Listen to Kirsten

Family Photo

2012-02-05T23:39:00.000+08:00

Another set of family photo taken during Chinese New Year holiday. As the weather was cold so we did it inside the studio. The feel was different compare to last time.

Get Ready For Chinese New Year

2012-01-17T23:49:00.000+08:00

Twins

Kung Hei, Kung Hei

Chinese New Year is only less than a week away. Didi and me are practicing our Kung Hei Fat Choi. We hope the weather won't we too warm during CNY this year as this is what we would wear on New Year's day.

Maruko (小丸子) Is Back

2012-01-16T23:12:00.000+08:00

As Chinese New Year is nearby and it's time to have a hair cut and have a fresh start for the Year of Dragon. This time, I requested to have my hair cut to shoulder-length. After 3 years, 小丸子 hair cut is back again! Do you like it?

Tennis

2012-01-08T00:59:00.000+08:00

I started picking up a new sport today - tennis. Rachel is in the same class as mine. Even though her dad Uncle Larry is a licensed tennis coach, his coaching to Rachel has not quite worked out. He decided that it may be easier to leave Rachel with a third party coach, and he would follow up to improve her techniques once she has acquired the basics.

Rachel has got 2 tennis rackets although she doesn't quite know how to play yet

Apart from Rachel whom I knew beforehand would join the class, I also ran into my school mate Sasha. What a pleasant surprise! With 2 familiar faces with me, I soon warmed up at the first lesson of this new sport.

Sasha is one of my few friends who's as small-sized as me

The 90-minute class lasted in a blink. There was not much time to play with the racket yet. We spent most of the time familiarizing ourselves with the zones of the tennis court and concentrating on the ball.

Listening carefully to the coach

Getting ready

Set

Splash Splash Splash

2011-12-26T23:54:00.000+08:00

With a minimum temperature of 14 C today, Mum reckoned that it's not fun to start a water fight and get our clothes wet.

Boxing Day

2011-12-26T02:28:00.000+08:00

Well this is not a scene after a robbery..........

Now let's turn the clock back a few minutes to see what happened:

First thing to do on waking up - check the Xmas tree for presents from Santa

Here are a few of our favourites amongst the many presents we're got this year:

My cash register

Kris's "Percy"

My goggles

And Kris's

December Stars Party

2011-12-23T23:07:00.000+08:00

December is a party month. Other than Christmas party, New Year party, we have another special buffet dinner party in December to celebrate birthday and wedding anniversary. Today we're celebrating 3rd birthday for Lincoln, 2nd birthday for Cheryl and Kristopher (my brother, Didi) and wedding anniversary for Aunt Kat & Uncle Myron and there're more than 40 people attending. We had a great time playing Duck, duck, goose, singing karaoke.....We sang a lot of Christmas songs to get us ready for the coming Xmas. And....wishing everyone happy holidays!

A special cake has been arranged for the five December Stars with five of their favorite animals on top - Giraffe is Aunt Kat, Dragon is Uncle Myron, Panda is Cheryl, Elephant is Lincoln & Lion (Roar) is Kris.

Let's Make Gingerbread Man

2011-12-21T23:54:00.000+08:00

Christmas holidays have begun and I have some free time at home, Mum suggested that we make some gingerbread cookies together. It's my first time making Gingerbread Man, I was excited!

First, prepare the dough. It's easy, just mix all the ingredients, then put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Then came the fun part. The dough was now ready to be cut into different shapes. Mum had bought cookie cutters in the shape of gingerbread girl, gingerbread boy, Christmas tree, bear, star and heart. To make my gingerbread men special, I put my friends' name on them.

Seeing the dough turned into biscuits in the oven was a satisfying experience. After removing the gingerbread cookies from the oven and cooling them down on a rack, we started the next fun process - "decorating" the discuits by piping icing and sprinkling sparkles over them. I have now learnt that icing is an edible glue.

The final step was to pack all these nice tailor-made gingerbread boys and girls into bags, so I could give them to my friends at the Christmas Eve dinner party.

One After The Other

2011-12-10T20:20:00.000+08:00

Lots of celebration going on for Christmas. Today, I went to a Christmas lunch party with Skylar then a Christmas Carnival at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. I got lots of present to put under the Christmas Tree.

Christmas Is Near

2011-12-09T18:01:00.000+08:00

Christmas is about 2 weeks away and it's time to start X'mas decoration. My main task this year is to decorate the Christmas tree as it's the first time we have a Christmas tree at home. Both Kris & I helped, other than the standard Christmas ornaments, we also hang some of our art work on the tree. I have the honor to finish decorating the tree by putting the star on the top. We enjoyed sitting in front of the tree seeing the lights blink and listening to music.

What's next? We have to put all our presents under the tree so that we can open them on Boxing Day.

Happy 2nd Birthday Didi

2011-12-08T23:24:00.000+08:00

Today is my dear brother, Kristopher 2 years old birthday. No special party has been arranged for him this year, but one month ago we already start celebrating for his lunar birthday. Kris has a very fruitful day, today. First, he went to see my Christmas performance in the morning then have dinner with Ye Ye, Ma Ma & Auntie Sandy's family at one of our favorite restaurant. How could a birthday be complete without a cake. Choo Choo train was Kris's recent favorite, so Mum & Dad has prepared a very nice Thomas the Train birthday cake for Didi to cut and more importantly to blow the candles with after dinner.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, DIDI!!

Christmas Performance 2011

2011-12-08T01:46:00.000+08:00

Happy Dragon Bee

2011-11-20T23:30:00.000+08:00

At our school, all K3 students can select one of the Uniform Group to join and I've chosen Happy Bee. Today is the Hong Kong Girl Guides 95th Anniversary Grand Parade, as a Happy Bee I'm responsible for the dragon dance and I'm one of the legs of the dragons.

We gathered at school at 10:30am to get ready for the parade at 2pm. Our team leaders, April Bee & Amy Bee (both are also our teachers), headmistress Lee & and a few school helpers were there to ensure our uniforms are tidy and we've a safe journey to the Hong Kong Stadium, where the parade was held. We had the last rehearsal of dragon dance at the HK Stadium before having team lunch. We're each given a sausage bun & a bottle of water for lunch. It's the first time I have lunch at an outdoor environment without Mum or Dad around. It was fun!

Mum & Dad arrived HK Stadium around 1:45pm. At 2:15pm, we're asked to get ready for the opening ceremony so off we went to get our dragon. Our dragon is not big, it's gold & orange, just suit our size, very cute. We waited at the track for 35 min for the honorable guests to sit down and give speeches. After the speeches, it's dragon dance time. Mum was never so eager to watch dragon dance before like this time. There're around 6 small dragons, a handful of small lions and 2 big gold dragons. After the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Donald Tsang finished doing the dragon eyes drawing ceremony for the 2 big dragons, dragon dance begins!! The whole dragon dance performance last for about 10 min. It was a FUN & MEMORABLE experience!! The parade will be broadcasted by TVB Jade on 27 Nov (Sun), 3:35pm, stay tuned.

Waiting at the track

My first time dragon dance performance witness by Donald Tsang

Happy 95th Anniversary!

Another Sunday Morning

2011-11-20T15:16:00.000+08:00

After Kris sent me off to school, he went to Victoria Park to exercise a bit before going home. He had a great time playing with his favorite swing & blow the bubbles.

My First Dental Visit

2011-11-19T17:15:00.000+08:00

I'm five years old already, Dad thinks a dental check can no longer delay. I've accompanied Mum to a few dental checks before and I sort of know the procedure. However when it come to dental check for myself, I'm just scare of even though mum assures that the dentist will look at my teeth ONLY.

Just to let me familiar with the environment, Dad had a dental appointment before me. When I saw Dad lying down on the dental chair with all the equipment around him, my fear came and I started to cry. I cried so hard that the nurse does not allow us to watch Dad anymore and we have to go to another room so I can calm down and not disturb Dad's dental check.

The other room still has a dental chair and all the equipments, but is more child friendly with lots of toys, it's where I have my first dental check. I managed to calm down. However, it wasn't long before my smiles was gone. Dad has finished and it's my turn. I started to cry when I saw the dentist coming, I hope my cry could frighten him away. Of course it won't. The dentist asked Mummy to sit in the dental chair and hold me during the examination so I feel more secure. That doesn't help and I continue to cry. He then said if I stop crying, he'll give me balloons. This sounds better. He then show me the air gun from the chair and he uses it to blow balloons. While I'm holding the balloon, he started to check my teeth and gum. In less than 5 min he finished examining. He said my teeth and gums are all fine, no tooth decay and no treatment is needed. That's easy for my first dental visit.

Teppanyaki

2011-11-12T23:41:00.000+08:00

Can't really remember when Kris begins to fall in with boat, maybe the Macau trip?!?! Therefore, when Mum wanted Kris to stop disturbing me from doing my studies, she will ask nanny to bring him to his room and watch the boat sailing at Victoria Habour. He could easily spend 30 min watching it.

Five more days and it's my brother's lunar two years old birthday, to celebrate we decided to catch a ferry to go to the other side of HK and have a special dinner. Teppanyaki dinner, it's the first time I have teppanyaki. It's funny to look at the chef cook in front of you. We have our eyes wide open when the chef prepared a flaming lobster and beef volcano. Another interesting part of the dinner is that before the chef cooked the fried rice, he used the ingredients to make a picture of Thomas the Train for Didi and Hello Kitty for me.

The chef is showing us a flaming lobster volcano. Wow, that's hot!

The food is good and the place is nice, too. Since there're nine of us so we have a private room to ourselves. On top of Teppanyaki food, Mum also ordered a few bowls of udon for the kids so we don't have to wait so long for the chef to cook.

Steamed egg * Lobster * Foie Gras on French Bread * Steak * Cod fish * Grilled Zucchini * Fried Rice

The restaurant manager is so nice that they knew it's Didi's birthday so on top of the standard dessert, ice-cream, they also gave us a birthday cake which Didi can blow the candle with.

小老師

2011-11-06T21:30:00.000+08:00

I'm teaching Kris that for every chinese character, there is 左右 / 上下結構 (zuǒ yòu / shàng xià jié gòu).

I Can Swim (Part 2)

2011-10-24T18:21:00.000+08:00

I can swim a full 50m lapse by myself non-stop now. Mum took an hour off work today to witness this.As I have my swimming lesson in a public swimming pool, no photo or video is allowed.

I obtained a STA certificate as a reward for my hard work.

HK Disneyland (Day 2)

2011-10-18T23:45:00.000+08:00

We start today with a big breakfast at 9am at Hollywood & Dine again. We spent an hour at the hotel pool before heading to the theme park.

As Kris is so into this choo choo train nowadays, we couldn't miss the train today. Therefore, we start our day at the park with a ride in one of these lovingly-recreated antique steam-style locomotives for a relaxing jaunt inside the park. When we step out of the train station at the Fatasyland, it's already 2pm so we go straight to the Royal Banquet Hall for lunch.

After lunch, we had a few round of Cinderella Carousel (in another word Merry Go Round) while the 2 youngest member of our gang (Kris & Duncan) take a nap. It's 3:30pm, time for parade. Last time when I saw the parade which was 3 years ago, I was scared by the loud sound; but this time, I enjoyed it a lot!

After the parade, we went to Tomorrowland to play a few games then we go back to the Sleeping Beauty Castle where the 4 different princess are there to take photos with people. Same as usual, I'm scare to take photos even with the princesses. After much courage from my friends, I only managed to stand at a place that is furthest away.

Last but not least, we spent sometime shopping at the Main Street before leaving HK Disneyland theme park and heading back to the hotel for dinner.

We had a chat with Tinker Bell at Pixie Hollow.

When we're having dinner at Chef Mickey, we bumped into Donald Duck again. We had a great time following Donald and 扭屁屁 (niǔ pì pì) together. However, there's no improvement from me in accepting a Donald duck of size even bigger than Dad. I need to stand the furthest away from Donald to ensure I'm not within his reachable distance. :(

Some photos taken at Day 2.

HK Disneyland (Day 1)

2011-10-17T23:39:00.000+08:00

Today is the beginning of my 3 days mid-term break holiday. As one of my birthday wish was to go to HK Disneyland, Mum has arranged a short holiday together with a few of my friends (Skylar, Jaslyn & Valerie) to go there. Four families - 7 adults - 8 children - 3 helpers. This is my second time to HK Disneyland, my first time was 3 years ago.

We started off with an early lunch in a chinese restaurant at Times Square as we anticipated there wouldn't be much decent chinese food for the coming 2 days. After lunch, we headed towards Disney's Hollywood Hotel. It's ~1:30pm when we arrived the hotel but our rooms were not yet ready. so we spent sometime investigating around the hotel. Started off by watching some disney cartoon at the hotel lobby then go to the outdoor playground to play for a while. The heat was strong so we go back indoor to the Malibu Toy Shop, an indoor activity room where the young can draw, read story books and play toys. Our room was finally ready at 3pm, it's on the 4/F, next to Jaslyn & Valerie's rooms. It has a nice view overseeing the garden and Discovery Bay. What a pleasant surprise is on our way to the room, we bumped into Donald Duck who is strolling around the hotel and we took some photos with it.

With so many children, it just take a long time to go anywhere even if it's very close.When we arrived Disneyland theme park, it's already 4pm. We're attracted by the HK Disneyland Railroad train just arrived at the station opposite the front gate of the park. We thought it would be good to start with a grand tour of the park. However when we got up to the station, the train was about to leave and we have to wait another 15 min for the next one, so we change our mind and walk straight to the Fantasyland, while taking a few toilet & snack break. Our first attraction was to watch "The Golden Mickeys", the queue was not too long. I watched it 3 years ago, but the stars have changed. The next attractions are "It's a small world", "Mad Hatter Tea Cups" & "Dumbo the Flying Elephant". Both Skylar & me sat at the front row of the boat at "It's a small world", we were so excited that the cast member has to announce thru the microphone to remind us to sit down. While we're playing Dumbo, the daddies & helpers have gone to the open area in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle trying to secure a good spot for us to watch "Disney in the Stars" Fireworks at 7pm. As it's already dinner time, we had a small picnic while we enjoyed the spectacular firework. Kris was so carry away as it was his first time to have such close encounter with firework. After the firework, we headed back to the hotel and have dinner at Hollywood & Dine.

After dinner, we took a rest at Malibu Toy Shop and enjoyed the last session of playing before it closed at 10pm. Kris, being the youngest within our gang managed to play thru the whole day without taking a nap.

I enjoyed the boat ride at "it's a small world" very much (even after the cast member asked me to sit down).

Awesome, I'm not scare and shake hands with Alice & Kris can follow simple instruction and make rabbit ears.

Kris kept saying "no more. no more work" after "Disney in the Stars" Fireworks. (work means firework).

Some photos taken at Day 1.

失而復得 (Lost & Found)

2011-09-25T16:16:00.000+08:00

The Thomas the Train balloon reserved for Kris flew away at my birthday party. However, he was able to get another one from Leanne's party. 失而復得, feel so good!

Although, my birthday party was over. Both Kris & me continue the fun by having our balloons put next to us during meal time.

5th Birthday Party

2011-09-24T03:23:00.000+08:00

Another year has gone by. I'm turning 5 soon. To suit the availability of my preferred party venue, this year my birthday party was held more than 1 weeks ahead of the birthday.

Organizing this year's party has been exceptionally difficult for Mom. As we were out of town until early September, and the fridge saga had caused much disturbance to our daily life over the past 3 weeks. Despite all these we finally made it.

This year Mum made sure each kid coming to my party would get a character foil balloon. During the party one corner at the venue was filled up with balloons. Accidents did happen though. As it was an outdoor party, a total of 3 balloons ended up flying away, including a Thomas the Train balloon that was especially reserved for Kris (Thomas is his latest favourite).

The birthday cake this year continued to be Princess-themed just like last year, but the featured character changed from Cinderella to Belle. Kris being a naughty boy as he is, was quite disciplined when it came to birthday cake. The cake remained intact even though it's within his reach. He did not know how to sing the Birthday Song, but he knew the right thing to do was to clap his hands while others were singing. And after the Birthday Song was sung he refrained from blowing out the candles and let me finish this honourable task.

Party Season

2011-09-24T03:19:00.000+08:00

October is usually a busy month for birthday parties, when almost every weekend there would be a birthday party. This year with my own party in September it seemed the birthday party season had started early. As soon as my party was over, we had to rush home and get ready for the next party. Leanne would have a dinner party to celebrate her 3rd birthday. To testify what I said about Kris's behaving well at my party, here's a contrast to show the normal him and what he did when Leanne was having her birthday song:

A Rose to Dorothy

2011-09-10T03:42:00.000+08:00

After almost a year, the Wiggles were in HK again last week. I of course would not miss their performance. This time Kris also went to the show. When Dorothy the Dinosaur appeared on the stage, everyone rushed out to hand her roses. Kris made it, and Anthony thanked him on the stage after asking for his name. Although I was not as lucky as Kris in this, I had my other prize. I managed to shake hand with Anthony!

It's a Party!

2011-09-07T15:54:00.000+08:00

My birthday is coming up in a month, let's have a party to celebrate.

Greetings...and Power Down

2011-09-01T02:21:00.000+08:00

We landed HK on time this morning at 7am. Dad had arranged a pleasant surprise for me.

The plan was to let me see my name on stepping into the arrival hall, as we had booked a limousine to take us home. However there was a little technical problem. As the HK International Airport has 2 arrival halls, the man holding the signage with my name was waiting patiently at Arrival Hall A when we actually exited at Arrival Hall B. Dad had to walk all the way across the arrival floor to find my name.

Thirty minutes after getting on the limousine we were finally home. A not so pleasant surprise was awaiting us.

Some time during the past 2.5 weeks while we were not in HK, the power at our home went short circuit. With no power for who knows how long, our fridge has become a disaster. As soon as we opened the door of our home, all we could feel was a foul smell. And the worst had yet to come. Although Dad was well prepared before opening the door of the freezer compartment, he just could not help being taken aback. The freezer turned into a breeding bed for bugs. The bugs creeping coupled with the smell - it simply sent chills down anyone's spine. We spent the whole morning just to throw all the things away, including 3 boxes of my favourite chocolate ice-cream: family sized, 2 of which unopened and 2 boxes of Dad's favourite palm size kippin abalone.

三人行

2011-07-31T23:10:00.027+08:00

I seldom sick last year (touch wood). However, I'm not feeling well again today, it's the second time this month. Is it because I play too hard during summer holiday or I relax so much and the sickness come???

When I was resting at home this afternoon, Mum suggested that I should do some chinese homework as I have not touched chinese for more than a week already. When I was doing my homework, I always look around and see if there's anything more interesting to do. Maybe that's the reason why it took me soooo long (45 min) to finish one page of chinese homework. After I sat down and ready to start, I looked out the window and saw this beautiful cloud, it's like a baa baa white sheep. No, it's more like fairy floss..... I asked mum if she could take a picture of it so I can look at it again later.

With the beautiful blue sky today, my temperature is under control and there's no other visible sickness, so Mum brought us to the nearby library. It's the first time mum brought both Kris and me out by herself.

When mum said, "Smile", this is how Kris smile - funny :).

Time Out

2011-07-17T22:55:00.015+08:00

I declared victory and fully recover from Herpangian. The lesions in my mouth are all recovered and gone. As the weather is not too hot today, to celebrate we went to the park to play swing and breathe some fresh air.

It's a painful lesson, I learn that I shouldn't put my hands in my mouth and I should wash my hands before I eat and after toilet.

Valerie's Farewell Party

2011-07-16T22:05:00.007+08:00

One of my best friend, Valerie will be leaving Victoria Kindergarten this coming year to go to another school. Aunt Rosene (Valerie's mum) has arranged a farewell party for her with a few of her close friends, but Mum has refrained me from going . I'm only allow to drop by and give the present and card to Valerie. I promised to keep my mask on all the time except when taking the photo, Mum allow me to take it off.

The white ulcers is still visible in my mouth but it's no longer painful. I ate a lot today to make up for the food that I missed for the past 2 days.

From left to right: Me, Jaslyn, Skylar, Natalie, Talia (in stripe), Valerie (in red), Vanessa (Valerie's baby sister), Hei Man

Painful Mouth Blisters (Part 2)

2011-07-15T22:30:00.007+08:00

Mum's word is true, my mouth is better today, it's not as painful as yesterday (but it's still painful). My appetite has come back, I managed to eat some cupcake, bread, biscuits, congee, fish, carrot and drink carrot soup today.

Painful Mouth Blisters (Part 1)

2011-07-14T13:43:00.048+08:00

Both Kris & my mouth are so painful, we have white lesions not only at uvula, but also on our tongue and side area of the soft palate. We don't feel like eating at all. The lesions made our mouth a bit swollen. Kris might have difficulty swallowing so his saliva drips non-stop even if he try to keep his mouth close most of the time. He keeps pointing to his mouth, crying, wanting to tell people that his mouth is painful. I'm just so tired and don’t want to do & eat anything. Even eating chocolate ice-cream & congee is painful to me. I eat nothing but drink some carrot soup today.

Mum told me that today is the worst, it'll be better tomorrow. Hoping it can give me some motivation.

After Mum checked the blisters in our mouth, Kris tried to do the same to me & his teddy bear, but I'm just not in the mood.

Herpangian

2011-07-13T12:59:00.086+08:00

My temperature was under control and there's no other visible sickness, so I went to school as normal. When I arrived school and did the regular temperature, hand & mouth check before going to the classroom, I failed. 王姑娘 found some white lesions around my throat. The headmistress called Mum and said although my temperature is fine but they found some white sores around my throat so I have to leave school and seek medical advise ASAP. Half an hour later Mum appeared at school.

Dad called Dr. Chiu at once and told him about the white lesions around my throat. He was able to secure an appointment for both Kris & me this morning. After consultation, both Kris & me was confirmed to have Herpangian. He said the lesions should heal in 5-7 days, since my symptom started on Monday and I should refrain from school for 7 days according to Health department which mean I need to miss school for the coming week, my last week of K2. He prescribed some panadol for both Kris & me and off we go. I'm still ok, but the next 48 hours turn out to be the most difficult & painful time I have so far.

First Choir Lesson

2011-07-12T12:19:00.097+08:00

Today is a school holiday (Graduation Ceremony of K3) and I have been resting all morning to recover from the suspect flu. As my temperature was under control and I was a bit bored staying at home all morning, so I told Mum that I'm ok to go to my first choir lesson this afternoon. (Actually the choir lesson starts last week, but due to the Macau trip I was a 逃學威龍 and miss the first week.) It's my first choir lesson and Mum wanted to ensure everything is fine, so she pick me up from class today. She was startled when she saw me. First thing she said is, "Are you ok Kirsten? You look very tired & pale." I didn't say anything. When she felt my forehead, it's hot!

As soon as I got home my temperature has raised to 103.5F and I have a dose of Voltaren & Ben-u-ron. I was very tired and didn't feel like eating, so I went straight to bed for a nap before waking up for dinner at 8pm. Still didn't feel like eating but managed to drink some soup and eat 1/4 bowl of rice.

Just after Mum settled me to sleep and played with Kris. She felt Kris has a temperature, too. He's better than me, 102.8F. Quickly he has a dose of panadol and went to sleep, too.

Flu Again?

2011-07-11T12:06:00.015+08:00

My temperature was over 100F tonight and I have a dose of ben-u-ron before going to bed. Mum suspected that I might caught a cold during my swimming lesson today.

A Long Awaited Macau Trip (Day 1)

2011-07-03T23:45:00.150+08:00

Today finally is the day for the long awaited 3-day 2-night Macau trip. Three families - 6 adults - 6 children - 3 helpers all arrived at the Macau Ferry Terminal sharp at 10:15am ready to catch the 11am ferry to Macau. Although it's not my first time to Macau, I was very excited. It's my first oversea (sort of) trip with my classmates (Skylar & Jaslyn) and my brother, Kris. Mum and Dad did keep their promise last year - that the next time we travel we would bring Kris. Oh it's been more than a year since our last trip outside HK.

We arrived the hotel at around 1pm. We would stay at Grand Hyatt Macau at City of Dreams, a nice hotel that is more reasonable in size. Last time when we stayed at The Venetiane, it was so big that one would have to walk 15 minutes before getting to the room; go all the way across the shopping mall in order to get to the pool. If you forgot to bring anything, you rather forget about it than to walk for 30 minutes to go back to the room and get it.

Check-in for group usually takes a long time, after about 20 minutes we finally got things sorted out and off we went for lunch at Ji Xiang Yuan (吉祥苑) at City of Dreams shopping mall. It's a perfect place for a quick bite as it's already 1:30pm and everyone was so hungry. This place is just close to the hotel and serves a lot of HK style food like noodles, congee & dim sum; but all the kids favoured pork chop soup udon.

After lunch, we couldn't wait to go back to our room and quickly got changed and head towards our next destination, the SWIMMING POOL. The weather was perfect for swimming, nice and hot. We had a great time and we played until the sun set. Everyone had fun!!

We had a pajamas party tonite and ordered room service for dinner while the adult went out to an authentic Portuguese restaurant for dinner. Before they left, Uncle David (Jaslyn's daddy) ensured the Hi-5 DVD was running to keep us entertained while we ate. We played a little bit more after dinner, as everyone had already played so hard today that nobody disagreed to go to bed at 9pm. All the mummies & daddies came back around 9:30pm to check if we're sleeping before they head out again for a drink.

Kris discovered that the bucket can not only use to pour water, but also ..... Sorry Uncle Sean from naughty Kris.

I Can Swim

2011-07-01T16:48:00.007+08:00

Today, my swimming coach declare that I can swim by myself without any floating aid for about 10m for the first time. Hurray!!!

小風波

2011-06-18T23:15:00.012+08:00

Other than I like to dress alike Kris, Kris also like to follow me. Whatever I play, he would like to play, too.

Aimee's Photos - the Final Output

2011-06-14T23:31:00.006+08:00

The family photos taken 2 months ago finally arrived. With one new family member, how is it compare to the family photos taken 3.5 years ago.

Gold Medalist

2011-06-05T01:21:00.032+08:00

Today I took part in a mini gymnastic competition. While participation is important, a little recognition is also welcome. The competition consisted of 4 parts: Floor, Vaulting Box, Beam, and Trampette. Each part has a full mark of 10 points. A score of 31 or above would qualify for a gold medal. Both Olivia and I became a gold medalist! If that's not exciting enough for Mum & Dad, I surprised them even more. I scored 10 points at Trampette!

Superman

2011-05-31T02:20:00.012+08:00

I've been learning swimming for some time. I could now do a "Superman" pose in the water without any floating aid for the whole 25m across the pool.

Last Can of Meiji

2011-05-24T01:46:00.001+08:00

Kris has been transitioning from Meiji to Enfapro over the past month. He has 3 times of milk every day. Unlike me, he is much easier on food. Initially the change was made on his afternoon milk. He accepted with no complaint. One month later, the morning milk was changed too. He accepted with no complaint. By tomorrow, he would have finished the last can of Meiji, and he would be on Enfapro 3 times a day. No problem to him at all!

Colour My Days

2011-05-23T23:19:00.017+08:00

Since the start of this school year, I started to learn the concepts of day and month. I have already proven that I have good understanding on dates.

Mum has hung a big calender at my play area and I would cross out each day as it passes by. I would also put a sticker on the date of special occasion like birthdays, parties..... to remind myself. Any other special thing you noticed? The pattern. The colour of the "X" followed a repeating sequence.

Made in Japan - Part 2

2011-05-22T19:01:00.049+08:00

It's more than 2 months now. Kris is enjoying his last box of UHT Hokkaido milk. Bye bye ........ :(

He still got a few bottles of Kewpie cheese pudding and Japanese biscuits in stock, but they should be finished very soon.

Trampolining

2011-05-20T02:35:00.004+08:00

Picnic at Wan Chai Gap Park

2011-05-10T02:47:00.061+08:00

Today's finally the day. Since a few days ago when this picnic was confirmed, whenever Mum and Dad said we're going for a picnic (旅行) I would kiddingly ask, "旅行? Do I need to pack my lugguage (旅行 also means an overseas trip in Chinese)?"

According to the weather forecast it's going to be a day with drizzles. A forecast is just a forecast. The weather turned out perfectly fine. We met at Wan Chai Gap Park at 11am. What no one had expected was, we ended up spending the whole day there. By the time when we reluctantly agreed to leave, it's almost 6pm.

Look how much food we've got. And this is just about 1/3 of it.

Kris is always obsessed with dogs. He was attracted by a group of people walking their dogs.

Tug of War

It always remains a puzzle to Mum and Dad why the game of "Family" is so much fun. Here we are playing this game again. The mat is our house.

Picnic Preparation

2011-05-09T02:14:00.028+08:00

Tomorrow is the Buddha's Birthday and a public holiday. I will go on a picnic with Skylar and Jaslyn. We agreed to each bring some food and share. So today Mum brought me to the supermarket for some last minute shopping.

I was so excited that I did not only ask to be in charge of deciding what to buy, but also request to dress up as if the picnic is on today.

Although the trolley I was pushing was ultra small, I made sure Mum put everything into it before we went to the check out counter.

After such a vigourous exercise of shopping, Kris could not wait to have his well deserved afternoon snack - and he finished a whole croissant!

Thank You, Mommy

2011-05-08T02:51:00.009+08:00

Today is Mothers' Day, this is what I said to Mum first thing this morning:

落湯雞

2011-05-03T23:25:00.010+08:00

It is not a photo of us after shower and we didn't put gel on our hair. This is a photo of us during dinner. Our nanny only turn on a fan during dinner with max temperature of 30C today, we sweat like hell.

When Will Easter Holidays be Over?

2011-05-02T00:17:00.030+08:00

Today is supposed to be the last day of my long Easter holidays, but there seemed to be some confusion on when I should go back to school.

"I would go back to school the day after tomorrow," I said.

"No, Kirsten. You'll be back to school tomorrow. Today is the last day of your school holidays," Dad replied.

"No. I will go back to school on 3rd of May. Today is only 1st of May," I argued. "Your watch shows 1."

"Oh, sorry Kirsten. Thank you for pointing out. I forgot to adjust the date on my watch after April ends. Today should already be 2nd of May," Dad realized that it's his mistake not mine.

Easter Holidays - Day 5 @ Family Photo Shooting

2011-04-26T00:28:00.072+08:00

After the Easter Egg Hunt yesterday, we came back to the same place again today. But of course for a different purpose. Mum and Dad have been arranging a family photo shooting session since 6 months ago. The original plan was to go to the same studio we went to when I was still a baby so we could have a remake of the last production, adding Kris as a new member. However this session was postponed and postponed again, because I was having a flu just before the shooting date, and came the rescheduled date Kris bumped himself and got a few bruises on his face. Just when we were about to reschedule it again, we came across an ad of Aimee on a magazine. Aimee lives in Spain, and travels to HK regularly for family and commercial photoshooting. She's revisiting HK in April.

Having an outdoor shooting session sounds a good idea. So Mum and Dad made an appointment with Aimee. Then the next thing to decide is the place for the session. It's up to us to decide, and between a beach and a park, Mum finally decided to go for the latter.

The shooting started at 5pm when the sun was beginning to set. It was a perfect day for doing photos.

Easter Holidays - Day 4 @ Egg Hunt

2011-04-25T00:26:00.038+08:00

It's the last day of the Easter public holidays. How can Easter be complete without Easter eggs? We had an Easter egg hunt at the Peak.

Here's my collection

And when the hunt was over Kris wondered why his bag still remained empty

He finally decided to settle with a strawberry to make up for his empty-handed egg hunt.

After the Easter egg hunt it's time for food.

And after everyone has been energized, time to burn the energy again. As there's only 1 swing, the queue was always long.

Easter Holidays - Day 3 @ Natalie's Birthday Party

2011-04-24T01:52:00.030+08:00

Happy Birthday to Natalie!! Thanks for your invitation, we had a great time.

Playing 氹氹轉 with birthday girl, Natalie & Valerie.

Although, it's not the first time I visit this playroom, it's the first time I play this roller swing. It's FUN!

Oops... I've told Skylar that she has to hold TIGHT as it's very quick and she didn't take my advise serious enough. :(

Easter Holidays - Day 2 @ Ocean Park

2011-04-23T01:48:00.074+08:00

The weather forecast for yesterday would have been correct if it's meant for today. It's been raining the whole of this morning, but there was hardly any rain yesterday when it was forecast to be a rainy day. This untimely rain almost ruined our plan. We planned to go to Ocean Park with my few best friends at school - Jaslyn, Valerie, and Skylar.

At noon we met at Causeway Bay for lunch as planned. It was still drizzling. The parents were still undecided whether the Ocean Park venture would be on after lunch. The last thing they would like to see was a group of disappointed kids. So the next thing we knew we were already at Ocean Park!

All my friends had their sibling with them, Jaslyn with Talia, Valerie with Vanessa, and Skylar with Duncan. But Kris could not make it today, as he was having a fever this morning. Mum put the blame on the chilling swimming pool yesterday. I must be so anticipating about today that my immune system got boosted up.

The drizzling did not stop, but all of us came prepared for it. And there's nothing stopping us from enjoying ourselves. We stayed till 8pm and watched the evening fire show before calling it a day.

Easter Holidays - Day 1 @ Swimming Class

2011-04-22T00:26:00.095+08:00

The 11-day Easter holidays kicked off with an early swimming lesson at 9am today. Normally my swimming lesson is on Monday but because of the holidays my coach has rescheduled some of the classes. The class on the coming Monday has been moved to today. Mom and Dad seldom have a chance to join my swimming class, they definitely would not miss this opportunity to watch me swim. Kristopher of course would not be left out.

I have joined this swimming class for half year already, and I am gradually progressing. Now I can make a few strokes by myself with minimal floating aid.

Although the swimming class is done in a public indoor heated pool, the heating facilities were turned off. Thanks to our rigid government, and whoever in the government decided that all public pools should no longer be heated in early April without considering the real weather conditions. A normal April the weather would be fairly warm. But not this year. The water was indeed chilling this morning. As soon as my body emerged from the water I was shivering.

Originally Mum and Dad would like to stay behind with me and Kris after my lesson was finished, but given the water temperature we decided that it's really no fun staying any longer.

After taking some rest at home, we went to the playroom and have dinner with Gung Gung & Uncle Benson's family at HKJC. That turn out to be the highlight of the day. I had a great time playing with 豆豆.

God Bless Japan

2011-04-15T15:47:00.044+08:00

For the past few weeks, the whole world is both shocked and deeply affected by media reports on the disastrous Japanese earthquake, tsunami attacked and nuclear leakage. From TV, I saw screen after screen of people who have lost their homes and their loved ones, we are deeply saddened. Nobu has moved back to Japan and I worried whether he's ok or not. I have drawn him a card and asked Mum to help me to send it over. Courage, hope, light and love is what they need.

The boy wearing a red shirt is Nobu. I'm sending over some sunshine, flowers and a new home to him.

Made in Japan

2011-03-18T03:31:00.037+08:00

The formula that Kris has been having is a Japanese product. One of his favourite snack - Kwepie cheese pudding, also comes from Japan. In addition my favourite Bubble biscuits are also made in Japan. Due to the recent tragic incident in Japan and the resultant radiation leak, Mum has stocked up some formula and cheese pudding for Kris. Once this is finished Kris will switch to a Dutch made formula and quit the cheese pudding. The plan for my Bubble biscuits is not firmed up yet.

Hong Kong Flower Show 2011

2011-03-16T02:11:00.002+08:00

To develop the children's interest in gardening and plants, a field trip to the Hong Kong Flower Show has been arranged for our class today. The Flower Show is held at Victoria Park, just opposite our school. A 90-minute session was slot in in today's class, when parents are invited to join us at the Flower Show.

I went to school as usual by school bus. After settling down the whole class were led to the ground floor, where Mom and Dad were already waiting for me. When the teachers made sure every pupil was accompanied by an adult, we left the school, crossed the road, and arrived at Victoria Park.

Our family did go to the Flower Show last year, but the experience was quite different. We went on a weekend last year, it was very crowded and the weather was much hotter. This year, it's not only a weekday, but we also went early in the morning. It's much easier to take pictures.

Year of the Rabbit

Me and the Harp

Guess why Skylar and I were so amused

It's a Piggy playing the keyboard - the Piggy's hands can move!

Skylar and I never get tired of each other

Making a wish

Theme Flower of the Year - Primula

One and a half hour finished in no time. While we were still enjoying ourselves, Dad's phone rang. It was Miss Yao, who reminded us it's time to head back to the school.

睡袋蟲

2011-03-06T23:42:00.008+08:00

Although I'm four years old I still like to sleep with my sleeping bag on. I love to sleep with Kris and it feels good to have a companion. I'll hold his hands or hug him when he's asleep becuase I wouldn't be able to do it easily when he's awake. >3<

Look! Two Sleeping bag worms

Two of a Kind

2011-02-28T01:36:00.020+08:00

Whenever possible, I would request to dress "same same as" Kris. It's much less difficult to do so at home. We've got almost a dozen of the vests above, in various sizes and colours. I've been wearing this since I was a baby. The upcoming challenge is, that it comes in at the maximum size of 10, which is almost too small for me now. What are we going to wear next year?

Giselle's Brithday Party

2011-02-27T23:43:00.073+08:00

Today we went to Giselle's birthday party. There were plenty of toys, games, and activities to enjoy. Kris of course also came along. It's the first time that he wears a shirt. And it's hard to tell he's just 14 months old. He looked like such a big boy. While I influence him a lot, I am also influenced by him a lot. At the party today, he inspired me to overcome a barricade and made a bold move.

Of course it's not the racing car.

Nor the ball pit

Nor hand painting

Can you recognize him? He's my inspiration.

I never dare try face painting before. But if Kris can do it, why can't I?

Here's my first attempt of face painting. Do you like the butterfly?

Princess Goes to School

2011-02-25T02:31:00.026+08:00

It's time of the month again. Last Friday of the month, Birthday Party day. Theme of the month is Learner Profile. We can dress as a learner profile of our choice. For examples Risk Taker = Firefighter, Caring = Nurse, Doctor. I chose to dress in my Cinderella costume, though it's not clear which learner profile it corresponds to.

Salty Mandarin

2011-02-23T23:32:00.014+08:00

It's time of the year for preserved mandarin preparation. It's the 3rd time that I do it. What's different this year is that I've an assistant.

Red Eyes

2011-02-21T22:48:00.000+08:00

What am I doing? I'm steaming my eyes with chrysanthemum water.
Why? Mum said it'll make my red eyes better.
Why I have red eyes I want to know, too. To be dignosed by the doctor tomorrow.

Big Girl Toothpaste

2011-02-20T11:30:00.104+08:00

I'm never good at accepting new things, toothpaste is no difference. It has been a long long progress before I come to this stage - using grape taste children toothpaste with fluoride.

When I'm baby, I've been using Swisso apple taste baby toothpaste that I can swallow. At around 3 years old, Mum thought it's about time for me to change to children toothpaste with fluoride. We'll tried all different children toothpaste like Oral B Princess Bubble Gum taste toothpaste, Darli apple taste toothpaste & Lion grape taste toothpaste.... but none of them I like. I did tried to use them but maybe the taste is too strong and very much like medicine, I vomit after I use them. Rather than using the same Swisso apple taste toothpaste, a small change has been made. I successfully changed to First Teeth apple & banana baby toothpaste (also a baby toothpaste without fluoride) and start learning how to rinse my mouth properly by splitting out the water instead of swallowing it. This continue for another year before Department of Health together with my school run the Oral Care Program and the idea of children toothpaste hit Mum's mind again.

On this sunny Sunday morning, I went to Mum's room after I woke up and we had a conversation on toothpaste.
Mum said, "All of your friends are now using children toothpaste. If you continue to use baby toothpaste, your teeth will get decay like 豆豆 and you'll need to go and see the dentist. Do you want?"
I answered, "No."
Mum continued, "Do you want to give the grape toothpaste a try. Just brush for 10 seconds. I'll count from 1-10 then you can rinse your mouth."

As grape is my favourite fruit and purple is my favourite colour, so starting 6 months ago Dad has asked me to smell the grapes toothpaste every day to make myself familiar with the taste. Therefore, using this grape taste toothpaste to brush my teeth for 10 seconds today is not that bad this time. I managed to rinse my mouth properly and not to vomit. Hurray! It's the first time I successfully use children toothpaste with fluoride to brush my teeth, another milestone for me.

Do it like Play Doh

2011-02-17T23:52:00.024+08:00

It's Day 15 of Chinese New Year, also known as 元宵. The feature food on this special day is 湯圓, which are simply sphere dumplings served in sweet soup.

I helped to cook dumplings 2 years ago and this year Mum asked me to be in charge of the 湯圓 preparation. She assured me that it's nothing more difficult or different from Play Doh. It's the first time I made dumplings. It's FUN & I love to make some more.

Below is my live demo of how to make dumplings:

A Piece of Tissue Paper

2011-02-05T01:45:00.001+08:00

A piece of tissue paper is as worthy as any toy. The fun it brings is beyond imagination.

快高長大

2011-01-22T02:19:00.027+08:00

Today is my school open day. The above is one of the pictures I completed at school, and it's being hung in the classroom to let the paint dry. A girl with a triangular body seems to have become my trademark drawing. Even without my name on it I'm sure Mum could still easily spot my works.

One of the activities on this open day was drawing. I did another Chinese New Year themed picture, with a raddish and rabbit on it, as the Year of the Rabbit is only two weeks away.

年獸

2011-01-16T14:34:00.000+08:00

This is my room door in anticipation of the coming Chinese New Year. The fish in the middle and the 大吉大利 hanging from it was handmade by me. The 2 strings of characters on the side are the 12 Chinese horoscopes.

Dad did all these Chinese New Year decorations while I was sleeping. The next morning on waking up and seeing the Chinese horoscope characters I immediately said "nián shòu (年獸)!" pointing at the Tiger on the string.

"Who will scare the nián shòu away?" I asked Dad.

"Maybe Elmo," Dad said, while pointing at the Elmos posted on the cabinet doors.

"Nián shòu is scared of red," I added. "And also the noise of bilibalah, right?"

"Yes, of course." Dad answered, finally knowing that I was trying to test whether he knows the Story of Chinese New Year. I do!

The Elmos tasked to scare nián shòu away

King Choy

2011-01-16T13:39:00.012+08:00

Wish you an early prosperous Chinese New Year. We saw 財神 at Stanley today. Compared to two years ago, my reaction to this fortune figure has greatly improved. This 財神 gave out candies to the people around, and took pictures with them one after another. I did not miss the chance.

By evening time when I was having my bedtime chat with Dad, I told him that King Choy has all the candies. Dad was struggling to understand who King Choy was, and the first thing that crossed his mind was Troy. But he was quite sure that Troy has nothing to do with candies. He kept flashing back and finally clicked to relate it to Choy Sun 財神.

As he dressed up like a King, and I heard people calling him 財神, I immediately thought that his English name must be the King of 財. Dad told me that a more proper English translation of his name should be God of Fortune.

"God, like Jesus?" I asked. "Same word?"

"Yes, just the same word. You can tell Miss Gill tomorrow that you met God of Fortune." Dad said.

"OK," I replied, and fell asleep with content after learning something new today.

Swing it High!

2010-12-30T01:54:00.031+08:00

A few good friends went to Valerie's home for a play date today before the end of our Christmas break. It was nearly an all-girls party. Nobu was the only boy invited. He would be moving back to Japan for good in a few days' time. We would all miss him.

From left to right: Jaslyn, Tahlia (Jaslyn's sister), Nobu, Me, Nobu's brother, Vanessa (Valerie's sister), Skylar & Audrey (Missing Valerie & Natalie)

How can the host be missed out? Valerie is the only one who looked at the camera in the picture above, although she was a little bit outshone by Audrey the TV commercial star.

We did not confine ourselves to indoor, and went to a nearby playground. I'm never a very physical girl, but I am the only one who can play the swing all by myself without anyone pushing me.

Play Your Guitar with Murray

2010-12-22T02:44:00.028+08:00

Who is a better guitarist, me or Kris?

We are both inspired by Murray, my favourite Wiggle. This is how he performs:

Merry Xmas 2010

2010-12-17T00:56:00.030+08:00

Today is my last school day before Christmas break. I brought home the Christmas card that I made especially for Mum & Dad.

The surprise of the card lies inside. Once unfolded it reads:

At least I did not write "babby" - though that's what I did initially, I managed to erase and rewrite the first "b" correctly as "d".

It's not the first time I mix up "d" & "b". At one point Mum and Dad were worried about me having dyslexia, but on learning that it's quite common for children who just picked up writing they were slightly relieved.

Kris is One Year Old

2010-12-08T01:23:00.000+08:00

Before we know it, Kris is turning 1 today! Time does fly. As a cold front was arriving tonight, and Kris had been having runny nose these few days, we did not go out for any celebration dinner. Just a warm homely dinner is as good as any big feast. And of course a nice birthday cake cannot be done without. Kris must know today's his special day. He just couldn't help clapping on hearing us sing the birthday song!

Kristopher's 1st Birthday Party

2010-11-27T23:40:00.006+08:00

The weather was beautiful and it's a perfect day for party. It is my baby brother, Kristopher's first lunar birthday today. To help him celebrate this big day, Mum has invited her friends and some of my friends who has witnessed Kris's birth to join the party. There are more than 50 guests attending and I had a great time.

Penalty

2010-11-07T03:12:00.048+08:00

Can you locate me in the picture? No, I'm not in disguise as the red panda. And no, I'm not the one shooting the picture. Yes, I'm not there at all!

While Mum & Dad took Kris to Ocean Park, I had to stay home the whole day, despite the very nice weather today which made it a perfect day for outing.

I've been extremely naughty these days. Always not listening to Mum & Dad, refusing to do my homework, and crying and whining all the time. Before things get out of control, Mum decided to give me a good lesson this time. It's the first time that Mum and Dad brought only Kris and not me for such fun activities like going to Ocean Park. Will I repent? Only time will tell.

Sports and Fun Day

2010-11-06T03:52:00.004+08:00

It's been raining all day. The Sports and Fun Day organized by my school had to change venue. Originally it was to be held in the same outdoor stadium as last year, but it ended up having to move indoor to Victoria Shanghai Academy. Various game booths were set up along the corridor of the school, after we participate 3 games then we can get a medal. Although there were a lot of people there, I only ran into Skylar who is my best best friend.

My favourite activity of the day is this:

E-nopi Math

2010-11-04T23:54:00.009+08:00

I attended my first E-nopi math class today, together with Skylar. It was interesting. I enjoyed it so much that after dinner tonight I finished all the homework, which was meant to be done over the coming week before the next lesson.

Gone were the days when I could hardly count from 1 to 10!

Happy Birthday Anabelle

2010-10-31T23:49:00.000+08:00

Personalize your own digital scrapbook

The Pram Is Not Too Small!

2010-10-29T23:34:00.000+08:00

Usually, I'll put my doll, Hayley in the pram when I played with it.

Today I decided to test its limit and .....

Balloon Art

2010-10-22T18:10:00.049+08:00

Today is Work-Life Balance Day promoted by Community Business Organization. Work-Life Balance doesn't mean much to me yet, but I like the concept very much. Out of a dozen of activities held at Mum's office today as to prompte Work-Life Balance, Mum has chosen to attend a 2.5 hours balloon art workshop. She now know how to twist a dog, bear, rabbit, flower, Tigger.... balloon and my favourite is a princess tiarra.

Birthday Princess

2010-10-01T03:05:00.018+08:00

Today's the day of the long awaited Princess Birthday Party. I had fun, and my friends did too. It's held at the same place as my 1st Birthday Party.

Pyjamas Party

2010-09-30T02:25:00.003+08:00

It's the last school day of the month, and it's birthday party day for those whose birthday falls in September. Theme of this month's party is pyjamas. Mum made sure I adhered to the dress code, insisted on having me wear my slippers which she said would go much better than any other shoes with my princess pyjamas. I was a bit uneasy until I saw Skylar on the school bus. She was in a similar outfit, and put me most at ease when I learnt that she also did not have her socks on today (same as me). Also, she's carrying her Princess backpack which is the same as mine. However, she was a bit more serious than me for this party - she even put on nail polish, and showed it off to Mum and Dad when she saw them outside the school bus.

On arriving at the classroom, we couldn't wait to pose for a picture taken by the teachers running around the class to capture snapshots of this exciting party.

My Drawing

2010-09-29T23:04:00.004+08:00

Dad got a new box of crayon for me today. I can't wait until next week to use it at my drawing class, so I sit down at my red table and start drawing while Mum & Dad had their dinner.

Topic: Playing at the Park
I drew myself playing bubbles in a beautiful garden with roses everywhere. I'm wearing a purple tracksuit as purple is still my favourite color. The colourful circles on the left are roses and on the right side is bubbles. There is sun and clouds on the top. Nobody tell me what and how to draw this and Mum thought it's one of the best picture I drew so far and she loves it.

My Writing @ Nearly 4 Years Old

2010-09-27T13:36:00.023+08:00

Starting K2, we have been asked to practice writing our name whenever possible. Mum has tried to ask me to do it every night. In order to make this exercise more interesting, I'll use different colour to write my name. Compare to 4 months ago, now is a big improvement.

Princess Party

2010-09-21T10:23:00.000+08:00

Ever since I was very young, Mum has been trying to prevent me from addicting to the princess surge. Therefore, she has been avoiding to buy anything related to princess for me. However, after I start going to school with most of the friends fancy about princess, she can no longer stop this.

Have you ever had that magical dream of being the most beautiful Princess wearing a stunning dress? My 4th birthday is coming up in 2 weeks time, let's all dress up as beautiful princess and celebrate together.

Live Music.....Again

2010-08-07T23:29:00.005+08:00

We had dinner at Amigo's to celebrate Dad's birthday today. We came not for the food, but the music, as I have been loving live music entertainment. We planned to have an early dinner so we can go home early and extend our celebration with Kris at home. However, ................

On finishing the birthday song, Dad requested for the song All My Loving. My pick was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

轉彎有落唔該

2010-08-05T11:58:00.000+08:00

Public light bus is probably the most local public transport of HK. Passengers have to shout at the driver to indicate the spot where they want to get off. It would be quite a challenge to many, especially those who are not familiar with the bus route or who can't speak Cantonese (some drivers may know simple English but that's the minority). While neither of these would be a problem to me, the challenge to me is the courage to shout at the driver. Years ago when Mum was at primary school she had an embarrassing experience. The driver did not hear her signal to get off, and she ended up getting off only at the next spot where another adult alighted.

"轉彎有落唔該," I yelled bravely today. The driver waved his hand to signal that he got the message. It's as simple as that, and the next thing I knew the bus had already stopped with the door opened, awaiting me to get off.

Happy Farm

2010-08-01T03:02:00.077+08:00

We went to the Happy Farm today. It's indeed a 3-day exhibition held at Asia World Expo. Although the label of the function is Happy Farm, the actual farm element is not so much. There were a few rabbits, sheep, and turtles, and a couple of ponies. They occupied less than a quarter of the venue. The hall was mostly filled up by game booths.

A farm made of balloons

Concentrating on my art work at an Art & Craft booth

See my finished product!

My most impressive achievement of the day was winning a first prize at one of the game booths. The objective of the game is to push a toy bus touching the black line at the far end and not drop into the pit. There's no cheating, and it's done all by myself without anyone's help:

The 1st prize was a hot dog combo set. As it's approaching end of the day, instead of just 1 redemption coupon, the lady at the game booth gave me 3 coupons. We happily enjoyed a late afternoon tea before leaving the Happy Farm. Don't underestimate the hot dog set, it's priced at HK$50 each inside the exhibition hall! So I have earned a prize worth HK$150, remarkable?

Skylar

2010-07-31T02:37:00.097+08:00

Skylar sits next to me on the school bus. Being so close with each other every day we naturally become good friends. She lives within walking distance from me. Today I invited her to my home for a play date.

At around 3:30pm the door bell rang. Skylar and her mom arrived on time, bringing with them a big bowl of fruit. "Skylar said Kirsten's favourite fruit is grapes," Skylar's mom told Mum as she handed Mum the bowl that's filled with grapes, apples, a banana cut in halves, and blueberries. "This is the way how Skylar likes a banana and she insisted on having it like this for Kirsten," she further explained why the banana had been cut.

While Skylar and I were enjoying ourselves, our moms exchanged a lot of what we each said at home. After putting together various pieces of information, what used to be incomplete stories began to make sense.

"Oh you did go to Singapore? I thought Skylar mistook her own trip to Singapore as Kirsten's when she told me Kirsten had recently gone to Singapore......"

"No wonder Kirsten always asks for Kris to see her off to the school bus in the morning. She said Skylar's brother says goodbye to her at the school bus every day......"

"I bought Skylar a pink pajama, but she refused to put it on. She told me Kirsten likes red and purple, and herself likes purple, so there's not a chance that she'll wear a pink pajama. I ended up having to do a refund......"

Our taste is also very similar, too. We both don't like sweets / chocolate which is very rare for kids.

Time flied and it's soon 6pm. Skylar had to go home, as she usually goes to bed at 8pm. Before ending this date, we agreed to have another get together next week. I am now looking forward to my visit to Skylar's home.

Sleeping Bag

2010-07-29T02:27:00.016+08:00

Sleeping in a sleeping bag has been my practice since I was a baby. But it's not until recently that I have become able to unzip the sleeping bag. Now that I can do it easily I would find all sorts of excuses to come out from my room when I am forced to go to the room to sleep. "Want to wee wee" and "Scared" are the most used excuses.

Live Music

2010-07-25T03:03:00.069+08:00

Today we had lunch at Repluse Bay, together with the families of Michele and Leanne. It was unplanned, and by the time we called Spices for booking, all indoor tables were already booked. Over the phone we still accepted to be seated outdoor. But when we arrived at the restaurant and actually felt the heat at noon time, we needed to change plans. Just staying there for a few minutes and one would be guaranteed to be panting. Dining in this environment would be out of the question. We went one floor up to the Verandah, and fortunately got a table. Uncle Myron said it's usually very busy and booking for Sunday brunch has to be made months in advance. It just happened that we came in quite late (after 1pm), and some people had finished and vacated their table. Otherwise there's little chance that walk-in customers like us would be served.

The live band performance at the restaurant attracted our attention more than anything else. I was particularly impressed when the band walked around the restaurant, singing birthday songs to a few patrons. I immediately requested to have similar treatment for my next birthday!

Graduate

2010-07-15T23:16:00.000+08:00

My first school year last year did not end properly. This year it's totally different.

Even though I only finished my nursery study, our school has made sure recognition is given to our hard work over the past year.

This picture marks the first milestone of my school life. It's still a long road ahead!

Certified Volunteer Worker

2010-07-08T15:17:00.002+08:00

Unexpectly, I received the below certificate for the volunteer work that we done 2 months ago.

Mickey Mickey Mouse

2010-07-07T11:44:00.031+08:00

Lately, I've been sininging the Mickey Mouse song at home all the time. However, except the first & last two sentenses that Mum & Dad know what I'm singing, the rest they could not guess. However, Mum really would like to know what I'm singing, so she called 姚老師 and asked her for the words of the Mickey Mouse song. 姚老師 told Mum that we used to sing this song everyday in the morning, but now we have changed to another song. Mum was quite happy as her puzzle of what I'm singing for the past months has finally been solved.

圓詁碌的鼻子
大大大眼睛
每日笑眯眯
和它共成長
不會悶多秒
Mickey Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mickey Mouse, 可愛天真.
Mickey Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mickey Mouse, 多麼想念你.

World Cup Fever

2010-07-02T00:32:00.053+08:00

I started my first drawing class today. As summer holidays are approaching, Mum has been trying to fill up my time slots so as to keep me busy, entertained, and developing.

The past 2 weeks the hottest topic in town has no doubt been World Cup 2010. Though I have not much clue what World Cup is all about apart from that it's relating to soccer, it's already good enough for me to explain to Mum and Dad what I drew.

Of course drawing this picture from scratch all by myself is still much beyond my capability, but there are a few parts which Mum and Dad could easily point out to be my contribution. Colouring the jersey purple is too obvious, as purple has been my favourite colour and I have the reputation of colouring everything purple, including people's face, whenever I do colouring. On finishing with the jersey, I was ready to use my purple crayon more. So I asked the teacher, "how about the arms?" The teacher stopped me from using purple and gave me the appropriate colour to continue.

My New Best Friend

2010-06-28T20:52:00.009+08:00

It’s the second night after I returned from Singapore. I requested Dad to pat me to sleep as usual.

"We haven’t talked for a long time, Daddy," I said.

"Let’s talk. Did you tell anyone that you went to Singapore?"

"Only Skylar," I replied.

"Only Skylar?"

"Yes, Skylar is my best friend."

"Is Skylar your best friend now?" Dad looked puzzled. "What about Jaslyn?"

"I changed already. I play with Skylar. All the time!"

Singapore Trip Day 4

2010-06-27T20:51:00.171+08:00

Our last day in Singapore. It rained again. Despite the rain, we made a last minute visit to the pool at the hotel on finishing a long breakfast.

The rain this morning lasted longer than usual. It's still raining when we were at the pool.

I was not enjoying the pool much. And it was soon check out time. We finished packing up, left our lugguage at the hotel, and headed out for our last stop - Orchard Road.

With Mum, in twin dress

The Great Singapore Sale is still on. Book is one of the few things that is less expensive in Singapore than in Hong Kong. We bought quite a few so that we would not come home empty-handed. It was almost 3pm, and we had a 5:50pm flight to catch. It's really time to go back to the hotel and pick up our lugguage. Samantha and family were waiting for us at the hotel, as we booked a cab to take us to the airport at 3:15pm. I asked for a toilet break before leaving, and I tried out the kids' toilet at Takashimaya Department Store.

We were soon at the ticketing machine at the Orchard MRT station, ready for my first ride on the Singapore railway. Mum searched for her handbag (the little brown suede bag in the picture above), gosh, it's GONE! Not only her wallet, but also her passport is in it. "It must have been left in the toilet at Takasimaya!" Without further ado, Dad rushed back, and asked us to wait for him at the station. "The first compartmet," Mum yelled as Dad was running. From the station to the toilet on the 3rd floor of Takashimaya is a 5-minute walk. But with the crowd on a Sunday afternoon, it took Dad almost 10 minutes before coming back to the kids' toilet. All compartments were empty, except the first one! Half a minute went like ages, and a girl finally came out from the first compartment. But no, the bag's not there. Dad looked at his watch, it' already 3:05pm. He grabbed a security guard and sought help. The guard took him to Customer Service. Dad explained th situation to the lady at the counter. "It's brown," said Dad, as the lady was flipping a log book, which presumably was the lost and found register. Dad took a glimpse but to his disappointment there didn't appear to be any new entry. "Is the bag yours?" asked the lady. "No," Dad replied. The lady slowly walked behind a shelf. When she reappeared, "may I know the name of the owner?" she asked, with the bag in her hand!

We almost had to extend our stay in Singapore. And thanks to the Good Samaritan, oops Singaporean. Though we were 20 minutes late for the cab we still had plenty of time by the time we arrived at the airport.

Before coming to Singapore, Mum and Dad promised to send Kris a post card. But the past 3 days had been too hectic, every night when we went back to the hotel we were all so tired.

We bought one at the airport, and posted it to Kris. Mum and Dad promised that next time when we travel again, Kris would be with us.

Goodbye, Singapore!

Singapore Trip Day 3

2010-06-26T20:45:00.266+08:00

Destination of the day: Singapore Zoo!

Before coming to Singapore, everyone we talked to about the Singapore Zoo said it's worth going to, and spending one full day may not be enough. Now here we are finally. It was not long after setting our feet on this animal kingdom, we were already being greeted by a few monkeys which were just a few feet away from us.

They are just a few feet away from me

Ready for the zoo visit

In order not to miss the Elephant Show scheduled at 1130am, we rushed to the safari tram that runs a circular route around the zoo. As soon as the tram started to move, a few rhinos appeared on our right hand side. As we moved along, there came some zebras. Then it's the giraffe, opposite to which on our right was a pride of lions. In less than 15 minutes time, this eye opening tram ride already showed me these live animals which I have read about for so many times on books.

We arrived just in time for the Elephant Show. The theater was almost full and it took us a while to be able to squeeze in at the back. Soon after the show began we realized that it was not bad not to be able to get a front row seat. The welcome greeting from the 4 elephants starring the show was a big spray of water from their trunks to the audience. Many people in the front rows were all wet! The show was entertaining, as it's the first time I came in such a close contact with elephants. But the best was saved for the last. When the show was over, we were given the opportunity to feed the elephants. We bought a basket, which contained fruit and carrots. Every time Dad passed a piece to me I refused to hand it to the elephant and insisted on Dad doing it. After Dad finished the whole basket, Mum carried me and asked me to touch the trunk of the elephant as other people were feeding it. I finally gathered enough strength and made PHYSICAL contact with an elephant - I touched its trunk! Now I was ready to do the feeding, but the zoo attendant said that the feeding was over as all elephants were full. I almost burst into tears and the attendant kindly agreed to let me buy another basket of fruit/carrots.

After the elephant show we continued checking other parts of the zoo. We saw kangaroos, hippos, and white tigers.

A hippo is smaller than I thought

It's not a statue. It's REAL!

Then we watched another show, Rain Forest Fights Back. It features a number of different animals in the forest, and is about how they fights back when human threatens destruction of their home. At the end of the show, it's picture time:

Originally Mum was standing next to me, but she jumped to her current position as the lady holding the red snake was trying to put the snake on her shoulder. Her only defense was to escape. Dad did not realize that the lady in green had put the python on his shoulder until it was already there and he did not have a chance to say no.

It was not until 3pm did we settle down for lunch. We did a supposedly quick lunch at KFC, but it took almost 30 minutes just to queue up for the order. We finished the lunch fast, both because we were indeed hungry, but more importantly, we got more important activities after lunch. KFC is located just next to the Water Fun area of the zoo, and how could we help not jumping into the pool when we saw everyone enjoying themselves so much in the area?

Soon after this big splash the water play area was closed. It was about 5:30pm. Still some time before the zoo was closed. We had not yet visited the polar bear. But to our disappointment that's what we saw when were there:

So people's comments about Singapore Zoo are quite true. It's worth visiting, and one day is not enough.

Apart from the polar bear, we also missed the cheetah, the penguins and the elephant ride. Maybe we should come again, and next time Kris should be able to join us.

Not all the animals are as lazy as the polar bear. We still managed to do a last minute tour of the zoo, and took a closer look at the zebras to end our zoo visit today:

Our last dinner in Singapore was at the East Coast. From a logistics perspective it's not a wise choice. The Singapore Zoo is located at the North West of Singapore, and the East Coast is technically diagonal to it. But for the must-have Singaporean chilli crab, we had to make the trip. The taxi driver told us it's basically the longest distance that one could travel within Singapore. I fell asleep on the taxi and did not wake up until my favourite dish roast chicken was served. Though the chilli and pepper crabs were none of my business, Mum and Dad appeared to be very content after the dinner.

Singapore Trip Day 2

2010-06-25T20:43:00.208+08:00

"Who wants to play with Samantha again raise your hand!" Dad said, as I was opening my eyes this morning. It's raining heavily. The day began with a buffet breakfast with Samantha at the hotel. I had corn flakes, croissant, congee, and egg.

Breakfast time

That's Singapore. Rain just came and went. By the time we finished breakfast, the rain almost stopped. But this thunderstorm in the morning had already spoilt our plan to enjoy ourselves at the hotel swimming pool. In exchange we spent more time on the buffet and relax ourselves more, before going to the Resort World. The major attraction at Resort World is Universal Studio. Although we did not intend to go in, as most of the facilities are either not yet open or not young children friendly enough, taking pictures around the Globe at the entrance is a must.

I'll be Back! When I'm old enough to do all the rides.

As it's still school holidays in Singapore, there are school children together with families everywhere we go although today is a weekday. There are signs saying that live story telling sessions are held daily at Imbiah Lookout. So Imbiah Lookout became our next stop.

At the story telling area a few tables were set up so kids could do art and craft in between each story telling sessions. It was only 1pm, 30 more minutes before the next story telling began. Dad got me a first row seat while I was busy with my art work. The story teller soon arrived. Before starting the session he asked for a few volunteers to hold some prop for him. The story that was going to be told is the Little Red Hen. And the prop required are grains of wheat. I raised my hand fast enough to be one of the volunteers.

Waving the wheat

The story teller started telling the story as he flipped the pages of a mega-sized board book. A lady dressed up as a Little Red Hen appeared on stage to make the story even more lively. When the story was finished, we were allowed to take pictures with the Little Red Hen.

Little Red Hen and me

We had a late lunch at a nearby restaurant, sitting by the window, and we saw aerial chair lifts passing by. It was the uphill transport for people who had finished taking a luge ride downhill. So we decided what’s next after lunch. The luge slides along a paved track from Mount Imbiah down to Siloso Beach, and the track is split in 2 separate trails, Forest Trail and Dragon Trail, which then merge back before reaching the end point downhill, where we could take chair lift to go uphill again. As we bought a family combo that included 4 luge rides and 4 chair lift rides, Samantha and I could each enjoy 2 rides on each. Wilfred is too little and he's not allowed on either.

For the 1st luge ride I went with Dad. At the point where the track is split, Dad took the left one, the Forest Trail. The ride took about 2-3 minutes, as soon as I got off the luge I rushed to queue up for the chair lifts uphill. While in the queue I did not forget to take off my slippers, just in case they got blew off by the wind on the lifts. After enjoying the breeze and the spectacular view on the chair lift ride we came back to the starting point, and I was ready for the 2nd luge ride. It's Mum's turn. When we reached the split point on the track I asked Mum to take the right trail, as I had taken the left one with Dad. The Dragon Trail is a new track and is more elevated and exciting with its tighter corners and numerous turns. All the rides were FUN!

Ready for my first Luge Ride

Returning uphill on a chair lift

Before the ride with Mum

With Mum on the ride at the Dragon Trail

It's past 5pm when we finished the rides. We went back to Sentosa Spa and Resort to pick up our lugguage, and moved on the our next destination, Mandarin Oriental.

Never missed a chance to jump. Heading out for dinner.

By the time we arrived at Mandarin Oriental and completed check-in it was almost 7pm. We had dinner at the famous hawker centre located just opposite to the hotel by the Marina - Makansutra Gluttons Bay. We had a big dinner, no, a feast to be exact.

Our feast at Makansutra Gluttons Bay

To burn the fat after this feast, we had a stroll along the shore to take a closer look at the Merlion. On the way we also saw the Singapore Flyer, the Durian, and the newly opened Sands. After such a long day, I was even more tired than yesterday. On our way back to the hotel, I fell asleep in Daddy's arms, and slept all through the night without taking a bath!

Singapore Flyer

The Durian

Last but not least, the Merlion

Singapore Trip Day 1

2010-06-24T20:38:00.090+08:00

The long awaited Singapore trip finally happened today. At 0830 we were at the airport checking in, when Samantha and family appeared at the queue of the SQ check-in counter. Even though we all woke up very early in the morning in order to catch the flight, everyone looked as refreshed as ever.

This is the plane that we're catching

Though Wilfred was the only first-timer on a plane, Samantha and I appeared to be more excited than him. Afterall it’s the first time we travelled together with a buddy. The cabinet soon became our playground despite its limited space. The table, the headset, the seat, the TV, the aisle, the window – anything on the plane is of interests to us. The last time I flew I was still on my nappy. Today was the first time I used the toilet on an aircraft. Apart from the very little space, I was most impressed by the flushing sound. It’s so unlike the flush that I’m used to hearing that it still gives me a shock when I hear it.

Ready to take off

Ejoying the flight

With so many different things keeping us occupied, 3 hours and 40 minutes went by in a blink. We collected our lugguage and were soon greeted by the chauffeur picking us up to the hotel.

Our itinerary is to spend the first night in Sentosa, then the remaining 2 nights at the city area of Singapore. Festive Hotel, which boasts of its loft bed for kids, located at the newly opened Resort World at Sentosa was our first choice, but it was fully booked so we had to stay at Sentosa Spa and Resort. It is a classy but aged hotel in the area. Mum and Dad visited this hotel about 10 years ago, and they confessed that things here had not changed much since they last came.

From the hotel lobby to the rooms, ponds are along the passage

10 years ago on this same corridor Mum and Dad ran into the richest man of HK

On checking in our room, my mischievous acts kicked off. I jumped on the king-sized bed as if it was a trampoline. Then I closed the safe deposit box in the room (of course without knowing the password which I pressed and set accidentally), and Mum had to get the hotel staff to reset the password of the box.

Soon we headed to the Palawan Beach to spend the rest of our first afternoon in Singapore. At the beach there's a suspension bridge that links to the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia (Asia's closest point to the Equator). After making a 2-way trip on the bridge and calling on the Southernmost Point of Asia, we started our beach activities. The weather was a bit cloudy and it was perfect for the beach. While playing in the water, I drank a few sips of sea water – it's much more salty than that in HK.

Southernmost Point of Continental Asia

Swimming in the sea

As the sun was setting it became breezier and we went back to the hotel. The next highlight of the trip was bathing together with Samantha in the big bath tub. Enough splashing was made before we finally agreed to stop and got dressed up for dinner.

Waiting for shuttle bus back to hotel

More jumping on the bed after bath

We had our first Singaporean dinner at Food Republic food court at Vivo City. The place was very busy and it took us a while before we secured ourselves a table. We had chicken rice, bakuteh, satay, fried Hokkien noodles, and fried rice. The food was only so so.

When we returned to the hotel, it was almost 11pm. I was so exhausted that as soon as I finished my bedtime milk I kept requesting to go to sleep. I soon passed out on the baby cot provided by the hotel.

Good night, sleep tight