The-Upperroom.com

This year’s my birthday fell on Chinese New Year’s first day. How un-fun can it get? No cakes because nothing is open and I got to go for my birthday dinner way in advance but at least I got my first little hand-made birthday card from Talia which was better than any pressie in the world!

The kids love Chinese New Year…a lot more compared to me! Well, at least someone is enjoying themselves! Here’s wishing everyone a prosperous dragon year!

Visiting their grandma!

The new year began rather quietly for us. The children went back to school with me tailing the boy on his first alone on the school bus. It was a non-event. He immediately took to the teacher and classmates like fish to water.

Dashed to the play area and started having fun!

Started whipping up a big feast too!

Water play? His favourite!

Snack time? A close second!

And so that was his first day back in school! His kindergarten started earlier for the younger kids but Talia only had her first day on Friday. I didn’t even bother to follow them to school! This will be Talia’s fourth and last year at the kindergarten and *drum roll* she will be reporting at a primary school same time next year!

A while ago, just before bed time she started sobbing and told me she wanted to “stay this size!” Until now I have not figured out what triggered the outburst but she has always been more sensitive and emotional. “Stay this size” you can’t my dear in real life, and you will always “Stay this size” in my heart!

Little boy was glad to have a companion in the the school bus again!

See the really tiny uniform they are in? >< There were no uniforms to be sold on the first day and I have not had the time to go down to Funan to get new ones for them. You reckon I can skip buying the uniforms this year?

and so I have changed jobs. It has been one month and has been going well. I now work out of a home office of my colleague till the new office’s renovations are done, likely to be mid December 2011.

I eat home-cooked lunch everyday by my colleague’s dad, goes to work in my bermudas and tees when there are no meetings and generally leave on the dot at 6pm! woohoo!

But this is because things are just picking up and I have been told, “Pls enjoy the honeymoon period as much as you can now!” I have just hired another staff in anticipation of the pick-up in workload but till he join us, the 4 of us (me + owner + 2 other permanent part-timers) sit facing each other in the small home office, meaning to say I have absolutely no privacy! But even though it has been just 1 month, it seems like I have known them forever and have been doing this for the longest time! The hustle and bustle of Raffles Place seems like a lifetime ago!

90% of the staff here including bosses are believers, we give thanks together when we go for meals. Bosses share with me how they are doing out-reach using marketplace ministries! How cool is that!

Even the best laid plans of mice and men often go array, I figured I will just leave it to the divine and pray this is indeed the place He has intended for me.

Sometimes, impromptu trips are just so fun.

One saturday morning, Dee’s family and my family just decided to spend the whole day at Sentosa! As usual, we reached first and decided to have some fun at the luge first!

We had 2 gos at the luge and the skyride before Dee’s family came along and it was lunchtime already. We went to the nearest eatery which was Macdonald’s (gasp!) I am now a bit more relaxed about what they eat but still it was their first Mac’s burger and both could gobble up the whole burger themselves!

After that we decided the whole group shall just troop towards Resort World and along the way, the boys went bonkers!

Mad running and laughing took over the boys!

Being the sole girl in the group (Philson’s little sister was still too young to join the rest to play), Talia was a bit more subdued!

She skipped along by herself. I guess even she could not take the rowdiness of the boys! tsk tsk!

But when something proved too fun to miss, she definitely would rise up to the occasion!

Then we had enough of wet shirts (we only have that many changes of clothes you know) we ripped the shirts off the boys!

We finally reached Resort World and dried the boys up and took a tour inside. Dee, just see how your philson posed?

By this time, the little guy was already napping the stroller but Dee’s boy simply do not need to nap! Talia typically naps at home but when she is out and having fun, she can do without one as well but her eyes will be all droopy by 7pm.

We headed towards the beach and had a good 3 hrs fun time at the beach!

Any other impromptu trips anyone?

I think sites like groupon, deal.com, street deal etc has forever change the way I shop, especially when it comes to eating out and travelling. Restaurants and places that I would normally not try/go tempts me when an attractive discount beckons.

And which is why during one weekend in August, the whole family descended at Tanah Merah Ferry terminal in the morning to board the ferry for a 2D1N trip to Turi Resort in Batam.

The ferry journey was only 40 mins and quite comfortable and uneventful. What we found out though was gamblers are immediately transferred to the shuttle ferry that will take them directly to the casino ship floating somewhere in the international waters nearby. And they even credit the $22 ferry charges back so its virtually free for the gamblers to come on board to gamble vs the $100 they have to pay if they go to the casinos on mainland Singapore.

The resort was only 5 mins away from the ferry terminal and our “hotel room” was a hut effectively on stilts, kinda quaint but the interior was ok. Beds have mosquito nets on it and I suspect that mosquitos could be an issue (which induced me to slap on so much anti-bug that there was not a single bite the whole time we were there).

We dumped our stuff and went to explore the place.

The little hut for chilling by the pool was reminscent of the actual bigger hut we were going to sleep in! It has the exact rooft!

The beach was right beside the pool.

There was also a loooong jetty which we promised ourselves we were going to explore in the evening!

The girl tried out the hammock and refused to get out!

We went for buffet lunch at the restuarant in the hotel and it was actually pretty decent. Not cheap going by the local context and not expensive too in our view (especially when I have two little foodies who are going through a humongous pile of food and need not pay for anything as they are below 5! *cue evil laugh*)

We went back to the room for the kids to have a nap and headed for the beach the first thing they woke.

There were nice shady spots and the children happily settled down to dig away.

The little boy also overcame his fear of the waves and went into the water to fill up his watering can!

And the water was so inviting, eventually the whole family sans me was inside the water! What a whale of a time they had!

We rinsed off and jumped right into the pool. The kids tried out their arm floats and were so gleeful they could float without us that we alternated between the kids pool and the adult pool.

Then it was time to explore the long jetty we promised ourselves earlier on.

The breeze was amazing that we had to wrap the kids up in their towels! The family sat for a while at the end of the jetty, enjoying the sunset, the breeze, the beautiful waters, the lights on the shore as dusk approached…

We had an outdoor alfresco bbq dinner right at the lawn beside the beach with live music. The kids obviously were enjoying themselves so much that they left their seats and started to gyrate to the music, much to the amusement of other nearby diners!

The next day’s plan was to have a go at the pool before hitting the shopping centres in town for lunch, massage, food and some shopping.

Guess who and who were having a good time by the pool?

We took a cab to Batam City Square and the journey was about 35 mins. We had lunch at one of the local food restaurant inside, walked around for a while before taking a cab to Nagoya Hills for massage. The timing was impeccable as the boy just fell asleep in the cab, so when we were having our massage, he was happily sleeping on one of the beds as well! Hey hey! The little girl was entertained with one of our ipads.

The massage was fabulous at only about S$9!

We later checked out the shopping and let the children have a go at one of the indoor playgrounds. The shopping was completely way out, as in I found absolutely nothing to buy!

We took a cab back to the resort, took the shuttle from the hotel to the ferry terminal for the last ferry leaving Batam at 6.05 pm and the kids were asleep in their beds by 9pm.

Turi Beach is a pretty decent resort so we really enjoyed our time there. The trip out to town was silly actually except for the wonderfully good and cheap massage!

In May this year, together with my MIL, we embarked on a 18 day road trip starting in Brisbane and ending in Sydney. Brisbane is special to the hubs as he studied there and also because MIL’s elder brother and family has since relocated to Brisbane so it would be great to catch up again.

To save myself and everyone a looooong post of too much details, this will be just highlights with alot of pics.

The MIL was obviously pleased to be out and about with her grandkids!

and what else but a lot of close encounters with animals?

and lots of fun at playgrounds!

lots of snoozing in the car!

lots of posing with cartoon and comic characters!

lots of rides!

lots of trooping around in nature reserves!

lots of different hotels!

lots of beaches!

lots of lighthouses!

lots of sightseeing!

and finally lots of shopping!

and are you exhausted yet! We sure were when we came back!

Lately, I have been experiencing the “fried brains” syndrome. I don’t seem to have much to think about nowadays, which explains I don’t have much to blog about recently as well. Well, the issue has always been time, but hey, it would be like I have much to blog about, just that I don’t have the time. These couple of months, time’s still a scarce commodity but there ain’t much to talk about…

I can think of a few reasons for the dry spell I guess, I haven’t read a good book in like 6 months, whenever I am in my reading season, I tend to get more introspective. Work has been, OMG, like whirlwind! I get sucked into it and am just struggling to stay afloat, that certainly will not help.

I haven’t done anything different like in the longest time too…routine has very much set in and I think that certainly will not help matters here too! and too much mundane and day-to-day things to sort through, to worry about that its firefighting day after day!

But anyhow I hope its a phase though and my brains will regain some of its activity soon!

So, the little folks living with me now are almost 5 years old and 3 years old. These little people with little bodies but big souls (and sometimes a big voice as well!) are such a daily source of happiness mixed in with frustruation, sometimes worry that I almost couldn’t remember how it was like before they came along.

Talia is a chatterbox, she chatters non-stop about things she has seen, how she feels, how she expects other people to behave. She displays a sensitivity and empathy for people around her but her cheerful and boisterous nature can get out of hand sometimes though. I have been asked if she is always that happy? and yes, 95% of the time she is smiling and laughing and really enjoying life to its max. In this respect, she is very much like her father, who uses the word “exciting” liberally as he embraces life. Life to the both of them is filled with little surprises to be enjoyed all the time!

Thaddeus on the other hand is a bit more reserve (a lot like me I guess) but i think the enthusiasm from his sister rubs off on him and yes, sometimes i get not 1 but 2 energizer bunnies at home, with a smaller chubbier one running after the elder one! This little chap has more of a stubborn streak in him and coaxing and persuading him is a lot more difficult compared to the girl. But he is also more affectionate and ready to give his hugs and kisses.

When the 2 are playing together, it is literally mayhem! World War 3! But when only 1 is playing on his/her own, they are like angels according to my helper. Reading quietly on their own, playing puzzles or other toys on their own with minimum supervision needed.

Anyway, this June holiday has been a long one. We went on a long road trip in Australia (perhaps another post on that later, if i ever get to it!) 3 weeks before the holidays started, and when we got back, we plunged right into the school holidays. And it was almost a full month of WW3 at home!

But apart from tearing up the house, they also visited the Science Centre!

Thaddeus checking out the chicks at the Science Centre!

We also visited some museums to enjoy The Children Season that was on during the school holidays!

and boy! Did everyone heave a big sigh of relief when the new term started and the destructive duo went back to school!

My sister was celebrating her birthday in Phuket and since they got a 2-bedroom apartment at Marriott Mai Khao, she invited us along. Apparently they got to book this apartment at a really good rate simply by agreeing to attend a sales presentation by Marriott. Anyway we were more than happy to tag along since we AREN’T the ones needing to attend the talk. Heh!

On the flight, the kids soon got bored and rowdy and we had to whip out our secret weapons to calm them all down!

We arrived there in the late morning and was given a warm reception, complete with flowers and a welcome drink!

The hotel was great and after resting for a while, went down to one of the restaurants in the hotel to have lunch.

Pretty restaurant!

Then we hit the pool!

Dinner was at this rustic restaurant by the beach!

We started the next day with buffet breakfast at the hotel!

and then hit the beach!

We have dinner in our hotel room. Not room service but delivery by a restaurant not too far from the hotel! Pretty good food!

The kids also had fun at the kids room. Apart from the toys, they also attended a cookie decorating session! and we came back later to collect the cookie after they were baked.

View from our room!

It was a pretty relaxing trip and the best thing was the kids spent time with their cousin which they adore! But if we do go back to Phuket again, we probably won’t choose Mai Khao Beach because there just aren’t enough amenities near to the hotel, even though the hotel and the beach were not bad.

Hey no! He didn’t just start going to pre-nursery, he started five months ago in January! Embarrassment aside, I have been blessed 2 times over. His first days in school were such an non-event like his sister’s. He took to school like a fish to water and after the first 2 days, I happily left him to take the school bus together with his sister to school without anyone of us following.

Happy and proud that he is finally going to school! His sister’s BIG KIDS school!

Immediately went in and started having fun with the toys!

Joining into group fun!

This is one of his favourite toys!

The playground too!

Snack time too!

Hey! is there anything at all he doesn’t like about school?

During dismissal, he dutifully sat down at his designated bus area and waited alone there. I was right behind this pillar peeking at him!

When we boarded the bus, I didn’t sit with him as well and it took him a while to realise I was sitting in front peering at him and what a grin he gave me!

My baby is a big boy now!