Children's Art: 2023 Bunnies

Bunnies to mark the year of the rabbit. Love the festive decoration.

Allergy Test For 萱萱

Made it back in time to bring 萱萱 to the scheduled allergen test at KKH. There was apparently some miscommunication and we only did the environmental allergen test for things like dust mites, bed bugs etc. Everything was a straight negative ... I thought we were concerned over honey allergy ... so this trip was simply a "pay for good-to-know" test. Haiz ... anyways we scheduled another session for food allergies in a fortnight.

Food On Jan '23 Cincinnati Trip

Traveling alone in winter months makes it harder to eat out. All of my meals were alone except for a team gathering on Wednesday. I'm fine to dine alone but it gets difficult during the weekends when restaurants are packed. I still had a few good meals at some nice restaurants and mixed it in with simple fare like subway for lunch. It's expensive to eat out in US ... I probably spent more for meals than my hotel room and car rental combined.

Southwestern breakfast omelette at Chilli's Minneapolis Airport

Prawn and lobster combo mix at Red Lobster

Fish sandwich at Cock & Bull Public House

Pizza at Mellow Mushroom

Chicken and Beef Wrap from Aladdin's

Vietnamese noodles from Saigon Noodle Bar

Brunch at Matt the Miller's Tavern

Breakfast at First Watch

Snow Flurries

I learned this term when I saw it on the weather channel. Wasn't sure what it was till I saw it today. It's just small falls of snow but not enough to cover the ground in white. They would melt on the pavements and road and only sign that they fell was the bits of snow on the car this morning.

They are hard to get off the windscreen though. The snow had harden and swiping the wipers just makes it worst. I had to peek through the windscreen to drive to breakfast.

Stopping For The Train

This is probably something very mundane to most but we don't have a lot of train crossings in Singapore. So having to stop for one for a good 10-15 minutes and watching it go by is an experience. Not sure if I want to experience it again though ... I can see the hassle of waiting for it and the frustration if you are in a hurry.

First Touch Of Snow

That's right, I've never touch snow before. The closest I've gotten to it was at the glacier on a section of the Rocky mountains some 30 years ago when I went to Canada with my parents. It was more ice than snow so I don't think that counts.

Since I am stuck in Minneapolis for the night and there is snow everywhere I took the chance to walk right outside the lobby of the hotel to get my first touch of snow. And of course I took a video of it.

Kids were very excited when Meimei showed them the video. Ok so at least there is a 'bright' side to missing the connection flight. 

Missed My Flight

Traveling for work again and this time I was the only one asked to be there in Cincinnati ... in the cold of winter. I missed my transit at Minneapolis because when we landed there was no gates for us to disembark. We were stuck on the tarmac for 40 minutes and coupled with the international arrival TSA, I had 5 minutes left when i cleared it.

I think I ran a full 2.4km from one end of the airport to the other and missed the flight by 5 minutes.

The Delta counter gave me and everyone else (there was a long queue and they were familiar faces from the same flight I was on) a free hotel and $15 meal coupon. Unfortunately I didn't have my luggage with me so I had to brave the cold with whatever I had on. And it was cold cold cold. I had steam coming out as I take a breath.

Kiddo Talk & Pic Dec 2022

Cutting cake with YeeYee

First hand account by Yeeyee: 

Last Saturday I was cutting the Rich and Good mango cake for 阳阳 

Me: this is mango cake 

阳阳: I love mango! Do you know mango is my favourite? 

Me: Oh I like it too! 

阳阳: yes… I wish papa mama name me Mango… 

Me: … really? How about I call you Mango? 

阳阳: (smiling and nodding) ok 

Me: alright Mango, would you like to have some mango cake? 

阳阳: (smile faltering) I think…. Justin is fine… 

LOL

Swinging At The Beach

It was kinda a spur of the moment thing. We had 'planned' to go to the beach if weather permits and we woke up early enough. We didn't tell the kids beforehand so as not to disappoint them when the weather turns bad.

Thankfully it was sunny so we made our way to the beach and they had loads of fun at the shoreline. They went all in, soaking in the waves in their clothes. We top off the trip with an hour at the swings.

I like outdoor activities for the kids. It's so much better than getting coup up at home or strolling aimlessly at the malls.

Refusal To Wear Long Pants

Noting down an incident of pure stubbornness. Meimei had repeatedly asked 萱萱 to put on long pants when we were going to cycle at the basketball court. This is the result of her refusal to do so. 萱萱 and 阳阳 got into a collision accident and 萱萱 came out of it worse off. 阳阳 cried his lungs out cos it hurt his bum but it was just in the moment. 萱萱 had it bad having the front of her shin injured but she didn't cry. That said, Meimei and I used this moment to teach her about listening to parents. We may be nagging but we meant well. Hope she learns it soon ... 

 

A Christmas Plan, By 阳阳

What a way to make a plan. Love love love it!

A Christmas Treat @Melt Cafe Mandarin Oriental

It's been a long time since we were out for a meal together because of Covid. So this year we planned a Christmas lunch at my (our?) favourite buffet - Melt Cafe at Mandarin Oriental. And it didn't disappoint. I was pleasantly surprised that they kept the quality and spread as before Covid. Many places had cut corners because of the pandemic and raging inflation. And to top it off, they have a special kids room where they have pizza, pastries, candy and all other delights plus movie to keep the kids entertained while parents enjoy their lunch. 

 

Changi Jewel Rooftop Garden

Continuing the school holiday 'fun' we brought the kids to the jewel sky garden. It wasn't really much, at least not for what it cost. 阳阳 was afraid of the slide and only 萱萱 had any sort of fun. Towards the end 阳阳 was pretty tired and he seemed to be running a fever so we had to leave immediately before we could get lunch. It was the right decision, he had caught a bug from somewhere ...

Piano Trial Lessons

We had signed up for these a couple of weeks ago. Both kids attended the piano trial but it feels to me like 萱萱 would benefit more since she can read the instructions on the books. 阳阳 has to be guided closely so it may take awhile for him to get into it. Plus we don't have unlimited funds so we need to plan what makes sense for the kids. I suggested to Meimei to have 阳阳 go for IcanRead classes as a priority and maybe substitute OO's IcanRead for piano. We'll need to think about it a little more.

Kids @Kidztopia Marina Square Again

And here we are again. Its the school holidays after all and we didn't want to deny 萱萱 the chance at the playground. Plus it was obvious 阳阳 would have more fun too with his 姐姐 around. As much as they bicker, they enjoy each other's company when it comes to playground or sport activities.