Post Christmas

The day after Christmas, hubby was on leave.  We were out of the house by 840am to my mum's place where I went with my mum to attend a funeral. It was one of those rare moments where I get to go out alone with mum and even take a public bus with her! I did enjoy myself thoroughly. Think I should do that more often with her.

Anyway, after the funeral, we left my parent's place to park our car at our secret free parking lot near Kembangan Station, nestled among the private houses then took a train down to City Hall. We walked to iExperience which is located at Esplanade Xchange, connecting to Esplanade MRT Station.

My children were especially glued to this desktop computer (literally).

I was intrigued by the antiques displayed..ranging from old telephones, handphones, pagers, the old apple computer as well as storage devices, including an 8 inch floppy disk which I have never seen before!

There was also this cool projector piano on the floor to play!

I always marvel at technology and how people create such things.

Had lunch just opposite this place at a small kopitiam. Daddy and Caleb has chicken rice. Caleb could practically eat that every day, every meal! As for me, I shared with Danielle a bowl of prawn mee.

We then walked to National Museum to catch the exhibits.

There were so much to see that surprisingly, we spent about 3-4 hours there! Can't believe it!

We first went to catch the 50 years of TV exhibition where it features the arrival and development of TV in Singapore. Brings you memories of the shows you used to watch.



Cool projector

A vehicle found in Philippines

Check out Caleb's face in the screen with the stars!

I, personally love this exhibit as I have been catching the show in Channel 8 and I have loved every episode of it. It is an amazing production where they filmed in the Yongding District of China, Penang, Ipoh as well as some parts of Singapore. It is a nation-building trilogy depicting the first-generation Chinese immigrants come from China who set foot on the island of Singapore to seek their fortunes, then they will show the world war and finally, the blissful periods in Singapore (present day). This show will spread over 3 years. With an amazing cast and great scriptwriting, be sure not to miss this showing every weekday at 9pm. Alternatively, if you have missed the previous episodes, catch up on it here! (The Journey: A Voyage Show)

 

 

Old pushcarts selling satay

Children enjoying retro music

Wayang costumes

Scent of spices for you to smell

Old glass bottles

In the History Gallery

Posters of old films
 

Old cameras



Children enjoying audio narration of tok tok mee

Biennale Exhibition-Projected on wooden cut-outs are videos of Vietnamese artists coolly eating as they stare back at you. You hear the crunch of cucumber, someone takes a puff, another turns her back on you. They actually move!



Biennale Exhibition of glowing chandeliers-The Japanese couple created this in reaction to the Fukushima disaster in 2011 and each of the 31 chandeliers — made of uranium glass and UV lighting — represent the nations with nuclear capacity; the bigger the chandelier, the greater the number of its nuclear plants 





 

After walking for so long, we were so tired..

 



We then took a train to Bedok to check out the new mall. There were many shops and restaurants. Went to Din Tai Fung for dinner as I love the food there!



 

 

By the time we went back to our car and drove home, it was close to 9pm. 12 hours out with the family is no joke- legs soring to the max. Wonder if I would do this again since it was quite fun and eventful...

 



Festivities..

Festivities tire me out. During this Christmas Season, people thronged the streets, shopping malls, and supermarkets to grab their last minute Christmas shopping or for their Christmas parties. It's incredibly crazy for an introvert like me who just prefer to stay at home or have a nice quiet dinner with my loved ones.

My Christmas dinner started early on 21st Dec. Every year, my parent's friend would deliver roast beef, turkey and ham to my parent's house. Then my mum would organise a party with family and friends over to her house. This time round, it's just my family and relatives as we just had my nephew's one month party at my parent's place not long ago so my mum decided, we should just keep this Christmas party to our family.

 

 

I do look forward to eating this every year, especially the tender and cooked-to-perfection, juicy roast beef! My aunts would bring a couple of food as well and my mum would cook a couple more dishes to add.

 

Here's a picture of the boys in my family with my son, my brother and my nephew, Jadon who is one month old! Finally, Caleb has a boy to play with..

 

 

Besides pigging out, Christmas in church this year has been wonderful as I invited my Primary 2 neighbour to church with us and she came along. It was nice for the children to play together with her once again. She said she enjoyed herself and my children has been bugging me to ask her out again soon!

 

My church was involved in the flash mob in Downtown East and White Sands as well in the Elias CC Fund Raising.

 

During service, many came forward to receive Christ and also re-dedication back to the Lord. God is good!

 



Throughout this season, as I see my children unwrapped their presents and how people indulge in food, I really wonder how much food or presents have gone to waste? To be honest, there were many presents given that we didn't need or like and I am sure if I feel that way,many too have received presents they do not need or like as well. So what happens to them? Thrown away? Pass it on?

While I was watching the news on TV showing how people partying away during Christmas, it makes me wonder whether they really know the true meaning behind Christmas. I guess they are just taking advantage of yet another holiday to party?

Why are people all over the world celebrating Christmas even though they are not Christians?

For me, its only because of Christ birth..seems like a politically correct answer but as a Christian, I know that without Christ coming to this world and dying for us, there is no way I can go to heaven with God after this life because of how sinful I am.

Christ was born to die so that we might live.. Doesn't this sound like God is crazy? Well, He is. He is crazily in love with you! That's what it simply is.

Christianity is about God loving you and wanting you to just believe and accept Him into your life.

So, what is your reason for celebrating Christmas? What is Christmas to you? I would love to hear from you!

Cruise on Superstar Virgo

The last time I have been to a cruise was probably when I was in Junior College with my group of friends. This time round, hubby didn't feel like taking airplane, so we decided to bring the children on a cruise ship for their first time. So off we went on a 4D3N cruise to Phuket and Langkawi.

The children were understandably excited. For me, I was just glad to be out of the house and Singapore...as for my hubby, he was like, " Oh boy, what to do on board the ship? Only eat and sleep.."

Anyway, off we went to Singapore Cruise Centre at Harbourfront. Checking in and entering the ship was quite a smooth process.

 

 

We walked around and toured the ship on our own. The children couldn't wait to swim! So we did, despite the blazing afternoon sun!

 

And because we checked in quite early and maybe because of the sun, we were the only ones to use the pool.

 

 



Caleb was so excited over the long slide that he went over and over again..countless of times, non-stop!

 

 

After the swim, we toured more of the huge ship and walked around as the ship departed Singapore on Sunday 4pm.

 

 

Danielle was happy taking pictures of Hello Kitty and friends all over the ship

 



 

On the first day, there was the Kids Club Open House. So the indoor playground was free for the children. So they dropped by to have fun in there.

 

What I love about taking cruise is the sight of the sea, the nice waters and the sky! I always love nature as it is so beautiful and breathtaking..

The food in Bella Vista Restaurant is amazing! After eating there, you do not really want to go elsewhere anymore!

The meals in Bella Vista is a set meal. So you get to choose an appetizer, main course and dessert.

The ship has many things in there.. like the basketball court, mini golf, chess set and checkers, kids pool and adults pool, water slide..

Frankly speaking, you will never run out of things to do unless you are just plain lazy to do them and just want to eat and sleep!

 

We all loved the mini golf..great for the whole family as there were about 5 courses to challenge ourselves.



 

 

You can also borrow boardgames to play. We played this in the morning when it was drizzling a little outside.



The children loved Jenga so much that we had to buy one set in Phuket when we stopped over!

The shows in the cruise ship were also enjoyable and entertaining. I loved the magic show, acrobatics and the music show best! There were also the Hello Kitty and Friends Show but that was mainly for the children.

 



There was another good restaurant, The Pavilion where they served Chinese food. We went there for breakfast and the dried oyster porridge was good!

All the restaurants had good view of the sea. So that was what I liked as well.

 

Just before we reached Phuket, there was a BBQ party by the poolside. It served buffet as well as BBQ food, and whole range of desserts, ice cream and fruits! It's a food haven!

 

We reached Phuket at 7pm on Monday. Just when the sun was setting. It was nice to see islands after seeing nothing but water and skies for a day.

 

 

We had to take a smaller boat over to Patong Beach as the waters were too shallow for our huge cruise ship.



 

 

From Patong Beach, we could see our cruise ship all beautifully lit like a Christmas tree!

 



 

 

 

We walked around Patong Beach. Went to a Eurasian/Thai Restaurant for some food! (Yes, more eating..)

 



 

 There's Caleb with his new Ice Watch that we got for him to prepare him for Primary One.

 We went back to our ship at about 11pm plus. We were all so tired from the walking..

Our next stop was Langkawi on Tues, 1030am. Both places, we went free and easy. Felt it was more economical.

We got a taxi who would bring us around for 4 hours for $150 Ringgit. So he was like our personal driver. We first went for lunch. We ordered Fried Squid with salted egg, fried rice, broccoli with Bai Ling Mushrooms and hot plate chicken.

 

 

Then we wanted to sit the Cable Car to the highest mountain there but the staff told us we need to queue for 2 hours and once we reach the top, we still have to wait another 2 hours to come back. It was crazy. So, we just walked around the area.

 

 

Chanced upon a flying fox station where I thought Caleb could try. 

He enjoyed himself!

There was also a rabbit area for feeding and petting.

 

 

After that, we took the taxi to see Waterfalls. Too bad we didnt bring our costume. If not, the children would surely love to play in there. But we did soak our feet and walked in the cool water!



Then our last stop was the beach. It was beautiful but I was burning from the sun rays!



Back in the ship at about 4pm. It was our last night at the ship and there was a Gala Dinner going on. We did not initially book for it as I thought I had to pay...but CT said we didn't need to so by the time we booked, we were placed on a long waiting list. So CT and I thought most likely there won't be a chance for us to attend the Gala dinner since who would be in the right mind to book for it and pull out? After all, they are stuck in the ship..where else can they go?

But surprisingly, we received a confirmation letter in our room stating that we have a place in our favourite restaurant- The Bella Vista!! Praise God. I couldn't help but thank God as its only Him that can make something impossible become possible.

And because of this, we enjoyed ourselves tremendously from the cocktail served and performances at the reception area with free flow of drinks- red wine, champagne, juice to fine dining food at the restaurant!

There were escargots, roasted beef tenderloin, salmon. All were amazing as we ordered almost everything to share.

Even after such a full and satisfying dinner, we could still finish our dessert-Baked Alaskan Ice Cream Layered Cake.

After dinner, we walked around the decks of the ship before making our way to our last show- Somewhere in Time. It is a musical cum acrobatic performance. Very entertaining! We all loved it!

It was a night definitely not to forget and because of the games, food and shows in this cruise, I can now say it is not just eating and sleeping on board a cruise. The smooth running of everything on board this ship was amazing despite having so many people on board.

So will I ever come back? Hmm..maybe not  as there's more to see than life in a ship especially since I dislike party and gambling...and enjoy routine and sleeping early as going on this cruise upsets all my routine.

But I am just thankful to have went through this experience with my hubby and children! It was enjoyable! Thank God for this trip and the wonderful weather!