Daddy suggested to go Pasir Ris Park coz we were near Tampines. Mummy tot it was an ultra ulu place coz it's really at the very eastern part of Singapore. But when we went there, we immediately loved the place...the air is fresher, not as crowded as East Coast (tho they don't have much facilities /eateries) but here, you can enjoy the sea breeze, see the boats floating by and gaze at the faraway kelongs...very rustic ambience. And best of all, we were pleasantly surprised when we saw this particular family playing with bubbles. Their bubbles must be of superior quality ...not the usual type which u buy from the ma-ma shop. Why we said that? Coz the bubbles are big and can hold its shape well. When the kiddo put the bubble wand against the strong wind, so many bubbles came out...well...i guess u know who's the most excited? Natie of coz! Well...kpo mummy here...we went to ask them where they got their bubbles so that we can buy it for our lil sweetie. U can be sure we'll be back at Pasir Ris again!!

Mummy is sooo excited coz Natie is attending her first Baby's Prom! What's that? It's actually a kiddie concert organised by SSO. When we first entered the lobby, there was balloon sculpturing. Natie was initially shy but soon asked the balloonist for a teddy bear. Hehe. Afterwhich we proceeded to the concert. There were so many babies and toddlers! The emcee for the day was an ang-moh clown - the conductor who introduced the various orchestra instruments to the kids there. They played some songs and towards the end, Natie also went on stage to see the instruments (think she likes the french horn the most). ;-)

OooO....Mummy and Daddy brought Natie to the trial class at Pat's Schoolhouse - D'Story Club on Saturday. We went to the Halifax branch before but did not particularly like it. We decided to give the school another chance by going to another branch. Mummy personally felt that the class was quite good.

The premise was quite big and comes with an activity room, music room, mini wading pool (for waterplay), a mini playground (with slides/trikes) and a sandpit (for sandplay). The theme of the day was "Caterpillar and Butterfly". The moment we stepped into the class and saw the teacher, we had good vibes. The teacher, Ms Phoebe, was very engaging.

We started with a story session using Eric Carle's The Hungry Caterpillar. Next we proceeded to do some art work, followed by snack time (yup...doing an edible caterpillar!). Thereafter, we went for sand play before settling down with some music moments (yes! butterfly songs!). The best thing of all was the the trial class was urhmm...free...keke...Think we wanna sign up coz Natie seemed to enjoy the class. Ms Phoebe also thought that Natie seemed to like music a lot (in her words, Natie has the "groove"). We were recommended to bring her for the Fastrac Music Class meant for 2 years old and above...Hmmm...Mummy may bring Natie for that trial class. Hee...

Meanwhile, here are some of the pix:

1) The Hungry Caterpillar - Natie's first artwork (with help from Mummy)



2) The Edible Caterpillar...Yummy!



3) Sand Play Time!



4) Music Time with Bells!



5) Fly Fly Butterfly!

Recently, a few friends commented that Natie looks like Daddy. Gong Gong and Po Po beg to differ and produced Mummy's baby photos to show that Natie looks more like Mummy. Hee. To put a rest to all the speculation, Mummy went to do a Look-Alike Meter...Guess what's the result?

Time to take charge of how much my Natie has grown. She has learnt how to make the different animal sounds for the various animals (e.g. cow, goat, sheep, cat, dog, horse). She can now speak quite a lot of words and knows the different parts of her body (E.g. Neck, Thumb, Fingers, Toes, etc) . Lately the dear grandparents taught her how to kill cockroach (by stamping her feet) *faint*. She finds these 2 words the most useful "Gai Gai" and "There!" (To direct people to bring her to the place she wants). Nowadays Mummy tries to teach her songs by singing to her (in not the best of voice). Think her favourite song is now "Incy Wincy Spider". That one...Mummy played the song to her through this "Wheels on the Bus" series (Courtesy of Auntie Cecilia)...woah man...she loves it and can sit through 15 mins of the show! Looks like Mummy will go buy more of the DVDs for her to watch!

Oooo....Natie came down with fever...38.3 degrees celcius...no wonder for the past few days, she was complaining about head and toes "pain pain"...mabbe she got body ache. Poor gal...It's all the MMR jab fault...Natie went to take the jab a week ago and Mummy was praying that she wld not get fever...but luckily the fever lasted for only 1 day....now she's back to her cheery self! Hurray!

Actually it's Mummy's fault...always try to do last-minute booking of cake from The Patissier...end up she could not get the cake she wanted for gong-gong and popo''s wedding anniversary. But...Mummy went to bake cupcakes for them instead! Mmmm...it doesn't look too bad but taste a tad too sweet. Luckily Mummy improvised and added some strawberries(sour) to complement the sweet vanilla cupcakes - Recipe from Shermay's Cooking School (mmmm...they were quite yummy and Natie even learnt to say "Cupcake" in order to eat it...haha)

Vanilla cupcakes with strawberry filling in the centre:



Wedding Anniversary Cupcakes!

Heee! Natie just came back from her trip to Sentosa! We stayed at Siloso Beach Resort with Uncle Shark and Auntie Swee Lin. Mummy booked a veri nice sea-view room (we requested to change when the hotel gave us an "exhaust view" room). The hotel was quite boutique-like but it could only be rated as 4-star (relative to The Sentosa Resort & Spa). Hotel room was small...Bathroom was mini too [we had to improvise to bath Natie ;-(]

We brought Natie around Sentosa...Went to the Dolphin Lagoon but Natie was asleep almost throughout the entire performance. Luckily she woke up at the tailend...at least she managed to see some dolphins.

Afterwhich, we brought her to the Underwater World...she was sooooo fascinated by the seacreatures. We think she really enjoyed herself there!

Wonder who's Uncle Shark? It's Uncle Weiliang! keke...We gave him that nickname becoz he acted as a shark to play with Natie in the swimming pool (Natie's wary eyes never left him...haha). Ooo...the swimming pool was veri cold that day as it rained. We wanted to bring Natie to play the waterslide but it was too fast and furious for Natie...in the end...Daddy and Uncle Shark went for the slide instead.

We also brought Natie to the beach for sandplay. She was afraid of the water and wouldn't go near it. As for the sand, she tried her very best to walk on it. Think her fave activity was excavating the sand...hehe. We also played Beach Ball with her!

As for her meals, we had a hard time. Think Natie still prefers Gong-Gong's porridge. After the trip, Po Po commented that she lost a lot of weight. ;-(

But overall, it was quite an enjoyable trip.

Mummy went for a cupcake workshop by Shermay Cooking School with Karen Mummy. We had a fun time learning how to bake and decorate cupcakes! Our first attempt is not realli good lar...need more practice.



Wonder whether we would be so successful baking the cupcakes on our own....

Woah! Mummy was in for a veri pleasant surprise! Natie had won 3rd prize in a photo contest by Johnson's & Johnson's! For that, she can have 3 studio sessions, fully sponsored by Studioloft, as well as a J & J Hamper! Mummy and Daddy were overjoyed (as we need not spend more money on taking photos...;-p)

Wuhoo! Finally another May Mummies' Gathering! Natie got to see all her May friends...and it was such a ruckus!

After hearing many good reviews on Gymboree, Mummy decided to bring Natie to try out! The gymboree that we tried out was at Camden Medical Centre. It was relocated from Tanglin Mall...and seems rather small. When we reached there, there was one other absolutely sweet Caucasian baby (called "Fleur") and her mummy. Natie was a bit apprehensive at exploring the equipment but soon began to overcome her shyness and started to crawl. She went through the tunnels, zoom down the slides (with the help of daddy , of coz) and played the ball with Fleur. Think she kinda of enjoy herself but ultimately we did not sign up ...coz daddy says she can play for free at the usual HDB playground (dah!)

It has been a long awaited gathering for the May mummies...even tho it's only among a few of us but hey! we (and our lil babes) all enjoyed it a lot. All the little babes were busy showing their walking power and it's such a joy watching our lil ones "talking" to each other (in a language only they knew).



Lil Walkers & Munch Time!



Natie met up with her best fren, Claris (who is born on the same day as her!) and oooo....both sweeties look absolutely adorable together!



Now mummy is contemplating whether to buy a picnic mat ;-)

Finally! We get to go overseas! So excited! Even thought it's just a short trip to Bintan (a 1 hr ferry ride)...we are really thrilled, esp Daddy (it's family trip together with ma3-ma3, yeye, uncle louis, auntie cecilia and cousin celeste/lucas.)

Ferry Ride: The trip to Bintan was so bumpy that all of us felt nauseous. Daddy was a hero...he tried to fill the white cards for 5 of us (including ma3-ma3 and yeye) during the ferry ride and ended up wanting to puke...Natie also felt terrible and cried but in the end, we soothe her to sleep.

Bintan Resort: A breath of fresh air! Our room oversee the sea...wonderful view!



Food: Poor Natie...gotta bear with the instant cereal and instant brown porridge. We were quite sure that she will gulp down the porridge (in big amts) prepared by gong-gong when she reached home the tomorrow. Think she is a picky eater now...she spits out the tasteless watermelon at the resort restaurant...oh god! Food at the hotel was sure expensive. $15 for a plate of chicken rice (yes...they charge Singapore dollars). Thank god, Uncle Louis got lobang to get cheap and good food at the Bintan town. The trip out to the town was definitely like a thrill ride. The roads had no streetlamps and the driver was driving like a formula one driver...Daddy was a bit scared sitting at the front seat...hiak hiak hiak

Natalie's First Swim - Oh yes...mummy specially bot a thermal wetsuit for her first swim (got it from Auntie Ivy...). Somehow Natie doesn't like the float and very much prefers swimming F&E in the pool...keke...hai...looks like we have to keep the float for now...till she's older.

Ferry ride back: alamak...natie did her "big business"...it was a challenge changing her diaper in a small toilet cubicle but hey! we did it! *so proud* =p

It was truly a memorable trip but hor, we have to rethink about our Aussie trip at the end of the year. Mummy shudder when she thinks about the logistics involved....keke

We jio the 2 lians to join us at our first outing to the zoo with Natie! (Oh yes...this is their first trip with their new latio...very very cute coz they've got realli kawaii car accessories...wished we had taken photos).

We decided that we needed to lose some weight...hence we did not take the tram and decided to walk ard the entire zoo! We saw lots of animals like penguins, foxes, beavers, cow, pig, horse, etc etc. Too bad we did not manage to catch the animal shows coz it was so crowded! (afternote: we will bring natie to the zoo on a weekday next time) AND Natie missed all her favourite animals like tiger, lion and giraffe coz she was soooo tired that she fell asleep when we passed by the Cat Kingdom.

It's ok...there's always a next time! Next time, we will watch the animal shows, go to the children zoo, take the tram, horse carriage, elephant ride, pony ride, etc (oh gosh...there are sooo many things to do at the zoo!)

It's always a different experience going to Botanic Gardens. Mummy was really excited coz it's my first time feeding the swans too (so suaku)...We brought some Gardenia bread with us and threw it to the fishes, turtles and swans to eat...But surprisingly...(i guess the swans must be so sick of eating bread)....the swans simply ignored the bread! We realised that the swans preferred to eat grass...We shall bear that in mind in future and bring some vege to feed the swans the next time. keke. Nonetheless, it was still a Fun Sunday for us!

hmmm...it seems that foreigners really like natie wor...when they saw her, they always say "so cuttteee"...i guess it's becoz of her thick bushy hair....then they request to take a pix of her. Daddy says we shld collect royalties next time...;-P

Mama, where's the swan?



Alamak...y the swan swim away?



Ahh...finally i get to feed the swans!



Natie: The next sprint queen

We visited Ma-Ma and Ye-Ye today and brought Natie to West Coast Park! Hmmm...the playground is really fun but there are only a few things that Natie could play with...Think Natie still loves to slide even tho we let her play on the see-saw and some bouncer animals. When she's bigger, we will put her on a swing. Both of us are sure that Natie will definitely love it!

Here's a pix of her horsing ard:

What's a birthday without the birthday girl? Think she kinda of enjoyed her lunch at Tung Lok. She only had the steam mantou but she definitely had a lot of fun playing with their bowls, fork and spoon...until Grandpa was tempted to buy the utensils from them. After that, we went shopping at Vivo...and hai...Natie refused to drink milk lei...no matter how we coax her. She was more interested in watching the shoppers and the clothes display...

Fun Time at Tung Lok



Natie at Vivo!

Today, we celebrated Natalie's Chinese Birthday. We had our lunch at Tung Lok Signature at Vivocity. Food-wise, there were some winners and losers. Here are what we ordered:

1) Ee-Fu Noodles with Crayfish (supposed to be their special dish)

Verdict: Quite flavourful and the crayfish was plump and juicy (it's located at the top of the pix...one tiny little orangy piece). One of the best ee-fu noodles we had! Wished there were more!


2) Fried Pork Ribs with Sesame Mayo

Verdict: Worth it! Very delicious. The meat is quite tender and has just the right amount of fats. The meat juices simply oozes out with each bite!



3) Spinach Beancurd with Mushrooms

Verdict: One of Tung Lok's Signature dish. First had it at Club Chinos and wow...it was great! But funny how it didn't taste as delicious as before ;-(



4) Fried Coriander Ball with Cheese

Verdict: I guess this is what i call a chinese fusion dish bah. Taste quite nice, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside (becoz of the cheese lar)



5) Peking Duck

Verdict: OoOoOo...i love this. Even my mum enjoyed the dish! Wish there were more on the tabl but expensive lar...hehe

6) Siew Mai

Verdict: Yummy!

7) Har Kou

Verdict: Disappointing. Prawns were crunchy but the skin was too thick liao. I've eaten betta ones...So dun bother to spend money to eat this dish

8) Xiao Long Pao

Verdict: Crystal Jade's version is still the best!

9) Famous Pork Belly Cubes (i.e. Siew Yok)

Verdict: A lot of us loved this expensive version of siew yok....hehhe...it's crunchy with even spread of meat and some fats.... the flavour of the pork just burst in your mouth when u pop it in! Doesn't taste too salty and it goes really well with the sauce (we suspect it's wasabi mustard)... A twist to the traditional serving

Dessert
1) Chilled mango with pomelo and sago

Verdict: Didn't particularly like this dish. Doesn't look as appertising as the menu's pix and has a bitter aftertaste (i guess it's becoz of the pomelo...can't they buy any sweeter pomelo?) Not worth the price of $5



2) Chilled Mango Pudding

Verdict: Mummy personally liked this dessert. The dessert has chunks of mango bits and the pudding has a milky taste. But hor Uncle Paul finds that it's ordinary


3) Coconut Ice-Cream with Purple Rice Puree (sounds so exotic but it's pulau hitum lar)

Verdict: The favourite dessert of all! Everyone loves this dessert. The coconut ice-cream wasn't too overpowering and gives a nice flavour to the pulau hitum.




So will we go Tung Lok again? Grandpa is not really that keen lei....he's saying that it's not value for money. For dim sum, we rather go Zi Yean or Crystal Jade...kekeke

Natalie has been feeling cranky these few days. She's chewing on all her fingers and drooling. We all suspect that she may be teething again (She has 4 upper teeth and 2 lower teeth). So wise grandpa and grandma actually put a few teethers into the freezer, hoping that the cold teether could relieve some of the irritation and pain. Here are a few pix of Natie and her combi teether...seems like she's enjoying it!

Mummy says i should be independent...should hold the teether myself:



Ok...i try my best to push the teether in my mouth:



Ar! Succeeded!



What a clever girl!