Thursday, August 9, 2012

The Birthday Dinner with Fireworks!

This year, after having experienced a birthday stay-in at the Marina Mandarin couple of years ago, we decided to return to the restaurant where we had our 1st spectacular 'live' view of the fireworks.  Reservation was made weeks ago and with no other plans to replace its arrangement, we confirmed its booking.

Unlike the last time, we took our time(left home @4pm but shopped at MSq and snacked at KFC) to arrive at the restaurant this year and I felt that it is not a wise move 'cos we were just 'rushing' to the restaurant when the choppers were carrying the Singapore flag across the sky - almost miss the action...

We were ushered into the restaurant itself this time round when we were seated(I think it was because we have made that option then?) right in the open then.  Some changes noted too, the open area's much smaller this time round but with 'roof' over the diners in case it rains like before, :).

When the favourite dish of chilli crab was served, sparks of fireworks began but they were merely those that 'popped' after some performances, so we were still allowed to enjoy our crabs to the full, heeee.

Although we were indoor(maybe they had put us there knowing that we have a young toddler and a kid) this time, the view was still great and Papa said, "it's well worth-it" when the bill came, hahaha.
 only managed to capture pics on these dishes
('cos papa said "don't take lah" which made me felt awkward doing it, haha)

The damage

Watching the fireworks

This is the last video captured, Rachel, influenced by the cry of an older boy
from a nearby table, also got abit frightened by the loud sounds(fireworks)





Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Pre-Birthday Outing II - A Simple but Pleasant Surprise

Despite the unpleasant encounter earlier today, we were 'lucky' that Papa was able to bring us out to town, alittle earlier...  We had a simple dinner at SushiTei and with nothing in mind for my present, we headed home straight away...

After my shower, I had opened but closed the bathroom door instantly('cos I've forgotten something) and this act, must have misled Renee to think that I'm ready and out, because I heard her playing the happy birthday song with her violin! hahaha.

When I was out of the bathroom, a cake, lighted with candles was placed on a small table and Renee played the full song again, :).(needless to say, papa was video-ing the 'happening', hahaha).

Although Papa's gotten the wrong 'brand' of cake(I've told him I wanted 'eggless cake' from Emicakes this year, so our kids could share them!) and he's also gotten me a bottle of perfume which both Renee and I had commented 'hmmm, not nice huh?"(and it's costly!) when we passed its brand roadshow earlier, this simple gesture's(not forgetting the hugs and kisses from my girls) enough to create a smile in my heart... :).

The Gift - wrapped and unwrapped, :)


Found this envelope last night when I went in to check on Renee.  No wonder she'd asked
me for the envelope after I've removed its content.  Times like this reminds me that she's a good girl, who wouldn't waste or pester us to get her stuffs - a pack filled with different types of envelopes and letter notes were then placed on her bedside table... :)

 This is what's inside the envelope, :)

This is the new note she wants to replace the old one with,
when she found the nice ones I gave her :)
(but I insisted that I liked the 'original' one...

Pre-Birthday Outing I - An Unpleasant Encounter

School ends early at 10:30am today and I asked if papa's ok that we all go fetch Renee from school(instead of her coming back on school bus) and we went for a brunch , :).

We had wanted a Macdonald's breakfast(Renee refused tim sum) but as we were late from running some work errands, we had to do with an early lunch instead.

2 'not so nice' incidents occurred thereafter..  1st, Renee almost lost her mobile phone!  Fortunately, we managed to recover it - an old nice couple had found it and answered the call we made to its number, phew...

We were heading back from Bukit Timah Plaza(where we usually go to buy our groceries) when the 2nd unpleasant incident occurred.  A Caucasian lady wanted to enter the elevator we were on, just as the door was about to close.  Although there was still enough space for her and her trolley, it would nevertheless, be very cramp for everyone.  I moved in as much as I could, whilst pressing onto the button to hold the door for her.  But my, this was one rude lady!  She obviously had seen our trolley, 'cos she paused, just that mere seconds before she decided to burge in regardlessly.  She pushed her trolley harshly in and it hit Rachel's legs!  Without a simple thanks to me for holding the door, she didn't even apologise to us when she knew that her trolley had hit Rachel(her facial expression told us that she knew!)!  It was only after papa and I had uttered "my goodness" that she said, unapologetically, "sorry legs", GEEZ!  You call this an apology?  You bet, anyone would be angry at that!  Anyway, guess what she did?...

Rude Lady : "I didn't see her", *period*
Papa(upset): "You can't see her? are you blind?"
Rude Lady : "Well, she seems ok, isn't she?"
Papa          : "She's only a baby, you should have been more careful.  What if I banged onto your tummy and say sorry tummy?"
Rude Lady : "Well, I apologised, didn't I? Are you gonna just stand here and shout or you wanna move on" (mind, we didn't even raise our voice, let alone 'shout' as she'd claimed)

Wah, that was really too much!  I really almost flared : "your apology wasn't sincere at all! you're such a rude person!" and she retorted, facing me she said "you could have moved in more" and papa told her it was already so cramp and I reminded her "I was trying to hold the door for you!".  At this point, she just kept quiet but showed us a very unhappy face and acted all high almighty, like she's the queen and we were the ones in the wrong, my goodness.

Papa muttered, but still audible(that's the purpose anyway) "all these angmos... so uncultured" and I quickly added "exactly, wonder why they're here".  Now, such incidents really tell us, it's not why we Singaporeans do not welcome foreigners(whichever country they come from), it's them who made it difficult for us to accept them.  Just look at their attitude, their behaviour towards us and we are the lawful/rightful citizens of this country!  Even after we gave way to them, gracefully...  Honestly, if they're unhappy about not getting their hauty way here, we would all be much happier if they do not stay...

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The 4 Incisors

Although we've been advised by dentists(both the Consultant at NDC and the school's) to leave nature to its work but, for the sake of oral hygiene('cos Renee's afraid to brush on the 2 loose ones), we decided to call upon the school dentist to extract Renee's 4 baby incisors since 2 of her adult ones are already out!  Actually they've been out(in full size) for quite a while now but like her other 2 bottom ones, these 4 simply refused to bulge(with the 2 middle ones still going strong! that's why I decided to have them extracted) - I guess that's the result of good dental care(and the fact that she didn't take juices/outside drinks when she's younger)since she was very young, hahaha.

I phoned up her school and when her form teacher returned my call, I learnt that 2 of her close classmates had also gone to the dentist this morning, :).  Soon, the school dentist phoned me and upon some discussion,  she said she'd administered upon the loosest one on the right(of the 4) first since I preferred her to have her lunch before the extraction of the other 3.

We dropped by BT Plaza to grab our groceries and was alittle late when we arrived at the school.  Renee was sitting outside the library reading the books waiting for us and we(esp. me) were disappointed to find the food stalls had already closed for the day(forgot that it's a single session school!) and I missed the opportunity to try out the school's food...

There were some older kids at the school dental clinic when we came back after lunch and, not sure if it's due to my pressence, Renee was suddenly frightened.  She even cried in the clinic, when she didn't flinch during the earlier extraction when only anesthesia cream was applied.  She wasn't even afraid when she went for her little surgery last year...

I was still with her, holding her hand when the dentist gave her the 2 injections and apparently, either the cream wasn't applied enough or it was simply not strong enough, she cried and Rachel was frightened(I hope she won't remember this episode when she's older), she even tried to 'stop' or 'beat' the dentist 'cos she tapped(gently) her hand once, on the dentist's arm(she didn't 'hit' hard, so I think she's probably trying to stop the dentist from administering the jabs...).  In order not to cause any trauma for her in the future from witnessing the extractions, I decided to bring her out when the injections were completed, using 'get papa in' as an excuse, heeee.

When I returned to the clinic, the extractions were already done and the older girls whom were inside the clinic earlier, were there again.  This time round, they tried to comfort Renee and it's heart-warming to see such nice girls around the school.  One girl even patted Renee on her back like a little baby and told her "it's ok, Renee"(they must have got her name then & there), then she turned to me and said "the 3 teeth are extracted already".  She even made Renee a promise of ice-cream on my behalf and when I joked with her "hey, don't make promises to her on my behalf", she got alittle frightened for a moment, heeee.  Papa told me that there were some girls outside the clinic too(when I've gone into the clinic to check on the extraction) and they've greeted him politely.  Such nice girls!  Hope our Renee will grow up to be this  nice too! :)

Following the teeth extraction, Renee's exempted from practice and she's very happy, hahaha.