Psss...your service is different today...

We go to McDonald's at Shaw House every week to have dinner before Meredith's class. I do go to a few McDonald's every now and then for cheap and convenient meals. The one at Serene Centre has all the aunties. They are a bit slow but service is still ok.


The one at King Albert Park, or as the students call it KAP, has a lot more energy. They have the youngsters there and the kids always get a balloon there. The worst, I always say, is the one at Shaw. It's got to do with the employees there. It's a pity, middle of town, but the service is rotten.

Every week we are there, I will place my order while Meredith looks for a space. And for the past three months, I have to push the pram on one hand and carry my tray of food on the other. And when we have 'Special Order', I have to go back to the counter to collect. Bad life.

Yesterday was different.

As we were approaching the store, we knew there were some VIP around. Lots of men in shirt and tie around one big shot with blonde hair.

When we arrived at the store, the big shot was at the counter. Immediately, the men nudged the manager, pointing at us. So the manager quickly asked

'Mam, ah you eat here or takeaway?'

'Ah you take a seat I get someone to take your order'

What a show for the big shot.

And more...the other man even came and got us a seat.

And more...he pulled out the chair for me...huh? am I in Black Angus?? Then where is the napkin and dimmed light?

Anyway...'Thank you very much'...I kept saying...

I asked the manager who took my order and who dutifully delivered our food what was going on...

It's a visit by their CEO, a CEO from another country.

That's why.

Bet I will not get the same type of service next week.

More smiles...

Reegan is 15 weeks. He had his 3rd month jab delayed because of his cough. He has doubled his birth weight. So that is good. And guess what? He did not even jerk or cried. He could even give Daddy a BIG smile after the jab!

And more smiles for Mummy...

....and there they met for the first time

When I was pregnant with Reegan, two of my cousins were also carrying their first child, and we were all expecting boys. Relatives were already anticipating a 'Three Musketeers' at next year's CNY gathering.

We went to the SRC for dinner last Sunday. Coincidentally, we met my aunt, with my cousin (one of them), and the new baby. Its the first time the babies, as cousins, met. They were born just 3 days apart. Here's the photo (courtesy of my cousin): my aunt and my cousin with the babies.

Wesley (L) Bday: 12 Mar 2007

Reegan (R) Bday: 9 Mar 2007

The other baby, Ricco, was born a month after Reegan, on 9 Apr.

Reegan certainly does not look like the Da Ge Ge...

A Day With Chicky!

Meredith had another birthday celebration at school. We invited the team from KFC to help get things organized and had invited Chicky along too. I never believed I would go to such extend for her birthday, neither had she specifically requested such celebration. But she had such high hopes of her birthday, imagining how it would be...and she's always telling me about her friend's birthday celebrations at school. Just by that, I knew I would not want to disappoint her. Afterall, that's what childhood are made of...

She prepared well for the day. Had her goodie bags packed, got her cardigan and 'wings' ready the night before. She had her idea of how a birthday girl should dress...like a princess, special, certainly not in uniform.

So the team came and they had some games...

Then when Chicky really appeared, Meredith was just too afraid. She freaked out. Chicky was like a MONSTER!! But the other kids were just too excited. After some persuasion, she was at least brave enough to take photos with Chicky.

The kids definitely enjoyed the meal...

And they prepared presents and cards for Meredith...that's really sweet...

All things end well. Towards the end of the party, the teacher asked Meredith to give out her goodie bags to her friends. I was most impressed as she was well organized, she knew which bag to give who, even the balloons, she did not allow anyone to squabble. She was stern but steady.

One more scoop please!

Following the previous post about Icekimo, I must add at this point, among all the ice cream/ gelato (makes no difference to me really) parlours I have set out to try, I still give Tom's Palette at Shaw Tower the top of the notch. They have the varieties and the quality, although not the capacity for people to sit down and enjoy. What I like about it is also that customers could post their desired flavours on the café’s board and might just have their wishes come true a month later. At one time, they had a Tau Sar Piah flavour, even a Lavender and chrysanthymum flavour! I tried the banana walnut and something cheesecake. The walnut was nutily fragrant and the banana unpretentious. It was truly luxuriously homemade and natural.

The one at Greenwood Avenue, Estivo, is simply boring. They have a whole host of fruity sorbettos, which I don’t fancy at all. And they do not have any exciting flavours.

Island Creamery at Serene Centre....hmmm....the store itself has a soury smell, must be the daily troops of students who patronize the store during the day. The cold hard décor made for a really bad acoustics. Its even ranked as one of the 'Best Study Places' or places to study....!! Its always packed with hip students (or they think they are) By the way though, you can find the not-so-hip students at the next store, McDonalds, savouring the 50¢ ice cream cone. The staff were proud and couldn't be bothered. So we didn't bother to try any of their flavours too, although we have heard of their local flavours like cendol and teh tarik, pineapple tart pieces in vanilla ice cream, and even funkier flavours like Tiger Beer sorbet and Guinness Stout ice-cream. The whole place just wasn’t quite right.

There are tons of ice cream places out there. I'll try them....one scoop at a time.

Up above the world so high

We took Meredith to the DHL 'hot air' balloon ride on her birthday. Its actually not a hot air balloon but a tethered helium balloon, which means it uses helium to rise to the atmosphere and has a cord (tethered) attached to the balloon.

It was quite cool as the balloon was certified as an 'aircraft' and we had air tickets and flight numbers...

She was not afraid at all and roamed freely round the balcony, taking in the 360 degree panoramic view of the city at as high as 150m above ground.


So there we were, rising to the air. We could really see lots from up there. Meredith could spot some of the buildings, like the quaint red, blue, yellow and green HDB flats at Rochor, OG, Sim Lim Sq etc. We could also see that some buildings has got a whole host of sports facilities on their rooftop, tennis courts, pools, playground etc.

Reegan must have been affected by the change in altitude. He fell right asleep for the mere 10 to 15 mins we were up there.

Dinner was disappointing but dessert was good.

We finally made it to Icekimo and yes, I tried the blueberry cheesecake and Meredith had her cookies and chocolate. The cookies were actually Oreo bits, so it gives it the taste and crunchiness, unlike some that we had tasted which were bland and crummy.

Dessert was just simply yummehhhh!!

We had a little cake cutting ceremony at home.

She wanted a ‘treasure hunt’ to look for her presents and so we did, placed the presents all over the house for her to hunt them down...

Cover your mouth and shout

Meredith and I had a game of Monopoly this afternoon while Daddy and Reegan were having their nap. Somehow luck was on my side and I was getting all the money from Mr Rich. Feeling excited, I let out a 'Yay!'.

Meredith, being the sore loser she sometimes is, was not at all happy. She said that saying 'Yay!' was very rude. I tried to explain to her that no, people say 'Yay!' when they are happy. She said that I could just shout if I was happy. But I couldn't, the men were sleeping...

"Cover your mouth and shout."

Now how pathetic would that be???!!!!

Father's Day

I represented Daddy for Meredith's Father's Day party at school. They sang some songs with action and prepared a card for the fathers. The cards were schemingly hidden under their t-shirts and then presented to their fathers as a surprise. Like a 'ta-dah!' kind of thing.

Then we had some food...











And Meredith had some pictures taken with her best pals...

Tan Tze Kia
















and Stephanie










And Reegan looks real comfortable here with Xue Lao Shi

Look who's in town!!

Legend has it that when Darkness arises, five brave teen sorcerers will be called to fight for the planet's survival. Today, two of these heroes arrived at the stores... and we were pleasantly surprised and thrilled to be greeted by them. They looked exactly like how they appear on TV. And they were nice enough to pose for a photo. Meredith was hiding...literally!! Too overwhelmed to see them 'LIVE'.


And have you ever wondered how these enchanting princesses looked like when they were younger??


Here...

They are in store too. They still wear the same thing and keep the same hairstyle!! Start them young!

A new toy

Reegan got a new toy some time back. When we open up, all the parts were protectively wrapped with paper. It looked like it was going to take a long time to get it fixed up, so Mummy left it alone for quite a while.


But thanks to Meredith's persistent determination, we finally got down to do it this evening. Meredith felt very clever to be able to fix up a toy for Didi.


We think he likes it. He was very excited!
Aunty Dawn, does this look familiar to you??








Meanwhile, Meredith is also very excited about her upcoming birthday party at school. She's going to send out her invitation on Friday. It's all we talk about these days.

She just can't wait...

Giddy up!

We were all at the clinic because Reegan's cough was rather persistent. There, the paediatrician demonstrated how we could encourage Reegan to roll over on his own. Meredith remembers that very well and has been reminding me to practice that with didi. Here you are...


Meredith likes this picture. She thinks her brother looks cute here. I think he has a very alarmed and stunned look.

Think I prefer this one...