Christmas Gatherings 2008

First Christmas Gathering - 21 Dec 08 @ Chen Fu Ji Restaurant, Riverside Point

As usual, we had our annual gathering with Papa's secondary school friends slightly earlier this year to coincide with the weekend. It was a quiet restaurant, with us, almost occupying for the whole place, except for a small tour group dinner for a while.

This year, all the ladies were seated at one table and the gents at the other! As usual, all the kids exchanged presents, with a pre-determined list drafted by the organisers! Gwendolyn was buying for Dillon whilst Geraldine was buying for Hermione. Ralston was buying for Lyn Lyn and Brenda buying for Geraldine!

Gift exchange amongst the kids!

Happily unwrapping their presents

All the happy children - see what Geraldine was doing with her present when all the Gor Gors and Jie Jies were taking a group picture

Some snapshots during the dinner

Second Christmas Gathering - 27 Dec 08 @ Home

Our second usual gathering was with Papa's ex-colleagues! And as usual, Mama prepared the food, with special orders from the Aunties and Uncles for turkey, chicken wings and salad! This year, Lyn Lyn helped with food preparation. One day in advance, Lyn Lyn helped in preparing the salad, as the salad is only nice when served icy cold! Lyn Lyn spent most of her time peeling prawns and eggs! Good job! On the actual day, Lyn Lyn helped with the preparation of the turkey, whereby she helped washing it before putting stuffing into the turkey's tummy! It was so much fun! She looked nice in the apron as well!

Lyn Lyn being domesticated in helping Mama with food preparation

Yummy yummy food

All the kids were having fun and we celebrated Uncle Kim Siong's birthday as well...all the children received presents from each couple and the adults had gift exchange!

Christmas Presents

A snapshot of all the presents received by the children throughout Christmas! It's just nice to be kids during the festive seasons!

Presents for Geraldine...her favourite was Minnie Mouse! Did you notice the blue toy in the middle picture? Lyn Lyn said that was Cookie Monster dressing up as a crab! Good one, Lyn Lyn!!!

Lyn Lyn got a whole load of presents, including Mama's special order of toothbrushes from amazon.com, with Dora and Diego characters!!! Thanks Aunty Mary for helping to send over! Lyn Lyn was loving them, especially the electric toothbrushes!

Lunch with Ms Angeline @ Sakae Sushi

Haven't met up with Ms Angeline for a while and Mama managed to find a date to meet up at Sakae Sushi @ Tradehub 21 along Boon Lay Way (all of us are bored of IMM)! What's so good about this place? It's new, it's near to both of us and there's an outdoor playground for the kids!

We met up at 12 noon for lunch and then we had a gift exchange with Ms Angeline. Thank you Ms Angeline for the lovely presents! Then, we proceeded to the playground. It was a rather hot day and it's unbearable to stay outdoor for more than 15 minutes...we spent a while outdoors and went indoor for a while to cool down before proceeding outdoor again, thanks to the playful Gwendolyn!

Looking at these pics, reminds Mama of Ms Angeline taking care of Lyn Lyn during her tender years after the official school hours!

Geraldine submerging into the ball pool

What a lovely pic of the 3...but...Geraldine, what's your feet doing on the table?

Not forgetting her Spot when taking a picture with Ms Angeline

Thank you Ms Angeline for the lovely presents!

Musical Enlightenment

Initially, Geraldine tried with Joel Gor Gor's drum set and was enjoying it...

When she Gwendolyn took our her musical instrument sets to pretend to be Quincy from the Little Einsteins, Geraldine took part in the muscial recital as well...she can shake the maracus and roll the drums rather well!

Funny Snapshots before Geraldine's Shower

Funny snapshots taken before Geraldine's morning shower on New Year's Eve...

Cruising Along in Her "Vehicles"

A learner walker will normally rely on some form of "vehicular" toys to help them walk...Geraldine is no exception, but she seems to be able to move around rather well at the tender age of 11 months old, without falling flat on the face when cruising around...

Mickey Mouse @ Changi Airport

Gong Gong and Por Por were leaving Singapore for Hong Kong on 29 Nov. Gwendolyn was tasked to wake up early to wake everybody up. Papa and Mama were both impressed that she actually woke up very very early...however, she fell asleep again after enjoying her morning bottle of milk! Anyways, all of us still managed to arrive at the airport one and a half hours before departure time and had breakfast @ McDonalds! Geraldine had half a slice of hot cake...wow!

After seeing Gong Gong and Por Por off into the Immigration...Papa and Mama brought the 2 kiddos to take pictures with the Disney lantern characters! Geraldine loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and was staring at the characters all over the airport!

Disney Cafe @ Anchorpoint

Gong Gong and Por Por are leaving on 29 Nov 08...Mama left office earlier to return home to bring everyone out for dinner! Mama found out that there's a Disney Cafe @ Anchorpoint and suggested to give it a go. The cafe looks interesting and appealing to the kids. However, food was absolutely horrible. What we'll all call microwave food...with only spaghetti, pizzas and burgers...We didn't enjoy the food, but both kiddos enjoyed the ambience and the walk around the shop!



As mentioned above, food wasn't amazing at all...however, they've made some efforts in making it more attractive and appealing to kids!

In the end, after the horrible food, we've decided to head to TCC for desserts and coffee...Gwendolyn had a slice of ice-cream cake at Disney Cafe AND a slice of chocolate cake at TCC...sinful!

X'mas Cards

Gwendolyn told Mama that she is missing her friends, who have already left her class and wanted to take the opportunity to send them a Christmas card to say "hello". Mama asked Ms Lissa for a list of addresses of her ex-classmates and brought back for Lyn Lyn to choose the cards for her dear friends! Mama's done up a sample wording for her and she wrote all the cards by herself! She's asked Mama for some stamps and sealed the envelope by herself, with Mama only helping her to write the address! She later went to the post box to post the cards all by herself! What's more? She even knows about looking for "Singapore local mail" and not the one for overseas mail! Amazing! Thanks to Ms Jam, her class-teacher, who taught them about sending letters via the post. If you can recall the invitation that Papa and Mama received for Lyn Lyn's art exhibition...all the kids were brought to send the invitation via the post as well! Well done!

Studio Pictures of Gwendolyn

These are Gwendolyn's studio pictures. She's chosen all the characters by herself! She's a real poser and enjoyed it soooooooooo much!

Studio Pictures of Geraldine

A summary of studio shots taken for Geraldine at 8 months! Noticed some resemblance of her and Gwendolyn? If you cannot remember, see my previous post for Lyn Lyn's studio pics when she was around 7-8 months here -> http://the-ngs-update.blogspot.com/2006/09/re-visiting-some-old-studio-photos.html

Geraldine Eating Abalone!

Por Por, as usual, before she came to Singapore, she prepared a few portions of Gwendolyn's favourite abalone...what's more? This time, she tried Geraldine out and noticed that Geraldine loves abalone too! Why? Mama thinks that because the sauce is tasty and sweet...how would a 9-month old know how to appreciate abalone?! A little too early, right?!

CROCS Expo Sales 14-16 Nov 08

It was really a good buy...but there were just too big a crowd...we set off at 10:30am and reached there to join a winding queue in the next hall...finally, we managed to get into Hall 4A, but both Gwendolyn and Geraldine were grumpy, one was sleepy after medicine...the other one was sleepy, as it was her nap time!

Anyway, Lyn Lyn managed to buy quite a few pairs, insisting on having the same ones as Mama and Mei Mei...Even Papa managed to find something for himself, as all the shoes/sandals, etc were in the range of $15-20! With the most expensive pair with the Mickey Mouse characters being $25! Really like 50-70% off the usual retail price! However, we only managed to go on Sunday and most of the other designs were already out-of-stock!

What's worse? Mama queued for more than 2 hours to pay for the merchandise...crazy...and the total bill came up to be $245! Com'on...still very cheap...no choice...Papa, together with the 2 girls, proceeded to pick Gong Gong and Por Por from the airport and Mama continued queuing...by the time Mama leave the hall, it was exactly 4pm! What a day!

I Love Eating Strawberries

Geraldine is such a lovely baby...she literally eats everything and she enjoys eating soooooooooooo much! See...with the limited number of teeth that she has (4 on top and 1 below) @ close to 10 months, she's biting fruits directly already! What's more? She is contented whenever there's food in her mouth...easy peasy right?! Even strawberries...a kind of fruit that can't be guaranteed to be sweet, is one of her favourites! Yum Yum...Gwendolyn, on the other hand, is dis-interested in strawberries...so far, none of them fight for their favourite foods, as the list is different!

Art Exhibition : Imagine, Create, Discover

Gwendolyn's art work at the Exhibition, held on 8 Nov 08. Unfortunately, we've missed the event, as we all went to Sunway Lagoon Resort instead! Mama promised Lyn Lyn that even though we may miss the actual day, but Papa and Mama can always look at her work on the following monday!

Geraldine's 1st Swim

Geraldine's 1st swim wasn't really planned for, but it just happened that when Gwendolyn was having her swimming lesson, Geraldine has always shown interests in getting into the water. Thinking that she's got the enthusiasm, Mama thought that she was all ready for the dip...and brought her up to get changed into Lyn Lyn's 1st swimming costume for a try!

Haven't considered that she's not as adventurous as Lyn Lyn, Geraldine was rather skeptical when she 1st went into the water (not on with her legs, but herself being physically in the water)...she frowned and was stoned all the way...she didn't cry though...however, Mama thought that she didn't enjoy as much as Lyn Lyn's 1st swim...is she ready?

From her facial expressions...seems like she's not really ready for the swim!

Go Go Bambini

Last week, Auntie Lena agreed with Mama to bring the kids to Go Go Bambini @ Dempsey Hill (http://www.gogobambini.com/) for a fun session. Gwendolyn was really looking forward to it! We actually went pass it when we went to Jones the Grocer for breakfast about a month ago and have seen from Chloe's blog that this is a really fun place for kids! The parents was set to meet at 2pm for a 2-hour play session!

Once Summer and Lyn Lyn went through the entrance, their eyes were set immediately at the play structure! It was kind of amazing...the area was quite big and there were a lot of kids already screaming away within the structure. Instead of diving in with Summer and Lyn Lyn, the adults have decided to find a comfortable seat to order food and drinks...next to the eating area was the "playground" for the below 3-year-old category, e.g. babies like Geraldine!

Summer and Lyn Lyn quickly finishing their food and play at the "playground" next to the eating area!


Geraldine was enjoying herself with the colourful balls...she wasn't crying...but that's how she smiles/laughs

Geraldine trying out different tricks...standing with support, bending down to pick up a ball and crying to climb over to the ball pool area!

All the kids are enjoying themselves!

After filling the empty stomachs, Mama's decided to follow Lyn Lyn for an adventurous trip to the "super structures"! Wow...it was rather confusing to Mama and Lyn Lyn just disappeared amongst the other kids and reached the highest slide in no time! Mama tried very hard to follow Lyn Lyn to take some pictures...but the blurry shots below indicated that it was close to impossible to take "a" picture under this fast-paced condition!

Lyn Lyn, like a lizard, quickly disappeared amongst the kids and structures...Mama can barely follow!

In the end, Mama has to ask Lyn Lyn to slow down for some shots...cheating...

No doubt it was really fun for the kids! Lyn Lyn didn't want to leave the place, but Papa and Mama promised her for another trip some other time...but what Mama would say is that this is really a kid's paradise. If parents wanted to have some quiet moment and let the kids wonder around in an enclosed but fun environment, it is actually quite an ideal location for that! Well, last comment will be that don't have high expectation on food, though they have a good spread for you to choose from! Your choice!

New Marina Barrage? Wrong Location, Dad!

The Marina Barrage has just been officially opened. Since Mama had to attend a wedding dinner, Papa thought of bringing grandma and the grandchildren to have a look. However, the information from the press was not very clear. Instead of informing the public that Marina South is where they should be heading, it kept mentioning about the Marina Bay. Hence, Papa followed the "Marina Bay" instructions and ended up at the Singapore Flyer instead. Nevermind, since no one has been to the Singapore Flyer before...they've spent a fun night there!

Geraldine posing for the Flyer...Gu Cheung posing as a Rickshaw "Driver" and the 2 babies with grandma

P.S. Pictures are a little blurry, as Papa is using the new camera that Mama has just bought in Hong Kong...not sure how to handle yet...have to bear with us for a while, if the pictures aren't as sharp as before...

Yoga Sleeping Posture

Geraldine literally fell asleep whilst nibbling away on the foot of the Michelin toy man in the yoga position below...How Mama wishes to be as flexible as her!

Letter to Dad & Mum

First letter sent from Gwendolyn to Mom and Dad, for the Art Exhibition in School, to be held on 8 Nov 08!!!

Baby Emma's Full Month Celebration

It was baby Emma's full month party on 27 Oct 08 @ the Flower Room, The Hort Park! We arrived very early to find that we're almost the earliest! Baby Emma is the daughter of Uncle Kuek Kuek and Auntie Xuehong...she looks rather like Uncle Kuek Kuek!

Gwendolyn was exploring the surroundings, whilst Geraldine was taking a short nap. When Summer arrived, Lyn Lyn was running around with her and screaming away...she was so proud to be showing her studio pictures to all the aunties and uncles, urging them to look at her album before looking at Geraldine's! Mama just took some snapshots for the day and only realised when she got home that she didn't managed to take a snapshot of Baby Emma...what a shame!

Christabelle and Kaizer above...Eden & Geraldine (Ger is less than a month older); Lyn Lyn & Summer below

Geraldine, behave yourself...don't molest Kaizer...I know he's your new friend and vulnerable, but...

Dinner @ Shokudo

Haven't met up with Uncle Kim Siong, Auntie Adele, Frederick Di Di, Uncle Thomas, Auntie Carolyn and Baby Liv for quite a while. Mama arranged for dinner with everyone @ Shokudo, basement of Raffles City. This is a Marche type of concept, but Japanese cuisine kind of restaurant! Papa and Mama tried it before and found that it's family-friendly...the adults ordered their food, whilst both Frederick and Gwendolyn tried to finish as fast as they could, so that they can proceed to the play area for some fun!

Baby Liv was a little grumpy, as she didn't have enough sleep...Frederick and Lyn Lyn enjoyed each other's company so much that they didn't want to part with each other!

Brunch @ Jones the Grocer, Dempsey Hill

Sunday morning, Collin, Gwendolyn's swimming coach was sick, so her class was cancelled. Since everyone has already woken up, Mama's decided to head for an early breakfast, before setting off for the Takashimaya 15th Anniversary Sale...this time, Mama's suggested Dempsey Hill, without knowing exactly which one to go to. Once we've arrived, we drove round for a while and noticed that Jones, the Grocer was the most crowded. Without further hesitation, Papa quickly parked the car and we all went in. It's a shop cum cafe type of place, with a lot of caucasians...Gwendolyn and Mama went round the place, trying to look for a seat, whilst Papa stood at the entrance waiting to be served...finally, after some "negotiation", we've got our table. Actually, Geraldine was kind of grumpy already, as she was hungry and tired...after we've managed to sit down, Mama quickly took out her baby biscuit, while Papa and Lyn Lyn decide on what to order.

The two happy sisters when we first sat down

Papa's ordered a traditional English Breakfast, with Mama and Lyn Lyn sharing a scrambled egg with sausages + a crossiant!

Initially, Geraldine was still quite contented, with Lyn Lyn being available to feed her biscuits before our food arrived! After the food arrived and Mama separated the scrambled egg for Lyn Lyn, Geraldine saw the food and she couldn't stop screaming...Lyn Lyn was scrambling to feed herself and Geraldine, a wrong decision that she's made to choose to sit with Geraldine...

Geraldine seeing Lyn Lyn eat, she was so bored and tired that she requested Lyn Lyn to feed her faster...once Lyn Lyn's fed her...she's all contented

Under the Same "Roof"

Finally, Papa has shifted Geraldine's baby cot into Gwendolyn's room, so that the 2 sisters can start sharing a room...this photo is just so lovely, with Geraldine waking up earlier than Lyn Lyn...Stood up by herself, trying to get Lyn Lyn's attention!

Geraldine : I woke up earlier than Jie Jie

Mama forgot about to mention that Geraldine can pull herself up by holding onto the railings in the cot!

Pancake @ McDonalds

Unlike Gwendolyn, Geraldine seems to eat EVERYTHING...she's just interested in adult food and doesn't really fancy baby food...Saturday morning, before Papa meet up with grandma to see the doctor (subsequently diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol), Mama brought the 2 sisters to McDonalds for breakfast, before heading to IMM to buy a cake for a house visit in the afternoon...Whilst Gwendolyn was proudly telling Mama that she can cut her own pancake...Geraldine tried to grab the plate to get her food...see how much she's enjoying herself...