Retirement
4 weeks ago
Dog show @ Zoo
Well holidays are coming to an end. This month just flew so quickly. Seriously, Mommy hasn't quite done much work with the kids aside from play and leisure. Of course not forgetting to catch up with friends. We met up with Keziah's ex-schoolmate for a trip out to the zoo. It was really easy ride on the tram, seeing for the first time the dog show and playing around the playground.
Art Garden @ SAM
This holiday there was quite a lot of programmes put up by the museums. Mommy decided to bring us to venture into the Art Garden @ the Singapore Art Museum together with Aunt Irene and her kids. It's our first visit and we must say it's quite interesting though the kids might be a little too young to appreciate the exhibits fully.
We hopped around and explored the texture, size and shapes in Walter the rabbit's garden.
Explored the enchanted forest and made some butterflies to add on to the many which were already there. However, Keziah decided she wanted to bring hers home rather than leaving it there to join the rest.
In Floribots, we saw how the flower grew from a bud and blossom. Yes, more crafts…we made origami flowers and added to the large collage there.
The kids loved this. Funky forest and Dasies which were interactive which allowed the kids to discover how their movements made streams 'flow' and trees and flowers 'grow' and disappear.
Happy Father's Day
Mommy knew this won't have come as a surprised as Daddy had seen Keziah weaving this heart but hope the little words that our little gal wrote warms your heart.
This really meant nothing but you meant a great deal to us. Always ready to sacrifice your time and all to meet our needs and always so loving. Always being there when we need you. Always rushing home from us to be there for us. The kids love you millions and so do I!
The sun, the sea, the sand….our way home…Ostrich and Melaka
Time to say goodbye after 3 days of fun.
Today the tide was really high and seas were rough. It was washing up high to our chalet and even carving out a little cliff by the beach where we played on.
There was a nearby ostrich farm and we popped by. Keziah had been to the one in Desaru which was alot better but she had no recollection and it's the first for Abel.
Do you know the ostrich can lay 40-90 eggs a year and these eggs are real hardy, taking up a load of up to 120kg?
Not missing out the ostrich meat satay.
Here we got to see some monkeys and even to touch and feel them. The kids were so excited and didn't even squirm a bit when were asked to touch the creature.
On route back, we headed for Melaka for the well known Hainese Chicken Rice Balls and Chenol Dessert. The streets were busy and these two places we chose based on review were packed with people that many had to queue.
Something different.
A short walk down the street really reminded us of good old Singapore in the 80s.
The deserts…we had chenol, ice kechung and gula melaka sago. Conclusion, quite nice but not over the hill. Guess the secret is in the gula melaka that they used.
To avoid queue…it's eating in...
We'll be back!
The sun, the sea, the sand….Port Dickson Avillion 2
It was early at the beach to avoid the sun.
More sandplay time. Abel was just happy to be away from the seafront. Nothing better to do after building sandcastle? Bury your legs!
The tide went down and we could walk down from our chalet and out the to explore the ocean floor.
The kids were all happily picking shells but to our surprise, they were actually homes of the hermit crabs.
Big and small we found and think we even found a snail.
The sun, the sea, the sand….Port Dickson Avillion
We simply loved this resort though it's our first trip. We had our chalet over the sea and the morning view our of the window was just amazing. The sky so clear, the clouds so fluffy with the waves gently lapping the beach.
There's a pet farm in this resort where the kids could feed and touch animals such as rabbits, turtles, roosters and hens, and peacocks. The kids weren't even afraid to approach them and Abel especially, was just running around picking food and feeding the animals.
Never knew you could hand-feed a turtle.
What's next but the beach! Yes we had a short play at the beach coz it was juz too hot when it's late morning.
A cool dip at the pool was great! The slide kept our active Keziah active but Abel was just happy playing with leaves along the pool, singing his "Row, row, row the boat".
Keziah is always up earlier from Abel from his nap. Yes, we never missed naps for the kids as this trip was really just rest and relax and play. So Mommy just took her to the kids' cabin to be occupied with some Batik Paining for RM20. She loved it so much that she kept asking for more. Next trip, my dear.
Being a little adventureous, we decided to take a short walk out down the ratty Malaysia Road to a stretch of eatery that we passed by on driving to the resort (about 500m away). It was really simply fried rice and beef noodle soup and side dishes of vegetable soup and stir fried beef. Not fantastic but was a cheap RM 17 for four compared to RM78 for buffet in the resort.
There was this night market along the way and we passed by to browse. Keziah insisted on a kite and we bought her one at a surprisingly cheap RM5 without even having to bargain. Malays are really honest in the villages I guessed.
Home sweet home with a nice warm bath...
The sun, the sea, the sand….Port Dickson
Yes, we did our maiden drive up to Port Dickson. On the internet, it was just a 3.5hour but it took us almost 5-6 hours before we arrived, considering you have to make stops with kids and have meals. One thing, the GPS which Daddy borrowed from Uncle Sean was fantastic. Otherwise, not sure where we would have landed up.
Our beautiful resort, Avillion.
Poo pain in action
After a month or so, the situation has only improved a little. Consultation with the PD still came back with the same conclusion that Abel doesn't like the pain and thus might be just refusing to clear his bowels.
This is what we face each time he wants to poo…an abridge version since the camera was too close to see where he was dashing to. Anyone experience such? Never thought clearing bowels can be such a trauma.
This is what we face each time he wants to poo…an abridge version since the camera was too close to see where he was dashing to. Anyone experience such? Never thought clearing bowels can be such a trauma.
Toilet Training K for night
Yes Mommy hasn't toilet trained Abel since he's going through his poo ordeal bringing us back to ground zero with what has been achieved. Taking the opportunity of the holidays, Mommy wanted to start toilet training Keziah for the night since she's already 4 year and 2 months. However, this feat is harder than it seems. Having read and heard from friends some strategies such as cutting her night feed (which we had done for quite awhile), have her wee before bed, not giving her too much liquids before bed, nothing worked so far. So Mommy started this holiday with trying to carry her to toilet to wee about 11ish to 12pm before Mommy's bedtime. Not only does she wakes up and kicks up a fuss, she struggles so much that Mommy could hardly get her balance with a 17kg child in hand. Looks like this is not working. Is Mommy going to wait for her to naturally outgrow and toilet train herself? Will it ever happen on it own overnight?
A house for a hermit crab - Part 4
We looked at some shells in pictures but nothing beats seeing them in real.
Today Mommy had school event in the morning and Daddy decided that we will still have our family day out to the zoo in the afternoon. However, the weather was not in our favour and it poured as we headed down. Plans aborted and we went Ikea. Afterwhich, Mommy suggested going to the beach since we were so near Changi, a place we hardly venture since it's quite out of the way for us. It was also cause Mommy wanted to see if we could chance upon crabs burrowing in the sand. Yes, there was a recent oil spill but Mommy thought we will still head down to see the situation. Daddy obliged. Surprisingly, the beach was cleaned and for the first time, Mommy noticed the large amount of seaweed washed up to the shore and plenty of sea shells littering the beach.
Keziah was happily playing with sand and picking up the different shells, so many that she had to use her shoe to hold them since we weren't prepared for it. There were the usual plain clam shells that you would find on the beach but also snail shells and also those with pattern.
On the other hand, Abel took some time to warm up to the grainy feeling of sand in his shoes before he went about exploring the shoreline and picking up shells after his sister.
After all the fun, it was food time at nowhere else nearer than Changi Village. Guess most on the east would know of Charlie's at Changi Village market. They serve really fresh fish and chips with great tartar sauce.
No one can resist fries. What more when you have gorgeous tartar sauce as ac compliment!
