And then there is ME... Megan Yip

Reflections

2009-04-30T11:10:00.007+08:00

Today I read an article in the paper about family values and the author used this song as an example:

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talking before I knew it and as he grew
He said, "I’m gonna be like you, Dad,
You know I’m gonna be like you"

And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
When you comin home, dad, I don’t know when,
But we'll get together then, Son,
You know we'll have a good time then.

My son turned ten just the other day
He said "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on lets play
can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do" He said "Thats okay"
And then he walked away but his smile never dimmed
And said "I’m gonna be like him, yeah
You know I’m going to be like him"

And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin home, dad, I dont know when,
But we'll get together then, Son,
You know we'll have a good time then.

Well he came from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I’m proud of you, can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile

"What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later, can I have them please?"

And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin home, Son, I dont know when,
But we'll get together then, Dad,
You know we'll have a good time then.

I’ve long since retired, my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day........
I said "I'd like to see you if you don’t mind"
He said "I'd love to Dad, if I could find the time.
You see my new jobs a hassle, and the kids have the flu.
But It's sure nice talking to you, Dad,
It's been sure nice talking to you........"
And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me,
My boy was just like me..............

And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin home, Son, I dont know when,
But we'll get together then, Dad
We're gonna have a good time then

This song has always been a favorite of mine.

When I was younger, it was just a catchy tune.

When I was a teenager, I thought its an ending befitting a parent who was never around. Hey, what goes around, comes around right?

Now that I'm a working mother, I realise that the balancing act is a delicate thing. How do we ensure that the scales do not tip at either end? Is that even possible? Working, parenting, housework and then what about ourselves? Our friends?

So many times I caught myself doing the same thing as the Dad.

"Mummy, come color with Megan"

"Later, Mummy's busy."

"Nowwwwwwww Mummy!"

"I'm not freeee!"

I am scared of missing any part of my child's development. Everytime I stop to look, she seems different. But there are so many aspects of our lives to look into.

I feel bad when I leave the office early while my colleague are still slogging away at their desk.

It's frustrating when the pile of housework seems to hover gloomingly around you.

It's sad when I'm unable to catch up with friends who have grew up with me, shared the sorrows and tears and joys of the years that have gone by.

Then what about ourselves? Do we even factor into this equation?

Where is the balancing point? I always read about super careerwomen who say they balance their family life and their work very well. How is it possible? Or is my defination of "very well" different from theirs?

Washington - State Capitol

2008-12-04T16:50:00.002+08:00

All formally dressed, some more than others... :)

"Where oh where are my biscuits?"

Found it!

Cheeky pair

They just love making wierd faces.

Hmmm.... can tell i'm bored? More history than I ever wanna know.

Grouchy grouchy...

Lucky I have my fats, so I can spare my coat for Megan. Hee hee hee.

Megan wanted to go chase the flock of birds but the bus was waiting... heng ah.

Washington - Monuments and Memorials

2008-12-03T12:18:00.000+08:00

Today is a very busy day. We are going to visit the many many monuments and memorials in Washington. Eh... how to cover all in a day?

Anyway, off we go...

First stop - Korean War Veterans Memorial

Next, Lincoln Memorial.

This memorial is a tribute to President Abraham Lincoln.

That's the Reflecting Pool at the memorial. That tall tower right at the end is the Washington Monument. Its the tallest structure in Washington and took almost 40 years to complete.

"I HAVE A DREAM" - The famous quote by Martin Luther King.

The Lincoln Memorial Statue

Eh... I'm missing. Coz I have to rush to peeeee. A luxury when you are dragging a toddler in the open.

On the way to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Megan with Auntie Sofia. She's spoilt to bits by Auntie Sofia, who always has a treat for her.

A close up of the wall where the names of those who were killed or missing are inscribed on it.

Look at the length of the wall. 58 thousands over names. I can't even begin to imagine the pain. How I wish Megan was old enough to appreciate what she was looking at.

Megan was delighted to find the many many squirrels running around the grounds. She tried to catch one of these to bring home and instructed Papa to catch! Neither succeeded. Hee hee.

We moved on to the World War II Memorial.

4000 stars decorated the wall. Each star represent 100 person who died in the war.

D-Day, June 6 1944. The first day of the Invasion of Normandy.

Pearl Harbour. Need I say more?

Moving on to Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.

Sigh..... Miss out all the nice pictures of the statues and waterfalls coz hubby's turn to take a piss and he took the camera with him! Darn. This place is like a park and is made to be wheelchair accessible as a tribute to FDR who had polio and sat in a wheelchair.

Now we are walking to the Jefferson Memorial, taking the route on Tidal Basin. Cherry Blossoms surrounds here and is donated by Japan. We didn't get to see the beauty coz its winter.

The Washington Monument from the Tidal Basin.

That's the Jefferson Memorial. Impressive yah?

Almost there.

Reached! Now I just have to conquer the steps up.

Ah... what's the hubby for huh? Lugging a stroller up the steps lah.

Erm. I know my photography sucks. Anyway, that black statue there is the Thomas Jefferson statue. Its bronze and in the shade! Of course turn out black lah. Kekeke.

Megan taking a break. Although why, I dunno. Coz she was in a stroller for most of the journey.
That's the last of the monuments and memorials today. Next will be the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Quite a depressing day huh?

Taking a lunch break before the Holocaust Museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures there. But the pictures and displaying were thought evoking. Even though it was before my time, it is still depressing to view the horrors of it. Do visit if you are in Washington.

Stretching her feet happily after the National Archives.

Got model potential bo?

U see the shadows? Can imagine the number of cameras pointing at her? She's really lucky to have met all the loving aunties and uncles on this trip.

Washington - Mount Vernon

2008-12-02T15:05:00.000+08:00

Today we are visiting the home of George Washington.

Its nearing Xmas.... So you see Xmas trees everywhereeeeeee.

The thing about cold weather hor... Take off, put on, take off, put on.... ARGHHHHHH! The jackets, the gloves, etc etc.

Exploring the grounds.

They have people walking around the grounds dressed in the appropriate attire. So fun.

This guy was showing us how cocoa was made during those days. All the grinding just for 1 cup of cocoa drink.

Look at that cauldron... I can cook Megan in that!

That's the home of George and Martha Washington back there.

Can you imagine sitting on the porch of your home and looking out to a view like that?

That girl knock out liao... Poor mummy's grinning through the cramps in her arms.

*I will survive* lalalala

Still holding on.

Kill me... kill me now.

Oh.... see that face of G Washington?

Looks 3D bo? It's actually a concave carving. Interesting!

Ah... the princess awakes. My achy breaky arms!

Out in the open where she's the happiest.

We weren't allow to take pictures inside the house. The grounds were breathtaking and the time allocated for us was too short. We didn't even manage to finish exploring the place.

Washington... here we come!

2008-12-01T14:12:00.000+08:00

We are going to going to spend 1 whole week in Washington. And this is going to be our last trip in USA... Boohoohoo.

Anyway, hubby and his classmates went ahead first. We took a later flight up with the other wives (cheaper lor, wat else?)

So they had to chance to go explore on their own since they reach in the afternoon.

This is where they had dinner.

Old Ebbitt Grill.

Sigh...

Sigh sigh....

Wah... Boohoohoo...

You know what we had for dinner? Bread, coz we reach midnight liao.... Boohooooohoooooooo

The whole gang.

We made it! In one piece! All the hubbies came to fetch and we took a train back to the hotel. Oh.. Can you see the tip of Megan's head? Hee hee...

"We are here"

Thanksgiving Dinner

2008-11-28T13:34:00.004+08:00

I thought we are going to have a feast? Where's all the food?

Oh... we need to take a bus ride up huh?

Hurray for Auntie Sofia who always give me the goodies.

Look! Ah Ma gave me a buffet of biscuits! Yum Yum.

Alright, I'm done. Let's explore now.

Wow... Look at the view!

Urm... Why are you taking pictures of my bum bum huh?

Here comes Dad.

Who is that behind us? What? The turkey man? Oh... he's the chef huh?

Look at that spread! And I'm only given biscuits?

Now I'm depressed.

Wah... Look at Auntie Sofia's new car. I can fit lots of toys into that boot.

I AM TWO!

2008-11-22T14:42:00.007+08:00

Huh? I'm two today? So?

Yikes... You call this a dog? Please make sure you do better next year!

Well, I'm all dressed up, where are the guests?

Bang Bang... Here comes the guest of honor. Where's everyone?

Sigh... I'm bored. Can I mess up the place now?

No? Just this book to keep me entertained?

This is boring. Can I get out of my clothes now? I dun like stockings!

Opps... I'm not suppose to pull out the float huh?

Ah... here comes the guests!

Hmm... why all adults? I'm being cheated! This is a party for mom and dad! Not for meeeeee...

Oh... here comes the ugly cake.

I know that's my birthday cake. You think I'm blind?

Really? We're gonna eat that?

Hurry up with the singing. I just wanna open my presents.

Are we done yet?

Yeah... Let's blow out the candles.

Shucks mom, I can do that on my own. I'm TWO!

Yeah! Presents time!

Can you like go any slower? Arghhhhh....

Yeah... all done! Now if everyone can just go home and let me play in peace.

Albuquerque - Sky City Cultural Center

2008-11-11T13:36:00.010+08:00

Today we are going to the Sky City Cultural Center. It's a museum preserving Native American traditions. We are going to see the place where they live and learn about their culture.

Ah... so much more interesting than State Capitols (to me anyway).

The scenery along the way is already very promising.

Isn't the rock formation interesting?

Here we are!

Oh no! Soooooooo cold! And we're told it's gonna be even colder up there.

Hanging around the center waiting for the tickets and bus to bring us up. See the lollipop in Megan's hand? She gets them wherever she goes. Every place we go seems to have a large pot of candies at the reception.

Almost Christmas!

Is this where we wait for the bus?

Can I sit and rest first?

Ah... I think I spotted the bus.

There it is!

This is their church. You know what's the challenging part? We can't talk inside. How to bring my girl in? And no photography, sigh... How to show you how amazing the place is? I can't even begin to imagine how they manage to bring the logs in. And there isn't a single nail in the entire building!

The whole gang. From Poland, Germany, Taiwan, Singapore, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Egypt, etc etc.

Oh... did I mention this is an inhabited community? No water, no electricity... Gosh.

That smile on my face? It's frozen on. Me with a cardigan at below 10 degrees.

My poor mom... only Megan seems to be well covered.

Hmmm.... I think my lollipop is almost gone.

Pottery shopping

Ah.... this is not an igloo. But I felt like hiding inside. By now, my fingers and ears are starting to hurt.

This is an.............. OVEN! Hee hee.... We were told that the breads baked from here are absolutely yummy.

Love the view

My girl busy climbing rocks.

No more lollipops, gotta find some other entertainment.

Oh wow.... can I buy this, please?

She was so taken with this trinklet we bought. It's like a string which you hang around your neck, with feathers on both ends.

Village looks deserted huh? We didn't really see anyone except for those hawking their wares.

That's the Cultural Center where we took the bus from.

The guide. A real Indian! And the rest of the guys preparing to walk down back to the center. Us with the young one and the old one will guai guai wait for the bus to bring us back down again.

Albuquerque - Part III (New Mexico State Capitol)

2008-11-10T11:48:00.002+08:00

"Snowwwwwwwwww!" Somebody exclaimed. Everyone on the bus turned to the window sleepily. Then out came the cameras and clicking. Luckily, I'm not the only mountain tortoise!

Pity it's just a thin layer. Snow had fallen overnight and it's such a pretty sight. The problem is.... I wasn't prepared for such cold weather!

But luckily, being the kiasu parent we are, our precious girl was well protected. We show her that smoke comes out of our mouth by exhaling. And she kept trying and trying.

See? Her mouth never close! She couldn't get the effects we were achieving. Guess she don't have as much "hot air" as we do! Hee hee.

The problem with updating the blog 3 months later..... I can't remember who the heck is that!

Here we are, at the New Mexico State Capitol. All ready for our tour.

A lot of these tours require us to listen to the guide's introduction to the place and its history. Megan manage to stay still and "listen" most of the time.

I vaguely remember this as where most of the voting takes place. Hmmm... need to update more timely next time. Just goes to show how my brains work these days. Sigh.... I think its all filled up with nursery rhymes.

I'm so thankful each time she manage to sit through the talks without fussing. And there's sooooooooo many times that I almost wanted to fuss too.

" Yeah... I can get up and move around now!"

"Arghhhhh.... another one?"

"Hmmm... art pieces huh? I bet I can do that"

I remember this particular piece coz I was so impressed by it. This artwork is done entirely with sand. The sand was collected from different states.

"Yikes! That's art? It's a scary monster!"

This was made entirely out of newspapers. Can't imagine how long it took!

"More pictures? Can I come down and run, please? This is so boring!"

"Yawn.... What's so nice about all these?"

"Sigh... can we go out now?"

"Where's dad? Another meeting?"

"How much longer?"

"I feel like I've been waiting here forever"

"Arghhhh.... what are you guys doing?"

"OMG! Another talk!"

Usually, when we reach this stage, the infinate meetings where she's about to explode out of boredom, out comes the sweets. That can buy me some time before she goes crazy and start wailing away.

"Yum yum, now I can be on my best behaviour! Do you need help with anything?"

"I can help you wipe the chair"

"Wow! They keep their furnitures really clean. Look, not a speck of dust."

"All done. What's next?"

"More pictures?"

"What's this? Bet you have no idea."

"I'm freeeeee... Free to run and roam"

"Hmmm... how firm is this chair? Can I jump on it?"

"I'm tired already."

"Fresh air, nice and crisp!"

"Let me run a while more before we get up the bus?"

"Okay, I'm ready to go."

"Shopping? Great! Where are the toy shops?"

"What do you mean there are no toy shops here?"

"Then why are we still hanging around?"

Albuquerque - Part II (Bandelier National Park)

2008-11-09T12:04:00.001+08:00

The bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountainnnn........... and what do you think he saw?

I don't know what the bear saw.... but we saw a wonderful view.

As for those who were wondering how I ate those B & Js and lost weight, try carrying a toddler and climbing a mountain. Works wonder!

I thought she looks like those China auntie farmer in this picture. Hee hee...

Ah... this one's different. Like a rock star with an attitude.

Let's take a break. Your back must be breaking by now?

See those little holes in the wall? They were used to store food.

Lookie... water!!! Time to swimmmmmmmmmmmm!

Let's continue our walk. Move it move it!

Let's see where to go next.

Hmmm... I think we're lost.

Hurry up, you slow pokes.

Sweep sweep sweep, this place is a mess. Luckily, I'm around.

Skip, skip down the road.

These two pretty girls are from Norway.

How? Can I be a model?

Albuquerque, NM - Part 1

2008-11-08T14:01:00.008+08:00

A field trip to Albuquerque! This place is famous for their International Balloon Fiesta, those big air balloons you know? We missed the one in October as we didn't want to bring Megan up to squeeze with the huge crowd that was gonna be there.

Isn't the view spectacular? Got this picture from our friends who "cheong" there...

Anyway, moving on to our field trip with hubby and his classmates, the first stop was to Joy Junction, a shelter for the homeless (it was a field study trip after all).

Can you see the attention Megan gets? She's the only kiddo with a bunch of guys missing their families back home. And everyone pamper her so much that I worry it will get over her head.

Listening to the talk on the functions of the shelter.

There's even a church in the shelter!

Next stop is the Sandia Peak Ski & Tramway. It's the world's longest aerial tramway!

Hanging around, waiting to get on the tram.

That's the tram we're gonna get on.

Reached the top safe and sound! All in one piece.

Love the view!

They are hubby's classmate from Egypt and we've been invited to their homes anytime we wanna visit Egypt! Cairo.......... here we comeeeeeee!

That's the ski but it is not in operation yet. Waiting for the snowfall....

Megan enjoying her walk around the mountain.

She spotted a dog and went rushing to him. Scare us to death!

Horsing around as usual.

Isn't it wierd that kids seems totally oblivous to the altitude we are on? No fear at all.

I can't seeeeeeee!

That's better. Should have removed the hat long ago.

Cattleman's Ranch

2008-10-13T06:33:00.004+08:00

Remember the Host Family Dinner we had at Cattleman's Ranch a couple of weeks ago? Well, we said we'll be back!

This time, we came in the afternoon to roam the grounds before heading to their steakhouse for our dinner. We started off looking for their mini zoo. The place was huge and we didn't know where to start looking. You can view the map of the grounds from HERE. When we saw a fence, we just parked and started walking.

Deers! There was quite a number of them. They look cute.

Saw the goats next. They look like little puppies actually.

Erm, Mom? This one smells, can we move along please?

Okay, a quick picture. Hurry while I hold my breath.

Is that a Llama? Mom said she think so only!

Recently, she develop this habit of clasping her hands together when she walks. Dunno why?

Let's go for a hayride.

Let's feed the rabbits.

They seems really hungry huh?

Found the playground!

Hurry, hurry, time's awasting.

This is a wierd swing.

Let me go! You're restricting my movements!

Quit taking pictures and come play with me!

This is cute enough for you?

I'm a big girl, I can slide down on my own.

Let's take a break. This is tiring. I mean for my Mom, not me!

Wow... what a big tire... can't imagine the size of the car!

Look! Yucky sand in the tyre!

What else is over there?

A water wheel. The bridge freaks me out actually. It looks like it's ready to collapse any moment.

Come take a stroll with me. The view is great and there are ducks in the lake.

Dinner time!

Hmmm... what shall I order for dinner?

Orange juice is good!

Are you sure this is what I ordered? It tastes suspiciously like the Chicken Bowl from Jack in a Box.

You try it!

What do you think?

If I finish my dinner real fast, can I have dessert?

Corn! Yummy!

Oh, I must praise their level of service again. So far, the service level here has always impressed me. The corn was a side dish, not from the kid's menu. I told them that I'm ordering for my girl and they made the extra effort to cut up the corn and insert the skewers so that it will be easier for her to hold. Otherwise, they normally just serve it whole. Good huh?

And we still didn't manage to cover the entire grounds. But everyone is exhausted and maybe we'll come back again? Afterall, entrance is freeeeeeee.

How to entertain Megan?

2008-09-23T11:17:00.003+08:00

How do we entertain Megan? Hmmm....

Megan have two very nice neighbours, Ari & Frida who comes out to play everyday. And most of the time, Megan will join them outside. They do arts and crafts, scooter riding or just run around having fun.

That's Ari with her dog, Candy and Frida's the one in the black (navy?) sweater. Oh, Megan loves Candy. She chases poor Candy everytime she sees her and treats Candy like a toy dog. She just want her to lie still on her legs and let her pet.

This is what they made using the moonsand.

On days when the adults are bored too, we'll head over to the shopping mall where there is entertainment for both the young and old!

Frankly, I love this playground as much as Megan. It's indoor, it's air-conditioned, and there's no bugs! The only problem is, I'm the only adult who is being dragged around and it's kinda embarrassing. The other parents must be sniggering at me... sigh...

Then of course, there is the other type of playground which you have to pay for. Gymboree class! It's really cheap compared to the price we paid for in Singapore. I paid about US$300 plus for 3 classes a week for 3 months. My heart aches when I think of the price I paid for her gym classes in Singapore. ARGHHHH!!

Host Family Dinner

2008-09-06T05:03:00.003+08:00

There was a dinner held for the host families in El Paso. This was a thank you dinner to the families whom welcome the students who came from overseas to Fort Bliss into their families. Their role was to bring the students around and familiarize the students to El Paso.

We did not sign up to be hosted by any families but erm... it's a free dinner. Hee hee...

The dinner was held at Cattlemans Ranch. It's a really huge ranch with a mini zoo. But we reached in the evening and couldn't see anything much by then. We'll be making a trip back here during the day.

Hey! You wanna join me on a bus ride?

Sit back, relax.

We've reached? Are you sure this bridge can hold?

It's a pity you can't see the ducks swimming out here.

It's a beautiful sunset.

Don't you wish you had my flexibility?

Dinner's not ready yet? Let's relax out here first.

Look at him, Mom. Aren't you glad I'm such a sweet little me instead?

He's up, he's down, he's all over the place!

Hey! What do you think is behind this door?

Wow! A Western band? Can we dance?

Come dance with me, Megan.

This little girl is so sweet. She keeps trying to get Megan to dance with her. But of course, my ever so "dao" girl refuse to go with her.

She has a twin brother! Hmmm... no likeness at all!

Isn't he the cutest cowboy you've seen? I kept trying to get Megan to take a nice picture with him. Not very successful as usual.

If at first you don't succeed.......

The sweet little boy sharing his toys with Megan.

Megan trying to run away.

Dinner ended! It's time to go home.

San Antonio - Part III (Last!)

2008-09-03T12:23:00.000+08:00

Hubby and his classmates visited The Alamo on the day that we opt out of following them. But the pictures he took of the place was so nice that I wanted to put it on the blog (even though Megan was not in any of it!)

After The Alamo Museum, they went to a Mexican flea market! He said there were hundreds of stores there! Awwwwwwww....

Well, if we had followed him, then we wouldn't have been to the Children's Museum. So much to see, so little time! Boohoohoo...

Anyway, after he came back in the afternoon, we went for a walk around the neighbourhood again.

Time for a little shopping before we go for our horse carriage ride.

The river runs through the shopping mall. We took a boat ride earlier this afternoon and that's how we spotted this mall!

We didn't get a picture of us on the boat. But those were the same boats we were on. A really slow ride to view the area, so slow and rocking side to side that Megan fell asleep halfway thru the ride!

Let me do a cute little dance and see if we can get us any discounts?

You don't like my dance? How about if I show a bit of leg?

Okay, I'm hungry. Where's my food?

Look at how thin my face is! Gimme some food!
If I don't get my food soon, I'm gonna screw up my face and scare everyone away!
After dinner, it was time for our horse carriage ride!

This one? No?

This works for me too. I don't really care. Just get on the carriage coz the horse smells really bad!
That's our driver back there. Hmmm... he looks scary, is he a bad guy?

That's it? We're back here already? Oh well, I need to stretch my legs anyway. Time to go for a walk again.

Mom placed up high up on the ledge with nothing to stop me from tumbling down. Dad nearly freaked out!

This is such a beautiful place. There are restaurants along both sides of the river. We enjoyed our stroll back to the hotel. With the except of skipping some heartbeats when Megan runs too near to the river. I think she wants to go for a swim inside with the ducks. Yikes.

San Antonio - Part II (Children's Museum)

2008-09-02T13:16:00.005+08:00

The next day, after the Sea World outing, we were so tired that I told hubby to go ahead with his itinerary without us. We wanted to nua in the hotel for a while first.

Well, the "nuaing" didn't last very long. 2 adults and 1 toddler in a hotel room, what do you think? So we went out for a walk and found a Children's Museum! Of course we had to go in. Once I'm inside, I realise that the camera's with hubby, so I bought a disposable and realise that I have no idea what to do with it!

Still, I think I made some decent shots. And I reshot them with the digital camera again in order to post the pictures up, which explains the horrible resolution. The first few shots were a failure. I didn't turn on the flash. *sigh* Such a waste!

When we enter, there was a little corner with a mini aquarium and a mini sofa. Megan ran in and sat there immediately. Then we moved on to another section where they had toys like blocks and wooden horses etc etc. As we walk in, there was this sand pit which had a brushes for the toddlers to hold! I wasn't expecting Megan to like it since she's not a big fan of sand. But she happily started brushing the sand and pointed to the stuffs that she found after brushing off the sand. There's bones and pots and all kinda of stuffs like a real dig!

My little archeologist in the making?

Moving on, we found a section which explains all about our teeth! And there is a giant set of toothbrush and teeth which my girl happily started brushing.

Ah! Telephones from all eras. A telephone operator in the making? Hope not!

The next stop was a mini 2 storey house just for kids!

This is the kitchen.The stairs lead up to the living room with a roaring fireplace (with red strips of cloth flying!)

Ah... She's serving tea to her guests. (Me and Mom!)

There's even a toy chest in the corner with wooden blocks and books.

Attempting to drive a train.

A farmyard! Posing with cows and chickens.

Harvest time! Megan collecting and ferrying the corns around.

Remember this thingy? Where you press the pins on one side and check out the impressions made on the other side?

The bubbles room. A hot favorite. Megan spend the longest time in there. There was a big ring which Megan stood inside and I pull the ring up to make a bubble that enclosed her inside.

This section had big boards that has colorful pictures with stories on it. But all Megan wants to do is to find tight corners to squeeze through.

Clip ons. You know? It's kind of like legos.

We had so much fun in the museum (yah yah, I was playing with all the toys too) that we were reluctant to leave. And all the time I was inside, I couldn't figure out why this is a museum. The toys didn't seems that outdated to me (or was it that I'm really old?) Then it strikes me that there isn't any toy inside that has a button to press and a squeaky voice singing "A B C D ......."

So off we go for lunch. We took a walk along the riverside to find food for Megan. At one glance, I knew there wasn't gonna be any Chinese restaurants around. So spaghetti is the next best choice. I had to ask 6 different restaurants if they had spaghetti (no, sorry. I don't want pasta) before I found this Italian restaurant. Aiyoooooo, the trouble this girl makes me go through.

After a yummy (and expensive) lunch by the river, we took a boat ride around the river before bringing her back for her afternoon nap.

After hubby comes back from his erm... "field study trip", we'll go shopping again. That's another update later!

San Antonio - Part I (Sea World)

2008-09-01T12:06:00.010+08:00

We are spending a full day in Sea World, San Antonio today!

I would have been more excited if not for the fact that I realise we won't be able to take any of the fun rides. Not unless I want my girl flying out of the rides. Sigh...

Never mind, it's still a fun experience. The most important thing is that it's a free experience! Wahahaha! Military personnel gets to go in free and bring 4 other members of their family in free as well! Otherwise, the fare is almost US$50 per person!

So as soon as we're in, our focus was on the shows.

1st stop - The Viva Peformance.

This was a good show. It started with a comic performing with antics that splashes water on the crowd around. When the main show started, there were dolphins, beluga whales, high divers and synchronised divers! So many things to take in at once!

After this, we rush off for the next show which is the "Waggin' Tales". This is a western themed animal show. Most of the animals featured are rescued from pet shelters and they are really well-trained. There are pigs, dogs, cats, birds and even skunks! I think I saw a porcupine too.

Can you spot the dog playing the piano?

I think Megan enjoyed this show the most coz she got to go to the stage and pet all the animals after the show.
We took a break after the show and stroll around. It's really hot out there!

Lunch break! As usual, there's nothing for Megan to eat. She used to eat fries but even that has lost it's appeal. So its milk and biscuits and jell-o for the whole day.

After lunch, we head out for the next show again. "Believe" featuring Shamu, a killer whale! Megan was really impressed with the show. Weeks after the show, she'll still relate how the the jie jie stands on the whale whenever we show her a picture of a whale.

Introducing Shamu!

The highlight of the show was Shamu splashing water with his tail at the audience. He can splash up to 20 rows! That's why we were seated farrrrrrr farrrrrrrrr away!

She's sailing away on top of him.

Standing on his nose while he glides.

This was an impressive moment, she went underwater with Shamu and burst out of the water standing on the tips!

After the shows, we went in search of some rides for Megan. Unfortunately, she was not eligible for most of it. I even tried to sneak her into a mini roller coaster ride. But she was really so way below the line that it's too obvious. *sigh*

So we went for the boring ones, at least to me. Maybe she still finds it exciting. Hee hee.

Megan and Ah Ma relaxing under the shade while Dad stands under the hot sun, queuing for a ride.

Finally!

And up she goes!

After this, we took our rounds at the teacups.

The little terror refuse to let me hold the wheels, hoarding it entirely to herself.

After the teacups, we spotted this little playroom for babies actually. But it was so nice and cool and soft. So we brought the girl in so that we can hide there and rest in the shade. But she seems to enjoy it too.
Well, she's happily playing, we're happily hiding in the shade. I'll say that's a good deal.

But we must move on. There are lots of other things to see. We found a section with aquariums, like our Underwater World and saw these amazing frogs. We almost bypassed it coz I thought it's fake.

Oh, after the aquarium, we went to the stables to see the Clydesdale horses. My goodness! They are hugeeeeeee! I'm only about the same height as the legs. We didn't take any pictures as erm... by now, erm.... we're dead tired. The sun, the heat and all that walking. So we're basically dragging our feet around waiting for the bus to come and fetch us home liao.

It's been a tiring day but we got to see lots of interesting things and shows. Tomorrow's another day. Till then...

Austin, Texas - Part II

2008-08-30T07:28:00.011+08:00

Presenting.......... the night scene of Austin!

Horse-drawn carriages on the streets!

USA Sports Car - Corvette

Oh! Hubby went out with his friends coz I had to stay in the hotel to help Megan settle down for the night. It has been a long day for her and I don't want to overtire her. It's only the beginning of the trip.

But look at what they had for dinner!

Alaska Crabs!

Red Fish!

All paid for by the US government! Boohoohoo... I had bread and canned tuna for dinner! Boohoohoo!

Do not disturb me before my morning coffee.

Nope, I won't be swayed by your fake cries! I need my caffeine!

Hmmm, I'll look for someone else to bother then.

What about you? Are you free?

Yeah! Mom's done with her coffee. Let's see if I can reach for that phone while Mom's away.

Awww shucks!

Well, we left the hotel and headed for San Antonio. There is going to be 2 stops before we reach San Antonio. First stop is the Prime Outlet at San Marcos.

My playground! You can see the tears of joy in my eyes and the tears of pain in my hubby's.

Did you see all those shops??? OMG!!! It was endless and we only entered into one section of the outlet. There was another entire section just like this which we had no time to go! 3 hours of shopping time only! It's so cruel!

Anyway, it was like the amazing race, dashing through all the shops at top speed. It's so sad when I had to leave.

Especially when we couldn't even participate in the next stop. They were going tubing down the river. My girl was underage, so........ *sigh*

There was nothing nearby for us to do. So we hang out at a biker's bar (it's the only place available) and waited for them to finish.

Did I mention how good she was on these road trips? She puts up with anything and is always in a good mood despite having no food or proper sleep throughout the bus ride.

We finally reached San Antonio! It's a really really really nice place. So nice that I wished we stay here instead of El Paso. Sigh...

Everyone's tired and hungry. Megan's doing her beauty routine.

Okay mom, so it's cleanse, tone then moisturise?

Hello? Room Service? Can I get a large sundae and fries? Hurry, before my mom gets out of the bath or there's no tips for you!

We were all tired but I wanted to go out for dinner coz they were going to the Rainforest Cafe. It is suppose to be a rainforest themed cafe. Sounds fun! How can we miss that? So off we go. Megan's a trooper! It's way past her bedtime.

MOM! Look at the big gorilla!

The picture looks a little sadistic huh? Me smiling away happily while the girl looks terrified? And just what was it that scares her? Just about everything in the cafe! Particularly this:

Scary little fellow isn't it? Especially so when accompanied with movements and sound effects.

That's Sophia. She's from Taiwan and accompanied her hubby for the same course Kevin's attending. This is her honeymoon! They just got married before coming on this trip.

Eh... we forgot to take pictures of the restaurant. The entire place was dark and has vines and huge birds, giant butterflies, gorillas and snakes! Fake of course! Hahahaha. Megan didn't seems to like the place. She tries to climb out of her high chair everytime the special effects start, like the sound of the rain, the gorillas roaring and snakes hissing.

But then, the next day, she kept pestering us to bring her back. And kept asking to look for the alligators. AIYO!

Oh! We are going to the Sea World tomorrow.... updates coming soon.

Austin, Texas - Part I

2008-08-29T04:37:00.007+08:00

Yeah! Another road trip.... This time for about 6 days to Austin and San Antonio. First stop, Austin.

Can you see her excitment? I dunno if it's the trip or simply the bus ride that she loves. If it is the bus ride, I can save money on taxis next time!

Lunch break! Its a long ride to Austin, about 6 to 7 hours. So we need to refuel.... our stomach. I forgot to take pictures of the food we have been taking huh? This place sucks, the beef taste like leather! There's a Dairy Queen next door, I'll be taking that on our way home instead of this crappy place again!Megan and Nora.

Megan amusing the crowd with her "Ugly Face". That's how she earns all her lollipops and chocolates!

First stop, the Texas Capitol. Wowweeeee! The restoration was done in 1997, so I guess we came at the right time.

She ran round and round and round the circle until..........

"Round and round the mulberry bush, the monkey chase the weasel....... "

Oppsssss.... and she fell!

Time to start our guided tour. That is the Surrender of Santa Anna Painting. That was the Texas General Sam Houston resting under the oak tree after being wounded at the Battle of San Jacinto while the Mexican General was brought to him as a prisoner of war.

See... I actually listened!

That is because this is the first introduction of the tour. I missed everything else after that.

This is the dome from where we were standing. Each level of the stairway up has portraits of all the presidents from day one till now.

The seals of the six flags of Texas from where we were standing previously, looking up at the dome. The United States, Mexico, France, Spain and the Confederacy surround the emblem of the Republic of Texas.

Megan trying to memorize all the governors of Texas?

Fat hope... off she goes!

The Goddess of Liberty as viewed from inside the Capitol. Oh and this one is supposedly a replica. The original has been transferred to a museum somewhere.

Waiting for the rest before proceeding to the gift shop, naturally...

Horsing around the gift shop. Lucky we didn't break anything.

Acting dainty to get her lollipop again!

Back to the hotel and waiting for our next destination. The LBJ Library.

Here we are and Megan is trying to explain the events of the day to Nora. Either that or she's just drunk.

By the way, LBJ is Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States. Hubby ask me why is he such a big deal that there's a whole library and museum dedicated to him. Well, I told him if he was born in Pasir Ris, raised in Pasir Ris and died in Pasir Ris after being the President of Singapore, Pasir Ris will probably dedicate a museum to him too.
I'm standing in the Oval Office ok? Dun play play.

Pictures with the Ex-President and the Ex-First Lady! Impress bo?

The Oval Room

The Red Room

The Green Room

The Yellow Room

How else will you know what rooms they are? Such innovative names!

Ok. Moving on to the last stop of the day. We are visiting a children's home. It's actually for single moms.

Not what I was expecting at all! Everything was neat and clean and looks new. I was disappointed that the children weren't in. They were all at daycare. This facility take cares of the moms and their kids by providing lodging and food. But the mommies are expected to find jobs and take care of their kids. So during the day, they will bring their kids to daycare and go to work.

Megan didn't wanna leave this place. She didn't have time to go through all the toys! This is her playground!

Tomorrow, we are going to MY PLAYGROUND!

Carlsbad, New Mexico - Part II

2008-08-25T04:49:00.004+08:00

We're still in New Mexico. Today, we're heading out to Sitting Bulls Fall.

I love this place! BEAUTIFUL!

Hanging around whilst the rest take their toilet break before we make our way to the falls. So excited to see it

Alright! We're all ready to go.

Eh? What falls? It's water trickling down the rocks nia.

Never mind, its still a very pretty place. And where there is water, Megan is at her happiest!

There was this little cave near the falls and its so cooling that we sat there for the rest of the time. The water was really cold and Megan enjoyed herself soaking her feet and throwing pebbles into the stream.

She's a little preoccupied to pose for the camera.

I told him to move a bit further back from the ledge but he's ignoring my instructions. Sigh...

See the guys on the ledge? They were jumping into the stream below! So brave of them. The water's freezing! Not to mention all the sharp edges of the ledge.

Time to go back. We are going to stop by the lake again before heading home to El Paso.

Water. Hmmm... maybe she's a mermaid?

Sometimes I really don't understand the girl. She doesn't like sand and refuse to get down to play when we bring her to the beach. But this place she likes? The flooring is pebbles, those with jagged edges. It hurts my feet when I stand there but she loves it? Sadistic huh?

She went from sitting down to lying flat on her stomach in the water. I had to keep pulling her up coz she was trying to drink the water. Yucks!

Her pants kept dropping off... I had a busy time pulling it up constantly! Not that she appreciates it.

Time to go home. We cleaned her with bottled water ok? High class hor?

Carlsbad, New Mexico - Part I

2008-08-23T03:56:00.002+08:00

We went on a 3 days road trip to Carlsbad, New Mexico organized by Fort Bliss.

I was worried about these trips coz I dunno if Megan can take these 5/6 hours on a bus. But surprisingly, she loves bus rides. Everytime she sees the bus, she'll point excitedly to it and demand to go up as soon as possible. Weird huh?

The only problem with these trips are her food intake. Sometimes she has to go for almost 1 day without anything to eat except for biscuits and juices. Well, who ask her to be a fussy eater?

Toilet break. The bus stops every two hours for a toilet break and this place was so pretty that we started snapping non-stop. Isn't the view gorgeous?

That's Kevin's course mate. He's the only one who has successfully carried Megan. The packets of gummies served its purpose!

Lunch break! Oh oh... Mexican food. Fajitas for Megan? Nay... no a chance. She won't go near that stuff. She had a couple of tacos though. Even tried dipping it in the salsa. That girl can take hot sauce!

We finished early and took a seat outside the restaurant while waiting for the rest.

Megan in one of her sweeter moments.

That's Nora. She's a couple of months younger than Megan. And I had Megan calling her jie jie all the way till I realised it. Aiyoooooo.... Look at her arms!

She's from Saudi Arabia and a really sweet girl. Super active too! She gets along with anyone and everyone. You can pass her up and down the bus and she's happily interacting with everyone. Such a big contrast with my whiny girl who hides her face once anyone smiles her at.

So adorable!

After lunch, we head off to the Carlsbad Caverns.

Excuse the lousy pictures. My camera can't make it in the dark. Megan wasn't allowed to go for the guided tour so Kevin had to stay behind with her. Me and Mom went ahead. It was really cold in the caves, about 70 storeys underground. That's our hotel during our stay in New Mexico.

We head out in the evening again to see the bats flying out of the caves. Hundreds of thousands of them! But we were not allowed to take pictures. It was a pretty amazing sight. Tiny bats flying out of the caves in a whirlpool pattern and heading out to prey in the night. But after 20 minutes, its still going on and we were getting bored. I mean, how long can you stare at bats flying out of caves no matter how amazing it looks at the beginning?

El Paso Zoo

2008-08-18T05:00:00.006+08:00

I wanted to bring the girl to the local zoo. Singapore Zoo is one of the best, so why would I bother bringing her to a small local town zoo? Why not?

It's near and it's cheap.

But I went expecting to be bored. Kevin's colleagues were telling him not to bother. It's so small and there's not much to see. Oh well, it's only $2.50 per person. Again, why not?

It's surprisingly nice. I don't know if it's because Megan is at a stage where she takes more interest in the animals or if the small and peaceful environment lets her enjoy the place more. But she certainly seems to have more fun here than the last time I brought her to Singapore Zoo.

The animals here are also enclosed in natural settings. No doubt, the enclosures are smaller but it allows a nearer and better view of the animals. Nope, I'm not talking about the two in the pictures. Hee hee..

That's what I'm talking about. It looks so near that Megan keeps reaching her hands out for them to come over.

Staring in amazement at the elephants. There were only two of them. I think one was on Ecstasy? It keeps shaking it's head from side to side for the whole time we stood watching. The other one was pulling leaves off the trees and stomping on it. They were a lot fiestier than those I've seen before.

Spot the squrriel? They were running free all around the zoo premises. Megan tried her best to catch one but they were a lot faster than her!

Took me a while to realise why everyone around me had this disgusted look. I thought it's just a python mah. Then my brains connected with my eyes and it hit me that they are having lunch. It's not a soft toy they are hugging to sleep with. Yucks!

That's the closest we've ever been to a tiger.

Brown Bear Brown Bear, what do you see? It's a black bear actually, but she loves the Brown Bear book. Turns out that all the parents read that. When I recited that line to Megan, the parents of little girl in pink joined in. Everyone's reading the same book huh? That guy must be earning millions.
No prize for guessing who won the race.

It was an enjoyable visit. There were quite a number of other animals which we didn't take pictures of. Too busy with a running toddler.

We will be back!

Farmers' Market

2008-08-10T13:15:00.007+08:00

I was reading through the El Paso visitor guide and saw that they have this Farmers' Market at Ardovino's Desert Crossing. It's not far from the outlet which we usually visit.

So we made a detour to see the place before going for our usual shopping spree.

They have little stalls like our pasar malam in Singapore. The local farmers bring their produce there to sell.

That's me busy sampling the cakes. Yummy homemade cakes.

The market starts at 7.30am and closes by 12.00pm. We reach at around 11am but there was still a small crowd around.

Homemade jams with crackers! So good. There's even zucchini flavour. But my mom and hubby doesn't like sweet stuffs. Can't possibly finish the whole jar myself... Boohoohoo...

My girl really dun like the sun. Neither does my mom.

They have lots of interesting handicrafts here. Cookies that are so pretty that it's a waste to eat them. Handmade soaps, herbs, flowers, coffee and trinklets.

There's a little cafe that is right by the market which sells pastries and biscotti but we were rushing off for our shopping trip.

Oh.... ending off with a video of my girl in training.

Got potential yah?

Sesame Street Live

2008-08-08T13:45:00.000+08:00

Megan's favorite show is here live!!! And that's not the best, hee hee... the best of all.... IT'S FREE!!!

Unbelievable.... tickets are free for all military personnel. So in true Singaporean spirit, we cheong ahhhhhh... grab tickets for both days.

Free door gift!!! Spinning Elmo with flashing lights! My head was already spinning from the free tickets. When the guy told him this is free, I nearly fainted. Not used to getting so many free stuffs..

She's so excited over it. It lasted about 5 minutes before she got bored. Sigh...

The show was suppose to start at 7pm. We reached about 6.30 as it was free seating. The auditorium was getting filled up by about 6.50pm. The show started on time at 7pm which was pretty new to me.

Lights off to welcome the arrival of the Sesame Street Muppets!

First one out is Rosita.

Then comes Grover.

Zoe and Cookie Monster.

Ah... the star of the day.... ELMO! The loudest screams were reserved for him. In fact, this show resembles a live concert of super idols except that the screams came from little kiddos. And boy, can they scream! Notice how I know all their names? Ah... the education that your kid can pass along to you. Proves that you are never too old to learn.

That's the full cast of the show. Can't expect too much since it is a free show. Most of her favorite characters are there already except for Big Bird.

She's warming up slowly to the screaming.

All good things must come to an end.

Finally got up and go after promising her we will be back tomorrow. In fact, she enjoyed the show on the 2nd day more. She was not used to the noise on the first day and it took her some time to warm up to the loud screams and cheers. I'm so glad that we acted in true blue Singaporean blood and took tickets for both days.

Toys R Us

2008-08-04T13:46:00.005+08:00

Oh oh oh..... TOYSSSSSSSSS

What's in here? Any good stuffs?

Yeah... I can drive this. Zoommmm......

Look at me! Don't I look like a race car driver? Can I buy this?

Huh? I have to get out?
Ok, what about this pretty pink and purple bike? Too girlish? BUT I'M A GIRL!!!

Fine. How about this blue and red one then? Nope?

Perhaps a horse?

Wow... Can I get this Elmo chair please?

Look how comfortable it is!

I found the perfect armchair. Look Mom LOOK!

Really? No? Is that all you know how to say? Tell me again why we are here.

Franklin Mountains

2008-08-03T14:06:00.001+08:00

The tram ride to Franklin Mountains was less than 20 minutes drive away. So we pop by for a look one evening. It was pretty but we arrived too early to wait for the sunset, which should be even lovelier.... Ahh.... never mind. It's so near.

At the tram station.

In the tram with the girl enjoying the view. At least I think she's enjoy. She keeps going eeehh ehhh orhh orhh... We are still having communications breakdowns at times.

Enjoying the view up on the mountain.

You know, a friend here told us that you can't get lost on the roads here coz they are all parallel. I didn't really get it until I saw the geography from up here.

Opps, the wind is blocking my face?
Is this better?

Don't let the wind blow me away!

Really? It says restricted? Who cares? I can't read yet.

Is this what a chicken in a hatch feels like?

I'm the tallest of them all!

Bye for now... We're going toys r us tomorrow!!! I think that sounds more fun!

White Sands

2008-08-01T04:40:00.008+08:00

We visited the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. It's really beautiful but erm... HOT HOT HOT! Imagine standing in the middle of nowhere under the burning sun.

Those who know us will understand. We hate the sun. We being me and my girl and my mom. But hey, been there, done that right? So I made hubby drive 2 hrs, we got down for like 10 minutes for picture taking and drove another 2 hrs back again. That's how I can put up pictures for you guys out there to admire.

Ah... hubby went to take his picture coz we were busy feeding the girl.
Must make sure she eats first before we continue our drive inside. Hmm... I look like I'm pregnant hor? Sigh... must be all that Ben & Jerrys..... But I can't stop coz it's 1.99 per tub!!! When I'm back in Singapore, I won't be able to make myself them anymore now that I know it's only 1.99 here!

Oooh.... what's this plant? Does it bite?
Smack right in the middle of the desert. Aren't we brave?
Let's go, Mom. Walk faster. Faster, faster, faster!!!!

Why are we here? You know how much I hate the sand! Where's the sea? You mean this is it?

I don't mind posing to take a picture with you but please get that sand outta my face!

Yeah.... sunglasses. I need those out here. I'm blinded by the white sands. Plus, I look cool in them.

This is postcard perfect. Love it!

Alright, let's get over this little pile of sand here and we'll be on our way home.

Pitstop... yummy yummy. Did I mention that I feed my girl all kinda junk food here? Shhhh....

Gathering

2008-07-27T04:30:00.000+08:00

Did I mentioned that 3 super nice commandos from SAF helped us settled down in El Paso?

Well, they are such good friends. They came down to the airport to meet us (but we missed them coz we were picked up by the rep from Fort Bliss), they assist us in getting an apartment so that we can move in earlier, picked up our extremely heavy luggages and rented appliances and moved it to the new apartment for us.

They showed us around the area, where the chinese grocery stores are located, where are the good food and of coz, where the good shopping places are!

They even organized a gathering so that we can get to know one another. There were Taiwanese, Japanese and of coz the Singaporeans!!!!

This is Jason from Singapore who attended the same course as Kevin.

The kids racing to see who can climb up the sofa first!

Yeah! I won! I won! Hurray for ME!!!

Chey! What's the big deal? Winning isn't everything!

We didn't get a chance to take pictures with anyone else as we were busy eating and chatting afterwards. Lots and lots of yummy barbarque stuffs... SO SHIOK!

Outlet Malls!!!

2008-07-25T11:51:00.000+08:00

Yeah.... A trip to the Outlet Shoppes at El Paso!

First shopping trip we made was to the outlets. Where else? All the brands we love is there, Coach, Nike, Adidas, Aeropostle, Gap, Gymboree etc etc.... So many shops, so little time!

Well, I have to find ways to entertain the girl right? Otherwise how to shop? So burn money on rides for her lor.

She loves the rides and it's the only way we could shop in peace. But it does burn a big hole in the pocket coz it's 75 cents per ride and each ride only last a few minutes.

Ah... storm is abrewing. We made a run for it in case a sand storm comes up. Heard from friends that it's scary.

Bath Time Fun!

2008-07-23T14:44:00.001+08:00

I really enjoy having a bathtub here. In fact, I love it so much that I'm thinking of putting one in when we're back in Singapore.

Nope, it's not for me. I have not actually used the bathtub to take a bath yet. It's too troublesome for me. But it is such good entertainment for Megan. On days when it's too hot for walks or the playground and you just can't take another episode of Sesame Street, nothing else will distract her except if you ask her to take a bath. Oh, for that, she'll move faster than me!

And there's so many types of bath toys here. Her current favourite is the Sesame Street Finger Paint Bubble Bath that I bought. Erm, the instructions actually says for 3 and above but heck.

These are great! Yellow for Big Bird, Blue for Cookie Monster and Red for Elmo! All the characters that she's already familiar with. It's so much easier to introduce colors with things they can associate with.

Just pour them over the bath tub and she can use it as finger paints. She can easily mix two colors together and see it change to another one. But my favorite part is when she's done, just turn on the tap and it turns into a bubble bath! Viola! No messy cleaning up! I love it love it love it!

Tucson, Arizona - Part 2

2008-07-21T13:53:00.006+08:00

Biosphere 2

Today we are visiting this place called Biosphere 2. What amazes me is that this place is actually bankrolled by this guy named Edward P. Bass. A really rich guy with no place else to spend $200 million bucks!!!

This place is an artificial enclosed ecological system to mirror that of Earth. Supposedly, it was suppose to see if we could create a similar environment in other planets. Well, maybe my girl will get to see if it takes root.

The view outside was amazing. Don't let Kevin's face distract you!

This is part of the structure of the Biosphere 2. I think it's really amazing considering that it is built in the 1980s. It's an airtight enclosure the size of 2 and a half football fields.

My girl just spotted the man-made ocean. It's 850 sqm with a coral reef.

I think this is the desert part of the enclosure. Apart the first part, I couldn't really follow what the guide was saying anymore. That's all the pictures we managed to take in Biosphere 2 anyway. It's hard dealing with a squirming girl and following a group with a schedule.

To me, the most amazing thing about this place is what a man with too much money and time can do!

Titan Missile Museum

Last stop of our Tucson tour, the Titan Missile Museum. I got to see a real missile!

I looked grouchy huh? You would be too if you had to stand under the burning sun. Megan's look was worse than mine! Ha ha ha...

We took a walk outside before entering the place and I was busy looking for shelter to hide under. So I missed most of the talk by the guide. But I had to take a peek at the missile from the tower.

Cool huh? Just think that this was actually for use in the Cold War!

My mom trying not to look bored. So far all the guided tours were in English. I think it's all really boring to her.

Well this is the end of our Tucson trip. Another boring 5 hrs drive back to El Paso. Oh and I shall just end it with a video of my girl entertaining herself in the hotel.

Tucson, Arizona - Part 1

2008-07-20T13:49:00.014+08:00

Another "field trip" which we survived! This wasn't so bad actually. The places we visited were more interesting than the last "field trip". Ha!

What is amazing is that we survived a 5 hours bus ride and arrived in one piece. Exhausted, cranky, grouchy and aching bums but still whole.

Isn't she cute? Hee hee... She takes these long rides pretty well surprisingly. So far she doesn't fuss, sleeps a lot or just climbs all over me. I'm so thankful for that.

These pictures were taken during one of the pit stops during the 5 hours ride. Megan was happy to stretch her legs and there's a wonderful view of the mountains which I had no chance to take pictures of as it was on the other side of the road and it was quite foggy.

We were on our way down to Tucson. It's one of the oldest town in USA. There were 3 places we were visiting. The first one is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This is more work related for Kevin and not really a tourist attraction. But the area around it does have photo taking opportunities!

Her father wanted to get up close and personal. Hmmm...

Actually they just wanted to have a picture with Megan but she wouldn't let them carry. So we had to rope the whole family in. 1st guy on the left is from Korea, next to him from Egypt, I think? That stupid cactus behind poked me and it's really really painful!

Ah... the biggest guy in the group. He's from Chez Republic. Hubby said die die also must take picture next to him!

Ha! My girl have her picture taken with J.F.K!

"Look, Mom! Water!!!! Time for swimming!"

"Let me go, let me go"

And I just explained to her that this is a water fountain and nobody goes inside a fountain when one of Kevin's colleague jump right inside. "Faintz"

"To the next station!" Her royal highness commands!

All tired out! She's usually in this state on a bus. I think it's a good thing coz she wakes up fresh and all ready to play. But I get achy all over since I can't stretch out much. Oh, I am always the one she sleeps on. Sigh... most likely coz I'm softer with the fats covering me.

This is our hotel in Tucson. I know the name reads "Marriott" erm... but it's nothing like the Marriot in Singapore. But it is still heaven to the weary.

New Mexico

2008-07-13T14:11:00.006+08:00

We went on a trip to New Mexico! It was organized by the IMSO from Fort Bliss.

Hmm... I don't think we got to visit any scenic spots coz we were following hubby on his "field study trip". It was a pretty tiring trip as it was a one day thing. So 7 hours on a bus in 1 day (to and fro) is no joke. Especially with a toddler!

1st stop! Some military camp base. (Erm... I dunno the names of all the places I went coz I was too busy looking for shades to hide under!)

Never mind, look at pictures of my girl. That's good enough! Hee hee...

Ah! I know this is the McBride Museum. Only coz the name was in the picture. Frankly, with a toddler in tow, I can't listen to the guide, I can't view the artifacts or pictures or anything! All my focus was on chasing the girl and trying to catch her. The minute I get her in my arms, she'll be struggling to get down.

The only time when she willingly stays in my arms is when someone approaches her and try to talk to her. That is the moment she becomes a koala bear!

Our family photo in front of a horse which I dunno why it's there. Hmm.... who has time to read the introduction they posted on the walls? Sigh...

This is the exterior of the military base which the guide was introducing. I notice some names carved into the floor and the stone seats... Erm... eh.... hmmm...

Next stop! The Roswell UFO Meuseum. This I know coz of the TV Series "Roswell"! Ha ha... I like UFO stuffs but I couldn't even finish the guided tour of the museum. How do you stand and read the information on the wall when your kid is running like crazy round the place? It was not a grand museum (pretty cheap looking with posters tag to the walls actually), but I wish I had time to read through the stuffs. But I was running after Megan, trying to ensure that the museum remain intact. The museum had chairs placed in each booth so that visitors can actually sit and read the posters on the wall. But that girl was pulling the chairs around the place! When I pull the chair away from her and walk back to replace it, she'll be at another booth trying to touch the display! I was the crazy mom going after the crazy kid.

That's hubby and his friend, Jason from Singapore, who is on the same course.

After lunch, we proceeded to this reservoir. This is a good place. Plenty of space for her to run and I'm not worried that she'll spoil anything artifacts. Just try to keep her away from the water.

There were stone steps down to the reservoir. Oh, you can actually swim here. There are many kids swimming at the other side. I happily dip Megan in and she's sooooo excited, kicking away at the water. At this moment, hubby ask me why am I dipping her at the part where it says the water is 7ft deep? Do I know how deep is 7ft? Hmmm... actually I don't. When I realise that it goes over my head (I'm 1.65metres tall), I pulled her out and guai guai bring her to the other end!

We rested on the field while the guys played soccer. Just waiting for the next stop, DINNER!

While waiting for our fajitas to arrive, Megan had a piece of taco. And that's the only thing she had for dinner. She didn't even want more of it. The problem with these road trips is that it affects her food intake. Other than rice or noodles, there is nothing that appeals to her. I can't expect the whole troop to suit her tastes. So for the whole day, she had only 2.5 bottles of milk. Each bottle is only 180ml. Sad right? How to go on more road trips? Arghhhhh...

Anyway, dinner was a difficult affair. She was tired and cranky. It was around 11pm when we finished and way past her bedtime. We had to take turns to bring her out of the restaurant to avoid disturbing the other diners. By the time we reach back El Paso, it was pass midnight.

Home for the next 6 months

2008-07-04T14:31:00.007+08:00

Let me introduce our home for the next 6 months.

We have to climb up 2 flights of stairs to our place.

It was a nightmare moving all the luggages from one place to the other. As his friends were going on a road trip for the weekend, they kindly helped us move the luggages to their apartment the day before our moving. Unfortunately, their apartment was also located 2 flights up. *Sob* *Sob* Can you imagine the pain for just the two of us lugging 5 pieces of luggage, each weighing about 21 to 26 kg up the stairs? *shudder*

The main door opens to a flight of stairs leading to the bedrooms on the 2nd floor.

Towards the left of the door is our living room. Can you see that her toys are already starting to clutter up the place?

The kitchen, dining area and patio is right at the back of the apartment. Mom does her taiji and exercises on the patio. She didn't quite like it as she prefers to do it on the open field. The problem is that it gets really hot by 7.30am and erm... my girl only wakes up at 8 plus in the morning.

There are 2 bedrooms upstairs, 1 occupied by my mom and Megan, the other by me & hubby (We grabbed the bigger one!). This is our bedroom with the messy closet.

All of us share a common bathroom. There is only a toilet downstairs and the toilet cum bath upstairs. See the shower curtain hooks? I had to buy them to entice the girl to take a bath. For some reason, she suddenly took a fear to the bathtub and refuse to bath for 2 days!!! I couldn't understand why coz she loves water soooooo much! Then she refused to poo and I had to buy the Elmo potty seat for her. Only with that seat, then she starts to poo regularly again. In fact, it was quite difficult to get her off the seat! *Faint*

That's the carpark! We were getting ready to go shopping! Do we look cool or what? Wahahaha!

When we need to get our laundry done, we have to walk to another building under that burning sun. I actually slather on sunblock before going to do laundry. Really a lot of work in the name of beauty!

There's a pool right next to the apartment. The problem is, it's too hot to swim during the day and too cold to swim during the night. Luckily, my girl is happy to just dip her feet in and there's always the bathtub!

And the most important thing! The playground! It is just to the back of the apartment! I was initially quite shocked to find out that the floor of the playground was covered with pebbles instead of sand or that spongy thing we have in Singapore. Luckily, it was smooth and we got used to it after a while. In fact, my girl loves it! She'll sit on them and start throwing it up the slide. And for some reason which I can't figure out, she loves walking on it. Hmmm....

Her face very black right? That's coz I was delaying her fun by not putting her down!

That's the Cinemark and Hooters at the back of the apartment. The Cielo Vista Mall is right there! 5 minutes walk away! It's so near and yet so far, 1 minute under the sun and I'm dying.

Oh, that is not our car. This is:

It's that silver one. Have to take it from far so it looks better! *blink* *blink*

Anyway, we were so happy to settle down and stop moving. My girl finally have homecooked food!! Yeah!! In a country where you have bread everywhere you go, it was the one thing which she totally refuse to try. Within that 1 week (from flying to hotel stay), I have introduced every form of junk food. Ice creams, potato chips, burgers, fries, chocolates... anything to start her eating. ARGHHHH!!!

Her routine is back to normal now. Actually, her sleeping cycle is much better than back in Singapore. Her afternoon naps ranges from 2.5 to 4 hours! Amazing? Never happened before in Singapore. And she goes to sleep without fussing too! I'll usually ask her around 12pm if she wants to go for her nap and she'll nod her head and go up the stairs without any fuss!!! Same thing during the night. So happy!!!

But, erm... other than her sleeping pattern, all the monster tantrums also appeared, the pouting, screaming, tears, the works! I guess nothing is perfect. Haizzz.....

Arrival! Finally!

2008-06-30T13:30:00.000+08:00

After a long long flight from Singapore to Tokyo, then a very rush transit to catch the plane from Tokyo to San Francisco, we finally arrived! Oh.... it's part one only. We have another 2 flights tomorrow... sigh.

Here we are, outside the SFO International Airport waiting for our shuttle to the hotel.

The flight wasn't so bad. My girl actually slept most of the time on flight. Problem is she doesn't eat anything throughout the flight. None of the food interest her, not even the junk or biscuits I brought along for her. She just wanna sleep all the time and I was quite worried to see her like that.

Anyway, I was glad that we had arranged a stopover at San Francisco so that she can get a good rest and hopefully some food.

This is the hotel which we stayed during our 1 night stopover. It's the Comfort Inn & Suites. We had a terrible time moving all the luggage in and was dead beat by the time we were done. But my girl had to burn off some energy from all the sleeping she did on board. So we took her out for a walk.

Oh, she loves the flowers by the roadside. Whenever she sees them, she'll run towards it and starts to finger it. I think she's a bit mountain tortoise, probably never got to see them around in Singapore. Hee Hee.

We went looking for food for the girl to eat. She didn't take any solid food since we board the plane till we landed in SFO. It was really stressful. In the end, we settled for the Japanese Restaurant in the hotel since everyone was too tired to go search (plus we have no transportation!). Anyway, she didn't eat any of the stuffs we ordered.

The next morning, we reluctantly lug our luggage out again and went on the shuttle back to the airport to catch another flight to Denver. From Denver, we then proceed to our final destination in El Paso!

The girl actually slept ALL THE WAY! From SFO to Denver to El Paso!!! Amazing?

At El Paso , someone from Kevin's camp came to fetch us and told us that they had already made hotel arrangements for us and it's really really cheap! It's USD29 per night compared to the one which I had booked on my own for USD129 per night!

This is our hotel room at the Fort Bliss Army Lodging. It's pretty good, spacious and clean. Pretty much all I'm looking for at that kind of pricing. Erm... dun mind the mess lah. We have a toddler in the room you know?

However, it was difficult living out of suitcases. We had 6 pieces of luggages around the room and had to dig through them whenever we were looking for stuffs. It was tough on everyone. We couldn't wait to move out to our own apartment.

Our room overlooks the pool! Not bad for a USD29 room huh?

The girl saw the playground from the room and pester to go over there every morning.

Their playground had tree barks on the ground instead of sand. Wierd huh?

She had nothing to do so she was moving stuffs in and out of the safe every now and then. The room was only that big and we had nowhere to go. It was freakishly hot and dry outside that it felt like your skin was burning everytime we step out.

The apartment we chosen initially was not available, and we were desperate to move out of the hotel. Living out of suitcases was driving everyone crazy. My girl needs to eat and my mom needs to do something. She's bored out of her mind. Stuck in a hotel room with nothing to do and my girl is cranky after all the flying. She's rejecting and glued to me. Sigh... We are all having a hard time.

Luckily, we met these really great Singaporeans here. They got us an apartment in their complex. The 2 bedroom apartment we wanted will only be ready a week later. But we were so desperate to move out that we took their town house which is a 2 storey apartment (like the masionette in Singapore). The rental is about USD80 more than the single storey apartment but we grab it just because we can shift in 5 days earlier.

Well, pictures will be up in the next post! ciao for now.

Farewell Lunch

2008-06-22T13:15:00.000+08:00

We had our farewell lunch with the gang before our departure for USA. They bought lunch for us at Tony Romas!! Yummy!! After lunch, we tried to organise ourselves for photo taking much to the amusement of the other diners.

Hey! It wasn't easy getting a bunch of restless toddlers take pictures ok? Look at the unfocus group of us.

Not that the daddys had much luck trying.

Ah, Connie and Belle came back and we tried again.

Oh! We found a nice spot for the kiddos to sit on and take pictures but they dun look too happy huh?

Chenhui did a beautiful scrapbook of all the kids for Megan. I love it so much, so does Megan. In fact, she keeps making me flip through all the pictures for her to view.

Thank you girls! We're gonna miss all of you so much! And the new babies!!! Show them our pictures and tell them about us ok?

Jacob Ballas Finally

2008-03-30T22:23:00.007+08:00

The gang went without me!!!

Anyway, we were free today and at a loss of where to go. Since we were in town, hey, why not?

So away we go...

We did the same stuffs as the rest.

Visited the waterfalls at the cave...

Crossed the shaky bridge...

Crossed the log...

and visited the little house...

Sit on the little hilltop...

But these aren't the highlights of her day. She was just waiting and waiting...

FOR THIS MOMENT!

She went crazy at the water fountain. It was the first thing she saw when she walked into the garden. I kept telling her we'll come back to it later. So she dutifully finished her rounds and we rushed into the fountain. I stripped her off and set her free!

She was shrieking so happily at the fountains. We spend like half an hour at the other places and more than an hour at just the water fountain.

We'll be back!

Picnic at Upper Pierce Reservoir

2008-03-29T21:59:00.006+08:00

We had a picnic planned with the babies, Megan, Talia and Philson!

When we arrived (by the way, we were last as usual... sigh), Talia and Philson were already enjoying their egg and chicken sandwich. There was soooooo much food there. Hmm... let's see; bee hoon and fruit salad (by Jaime n family), ham, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, bread n chips (by Dee n family), tuna, strawberries and grapes by me.

Anyway, we reach at 10 and left about 1pm for prata... (kekeke... imagine we could still stuff pratas in after all those food we ate).

We only had a few miserable pictures taken coz we forgot the CAMERA!

See see... this Talia was so super duper sweet. She'll play for a while and come running into my arms.

Meanwhile, my girl spend the whole morning running around. She couldn't even sit for 5 secs. No food could entice her. Talia was sitting down enjoying her sandwich and the strawberries. Philson erm being Philson, was hard to drag away from all those food.

Hmmm... they don't look very happy huh?

Oh oh... I must mention this, after playing for some time, Talia got tired and lie down on the ground sheet. She just fell asleep like that and stay asleep for more than an hour!!! I'm sooooo jealous!

To the sea, to the sea!

2008-03-16T15:54:00.001+08:00

Come on, let's get going! I'm dying of boredom at home!!!!!

Yes! The sun, the sea and the sand. Just don't bring me near the sand! YUCKS!

Who says I can't dig at the grass? The same fun without the MESS. YUCKY SAND.

Hmmm... I wonder if grass is tasty

Let me go! I can walk by myself! Let me go!Let me go!Let me go!Let me go! (Actually can you see the veins popping out from her father's arms? So difficult to hold on to tat ger)

Hmm... what do you mean u need a break? Let's get going you wimps!!! Dig dig dig away!

Oh what a MESS!!!

2008-03-10T23:44:00.010+08:00

This self feeding thingy is not for the weak hearted. Supposedly to be good for them but it gives me high blood pressure.

Oh, I've tried this several times, but usually with drier food or cleaner stuffs (erm... like water?). Otherwise, it's usually done when I'm sitted next to her, so I could wipe it off before any big damage is done. Still messy, but managable.

Well, I was busy yesterday. Had to give her something to do to keep her safe but busy. I threw caution to the wind and poured a bowl of Heinz's banana porridge (which she usually hates!), gave her a spoon and turned my back on her.

And this.......this...... this was what greeted me when I was done cooking her porridge.

It took every ounce of energy to hold back my scream. Instead, I gave her what I hoped was an encouraging smile and said: "Good job baby! Do you want more of that?" Arghhhhh..... She did want somemore! She hates cereal and I've tried it twice on her previously, but apparantly, a bowl and a spoon does the trick more than any of my coaxing.

Oh oh... but I'm so proud of her when I noticed that she actually tilts the bowl so that it's easier to scoop up the remains (Beaming with pride). Must be the good genes inherited from her mother's side (blink blink).

And voila! You have to be there to appreciate the mess. The pictures don't do enough justice... *sigh*. And while she enjoys self feeding, she didn't quite like the mess after the food was all gone. It was then she started to squirm and fuss about all that sticky yucky stuff all over her.

Had to bathe and change her before she's happy again... tsk tsk tsk!

Sentosa

2008-02-27T00:16:00.008+08:00

We were thinking of what to do for my Mom, Dad and Sheryl's birthday celebration this year. Should we go for dinner at a restaurant as usual? Then my brother suggested a picnic. Why not? Sounds more fun than sitting down at a restaurant.

And so... off we go on a sunny morning to Sentosa.

"It was a teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini....." Technically, it wasn't a yellow polka dot.. hee hee... but I lurve my ger in a bikini. No adult can carry off that bikini with those fats and still look as adorable!

But see, the problem was.... she was dressed for the beach but not ready to be introduced to the sand! The whole trip there, she refused to get down on the sand. She wanted to be near the shore, where all her jie jies and kor kor was playing BUT to be carried at all times. I tried to forcibly dump her on the sand which only made matter worse.

From then on, no speck of sand was to touch her. And we were on the BEACH! There was sand everywhere. In order to convince her to sit on the mat, I had to take out her towel, show her there was no sand on it, placed it on the mat before she would even sit. That Da Xiao Jie!

As a peace offering for dumping her on the sand earlier, I gave her the pigeon packet drink which she loves. I don't think she's sucking very well from it though cos the drink was almost intact when she's done with it. But she loves biting on the straw. Oh well...

Oh yes... the sunblock. Clever girl. Layer it on n on to protect yourself!

Chips? Sorry baby, those aren't for you!

Picture with Dad? Ok, quick one please.

I tried and tried so many times but she refused to do it initially coz there were bits of sand on the floor. Arghhhh...., I dump her down again and she just kept standing there like a flamingo!

Well, if at first you don't succeed, you try and try again! I finally wore her down!

Ah! All cleaned up again. About time to go. We've been at the beach from 9am to 2pm. And that ger refused to nap at all.

Looking at the world with tinted glasses? Hmm... nay, she loves her Dad's sunglasses but refuse to put on those baby sunglass i bought.

Ok, a souvenir to bring home for her first trip to Sentosa. We didn't really get that willingly. She grab on to it and refuse to part with it. Didn't even let go of it to let the cashier key it in. We had to struggle to cut the tag off. After parting with the money, she came out to the mat and threw it on the ground. Yah yah, I know... we're sucker parents!

A Trip to T3

2008-02-23T23:49:00.004+08:00

Well, it was late Saturday afternoon and we were having a very late lunch after a toy delivery. Absolutely out of ideas as to where to head off to next.

Initially we were thinking of going swimming (sounds more active than to say splashing around the pool) but then it started drizzling. Oh well, why not make a trip to T3? The latest terminal at Changi Airport.

So we're going to the airport? Great! What's fun over there?

Can we go now? Now? What about now? Hurry hurry hurry!

Finally! Look this BIG SPACE for me to play...... WOW!

Let's get going, time's awasting!

Round and Around We Go

2008-02-17T23:35:00.000+08:00

Well, this looks fun! Going round in circles. Hi Dad, hi hi... Look at me! look at me!

Now you see me, now you don't!

Hey, this was fun. Can we do it again, Mom? Mom? Are you alright? You look green, going in circles don't agree with you? Wasn't it fun?

My 2nd CNY

2008-02-08T17:44:00.000+08:00

Wow!.... It's my 2nd CNY already. I think I slept through most of the 1st one! So what have I done during this CNY....

First, we have to go bai nian to ah ma and gong gong!

Let's get going!!!! Me and my doggie!

That's my Daryl kor kor, Nayo jie jie and Sheryl jie jie all dressed up for the CNY.

And this is my Ah Yee, can you see that the smile disappeared from my face already?

And this is our Chuan Jia Fu. See my sulky face? I didn't wanna sit still to take pictures. Come on people! Enuff of pictures already.....I'm all dressed up and ready to go! People to meet and places to go!

That's Dad and me on the 2nd day of CNY at my grand uncle's house. He has this cutest little doggie that I want to chase but nobody allowed me to do it!

I had to skip the 3rd day of CNY coz there was no pictures taken. I think Mom and Dad were busy gabbing away with friends. So I played with Zen and Zarick, Auntie Stacy's kids. And there was no pictures to show!

Skip skip to the 4th day! I heard that I overslept and we arrive super late at Auntie Dee's party. And so again, I have no pictures to show except for this when we were getting ready to leave the house.

Well, after we left Auntie Dee's, there was nothing to do. So we went swimming! Yeah!!!

Amazingly, this was the swimsuit I wore when I was 6 months old and it still fits. Hmm... is that good or bad?

I can blow bubbles in the water! Let me show you, let me show off!

Water Play!

2008-01-27T16:22:00.005+08:00

Ooooooh.... finally took out the lovely birthday pressie that the gang bought for the ger's birthday. The Pink Table Sand Pit from ELC.

She has never spend as much time with any other toys. In fact, I had to drag her away with her screaming her head off from it. Literally pry her fingers off.

Sad thing is, I don't have any sand for her to play with, so it's just water so far.

See her "ya ya papaya" face?

Don't even think of trying to get that scoop away from her hands. She refuse to let me borrow it!

Oh... and she loves to put her face to the water!

Seems so much fun hor? Makes me wish I was back at that age!

First Haircut

2008-01-14T16:16:00.000+08:00

Ohhhhh.... brought Megan for her very first professional haircut! We can't do anything about it cos she fidgets so much when we bring something near her head.

Well, the professional can't do very much with her also.

At the start of it, she was still asking me..."Do you want to cut it straight, like a bob? or do you prefer to layer it?"

I was so impressed! I can't even get a comb near her without her trying to snatch it out of my hands. And they can have the time to style it! Well, being the cynic I am, I told her to just do it as fast as possible, whichever style is easier.

We started from a sitting position

Then she started screaming her head off and a crowd was building up in front of the shop. I had to carry her in my arms and had hair all over me...

TaDa!!! Can see the difference? Anyway, I don't see much styling done coz the hairstylist was going deaf with all the screaming going on. And it can't be good publicity for the kiddy salon to have a screaming baby inside.

And the Barney show they were playing didn't do anything for her at all.

MyGym Classes

2008-01-13T15:22:00.001+08:00

We signed our baby up for classes! Ah, our big girl is going for class liao!
Basically, we are lazy parents, so we didn't really check out which type of class is good for what kind of development etc etc. We chose one for our convenience, based on location!!! It's My Gym Singapore at Parkway Parade. Ha ha ha... coz we spend most weekends there, might as well make the most of it huh?

Anyway, we did attend the trial first and found it interesting. Lots of activities to burn off the girl's energy.

There are 3 teachers for a class of about 8 to 10 babies.

They start with a welcome song, some warmup exercises and basic workouts that we can do with our babies. Then it's free play around the gym while the teachers set up two or three different activity stations.

After that comes the swings and bubbles which is my girl's favourite! She'll get on the swing first, then struggle to come down when the teachers bring out the bubbles.

Story telling time is next. Usually with songs and a hand puppet. My girl don't have the patience to sit through it although it's just a couple of minutes. She's usually all over the gym and the teachers will try to catch and deposit her back into my lap.

Of coz, everything ends with the goodbye song. And an ice-cream chop on the hand for my ger. She seems very proud of that chop, don't ask me why but will show it off for everyone to see.

Ok, some pictures:

Hmm.... so crowded today... where should I start first?

Let's climb up, get away from the crowd.

Now I'm up, there's no way but down! I wanna get down the same way I came up!

Ok, where to next? I spot the ball pit!!

Yeah! I have it all to myself!

Ok... let me get some rest before the crowd descends here.

Swinging with Duncan, her classmate. This boy is so friendly!!! Keep trying to kiss my girl!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

2008-01-07T14:24:00.001+08:00

Ah..... my ger's favourite song of the moment. Once you start singing, she starts shaking her bum in the air and clapping her hands.

My ger cute bo? *blink* *blink*

Now and Then

2007-11-22T10:13:00.000+08:00

Well, I can't believe I made it 1 whole year as a mother and unbelievably, my baby survived a whole year with me.

Look at her then......

Look at her NOW!!!

It's amazing someone so small and fragile can bring so much joy and laughter into our lives. Thank you my little one, for coming into our lives, for teaching us to look at the world from your perspective and for the journey that we will share.

And when you turn into a monster at two (or should I say reach your peak of the Terrible Twos), please pray that I will remember this and keep my sanity!

Party Time!

2007-11-17T16:29:00.000+08:00

Finally, after months of buying and planning and spending, it's the DAY! Megan's 1st Year Old Party!

Despite of months and months of planning, I failed to plan her photo takings. So I ended up with very few pictures. But thanks to family and friends, I still have some hard copy memories of her big day!

These are all the party decorations that I purchased online months ago.

Before the party started, we had the balloons all pump up with helium and handed the first one to her. She was so happy and excited to see it!

However, soon after we tried to change her into her party dress, she started screaming and yelling. The zip on the dress got stuck and everyone was trying to pull it up for her. All she wanted to do was to get away.

Gong Gong, can you help me get out of this dress pleaseeeeeeeee

Anyway, whilst she was being a grouch about her dress, at least her friends were enjoying the party.

Birthday song time!

Cake cutting... So stressful with everyone staring. Will I cut it right? Will there be enough? Will they like the cake?

Party favors to give away. Here's is Megan with her Daryl kor kor and Sheryl jie jie hogging the favors!

And every kid's favorite time! Presents time! A favorite regardless of age actually!

Finally, a big thank you to all my family and friends who helped and attended the party.

A Walk in the Park

2007-11-10T15:33:00.000+08:00

I have a new bicycle from Dad!

It's my first birthday present and I love it! It has this revolving animal thingy with lights and music which irritates mom. So I just kept pressing and pressing the buttons to activate it.

And so, to show off my present from Dad, we made a trip to Pasir Ris Park.

It was a great day at the park, the weather was perfect. The rain earlier made everything wet and muddy but the air was cool. I had a go at everything I saw.

Here I am being a Red Indian... Do I look cool or wat?

Hey Dad, can I get a room with a view?

Ok Dad, we're crossing the bridge now. Don't worry, I'll protect you. Slow and steady is the way to go.

Ohhhhh... a swing! Mom said she love those as a kid. I suspect she still does. The rocking was so soothing that I almost fell asleep. Why dun we get a bed that does that?

After the walk, Mom n Dad got hungry. So they went to this pretty restaurant there at Pasir Ris Park call Watercross

They had chocolate fondue, mixed grill and a big basket fried stuffs. Guess what I got to eat?

A pathetic slice of apple, which they took away when I haven't even finished coz they complained about the mess i was making!!! *sob* *sob* *sob*

My Cheeky Ger!

2007-10-14T22:36:00.000+08:00

My girl loves to do cheeky stuffs. This is her latest "Ugly Face"

Another one here.... Help me! help me! Where's everybody!

I love videos more than pictures! All those animations from a baby that pictures aren't able to capture. Thank goodness for technology!

A trip to the ZOOOOOO!

2007-10-13T22:10:00.000+08:00

Ah.... my first trip to the zoo... hmmm... let's start counting the animals i saw!

1. The White Tiger

I wanna go nearer! This is too far away. Come on, Daddy.... move move move!!!

Wah.... so impressive... such a big cat! I don't get to see any of these at the void deck wor. I tried to go after it, but mummy & daddy won't let me! *sulk*.

2. The Hippo!

So big and ugly!!! It's nothing like that cute pink hippo I have on my bed.

Anyway, after the hippo, I got tired and fell asleep. Hmmm... after I wake up, it was time for lunch....*sigh*... then it started raining after lunch! Arghhhhhhhh...... Where are the elephants and giraffes you promised??!!! Why why why do we have to leave when I have not seen any of those??

I don't care! You better bring me back here again! And SOON!

Photo shoot!!!

2007-09-21T21:50:00.000+08:00

Ah... it's a tiring day out. It's hard to imagine standing there and smiling at the camera could be so tiring.

We went for a photo shoot today and boy!... you can't imagine the number of barang barangs we had brought along. I don't think we even made such a big deal out of our wedding shoots.

Anyway, it's not easier making wardrobe changes for a 9 month old...*shudders*... She got cranky with each change and we had our wardrobe malfunctions as well. However, pictures turned out great with much thanks to David Lim from Foto-U. He was so great with Megan and so patient with all of us.

Here's a preview... n nope... I'm not putting up her naked pics... but those are gorgeous! I think this is the only time you look absolutely beautiful despite of that big tummy and cellulite!

Goodnight, sweet dreams

2007-09-20T10:25:00.000+08:00

I seldom write long posts. Mainly because I'm lazy (what else?). But I couldn't resist writing down this week's nightime routine with my ger. Everytime I think about it, I get all warm and fuzzy inside and I just have to share it.

We do have our share of her cranky nites. But generally, we are luckier than most of the mummies out there. She has been sleeping through since her 2nd month and is seldom fussy in the middle of the night. If she does wakes up, it's not difficult to put her back to bed again.

But she got super cranky a couple of weeks ago, I blamed it on teething (Dunno wat else to push it to??!!!)

However, this week, she's back to normal and something new! Every night, after her bath and milk, me and hubby will put our darling on her cot, kiss her goodnight, say our "I Love Yousssssss". Then hubby will go out of the room to wash and sterilize the bottles (Muark muark for doing all the housework without complaints)

I will then hide in a corner and wait for her to fall asleep (which used to work up till last week). The minute my hubby closes the door, she scramble to her knees and try to pull herself up (which is not easy, since she's in a grobag). She'll scan the room, and when she spots me hiding pathetically in a corner... she'll give a gentle "eh... eh..."

I used to stubbornly remain in hiding until the gentle "eh" escalates to a loud wail then walk over. But just this week, I decided to try responding at her first "eh". The minute I responded fast enough, I'm rewarded with the sweetest angelic smile in the whole wide world....awwwwwwwwwwww.... In the dark room, with the soft glowing night light in the background and that sweet little face smiling at me. It just makes me all warm and fuzzy. Once i reach her, she'll extend out 1 hand to me and I'll grasp that gently in my hand and guide her down, give her another kiss and be rewarded with another smile and a sleepy eye rub down.

She'll repeat all that for at least another 3 to 4 times before she's willing to settle down. It's more tiring compared to the past, when I'll just leave her there but oh so rewarding.

Ah ah ah ah ah

2007-09-17T23:40:00.000+08:00

Hmmm... my ger does loads of wierd funny stuffs. Try teaching her something proper, she doesn't pick up at all.

But stuffs like this... she picks up super fast...

Mood spin

2007-08-31T22:30:00.000+08:00

Ah.... this ger with the super quick mood changes. So funny and so difficult to understand.

Within a split second, she went from crying to playing to laughing.

Then why do they cry in the first place? What triggered the fuss? I think babies are harder to understand than women.

Sit ups!

2007-08-30T13:33:00.000+08:00

Ah.... I have been wobbling my backside for ages now, with my parents waiting in anticipation for the 1st time I sit up by myself.

Alas, when I succeed, there was no applause nor praises.

Mum was eating at the dining table (what else), and sad to say... although Dad was holding the camera and aiming it at me, he missed it too!!! Don't ask me how that happened!!!!

But at least they caught it on video and now the world can view my achievement!!!!!!!!!

The day I sit up all by myself: 4 August 2007

Trapped!!!!!!!!

2007-08-24T23:45:00.000+08:00

Well, I admit that I was getting a bit bored on the jumperoo. But why did you suddenly dump me in a cage?????

Hmmm... what is happening? Why are we all here? Are we being sold off like pigs in a pen? ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Hey you, behind me!!!... What are you trying to do? There is not escaping this place I tell you!!

Never give up huh? Now you're trying to move from the front?

I better hold on to him!... Urm... no no... I better hold on to the gate. He might bring the whole place down!

Ah Bah Bah Bah

2007-08-12T12:05:00.000+08:00

Mummyyyyyyy, Daddyyyyyyyyy....... look!!! New Trick!!!

Hmmm... my hubby loves teaching the ger such tricks!!! *Faintz* Nope, no flashcards, no alphabet lessons, no stories, just silly tricks!!!

But she loves it and imitates it so well!!! Hrmph.... you try to teach her anything educational though.... doesn't work......*sigh*

Oh so Pretty!!!

2007-07-23T16:27:00.000+08:00

I love my ger in this dress!!!!.... Excuse me whilst I shamelessly drool over my ger!!!!!!!!!!

Ding dongs!!

2007-07-19T22:07:00.000+08:00

Oh... I learned a new trick recently! Would you like to see it? Do not try to attempt it though if you dun have my youth and energy and my innate cuteness!

It make look easy but I guarantee that you won't be able to take it!

Try it at your own risks!

A Walk in the Park!

2007-07-19T21:34:00.000+08:00

After much consideration (and many many many mosquitoes patches later), Mum finally decided to let me go to the East Coast Park.

Look at the pretty pictures! Of course you can't take pretty pictures without a pretty model!

I even had my dinner there! I think dinner taste so much better outdoors!

Dad took the chance to take lots of pictures with me.

Love my walk in the park and I definately want to come back here again!!