The next 2 days, we came back to the base. James cooked the fish he
caught for dinner. Sophie was really happy to show everyone around. She also got to open her Christmas presents!

We went to Lake Taupo and Rotorua.

On the last day, we went to the Kaimai Cheese Factory (15 mins drive
from the base) for brunch on the way to Auckland for some shopping and
they flew off early the next morning.

It was a really short trip but so so good to see Mum, Dad and Rach. We
really really miss them and was real glad to have that time with them.
The weather was terrible, I was having a terrible bout of mastitis and
chills, my parents' camera got damaged etc but I will always remember
the conversations, the time spent and the love shared. Very very
precious. I'm so glad you guys came, thanks mum, thanks dad, thanks
rach. I think Sophie and Levi were so blessed.

When my parents and sister came to visit before Christmas, we took the
opportunity to travel around the North Island. We went a bit further
than we've ever been - up NorthEast to the Coromandel area and further
south beyond Rotorua into Taupo. We only had 5 days but we managed to
do quite a bit.

Arrived in Auckland
My mum and dad met Levi for the very first time. Oh Dad was so
mesmerised by Levi. :) Sophie was introduced to Hannah Montana by her
favorite Yiyi.

Before we left Auckland, we went to our fav strawberry farm to have
ice cream (after breakfast!).

Drove to Hahei, Coromandel through Thames and Tairua.

Had lunch in Thames at a Thai Restaurant and we attempted to put Levi
in the bumbo seat which we got my parents to bring from S'p.

We stopped by a Tairua for some groceries for BBQ.

Finally we arrived at The Beach House at Hahei. This is the first time
I was introduced to the concept of a holiday bach! The owners of the
bach lived on the same property next door. It was a perfect lil bach
for us - 3 bedrooms, a BBQ pit, 5 mins walk from the beach, cable TV
(Soph and Rach were glued to the TV, just as well coz it rained so
much!).

Next day and for the next few days, it poured and poured and poured.
We were planning to go to the Hot Water Beach (5 mins from our bach)
and Cathedral Cove but it was just impossible with the rain. Which
made me realise that it's no fun touring NZ when it's raining because
everything nice is outdoors. So, we decided to drive to Whitanga (a
little further north, pronounced "fitanga", in Maori, "wh" is
pronounced "f". Try saying "Whakatane" without blushing :)) to check
it out. Turned out to be a nice little harbour town. We had the most
amazing clam chowder. Oooo I can still remember the taste. Yums!

We stayed two nights at The Beach House. The second day James went
fishing early in the morning and caught some fish! :) After breakfast,
we went to the Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. I think we only had
that one good day with fine weather! Ooo the walk to Cathedral Cove
was beautiful. Cathedral Cove was where they filmed the last scene in
Narnia.

I read this on A Magical Childhood and was inspired to write a post about my childhood. Plus Wanz started this thread on Facebook about our MGS school days and triggered many many happy memories.

Compared to kids these days, I think I had a pretty carefree and fun childhood. My parents were at work most of the time and we were cared for by our grandmas. That meant that we spent most of the time just playing with the cousins. School work was hardly like how it is nowadays and my parents were quite relaxed so I had it pretty easy. These are some of my favorite memories:-

1. School holidays! Walking to the market hand in hand with all my cousins and grandma. We used to stay at my cousins' during the holidays coz grandma lived with them. She'll look after all 4 of us - me, Kel, SL, SM and later KH at the same time. Wonder how she did that... I miss my Ah Mah... I wanna be like her when I grow up.

2. Weekends! My dad used to play mahjong at my uncle's place on the weekends and we'd all go along. The cousins would play together while the adults play mahjong. I remember mashing up bouginvillas and rubbing them on our legs like medicine.

3. Going to the beach with my parents and sometimes with my cousins.

4. Family holidays to the US, Perth, Brisbane, Malaysia - we were not all that well off but Mum and Dad made it a point to bring us out of the country every 3-6 years. I went to the US/Japan/HK when I was only 6 and then to Perth when I was 12. But those were super memorable trips.

5. Going to the National Library at Stamford Road with my mum on the weekends.

6. Buying otak and bread from the stall outside my primary school. 10 cents ice lollies! Tuk tuk sweets! Mamee!

7. Chinese New Year celebrations, reunion dinners, ang pows, cookies, visiting, staying up late and playing with cousins etc...

8. Thomson Plaza (or Thomson Yaohan as we used to call it), spent lots of time there when we lived in the North. We only moved to Bukit Timah much later.

9. Playing badminton at SJI (now Singapore Art Museum) with a friend (can't even rem her name now!) and running to school at SAC when the bell rang. Playing 5 stones and skipping rope! Teddy bear teddy bear turn around, teddy bear teddy bear touch the ground... I sucked at zero point tho.

10. Mum making us writing letters to Santa and receiving what I wanted at Christmas on my pillow (this was before we became Christians and I realised that Santa did not exist!). So exciting!

Ooo I miss those days... My favorite times have been times spent with my grandma and cousins. I'm sure there are lots of other memories. Funny how I don't remember much of studying or stress but remembered only the fun times. I think the most memorable bits are mostly related to food and fun. Makes me think about the memories that I wanna help create for Sophie and Levi.

What about you? What were your favorite childhood memories? Being a mum sometimes I forget that I was once a child too.

... and I do what I want to!

I'm really bad at just doing what I want. I'm always doing something for someone else and feel almost guilty spending money to pamper myself. It's a bad habit and not a good thing at all because deep down, I really just want to do what I want to do and if it goes on for too long it festers into frustration and self pity! Yeeks!

But thank God, James knows me best and this birthday, he insisted that I go wild and I did!

We went to the Mount for sushi on Sat, bought a couple of Spring pieces from good ole Valleygirl, I had a whole lamb rack for dinner on the actual day, lovely pineapple and malibu cheesecake, and finally an absolutely well deserving massage at the local Matamata spa called Indulgence. Woo hoo! That's a real birthday treat! Ooooo and I almost forgot, Sophie gave me three dance performances on a stage at the place where we had dinner. So cutee..... I am truly blessed...

We spent the day at the local A&P show today. It was fun, fun, & fun.

Sophie had a couple of firsts - first cotton candy, first ride in a tea cup and on her own (she used to refuse to go on rides), first time seeing miniature horses, first time seeing someone spinning wool, first alpaca wool sweater...

I enjoyed looking at the antique farming machines and I saw a couple of antique cars driving past. Sometimes I still can't get used to the idea that I'm living in the countryside where farming is the main business. I saw little girls dressing up in their gear and getting ribbons for horse riding. I've only seen those on TV thus far! I even saw a girl pulling along her prize winning sheep with a couple of ribbons round it. So cute!

P/s Btw, A&P stands for Agricultural and Pastoral

My in laws left last weekend. We went up to Auckland to send them off and spent a night there.

It's been such a blessing having them around. They cooked for us every day, every meal for 6 whole weeks. It was such a luxury. My father in law was also the one who drove us to the hospital when Levi was about to be born. My mum in law helped to soothe Levi in the evenings so that I could have dinner in peace. Most of all, they were Sophie's main companions when James had to return to work and I was spending most of my time with Levi.

Sophie was inconsolable when they left. She cried and cried. Poor thing. She's grown so attached to them over the past 6 weeks. But it was good that she could grief like that. As grown ups, we always overlook the grieving process when people leave because we get so hardened. Looking at her grieve made James and I wished we had that kind of heart again. Once she stopped crying she was absolutely fine.

Sidenote:
1. Auckland is so fun! I love being in the city once in a while. James and I went on a date (Levi was our chaperon) on Sat night to watch the latest movie The Last AirBender. The show was so so but it was my first date with James since we returned to NZ in July and my first 3D movie. I know, very suaku but so shiok. Levi slept thru the movie and woke up in the last 30 mins to feed. Nice.

2. I drove back from Auckland. Woah! 2 hrs straight. I'm really starting to enjoy driving long distances.

Sophie had lotsa birthday presents.

We gave her a dollhouse that was as tall as her.

James got her a dress up Cinderella doll - her fav story at the moment. Everything is Cinderella.

Grandma and grandpa asked me to get something for her and I got her a cloth house that comes with the three bears and their beds.

But when I look at these pictures, I feel so blessed for her because she now has a little brother to call her own for the rest of her life. I think that is one of life's greatest blessing - to have siblings. What a gift!

Lemme just say it again, NZ is BEAUTIFUL.

We just spent the weekend with my in laws in Rotorua. It's only about an hour and a half away from Matamata. However, the landscape is totally different. It's filled with lush green trees even though spring only just started, many geothermal areas and smells of sulphur.

We went one day at Wai-O-Tapu to see the mud pools, craters, lakes and geysers. You need to pay to get in there but it's nicely built up for tourists and easy to push a stroller. Very safe too. Unfortunately it was pouring so we had to brave through the rain to do the walk. Thank God we brought the Mountain Buggy. Sophie was quite happy to sit in there completely protected by the raincover and even fell asleep towards the end of the walk. James carried Levi in the sling and wore a poncho.

Left: Lady Knox Geyser shoots up to 20m high!

Right: Devil's Cave, a sulphur hot pool

The next day we went to Redwood Forest to do the shortest walk. It was supposed to be a half hour walk, turned out to be an hour for us. Sophie started to whine halfway and had to take breaks along the way but still she made it to the end. It was also drizzling and the heavy rains before made the ground really muddy. I think it'll be great to try the walk again on a sunny day. The trees were so beautiful. It's a very doable walk for kids too.

This was Levi's first trip away from home. We stayed at a hotel. They didn't have a cot so James folded up the duvet covers and made a little "mattress" on the floor for him. It's pretty easy traveling with a newborn since they still sleep most of the time. I think he only had a melt down once prob because he had enough stimulation and was tired of being in the car seat.

We are back from a short weekend trip to Rotorua! Updates soon, meanwhile photos on flickr.

Once a week, we try to go down to town for tea as a family. Just to chill and hang out.

Sophie's very happy with her fluffy/baby chino and her cookie at Robert Harris, a coffee joint in town.