Tuesday 18 December 2012

Happy holidays, happy bonding!

Just concluded a 5 days fun at DisneyWorld, Florida, Orlando. We watched parades after parades, took fun rides, watched musicals, live shows and had great fun beyond words. It felt like a happy land with dreams coming true. So memorable. 

What kept running in my mind during the days weren't really the parades, rides or shows, but how a little girl responded to the host during an interactive show. She was asked "What's the best part you like about Disneyworld?" The 4 or 5 year old look alike girl replied, "playing with my daddy!" And the crowd went, "Awww..."

I was so touched. I thought Mickey or Donald would make her best day. But nah. We know kids are usually honest. Doing rides, watching shows and meeting characters with her daddy must have made her really happy! It simply means that kids want our time, to play with them. Anytime and anywhere. That's probably the most memorable part for any childhood, to carry and bring into adulthood.

As 2012 comes near to a closure, let's take time to bond and build our family to greater heights.While blogging takes a sabbatical break (family bonding), my man, myself and two little kids wana wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Have great holiday fun!

Back next year with updates of our year end vacation. If 211212 doesn't come true.

Sunday 9 December 2012

Winter Grinchland fun

Love being where we are for the fun activities they constantly have for families. We had a time of Winter Grinchland fun today. Held mainly for folks in the village. It's getting really cold here, but it doesn't snow at where we are. At the Grinchland fun, the kids were exhilarated and had a little snowball fight with the 'man made' snow. Jare loved it so much that he kept getting onto it.

Snow fun!

Then we welcomed Santa who came in a fire truck.

So cool!

 And a petting corner with the really tame animals like rabbits, lambs and chickens. So cute!

Jazz and bunny!

 And the kids went on a pony ride.

Pony ride

Then onto the horse carriage for a breezy ride

Horse carriage

And we met the real Santa. Forgot to tell him our wish list though...

Hi Santa!
 
And there! The green creature who stole Christmas away, but we got it back and Christmas is still on!

The grinch

Not forgetting happy food for the little ones, cotton candy and popcorn! I had two sticks of cotton candy. Some kind of lost childhood for me. Yums!

Popcorn in a cup
 
Concluding the fun with pink butterflies face paint.

Face painting

An FOC event with heaps of fun! The kids really enjoyed, so did the grown ups. Event like this reminds me of my serving term in the grassroots, in SG, where events are held within the neighborhood for residents. I want to be really honest about this, the events organized here are more fun and impressive. Maybe weather plays an important factor in making everyone enjoyable. So cool! And it seemed like these events aren't constrainted by budget. It didn't look like some cheesy, old school planning. It's all so creative and engaging. Everywhere and everything is so family friendly that I believe any couples here would be enticed to have kids, not just one, but a few.

Truly appreciate all manpower efforts in making this so memorable. Looking forward to next...

Thursday 6 December 2012

Thankful for gifts

The kids had surprise gifts from their friends!

Happy!

Chinese books!

Soft toys!

Thank you mummies for your thoughts. It really made the kids happy. And this from Aunty ET last month:

Snacks!

Thank you! It's always heartwarming to be remembered in this far away land.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Homemade Christmas Wreath

It's been raining the whole of last week. Outdoors are out, so we did some indoor craft. When we shifted into our place in September, the first thing I did at the backyard was to collect pine cones! They look really pretty and a rare find in SG. September is near Christmas, and I knew my plans for these pine cones.

I got the kids to paint the cones in Red and Green, the Christmas colours. Jazz did red and Jare did green. I did the touch ups and finishing. Here's what we simply had:
  • 6 pine cones (opened)
  • Tempera paint
  • Floral wire
  • wreath or Styrofoam wreath
  • Ribbon or any other ornaments
Tempera paint are very good paint for most surfaces. Only bad is that it is not water proof, and so it's not weather proof. I got the wreath from Michaels. It was my intention to get the plain Styrofoam wreath, but it was more expensive than the wreath that has 'leaves.'

An extremely simple craft that I don't even have precise steps. Just decorate it whichever ways you like:
1. Paint pine cones
2. Tie the pines cones (between it's scales) to the wreath with floral wire
3. Top if off with other ornaments

Pines cones collection

Closed scales

Pines cones collected at different seasons look differently. Those collected at fall have got their scales opened, which makes it easier to tie to the wreath. Pines cones collected now have got their scales closed, making good ornaments too. Perhaps with strong glue. 
 
Painting
 
Jazz paiting

And now, mummy does the job of securing the cones to the wreath, ending it off with a shiny silver ribbon. Our homemade wreath, all done! Probably one of its kind in the world. A stroll at malls and shops has wreaths with silver, golden and white pine cones. But red and green, hmmm... just us!
 
The wreath and the cones

Homemade wreath

I love this DIY and low cost wreath.