Short getaway

We stayed at the Orchid Country Club for a quick 2D1N getaway before we'd have to contend with a newborn added to our family. It was a really nice surprise as the room was rather spacious compared to usual hotel rooms.

There was an additional single bed for Sammie which we were hoping she would sleep in on her own and she seemed rather excited about it but in the end, she still ended up sleeping with us. Think we'll come again next time :)

Craziest month

June should have been one of the most relaxing months for us teachers but it was the craziest month for our family.

Carlsen had to fly off to China for a school trip and I had to give additional tuition lessons because all 3 of my tuition kids are P6 this year so it was the last long holiday for them to prepare for the PSLE. And when Carlsen came back from China, he came down with a bad cough after a few days. Then Sammie came down with stomach flu and a bad cough after that. It was the worst illness Sammie has ever had since she was born so I was really tired from her constant wakings at night, a few days of vomitting whatever she ate, cleaning up, trying to get her to eat since her appetite was very affected and thinking of creative ways to get her to take her medicine without her wailing and vomitting it out. Consequently I fell ill too. Furthermore we attended 3 weddings. So it was a really eventful month!

But we thank the Lord for seeing us through all this. Carlsen and his students came home safely. The grandmas stood in to look after Sammie when I had tuition while Carlsen was away. Carlsen was around while Sammie was ill so it was good to have an extra pair of hands. And we all recovered from our illnesses. Phew!

We even managed to enjoy a little short holiday at The Sentosa, a Beaufort hotel. The room was spacious and Sammie enjoyed her baths in the bathtub. Though it would have been much nicer if the toilet and shower areas were a little more spacious and had nicer tiles, and if the bed was more comfortable (even with more pillows, we still ended up with aches)... But nonetheless it was still a nice get-away.

Sammie loved to go swimming!


And she loved the shades! (even with UV protection lens bought by Por Por)

At the Underwater World, she was very interested in the small little crabs... We were fascinated by the Decorator Crab which has an amazing camouflage, don't you think?

And she loved the little Angel Fish too which are very tiny fish with 'wings' as fins.

But when it came to the most exciting part of the Underwater World - the tunnel - she was scared stiff and clinged on to me for dear life. She also said 'Sammie scared' when she saw the Japanese Giant Spider Crab, and the jellyfish exhibition when the lights kept changing colour, and the big sting rays that you can feed... We pray she'll learn to trust in God and fear Him rather than fear God's creation...


She warmed up easily to a little boy close to her age at the Dolphin Lagoon (she quite enjoyed the show but could not really catch all the stunts) and also to the waitress at the Garden - a charming fine dining restaurant (we were the only diners though... Sammie enjoyed the Portebello mushrooms.. yum yum).

After the short stay in the Sentosa, we went to the zoo... next posting....

World Blood Donors' Day

To continue from the previous posting, we went to the zoo right after checking out of the Sentosa. It was World Blood Donor's Day so Carlsen got free admission tickets - we haven't become Friends of the Zoo as it doesn't seem so worthwhile for us yet... probably when Sammie is older and when we have more kids :).

We met Mikaela - one of Sammie's gal pals - and her family there. We tried catching one of the shows while waiting for them (can you spot Sammie sitting on my head? Yes Carlsen would have been a better choice but unfortunately Sammie was sticky to me.) I think Sammie managed to catch a bit cos I heard her say 'wow' a few times but it was really tiring so we didn't catch the whole show. Wonder if we'd ever catch the shows in the near future... there's always such a crowd and it's not easy keeping an active toddler entertained while reserving seats early...

Unlike Sammie's 1st trip to the zoo with Cousin Joshie, we didn't go around looking at the animals but went to the children's playground instead. Sammie shouted 'playground!' once she spotted it and had a fun time, often saying 'upstairs'. She also got pretty drenched - not a good thing for Carlsen as we didn't bring along a change of clothes for him as we didn't know we were coming here and the water wasn't really clean... but being the loving husband and father he is, he had to make that sacrifice :)

Thankfully Carlsen had change in the car from our stay in Sentosa and there was a shower area to wash Sammie up. Mikaela's family was also very kind to lend us shower stuff since we weren't prepared. Unfortunately Sammie absolutely hates water pouring down her face when bathing (though we wonder why she was fine at the water playground) so she cried the house down as there wasn't a shower head available and the water was pretty cold.

Think we'll stick to going around to view the animals in future... Heh...

G-cube retreat

We had a jolly good weekend as Sammie joined Daddy for his G-cube retreat (Christian ministry/missions training - God's Global Glory) while Mummy gave tuition. Although it was only for a short while as we couldn't stay over since Sam was still recovering from her cough, she had plenty of good fun with the rest... :)

The 'aunties' and 'uncle' found her cute and sweet with her animal sounds, accompanied with the animal figurines from 'Snorta' (one of our board games). She can do the sounds of the tiger, lion, cow, monkey, horse, snake, dog and cat very well. She still needs more practice with the mouse, chicken, donkey, duck, frog and pig. :)

The supervisors usually exchange gifts during their retreat so Daddy got a pair of socks from the gift exchange. Sammie loved them the moment she saw them and asked Daddy to put them on for her. She looks like a little Japanese girl, doesn't she?

Singapore Flyer

The very day Carlsen returned from reservist, his school staff welfare committee had organised a trip to the Singapore Flyer. Jumping at the opportunity, we decided to bring the whole family along to have some fun since we only had to pay for my ticket at a cheaper rate, with Carlsen and Sammie riding free. And it was just nice to spend some time outdoors as we had been cooped up at home for 2 weeks for Sammie was down with a runny nose and bad cough and I had caught Sammie's flu while Carlsen was away on reservist.

The ride was alright; the company was more fun than ever.

Sammie warmed up easily to Aunty I-lin who took her around the rainforest below the Flyer and Sammie loved looking at the fish in the pond.


Arena (Ros's daughter) is slightly older than Sammie and Sammie kept chasing after her as she wanted to hug and kiss her. Arena was unusually shy that day but Sam didn't give up and did not just try once but several times.

In the capsule, Sammie sought to sit on Donovan's lap. The poor boy was too shocked to react. He just kept on munching his Hello Panda biscuits. When Sammie sat on him, she even leaned back on him to his further astonishment and he leaned further back :)

The ride was smooth and the weather was fine. Though we weren't impressed with the ride because we're so familiar with Singapore sights, it was nice to capture the sunset from that angle way up high and once again be reminded of the beauty of God's creation. And for us to spend time together as a family... Sammie had missed her papa quite a bit that she often asked for him while he was away...

To the birdpark with good pals

With complimentary passes, courtesy of Uncle Yap's company, we finally went to the Jurong Birdpark for the 1st time! (though not the first time for the Yaps) Sammie loves birds so it was an exciting trip to see a huge variety of birds up close and personal (compared to just looking at the typical sparrows, mynahs, crows and pigeons around our estate). And the birds we saw are just a tiny fraction of what God has created! May Sammie learn more about God as she sees his powerful hand in creation.

It was also a wonderful time to meet up with good pals as we hadn't met up for some time. Unfortunately it was raining so we couldn't see all the birds there. But thankfully there was some shelter so we saw the penguins feeding, the bird show and the night birds! Of all the birds, Sammie can name 'penguin' (not very articulately though) and 'owl' (very articulately).

Sammie's 1st time in Malaysia

Here we are in the nice spacious hotel room. Sammie enjoyed herself lots but unfortunately her sleep was disrupted by nasty bugs with 1 bite on her left temple on the 1st night and 2 more bites on her right leg on the last night. Talk about a welcome and parting gift....

But thankfully the itch was relieved by lotions and balms from loving church members like the Gans, the Leongs and the Wangs so other than scratching, Sammie was happy to spend time at camp. Next time onwards, we'll be more prepared with a medical kit for her because we took for granted that she usually doesn't fall ill.

She got her first taste of ping pong, bowling and tennis :) [with the exception of tennis while still being in the womb] Thankfully we brought enough mosquito patches though it was still better for her to remain in her pyjamas. However Sammie became much darker after the camp due to the scorching Sun.

First BTPC camp!

After being with BTPC (Bethany Trinity Presbytarian Church) for around 2 1/2 years, we decided to go for this year's church camp because last year was a bit difficult with us being just parents for 3 months (especially since I had difficulties with breastfeeding at first). So we thought this year would be much easier to bring Sammie along. So this was Sammie's 1st time overseas! (@ Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

The theme for the camp was "Love Actually Is...". Being taught from God's Word about what love is not, about God IS love and about God's love, being shown love by fellow church members, and getting to know them a lot better, it was a blessed time.