Happy Halloween

I never celebrate Halloween, I think it is a meaningless, commercialized holiday. So I didn't really liked it when Jolie's teachers celebrated by giving them each a bag of sweets. (*frown*) But I did like the pumkin mask that they made in class. It's simple but the small paper plate fits Jo's face perfectly and she had alot of fun with it. She would wear it and shout "BOO!". Very cute...

On top of that, the Disney channel is filled with Halloween specials, so she learned to say, "spoooky..." in a spooky voice. Very cute too.

Punggol Waterway Opening

We heard on the radio that the new Punggol waterway was opening, so we asked MIL and SIL along for a walk and dinner afterwards. They should build a public parking space nearby, there's nowhere to park our car! Both sides of the street was lined with cars parked illegally. After driving around for awhile, we found a spot just as someone was leaving. Lucky!

The place was packed! I think there was some sort of activities there too.

Jolie was so excited with all the people around and all the space for her to run and hop. But we had to keep reminding her to stay on the pedestrian walkway. There were many cyclists!

We walked away from the event area and enjoyed the peaceful park.

After awhile, our Princess decided to take an egg tart break. Ah Ma exclaimed that it's too hot and sunny for her little precious, so she quickly whip out her trusty umbrella while her majesty enjoys her snack. The rest of us just hung around in the afternoon sun, waiting for her to finish. -_-

No time is wasted as we took some nice photos while we wait.

Time to try out my new camera!

Jolie saw us jumping and decided to do some jumping herself too!

I like the stairways to the water edge. Jolie likes to throw little rocks into the water, but her sitting on the edge made MIL and Cobby super nervous. Don't worry, the water at the edge was quite shallow.

After that, we headed to Sakura Charcoal Grill and Shabu Shabu. Located at Marina Country Club, it was only a few minutes drive away from the park. As most people stayed at the park for the fireworks, the place wasn't too crowded.

It was our first time there, and I really liked it! We got an outdoor seat and it was just next to the waters. The satay was really yummy, and there was more food then we could eat. MIL and SIL don't eat beef, so I didn't even got the beef for the steamboat. But it was enough food to fill our tummy. We were so full that I almost forgot about dessert! My favourite was their durian puffs. So durian-ny!

When I told my beautician who does my facial about our trip to the park, she was quite amused. The young girl in her early twenties just don't understand why do we want to go to the park. "Why? What do you do there?" she asked. I tried to defend myself, explaining, "Well, we walked around... and... enjoyed the scenery... and...". Somehow, even I find it lame when you say it out loud. But really, it was quite fun. Hot and sunny, and made my skin all red, (beautician nagged at me for not putting sunblock) but it was a nice outdoor activity for the whole family.

Jack of All Trades

3 out of 4 of my kitchen cabinets have been broken for months. The hinges were broken and I had to resort to either holding the cabinet door with one hand while taking whatever I needed with the other. If I needed to use two hands, like carrying my toaster oven out of the cabinet, I would have to hold the door up with my head.

-_- I know... sad right...

So after months of suffering, Cobby finally decided to go hunt for new hinges to save his damsel in distress. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any proper ones in our usual DIY shops. Bo bian, we decided to call our very own Jack of all trades, my Dad.

Within days, he found the right hinges at a hardware shop in Kranji, and stopped by one morning to help me fix it up. (Jolie saw her gong-gong and wanted to help too)

When we tried the newly fixed door, I felt so touched! 感动!!! Finally, I didn't need to hold up the door with my hand or my head anymore! On top of that, while Dad was fixing the door, I got to clean up the insides of the cupboards. So I got clean cupboards with working doors! What a happy day!

No offence to anyone, but somehow, older men are just more useful. We used to live in a private house when we were little, and Dad was our very own handyman. Everything in the house, electrical, mechanical and even plumbing is fixed by Dad. He does not have a engineering degree, but whatever he needs, he learn most of it himself, via trial and error. I guess it's just more economical that way, he started out poor, so you had to do whatever you can to save money.

Nowadays, with a comfy income and cushy lifestyle, it's way easier to just pay someone to help you. So sometimes I wonder if it's good idea to even consider getting a private house. Would we have to hire someone to fix every little thing at home?

Anyway, really thankful that Dad could help me. Of course I didn't make him work for free. I paid for the hinges, the workmanship and best of all, a delicious lunch. Pretty good deal for him!

Children's Day Party 2011 Part 2

Yesterday, there was a mini celebration, where the kids got to dress up and have delicious snacks. Today, the school organised an actual celebration where they combined both classes and they told us that "refreshments" would be provided. When we got there, we found out that their "refreshments" turned out to be cookies, chocolate, marshmallows, muffins and cakes. -_- And all the parents / guardians thought that it would be proper food like bee hoon or rice or any buffet food! So most of us have to think about preparing lunch after the party! Super duh.... -_-

I think the children had the most fun seeing all the yummy, decedent sweets laid out before them! But before they kids got to eat, we had to listen to the RC chairman's speech, then the vice chairman's speech. Just when I thought we can eat in peace, some China woman took over the mike and started promoting their Chinese tuition classes. With all the chatter of the parents, guardians and children, the China woman's sharp voice was really irritating me! But the kids were totally oblivious.

As usual, people always order too much food! Look at the number of cakes they bought! It's crazy!

After the kids had their fill of cakes and sweets, they "attacked" the many balloons there and had a great time. Many parents / guardians started to mingle around too.

After a round of fun, the teacher brought out round 2, ice creams! Jolie was like me, she got the black forest flavour and hated it. So I had to eat it (with much disgust) and gave her my vanilla. They bought too many ice cream too, so Jolie and I had to "sacrifice" by having another ice cream each. Heehee....

After the ice cream, they started an impromptu game of "hitting a balloon".

1. An adult to throw a balloon into the air.
2. Try to hit the floating balloon with balloon in hand.
3. Scream / Shriek / Shout at the top of your lungs. 
4. Repeat.

Later the kids decided to "attack" the teacher. Haha, good opportunity to 报仇!

The kids had great fun. With all the sugar and balloons, who wouldn't? Us parents got some goodie bags too, and I walked home together with another Mom and her kid. In fact, I had so much fun talking that I totally forgot that I actually rode my bike to school today. So my bike was parked outside the school! But I was so busy making some last minute lunch for Jolie, and it was already way pass her nap time, so I had to wait until she's asleep before I can run out.

So after Jolie's asleep, I quickly ran to her school, all the time praying that nobody has stolen my bike and hoping that Jolie wouldn't wake up from her nap before I'm back. Thankfully my bike was still there, silently waiting for me to pick her up. When I passed the school, I peeped inside the window and saw that everybody was gone, but the teacher was still there, doing paperwork. I think this is a side of a teacher's job that most people doesn't see, there's alot of work to be done even after school has ended.

Anyway, managed to got back home with Jolie still sleeping soundly. Glad she had a good time, and to be honest, I had a pretty good time too. :)