Visit to Haw Par Villa (虎豹别墅)_29 Dec 09

I think I forgot to mention that I am currently on extended maternity leave. Initially, I was supposed to work for 90 days before entitling to the remaining extended maternity leave before baby Br turned 1 year old, which means that I should only start my remaining 40 days leave from mid Jan. However, I decided to heed a friend's advice and try to ask my director whether he could support me to go on leave earlier in December since it is the lull period now and I would be less disruptive to the work flow in January. Fortunately, my director saw the sense in my proposal that he wrote in to the personnel department for a special request and the approval came only in mid-December. So, I have been on leave for about two weeks and will return to work in mid January.

On Monday, while having dinner at my mil's place, we were chatting away and my mil asked whether the Haw Par Villa is still available for visit and she'll like to bring my nephew there to see the eighteen level hell (十八尘地狱). So, we went home to check on the internet and decided to bring the boys out the next day to Haw Par Villa.


On Tuesday morning, after breakfast, I proceeded to cook porridge so that I pack and bring along with us to the outing for my two dear son's lunch. It was free entry for the villa but we had to pay $5 for parking and $1 entrance fee for seeing the eighteen level hell. There were not many visitors at the place so we were happy that we need not jostle our way through and my nephew could spend a fair bit of time reading the description of the statues. I was pretty shocked that my nephew, C did not know many of the Chinese mythologies since his mum is a true blue Beijing lady and he has always been the first in his class in P1 and P2. He is definitely a product of our current education and social system which focused more on academic results since one of his daily activities involves working on the numerous assessment books. It was definitely a pleasant 2.5 hour day trip where we could allow our energetic toddler to run around and climb onto the statues. However, the many steps and narrow path in the park made it difficult for us to move around with our twin stroller.

Br sitting on top of the landscape while waiting for Ry, my mil and my nephew to explore the Journey to the West (西游记) statues.

Ry was most excited about all the different animal statues he saw in the villa.

Our last visit - inside the dark tunnel where the eighteen level hell is built. Ry is already tired and hungry, so he's quietly snacking away from his cheerios cup while the adults were busy explaining the statues to my nephew!

It's the Christmas Season again!

Look at baby Br's festive wear! Besides the festive red & white colour, there's something else too ....

It is the cute little reindeer on his butt!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone first!

This year, we did not have a white Christmas but instead we had a warm and loving Christmas celebration with close family members. It was nothing spectacular since we only had KFC and pizzas for our mini celebration followed by a mini log cake. More importantly, it was the family members' loving gestures and the excited squeals and laughter from our little ones when they opened their presents that make it a special Christmas Eve evening. It was also the day that little Ry finally understood the meaning of "present" and could finally anticipate and appreciate the unwrapping procedure. He could even point to the wrapped gifts and proudly said, "my present! 弟弟's present!" and "mummy, open present!" A huge improvement in his speech development even though he still could not say in complete sentences that are more than 3 words.

My sister-in-law, nephew and my 2 dear boys! Ry was not supposed to be in this picture but he managed to sneak himself in!

This year, we bought Ry a tool set consisting of screwdrivers, hammer, wrenches and others so that he could pretend to be a mechanic. He was ecstatic about it and couldn't resist playing with it throughout the night. K and I have agreed that we would only buy toys that are educational or at least provide some form of tactile experience for our little ones. So while searching for a Christmas present for baby Br, we simply could not find anything suitable as we already had plenty of toys for his age from Ry's collection and there were really nothing new out there that excite us into buying. So, we the cheapskate parents, decided to just wrap up one of Ry's old toy truck and passed it off as a present for Br. In this way, we not only saved some money and also managed to teach Ry to share and give his toy to baby Br. So now, whenever Ry sees the toy truck, he says that belongs to 弟弟.

The brothers playing with the new tool set! There are simply no dolls and other girly stuff in my home!

Other highlights of this month included us attending my brother's wedding that was host at both Singapore and JB as well as going back to Pasir Ris park again on Boxing Day and playing badminton at my brother-in-law's condo on the following Sunday.

Ry was so proud to have his tie on and he kept showing off to everyone! And welcome the bride to become a new member of my family!

Little Ry trying to play badminton and doesn't he look professional?

Day trips to Pasir Ris Park and Zoo

For two Saturdays in early December, we have been making day trips out of the house. The first Saturday was a trip to Pasir Ris Park where we brought Ry cycling and to the big playground where he could climb and tumble and spent the whole morning enjoying himself to the fullest. It was our first day trip since we are back in Singapore and it was a happy occasion since baby Br and I almost fully recovered from our cough that stretched for almost 6 weeks. We were pretty surprised by what Pasir Ris Park could offer and the cool weather that morning made it more enjoyable for us to spend our time there. I think we will probably spend more time there in future since it is just a short drive from our home and best of all, it offers free parking which is not commonly found in our little island.

K rented the bike for an hour and brought Ry cycling while I slowly pushed the stroller with baby Br to the playground.

The first time we saw the swing suitable for baby in Singapore. How Br missed the swing rides!

Ry wanted to climb this fixture despite it is for older kids and managed to make his way through with help from us. However, he said "scared" halfway through and refused to move along and we had to nudge him along to the end.

The following Saturday, we decided to go to the zoo with our nephew, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law since my sister-in-law had the Robinson's corporate pass. Although Ry had been to the Boston Franklin Park zoo two times but with him understanding and knowing more animals, I think he probably enjoyed this trip most. I must also attribute to the fact that Singapore Zoo's open concept make it easy for the kids to look at the animals and some of these exhibits are at children's height and eye level, which make it easy for them to look at the animals. After the visit to the zoo, Ry could still rattle off the animals he saw like giraffe, zebra, leopard, gorilla, lion, tiger, monkey and hippo. His favourite exhit is probably the hippo since he could see them swimming in the water through the glass window as he happily follows them to and fro when it swims and could tell me that hippo swim whenever I ask him about the zoo trip. Needless to say that the boys also spent a good one hour at the Rainforest Kidzworld where they frolicked in the water playarea. I bet I would definitely make use of the MOE corporate pass more often in future:> While writing this, I'm already planning whether to go to Science Centre or Jurong Bird Park in our next trip.

Ry had an elephant mask from the zoo and had the mask on for the first part of the trip despite the heat.

We spent a great afternoon at the Rainforest Kidzworld where Ry and his cousin played together at the water area!

Baby Br having a great time disturbing his gor gor when his Ry is napping beside him after a tired afternoon at the water play area.