Self-made Ang Bao

For fun sake, Mummy thought of showing Rynae how to DIY ang baos. Construction work was divided into 2 parts - folding of the origami cows and the ang baos. I folded the cows while our friend helped to draw in the eyes and the spots on their body and well, that's her contribution thus far. Separately, I folded cows from white paper and asked her to decorate it in whatever way she likes but she just filled in the 'necessaries'. No matter how I cooed her on, except asking me why the cows didn't have tails, she just refused to add anymore stokes or drawings on them and argued that this is how cows actually are. Period. Chey! No creativity. After completion, I gave out these 2 ang baos with money to her younger cousins.

I'm four!

Mummy cooked rice vermicelli for Rynae today because today is her chinese birthday! She's 6 years old according to Chinese calendar mind you! Haha. I did not make a big hoo-hah over this special day and merely told her that it was her Chinese birthday and Daddy's gonna buy her a birthday cake tonight. She acknowledged and went on with her daily activities. I was actually expecting her to ask for birthday presents but she didn't! She's happy enough with a birthday cake. I attribute that to how we brought her up - never expect more than what you're given.

She's really excited and proud to be 4 years old now. If you were to challenge her with a task and claim that she cannot handle it, she will emphasise that she's 4 years old already! Not a baby anymore. My little angel has grown up another year...

Sentosa

Daddy took leave today to enjoy a long weekend holiday. Initially we only wanted to shop around for CNY clothes but an impromptu request from Rynae made us ended up in Sentosa. She said she wanna go Sentosa to play sand and as we're done with our shopping in Vivo, we gladly abide. Quick-witted Daddy bought a $2 sand kit from Daiso and within minutes, we transcend onto another island. Rynae had almost an hour jolly time on the beach before the gloomy clouds began to let up. We took shelter from the sun in a coffeeshop and Mummy ate a $8 plate of sambal tapioca leaves. Slurp!

Happy New Year in Admiralty Park

Everything seems normal when we woke up today. But... it shouldn't be so! Today is a new start to year 2009 and we should feel energetic, forward-looking and zestful! To avoid the public holiday crowd, we hid home whole afternoon until Daddy suggested visiting the nearby Admiralty Park that was officially opened by Mr Khaw Boon Wan last year. The park was serene and crowd-free. Only a few joggers and strolling families.

There was a nature trail but I wasn't too interested in trekking in it on fear of mosquito bites. However, Rynae was encouraging and said she would help me out of the forest. I reckon she wants to be as adventurous as Dora so I went ahead with the idea. Thank god I came out bite-free!

There was a Sakura restaurant located at the West entrance of the park. We paraded one round and decided not to dine in it because of the holiday surchange. Another time perhaps. I'm sure I'll make it here to makan one day.

New Year Resolution

Gosh! Year 2008 is coming to an end! What meaningful and worthy achivements have I clocked this year? Could I even remember how I have spent the 365 days? Not exactly.

Every year around this time, everyone will be talking about setting new year resolution(s). I do not have the habit so. I mean not that I do not have any ambition or goals but most of my resolutions are well... on-going like... slimming down and taking better care of myself and my family. I do however, set short term goals where I try to complete within a specific time period. Anything that is dragged for too long, I either forget or loose interest.



I find myself having difficultly keeping up with my postings. Sometimes, I lagged so far behind that I cut-out some events which I wanna post initially. Yes! I am terrible at time management and this has been a teetering problem.

Here's a 'wishlist' that I have drafted. I hope to achieve most. God bless me.

1) (What else?) Have better time management

2) Spring clean my house

3) Inculcate the love of Chinese in Rynae (Very difficult task but I'll try)

4) Have a drastic new hairdo

5) Learn to cook more variety of dishes

Yeah... That's all for now. I'll update as and when I have inspiration. Happy New Year to all!

Metro and Popular Sale

Ah ha! It's another shopping spree for me. After getting wind of Metro and Popular's Back to School Sale at Singapore Expo, I made an arrangement to drop by in hope of catching some good deals. Thank god the crowd for both events was manageable and I need not have to queue up for entry.

Honestly, I do not have much expectation of such sales as I know that it is a dumping ground for companies who wish to get rid of off-season and less popular items. Hence, each trip was like a lucky dip for me.

As the theme implies, Popular's merchandises were mainly stationaries, bags and assesment books in preparation for the new school semester. I tried to control my impulse buys and after much contemplation, I grabbed some thin, saddle-stitched English story books, writing materials and Chinese story books for Rynae. Some were sold at an unbeliveable price of $1!

Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day. Together with Rynae's Aunt and cousins, we planned for a fun day out at the Singapore Zoo. After watching the Safari Splash show, our gang proceeded to the main attraction - The Rainforest Kidzworld for another good splash. It was supposed to be a happy outing but something disastrious happened - Rynae's cousin slipped, fell and lost 1 front adult tooth. Ouch! With a foul mood, they headed home right after the incident, while we stayed on.

We promised Rynae we would do something different for each zoo trip so this time, we allowed her to ride the carousel for $4 and took free rides on the tram (weekday member privilege). The white tigers are back to their enclosure after many weeks of 'consultation'. However, we noticed that there are more cautionary signages like an emergency number and warnings mounted on the barricades now. Good initiative. But maybe the management should consider the possibility of attempted suicide in the crocodile pond near the main entrance too....

Celebrating Dong Zhi

We don't particularly celebrate Dong Zhi but as it falls on Sunday this year, all of us congregate at Grandma's place for a scrumptious meal of duck, chicken, pork, noodle, curry and Tang Yuan. Mummy wanna let Rynae experience the process of making this traditional dish so I fetched her to grandma's place early in the morning (well, you can see that she's still clad in her pyjamas in the pix). Expectedly... she was more of a hindrance than a help. Most of her Tang Yuan are not yuan and grandma had to re-knead them... She got the 'worst helper of the year' award.

Sweet Orchard Xmas Lighting

Rynae has seen much of daytime Orchard but it's her first visit to a Christmasy and shimmering night Orchard. She was so full of awe when she saw the lollies and sweets hanging down the trees and from the lamp posts. The shopping belt has been coated with much sweetness that it has attracted so many 'ants', especially along Orchard Walkway (fronting Wisma Atria), Paragon and Tangs Building. The crowd was worrisome and photography sessions were a headache.

We travelled on foot from Plaza Sing, where The Christmas Village is, and all the way down to Ngee Ann City. Lightings and performances were concentrated in these 2 areas as the rest of Orchard is still undergoing a major facelift. Our little friend requested for an ice-cream break and she had her wish fulfilled. We sat her on a parapet with a good spot along Orchard Walkway. Daddy and Mummy had our breaks then too. From our privileged spot, we can see the stretch bursting with good news of Christmas in song, dance and drama. Buskers performed for their tips too.

Orchard is indeed the right place to go if you wanna soak in the spirit of Christmas.

Back to Kampong Days

Our friend, chilling out on Ah Gong's bridge that is leading out to the sea.

It was a torturous 1 week 'cold turkey' break from technology. There were no internet access, no phone calls and no messaging. Even watching television programmes was a luxury as there were periods when there weren't any electricity supply. Mummy kinda felt being cut off from the rest of the world. So where on earth have I landed? A rural island in Indonesia.

Our Bong family had gone back to Indo during this school holiday to attend Rynae's cousin wedding as well as to visit family members. Rynae loves going back to Ah Gong's house as she gets to pillion on motorbikes, eat coconuts, play with sand, throw stones into the sea and roam about freely on the vast, unconfined home compound. Actually, it felt good loosing ourselves into laid-back kampong lives to relax and recharge, once in a while. There're no stress, no heavy traffic and no human crowd. Then again, there were a lot of mosquitoes though...

Christmas Tree Decoration

Have you heard of the carol that rumoured Santa Claus is not coming to town this year? It is true that this and the next few years are going to be tough hence we've gota watch where we throw our moolah! Rynae is now at an age where she understands meaning of festivals and celebrations so I really wanna create a joyful christmasy mood for her this year by decorating our house with Christmas ornaments. I aimed to get a Christmas tree, a not too expensive one.

I came across an advertisement that Carrefour is selling their Christmas tree for only $9.90. This is unbelievable! Thankfully it is not a sales gimmick. Their 150cm tree is genuinely being sold for less than 10 bucks! Whee! I managed to get a decent-looking lighted Christmas tree for less than $25! Here's my breakdown:

Christmas Tree: $9.90

100 Xmas Lights: $7.90

Xmas Balls: $3.90

Gold Garlands: ($0.90 x 2) $1.80

Other Decorations: DIY

Tree Topper: Free

Gold Drap: Free

Total: $23.50

It felt good owning a pretty Christmas tree without the guilt of being a spendthrift. Rynae loves the Christmas tree and has been boasting about it to her cousins!

A bottie tree deco I made with Japanese soft clay.

Rynae's masterpiece. A leaf. You can tell ya? Hee..

Zoo Trip

Everyone's talking about the new Rainforest Kidzworld in Singapore Zoo. Well, now that the attraction is finally completed, we have a valid reason to renew our Friends of the Zoo membership which entitles us to unlimited visits to the zoo for a year. We got it free last year but this year, we had to fork out $180 (used to be $150) for it. Ouch! We felt the pinch.

Oistein Kristiansen was at the Zoo yesterday for an hour-long interactive workshop but we couldn't make it down because of Rynae's Orientation class. Maybe we'll catch him, Dora, Diego or Spongebob Sqaurepants some other days. We went for a new Rainforest Fights Back animal show at 10.30am but it was like watching a lengthy drama. The script was long with breaks of expected animals sneaking out for a short presentation. If you're a frequent visitor of the 3 parks under Wildlife Reserves, you would agree with me that the shows are similar. I bet it must be directed by the same director.

With the new Rainforest Kidzworld, animals are no longer the purpose and highlight of a zoo visit. In fact, the motive of ours (and many others) is to check out the widely publicised attraction! So, right after the show, we took a short cut, neglected the animals and headed straight for it. It's a kids' heaven alright! The wet playground has not only expanded so many times its orginal but its features are also boosted! Our friend spent a good 1 hour in the wet land and had it not been for the drizzle, she would not have left it.

The bulk of our time was thrown into the Kidzworld. It was a self-sustaining attraction on its own. Rynae ate her lunch, played in the playground, rode a pony, stole the pony's hay to feed the goats and abused the bunnies. She was so reluctant to move on but we abducted her to the new fragile forest (I suppose it is new 'cos I haven't been to it). I applaud the gardeners for the effort they took to revive the crops in the Tropical Crops Plantation. We really do see fruits this time!

Orientation for 2009

Rynae's school organised an orientation for Pre-Nursery and Nursery 2009 classes this Saturday and though not compulsory, we brought her there just to catch up with some teachers and her classmates. After the MP's speech, children are allowed to play in the 5 activity corners that the teachers had came up with. There were books to read, toys to play and crafts to do. After she tried her hand at sewing (something similar to the sewing cards I made for her), the teacher in charge of the activity commented that Rynae has good fine motor skills and asked me to challenge her to more difficult tasks like making her do cross stitches, cutting the holes smaller and closer etc. Alrite.. points taken...

Botanic Garden Outing

Daddy was off today. What better way to spend the day other than to go for a family outing? I've been dying to bring Rynae to Jacob Ballas Children's Garden that was opened about a year ago in the Singapore Botanic Gardens and my wish was finally fulfilled. We had wanted to reach the Children's Garden in the early morning but after factoring time for preparation, breakfast and transportation, we eventually reached 11-ish. I never like outdoor activities at noon because of the scorching sun but the weather that day was exceptionally kind to us. Most sun rays were blocked by the grey clouds and we were able to walk about without feeling much heat!

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden is a learning garden that encourages exploration and creativity and children may see, touch and smell plants to develop a sense of wonder and excitement about nature and the environment. Honestly, Rynae couldn't care much about the plants. Her focus was on the tree house playground and the waterplay area where she spent a considerable amount of time each. A short-coming I must say, is that there wasn't bathroom facility at all! Daddy had to collect a bottle of cold water from the water cooler to clean our friend. And you guessed it! She screamed and cursed when the water was poured down her body.

Exit to Cluny Road was at the other end of Botanic Gardens so we cut across from one end to the other, which requires 45 minutes of walk without rest. We took our time strolling across the gardens. Along the way, we fed the swans in the eco lake and the turtles in the swan lake. It was such a slow-paced, relaxing afternoon!

As much walking were on foot, we were all dead tired when we reached the exit. Who would have expected the Botanic Garden to be this huge! We couldn't squeeze anymore energy out for shopping so we decided to call it a day. Rynae's battery went flat and knocked out on the way home...

Daddy said that this is the $5 tree. What he meant is that this is the actual tree behind your $5 note! Believe it or not? You better!

Celery Porridge

There were some celery and a piece of bean curd in the refrigerator so I decided to utilise it to cook a celery porridge for Rynae. It was such a nostalgia because it tastes exactly the same as what my Mum used to cook for us! There are still 10 over types of porridge recipes that she knows and I hope I could master all some day. These porridges are must-learns because they're so easy to cook, gentle on the stomach, tasty and economical!

Making Japanese Jelly

So! School's out and trouble's in. What shall I keep the little monster entertained with for the rest of the holiday weeks? okto's holiday programmes are terrible hence I'd rather Rynae spends her time playing her toys or do other more meaningful activities. Today, Mummy decided to prepare Black Sesame jelly (before it expires) that was bought from Daiso. I involved Rynae in the preparation process but she contributed little. She did however, helped to serve the jelly (as though it was cooked by her). I had used Marigold HL milk and it tastes so rich with fragrance of the milk. Its texture was more akin to mousse cake than jelly or agar agar. Delicious!

Jurong IMM Again!

The last time we went to Jurong IMM's children's outdoor playground and pool, Rynae fell sick the day after. We didn't know where to go this weekend and decided to bring her there again but this time allowing her to play only at 6pm. The management had upgraded the children's playground and made it more challenging by replacing half of the playground into climbing tunnels leading to a high platform that is connected to a slide and a descending rock climbing wall. My nerves frayed whenever Rynae went up to the platform. There is such a very high tendancy to fall if overcrowded with agog children! Our friend proceeded to the pool after the green light is given. As you're aware, she's awfully frightened of water getting onto her face so she stayed grounded in a safe corner of the pool. She was happy and contented playing with water that shoots out from the ground like geysers.

Sandwich Making

Rynae's school requested for the children to bring 2 slices of bread to school today to make 'rainbow fish' sandwich. It was so coincident that the theme this term is the same book that I had read with Rynae! I was full of anticipation and was expecting to see a fish-shaped sandwich with interesting scales decoration but it turned out to be just normal tuna sandwich. 1/4 of the bread was missing and I suspected the teacher had abandoned the rainbow fish sandwich idea due to shortages of bread as some children forgot to bring theirs. Well, sharing is a good civic and moral education anyway.

Year 2008 school term will be over in a weeks' time. Time really flies. My gal has attended 1 year of pre-nursery! I shiver at the thought of the stress to help her excel academically as she moves up to kindergarten and thereafter forward to primary school life. I have no idea how we'll cope but I hope school life then will not be all about just chasing the As. I felt that a child needs to be nurtured wholesomely too, in terms of creativity, confidence, ability to talk, think and respond, self-esteem, setting a correct world-view and so much more.. Oh... It is so tough being a parent!

Star Cruise Trip

Gosh! I have lost count of time and didn't realise that I've not updated my blog for such a long while! Our Bong family had just came back from a Star Cruise holiday thus let me share some pictures with you. The package was bought during August Natas Fair hence we should think it's a good deal - $970 for 3 pax for 2N. The day we set sail coincides with Deepavali so we boarded the ship with many Indians. So many that we thought we were in Little India for a second!

On a budget, we booked an inside stateroom (those cabins without windows meant for the poor lah!) which is just a cell for accomodation. But surprisingly, when we opened the cabin door, we saw a decent-sized room with ample walking space! We couldn't believe it and the first thing I did was to verify with Daddy if we were given the correct room key! A check on the floor plan revealed that there were only 2 such rooms on our floor! This is awesome!

After a buffet supper, we explored around the ship and.. well embarrassing enough, got lost. We couldn't find our way back to our cabin cuz there were 3 lifts in different wings and only 1 served our floor! The whole trip on board was relaxing but kinda boring. Actually, it was more of an eat-a-thon trip. There were 6 meals provided on board - breakfast, late breakfast, lunch, high tea, dinner and supper and we gorged so much that we felt so bloated with indigestion!

Mummy and Rynae went swimming in the children's pool once (only). The pool was miserably small with gushing, splashing and squirting water every left, right and centre. Our friend didn't like these water features a single bit as she doesn't like water in her face. She was rather turned off and complained that she only wants to swim in 'Singapore's swimming pool'. Besides swimming, there really weren't much free children's activities planned in the daily schedule. Most, if not all activites were pay-per-play planned by the child care centre onboard. We did attend 1 make-a-spider workshop that was conducted in a small room but it was totally disorganised and uninteresting. Rynae didn't even stay put for 5 min!

Does anyone I know ever been on Star Cruise and had an enjoyable, fulfilling and fun-packed trip? Maybe we should have disembarked at Port Klang and make a day trip to KL city. Anyway, it was a good life-on-board experience and a photo collection trip for us. Enjoy the photos!


Create Your Own

Box House

It was an unexpected windfall. Ah Ma's washing machine broke down and Ah Gong bought a new one for her on the day of our visit! Mummy's been wanting to make a playhouse for Rynae for the longest time but couldn't find any clean, nice, big box. I'd never spend my money on Little Tykes or Brushh playhouse that are both expensive and bulky. What am I suppose to do with it after Rynae gets sick of it? I just want something for a moment of fun so I begged for the cardboard and brought it home, almost mistaken as a rag and bone man.

Rynae pestered for the house to be built so within minutes, I fulfilled her wish, transforming the box into a house with a door and 2 windows. It may not be as chic as commercially produced playhouses but she's contented. I felt that this provides a valuable lesson to the child about recycling, creativity and concept of saving. We sponge-bath the exterior of the house with poster colours the next day. Look! Does it look like a barrack? Haha. I wonder what's the shelf life of this dwelling before it hits the trash bin.