The Bub in the Belly

Richard had a birthday last week. We had planned the usual - a quiet dinner with just the three of us - but  I decided to surprise him with a dinner with some friends.

Fortunately, he was running late from a meeting so the rest of us managed to gather at the restaurant before his arrival. Except for one of our friends who, as luck would have it, crossed paths with Richard just outside the restaurant! Chris is a terrible liar, so when Richard asked, "What are you doing here?", her "Err..." gave it all away! He walked into the restaurant smiling from ear to ear, fully expecting to see everyone there. Hahaha! Oh well, we had a good time and a good dinner, so it was a good evening.

Happy Birthday Richard!

Hello October!

When October rolls around, I can feel the end of the year coming. At work, there are performance evaluations to do, bonuses to decide, next year's budgets to put together, marketing plans to consolidate, leave to clear, all the little signals that we've done what we can for this year. At the same time, there are more thoughts of family activities and year-end holidays. I can almost smell Christmas, the wait for it begins now!

Having said that, there's still a lot of stuff to be done before Christmas. The main thing we are busy with right now is getting our new place ready. Well, I shouldn't say that we're "busy" because we haven't actually done much and the place is still empty. I'll just say that it's top priority? Er... perhaps I should just say that we're working on it. At the rate we're moving (a couple of hours of conversation every two days), it's almost like a hobby rather than a life-changing shake-up.

Anyhooo....

I do have some updates from last week (including an update on how we celebrated Richard's birthday) but let me put the photos together first. For today, I want to let you know about an event that is happening on 31 October 2010. Yes, it's Halloween, but that's not what I'm talking about. It's a mini-carnival at Hort Park from 9 am till noon - there will be mascots, balloon sculptors, face painting, magic shows, a truckload of balloons and tons of more cool stuff.  The event, called "HAPPEE DAY", is organised by Daphne of Mother, Inc. with the Children's Cancer Foundation and it's essentially a morning out with 30 children suffering from childhood cancer.

As Daphne put it, "I know the carnival is just one day of fun for these kids who have to be brave and go through years of jabs and treatment. Thing is, we can’t be there through it all, but one day is a start. To let them know that they’re not facing this alone. That there are people who care and are proud of them for fighting and are cheering them on. It’s a day we get to meet them and spend a morning together."

So, if you are free on the morning of 31 October 2010 (which is a Sunday), do consider dropping by. Bring some friends, bring your children and have some fun. Hop on over to Mother, Inc. to find out more.

After our getaway in Chiangmai, it was business as usual this weekend.  Ryan had his classes and in-between we visited some furniture and lighting shops to see what we could find for our new home. We also managed to squeeze in some time with friends, so it was a well-rounded weekend.

Ryan's JG Bilingual Playclub class on Saturday was the first for Term 4 2010. The theme for the term is "Animals, Animals, Animals". Ryan was warmly welcomed back at Playclub by all his teachers, and seeing how they fussed and fawned over him, I'm so glad that we stuck to this class and that we did not switch to another timeslot.

After Playclub, we met up with some friends at Ophelia's place to celebrate Mooncake Festival. There were 6 children, including Ryan, all around the same age, and they had lots of fun. It was a slow and relaxed evening.

Ryan enjoying himself on the playground equipment. Ever since he stepped up to 10 kg, he has been able to slide down the slides and he just can't get enough of them!

We used Ryan's lantern from last year, with new batteries.

Serene brought this quirky bubble blower - it's Ultraman!

The beautiful lanterns along the bridge

Happy Mooncake Festival!

As mentioned in the previous post, we stayed on in Chiangmai after Richard's family left. I was feeling much better, having recovered from food poisoning, so we decided to go up Doi Suthep mountain to visit the temple there, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. This is perhaps the most famous of all the temples in Chiangmai.

The chedi right at the top

There are lots of bells placed around the plaza, some donated by worshippers.

Although we came up by the tram, Ryan insisted on climbing down the 309 steps so Richard and I held his hand on each side and we all climbed down.

After Doi Suthep, we went to Wat Chedi Luang, which is in the city.

The impressive chedi which is closed to visitors - much of it has been destroyed.

After that, we went for lunch in the city where we also got a little bit of shopping done - picked up some items for our new home: some cushion covers, a vase, etc.  Then, we were all pretty tired so we went back to the hotel and refreshed ourselves with a swim in the hotel pool.  Ryan was so delighted and had tons of fun in the water. After that, it was time for a nap, and then it was out for dinner near the hotel. We called it an early night, taking the opportunity to enjoy the luxury of being able to rest and relax.

The next day, we went back out to the city for a good brunch and some last minute shopping. We took a tuk-tuk, Ryan seemed to enjoy it!

After that, it was back to the hotel, checked out at 2 pm, went for lunch and then it was off to the airport to catch our flight home. Ryan was a darling on the flight home, no problem at all.  Reached home about midnight.

Back in Singapore!

We enjoyed our four days in Chiangmai. The weather was agreeable, the people were nice and things were cheap. It was great to spend some time with the extended family too. 

As mentioned in the previous post, the family cobbled together a last minute getaway to Chiangmai last weekend. We originally wanted to leave on Friday but was impossible to find tickets at such short notice. After much effort (by Richard) but no success, we decided to fly on Saturday (instead of Friday) and managed to get a flight via Bangkok on Thai Airways. The rest of our group (Richard's parents, two sisters,  niece and nephews) flew from KL, also via Bangkok.

We woke up early and got to the airport at 5.30 am for our 7.40 am flight. We had breakfast as the sun was rising through the misty drizzle.

The last time Ryan (and we) were on a flight was when we went to Sydney in September last year. I was wondering how Ryan would behave on the flight now that he is a year older, more vocal and more mobile. As it turned out, he had no problems. He slept peacefully through the flight to Bangkok and on the short flight from Bangkok to Chiangmai, he was happy and fuss-free.

The bag is a gift from Ryan's nanny's daughter. We packed it with some books and toys.

We arrived safely and checked into our hotel, the Le Meridien Chiangmai, at about 1 pm. We went for lunch and explored the surrounding area. It was pretty dead, apparently everything comes to life during the night when the night market/bazaar gets going. At that time, there were just a lot of empty stalls lining the streets. Apart from the local shops, there are lots of 7-11 stores and places that serve coffee, a Starbucks, a Burger King, a Haagen Daz, a Baskin Robbins. Here we are outside a McDonald's.

After our short foray, we went back to the hotel and caught up on our sleep while waiting for the rest of the family to arrive. When they got into the hotel, it was already dark and so all of us went out to the night market/bazaar for dinner and some shopping.

The next day, we rented a van and a driver to ferry the whole group around. We started at the Mae Tang Elephant Camp where we got up close to lots of elephants. There are elephant rides and ox-cart rides on offer. You can also watch the elephants taking their bath in the river. The elephants put on a short performance for the visitors, they play musical instruments, play football and paint pictures. A buffet lunch is served which apparently is pretty good (I didn't have any because I was suffering from food poisoning from something I ate the day before).

This is the clinic where the elephant calves are kept with their mothers (there is a calf hidden behind the column)

Feeding the elephant a banana

After that, the driver ferried us around to a few factory outlets - gems, silk, leather, umbrella and lacquer,  etc. Picked up some nice souvenirs and gifts. Then it was back to the hotel where the kids had a swim while I concussed in the room with Ryan. The family went for a traditional Khantok dinner while Richard, Ryan and I stayed in the hotel to let me shake off the rest of the food poisoning. When the family got back, we had an advance mini birthday celebration for Richard. Just a simple birthday song and cake, but it was great to have the family together for the occasion. 

Happy Birthday Richard!

Richard's family left early the next morning while we stayed on for another night. We went to visit some temples and we did some more shopping. I'll continue the report in the next post!

Richard's father flew down to Singapore on Monday, 30 August for his medical check-up (a follow-up from his spine surgery). Richard's sister, Mary, accompanied him and they stayed one night with us.

All went well, Richard's dad was pronounced fit and well and told to come back in October for another follow-up. After the check-up, we took them sight-seeing.  They had two targets - the two integrated resorts! So on Monday, we took them to Marina Bay Sands and on Tuesday, we took them to Resorts World Sentosa.

We went up to the SkyPark at Marina Bay Sands (57th floor) to check out the view and we were not disappointed - the view is simply stunning. I'm not sure how business at the nearby Singapore Flyer is going to survive! The restaurants were not open yet but there was still lots of people hanging about. There was another highlight apart from the view - the 150 metre infinity pool. It's just ... wow.

Unfortunately, I don't have many photos, just some random shots on my phone (by the way, no professional photography equipment and no tripods are allowed). But there are lots of beautiful shots on the internet, so go have a look!

After we left the SkyPark, Richard's father and sister went to the casino for about an hour, while we walked around the shops (or, as the resort calls them, "the shoppes"). The only shop that Ryan was interested in was Dunhill - good taste, my boy!

The next day, we dropped them off at the casino at Resorts World Sentosa while we went to the Wavehouse for some fries and cold drinks. We joined up again after an hour, walked around Resorts World and had some lunch.

Last Saturday's JG Bilingual Playclub session was the last class of the term.  We were asked to contribute some food/drink for snack time and we were also told to dress up according to the theme for the term, which was "Out at Sea".

After much consideration, we decided to make an octopus costume for Ryan. Basically, Richard stuffed batting into some baby tights, I sewed on some large buttons and we pinned the tights over a belt. I sewed some felt onto a romper for the head and stuck on some eyes.  Here's the end result!

Running off to the playground!

Going for a slamdunk!

Playing on the slides and other playground equipment

Ryan receiving his "certificate" from Safina