[Hongkong trip - Day 01]

We were invited to attend an award ceremony in Hongkong for one of our projects (more on that later...) and so took the oppurtunity to bring along the family for a short holiday. Even though our last trip was at the beginning of this year (jan 09), it was amazing how much the girls have changed since then! For G, it was all about Minnie mouse, everything had to be pink, she was still in her cutesey stage where it was all about cartoons. NOW, she only cared for the princesses, especially princess Aurora (the pink one) and we queued for ages just to meet them! K who just turned 1 at that time was pretty much still a baby, nothing really registered with her, in fact, i don't think she even remembered the trip! This time around, she absorbed everything like a sponge. It was so joyful to see her relating to Mickey and Minnie, she LOVED taking the plane, she now has her own opinions on everything, a real change! It was still good to bring along both prams though, thanks to my cousin for the loan of the 2nd pram once again... it was indispensable. This time around, besides the little date night we had for the awards ceremony, it was totally kid-friendly as we stayed at the Disney hotel. The kids of course absolutely LOVED it, and as parents, we have mixed feelings about being there. First of all, everything and anything was merchandising and all about exhorbitant fleecing. Secondly, in the land of glorious food, the meals that we were forced to take sucked big time!! We were so relieved to finally get proper hongkong food when we moved to the city hotel on our 3rd day there. That said, the hotel had a wonderful outdoor heated pool that was blissfully toasty in autumny temperatures, it boasts a fully equipped childrens' playroom (that was thankfully free of charge) and K especially loved visiting the "cooking" corner. There were bedtime stories, mickey shaped food, really lovely inhouse toiletries and robes and mickey emblazoned slippers, and the best of all had to be the grounds that were truly spacious, lots of lawns to run around on, a nice and clean playground...... aesthetically though, it is a sad day for us to be staying in a "themed" hotel.....yup, mixed feelings indeed!

So, here are the trip pics (will just do Day 01 as we took about 900+ pics and i'm still editting them!):

itinery (Day 01):
CX flight to HKG
Disney Hotel
Disneyland
Disney Hotel
G totally absorbed in her inflight entertainment - another 1st! I don't think she enjoyed it much the last trip.
K and her own headset! She was thrilled to be using her own set of earphones, but didn't really get the hang of watching the cartoons...
G writing her list of names, she was our "guide"
Disney bedroom slippers - so cute that there was the kiddie ones too!
G at Disney
K, her 1st real experience of Disney
She loved all the sticker freebies
Wide - eyed and wondrous
With some scary looking elves
They loved the teacup ride, i think G remembers it from her last trip.

G volunteering to spin the tops
Chomping on the enormous baked turkey drumstick!
K was terrified of the carousel ride, she refused to even go near it the next day....
G loved it, we sat on it twice the next day!
G and K, in the long bath, another fun part of being on holiday!

to be continued.........

[another school year gone!]

Gosh, time flies by so quickly!!! :) It's end-of-school yearend concert time for G again! I love her school's concerts. The little ones are so motivated and they usually put up a little sketch with lots of singing and dancing. This year's theme was "Snow White and the 7 dwarfs"... when you think that these are little 6 yr olds doing the acting, it's pretty awesome. G was by far the tallest girl in her class and looked so confident and happy bursting out in song on stage, SO proud of my little girl.... :) She was so pretty too in her pink fluffy dress, and so was K in a similar one. (thanks to my parents for the splurge!) They absolutely loved twirling and skipping about in them, although K's combination with rubber duckie boots were a bit strange.... heh.
Singing Head n Shoulder Knees and toes - K kept going "Look! K for Knees and Katie!" next to me.. lol....
K in her nice white dress. I'm hoping this will last for awhile yet! She looked so adorable in them.

Over the weekend, we brought the girls to check out some offerings from the Design Festival 2009. We were quite ambitious, thinking we could cover all the downtown venues starting at City Hall and finishing up at Lasalle.... Of course it was impossible for the girls, we only made the first venue, but it was really nice to see them enjoying the exhibitions and G even wanted to be a gallery helper! hah....

In the morning, we had breakfast at Safra again, so nearby so it's becoming a fast favorite!!! The playground is really fun and the weather was gorgeous!
K in her new "newbalance" shoes that were perfect (purple and on sale.... haha) She loved them and would insist on wearing - those purple shoelaces that daddy bought - it's always daddy that bought them, never mummy! hehe, what does that mean abt shopping habits in our family.......
Happy girl.... K enjoys running round and round the play equipment at the playground instead of climbing on them as she's terrified of the slides.
The entrance steps at the old City Hall venue
G doodling on one of the activity corners at the exhibition
Us at the polish exhibition in the "restaurant" at the courthouse, you can almost imagine lots of wigged baristors having their expressos just before their hearing, and many dramas being played out in this space right! :) Love the decor....
The little banquette seat podium in the middle, which G and K immediately transformed into their "castle"Ceiling detail - i love the gold and black!
Here's G in one of the galleries. She was hilarious! She decided to be one of the ushers and actually sat there herself next to the attendant for a good 15min! We all crept out although i hid round the corner and eavesdropped on her conversation. She was really indepth in explaining our house renovation situation and why we're staying at "tai-gong's" place instead of our own place (all because she was asked "where's your home?") lol.....
On Sunday, there was some time in the afternoon while they napped, so i made these! A little album in preparation for our upcoming trip - the OA travel range is PERFECT! :)And, starting on my xmas cards early!!! :)

[bi-weekly inspiration kickstart]

I LOVE the library.... ever since i was a little girl, and there were not the multitude of local libraries around, I love going into the central library, down the musty smelling corridors, to read books over in the tiny tiny children section. Our children do not know how lucky they are! There is now a local library in each little precinct, all with their own "specialty" sections. We have our favorite branches and the kids have as much fun choosing out their books for the week as I do! I totally remember the entire "mr men" collection from my younger years and now my own children are enjoying the same series. So, i was overjoyed to find that the nearest branch from our place now has a huge collection of Architecture and Design books. I have been meaning to read this book - Midwest Modern by Amy Butler for the longest time, and finally checked it out today. (much happiness!) :)
So much inspiration for the new home! Amongst them:

Art display along the living room / dining room wall....
Love the floor boards! so much character!!!
Studio / office space... drool.... I love the plywood walls, i think we NEED a pinup wall for sure!A little completed piece of sewing in a long while - guess what it is? (only singaporeans would know actually - hint - it's something for drivers!)

[photo effects]

For all you professional + amateur photographer mummies out there, do you use Photoshop on your photos? Do you edit your photos at all? I used to think that PS was "cheating", but not anymore! I've been seeing some really stunning pics on various blog sites, most of them are by professional photographers. They use PS not to "correct" the photo, but to enhance it and to create a certain mood that is not really present. Found this website via another website on my bloglines - and i'm totally sold on the photos! really really gorgeous, this is a momma of 3 and she looks SOO good! :) There's also a little tutorial in there for some vignetting..... which i tried out..
So, after fiddling around with PS a little bit, here are the images of our previous weekend at (guess where?) heh, the beach. This time around with S and her girls:
K looking a little bewildered at the absence of the waters..
Gorgeous E so enthralled by the spouts!
Unfortunately our 2 older kids decided they didn't really want to play with each other.. sigh....
K and her buckets... :) hee....

[a movie screening-UNDER THE SEA]

We have been given some tickets to watch the latest Omni Max movie at the science centre courtesy of the lovely people at Mead Johnson + Science Centre, via a fellow blogger and media firm - 24seven. :) This movie and launch party is to mark the launch of a strategic tie up of Mead Johnson and the Science Centre to further enhance learning for young children. From now till the 30th Nov, at all NTUC Fairprice outlets, every purchase of Enfagrow A+ / Enfakid A+ / EnfaSchool A+, will be rewarded with a complimentary Free Science Centre ticket (Child). Not only that, adults accompanying children will also receive a discount voucher for entry into the Science Center. The voucher includes discounts for other attractions like the Snow City as well as the Omni Theatre. I would really like to visit Snow City too, so I guess it's a pretty good deal!

It was with much anticipation that we bundled the girls for the drive all the way to the science centre. I can't remember when the last time i visited the science centre and watched a movie at the Omnimax, i think it must have been when it was first opened, more than 10 yrs ago! Anyways, i remembered it being something pretty surreal, as the vast screen makes everything appear much nearer and bigger than it is on a conventional cinema screen. I was also interested to see the girls reactions. (although i wasn't really optimistic, as the last movie I brought G to watch - "G-force" - she only sat through about 20min (or how long the popcorn lasted) and pronounced it too tiring to continue).
So, here at the pics:
The excited duo, although K kept going "I don't want to go up there"....
This is the reason why, as we stepped into the Omnimax, the first thing we were greeted was this fun Simulator ride. I would have love to go take a look, but G although being of the requisite height (gosh she's tall!) refused outright to go onto it...
My 110cm tall 4.5yr old.
Looks so fun! the other luckier people who got to experience the ride.
After some finger food and refreshments, it was time for the show!Settling into the comfy seats
Happy happy!
K was fascinated with the chairs that flipped up!

Initially was worried that being the scaredy cat she is, K might take quite adversely to this giant screen! It was her first time into any movie, but she really was very fascinated with the whole show, she even danced when the soundtrack got lively! :) hee....

I would definately go again to the science centre, i think it has made much progress over the years and i've been hearing pretty good reviews of the exhibits in the main building. The Omimax experience has also been really fun, the girls really enjoyed the show, except for the last 10min, where their attention span has already been maxed out. Thank god for the trusty iphone (for G), and the milk bottle (for K) as a distraction! :)

[Playdate at the Beach]

Hehe, are you all sick of looking at the Beach pics? Yup! We brought the girls again to the beach over the weekend, it was touch and go at first as the weather was stormy and rainy the whole of saturday, and sunday morning started out pretty dismal as well. After much fervent praying (G), we were so happy that the skies cleared around 9, which was when we settled in on our fav spot at the beach.
G of cos was delighted to meet G again, they greeted each other like long lost friends and it was heartwarming to see them embrace and talk nineteen to a dozen the whole morning! The younger set couldn't really play together yet, but they were starting to get curious about what each other was doing. The funny thing is, both #2s were so squeemish with the sand, gingerly circumventing their more boisterous older siblings and sitting quietly in their little sand pits.
Here are the pics:




Well it got a little bit too much at the end and there was the famous meltdown... nothing a bottle of warm milk and a little nap couldn't solve!

[Sundays at the beach]

Since the last visit to the beach, we have decided that it should be a weekly / bi-weekly feature for the girls. They absolutely love the sand, the water play and the general chill out factor of being at Sentosa. This weekend, although we had a scant 4 hrs of sleep previously, we managed to bring the girls way before the hot sun came up! Even so, they managed to get all rosy and flushed.... :) All the better for mama's photos!

Cheeky little girl....
Look at her rosy cheeks...
This little one was content to sit on the sand, heaping sand into her purple bucket. *note that she insisted on sitting on my slipper!*
K loved "catching" the water in her bucket
After the sand play, they cooled off at the water fountain.
G was thrilled with making the plastic cups "dance" on the water spouts
Pure Joy....

That night was my little kid cousin's wedding.... It was a great oppurtunity for the girls to wear their twirly skirts! :)
K with cousins J and J
2 sets of sisters
twirly K...

:) A good weekend!