~ 元宵节 2010 ~

Today is the 15th day of the Lunar New Year aka 元宵节. This also marks the end of the CNY celebration. It has been a hectic week and all of us are tired... Hubby prayed in the morning and we went to Singapore Expo to check out the Harvey Norman Fair and Asia Food Delights Spring 2010.

There isn't a lot of people as most of the crowd has swamp to the NATAS Fair located at the other Hall. Lucky for us, we were able to find seats easily and sit down to have our lunch at the Food fair. Satay, Chicken rice, chicken wings, rice dumplings etc... we filled our stomach and get to sample the free drinks along the way to quench our thirst. :p

Since it's the 15th day of the month, there are ducks and chicken on the table (after prayers). We gather round once again to have our 元宵节 dinner.

Wishing all 元宵节快乐。

~ Summer Wars ~

Sunny Day : We went out early to catch a movie at The Cathay! It is our first visit there ever since the cinema was closed for renovation and redevelopment in the early 2000s. Hubby said Summer Wars (Japanese anime science fiction film) is a pretty nice movie about a young math genius, Kenji who was asked by his older female student, Natsuki (whom he likes) to go to her family's home for a summer vacation job. During his stay, he receives a strange math problem on his mobile phone and broke the code over night. Only to realise later that he is being implicated in the hacking of a virtual world (Oz). With the help of Natsuki and her family, how they win this war and bring everything back to order.

Although the children are not new when it comes to watching movies. (especially Denver). I'm not too sure how much they can understand/enjoy as the movie is in Japanese with English & Chinese subtitles. :p Nevertheless, one thing they always love is FOOD! Their favourite popcorn, chips and drinks to keep them company in the cinema. ^_^

My handsome little boy and pretty little girl.

Hubby and I enjoyed the movie. I always appreciate anime animation because of its detailed and fine drawings, heartwarming story (never fails to make me shed tears) and the message behind each wants to brings out.

As for Denver, he paid attention to the show and I believe he got a pretty good guess on what the movie was about. How about Gladys?? She has been busy eating, drinking for more than half of the movie. Heheheh. Well, who can blame her?? She is too young and this is not the kind of 'cartoon' that she can appreciate and understands easily. Again, I must applaud that she stayed on throughout the entire movie. Bravo! ^_^

~ Primary 1 Class Leader ~

Today we received a letter from school that there will be a Student Leader's Investiture ceremony next Monday for Denver's role as a class leader. (Denver was appointed as his Class Monitor mid last month - http://phoebelau.blogspot.com/2010/01/monitor.html). According to him, seems like the Monitor and Monitress of each class will get the certificate. How interesting. :p I don't recall we have that kind of formal ceremony during my time. Hubby & I will be taking some time off to see Denver getting his first certifcate in the School Hall! ^_^

~ 大年初七 - 人日 2010 ~

今天是农历新年正月初七, 也就是人日. 传说女蜗初创世，在造出了鸡狗猪羊牛马等动物后，于第七天造出了人，所以这一天是人类的生日. 祝大家生日快乐!

刚巧今天也是周末, 所以我们带着孩子们去了朋友的家拜年. 新年期间, 桌上美食糕点样样有. 孩子们见了马上往嘴里塞. 我们真的吃了不少, 也喝了满多. 今天是人日, 当然少不了捞鱼生来讨个好兆头! 捞鱼生时要越捞越高，代表步步高升! 现在人们也喜欢在捞鱼生时喊 "发啊!" "财源广进!" "心想事成!" 等, 希望新的一年里能升官发财, 钱包满满.




我们也抽时间去了四马路观音堂. 上一次因为人太多了, 所以没有机会进去烧香. 这一次, 终于可以带着孩子们去求平安.

老公常说, 新年时, 钱花得特别快..人也特别穷. 因为要买很多的东西过节. 但一年一次, 也是在这个时后可以和亲人, 老朋友叙叙旧. 希望大家可以热热闹闹, 快快乐乐的过个好年. 这也让新年增添了许多欢乐, 喜庆的气氛!

~ 大年初四 2010 ~

Hubby & I took leave today to relax a bit after an exciting and tiring 3 days of CNY. Somehow, today didn't turn out to be any easier either. Why? Because we had another day of packed events.
To fully utilize our time, Hubby & I went to catch the earliest show at AMK Hub - “大兵小将” (Little Big Soldier) starring Jackie Chan & Wang Lee Hom. Instead of him playing the Big General, Jackie took on the role of the Little Soldier. Nevertheless, I love his role and all his little ideas and tricks on faking dead and 'street-smart' ideas to bring the General through the journey back to his home country. There are a couple of funny scenes and although the ending was sad, that is what makes the movie commendable.

After having our lunch, we took the children back home at 2pm. Denver told us that he scored 20/20 (full marks) for his maths tropical test today! ^_^ (we were not informed about the test and this was really on the spot that the teacher gave it to them to do today.) I'm really glad and Daddy was happy. Now the kids will have more fun at Universal Studio Singapore later!

Hubby was tired and we all took a nap... only to wake up LATE!! Luckily Hubby shook me up at 3plus and by 4pm, we were all out of the house. Taking the LRT, MRT down to Habourfront station and then transferring to a RW8 bus to USS!!

We took over 300 photos!!! Some blurrrred some good... many duplicates. Please visit http://bpdgtravels.blogspot.com/2010/02/universal-studios-singapore-preview_18.html for more Photos on Universal Studios Singapore! IT HAS BEEN AMAZING and FUN!!!! (Even though it's only a preview with no rides or shows, but definitely worth the trip and the $10 tickets!)

~ 大年初三 2010 ~

Compared to Day 1, we have a rather free schedule today. As usual, mornings are going to the temple for prayers. Hubby wants me to take a photo of the banana plant that has grow a bunch of bananas and also the flowers blossoming at my Bsil's place.
Gladys is already all set to go! We are going to the Loyang 大伯公宫 and this is another popular spot where many people will come to pray for good luck and a prosperous year ahead. Personally, I just hope for the family to be safe & sound and have a healthy, happy year.

After prayers, we spent our afternoon in the cinema avoiding the hot blazing sun! (It has been super duper hot these days!) Apparently, many people chose to watch movies at this time and the tickets are selling fast like hot cakes!

With so many CNY movies showing, we settled in for "Percy Jackson & Olympians - The Lightning Thief" (http://www.percyjacksonthemovie.com/) Pardon me for my ignorance in the Greek mythology, I always find them very fascinating but did not go in depth to read and understand further. Denver finds the movie extremely interesting and wants to learn more about the Greek gods while Gladys just could not sit still towards the 2nd half of the movie. Lucikly, she managed to last through the entire show, and only dozing off at the final 20mins of the movie. We went back home to rest and it was nice to see Chunho and family coming to visit. As for tonight, we only had 1 visting and that is going to Kevin's parents house for steamboat dinner. The children are keeping themselves entertained while waiting... kicking the ball, playing badminton, and swinging on the swings.

It's already Day 3 into the Lunar New Year Holidays and school starts tomorrow!! :( Good times always past so fast! My favourite holiday of the year is almost gone... sniff sniff. Well, we are going to visit Universal Studio Singapore tomorrow evening!!! Hopefully the crowd will not be as 'congested' as what the papers have described and we will be able to have a good time.

~ 大年初二 2010 ~

Day 2 continues... The advantage of having a daughter is dressing her up! ^_^She looks so pretty in a dress and makes mommy feels so proud!

Today's schedule is not so hectic as we first headed off to 城隍庙 for prayers. Based on 3rd Uncle's advice, each of us have a different diety to pray to for a safe and good year ahead.

Many more visiting to go after prayers and it was another round of 吃吃喝喝.

Hubby had mahjong session in the afternoon and 小叔 and family came over to visit too. ^_^

In the evening, we went over to Steven's house for dinner and Denver & Gladys kept themselves occupied playing with the other children. They soon make friends and this allows Daddy and Mommy has some fun of our own too. (Poker game - No Win No Lose) hahahhaha.

~ 大年初一 2010 ~

Gladys has been coughing badly since yesterday and was on medication. She has been in a foul mood and was really cranky. Luckily we manage to take her see Dr Khoo on time and get her to drink lots of water. If not, it will be really difficult to take her around for visiting.

"正月初一头一天,家家户户过新年,从头到脚打扮好,上街去拜年" This is exactly what happens on the first day of CNY. Everyone got to wake up early and dress up in their new clothing and shoes.We went straight to my inlaws and bsil's place to 拜年 and gather to go to 般若念佛堂 (PUAT JIT BUDDHIST TEMPLE) at Anchorvale link for prayers.


This is then followed by a series of visiting. Usually we will have a very pack schedule on the first day of CNY as there are many relatives and friends' house to go. By noon time, we have went to 4 houses and stopped by Dad's and Mum's place for steamboat lunch. Brother Damian & Owen are all in and we took many photos together.

After lunch, we drove down to 观音堂 @ 四马路 for prayers. Unfortunately there are SO MANY people queuing outside the temple waiting for their turns to go in!! 真的是香火鼎盛! Since we already made our way down, we prayed quietly outside the temple for 一家平安.
Visiting continued through till late night and we have been eating and drinking from house to house. While the adults are busy engaging in gossips or mahjong, the children are keeping themselves entertained with TV programs, toys, games and chinese new year goodies. We are all so tired by the time we got home... Imagining covering 2 temples and 8 houses in 1 day!@_@ Round 2 continuing tomorrow.

~ Reunion Dinner ~

Hubby made some agar-agar for the Chinese New Year today. Earlier we bought some instant agar-agar packets from NTUC (Red and Green) and made 2 sets as desserts for the family.
Later in the evening, after prayers and completing our cleanup, we went back to have Reunion dinner with my in-laws. Every year we'll gather around the table and enjoy the sumptuous hotpot (aka steamboat) including fish, abalone, meat, prawns, duck etc.
Seeing all of us so busy, Gladys also wanted to give a helping hand in setting up the table. ^_^. The children enjoy putting the fish balls or crab meat into the hotpot and watching it getting cooked. By 630pm we have finished our dinner, washed up and ready to go to River Hongbao for a walk!

~ Reunion Dinner - Parents ~

This is the first time we took parents out for our Reunion dinner at a nice resturant. In the past years, Mom has been cooking and we have been eating in all this while. Brother Owen suggested to dine at Paradise Inn @ Citysquare Mall this year so that they can have a good and relaxing meal.

Unfortunately, Dad's leg has been in pain lately and he has difficulty making every step. :( We will need to help him to schedule for an operation after the CNY. Hopefully he'll recover well and be able to regain his freedom of walking soon.

Thanks to Hubby for helping to pick my parents... We reached CitySquare early and took the children to the acrade (Timezone) for a short play. Luckily there are seats available and Dad was able to sit down & rest for awhile.

The best part is Dad joining in the soccer game with the kiddos. :) Denver & 公公 in team 1 while Gladys & Mommy formed the 2nd team. So who won???? Denver & 公公!! They won the games twice in a row! It was FUN and I enjoyed every bit of this moment.

http://www.paradiseinn.com.sg/

We headed to Paradise Inn around 730pm and met up with Owen. While waiting for Big brother and family, we ordered the "Longevity" Set Menu. A nice treat for Dad & Mum!

We had Pork Belly with Buns to temporary stuff our hungry tummies and finally "Lao Hei" when all of us have arrived! Dad seems to enjoy it very much and the other dishes were also being served shortly. I particulary like the wasabi prawns, dong po pork and fried rice. :)

After our dinner, the kids went out to see the water fountain. It has been a while since I last saw Ashton and he is growing up, resembling more and more like my Big Brother.

Although the price is a kinda expensive, the food was nice and most importantly, I hope Parents enjoyed it. For this coming Chinese New Year, I hope parents will be in Good Health and stay Happy.