Singapore 2008 - Mum

It was good to see Mum again! 2 1/2 years is a long time. We had been planning for the past few weeks - sleeping arrangements, our cruise, food etc etc and it was nice to finally be here, right here in Singapore, in Mum's brand new flat which I was seeing for the first time. Block 32, TP was our home for 38 years and it had aged. So glad that mum has a nice new place now right in the heart of TP Central. It made getting around real convenient as the MRT was just round the corner and the bus network was just amazing.

Mum has mellowed considerably. I am glad to say that throughout the whole 5 weeks, we got on wonderfully. We've had our differences in the past but this time was different. We talked, went out together, had fun with the kids, and of course, she had the opportunity to feed us, both with her home cooked meals and the yummiest local delicacies from around TP. Breakfast was always a 4-course meal - tau hwey, chai tao kweh, vegetarian fried mee hoon, chwee kwey,soon kwey....... can't remember the rest.

The kids enjoyed mama. She brought them to the library, pasar malam every day for a whole week, 2 movies and TP central for shopping.

Our trip also coincided with Mum's 74 birthday which was nice!

Singapore 2008 - Erica's godparents

Erica was very excited to see her godparents and their family again. She was convinced they would not recognise her (although I tried to tell her they had seen recent photos of her)

This is Erica's recount:

I went to my Godparent's house and I did Wii at their house. We had lots of fun playing Wii. We played Wii tennis, Wii bowling and Wii baseball.

My godparents have glasses, they are always happy and they were very kind.

My godsister Rachael is tall. I made beads with Rachael. We had her birthday in Singapore.

Singapore 2008 - Swim at Sabina's

The trip the whole family had been looking forward to finally arrived. We spent 5 wonderful weeks in Singapore, caught up with some of our bestest friends on what had been happening for the past 2 1/2 years. Us grown up folks (I first typed older then deleted) hadn't changed much physically but boy oh boy have the next generation grown. Our little girls have all blossomed (some bountifully too!) into gorgeous young ladies and the scruffy little boys are all well groomed, well mannered & confident and very good looking young men. We are SO proud of you all!

One of the first friends I caught up with on the trip was Sab and Moira. We had a lovely afternoon at Season's Park where the kids had their first swim in Singapore. We had chicken rice of course, NZ strawberries and chocolate dip , swam, talked, kids did the sauna (in the hot sun, crazy), played the memory game which I lost as expected and took photos on Sab's new couch! We had heaps of fun that afternoon. Thanks Sab and Moira for having us.

Erica turns 6

We had to battle a really tough bout of flu to get there but we did! An all girl party of five - Catherine, Maia. Nicole, Sabine and Erica herself, of course, celebrated Erica's 6th birthday at the Teddy Factory in Sylvia Park, one of the largest mega malls in Auckland.

The girls got to pick their own bears, then got them filled up, christened them and made them birth certificates. They also got a surprise visit from Freddy the Bear who was asleep at that time, and to be awakened by the 5 screaming girls. To go with the bear theme, the cake was a Care Bear cake, lovingly made by mum. The lunch and cake was cut at MacDonald's at the Sylvia Park Food Mall, giving the girls time for a play at the playground

Celebrating with the Tans

We were in Melbourne just recently to celebrate with Justin and Mary their 20th Wedding Anniversary. The celebration began at their home with a beautiful mass where Mary & Justin renewed their marriage vows. All the 5 older children had a part to play in the mass - doing readings and sharing. I especially enjoyed the music accompaniment provided by the violion, piano and guitar trio. After mass, the Tan children sang "Stand by me", which I thought was very appropriate for the occasion. No Singaporean celebration would be complete without food & gambling so we dug into a sumptuous Chinese dinner at a restaurant closeby and then ended the night with Poker. It was fun to catch up with not just the Tans but also Cath and Tony's family as well as get acquainted with June and Henry.

We were totally pampered by the Tans the whole 10 days we were there. No cooking for me - yeah! No nagging the kids - they hardly fought because they had other distractions. Ming & Tim hit it off right away, and Erica had Isabel, Connie and Cassie to dote on her. Alphonsus and Ian got Mervin pretty hooked on poker. Justin has trained his kids well, actually ALL his kids play poker including Ming!I'm sure Ren won't be far away. I didn't have to decide what to eat and where to go - Mary had it all planned and under control.

We spent a wonderful weekend at Inverloch with the Tans and the Chongs, and whilst we were there, headed to Philips Island to see the fairy penguins. The children loved it!

We spent a day at the Weribee Open Range Zoo and saw some wild cats way up close.

Had tea at a pretty and quaint tea house called Mrs Marples at Sassafras and then caught the Puffing Billy.

On our final night there, we had an awesome Teppanyaki dinner at a Japanese restaurant.

I musn't forget to mention that we did a fair bit of shopping. Shopping in Melbourne was magnificent compared to Auckland so we got a bit carried away. You will soon see (in summer) the 27kg Kathmandu 6-man tent we brought home all the way from Melbourne because it was clearing at 75% discount off the normal price!

Camping in New Zealand - Back on the track

After the unscheduled dip, we were back on the track and the view just kept getting more and more spectacular. Surrounded by 360 degrees unobstructured views of the mountain ranges, we really felt on top of the world!
And just when we about dried up, someone spotted another watering hole, so off went the clothes again and into the water we went.

You'd think we were soaking in a man-made spa in some Indonesian island resort until you see the moutain ranges in the backdrop....

Yeah! this is the real thing, this is LIFE!

And this time, I couldn't resist getting into the water myself.

And Priscilla followed soon after..

When we had finished, all that was left to do was to contemplate the beauty of God's wonderful creation.

Camping in New Zealand - Macho Men

The walk to the Rainbow Falls was nice. The children had fun picking up stones - thanks to Priscilla's very informative geology facts. Soon their pockets were filled and guess who had to carry their stones for them????

Having walked about 3/4 an hour in the hot summer sun, the watering hole looked very enticing, but boy or boy were they wrong if they thought the water was also warm. The first few seconds was biting cold then it got better.

Whilst the guys were showing off their abs, we girls had our fun too.

After all that excitement, it was time to have the tuna & corn beef lunch we prepared at camp.