back for a massage by our little ones. Thereafter we donned on our yukata.

Don't we all look so jap, especially the little one juz that Keziah needed to learn to be a little more ladylike.

Grooving around in the room....

Breakfast was another sumptuous spread. Oh, we'll be missing all the food!

Not to mention the wonder view of Mt Fuji from the rooftop. The skies were clear and we had the most magnificent view. It was as if we had our foot there. Oh, there's this openair footbath up on the roof to give ur feet a soak as you enjoy the view.

Once again, we are off on the bus to Mishima station to catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto. We took a quick bite at this cheap soba place at the station which only cost us 420yen for a beef soba. It was tasty and even our kids loved it despite having to stand and eat. It must be a sight for the Japanese, seeing a mommy feeding 2 kids running around.

Japa....Kyoto....

We arrived in Kyoto in the late afternoon but were already famished. We tried to hunt for the Japanese restaurant that was recommended by the hotel staff to be more of a local fare but somehow we bypassed it. Being rather tired, we settled for good old McDonald's. Interestingly, the Japanese had quite a variety.

Next morning, we walked along the station mall and had some hot breakfast of soba and udon noodles. Somehow, our kids just loved the noodles and never got sick of them.

We visited the Kyoto Imperial Palace which was sadly closed. However, the palace ground was huge for the kids to run and they, of course, found some interesting things. We just loved the maple tree with leaves all red.

There was this little shrine that was on the palace grounds and we went by to have a look.

Next stop, the Toei Movie Studio whereby we experienced the settings for Japanese movies, see the samurais. Making our way there proved tougher than what we expected. It wasn't the usual tourist attraction site but was amidst some residential place. We settle for a local restaurant along the way and fed our rumbling tummies while trying to find our way there. Food was good. Oh yes, loads of raw stuff..

Yes, this was where the Movie Studio was!

We decided for the day to buy some prepacked meals from the supermarket and have a quiet dinner in the comfort of our room. Quite a spread though it's a pity there's not microwave to warm up the bento.

To market, to market, to see what the Jap sold in Nishiki Market. Load of pickled food stuff, seafood, vegetables and fruits and nick knacks.

There's this little temple along the market area and we took a drink to quench our thirst like what we see other Japanese did.

We wanted to catch sight of the Maiko so we walked along back to the Maiko Street in the Gion area we were on the night before as we got our way wrong and couldn't quite find our directions in the dark. Well, we didn't see any, aside from one that was doing some demonstration, but had the opportunity to admire the architecture of the place.

Yasaka Temple was just nearby and we popped by to sightsee. Coincidentally, we met a couple getting married in the traditional wear. Not sure how they could wear so little in the cold.

Wagashi is a traditional sweet, typical of Kyoto. We could actually go for a workshop to make some of our own. Well, our little ones weren't quite ready for it so mommies did the job. It was a good experience. Apparently, the white bean filling that we used are very costly. It could cost as much as 30,000yen per kg.