Monthly Archives: October 2011

Its a family tradition… Taking family photos

October 31, 2011 – 11:47 pm

This is the 4th year that we’ve been taking family photo shoot and each year after each shoot, I will always have some deep thoughts within me. I always kept thinking how much the children have grown and how we will want them to have a happy and memorable childhood. The family photo shoot also documents how much our family have grown, from 3 to 4 and to 5. Well, I’ll share our photo shoot experience in the next post but for now, enjoy our past 3 and the current official family photos.

2008

2009

2010

2011

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Ethan and Ezanne’s 1st Kite Flying Session

October 29, 2011 – 10:58 pm

Last Sunday, we brought the children to McDonald’s at East Coast Park for breakfast. We came across a shop selling kites and I just asked, “Do you want kites?” The answer from both Ethan and Ezanne was a resounding YES! So we got the kites.

We originally wanted to fly the kites on Wednesday but since it was raining, we dropped the idea. Ethan kept asking when he will get the chance and I told him it will be on Saturday. He remembered and kept reminding me that we will be going kite flying on Saturday.

After his enrichment class, we went to Punggol and decide to go somewhere near the waterway. Both Ethan and Ezanne were really excited when they saw the first kite flew up into the sky and they clapped their hands. As there were many insects flying around, we moved to the next site near the golf driving range. Although it was dark, but we were still able to fly our kites, thanks to the lighting from the golf driving range.

Although Ethan and Ezanne didn’t really flew their own kites, but they still manage to experience how to manage the kites. Well, at least I know this is the beginning of kite flying for the family. I’m looking forward to our next session.

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Just us

October 27, 2011 – 11:56 pm

When we have children, we tend to forget spending time together as a couple, the good old days when we used to date each other. One day, wifey reminded me and told me that we should do it all over again and suggested that we should just spend such time together at Universals Studios Singapore.

The experience was totally different compared to our last visit that we had with Ethan and Ezanne. It was more fun and less stress. We managed to catch more performances and take pictures with characters we missed the last time. For example, the penguins from Madagascar.

It just reminded me of those days when both of us visited Hong Kong Disneyland. We walked around the park and I got to admit that I enjoyed that few hours that we had together. Although I hope that it will be alittle longer, but it was still a memorable one.

We didn’t have any proper lunch, just hotdog sandwich.

I just hope we can have more of such time where its just 2 of us. With the children these days, it is an opportunity to spend such time together.

Tags Resorts World @ Sentosa, Universal Studios Singapore | Comments (2)

Maritime Experiential Museum & Aquarium

October 26, 2011 – 12:38 am

I got a chance to visit Resorts World @ Sentosa’s Maritime Experiential Museum & Aquarium. For your information, the Aquarium will only open in 2012. The museum has 2 parts, the museum exhibit area and the Typhoon Theatre.

The museum consists of several exhibits such as artifacts found from ship wreck and some of the cultures and local information of several maritime routes. For example, one of the exhibit was on the Maritime Silkroad Route. Instead of using camels to transport goods, they decided to use ships which is more efficient and productive.

There were several interesting exhibits too, including the Jewel of Muscat, which was a gift by the Omani Government to Singapore.

There were several interactive exhibits too. One example was where visitors could learn how to navigate a ship through a computer stimulation. Other than the exhibits, I personally thought that the Typhoon Theatre was impressive. The Typhoon Theatre was a 360 degrees multi sensory display where we got to experience the rough seas that the ship had to go through. At $6, I thought it was really worth the money as both wifey and myself enjoyed ourselves through the simple storyline but amazing effects.

Tags Maritime, Maritime Experiential Museum & Aquarium, Resorts World @ Sentosa, Silkroad | Comments (2)

Bonding with Ethan

October 25, 2011 – 1:53 am

Ethan is 5 years old this year and frankly, I’ve not really spent much time with him over the past 5 years. I’ve always been busy with work, work and more work. Along the way, we had Ezanne and finally Evan. The time that was given to Ethan was divided into 2 then 3. Sometimes, I thought to myself that bonding with the children is really important and its not about the quantity but the quality. It just seems alittle wrong. Not only is quality important, quantity plays a vital role too!

Over the past 12 months, I had alittle more time to spend with Ethan. We spend alittle more time together, talk alittle more and play alittle more. Gradually, I feel that we are closer than before and he is feeling for me alittle more. During my recent trip to Manila, just before we left the house, Ethan said, “Dad Dad, I miss you.” I was shocked. This was my 5th working trip and it was only this trip that he said such a thing to me. From the tone and his eyes, I can feel that he is really missing me, or maybe, he was just missing the iPad and Angry Bird?

As he is 14 months away from starting his formal education, I thought it will only be fair for me to start spending more time with him, preparing together with him for his next phase of life.

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First Nationwide Picture Book Contest

October 24, 2011 – 12:27 pm

As a first time effort, Frasers Centrepoint Malls is partnering with the National Library Board and home grown company, Sparky Animation to bring Mr Moon to Singapore. Mr Moon is a series of charming tales of Mr Moon and his friends’ adventures in the wondrous galaxy.

In conjunction with the movie premiere of Mr Moon in Singapore, a nationwide Picture Book Contest is being held to enable children to showcase their creativity. All children from 7 – 12 years old can create a storyline and illustrate their own picture book around a “care and share” theme, using components from the Mr Moon animation.

The top 3 winners will have the golden opportunity to have their stories transformed into a 3-minute animation and will also receive other fantastic prizes!

The deadline for submission is 25 December and participants must drop off their books at the Customer Service Counters at any Frasers Mall. Entry form and instructions can be found at: http://www.fraserscentrepointmalls.com/promo/MR_MOON/entry_form.html

There are 2 categories for the contest.
Category A is opened to children aged 7 to 9 years.
Category B is opened to children aged 10 to 12 years.

Additionally, all children and parents are also invited to catch Mr Moon and Friends “LIVE” at Frasers Centrepoint Malls from 18 November to 25 December. For timings, please visit http://www.fraserscentrepointmalls.com/

Ethan missed by 2 years otherwise, I would have gotten him to participate as well.

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Official Opening of My Waterway@Punggol

October 23, 2011 – 11:28 pm

4 years in the making, My Waterway@Punggol has officially opened tonight by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Since I was so impressed with my last visit last week, I decided to bring my camera with me and YES, I got my first clear shot of myself, thanks to my friend’s husband.

The event started at 7.30pm with a speech by Prime Minister followed by an official launch with other ministers and MPs. The launch kick start a series of performance including the releasing of 100 white doves into the sky. As Punggol is an eco-town, the white doves were actually made of bio degradable materials.

The highlight of the night was the fireworks. It was simply amazing. While watching, I thought wouldn’t it be nice that New Year Eve countdown be held at this part of Punggol?

6 years in Punggol and I’ve never seen traffic jam and so much people at one event. This is definitely one project that all Punggol residents had been looking forward to and one that is a milestone in the development of Punggol 21 Plus. There will be many more exciting developments coming soon to Punggol, looking forward to it.

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Punggol Waterway

October 17, 2011 – 10:51 am

Punggol Waterway or officially known as My Waterway@Punggol will officially open on 23 October 2011. Nearly 3 years in the making, this 4.2km waterway cuts across Punggol Town and connects between Sungei Punggol and Sungei Serangoon. Currently, 5 out of 7 bridges planned has been built to bring residents to both sides of the waterway. The other 2 bridges will be constructed together with the new developments.

Last Sunday, I’ve had the opportunity to visit the waterway (Punggol Town Park stretch) in the evening. It was impressive.

There was a water play area, sand play area, Heartwave wall with some heritage boards and many fountains. The water with the lightings makes the place attractive. When you are strolling along the waterway, especially where Heartwave Wall is, you will not believe that you are actually in a HDB Town.

I thought it will be nice that one day, we can kayak along the waterway and that will be one of the best leisure activities that we can do.

When opened, I’m sure the place will be very crowded as it will be one of the key attraction of Punggol.

Tags My Waterway@Punggol | Comments (2)

Poor Service Quality

October 11, 2011 – 11:00 pm

In the service sector, we try as much as possible, not to question our customers, unless it will really help us. We will also try not to pass unnecessary comments which might offend the customers. I was in the midst of completing the necessary documentation for the purchase of Disney Live! Mickey’s Music Festival and was corresponding with one of the staff on that. Apparently, he forwarded the purchase form in PDF format to me. Somehow, this PDF format form could only be read from a PC or laptop. When I view the form from my iPhone, it was just an empty form. Therefore, I replied and told him that I only got an empty form, not knowing that actually, it must be read in a PC or laptop. I was quite disappointed when I saw this reply from him.

I was thinking why should he compare me with other customers? He didn’t even bother to take the initiative to send me another form or tried to look into ways to help me with it. What made things even worse was he got me to fill in the form again and send it to him. Luckily, my wife did some checks and managed to retrieve the form with all the information filled in.

So if you are in the services sector, remember to be mindful the next time when you talk to your customers. Be sensitive. Be wise.

Tags BASE Entertainment, Marina Bay Sands | Comment (0)

Evan at 10 months old

October 8, 2011 – 11:36 pm

Evan is not exactly 10 months old yet but almost 10 months old to be exact (another 1 week before turning 10 months). At 10 months, Evan has made several milestones. These days Evan prefers to sit then to lie on bed. Although he still needs some assistance in getting into the sitting position but he is progressing well and should be able to sit on his own soon. He is also beginning to crawl, which I think the exciting times are coming ahead. Take alook at the following video which I’ve recorded. Evan was enjoying himself playing with Ethan.

Evan is also proving to be quite a tough one too. He is becoming more playful and starts bullying his sister like pulling her hair and pinching her. Since he is teething, sometimes, he will even bite his sister. Well, I just hope the 3 of them will be able to live happily ever after.