Father's Day Cake

- belated post on Father's Day. but at least it's still the month of June! -

Since we had a cake for Mother's Day, it was only fair that we got a cake for Father's Day as well. We celebrated really early this year though, since hubby insisted that Father's Day was the first weekend of June !! he he.

He did the cake ordering himself (actually it was a cake voucher that we needed to redeem). When asked by the hotel what to write on the cake, he was too shy to say it was his own Father's Day cake, so he told them to just write "Elyssa" on the cake.

So, just like for Mother's Day, the cake became "Elyssa's cake" :)

The Happy Girl

She kept saying it was her birthday cake

Photo with Daddy
(someone was interested in nothing else but the cake!)

Kiss Kiss
(gosh, she looks really round in this pic!)

Universal Studios, Singapore

I'm finally back from Singapore!

One of the highlights from my Singapore work trip was a half day team building event at Universal Studios. (I was pretty thrilled when I read the agenda!)

After the morning meeting, we reached Universal Studios around 1.30pm. Already half a day gone, and it didn't help that it started pouring heavily when we arrived. Had to wait about an hour before the rain stopped.

In hindsight, we didn't have to worry cos we pretty much covered the entire theme park in half a day (including lining up for 45 minutes for a particular ride which only lasted 40 seconds!!). The whole place was pretty small. When we first looked at the map, we thought there would be a lot of walking to the different "lands" - Ancient Egypt, New York, Jurassic Park, Faraway Land etc. But in actual fact, each "land" was quite small and it took less than 15 minutes from one end to the other.

Some photos -

Souvenier Shop

Madagascar Show
(nice, but super short. ONE song and that was it)

Faraway Castle (from Shrek)

Performance at the Shrek Theatre

Another Performance

Me, at the entrance

Walkway right after the entrance

My favourite item was the 4D Shrek show. Really good! The mummy adventure roller coaster was good too - I was such a scaredy cat that I just clutched the railing, closed my eyes most of the time and hardy made a sound, while I could hear my colleagues screaming around me. Ha hahh....

Overall, I would give Universal Studios Singapore a "quite nice" rating only. A bit steep after the SGD77 ticket price conversion esp for entire families.

But since my ticket was free, I have no complaints ;)

__
Ok, side track a bit to the hotel room. It was the smallest (considering the room rate) business hotel that I've ever stayed in. Looks alright at first glance from the pic below, but the 2 ends of the picture are the 2 ends of the hotel room. So compact that the "cupboard" at the bottom right of the writing table was actually the mini bar and the "drawer" was where the tea/coffee facilities and hairdryer were !

Father's Day Surprise

It's Father's Day tomorrow!

Since I'll be flying off to Singapore tomorrow for a week-long work meeting, I won't be able to celebrate the special day with hubby and Elyssa.

But I thought I'll give hubby a little surprise.

So, presenting ..........*drum roll*..........

Precious Elyssa and Daddy moments :)

Happy Father's Day :)

Father's Day Lunch

We had an early Father's Day lunch for my father last week. Went to Itallianies at the new Empire Gallery.
.
Food quality was so-so only. I think the outlet in The Curve is better. The ambiance was really nice though. We managed to reserve a big long table on a low platform in a cosy corner of the restaurant. Really nice! The platform area was big enough for us - 8 adults, 2 kids, 2 babies and 3 strollers :)

Photos during and after the lunch :

Enjoying the Food

Elyssa and Justin must always sit together....

Introducing the latest arrivals in the family

(aren't they adorable? they are cousins born about 3 weeks apart)

a) Baby Jensen

b) Baby Jo-Ern

After lunch, we walked around the shopping centre-

Justin & Elyssa holding hands
(I think they are just so sweet together!)

Posing Together

Happily Running Back and Forth

It was nice family outing. First time out for the whole family since the babies arrived :)

2 Years, 2 Months Old

Elyssa is exactly 2 Years and 2 Months Old today!

About her :
1. Weight : Approx 12.7 kg

2. She loves to say "Excuse Me" (with a big smile) after she sneezes or coughs. If any of us forget, she'll happily say, "Oh, Forgot to say Excuse Me".

3. She finally knows her colours! Yay..... no problem with blue, green, red, yellow, pink, black and white now.

4. At times, she has trouble controlling her emotions. When she's at a "distress" stage, she just cries and screams "I don't want, I don't want" or "Mummy, Mummy", while hardly being able to catch her breath. When I ask her "What do you want", or "tell mummy why you're crying", she just screams even louder and gets herself even more stressed up.

But sometimes, it's a little funny. She cries/screams for quite a while, then suddenly stops and ask questions in a calm manner....... and then starts screaming again.

5. She's still drooling. Never stopped since birth!

6. Just like her daddy, she's very determined once she sets her mind on something. Here's a potty story -
For the past month, my mum has been training her to poo in the potty. (before this, she poos either in her diaper during nap time or occasionally in her pants) She refused to poo in the potty so as a last resort, my mum decided to bribe her..... with food of course. My mum told her she could have a small piece of chocolate if she was successful. The outcome?

The first time, she sat and strained on the potty for ages! After about 20 minutes of trying, my mum asked her to get up but she just refused. Her response.... "I want to nggg nggg so I can eat chocolate". She was successful - after 45 minutes of trying! Her bum was all red but my mum said she had such a triumphed look on her face ;)

The second day, she tried and tried.... until she fell asleep! Now that's a big thing for someone who doesn't fall asleep easily.

(actually, as I'm writing this, she's trying to poo. He heeee... she won't disturb me for a while)

7. These days, she has a bad habit of running away everytime it's bath time or time to change clothes. It's like a game to her but frustrating for us!

____

More photos of Elyssa, taken this afternoon.
I can't help thinking she looks like such a big girl from this angle.

Hubby says she looks like a "hao poh" (vain pot) in the last photo ;)

Wesak Long Weekend

During the recent Wesak long weekend, we stayed for 2 nights at the Putrajaya Marriott hotel as we wanted to utilize our hotel voucher.

Unfortunately, I fell sick during the first day there. Sore throat and fever. What bad timing! I felt lethargic and spent quite a lot of time just sleeping :(

Anyway, some photos from that weekend -

Elyssa waiting patiently for her balloon from the clown.
(daddy brought her down for high tea while mummy slept. Zzzzzz.....)

Thank You Uncle Clown!

3 pc band from the Italian Restaurant

Playing with my chinese book.

Yup, I brought my homework along!

The Happy Girl

Elyssa strutting down the hotel lobby :)

Time with Mummy

I had last Friday off in lieu of the King's Birthday on Saturday. Hubby was working that day so I took Elyssa out for a full day.

We started our day with a leisurely "kopitiam" breakfast, then shopping, then lunch with daddy (met up with him as he left his wallet in my car), more shopping and then had a nice afternoon tea. Nice mummy-daughter bonding time :)

Shopping wise, it was pretty unproductive (I ended up with only one pair of workpants!) but I really enjoyed the time spent together. It was pretty easy to handle Elyssa alone. When I tried on clothes, she happily entertained herself with the mirror. When I walked around, she obediently walked by my side. When it came to food time, well... as usual she was happy. There were occasional cranky times but it was manageable.

I also discovered a cafe called "Departure Lounge" and I absolutely loved it! Spent quite some time there just reading a book and enjoying my cafe latte and carrot cake :)

Photos taken at Departure Lounge :



As expected, the day ended much too soon!

The next morning, it was also a mummy-daughter affair as I brought her for a meet-up with 2 of my friends and their kids. Well, both of us had a good time! I enjoyed yakking and catching up with my friends. Elyssa enjoyed playing in the pool, eating sandwiches, watching tv and playing with the toys that were in my friend's condo (there were LOT of toys -enough to start a playschool!).

In the swimming pool - it was an unplanned dip, so she went in with her panties and a borrowed t-shirt :)

Playing with toys

So that was one and half days of "Mummy & Elyssa" time. I really love this stage where I can bring her out on my own :)

Jump

These days, Elyssa just loves to JUMP !!!

She's happy when she jumps. Or maybe she jumps when she's happy??


Managed to record a video of the happy-jumping girl :




Sometimes when I look at Elyssa, I'm amazed by how happy she can be. It's obvious that when she's happy, she's just sooooooooo happy. If there's such a thing as a "happiness meter" I'm sure hers is much higher than mine or hubby's. Sometimes, we just wish we can learn more about the "secrets of happiness" from our 2 year old.

For a start, mebbe we can try jumping around! (well, actually we did. And had a good laugh. so i guess it does work :)