[Ipoh+Cameron Trip Day 01]

It was a whirlwind 3 days 2 nights trip with the family, organised by my eldest aunt, in a bid to have all her brothers and sisters, together with their respective families, to spend time together! This matriachal mission was indeed a success and the best thing about the trip has to be the time spent with various family, whom otherwise we meet only on occassions like birthdays and housewarmings. The best thing about it all had to also be the close bond that G and her cousin E shared throughout the trip, it was heartwarming especially to me, as me and my cousin (E's mum) grew up in each others pockets, meeting every single day at our grandma's when we were growing up, and subsequently every other weekend at our weekly grandma visits. Temperament wise, the 2 girls were really similar too to me and my cousin, to anyone looking at them, they might very well be us 30 years ago!
We chartered a 20-seater bus for the journey, which is great on legroom and comfort, but for my post-pregnancy bladder, was really not the most comfortable journey up north.
K fresh and bright after napping in the bus while we cross the border after we met at 630am!
V and G
Little V, same age as K, these 2 didn't really hit it off as closely as the older 2, but it was fun to watch them together.
Bagging seats together
Luckily E brought card games, and V contributed some too after stocking up at the pitstop.
The itinery for the day was a stopover at Ipoh, where we will be visiting some caves and the local hotspring, after which will be a night at the hotel.
G and K at the hotsprings.
Monkey faces
Finally, a nice-ish picture of the both of them
The waters at some parts of the hotsprings were hot enough to cook eggs!!! K posing on the line on the floor
Dipping our feet into the 'not so hot' water. Somehow, in temperatures of 30+ degrees, a hotspring just seems WRONG...
G didn't mind the bizarreness of soaking in hot water though, she would strip off to nothing and swim in it if allowed!!
My uncle showing the cooked egg....
It was cooked to perfection, creamy yolks with just set egg whites. K and everybody else, LOVED it!!

So after this afternoon snack, we were herded off again for dinner, at a restaurant (to the relief of E, who was greatly afraid of encountering all the pesky flies that swarmed most coffeeshops in Malaysia)....

It was quite a fun experience, and being the nearest hotspring venue, it seems quite a nice short trip with the girls to plan for in future. However, we will probably book into this one - HERE... :)

[Xmas orders...]

Wow, 3rd post today!! I'm on a roll.... heh... and I might even do a 4th one for our "not yet recorded" cameron highlands trip!

Anyways, just wanted to let those who have asked know, Xmas orders of all handmade items will end by this weekend - 17th Dec, which for local orders will just about leave me enough time to get them all out of the way in the week before Xmas!
:)
Here's what I've been hard at work making -
Monograms from A-Z.... :) *corny i know!
and a little W in between.....
Lots of handmade Xmas cards, they come sold singly or in a pack of 3.
#1
#2
#3

They are all unique, so please state which pack of these limited editions cards you would like when ordering!

Leave me a comment here, or just email me at jacqvic [at] gmail [dot] com for prices and other specifications... TFL!

Happy Xmas shopping, we did a little last weekend, but will probably do the MAJOR ones while the kids are with my parents and we take a longer lunch hour shopping....

[Gap Casting Call - Vivocity]

We were in 2 minds as to enter the girls into the Casting Call. Not so much of the exposure, but more of the required logistics of the inevitable waiting, coordinating the weekend activities such that we head down to the outlets at the specified timing. In the end, we decided that if we were able to find items that will fall into the prerequisite $80 spend, then we will enter one of them into the casting call.

So, we were there about 1130am, and already, there was a long queue. Being the "kiasu" parents, we decided to split up our resources, one of us queued while the other was to check out the kids + baby clothing department. We probably queued for about an hour or so, luckily my SIL and MIL were around to keep the girls entertained, they were in and out of the shop, so didn't get too cranky. It was quite an eye-opener to see the sort of parents (and kids) that came for the casting call. There were all sorts - the super duper crazed type, who actually applied make up on their toddlers (?!?!?) and the very 'bo-chap' type, who were there merely because they had already purchased their items, so might as well join in the hype. Not surprisingly, the kids mostly won't really co-operate once on the podium. K was stage struck and did her trade-mark grin, but it was not natural at all. Owells, it was a great experience anyhow, and please help to support her by voting at the FaceBook site....
Here's the notice outside the outlet in Vivocity.
K practising her facial expressions while in the queue with V
G looking so grownup and happy.
The queue..... babies were sleeping in arms, in prams etc....
K in the photoshoot....
Standing up pose
The queue when we left, which had grown to twice the size!

[Farmer's Market @ Loewen Gardens]

We 'discovered' this quaint little courtyard sometime ago when we attended our first Farmer's Market event (bi-weekly saturday morning event) and have been back a few times since just for breakfast.
Taking advantage of the holidays, I brought the girls there last Friday to meetup with an old friend, who had 2 little boys of her own. They had sooo much fun! It really felt like we were in Melbourne or one of the little cafes in London. They especially loved the trampoline. Look at their sweaty faces!
K on the trampoline
Sweaty sweaty!
G prancing about. She LOVED the trampoline, much much more than K did
Trying out the wheelie bike
Enjoying their much needed ice-cold juice!

Ah, there should be many more places like this in Singapore, no matter the weather, because if it was well sheltered (with canopies of trees or tents), it is really so nice to be outdoors!

p.s. the lemon curd & scones are super scrumptious!


The next day, Saturday morning, was the Xmas market, so we brought the girls back again:
Trying out the all natural frozen desserts
Amazing tasting frozen mangoes- so easy!
In the courtyard play space.
K and her lollie
G, she looks so grownup here!!

[GAP casting call!!]

We interrupt our regular blog posts to bring you this news.... there will be a GAP casting call for kids - ages between 0 mths - 10 yrs old in Singapore!




* Visuals are courtesy of GAP casting call 2010

The Casting Call is an annual nationwide contest in North America. This is the first time that a Casting Call is held Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia concurrently on the selected dates, 4th, 5th, 11th and 12th December.

Here's the blurb:

The Gap Casting Call, an annual nationwide contest in North America to find the next faces of babyGap and GapKids, has spread its wings to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Parents in these countries now have the chance to have their child featured on the window displays across all stores in these three countries in Spring 2011.
Professional photo-ops will be available at two key stores in each respective country over two weekends; 4 – 5 December & 11 – 12 December. Parents can bring in their children aged from 0 months to 10 years of age during these dates. All pictures taken will be uploaded online at the respective Facebook page of each country: Singapore - www.facebook.com/gapsingapore, Malaysia - www.facebook.com/gapmalaysia and Indonesia - www.facebook.com/gapindonesia and public voting, which constitutes 60% of the final vote tally, starts from 4th December and ends on the 31st. The other 40% will come from a panel of judges from the three countries.
On 3 January, 2011, four finalists from each country – two from each category, baby (0 month to 5 years) and kid (6 to 10 years) – will be chosen and flown to Singapore with their families for the final photo shoot on 14 January.. The results of this contest will be revealed in February 2011 where the winners will be featured on the Spring 2011 window displays of all babyGap and GapKids stores in all three countries. In addition, the winners from Singapore will also receive a $1,000 Gap gift card each.
The photo shoots are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the following babyGap and GapKids stores: Gap (Wisma Atria) 435 Orchard Road #01-18, Singapore 238877 Saturday, Dec. 4 – Sunday, Dec. 5 11: 00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Gap (Vivocity) 1 Harbour Front Walk #01-129, Singapore 098585 Saturday, Dec. 11 – Sunday, Dec. 12 11: 00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Since we've already missed the 1st one, due to our trips, I'll be sure to be at the next one - this coming weekend at Vivocity!

We've always been frequenting the Gap stores at Vivo to kit out the girls, so it will be lots of fun to see if we can get a shot at them being the next Gap models!! :)

Good luck to all that enter and watch this space for more updates of the events as they unfold....

Here's a helpful facebook link www.facebook.com/gapsingapore

[Trip #01 - 4 days 3 nights KL]

The blog has been suffering as from non-entries as since the holidays started, we had 2 long weekend of trips back to back for the last week of Nov and the 1st week of Dec. Both with family, the 1st was a self-drive holiday to KL for a good family friend's wedding. Here are the pics:
We had our regular mid-journey break for brunch at Yong Peng (it's about 2 hrs from SG, so about half-way mark to KL)
One of the best ko lo mee.... in my opinion! :)
Yum.... As soon as we reached the hotel, it was straight to the pool!!
The wedding was to be held at the Saujana Golf resort, so it was a really relaxing out of city sort of holiday for us. The girls of course had so much fun in the pool and bathtub! :)
Yummy snacks to keep them recharged - chicken wings, fries and satay :)these kids can't wait to jump into the pool. They just can't resist the pool, dipping their feet in it while waiting for daddy to come back with the floats.All nice and bundled up after the swim.
Wedding day! G with the gorgeous bride.Girls, mum and the handsome groom.
K and me posing in front of the church
K posing in the pews.
haha, wedding sermons are too longwinded for the little ones...
K and V before the wedding dinner, all dressed up.
Me and the girls. (G's top is just $3 at the discount shop! Love how it fits so well.... score!)
A lovely out of the way place that was researched online HERE, and found using our trusty GPS.
Sorry for the less-than-stellar photos, there wasn't too much light indoors. It was really good food though, in vibrant, atmospheric interiors.

Yummy yummy desserts to end a wonderful meal! Better reviews on this restaurant HERE and HERE.

Apart from eating well and resting with the girls at the poolside everyday, the most eventful part of this trip has to be my broken tooth. It was one of the worst thing to happen on a holiday, i'm just glad it happened on a really short trip, and not one of those "saving up for a year" sort of trips! It was a broken upper molar, which made my gums swell and bleed, and I couldn't chew or move my mouth very much for the last few days of the trip. Thankfully, it was rectified just before the 2nd trip, otherwise I will be like a bear with a sore head (or sore jaw) throughout the trip :P