Snip, Snip

Lil Shauna last visited the hair salon a long, long, long time ago. It was so long ago that I don't remember when it took place. So her hair grew and grew and grew. It was almost at her lower back.

I wouldn't mind if she has long silky hair. Unfortunately, the frequent swimming caused her hair to be dry and frizzy and brittle. Every morning, we had to battle with her hair. Combing her hair caused us a lot of frustration and there will be clumps of dropped hair thereafter.  I am quite sure she will go bald by 10 years old.

When we were in Europe, I have to constantly braid her hair bcos the cold weather makes it even drier and the wind cause entanglement.  

Now that we are back, mummy finally found time to bring her to the salon and she agreed to snip off part of her hair. Tadah!

Her hair is so much more manageable now. She also likes her new length given that she still has long hair and her head feels so much lighter. Haha.

Oh, we also managed to tie her fringe into what we saw on YouTube.  Clever mummy. Hehe.

Mummy Lim

1st Sleepover

It was Thursday night. Friday was Children's Day and there was no school. It was also the last few nights that my brother's family was staying in Centris before moving to their new place near to the girls' school.

We were almost at JP to fetch the kids when Lil Shauna called to say that she wanted to stay over at Ah Kim's house. I wasn't surprised. She is very independent now. I was wondering what would happen to Lil Isaac. He would probably want to follow jiejie too. If that happened, Popo would stay over too and I was secretly thrilled at the idea. Lol.

So Lil Shauna stayed over and she was so excited when we left Centris. Felicia even generously loaned her PJ to changed into.  Lil Isaac wanted to do so too but was fussing for mummy to stay over with him. Then he also asked for his old socks. So we had to carry a crying boy off to the car and Popo almost gave in to him when he repeatedly asked to stay over at Centris between sobs. They were walking towards Centris when I asked him again nicely.  That was when he decided that he would still rather sleep with mummy and old socks. Haha. Mummy also promised that we would have some ice cream and watch some TV.

Jiejie totally enjoyed herself. I heard that they had a fun and late night. I was jokingly telling Daddy Lim that in a few years down the road, Lil Shauna would be asking, "Pappy, can I stay over at Ben's place?". Who's Ben!!???? Haha.

Mummy Lim

Post Holiday

So, how has our Europe trip been? Overall, I would say that it was a wonderful experience – we had been to a part of the world that we have never step foot on, we survived a long haul flight and didn't missed our connecting flight and we had the priceless opportunity to spend a few days with ah yee. This trip had been the longest in my life (8 days previously) and we all missed home towards the end, especially Lil Isaac who cant wait to sleep in his bed with his old socks buddy. It would have been even more enjoyable if Lil Isaac could have cooperated, behaved and walked more. At the end of the trip, I didn't mind coming back to work and spend some time without the kids. Lol.

We survived pretty well after the trip. Popo had a table of home-cooked Chinese food waiting for us back home and we gulped all the food down. It was simply delicious and different from the constant bread and cold cuts. On Sunday night, we went to bed at 9ish Singapore time and could sleep. Daddy Lim already knocked out way before that given that he barely slept on the plane to watch his 4 movies. Zzzz… The kids played together nicely before bed too. Hehe.

The kids did suffer a little from jetlag and woke up in the middle of the night. Lil Shauna woke up at 1ish and didn't go back to sleep until about 3am. Lil Isaac woke up at 2am to ask for the toilet and milk but was easy to go back to lala land. I heard Lil Isaac woke up at 6.30am on Monday morning whereas Popo had to pull Lil Shauna from bed at 9.30am – not strange given that she was walking around in the house in the middle of the night. Lol. 

Daddy Lim and I went back to work the following Monday and didn't die at work. In fact, I didn't feel jetlag but could barely keep my eyes opened at 9pm on Tuesday night. Maybe jetlagging takes a while to kick in. Nevertheless, we survived.

I definitely like London better than Paris, given that the people are nicer, the roads wider and cleaner, less smokers and everything is in English. Haha. I think we should have more time in London and there are so much more to explore. Geneva is basically boring. Lol. 

Now that we are sure that we can survive the 13 hours flight, it gave me fresh hopes that we could soon visit ah yee again. The next time, we will make sure that we have direct flights. My poor heart cannot take the stress of chasing after connecting flights. Should I have the chance to go to Geneva again for meeting next year, Daddy Lim and I agreed that we should send him and the kids to Paris 1st. They can definitely find more things to do in Paris than Geneva. Daddy Lim even gamely said that he could fly later with the kids to Paris to meet me after my meeting. I am impressed! Let’s just hope that my future trips could fall nicely during school holidays. 

Regrets? The adults could have mingled more during the nights in Paris. We didn't get a chance to go to those underground tunnels in Paris. We aren’t careful enuff and lost a lot of money in Geneva, which I had already submitted the insurance claims and waiting for the claim officer to come back to me. I didn't buy any LV bags from Paris (hehe). We could have done more homework and do more exploration in London. I am not too concerns with the regrets though bcos we could go back and do those next time. Haha.

We survived! Now, I shall start planning the upcoming Taipei trip after I have settled down. Hmmm… what comes after Taipei??!! I am a sucker for holidays.

Mummy Lim

Day 13 - Paris to Singapore

We had bfast in the hotel, our very 1st ever hotel bfast in Europe. There was the option of early rider for hotel guests, starting at 9.30am at particular segment before park opens. The park opens at 10am.

We were late and also took a walk around in the zoo/farm that faces the hotel and only got to enjoy a few rides before the rides were opened to public.

Along the way, Lil Shauna also gamely posed for us. If you didn't realised, she was trying to look like the masks behind her.

The early rider was followed by fast track pass for an hour. By then, the park was already crowded. We rode the roller coaster that was crowded the day before and viking too. The viking was the only ride that both kids enjoyed. I personally love viking. I like the feeling of being lifted up in the air at the highest point. Lil Shauna sat at the extreme end while Lil Isaac sat in the middle row.

The park was so much crowded than the day before and there were long Qs everywhere. We were lazy to q and thus didn't take many rides. We ended up doing more shopping. Afterall, we were quite deprived and felt rich with the GBP left. Lol. We also spent more time at the mini indoor playgrounds, that weren't crowded.

We had a simple lunch.

Our final pictures before going home.

Then, we headed back hotel to wait for the booked cab to go to the airport. The night before, we had the reception to help us book a cab to the airport and it cost us GBP 31.5.

The cab was supposed to pick us up at 2pm, but it was late. The hotel helped us to chase and tge cab finally arrived at 2.30pm. We had to take the highway, which cost us GBP10 more, in view of the time. I felt that we were held ransom - we were short of time and had no other choice but it was bcos he was late! I half wonder if he had arrived late intentionally. I also cannot help worrying that he is a crook. My imagination ran wild as his low gas sign kept flashing and I wondered if he would suddenly stop on some deserted road and claimed that he ran out of gas.

Well, nothing of the sort happened. The kiids slept on the way to the airport while the driver entertained Daddy Lim with car talk. Haha.

The flight to Frankfurt delayed by about 30 mins. the flight had less businessmen and we got less dirty looks. I had to sit with 2 kids while Daddy Lim pretended not to know the noisy kids while seated one row behind us. I had a busy time given they both kids wanted my attention. I can't wait for the kids to grow up quickly and be able to self entertained on the flight.

We had to run to catch our connecting flight. We literally ran all the way, which was about 5 mins. When we finally reached the gate, we saw that the flight was delayed too, probably to allow people use like us to board the plane. We were so glad to make it. Daddy Lim even could steal a smoke break.

The flight was much more enjoyable. We also realised that the entertainment can be turned on the moment we were seated. We all watched some movie and the kids slept before dinner was served. They didn't wake up until about 2+ hours before landing. Then there was more movie watching and bfast.

I didn't sleep well on the returning flight and caught 3 movies in all. Daddy Lim was better. I think he intentionally didn't sleep and watched 4 movies!

We were all so glad to finally arrive in Singapore at about 4 pm. We took a cab back and popo welcomed us home with a nice dinner - home cooked Chinese food! It was so nice.

Finally, home sweet home.

Mummy Lim

Day 12 - London (Chessington)

We had intended to sleep in and then make our way to Chessinton after the peak hour. It wouldnt be fun to lug 2 suitcases and 2 kids and try to fight for space in the train with people rushing for work. But, we woke up to the fire alarm at 7.30am and had to gather outside the hotel lobby. This is ths 2nd time that we encountered fire alarm in a hotel. The 1st was in the middle of the night in Melbourne many years back. 

At the gathering point, I saw that most of the hotel guest were already dressed, appearing ready to start their day. Others at least grabbed an additional jacket while we were still in our pjs with messy hair. I had forgotten to take the jackets, concentrating only to grab $$, ppts and the kids. Apparently the bag stolen saga must had scarred me. Lol. Fortunately, we weren't the worse, we saw a lady still with her hair wrapped in a bath towel, probably in the midst of her morning toilet routine and 2 others without shoes. Haha.

The Firemen arrived by the time we gathered at lobby and we were impressed by their efficiency. We waited about 10 mins before we were given the clearance to go back to room. However, the alarm kept going off intermittently thereafter. Maybe they were testing the alarm but I only wanted to check out ASAP. 

We left the hotel at about 10 am and headed to Chessington South by national rail and did avoid the peak hours. We had to take an underground before changing to the rail and was worried that we would miss the train but got it all right. This whole trip was about constantly chasing after trains and planes. Lol. The journey proved to be really smooth. We were very surprised to find the train empty and almost had the entire carriage to ourselves.

Chessington South station was about 30 mins ride away. Then we had about a 10 mins walk to the resort. It wasn't difficult to get to the resort. Lil Isaac sat on the luggage while Daddy Lim wheeled him to the resort. Remembered? He was sick and tired of walking. 

The hotel was right next to the theme park. We left  the bags at hotel lobby as the room not ready and headed to theme park. We were all very excited.

It was a good choice to go on a Friday. The park was not crowded and mostly young kids given that it was a school day. The Qs were not long. The longest was probably 20 mins wait and some rides had no q at all. It was rides.

And more rides.

We played games too, opting for those sure win stalls and bringing home plenty of many small soft toys until I had to stop the kids from more playing.

We visited the aquarium too.

Chessington Resort is a combination of zoo/ farm, small aquarium and theme park rides. They have rides that catered to young children (flying dumbo, ferris wheel, indoor playground) as well as more exciting rides (viking, roller coaster). This suits our kids perfectly bcos Lil Shauna loves thrilling rides and found baby rides boring, whereas Lil Isaac  usually avoids all rides that seem anything near scary. 

Time passes very easily. We left the park for our hotel when the park closes at 5 pm. While Daddy Lim checks in, the kids were well entertained at the lobby. 

They also got to see the monitor lizards and even experienced strange insects! 

Lil Shauna was so brave and she held the stick insect. I was more worried than her bcos I know I wouldn't be able to help her. In fact, I stood pretty far from her while she handled the insect. 

Then she was even braver and handed a cockroach! This time, I stood even further. She said that the stick insect has sticky legs and the cockroach has ticklish legs. Hmm...

Daddy Lim got the keys and was told that luggage already in hotel - such good customer service. Our hotel room was on e 2nd floor. We took the lift up and found one side of the glass wall facing the zoo/ farm and we can see animals roaming. Nice.

Unfortunately, we cannot really see the zoo/ farm from our room but I didn't really mind. It is quute weird tp have animals watching us while we sleep. Lol. We had a nice and big room and the kids had their own sleeping area. Lil Shauna was very sure that she wanted to sleep in the kids' area while Lil Isaac preferred to sleep with us.

We had a nice and hot dinner at the hotel. Something considered a luxury in the expensive land of Europe. Lil Isaac fell asleep at the restuarant, but before he slept, he agreed to shower in bathtub with jiejie back in the room. So, jiejie really woke him up back in the room and they had splashing good time in the tub.

We had really tired kids and an early night. Lil Shauna did sleep in kids' area and we shifted Lil Isaac over to keep her accompany. In the middle of the night, the boy automatically walked over and hopped onto our bed. Not long after, Lil Shauna also came over bcos she had a bad dream. In the end, Daddy Lim had to go over to sleep alone on the tiny bed. The bed was so small that he couldn't even fully stretched his legs. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Day 11 - London

I had wanted to visit the Portobello market, which is located one station after from the station where we were supposed to gather for Fat Tire Bicycle Royal Tour. Daddy Lim's idea was to nauh in the hotel until it was time to go for the bicycle tour. So we ended up leaving the hotel a little too earlier for the tour but too late to really shop at Portobello. Zzz. 

There were many interesting things to see and shop. 

Unfortunately, most of the shops weren't not opened yet and we also didnt have enough time to shop. The actual Portobello market was some distance from the station and before we reached main street, Daddy Lim said that he needed the toilet. We had to turn back. I was mad yet worried that he would soil his pants. Haha. He was pissed at me for insisting to visit the market. It was such fortunate that we didnt literally kick each others' butt. Lol. Most of the cafes were closed and we eventually found this cosy one in a corner. Lil Shauna benefited with a nice bfast.

After bfast and using their toilet, we had to run back to catch a train to the meet up point. We were the last to arrive and luckily only a few mins late. I was happy to see that there was another Australian couple with 2 girls, 8 and 10. Our kids didn't warm up to them until the end of the tour where they were trying to catch pigeons and squirrels together. There are plenty of both in London. There were really that many squirrels.  We even saw people feeding squirrels from their hand! 

Lil Shauna rode a tandem bike with Daddy Lim. Her bike was attached to Daddy Lim's bike, sort of like the double bike that we see in Singapore, but double wheeled. Daddy Lim had to take special care during turns. A couple of times, Lil Shauna's bike rammed into corners and lamp posts. Oopsy. 

Lil Isaac had a baby seat attaached to my bike. It was tough to balance with him bcos I blocked most of his views and he had to verve  left and right to see what was happening in front and each time he moved, the bicycle swerved. I had to constantly yell at him to sit still especially when we were on the road. 

We made many stops and the guide will explain at each stop. I didn't quite know where was what bcos I was busy trying to entertain the kids so that we dun disturb the rest while the guide was explaining.  I only know that this palace that didnt quite look like a palace and it currently houses Prince William, Kate, their baby and Prince Harry.

We were also at this big building with plenty of statue in front. One of them is a big blue cock.  The owner ran out of money to build the statue and there was eventually this online voting to build a blue cock. Hmm....strange London people.

The returning route was tough. I am bit sure if it was bcos I was unfit or I had extra weight attached to me and the weight was constantly was increasing given that he became more and more bored and started moving and fidgeting increasingly. I was pedalling so hard and constantly trying to catch up. At many points, I was panting and cursing under my breath whereas the rest seem to be cycling leisurely and enjoying the view, even the old couple that we had in our team. What the.... I couldn't tell you how glad I was when we finally made it back. Lol. 

The tour ended at 3ish and we headed back to one  of the nearby parks that we passed through during the bicycle tour. In the midst wad Princess Diana memorial playground and the kids had fun.

Then, we took a stroll on this lake filled with swans and ducks and pigeons. We saw people feeding the birds and they were not at all scare of humans. I think we were more scare of them given the number of them. The kids enjoyed trying to run and chase away the birds, who mostly lazily walked away than fly off. Haha. The only down side is the amount of poo poo everywhere.

We left the park in the early evening and walked to nearby pub for fish and chips. London is famous for fish and chips and for some strange reasons, mostly served in pubs. Maybe they go extremely well with beer? The one that we had wasn't especially nice, it tasted not much different from what we have in Singapore.

We ended our night and got ready for the last stop of our tour - Chessington Resort. Our trip was about to end. We all missed home. It seemed like we had been away from home for a long time.

Mummy Lim