30 Nov 2012 - Javier, the future Dance Master!

We bought an Xbox 360 Kinect game called "Just Dance Kids!" from the recent Sitex Show.  However since then, Javier refused to dance and only wanted to watch.  Tonight, Javier finally had the courage to take up the stage.  It was great effort from Javier and it was really funny BUT adorable!  So let's welcome the future Dance Master, Javier!  :-)

23 Nov 2012 - 2nd Ballet Term Report

Jerlene got her second ballet term report today.  In general she was still doing pretty well.  The teacher commented that Jerlene will be ready for the exam in Mar next year.  Not everyone in her class will be able to take the exam.  The teacher actually assessed the students over their class performance in the past few months and select those whom she think will be ready.  Good job, Jerlene!  Wish you all the best in your very first exam of your life.  :-)

11 Nov 2012 - Empress Seat

Today at my MIL place, Jerlene suddenly pulled me out of the room to see something that she had created.  She actually used several cushions to create a beautiful seat.  To me, it looked very much like an emperor seat (龙椅).  Since Jerlene is the one sitting on it, I'll call it the Empress Seat.  :-)

10 Nov 2012 - Legoland, here we come!

We are one of the early bird to have purchased the annual pass for Legoland about 6 months ago.  At that time we actually got it pretty cheap, as compared to the current price.  We could have visited the park 2 months ago but we have no hurry since we got the annual pass.  In order to beat the school holiday which starts in a week's time, we decided to make a trip to Legoland.

It was about 2pm that we made the decision to go.  The moment we drove out of the carpark, it started to pour pretty heavily.  We just hope that the rain will stop when we reached there.  We took the route via Tuas Checkpoint as the LTA webcam showed that it has lesser traffic as compared to Woodlands Checkpoint.  True enough, we got past the checkpoint quite smoothly, same for the Malaysian custom.  From there, it's only a 10mins drive.  Just before we turned into Legoland, there is a mall called Mall of Medini.  An advice for those who will be driving there, the open car park at this mall is nearer to Legoland than the actual Legoland carpark.

When we reached, the rain indeed had stopped though the sky was still pretty dark.  There was no queue at the annual pass redemption counter.  Just that the processing was quite slow.  It's good to be there after the rain as the weather was very cool.  I had heard feedback from many people that I need to be prepared for the heat, which was not applicable today.  :-)

Jerlene had been very excited because she had heard from her friends about Legoland.  On Monday, it's her turn to tell her class how fun it was in Legoland.  First we went to the centre of the theme park where there were many prominent buildings and structures from around South East Asia all made up of Lego bricks.

Soon after, it started to drizzle so we decided to go somewhere indoor.  There was an indoor hall where tons of Lego bricks awaits the kids.  We spent quite sometimes there before going to the nearby 4D show.  We queued for about 30mins and fortunately, we had some titbits to entertain my two angels, especially Javier.

After the 4D show, we went next door where there was an observatory ride.  After queuing for sometimes, there seemed to be some technical glitch where the door was unable to open with people inside.  The technician came few minutes later.  Though the door managed to be open, they need to do a few rounds of test run before allow people to enter the ride again.  So we waited for another 15mins before we can take the ride.  This ride allow us to have a 360 degree view of the entire theme park.

We then went to a few more rides where only Jerlene can play because Javier is under age.  We can see  Javier was a bit disappointed that he cannot play some of the rides.  However, he seemed to understand the reason.  When I asked him why he cannot play, he actually said "I am too short"

We then went to visit other parts of the park.  Jerlene and Javier had such a fun time in the playground.  They kept running and climbing.....in the end, Javier had no more strength to climb anymore.  He seemed to even walked funny......lol.......

As the sky slowly turned dark, those mini buildings and structures started to light up.

We managed to play a few more rides, such as the fireman ride and junior driving lesson before the park closed.  Actually just before it closed, we were queuing at a remote boat ride.  However, there was again a technical glitch and they decided to close it.  We thought they may have purposely close the ride because it's very near to park closing time, and there was still a long queue.

From Legoland, we walked to the adjacent Mall to have our dinner.  Jerlene requested for KFC.  By the time we reached home, it was past 10pm.  Overall it was a great day and everyone enjoyed it.  I think it's good to have an annual pass so that there is no stress even when the queue was long.

5 Nov 2012 - Day 3: Genting Trip ends

There was no activity planned for today.  As such, after breakfast, we just walked around "look see look see".  I remembered the last time I was here, it was so foggy that I never knew First World Hotel is so colourful.

Similarly, I finally got to see how the outdoor theme park looks like.

At about 11am, we checked out from the hotel and drove down to the foot of the highlands for lunch.

Then we began another long drive back to Singapore.  We were driving smoothly on north-south highway when suddenly, all cars were diverted out of the highway before reaching Malacca.  It was raining very heavily at that time, so we guessed it's probably due to flood or some related reasons that they closed the highway.  We started to get worried because once we were out of the highway, we have no idea which way to go.  I turned on my GPS on my phone but it kept asking me to U-turn back to the highway.  Fortunately, I saw a coach from WTS Travel and decided to follow it as it's probably heading back to Singapore as well.  True enough, it led us to Malacca via an alternative route and in the end, we ended back on north-south highway again.  From then on, it was pretty smooth and we reached home before 7pm.

4 Nov 2012 - Day 2: First World Indoor Theme Park

After the bowling session, Javier seemed to be very tired. As such, we went back to our room so that Javier can rest. Jerlene on the other hand was still active and kept wanting to go to the indoor theme park, which she had so much fun time there yesterday.  Not to disappoint her, we brought her there while Javier stayed in the room with our helper.  The first station Jerlene wanted to go is the Junior Bumper Car.  She went for a few rounds before going to other stations.  I can see she's really enjoying that.

Next, we went to other rides round the theme park.  At least 4 to 5 other rides.  Jerlene thoroughly enjoyed the day, actually me too.  :-)

Finally we went for the 4D show.  However, it was of horror theme, so Jerlene did not like it.  By the time we completed the show, it was around 9pm.  We then went to buy dinner for Javier and my helper, and while waiting, Tracy brought Jerlene back to the Junior Bumper Car ride for one last round.

4 Nov 2012 - Day 2: First real bowling session for my angels

After lunch, we brought Jerlene and Javier to the bowling alley to meet up with my sister's family.  So far, Jerlene and Javier had enjoyed playing bowling on Wii and Xbox Kinect.  Today, they finally had their first real bowling session in an actual bowling alley.  Javier was very excited and cannot wait to hold onto a bowling ball.  On the other hand, Jerlene somehow was afraid to try.  It was only after watching Javier having so much fun, she finally decided to give it a try.  Once they get into the mood, they cannot stop.  I had a hard time asking them to end the game eventually.  Javier's bowling style was very cute.  Watch the below video and I'm sure you will put on a smile on your face......Enjoy!

4 Nov 2012 - Day 2: Strawberry, Flower and Mushroom Farm

We had our breakfast today at OldTown Cafe.  After breakfast, we decided to visit Genting Strawberry Park.  It's just a short drive from the hotel around the mid hill area.  The kids were all very excited as we entered the park.

I took a basket from the counter to let Jerlene and Javier do some strawberry harvesting.  Initially, they picked any strawberry that they saw.  So I reminded them to only choose those big and red ones because at the end of the session, we will pay for the strawberries that we had harvested.

Next to the Strawberry Park is a Flower Farm.  The moment we entered the farm, we can see a whole plot full of lovely lavender.  Nice........

We spent a while at the Flower Farm before proceeding to the Mushroom Farm next door.  The kids were uninterested with mushroom so we were quick to leave the farm.

Once we reached our hotel room, Jerlene and Javier can't wait to take out the the strawberries that they had picked and started "feasting" on them!

3 Nov 2012 - Day 1: Arriving at Genting Highlands

One week after the driving trip in Perth, we were on another long drive to Genting today, with my parents and my sister's family.  We set out at about 8am and when we reached the woodlands immigration, there was a slight jam which was not too bad. As I have not driven to Genting before, I was supposed to follow my sister's car.  However, as we cleared the custom before my parents and sis, we went on a turn that was not what they planned to take.  I then went ahead to pump up petrol at a nearby kiosk and at the same time, top up my "touch and go" card.  I managed to contact my sis and we decided to meet up at one of the R&R along the north-south highway.   After we met up at Ayer Keroh R&R, we had a short break before driving up to the foot of Genting for lunch.  It was about 3pm when we reached First World Hotel at Genting.

It was quite foggy outdoor but that did not affect us as we only planned to bring our kids to the indoor theme park.  For this trip, Jerlene and Javier enjoyed because they had the company of my two nephew, who were about the same age.  With their company, Jerlene and Javier do not "need" Tracy and myself anymore.....sob sob.....  However, looking from the bright side, Tracy and I finally had sometimes together without the kids.  Haha........

The last time Tracy and I came here was almost 10 years ago.  We both remembered the nice dinner we had at 阿一鲍鱼 then.  Since the restaurant was still around, we decided to have it for dinner again.

 

Once again, the dinner did not disappoint us.  When we went back to our room, Javier was already sleeping.

1 Nov 2012 - Javier's nails peeling off

About 2 weeks ago, Javier's fingernail started peeling off one after another.  You may have noticed the plasters on his fingers in those photos that we took in Perth.  This is the reason.  And now, his toenails also began to peel off (see pic below).  I browsed through many forum and there were people saying that it could be a side effect of HFMD.  However, Javier did not have that for a long time.  As such, I decided to bring him to a doctor to examine it.  When the doctor saw it, he cannot tell what exactly causing it.  However, he suspected this is likely caused by a deficiency in protein.  So he advised to watch out Javier's diet and whenever possible, let him have more food such as fish, red meat etc......  There was no medicine given.

Personally, I do not think that is the cause.  When I looked at Javier's toe closely, there seems to be another layer of nail underneath the one that was peeling off.  Has anyone encountered such case before and willing to share?