A MOVIE PASS GIFT

My lovable niece, Ayra had her birthday earlier in the month (have lots of pics from the birthday party but will post later). Yep, she turned a grand old age of seven ... hehe! As per our usual family tradition, we let the kids give gifts for whoever's birthday it is, in our big family & its no different this time. Instead of buying another "oh-so-lame" gift for Miss Ayra, I thought it would be a swell idea to give her a movie pass instead, as a gift from her cousin, Ryan (besides what do you buy a girl, who has everything? Oh BTW, we also gave her 2 pink OP T-shirts). We offered to bring her to a movie of her choice & of course we will join her during the show. My dad decided to join us too. So the five of us had a movie date on Thursday.

Luckily, Hubby had the idea of buying the movie tickets the night before coz when we arrived on Thursday, an hour or so before the movie ... it was jammed packed! I guess since we don't really go to the movies these days, I was slightly overwhelmed by the school-holidays crowd. I guess as my kid is pretty young, I wasn't used to the idea of bringing my kid out during the school holidays. With Ryan, we have the luxury to bring him out almost anytime & because playgroup is just two hours a day, we still had plenty of room to maneuver our routine.

What did we end up watching? Errm .... "Alice in Wonderland". Well, I can tell you that ... it wouldn't have been my 1st choice ... Hubby tried to recommend (rather unsuccessfully) "The Green Zone" (which my Dad supported too) but I was thinking of "How To Train Your Dragon" ... but we had to respect the birthday girl's choice - Wonderland, it is! We chose the two adjoined couple (or lover's) seats in the back row, as I presume that the kids would want to huddle together. Errm ... they did, only for the first ten minutes of the show. By then my kid, wanted to squeeze with us ... oh well, more room for my niece & my dad, I guess.

Ryan did surprisingly well this time .... w-e-l-l, for a three year old. He did not grab onto me like a frightened koala bear (unlike the first 2 movies we went to). He didn't keep pestering me to "go outside" or saying that its dark or "scary", infact other that wanting to change positions - sitting on me, sitting on Hubby, sitting in between us, etc. he did pretty ok. He did not talk very loudly, nor did he kick or shout, neither were there temper tantrums or arguments with his cousin. The 2 kids did disagree on the small white blanket that I brought along (just in case it got cold) which it did - they were both pulling at the blanket & no one wanted to give in. In the end, I removed Ryan & let Ayra have the blankie. I didn't want any meltdowns during the movie. I gave Ryan the Thomas the train jacket (a hand-me-down from my friend, Lisa) to cover his bare feet (yep, he insisted on removing his sandals earlier).

As per my kid's usual antics, he brushed the jacket away, soon after & didn't missed covering his feet at all. Sigh ... sometimes I wonder why he gets into petty disagreements with Ayra ... is it coz he only wants things done H-I-S way? Sometimes I feel he's just being a normal (well adjusted but mischievous) kid. Sometimes I think he's just being bratty & refuse to share. Sometimes I think he's just testing my very-limited patience. Sometimes I think he's just being himself. Sometimes I think ... I should just let it go ... & let Ryan be a kid & figure things out for himself. Yes, my kid has major "ownership issues" - in other words ... Ryan can be a tad stingy, ok ok ... he can be bl**dy stingy (most of the times). It can be rather embarrassing & sometimes it makes me want to hide my face but I do try (very hard) to teach my kid that he has to share & be more accommodating, especially to loved ones, family & friends. I am sad to report that Ryan can be ultra possessive with his stuff & very rarely likes to share anything. Is it a single child syndrome? Is it my fault? Is it just his nature? Sigh ... I'm still working on it. I hope everyone around him ... can understand that Ryan means no malice or ill-will, its just who he is right now ... but I hope to change that in the near future.

Overall. the movie was a success. I guess its in Ryan's blood to enjoy movies (eventually) as both his parents are real movie freaks. What was surprising was that the popcorn and drinks ended up being more expensive than the ticket price! A single movie ticket on a weekday, paid by Nets was $6.00/per person. The popcorn combo of a large popcorn & two drinks were $7.80 (I had to add 30 cents to change one of the drinks to an Ice Lemon Tea). I tried to get a cheaper alternative of just the popcorn but the guy at the counter told me that a large popcorn would cost me $7.00 & adding 80 cents will get me 2 medium drinks. I think that its a no-brainer, I took the combo. Hubby was upset with me for spending so much on the popcorn combo ... duh! I told him "I did the best I could" ... to be thrifty but sometimes its just not possible! Luckily the tickets were relatively cheap so it kinda offset the "luxury" of the popcorn. Ironically, everyone enjoyed the popcorn ... including the thrifty Hubby. Oh well you win some, you lose some!

I hope my sweet Ayra enjoyed herself!

TO THE FISH FARM WE WENT

P.S : I blogged about this here, earlier. So here's the long version, folks! Yes ... its full of photos, haha!
We have been to Qian Hu a couple of times before but I managed to get many nice pics, this time round. This time we remembered to drop by earlier, so we didn't have to rush. This was a last minute outing as we had earlier wanted to go to Ikea (to survey something) but cancelled it at the last minute.

What a coincidence, Ryan was wearing his "Fish" shirt on that day! It was easy to decide on the place because it was nearby plus the entry & parking was free. The fish food however was not ... haha! Oh well, you can't have everything free ... I guess!

At the entrance, the kids started getting excited about seeing the fishes.
My niece, Ayra ... starts to pose for me. Ryan ... he's busy looking at the kois.

Wow! So many fishes.

The two cousins, enjoying the view. They were getting very excited ... just looking at the kois in the special pond.

A quick pose!

Aaah! Now we have some food for the fishes.

Hubby, giving the kids a helping hand. Aiyah! the man in green, stood too close to my niece ... spoilt my photo!

Ayra, smiling for me.

Photo's a bit blur (blame my digicam!) ... but they still look cute ya?

Ayra : Nah! Fish ... I give you some more food.

Ok, one last burst of food for them. Let's move on to the other stations.

Well, here we are at the turtle pond. Hey ... where are all the turtles? (I realised that I didn't take any photos of the green turtles. Oh well, there's always next time. By the way, their pond was dirty & a bit disgusting though .... )

Hubby : Take some for the turtles, Ryan.

Ryan : Let me count the pellets ... one, two, three ...

Ryan, taking a handful from Daddy (lucky its just fish food pellets & not money huh .... haha!)

Hubby ... looking at something rather interesting?

Ryan's turn to look at something interesting, whilst Ayra keeps doing her thing.

Can you see Ryan's Fish T-shirt (from Osh Gosh - cheap, less than 10 bucks)? Its says "Genuine Fish" ... haha ... so funny & apt, rite?

By this time, we have bought 3 packs of fish food. I think a packet is a dollar (not cheap ok). I think they can easily make a "fortune" every weekend, if you see the crowds of kids there.

More please, Papa.

Hubby : This is how you throw the food!

Can you see in the foreground, a group of ladies sitting on the ground. Errrm, you won't catch me doing that! Besides I'm too busy snapping photos & I have to stand to get nice ones .... ok, excuses excuses. To tell you the truth, I find sitting on the floor in a public place too dirty for my comfort ... so there, sue me!

  Ayra, stays true to her peace sign ... whilst Ryan acts nonchalant (as usual).

Seems like Ayra was trying to get Ryan interested in the peace sign but my boy, ain't buying any of it! Can you see his bo-chap attitude? Complete with legs on the bench ... so ah beng rite?

Ayra still smiley ... but Ryan's getting really bored with all these photo-taking ... haha!

Ok one last pose kids! Ayra gives me a sweet pose & Ryan finally manages to smile ... aiyah, the ah beng pose is still there!

More feeding ... I think this is a new packet of food. Lucky fishes!

Look how tall my girl has grown!

Yes, I'm counting ... Papa!

Oops! I dropped some ... into the pond!

Yeah! I give the fishes some ...

I need more Papa ... I need more, can't you see!

Looking spacey, I see.

Them lucky fishes. Some are rather chubby ... & why not?

Hubby : My supply is running low, kids.

The two kids grabbing what few precious pellets are left.

Ayra, throwing some love to the kois. Doesn't she look pretty here?

Eh! I need more ....

Whilst the kids are busying themselves, Hubby was on the phone ....

Let's grab more, since he's not looking!

Ryan (must be) looking at his Daddy ... & giving a cheeky smile!

Ryan walking back for more fish food. Can you see in the foreground (the kid in orange), lying down on the ground, yep! he's catching the poor longkang fish ... commando style!

Well, its time to admire the tanks of fish.

Ayra giving the small (shorter) boy a lift.

Hi, Sucker Fish! Its just me, Ryan ... & Kakak Ayra!

Ryan : Oooooh! What's that Mummy?
Mummy : Its a sting-ray, darling.

Too cute to eat rite? Besides, its too expensive lah! Better as a pet.

Ok, look at these strange creatures ... at first I thought they were mutated, but then there's a whole tank-full of them. So I guess its a species? Don't know the name though. Is this God's work? Or the work of people ... who wanna make money-business from odd looking fishes? Beats me!

Another look at those strange looking fishes. They look like they have bent-out-of-shape bodies. No they weren't wriggling or contorting themselves, they were shaped that way! I was pretty amazed & kept looking at them.

A lone ranger?

See how much they cost each? Not cheap huh? I guess you have to pay ... for being weird & different!

Another sting-ray.

This giant fake arowana fish was atop the entrance of the air-conditioned room that the real expensive arowanas were in. Yep, that's the luxury you get to taste, if you are born a arowana ... you get to stay in a special room that's fully air-conditioned, in tropical-warm Singapore.

From another angle.

At the exit, I made the kids pose awhile (yes, I do that sometimes. I know ... its evil isn't it). Ayra's always game for a photo, whilst my son ... is not! Oh well!

Ayra gives me a sweet pose, as usual Ryan cannot be bothered to look at the camera (so what's new?).