Cameron Highlands 11-14 June 2013

I have been wanting to take a family trip with my mum and bro. Ever since my dad passed away last year, I am more keenly aware that we should 珍惜眼前人. My mum is getting old, we should travel with her more often while she can still walk.

Cameron highlands has been a place my mum always wanted to visit. She has never been there but she loves to visit vegetable farms, fruit farms and market places where fresh veg and fruits are sold. I was wary of cranky kids throwing up in the long 10 hr coach ride especially the steep windy climb to Cameron highlands but decided to take the risk for mum's sake. I booked the night coach even though most people say night coaches are dangerous. But I felt that if the kids are asleep most of the coach ride, it will be easier for the hours to go by.

So, I booked with 5 stars and took the F&E package with Equatorial Hotel. My friend recommended Century Pines Resort because it is near to Tanah Rata town and is near to the playground. But 5 Stars doesn't have any packages with this hotel and I am too lazy to have to make my own way from bus terminus to Century Pines Resort. Equatorial hotel is located at Brinchang, near to the Cameron Highlands peak and it is popular with Singaporeans. Currently, it is going through renovation to the hotel rooms. I reviewed the hotel at Tripadvisor.

11 June 13
RL was having tiny bits of explosive diarrhea and kept soiling her panties so we had to resort to taking leftover old diapers from my mum's place. We finally reached Golden mile complex at 1015pm but were already among the last families to arrive. Reporting time was supposed to be 1030pm. Looks like we are not kiasu enough. It was a Super Deluxe double decker coach with individual tv screens. It was a steep climb to the upper deck for the kids and my mum. But luckily, they did give us the middle row seats which were the seats most accessible by the staircase. The coach bus left promptly at 1030pm once all the passengers arrived. We went via Tuas checkpoint and there were no queues at both sides' custom checkpoints at all. So glad I chose to travel on a weekday.

12 June 13
RA knocked out at 1130pm shortly after we cleared JB customs while RL KO past midnight. At 1am, we reached Yong Peng and I wolfed down yong tau foo noodles soup cos we only had half an hr there. Bad move cos by 210am, maybe I ate too fast, I had such a bad stomachache that I had to ask the coach drive to make a pit stop. Thankfully, we were near a rest station but he slowly reversed the coach to go to the rest station. After that, I ko and woke up again close to 5+am. By 6.05am, the coach was starting on the climb to Cameron highlands. The gals were still asleep then so they did not feel any of the swaying movements. By 730am, we reached Brinchang town, the gals were awake and we had a leisurely breakfast of wonton noodles at one of the coffee shops.

When we went up to the coach bus, a tour guide from Titiwangsa tour agency was recommending their day tour packages, probably affiliated to 5 stars tours. The prices for their full day tour is slightly more than Eco Cameron and Kang Tours but for the sake of the convenience, we signed up for their half day pm Agro farm tour including steamboat buffet dinner(RM65) and their half day am Nature discovery tour to tea plantation and Mossy forest (RM60) for the next day. By the time, the bus took us to Equatorial Hotel, it was 930am.

We were really lucky that we could check in right away. Maybe because we booked Deluxe rooms cos I overheard other passengers who booked superior rooms could only check in at 2pm. After settling into our newly renovated connecting rooms, we R&R and the gals enjoyed running from room to room, watching preloaded movies on Daddy's new Note8.

Went for lunch at the Coffee shop at Equatorial hotel cos we didn't know where to go yet. The main courses were RM23 onwards so not really cheap but at least their servings were big. At 245pm, the tour guide picked us up. We went to terrace vegetable farms, strawberry farms, hydroponics farm, watercress, cactus and chrysanthenum plantations. The gals took turns to ko on the the mini bus when tired. It was a pity that there were no tour guides who spoke Mandarin (mainly Indians in fact) so my mum didn't understand most of the tour. We ended up a steamboat buffet dinner at Hotel Titiwangsa. Vegetables were free flow but other ingredients were not. But it was delicious and we finished the table of food.

After that, we were sent back to the hotel but after the gals had their bubble baths, we called it a night.

13 June 13
I woke up at 7am and had the privilege of breathing in the fresh morning mountain air and see the low morning sun. But went back to bed. We were almost late for our tour so had to rush through our BF. Buffet BF was ok in variety but the gals only ate some morning cereals. Poor hubby who has been having stomach flu even b4 we left Singapore only had a small bowl of plain porridge.

The first stop of our tour was to the Boh tea plantations. We saw the tea shrubs and the guide showed us the difference between grade A, B and C tea leaves. Surprisingly, the tea shrubs there were already 84 years old. They can actually last up to 120 years cos the workers just keep pruning the shrubs and harvesting the top leaves.

After that we did the Mossy forest board walk, the hike through Mossy forest was supposed to be better in terms of the sighting of pitcher plants in the forest but considering that we had toddlers and elderly, the tour guide said the trek will be difficult cos air is thin and the ground is slippery. Still we had a close view of moss overgrowing on the branches. But RA was disappointed not to see any forest animals or snakes. :P

After a visit to Boh tea centre where we had some tea and snacks, we asked the guide to drop us at Brinchang town again so that we can have our lunch. The tze char stall at one of the coffee shops was not fantastic. Mum complained that everything was salty. Even then 4 dishes with rice costs RM96.

The bus picked us up again at 230pm and we went back to Hotel. 3 Malay teachers on the same tour as us recommended the free shuttle bus service to Tanah Rata town so we booked with the conceige counter for the 645pm bus. Hubby ko as he was weak with the constant runs. I spent the afternoon at my mum's room while the gals enjoyed themselves blowing bubbles, eating tidbits and watching movies. At 5pm, when hb woke up, my bro and I went for foot reflexology at the Fucon massage centre near the hotel. The masseurs were ok during the foot reflexology session but when it came to the 30mins massage, they were pushy and tried to get us to upgrade to a better oil (add RM10), gusha (add RM20), baguan (add RM30). They massage our back very hard repetitively on the same area until it was red and bruising then even took photos of our backs. All in all, my bro paid RM88 and I paid RM68 and that was after some arguing. Will not go back to this place again.

When we were Tanah Rata, we ended eating at Rosette Cafe cos they served both steamboat and western dishes. Great cos the adults can have chinese while I ordered sandwiches for the gals so that they can feed themselves. RL threw a really long tantrum cos she didn't want to finish her bread which had mayo but she insisted on peeling the hard boiled egg and not eating it. She really tested my bro who told us not to give in to her everytime so I made hubby carry her away after 10 mins of melt down. After she came back, I forced her finish 1 piece of bread. She literally took ant bites to show her reluctance. Note to self: save all of us the trouble, next time just order butter bread which she loves. She can lick the butter and finish it all by herself.

We reached hotel at 10pm. After their bubble bathes and milk, RL ko on my mum's bed watching Planet of the Apes. RA ko past midnight. haha.

14 June 13

We woke up at 7+am and went for early bf cos we were supposed to assemble at 930am for the 10am coach bus. But 930am came and left, by 1015am, most of the 5 stars passengers panicked. We called the 5 stars office many times but there was no answer. Finally, one of the tour guide who had a hp contact managed to contact Titiwangsa guide and was told that the bus was still at brinchang town. It was 1030am by then.

When the coach bus came at 1045am, I realised that it was not the Super deluxe coach I paid for. It had no tv, it was just super vip. Also, we had a surly indian driver who did not talk and make announcements. Even at customs, he just stops the coach and does not bother to brief the passengers on what to bring down etc.

There was a long queue of coach buses at tuas checkpoint so we had to wait for almost 1 hr. I don't understand where there are no Singaporeans only queue at Tuas checkpoint. I asked the officers but he said for Singaporeans, it is only the self automated counters. But those counters are for people who are not travelling with young kids. Shouldn't kids be given priority? At least there should be a manual counter for Singaporeans with young kids right? Instead we have to queue with the foreigners who take a longer processing time at the counters. Makes no sense at all when you are encouraging Singaporeans to have kids but you do not have kids friendly policies across the government agencies.

Anyway, we finally reached home at 1130pm.

Overall, it was a good trip. I had quite low expectations of this trip cos it was our first extended family trip for many years. But there was no puking on coach bus, no tempers flared and the gals especially RL had a good time entertaining themselves and socialising with my brother's JC classmate's son (Zander) and the 3 malay teachers. Since we survived the Cameron trip, a trip to Australia with my mum and bro is possible after all. ;)

Reading...

When I brought RaeAnne to school today, I chanced upon the Peter and Jane ladybird book on Teacher Samantha's table. Wa... they are using Peter and Jane, I told hubby. The reason why I was so excited to see the book is because we bought the P&J key words books last year during Popular sale cos it was recommended by my forum mummy friends who were more diligent in getting their kids to learn to read. So we bought the beginner's P&J set of 6 books but never got beyond book 1A.

So today, I decided to fish out the book 1A again. Surprisingly, RA can recognise most of the words already. She does stumble on the words like here, their, but at least there is 70% hit rate. It is not that she could not read before. But all along, her reading was by memory especially her favourite books, she can remember the lines by heart and read it aloud without recognising the words. Kudos to the Elfa teachers for teaching phonics and sight words.

Although hubby and I do read to them, we can't claim credit cos most of the time, we just read. We even bought 2 sets of scholastic beginners' readers books but only read 4-5 of their favourites out of 20 books. We don't even point out each and every word in the story books cos we can't wait to send them to bed. After lights out at 930pm, it usually takes 1 - 1.5 hrs for them to knock out so that's why we are impatient to get the bedtime routine over and done with. I know of friends' 5 yr olds who read very well. And even a 6 year old who can read a full Roald Dahl book. So RaeAnne's progress in reading is considered slow.

The lack of effort is not only due to time constraint because I don't want to give her any pressure so young. Having taught lower primary school for some months, I feel that once they enter P1, they have so much homework to do. Their carefree childhood days are taken away from them so quickly. Easily 2-4 pages of HW or revision for English, Chinese and Maths everyday. I want RaeAnne to enjoy her homework-free days while she can so I have never given her homework to do especially since she is already at full day childcare.

But now that she is starting to read, I should play a more supportive role. I can't help her with phonics cos I never learnt them in school. But I can help her with sight words. Reading is a hobby that I hope both gals will pick up not only because it will help improve their language skills but also because it opens them up to a borderless world of knowledge. Ok, time to dig out that P&J book 1B. ;)

UK Agro Farm 3-4 June 13

School holidays finally started and I can breathe a sigh of relief cos hubby is around. Have been busy last few weeks with housechores cos my PT cleaner went back for 1 month home leave since early May.

Yesterday, on 3 June, the very first weekday of the school hols, we went on a family trip to UK Agro Farm in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. It was a last minute road trip with my family plus my mum, mil, 大舅,大舅妈. 小姨 was supposed to come too but her high blood pressure was out of control these few days so she cannot make it. The idea of UK Agro farm came in March when I saw the brochure in our previous Malaysian driver, Mr Lee's car. Asked my cousin, Shirley previously but she could not confirm her travel plans in June. Since my uncle and aunt were back from NZ for visit, my mum asked me to quickly organise a trip before they go back in July so I took the chance and suggested UK Agro Farm. Cos I wanted my city gals to experience country side farm life instead of Singapore's urban life. Naturally, we engaged Mr Lee again.

He picked us up at 8am cos check in time was 2pm and I didn't want to be too early. Traffic was good and by 9am, we were having breakfast, thai seafood fried rice recommended by Mr Lee. The fried rice at RM5 had lots of sotong and prawns, perfect for my seafood loving RL.

There were still time to kill so he brought us to Jusco after BF. I look around for waterproof sandals for RA and RL cos their existing ones were too tight. I stopped buying crocs for some time since Nai Nai could get cheap, fake crocs with angry birds or other cartoon designs for $10. I bought 2 sandals, 2 night dresses and a blousy cotton top for myself.

After shopping, he picked us up at 1130am and we proceeded for lunch. Enroute, we tried fried durian and fried chempedek which we bought from a famous roadside stall. It costs RM2.50 each but it was very sinful, crispy to the max and super oily plus heaty. Hubby bought 8 each but we could only eat half of them. RL had knocked out in the car by then cos she was having a cough and we fed her cough syrup in the morning.

Our driver recommended pipa duck (which looks like roast duck with a sauce) at the coffee shop eatery. Food was good but we were too stuffed from the fried durians so could not eat much. After lunch, we finally proceeded for UK Agro Farm. RA and RL had asked me at least 5 times when they were going to see the goats by then.

When we were close to the farm, RL had woken up. She did not have lunch so I could only give her some baby bites and sweets first. We reached UK agro farm after a bumpy 6km dirt road in from the main road but along the way, we saw beautiful orchid farms and even cows.

The lobby at UK farm wasn't impressive, maybe cos we are not used to resort farm lobbies. But the check in was quite quick and they got the bus to bring us into the chalet blks, saving us a 10-15 mins walk from the lobby.

Accomodation at the wooden chalets was quite basic, air con, fan, shower, kettle, and a mini fridge. Toiletries only include bath towels and wall dispensed body soap n shampoo so you got to bring everything else yourself. We had quad share and 5 pax in a room. But the rooms were triple share so for each additional person, there was an extra mattress for sleeping on the floor. There were houseflies in the room too but then they do give us fly glue traps and electric repellents to ward off mosquitoes.

After putting down our stuff, we took the bus out again for our afternoon tea. They served cupcakes, choc cakes, green bean soup and milk tea. But my relatives including MIL were all afraid of goat milk so they only ate the green bean soup. haha.

Then we took the 3 hr farm tour which included goat feed processing, goat feeding, lamb feeding and visits to the ostrich farm, vegetables farm and mushroom farm.

After a sumptuous Chinese buffet dinner, at 9+pm, we got to release sky lanterns but being our first time doing it, our first lanterm was stuck in a tree. haha. We all slept early at 10+pm But around midnight, I was awaken by Raelynn's whining and talking. Woke up to check on her and realise that she was having a fever. I didn't have children panadol with me so I could only put on fever cooling patch for her and sponge her back and stomach and neck. Thankfully, she slept again and next morning, fever was gone.

In the morning after BF, we brought the gals to the goat challenge where we have to try to catch 1 goat/kid out of 6-7 goats in a fenced up circle. Even though the challenge was just 5 mins, we ran like mad and our shirts were all wet. We didn't even managed to touch the fur on the goat, let alone catch it cos they were too fast for us, even the limping one. haha.


After that, we used up half of our archery coupons. I got nowhere near the bull eyes but hubby got a few into the yellow dot. We went to the mini zoo too. By then it was 11am, so we quickly went back to shower so that we can check out and have our lunch, provided by the the hotel. Took a quick horse cart ride that costs RM60 for 4 pax cos RA wanted to try it. Then we said goodbye to UK agro farm. Went to KSL for dinner before going home. RA and RL enjoyed the motorised rides for 15 mins.

Post trip review: RA and RL were thankfully blissfully unaware of the stench from the goat poo. And they were thrilled to carry the kids in their arms. They loved feeding the birds at the mini zoo too. They did not hesitate at all to climb the steep ladders up to the tree house and loved the adult sized rope swings at the farm. There is hope for bringing them to Australia farm stay next time. ;)

Friday nights

I really thought I was getting my Friday nights back. Raelynn has been whining that she does not want to go for ballet class since after CNY. Even though she is fine once she enters the room, she starts her whining every Friday morning and I was losing my patience with her. Since I have stopped working full time, yes, back to SAHM except for occasional freelance training, I was not going to waste $ if she is going to whine about it every lesson. I don't want to force her to learn because I feel that enrichment classes are for interest and exposure, so she must first of all like it.

To be honest, while serving the notice, I was all ready to reverse the decision, as long as Raelynn tells me personally that she still wants to learn because the ballet teacher said she improved a lot. The ballet teacher said she improved a lot. Last week, she showed off her ballet moves to ILs and my mum.

I don't know what the moves are called but she opened her legs wide like letter I and bent her arms to the left and right to touch her toes. She also laid down on her tummy and let her toes touch the back of her head. She said she is able to focus, and will even ask the teacher: 'Teacher, look at me'. But despite asking her many times in April, she said she doesn't want to learn anymore. So last Fri was the last lesson.

Whenever I ask RL if she still wants to learn ballet in April, she will say no but RaeAnne will interrupt and tell me 'Mummy, 我要学.' RA went for two ballet trials in 2012 but she didn't want to learn so I am surprised that she changed her mind now. Since RL is not learning anymore, I thought give RA a chance to try again. So, I told RL that since she doesn't want to learn ballet, I will give the chance to Cheh cheh and let Cheh cheh learn ballet instead.

Wa... What I didn't realise was how jealous and possessive she is. She cried and threw a tantrum, kept repeating: "姐姐不可以学,姐姐不可以去我的 ballet class." I asked her why can't Cheh Cheh learn ballet. I gave you a chance but you don't want to learn mah. Then I asked her again: 'Do you still want to learn ballet?' This time she nodded her head and said yes. Grr... Fickle minded gal.

Argghh... So now I am stuck with two gals learning ballet on Fri night. RL is still doing Bebe ballet from 730-8.15pm while RA just did her trial class Pre primary ballet (foundation) with the same teacher from 8.15-9pm. Thankfully, Teacher Li Tong said RA is good and picks up fast. She said RA can do all the moves tonight and will push her own limits compared to RL who needs to be pushed. Maybe because RA is more mature. I am relieved cos was worried that RA will be too stiff to start learning ballet now. Her good friend at CC has been learning since 3 years old and already taken the RAD ballet exam last month. RA is happy to be praised by the teacher in class and RL is also happy cos Cheh Cheh is not in her class.

Oh well, I am not rushing to buy their leotards and tights yet, only bought ballet shoes for RA cos she can't dance in socks cos she may slip and fall. I will monitor and see if her interest persists. Meantime, I am waiting for the new Pre primary (level) class to start cos timing is earlier 645-730pm.

Flying without wings....

Ever wonder why Singapore Flyer is called Singapore Flyer? The thought came to me as I brought the gals there with my mum and mil to Singapore Flyer today. Maybe it is because it is 165m tall? Tall enough to be the biggest observation wheel in 2008 but still exaggerated if you call that flying. But still, there will never be flight turbulence at the Flyer, which is what I always hate about real flying.

We didn't get to bring Raelynn to the Flyer before she turned 3 when it was still free entry for her. Tickets are $33 for adult, $24 for senior citizen, $21 for child above 3 yrs old. Not cheap. So when our nearest CC organised the trip at discounted flat rate of $21 per pax including two way transport, I grabbed the chance since both Raelynn and my mum have never been there. Hubby couldn't make it cos he had Parents Meet Teachers session whole day.

The bus picked us up at 3pm and brought us to the Flyer at 340pm. It dawned on me that the last time we were there was 5 years ago. RaeAnne's maiden 'flight' was in Dec 08 when she was 11 mths old. That was also the year that the flyer first opened for business. Seemed like so long ago. And the flyer definitely looks different. We had time to walk around though it is very warm today, the gals fed the fishes at the new walk-through garden with mini waterfalls. alfresco asian street fare with lots of hawker stalls. There is aslo exhibition area before reaching the departure point but the kids were not really keen.

The highlight of the day for them was definitely a ride on the Ferris Wheel, as Raelynn calls it. Ah Mah was a bit nervous entering the capsule that kept on moving but once we entered the capsule, everyone except RaeAnne relaxed cos it was so slow moving. Raelynn had no fear at all and ran from point to point.

RaeAnne, however, sat glued to the bench refusing to move. I had to pull her up, hold her hand and walked her to the other bench with a better view. Then she realised that it is not so scary. She and Raelynn had fun walking around and climbing on the side rails, taking silly photos of each other and everyone else, even taking their shoes off at times. Embarrassing moments, luckily there was only 1 chinese family of 3 and a family of 3 caucasian tourists in the same capsule as us.

The ride ended at 5.15pm, we went to the gift shop. RaeAnne was pestering me to buy snacks and sweets. But I refused to buy Hello panda or sweets at super inflated prices. Though I did pay for 6 flyer photos at super inflated prices $60. But my logic is at least those can't be bought at NTUC and most importantly, everyone is in the shot and looking at the camera, plus there are 6 different backgrounds and I get the soft copies too. 6 photos divide by 3 households means 2 photos each. Not so bad right? haha.

We walked around and went to the fish pond one more time before we took the bus back at 6pm. Reached CC at 630pm. The gals were tired out esp RA who dozed off for 5-10 mins on the bus ride back. I think it will probably be a long time before we go to the flyer again. Another 5 years? Haha.

Holiday Fun (Part 2 - Little Big Club, JB)

On Friday, we rented a private MPV with driver to bring us to Hello Kitty Town and Little Big club with my cousin Shirley, her MIL and two kids. The rental costs $250 and the MPV can fit up to 10 pax. I enjoyed the convenience cos this time we don't need to get up and down at the two customs unlike our last trip in Dec when we took the coach bus.

In Dec, we did not go to Little Big club so this time we booked the 2 park tickets online. When we met Mr Lee, our driver, he told us we could have asked him to help us buy cos Malaysians get discounted rates. Oh well, next time...

The driver picked us at 8am and our target was to reach Hello Kitty Town at 10am but we reached slightly before 10.25am. We were slightly delayed cos there was heavy morning traffic at Kaki bukit on our way to pick Shirley and thereafter cos Mr Lee thought we wanted to go via Woodlands checkpoint but we told him to detour to Tuas checkpoint thinking it will be faster, hopefully less jammed. But at least we made it in time for the meet and greet session by Hello Kitty and Daniel that Shirley wanted cos it was from 10-1030am. haha.

The place was so empty. We didn't need to queue at all. Good choice to come on a weekday ahead of Malaysia school holidays. After two spinning, dizzy rounds at HK teacups, we split up with Shirley as I wanted to bring the gals to Little Big club first since they have never been there. Thomas the train show was ongoing but RL was not keen so I brought her to Barney playground while RA stayed with Daddy.

11am was Angelina Ballerina dance lesson so I brought RL there first so that she can dress up in the tutu. Both gals joined in the dance but although RL has been taking ballet lessons, she couldn't follow the moves. Think the instructions were too fast for her, haha, RA had no problem though.


After Angelina ballerina show, we let them loose at Bob the builder indoor playground and they had fun running and playing the slides and 3d brick jigsaw. Saw Pingu the Penguin so we went to take photos. RL immediately hugged Pingu's big tummy. haha. We caught up with Shirley & co and we went up to Thomas the Train play zone at level 4 together.

The kids warmed up by then so they had fun taking the helicopter rides, school bus rides. RA tried the fast descending lift ride with daddy. I was hungry and quickly assembled a huge table with 8 chairs and 1 baby chair for lunch.

After lunch, RA wanted to sit on the bumper cars. We queued together but RL did not meet the 110cm height requirement for the bumper car rides and she cried buckets so I distracted her and brought her for the train ride. We went for 3 rounds cos the gals wanted to sit inside the only 'blue' thomas train carriage and yet another round cos RA wanted to sit in the only carriage with side mirrors.

All in all, they had fun. We left HKT at 4pm and went to KSL city for shopping and dinner. We shopped at Tesco and had dinner at Kinsahi and left KSL at 8pm. There was a jam at Woodlands causeway and we finally reached home at 930pm. But it was great that the van brought us all the way back to our flat so even though we had quite a few bags of stuff, it was easy to manage. This was the first time we hired an MPV to Malaysia and it won't be the last time as long as we can gather 8-10pax to maximise the rental, we are good to go. haha.

Holiday fun! (Part 1 - SEA Aquarium at RWS)

It's March hols again. Glad to have a breather for both Daddy and I after a hectic 10 weeks of school term. We have not been spending enough time with the kids recently. So to make it up to them. We brought them to two places this week.

Thursday, we went to SEA Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa with some of the SMH Jan08 mummies and their kiddos. NTUC card members get a special deal, 2 adult tics for $50 instead of $29 each. And 2 child tickets for $35. Kids below 4 years old do not need to pay. The mummies decided to band together and buy the tickets so that we can all have discounted tics. Haha.


We reached the place around 10am, I took away some pastries from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf while waiting for the other mummies to arrive. The kids were all a bit shy initially. But I was proud of RA who was willing to take this group photo with the other gals. :)

Raelynn refused to join in and threw a tantrum though. Only later when we were alone, she confided in me that cos she didn't want to take photo cos she didn't want to raise her arm, she only wants to do the 'V' finger sign when taking photos.

We had to walk through the Maritime Experiential Museum to get to SEA Aquarium. Frankly, MEM is not very interested for the gals cos they are too young. They want to touch the touch screen video displays but don't know how to play the games.

When we went inside SEA aquarium, it is really much bigger than the older aquarium ie. Underwater world. There were lots of fishes and coral reefs, sea jellies (jelly fish), puffer fish, and even huge lobsters that made me think instantly of yummy lobster sashimi. There is a huge Ocean Restaurant in the middle of the aquarium where diners can watch the fishes and Manter rays as they swim by. Wonder if they serve fish and whether diners will feel guilty eating it there. hee.

But the only fish Raelynn was interested was nowhere to be found even after we had some snacks at the cafe near OCEAN restaurant. She was looking for SHARK. She kept asking me where is the shark but the shark tank was the very last tank just next to the exit. Save the best for last? Maybe for a patient kid, not mine. ;P

The cellular phone network inside the SEA aquarium is really bad so beware. I called my hubby 6 times cos he brought RA to the toilet and we were separated and his phone did not ring at all. End up, we missed joining some of the other mummies for lunch cos I was stuck inside trying to look for him.

A study corner for RaeAnne

Been wanting to buy a proper desk for RaeAnne since last year as she will have her own room. She loves to draw but the picnic table with a hole in the centre is not very suitable for drawing and it's also too low, whereas the crayola art table cum easel is too small. Also, the lighting at the living/dining area is a bit dim.

We went to a few places including Ikea, Courts, Piccolo house and Casa kidi, to look for a suitable study desk. I wanted a space maximising desk with storage so that she can keep her textbooks and other study stuff in future. We finally zoomed in on a Cilek study desk for $300+ at Casa kidi in a sweet pink castle design (her favourite colour) that is not too wide due to space constraint but ok to last until primary school. We got a pink acrylic swivel chair on clearance as well.

Although we ordered it in Dec, the desk took months to come and finally arrived today. She loves the table luckily cos we had no time to bring her to choose. Her CC will start having spelling for K1 kids from July onwards so timing is good. Although she will leave her carefree 'no homework' toddler days soon, hope her new desk will help ease the transition and make studying happier and more fun for her. :)

The Hungry Caterpillar

I have a limau purut or kaffir lime plant, and the lime leaves and juice are often used in tomyam soup. Can't remember when I bought the plant but it was many years ago.

Unfortunately, I never harvested any limes out of the plant. Instead, I 'harvested' many caterpillars. Don't know why they just love lime leaves. I tried spraying pesticide on them but I dun like the idea of 'poisoning' my lime leaves. So, after that, I just get hubby to get rid of it when caterpillars appear.

I hate caterpillars, worms, earthworms and anything that squirms. The fear started when I had to sweep the floor for my dad's old room in our Alexandra flat. Being a hawker, there were boxes of canned and processed food in that room. When I finally sweeping the floor, there were lots of tiny white worms squirming on the floor. I screamed to my dad. Who just matter of factly, told me to sweep into the dustpan and throw away. I wasn't even wearing room slippers at that age so I hated to see them squirming so near my feet. Ee....

Two weeks ago, another caterpillar was happily munching on my lime leaves and making big ugly holes. I was about to get hubby, our seasoned caterpillar catcher, to catch it and throw it away again. But I remembered that my colleague told me it is an excellent way for my daughter to learn about the life cycle of the butterfly if I keep it in a container with holes and feed it with leaves. Then my gal can slowly see how it turns into a butterfly and we can set it free at the end.

Sounds like an easy project to do since I got plenty of lime leaves and 'tapow' containers and it will be a valuable science lesson for RaeAnne. So, I bite back my distaste and fought back my fear for worms. Never knew such a day will come but I actually told hubby to create a home for the only creature that I truly hated. RaeAnne, see how much Mummy loves you. ;P


It was only about 1 cm long when we first caught the caterpillar. Wish I remember to take a picture then. After almost 1 week of devouring my lime leaves, it can eat up to 3-4 leaves in 1 day! The caterpillar grew very fat, long and its colour turned GREEN! Looks like it is true when they say 'You are what you eat'. Obviously, it ate too many lime leaves and took on its colour. Probably for camouflage purposes so that a hungry bird doesn't eat it up. The ingenuity of nature.

RaeAnne wanted to bring the caterpillar to childcare on the Friday before Chinese New Year but I forgot to pack it for her. So, she brought it last Thurs, 1 week later, when school resumed. I thought the CC gals will scream but I was wrong. Every kid, boy or girl, was curious and crowded around RaeAnne and her pet caterpillar. It was as if she brought a lovable kitten or puppy to school. Can't help admiring the innocence of childhood. I think the only one who was squirmish about the caterpillar (besides Me) was RA's CC teacher, Teacher Samantha. A K2 girl even took RaeAnne's caterpillar away to show off to her friends. So, poor Teacher Samantha had to get it back for her. Haha.

The caterpillar turned into a chrysalis last Fri. Googled and found out that it can take up to 2 weeks before a butterfly will emerge from the cocoon (chrysalis). Wow, quite a long wait. Meanwhile, we have removed the container cover and upgraded the caterpillar to a bigger home, our old fish tank. I hope it survives the metamorphosis so that we can finally see what is the colour of the butterfly... ;)

Colouring and doodles by RaeAnne

RaeAnne was very happy on Wed night. And it's because her art teacher (Globalart) said she did a good job colouring a bird so she will put up her colouring on the wall once it is completed. I thought the bird's colours are nice but blending effect is not very good. But maybe because I can see the different blocks of colours on close up. From far, it does look quite nice.


I like her drawing of the frog that she drew on Wed and the rainbow picture kept in Yeye's file folder even more cos I thought both pictures looked very happy. I also like the cat drawing that she drew for Raelynn cos Mei mei loves cats.




After 5 months of art class, can see that she is more confident in copying a picture and drawing it herself and blending of colours. She will even give art homework to yeye and Mei Mei to do. But it is definitely more important that she enjoys going to art class. Haha.