Yearly Archives: 2011

2011 Top 10 Blog Post

December 30, 2011 – 9:56 pm

From Singapore to Hong Kong, my Top 10 blog posts focused on food, the developments of Punggol and my March trip to Hong Kong. In 2011, 2 of my poly friends, wifey and I witnessed one of our friend’s wedding in Hong Kong. It was a time for wifey and I to spend some time together in Hong Kong and Macau.

No.10: Gong Cha in Hong Kong
I was quite excited when I saw a Gong Cha outlet in Central. At the point of time, I was still very much crazy about Gong Cha. In Singapore I had a cup or 2 everyday and so its no surprise that I wanted to have some when I see one in Hong Kong.

No.9: Local delights for breakfast in Hong Kong
Huifan and I went on a breakfast expedition on the 5th day of our Hong Kong trip which brought us to Shan Shui Po. It was a place where you can experience the life as a local. It is a place where their regular customers gather, usually senior citizens. I like the feel of the place as it was uniquely Hong Kong.

No.8: Take 5 at Novena Square
Once in awhile, I will do food reviews on my blog. In January, I visited Take 5, which opened a new outlet in Novena. It was not a positive review and that was my last visit.

No.7: Marina Bay Sands Skypark – A different experience for every visit
I’ve made many visits to Skypark since it opened. I blog about my 5th visit to the skypark because it was one of my longest stay on the skypark and it was the first time we witness sunset and nightfall at the skypark.

No.6: Mido Cafe @ Temple Street in Hong Kong
Our food expedition continues at Mido Cafe @ Temple Street which is famous for their baked rice. Mido Cafe is one of the traditional tea cafes that you would see in Hong Kong dramas where there are windows and blinds, simply no air conditioning.

No.5: Maritime Experiential Museum and Aquarium
The word aquarium was misleading since there is no aquarium in the first place. But the museum is still pretty much interesting, if you are boat person. What I was impressed with was the Typhoon Theatre which was a 360 degrees multi sensory display where we got to experience the rough seas that the ship had to go through.

No.4: Soya beancurd at Old Airport Road
Soya beancurd revolution? I’m not sure if it is but surely the recipe was improvised and we managed to get some really tasty soya beancurd of a different texture. Where are they located? All at Old Airport Road Market.

No.3: Official Opening of My Waterway@Punggol
I was invited to the official opening of My Waterway@Punggol. It was a development that was the highlight of Punggol as an eco-town. Its a waterway that cuts across Punggol where residents are able to run or cycle along it. White doves were released and as Punggol is an eco-town, the white doves were actually made of bio degradable materials.

No. 2: Punggol Waterway
Just before the official opening of My Waterway@Punggol, I got an exclusive guided tour conducted by HDB. It was my first visit to the waterway at night and it was simply impressive.

No.1: Our visit to Punggol Promenade
A new Promenade opens in Punggol in March this year and it has a bridge that brings residents from Punggol to Pasir Ris (Lor Halus to exact). Ethan and Ezanne enjoyed themselves, especially when they got a chance to take a photo at the bicycle park.

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Evan and his new trick

December 29, 2011 – 5:36 pm

On Christmas Eve, Evan gave us a surprise. He was in his baby cot and suddenly, he was climbing out of it. Somehow, this is a happy problem for us. Its a happy problem for us because at least, we thought, he had mastered the skills of climbing but of course we got to think of a solution to mitigate this problem. So far, there isn’t any specific solutions yet and we will just got to keep a look out for him.

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Unwrapping the presents

December 27, 2011 – 12:03 am

24 December was probably the day which Ethan was looking forward to. With so many presents in front of him, he was really tempted by them and kept asking us when he can start unwrapping them. Our answer to him, Christmas Eve. In fact, we actually told him that he can only unwrap them on Christmas Day itself, but he simply can’t wait and kept pestering us for it.

On the night itself, he stood in front of the presents, hinting to us that he was ready to start unwrapping them. Ezanne followed him and to get them into the mood, I told them to do a countdown. When we said GO, Ethan immediately start taking presents and pass it to Ezanne and Evan and all 3 started to unwrap them.

Its pretty obvious who unwrapped the most. Ezanne was trying really hard while Evan was simply exploring, not really knowing what’s happening. Anyway, Ethan and Ezanne were really satisfied with the presents and will like to thank all uncles and aunties for the presents.

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Christmas dinner with our neighbours

December 25, 2011 – 3:31 pm

Last Friday, I had a Christmas dinner with my neighbours at Sun with Moon Japanese Dining at Wheelock Place. We are actually a special group of neighbours because logically speaking, we are living in various parts of Punggol and Sengkang so that makes it even more special. Its the first time that we had gift exchange and I guess, all of us enjoyed the dinner very much. Its the first time that we brought Evan to meet them and the first time that we did not have our maid along with us, guess, we can trust our group of friends who were able to help us look after our children. But on the other hand, as the children grow older, we find it easier to manage them (though its still quite a challenge to manage Ezanne and Evan). Nevertheless, it was a great evening.

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LookBack 2011: Family

December 24, 2011 – 1:01 pm

Well in 2011, we did not see any new addition to the family and probably not from now on. Personally, I feel 3 is enough because its challenging to divide ourselves into 3 to spend quality time with all of them given our busy schedules.

In 2011, we focused on Ethan’s and Ezanne’s academic developments. Ezanne started attending childcare, at the same centre which Ethan is attending and over the past 9 months, we’ve seen the improvements that Ezanne has made. Ezanne now talks more and is more active and sociable. For Ethan, we started to put him on full day childcare on selected days. The idea was to prepare him for his Primary 1. Well you will say that its still early days but I thought, we can start preparing him progressively.

In addition to his childcare, we also started to bring Ethan for enrichment class and started with one on Saturdays. He is coping well now and we are seeing results.

As for Evan, he is now beginning to learn how to walk. He can converse with us in baby languages that we understand. I’m looking forward to his milestones in 2012.

I do hope that I can continue to spend more time to bond with the children and ensure that they have a memorable childhood.

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Gathering at my cousin’s wedding

December 22, 2011 – 9:58 pm

Exactly 1 week ago, it was my cousin, Joann’s wedding. Time flies and all of us had grown up. It was also an opportunity to see many of cousins whom we’ve not seen for quite some time.

You’ve not seen wrongly, yes, they are my cousins. I come from a family where my aunties and uncles are really age wide apart from my dad so its no surprise that I’ve got cousins who are the same age or even older than my dad. But I thought, a wedding is a nice occasion to catch up with them on what’s they’ve been doing and have alittle chit chat because we never know when we are going to see them again since we are always so busy with our work and family.

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Birthday greeting from Ethan and Ezanne to Evan

December 16, 2011 – 11:30 pm

You might be confused but we are not trying to confuse you. Its Evan’s actual birthday today. We just celebrated his birthday earlier previously. 1 year ago, we welcome our 5th member into the family and like Ethan and Ezanne, he had brought us much joy. At 1 year old, Evan is cheeky and more sociable as compared to his siblings. I do not really want to compare him with them as we’ve noticed ourselves, 3 children had 3 different personalities. As he turns 1, we look forward to more milestones and surprises that he has for us and like Ethan and Ezanne, my wish for him is to have a memorable childhood. For now, I thought, he is already having one and lucky to have Ethan and Ezanne singing birthday song for him.

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Roselephant

December 15, 2011 – 4:19 pm

One day, I received a DM from @elephant_parade that I’ve won myself a 15cm Roselephant. I’m not too sure how it really look like and was looking forward to it. Somehow, I was not really that smart and could not find any information relating to this particular elephant.

About 2 weeks later, I finally saw it. I was really impressed with the painting and my dad told me, “This is going to be your best birthday present.” In fact, when my dad first receive it, he told me he likes it very much. When I return home that night, I share the same sentiment as my dad.

I googled and found out that the original Roselephant, by JANE VEVERIS CALLAN was on display on the SouthBank by the Scoop Theatre next to City Hall in London. It was by BT. The miniature Roselephant that I’ve received were painted in Chiang Mai, Thailand and the one that I received costs £55. I will definitely try my best to maintain the one that I have.

For now, another group of elephants are in Singapore for the elephant parade till 11 January 2012. Catch them at various parts of Singapore.

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Its teamwork. Ethan and Ezanne style.

December 11, 2011 – 8:31 pm

This morning, we had our breakfast at Changi City Point Toast Box. While mummy was eating, I took Ethan, Ezanne and Evan out for a walk. So we saw a Christmas Tree and I ask Ethan and Ezanne if they wanted to take a picture. Then they decided that they wanted to take and gladly pose for me (surprised especially when you see Ezanne pose).

After that, Ethan suggested that Evan should take a picture with me too. So he took my iPhone and Ezanne was standing behind him trying to get the attention of Evan and shouted “Di Di, Di Di” and was clapping her hands. So how did the picture look like?

I love this picture. Its not because it turn out better than I expected but the teamwork both Ethan and Ezanne put into which made this picture PERFECT!

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LookBack 2011: Online

December 11, 2011 – 12:25 am

2011 is the year which I continued to further establish the brand name of myself as a blogger. In 2011, I realised that I had found a direction in blogging and probably finally found out the category that I’m in, Daddy Blogger. Blogging had given me many opportunities to experience on new things. It not just benefitted only me but my children too. I’ll like to thank the organizations and companies who had believed in me and invited me time and again to their activities. I hope you will not forget me in 2012 and remember, I’ll always be waiting for your invites.

Other than blogging, I’ve been quite involved in engaging the community through the use of social media. I’ve met many people and had a better understanding from them on what they actually look out for in the community. I’ve given a formal presentation on the use of social media in the community and had numerous sharing sessions. We learn a new thing everyday and I’m still learning and discovering new things from the experts too.

2011 had definitely been one of the most eventful year for me in my online expedition.