teewuivay's blog

Downunder in June 2011

Here are some photos of our trip to Australia, Perth in June 2011.

Time to take stock of what happened for the past year.

Sumana was 3.5 when we went to Perth, (Harvey and Fremantle) and is now 4. 

We decided to self drive in the city and ended up losing our way as we attempted to drive to the farm. But before the commencement of all the adventure, here's a photo of our little diva at the Changi Airport.

 

Finally, after an approximate 4 hour flight, we reached our destination, Perth, at about 3-4pm.

Here's an excited Sumana with her Ah ma... not anticipating the adventure of a missed turn we're going to experience later.

The missed turn was an adventure that showed how courageous our little bean had been. Daddy drove passed the gate to our farm at Harvey and Yi Zhang had to run down the 7-seater, back track along the expressway before daddy could reverse... Yes... reverse along the expressway. Did I say that the sky was dark at about 6-7pm because it was winter? Ah gong was fidgeting in the car when dou woke up to a much dead pan nervous kind of silence. She knew instinctively that something was amissed and said to ah gong: It's ok ah gong, everything will be ok. 

And ok it would be. We finally arrived safely in our farm house, welcomed by 2 wild kangeroos that were shielded by the darkness of the night. We even had to open the gate ourselves and lo and behold, saw this note in the post box!

Well, it turned out, all the adventure and heart stopping reversing was all worth it. This is our cosy abode for the next 3 days.

And if you think tv and animal watching is all that we do... check out what our two chefs cooked for us! Cooking up a storm is an UNDERSTATEMENT!

And don't you wish we live in such an environment?

During our stay at the farm, Sumana was busy feeding animals, collecting eggs from the chicken coop, squinting her eyes looking at wild kangeroos, getting close to cows and seeing live sheep for the first time in her life.

 

I do not have photos of Sumana with the chicken and the cows on my iphone so we'll have to get this from yiyi's camera but here's us at the local Harvey supermarket.

After 4 days of being in the farm house, its time to go to the "city" of Fremental! We were surprised to see that Yizhang had booked a terrace house BY THE SEA! We literally saw yachts the moment we opened  our balcony's sliding door! wow!

What's a trip to Fremantle without tasting its famous fish and chips at Cicerello by the sea?

... And its famous chocolate factory??? Sumana was high from all that sugar rush! Chocolate Galore!

 

And some Kodak shots for the tourist mummy

Here's a photo of our dearie with her dearie - AH DANG!

And her dearie yiyi

And her dearies - Ah ma and ah gong

On our last day in Fremantle, we visited this Vegan shop that was "in teewui's words" my kind of place:

So bye bye Perth! see you soon!

Trip to the SAM

What started off as a trip to the beach turned out to be one to the Singapore Art Museum.

Dou enjoyed herself tremendously, as could be seen in the photos.

She was so busy colouring and exploring the Big White Rabbit Museum.

It was a pity they were not fully opened that day so we may just visit SAM again in the near future!

 

 

Vesak 2011 with both sides of the family!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sumana with her cousins:

Baby Chef

Dou went on a baking course with her favourite Ah dang (AKA Yi Zhang) at Bakerz Inn... Check out the photos!

 

 
A preview of the kitchen with ovens and all things mini...

... And our little chef all ready for the baking session with her darling ah dang:

 

And finally the baking begins:

 

AND finally, the yummy apple pie... but guess what? We forgot to take a photo.... but in any case, they're very yummy and delicious and that is all that matters, isn't it?

KTM

Daddy decided that the 3 of us should take a short trip to Kluang (Ju Ruan) before the KTM officially ceased operating. The train tracks and dilapidated railway, which once belonged to Malaysia, will soon be gone. Like all old things in Singapore, these train tracks, which once passed through our posh CBD, will also be deleted from our memories, forever. 

 

 

 

 This is beautiful Kluang:

 

On the way home... tired but happy.

It's been almost 6 months

It's been almost 6 months since I last posted and our little bean is now past 3.5 years. She sure doesn't look like it, weighing 18.2 kg and certainly more than 105 cm. Dr Appan said that she was certainly in the 97th percentile the last we saw her at the 3yr checkup.

Sumana is a lot more aware of her environment now, not that she wasn't in the past but nowadays, she's growing into a little girl who is quite sensitive to her mum's moods. She could sense when I am angry event (which of course isn't a rare event with my fiery temper and her "siao siao" behavior like her dad) and plant a kiss and a hug almost immediately to appease me. With each day, it's apparent who she takes after in terms of character. Not me, but her daddy dearest. She doesn't hold grudges, likes to dance and sing spontaneously, talks loads with familiar faces, likes to play, forgets things quite easily, holds on to friendship dearly and is quite endearing. Like her father, she is chatty with family and friends but shy with strangers.

 

Sumana is also quite girlish. Although she's never read a single "Princess" book in her life, except The Little Mermaid, who incidentally saved the Prince and not the other way round, she knows a princess when she sees one. She loves pink, which I suspect is a result of peer pressure and loves the Strawberry Shortcake doll her GodMa aka Gan mummy gave her. She has begged me to give her a Barbie Doll, which I refused ... and disallowed all that I know to give it to her. 

 

Sumana also has a dear friend, Claire, whom she plays with everyday in school. They attend the same ballet class and is inseparable. Claire, who is 10 months older, is certainly the big sister and the leader, much to the denial of both the girls. They don't understand why Dou  is taller but younger. haha. But it seems like the friendship with Claire has "stablised" her moods and made her grow up. But the thing that mummy here has to do is to help her establish her own identity and to learn how to be independent with her best friend. You see, Sumana wants to be Claire the 2nd, which I think is normal at this age. With much talking to and explaining, she's beginning to see why she has longer hair than Claire, why her friend would miss schools on some days and why they live in different places and why their mummies have different occupations. (Yes... she insisted at one point in time, that I become a dentist like Claire's mum. ._.)

 

 

Will be back soon!!

Will be back soon!!

@ Mangala Vihara

We have not taken photos in the temple so I thought it may be a good idea to do so last week. Here's a glimpse of our activities every sunday. OH! By the way, dou will be joining the Sunday Dhamma kindergarten from January 2011 onwards while mum and dad join their own adult Dhamma classes! So exciting! Here's us at the Bodhi Tree:

 And here's dou running around in the Shrine Hall... as usual:

Last class at N1 Julia Gabriel

Dou will be joining Julia Gabriel's N2 class I Love Reading from January onwards and end her N1 speech and Drama class with Sheila.

Here's a glimpse of her last day with Sheila. She has always loved this class, perhaps due to the music (Sheila is the head of music at Chiltern's House... so maybe that's why...) and all the drama mama that happened in the class. Dou loves Sheila's story telling, the play acting and the mini writing lessons at the end of the class. But as she's "over-aged", we are encouraged to send her to an N2 class where she can mingle and learn from older kids. So sadly, we'll have to bid goodbye to a great teacher!

Dou with Sheila and Assistant Teacher Tyrik:

And here are some photos with her friend, Anthea, who's born in dec 07 as well. :)

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