Christmas is Coming

Christmas is coming.. This is an ang mo company and Christmas is a big thing. Nearer to Christmas, many of the ang mos would be going home for the holiday, so Christmas celebration starts early here.

Last Wednesday, I was invited to a Christmas dinner hosted by one of the divisions. On Thursday, there was a lunch for one of the committees I was in. On Friday, there was a Christmas celebration for the floor I was on! Lol. This is crazy. There are 2 more celebrations coming up next week. 

By the way, that Christmas tree is real! I didn't know it until one of my colleagues told me. When I first saw it, I thought it was an old Christmas tree that had been recycled for many times bcos it wasn't standing straight. Lol.

Well, who can complain of too many Christmas celebrations? Hohoho, Merry Christmas!

Mummy Lim

Happy Bday!

Today is Daddy Lim's bday. Sadly, he is not taking leave and he is on also night shift. This is like a double whammy. We didn't even get to eat bday dinner with him. 

I got him a last minute bday gift yday evening. It wasn't anything expensive. In fact, I was so busy with the kids that I almost forgot about his bday. Oops. Anyway, we have agreed that he cannot buy big ticket items after splurging on the new car. That car covers his valentine's, bday, Christmas and whatever presents for the next 3 years. So, it is already very nice of me to buy him something. Lol. 

The kids got to wish him happy bday over the phone just now. They didn't see him today. They were asking where is the bday cake and I promised that we would get Pappy one on Saturday. 

So, happy bday Pappy. You can chose what to do with the kids on coming Sat. Or maybe we can go to USS in celebration of your bday. Muahahaha.

Muaks, from all of us. Love you.

Mummy Lim

Emo Day

I felt a little emo this morning. I wonder why. Maybe it it bcos ah yee is leaving for France today. She would be back after 3 months and would be married by then. Unfortunately, Daddy Lim is on night shift and we can't send her off tonight. We can't attend her wedding in France as well. The 13 hours flight is far too much for the kiddos. 

She would apply for her spouse visa while she is back in Singapore. Then, she would head back to France for a long, long, long time. I would miss her a lot, a lot. I have always been grateful for the close relationship that I had with her. I am thankful for watsapp, blog and skype. At least we can now communicate even if she's many miles away and in a total a different time zone. We would visit her someday, when Lil Isaac could sit through a 13 hours flight. It wouldn't be that long, maybe another year or 2.

I think I am emo too bcos Daddy Lim is on night shift. We survived the first week but there are 7 more weeks to go. It is hard lugging the kids back from Centris after work by MRT. Lil Isaac is always asking to be carried bcos his leg is always painful but can race jiejie the next moment. It is even harder to entertain the kids and tuck them to bed alone. They ended up getting plenty of iPad and Tab time before bed. 

The kids barely get to see Daddy Lim, we only have Saturday with him now. On Sunday, Daddy Lim leave after sending the kids to phonics class, so that he can have a nap before work and I struggled with the kids on Sunday afternoon till night. Then Popo has crazy ideas of lugging the kids outdoor until dark. Ouch, so painful.

The kids are now in class. I am stoning outside of their class, listening to some sentimental song on the radio and feeling even more emo. Lil Isaac is not enjoying his 2nd class and he is crying so pitifully for mummy in the class. I can hear him cried for the last 15 mins and was told by the staff to hide and ignore him. He has to learn that crying wouldn't help and he would not get his way by crying. 

He finally stopped after a good 15 mins. I think he would get a good nap this afternoon. Ah yee, I will miss you. Daddy Lim, 7 more weeks to go.

Mummy Lim

Taiwan Day 8

We had a lazy morning. There was no agenda. We woke up, got ready and headed out for bfast. Then, it was a last minute grabbing of whatever that caught our eyes. The kids each bought a pair of shoes. Back at the hotel, mummy did the final dumping of the last minute loot into the luggages before the driver came to pick us up for the airport.

This had been a fruitful trip. The schedule wasn't too rushed or packed. The kids had fun at the amusement parks and Baby Boss. There had been some sightseeing though Daddy Lim and I both agreed that long road trips can be saved until when the kids are older. We all bought stuff. Staying in 西门订 was a fantastic choice, there were always fast shopping that can be done. Daddy Lim bought a jacket and a cap, I got some bags, shoes and a cheap jacket. The kids got plenty of clothes, shoes and toys. 

The trip to the airport was somewhat painful. We were trying to prevent Lil Isaac from napping. We needed him to nap in the plane. Worse, mummy was low on battery bcos it was going home time and I was too depressed to entertain the kids. Luckily, the ride to airport wasn't that long.

We had 30kg of check-in luggage and actually exceeded. We had to pull out some stuff out of the check-in luggages at the very last minute and ended up with 29.4kg of checked in stuff and an additional bag onto the plane. We actually came with less than 20kg of stuff. I was so glad that we managed to pull that last minute feat and saved some $$. Each kg of excess baggage cost TWD480!

The flight was full and delayed for a good hour. We didn't even managed to sit together and got to sit back to back. Lil Shauna sat with me while Lil Isaac sat with Daddy Lim as we predicted that the boy will nap and he did for a good 2 solid hours.

We bought Scoot TV but to realise that there weren't suitable movies for kids. To make matters worse, mummy forgot the earphones. So Daddy Lim got to gain from it instead and Lil Shauna was satisfied to just play games on the tab. Interestingly, Lil Isaac actually accompanied Daddy Lim to watch movie after he woke up from the nap.

The 4 hours flight was tolerable but I still prefer night flight nevertheless. Time always passes faster when one is asleep. We touched down at about 9pm and had MacDonalds for dinner. Then it was a long cab ride home.

Daddy Lim helped to unpack while Popo helped to hawk over the kids. The kids slept at 12 midnight. I was glad to have Popo to help with the laundry. Home sweet home.

Mummy Lim

Taiwan Day 7

It was Baby Boss day! 

We went for MacDonalds bfast and I somehow think that those in Singapore taste better.

Mummy had researched on the directions and we took the mrt , then switched to a free shuttle bus to Baby Boss. It wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be to find our way. In fact, I was secretly proud of myself. Lol.

Baby Boss is a kids' paradise. It allows the kids to role play in different jobs. Generally, each role required the kids to dress in the relevant uniform, they get to understand some facts of the job that then they role played and then get to do something relevant to the job, e.g., gas attendant gets to pump petrol for a car, fireman gets to use the hose to put out fake fire, etc.

Baby Boss took up a whole level of the building. It is pretty huge. We bought the whole day ticket, which allows us to stay in Baby Boss from 10am to 8pm and we arrived at about 11am. Before we arrived, I was still wondering if there are sufficient stuff to entertain the kids for a whole day. Apparently, there were. We left at about 7pm and there were still quite a few roles that we missed due to lack of time and more importantly, the parents were exhausted by then. The kids were not allowed re-entry. There are restaurants in Baby Boss, basically basic amenities for children to spend a whole day. At least one parent is required to stay in Baby Boss with the kids but most parents stayed anyway.

So how does Baby Boss works? There is a schedule drawn up for the different roles to take place and each role at each time slot can only take in certain number of kids. There are more complex role, such as working in a bank or dubbing for cartoon, for older kids, above 7 years old. All visitors are given a map stating exactly what takes place at time and where. Right outside of each station, there is a waiting area. Once the required number of kids go into the waiting area, registration is deemed as closed. Thus planning required so that minimal waiting and when the place is crowded. Each role takes about 25 to 45mins. The duration is also dependent on the number of children. 

The schedule was more packed in the morning. There was minimal waiting. In the afternoon, there seems to be more waiting, but it could also be bcos we done some of the roles by then. We saw many fellow Singaporeans too. Baby Boss is very popular with Singaporeans.

The kids were very reserved in the morning when we first arrived. We saw many kids running from one station to another yet our kids didn't  want to try anything. The tickets were crazily expensive! I was coaxing them to try until I lost my cool. Lil Shauna finally agreed to try for the Policeman role but she found it really boring and was yawning while role playing. Duh! She was made to patrol the "streets" and didostupid tricks, which she really hated. After that Policeman role, she banned all masculine roles and any roles that required her to do silly parading. Lol. Parents were not allowed to enter the station while the kids were role playing but that was totally fine with Lil Shauna. Lil Isaac needed a little more assurance. Parents could look at what their kids were doing while outside the stations and all parents were armed with cameras that clicked non-stop.

That 1st trial kick started the momentum and she started going to a second station. Lil Isaac joined jiejie at the second station too. Soon, they started running from station to station. Lil Shauna's favorite is the Gold Mine and Lil Isaac likes to be a Fireman. At the fireman station, they took a fire engine and pretended to put out fire.

We thought they looked really cute in the astronaut, archeologist and kiwi picker uniform.

The really popular roles are the hospital related roles, fireman and pilot. Lil Shauna was not keen on the hospital roles. We didn't manage to be a pilot. It was crowded even at 6pm and we decided to give it a miss.

We took a cab back to 西门订 after we left Baby Boss. We were that tired. Our guide told us earlier that Baby Boss is pretty near to 五分铺. It wouldn't cost too much to take a cab over. I originally had that idea. I would love to do some shopping at 五分铺. But looking at how tired we all were, I would be courting death and decided to head back. We had dinner back at 西门订 and then walked and shopped some more. Shopping was done quickly, the kids were tired and could get grouchy anytime. 

That was the last night in Taiwan and mummy was also feeling depressed. Sob.

Mummy Lim

Taiwan Day 6

On the 5th night, we checked in a different hotel in Taipei, which was for the following 2 nights. We found that it was worse than the last one. It was also in 西门订, a little further from the shopping area but still very accessible. However, for this hotel, not only was it without the usual wardrobe and writing desk, it was windowless and only as big as our bedroom back home. Furthermore, part of the room was converted into a bathroom! On top of that, there was no bathtub. Boo. There was literally no space to walk. I just had to comfort ourselves that it was only for 2 nights. I didn't sleep well on the 1st night. I kept waking up and had many weird dreams. Bleh...

We had a free and easy day on the 6th day. I had done some research on where and how to go. There were quite a few possible destinations on my list. However, after 5 days in Taiwan and a hectic drive to Hualian and back, we decided to have an easy schedule and thus only planned to go to 淡水, which is about 40mins away by MRT. It was a great choice.

We didn't have to wake up at any specific time. We woke up, got ready and headed out to find bfast. We had wanted to have MacDonalds but couldn't locate it and settled for some traditional bfast that we came by. We were told that it would be a cold day, some cold current would come by Taipei and it would also be drizzling. It was spot on. It was very, very cold. We piled the kids with whatever clothes that we could.

After bfast, we took the MRT to 淡水.  The kids were generally well behaved on the train. Thus, the ride was reasonably smooth. It actually felt shorter than 40 mins.

It was drizzling when we arrived in 淡水. Fortunately, it was light enough to walk around without a brolly. There were so many things to eat in 淡水 and these food stalls line the street. Yummy! Mummy bought some sotong balls and fried prawn roll the moment we arrived at the 老街. It was fantastic to eat hot food on a cold day. 

Many of the vendors told us that the kids were dressed too thinly. It was probably true. Other than ours, every other kid seems to be dressed for winter. Ours merely had a thin jacket on top of their long sleeves. 

Fortunately, we came across some shops selling thick children clothes and we bought enough to last them for the next 2 days. To begin with, mummy didn't bring that many clothes, believing that we would do shopping. Additionally, mummy threw away quite many pieces that we brought to Taiwan. Some of the pieces, especially jiejie's, were so small that she didn't get to wear them in Taiwan and we had to throw away. Well, we don't usually wear long sleeves in Singapore. The last time that we worn those were to Genting and that was some months back. Mummy merely dug them out from the cupboard and into the luggages, without getting Lil Shauna to try them on. 

In one of the shops, there was an old fat dog that entertained the kids while mummy plough through the thick pile of clothes.

There were plenty of games for little children in 淡水. The kids were thrilled. After a few rounds, we realised that it didn't matter how good or bad the kids scored in the games. They all ended up with some toys. That is to say, we basically paid for the kids to play at the machines and for some lousy toys. Regardless, the kids had fun at the machines and were even happier to receive the presents and I think that is good enough.

We had lunch at MacDonalds. We decided to find familiar food sine we were on our own.

These were taken by Lil Shauna. 

We also found this cute shop that made some biscuits in Hello Kitty mould. We would have stayed longer and bought something if it wasn't the fact that Lil Isaac was sleepy and grouchy.

We left 淡水 at about 3pm and Lil Isaac napped on the way back. 

We did more shopping when we were back in 西门订. There weren't not many stuff for kids. We then had dinner and headed back to hotel for an early night. 

We were only left with 1 day in Taiwan. I like Taiwan. I was telling Daddy Lim that we should come back next year and also that we should retire in Taiwan when we are old. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Taiwan Day 5

We left for bfast at 8.30am. It wasn't tough to wake up early since we had an early night. The guide brought us for hualian's famous 小笼包. They were juicy and very cheap. Even Lil Shauna enjoyed them. It only cost TWD5 per bun! That is like SGD0.20 each! 

After bfast, we headed to the Ocean Park in Hualian. The guide said that he had heard great reviews about the place and we had high hopes.

We were the 1st few visitors to enter the park at 9.30am. We are not sure if it was bcos it was a Wednesday or it is generally deserted. There was no crowd. Then, we also realised that the park is pretty small, like a quarter of the Ocean Park in HKG. 

The casts of the Park greeted us and Lil Shauna was so happy, hugging and taking pictures. Lil Isaac wouldn't go anywhere near them. It was an accomplishment that he was willing to hi5 one of them.

He always prefer to take picture with stationary icon.

Daddy Lim saw this and asked for a picture. Where is my gum gum, dum dum?

We caught the sealion show and it was great.

This is one the only picture with just the 2 of us, taken while waiting for the show to start. We were the green team that day. Haha.

Then, we visited the aquarium and it was beautiful.

The park is built on some kind of slope beside the seaside. We took the cable car to the top part of the park where the rides were. The park attendants were giving out free balloons. I somehow think that they were quite free and spent their free time making balloons.

There aren't many rides and most of them are "boring" in Lil Shauna's perspective. The only exciting ones are the roller coaster and some spinning shell ride. Lil Isaac rode both the exciting rides. We went on the roller coast like 6x and the shell 3x.

There is this very interesting kiddy ride though. For TWD30, the kids get to operate the robots.

This is how the park looks like from the top, very, very nice view.

Then Lil Shauna and me decided to hide in a clam and Lil Isaac was protecting us. Lol.

We saw the casts again in the afternoon and we took more pictures. This time, Lil Isaac agreed to be in the pictures, though a little reluctant.

We left the park at 2ish. knew that the ride back would be long. The guide said that it would take about 3.5hours. So our plan was to let Lil Isaac napped in the car for as long as possible. We figured that it would be easier to handle only one kid in the car.

Lil Isaac took about a 2-hour nap in the car and we took the same 山路 back to Taipei. Lil Shauna complained about being bored, as expected. The guide then put on "Monster Inc" for her, which may not be the best choice. Watching in the dark and the winding roads proved to be a bad combination. Towards the end of the movie, Lil Shauna complained about motion sickness. We even had to stop by the road side for some fresh air. Fortunately, she felt better after some rest.

The guide brought us to a restaurant in Taipei for very nice beef noodles. Or maybe bcos we were very hungry, the noodles tasted exceptionally delicious. Even the 水饺 tasted great. Lol.

Our last destination of the day was to buy 土产 before going back to the hotel. We spent almost TWD 5,000 on 土产, there seemed to be so many people that we need to buy for. Finally, it was home sweet home.

That was also the last day with the guide. The next 2 days, we would be on our own. The guide also arranged for a colleague to pick us from the hotel to the airport on the last day.

Mummy Lim