Blueberries season

Well, if you happen to go to the supermarkets, you can now pick up a box of blueberries for a reasonable price as its now the season. So get them for your kids since they are high in Vit C and antioxidants!

However after you let your kid try blueberries, and they dont seem to like it. What do you do with the leftovers?

This was exactly what happen to Caleb. He took a few but didnt want more as there is a distinct taste which he didnt really fancy. So as not to put it to waste, I blended it with ice cream and milk. Ta da! Blueberry milkshake! Throw in some blueberries as topping. An absolutely yummy drink suitable after a meal!



If you want this to be absolutely healthy, then leave out the ice cream!

Whole day of fun!

Today is the day I have been thinking about even before when I had my own children. Before having them, I always think to myself how nice it would be when all the cousins and friends can play together with my own kids when they are all around the same age.

Few days back, Marianne sms me and asked me if I would like to join her as she would bringing her kids to the Sengkang Sports Complex. Of course I said yes, since its also near my place. Then she also told me a day later that my sister-in-law, Pamela would be joining us as well.

Pam went to pick Marianne and her kids up, then came by my place to pick me and Caleb up. I left Vicky and Danielle at home as Vicky had to cook lunch and moreover, the weather would be too hot for Danielle's beautiful fair skin. Ha.

When we reached, they kids were running about hysterically.


Caleb was following closely to Janine and Phoebe! They looked so cute together!



When the children finally got into the pool, it seemed like they automatically seperated themselves because Phoebe would be busy playing with the slides, Janine would be too frightened to play with the slides, so she would be just hanging in the pool by herself, Caleb would be standing as still as a sucker fish - will only move when 'forced to' and as for Asher, he was sitting on the edge playing with water. But he finally gotten the courage to soak himself in the water!



Here's Phoebe swimming backstroke!


Phoebe also wanted to go try the adult slides but was turned down by the lifeguard because she was still slightly too short. She was disappointed.



All in all, we had a great time! It drizzled right after we got off the pool.

It was also fun riding together in the same car as the kids were eating their french fries while watching Hi-5 during the journey back to my house.



Vicky cooked chicken rice and fish soup with cabbage, fish balls and mushroom balls.

I told her to cook this as I knew the kids would love chicken rice.



After lunch, the kids were watching Hi-5 and playing together.



They also sat together as Pamela read the storybook, "Max's Words" to them. Its a very nice story! I enjoyed reading it to Caleb. It was a book I borrowed from the library.

Then the kids also had fun dancing together to the hannah montana advertisement. Take a look at the video!It's quite funny. They kept asking me to replay the same advertisement over and over again as it was in my DVD recorder.



As for Danielle, too bad, she's still too young to join in. But I'm sure she would once she can stand on her two feet. Cant wait! Here's Danielle with godma


At night, me and Pam(sis-in-law) planned to go my mum's place for dinner as our weekly visit back. And since Marianne was with us, Pam actually called my mum and asked if Marianne could join us. And of course, my ever obliging mum agreed and so, we were back together at night at my parent's place!

My mum prepared her famous ginger duck dish and we also had sukiyaki for dinner. There was tofu, leek, shitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, slices of beef and pork, raw eggs, cabbage to put into the hotpot. I love it because its simple and yummy! My mum also cooked japanese rice to go with it.



What a day of fun we had! Cant wait for more sessions like these! The next thing I am also looking forward to is for the kids to have stayover at someone's house! That I know, have to wait for a few more years to come!

She makes my day...

There are times when Vicky would be busy with housework and I would end up taking care of my 2 kids all by myself. Caleb is easier to take care as once you switch on the TV and play Hi-5, he is satisfied and can sit on the sofa throughout the whole show.

But as for Danielle, it gets tricky because she cant walk and she is heavy! So though she likes Hi-5 too, her attention span is not good. So after 2 - 5 mins, she makes noise. So I have to figure out what else to amuse her. I usually place her on her high chair as I push her around in it. So there are times when I want to do stuff on my computer, I would push her beside me and give her some toys to chew as she loves to bite on anything and everything, including grabbing Caleb's toes to suck. (Yep, it happened before)

Anyway, here's Danielle making my day by smiling at me.




No teeth yet at almost 7 months.


She would give the same sweet smile to CT when he comes back from work.


I really think that having kids does give me added strength and motivation to work because all the hard work seems worth it when you just see that kind of smile! *sigh of contentment*

talking a lot!

Caleb has been talking quite a bit...Its cute and amusing.

Here's one time when he was in the car. Throughout the whole journey, he was blabbering non-stop. Even I, as a listener, felt tired for him.



Recently, he have also picked up 'parroting'. He would say whatever we tell him to. So here's one of the occasions. (Turn up your speakers)

River Festival 2009

Took the opportunity to go down to Clarke Quay to catch the River Festival today. It has been a while since we visited CENTRAL shopping centre. So took a train down to visit the place and catch the activities happening by the river. It was also a Father's Day Celebration for CT.

When we were there, we managed to catch an illusionist performing on stage.



We went to Waraku Restaurant for dinner.

I was really spoilt for choice in this restaurant as it serves so many different kinds of Japanese food. They even have udon noodles with carbonara sauce, which CT had. Lots of carbo as it also came with a pork katsu rice bowl.



I wasnt too hungry. So had a light seafood ramen which was very nice!



Had an enjoyable dinner as we had a good view of the river while eating.


Caleb ordered a Japanese seafood fried rice for dinner.


I also gave him some of my noodles which he loves too! We kept him busy and occupied as I brought along his file, which consists of colouring papers as well as a box of colouring pencils. This file comes in handy whenever I go out, I would just grab it and bring it along with me, just in case Caleb gets cranky and at least, there would be something to keep him occupied.



After dinner, we went walking along the river which was very pleasant as it was quite breezy.



Scenery was spectacular especially when the sun was setting. I felt like a tourist as I kept snapping pictures of the area and scenery.



As I was walking and admiring the scenery as well as the zillion number of restaurants you can find in the area, I actually randomly thought to myself,"how I wish I was a tourist here in Singapore."

It is a very strange thought as in actual fact, I should feel happier since I am a citizen here than a tourist! But I felt if I were a tourist here, it would give me the 'right' to be in this place, and spend money! haha. Dont you feel that each time when you go overseas on a holiday, you have the mood to spend on food or shopping even when there may be some stuff you can get cheaper back home? Its really all about the mood. Once we're in a holiday mood, we tend to spend more.

So I was quite envious of the tourists in Singapore after my trip down at Clarke Quay. It was really very HAPPENING!



There were even Japanese drum concert, boats with different themes parading down the river etc etc.





I also discovered tonight that the steps along the river had lights that changes! Did you know that?





What an enjoyable evening!

Whose birthday?

Today was yet another birthday celebration for me. Yes, my birthday celebration seems to go on and on..I like that!

First, it was my mum cooking a simple meal for me at home, then went over to my mum-in-law's place for cake cutting, then my colleagues celebrated for me and finally today, went to Jumbo Seafood Restaurant for a proper birthday dinner! Actually, all along, I intended to go Jumbo but my dad was still in hospital. So we wanted to wait. However, my dad decided to tell us to go ahead as he wasnt sure when he would be discharged from hospital and most likely, it would be in July. So, because I have the Jumbo membership card, I have special privileges if I celebrate my birthday on the same month.

So we went ahead without my dad.

First, I went to my mum's house so that we can all go together. The cousins- Janine and Caleb went to the roof top garden to swing and they looked like they enjoyed themselves.



We had dinner at the Golf Course, which was a much better environment than East Coast Park as its less crowded, service is better and its more relaxing.

I brought my list (with all the food I want to order) to the restaurant so that I can save time to think what I want to eat. So when we sat down, I immediately placed my order. Yep..I tend to be find the menu online first or recommendations from blogs or food reviews before I go to the restaurant so that I will order nice dishes and it saves lots of time.

I ordered fried yu tiao (dough fritters with seafood paste) because its my brother's favourite and I know CT will also like.



Then spinach beancurd with mushrooms which the kids can also eat


Deep Fried baby squid as it was recommended by the website


Stir fried brocolli with scallops, salted fish fried rice as well as 2 Sri Lankan Chilli Crabs with steam and fried buns (mantou)





Didnt want to order too much as I was given a complimentary mango mousse birthday cake by Jumbo.



And as expected, when the cake arrive, the 2 kids got excited and couldnt wait to blow the candles. So I faced the cake at them and acted as if it was their birthday. Just to make them happy.





Both Caleb and Danielle had a taste of the cake.









After dinner, as we were walking to the carpark, Caleb was actually holding Janine's hands. It was very sweet as Caleb doesnt anyhow let people hold his hands.



I do pray Caleb and Janine will get along well with each other and continue to love and enjoy each other's company.

New fun place

Every weekend, I try to rack my brains and search the internet for nice and child-friendly places to go. Today, CT took off to be with the family and because of that, I was given the mission to decide where to bring the family.

A few factors to consider:
-weather (because the weather has been so hot, I wanted an air-con place)
-kids friendly (anywhere to keep the kids entertained and happy)
-crowd (CT and I hate crowded places)
-food (a place with good and reasonable priced food)
-parking (a place where parking is convenient and available)
-distance (not too far from our house)

With all that in mind, I found the 'perfect' place-Sembawang Shopping centre. The only thing is that parking is quite limited but we had no problems finding a place because it was a weekday and we went before 5pm, to beat the peak hour.

To find an air con place, it had to be a shopping centre and I have always wanted to visit Sembawang Shopping centre which officially opened only last year Dec. Its kids friendly as they have a splash park at the top floor and because its relatively new and its a weekday, there were not many people. As for distance, it was only about 15-20 mins drive from my place.

Here's Caleb on his $12 'new' car seat. We threw away the old one because it was disintegrating.



Upon arrival, we went straight to the Splash Park for the kids to play.



They have an indoor and outdoor playground.





Danielle had her go at the slide too.





After a while, CT and I took danielle to look around the shopping centre. The shop all still look very new and clean. Even the Popular Book Store was huge and they even had those $2 capsule toy machines in the stall which they were still installing when we were there.

What I like about the shopping centre was the travellators. They do not have escalators. All levels were travellators as they make it convenient for us, parents who are pushing the pram, as well as the shoppers in Giant Hypermart.



They also have nice restaurants like...

A Hongkong restaurant



Western Restaurant-Aston specialties



and Japanese Restaurant-MOF (Ministry of Food)


They also have a French bakery shop where I bought quite a lot from which amounted to $20 over bucks! Yes, its expensive!!



After that, we went back to the Splash Park to see how's Caleb doing. He was still playing in the indoor playground and have yet ventured to the wet area. So after some encouragement (as he was a little hestitant), he finally went and enjoyed himself tremendously!



Meimei also played for a short while at the wet area.


Here's some info on the park if you are interested to visit.



Caleb was so drenched but he still didnt want to leave.



After spending an hour there, we dried them up and changed them before we go off for our dinner at Aston Specialties, which was just outside the Splash Park.

I ordered a medium rare Prime Cut with Baked Beans and Baked potato,

CT ordered a medium New York Strip with mashed potato and onion rings


while Vicky had a grilled fish. I love Aston Specialties for it is value for money.

Had a wonderful dinner as my steak was so tender and juicy!


Though it was more expensive, I preferred CT's because it had fats and tendons which I love.

After a very satisfying dinner, we headed back home. I will definitely be back again!