Trip to Disney _ 20 - 24 Sept

Our last week in US was spent in Disneyworld at Florida after a day of frantic packing and moving furniture out of our little apt. Fortunately, we only need to move the furniture to my SG neighbour's place who bought over the furniture. On the Sunday morning itself, we left our almost empty apt early in the morning for the airport. After a 3 hours flight, we finally reached Orlando International Airport at around 1230 pm. We then spent another 30 minutes trying to figure our way to the counter where we can board the Disney Magical Express - a complimentary bus ride to our Disney resort. Needless to say, we were impressed by the fuss free and convienient transport and the impeccable service provided by the Disney staff that we now understand how and why Walt Disney becomes a multimillion dollar service industry.

We finally reached Disney All Star Music Resort at around 2 pm and was checked into our room swifly. The hotel room was much nicer and spacious than we thought after reading so many horrible reviews online but because we were initially on a budget constraint that we chose the cheapest and valued for money resort. Later, although I decided to upgrade to a intermediate range resort, there were unfortunately no more vacancies so we still remained booked to this value resort.

Since we have already decided to take it easy on this trip, we did not plan for a full itinerary ahead of us. For the rest of the day, we swam in the guitar-shaped pool followed by a trip to Downtown Disney and enjoyed our dinner at the restaurant there.

Our favorite activity - take a dip in the pool in the hot weather. I love the look on Br wearing his life jacket.

Borrowing the Mickey mouse ears for a shot!

The second day of our vacation was to Animal Kingdom where we get to see real animals up close. The weather was really hot and humid and the rainforest canopy there seems to make the weather more humid and unbearable for us. Fortunately, I heed the advice of a fellow SG friend to subscribe to the Ridemax program where I could plan my itinerary to each theme park beforehand and the program would plan it in such a way that we could reach each ride or place in the shortest possible time and spent the least time waiting. We just strictly followed the plan and went to each ride at the suggested timing. I think without the plan, we would definitely have been overwhelmed by the number of activities and people around and have no idea where to start going around. Our favorite ride of the day is the Kilimanjaro Safari Ride where we got to sit in a jeep and pretend that we are riding through a real Safari grassland with all the real animals roaming around minus the dangerous types like lions and leopards.

At the Rainforest cafe having lunch where we take a cool respite from the hot weather.

The third day was a trip to Hollywood Studios. In fact, this is our favourite theme park of our whole Disney trip. We got to see the exciting car racing and explosion scene that even our little toddler, Ry was memserized. There are also 2 very good musicals like Nemo and Beauty and the Beast that we all enjoyed tremendously. I am extremely happy that Ry enjoyed the musicals as well. At least, now I know who to ask to accompany me to future musicals and concerts since Daddy does not really know how to enjoy these shows and I do not have a little girl.

Our favorite show of the day!

The last theme park that we visited was Magic Kingdom. Initially, we thought we would be overwhelmed by the grandeur and the crowd but after orientating ourselves to the other 2 theme parks previously, we found ourselves pretty bored by the kiddiness of Magic Kingdom. However, Ry still managed to find himself amused by a few rides and the little playground where he can climb, roll and run around.

Overall, I would say that the Disney trip was a success even though we did not try many exciting rides since our boys were too young. I would definitely wish to revisit Disneyworld if possible when the boys are older which I believe the experience will be totally different.

Br wearing my sunglasses!

2 More Weeks to Home!

2 weeks from today, we should already be on the flight in the midair towards home! Recently, everybody around us has been asking how are we feeling to our departure from the place we have been calling home for the past 2 years. Our replies were always "mixed emotions" as we would definitely miss the people and the weather that we have come to love but lately, we have already starting to look forward to going back to our family, sort of yearning for the stability associated with it and knowing that our boys will definitely enjoy the love and pamperings from their grandparents, uncles and aunts.

Since my last entry, I have been busy selling and giving away stuff from our apt and also busy with helping a neighbour aka fellow MOE colleague settling into her new apt while she eases into her course at Harvard Ed School. I am glad that she's moving into the apt at my building, which makes it easier for me to handover the stuff and furniture that she bought from us. I am also thankful to her to let us continue using some of the stuff till the last day before passing them to her, so still making our last days at home at least comfortable.

A farewell dinner with another SG family, A and SX and their 2 adorable kids who are about the same age as ours.

Ry has been talking up a storm these days, spewing new words everyday and willing to parrot after us. However, his words are limited to single syllable types and anything with more than one syllable, he would only say the first only like "sor" for "sorry". I guessed only me and KP understand what he's saying and other people still have a hard time figuring out his hand gestures and his mono-syllabic utterances.

Ry's last second speech therapy session with M.

Ry would do anything promptly like eating his lunch or nap if I tell him that M is coming to play with him later. He just adores her.

Br on the other hand, is eating up a storm, probably in his "grow spurt" stage. He can nurse every 2 hours or so and still finish a bowl of rice cereal for lunch and dinner. I remembered Ry at the same age could only finish half or one-third a bottle of baby food at one go but our baby Br actually finished the whole bottle by himself and still wanting more. Also, he already likes to snack on Cheerios and yogurt. Needless to say, he's has put on quite a bit of weight and he now weighs at least 9 kg based on our rough estimate from our own weighing scale. Those Chinese grandmas and grandpas at the park often swooned at his fat thighs and commented how thick are they:)

K always complains that Br "sticks" to me all the time! I guessed that must be the "benefit" of direct breastfeeding!