BOWLING IN THE ARCADE

Which 2 year old doesn't love arcades? Ryan is no different. We were at the arcade & since most of the games are not within his reach (due to his small size) or his dexterity, his choices of games are (sorely) limited. Ahh! but there's a mini bowling game ... for the kiddies. Most times we don't indulge in the games because Ryan does not enjoy them but this bowling game is different. At least he gets to roll the mini ball across the tiny lane & see (if) it hit the many pins, at the other end. Most times we let him have a go at this, if he's been a good bunny the whole day ...

Raring to go!

Waiting ... waiting ... for the mini bowling ball to arrive.

Whilst Hubby tries to give Ryan a helping hand, my dear son ... valiantly refuses his Daddy's help, as he wants to do it on his own. Shucks ... the boy wants to be independent!

So delighted that he hit his mark!

Reaching for the ball.

More waiting around ... tick tock, tick tock!

Aww! ... I managed to catch a priceless photo of my two boys. Its of Hubby giving his precious boy a (stolen) kiss on the head. Isn't that sooo precious! I guess that's why I love Hubby ... he shows his love in the most unpredictable & unexpected way. Some guys are extremely shy about kissing their kids in public (not manly to them?). I'm happy to note that Hubby isn't one of those men. Ryan is so lucky to have him (Hubby) as his Daddy.

There's a lot of waiting in this game (like most bowling outings).

Hubby giving Ryan a hand ... yet again!

RANDOM PICS - JOLLY RIDES

Haven't had a random pics entry, full of kiddy rides ... for a while now. Haha! not that its THAT interesting. I guess Ryan is not as obsessed (as then) with these rides. Don't get me wrong, he still l-o-v-e-s them & insists on at least sitting on the rides (we don't indulge in paid rides often, these days). So I hope ... slowly but surely, Ryan will tire of these playthings ... soon!

These were taken at Vivo City (I think).

Hello Noddy! Long time no see!

Having a good time with Noddy!

Sitting on the carousel.

Looking very happy indeed!

A STOPOVER AT BOTTLE NECK PARK

We have been to this park a couple of times, the most recent with my niece Ayra. The two kids had a fun time there. Pictures are here. This time round its just the three of us. It was a late Sunday morning, so it was kinda scorching then.

Ryan, on the bulldozer "ride" (which was coincidentally rather filthy)

He was squinting his eyes (due to the sun's rays).

On the swing!

I just loved seeing these two on the swings. I remembered the first time Ryan was on a swing ... he was petrified. My son has come a long way since then, as he loves to go on the the swings these days. In fact, he protests when its time to leave. Can you see the big smiles on their faces? Its times like these, when I see the joy and the bond these two boys have, that I know I did the right thing. To be here, to be present to witness this ... is worth a million bucks! I'm just glad that I was there, to capture it in print. I hope these two guys will get to spend more precious time together & I hope they will always be as loving and as close as now ... or even closer.

Look at the joy on his face! Doesn't it make ... everything worth it ?!

Taking a breather, under the shades.

There are fishes to be seen ... if you can find them, that is.

Can you see the scorching heat, in the background?

BACK ON TRACK

Well, here I am starting off my backlog of photos and stories. I (will surely) try my best to get them all up to date. So the next (of many) entries are older pics ... opps! I just checked the dates ... as far back as August 2009! Yes, I know .... I'm a hor-rible blogger but I hope I'm (soon) on the way to becoming a better Mummy .. hehe! (no connection, rite? whatever!)

For a start, here are some pics I took, during one of our usual simple weekend jaunts. This time we headed to far faraway Marine Parade. Whilst walking to the ever popular (& crowded) Parkway Parade, Ryan saw this small playground & wanted to stop awhile. So we did ...

These next couple of photos were taken in the basement of Parkway (outside Cold Storage, I think). For everyone's knowledge, my Ryan just loves crabs. No, not eating them ... nope, but watching and finding them. To nearly every supermarket or hypermart that we step into, he will bug us (to bring him) to see the crabs at the frozen or wet section. Usually its poor hubby who has to lug his little boy to see them crabs. Funny how, after Ryan sees them, he usually gets rather scared of them (especially the ones that are moving). So folks, whenever there are crabs ... Ryan would surely make a beeline for them. (Errm, unlike me ... I'll rather eat them, haha!)

In front of Mr Crab!

Does it look like he was holding up the 2 crabs? (I told him to lift up his hands for the pic).

A short stop at the Thomas the Train ride.

Last stop, the Spiderman ride.

JUST A SHORT UPDATE

Ok, just wanted to get an entry in. I noticed my backlog of photos staring at me ... and I can't believe the amount of stuff I gotta write. Haha, yes I know ... no one's forcing me to write on my blog, no one's giving me a hard time to get my family's life in print. I guess I'm giving myself the "pressure" to get the photos (& stories that go with them) up here in blogland. I just don't wanna miss all the special moments that we shared as a family. Besides ... the mind is getting old & the memory's not as good as when I was much younger, so I guess it helps a lot ... to put words to the thousands of photos that I constantly take.

Here's 2 pics for the record. We went to a fish farm last weekend. We have been here before, as you can see here. (The kids were so much younger then.) My sweet niece was with us & as usual Ryan enjoys any trip out with his favourite Kakak. I have a bunch of cute pics for this outing but will get them up as soon as I can. Enjoy!

Errm ... why does Ryan look nonchalant & bored? At least, Miss Ayra sweetly poses for the camera (with her ever popular peace sign).

Is Ryan channelling his inner Beng here? (Look at his horrible posture!) He better NOT!

JUST TRYING TO BE SMART

Ok! So I was trying to be real smart and tried to change my Blogger template but its all gone hay-wired now. So I converted it back to my old trusty Blogger template but it seems, all my previous settings are ALL GONE!

SH*T ! ! ! Its gonna take me eons to do them all back and I can't even remember the words that I did for my write up. This is bloody frustrating man!

ARRGGHHH ! ! ! Breathe .... breathe, very slowly.

Please excuse me ... whilst I try to get my life, my blog inorder. Please bear with me awhile!

WAAAAY ... BEHIND !

Yes, folks ... I am waaay behind in my blog posts & will have lots of back-log entries to deal with. No real reason, really ... just been feeling down the whole month. But guess what? That hasn't stopped me from taking (still) tonnes of pics nor has it dampened our mood to leave the house & get a breather. As usual, our weekend-romps in public are always "el-cheapo" outings or going somewhere to get something or to run our myriad of errands. Let's not forget the many family outings (we seem to have lots of that, this year) or gatherings that our extended family seem to have ... haha, we seem like a very BUSY family. To tell you the truth ... we really are! You would rarely see us at home ... during a FULL weekend. We tend to go out a lot & because I don't cook on weekends ... we either have to find our meals outside or drop by my sis' place to savour my mum's delicious cooking. Ok, I admit ... we go out a lot on (most) weekends, I guess more than your average family ... but you can't blame me! After being cooped up at home for the whole week, I would suffer cabin-fever if I don't venture outside of my home during the weekends. I guess Ryan's pretty much like us ... coz he's been "trained" from young ... to "kai kai" on the leisurely weekends.

All that will likely change come next year, when Hubby changes job. His new profession will entail a lot of "burnt" weekends but weekdays will be more or less flexible. Since Ryan will also start pre-school next year, our "routine" won't be a routine anymore. Our schedule will have to fit with our new lifestyle. Our family will change ... & so will our going out & spending patterns. I foresee a lot of changes .... some I look forward to anxiously & with much anticipation ... some with trepidation & (lots of) worry. I can't help it ... I'm a worry-wart & a pessimist! I just hope to see the the light ... at the end of the tunnel .... very soon!

Here are some pics of my 2 boys ... of all places, on a travelator! Yep! I always find the weirdest time to snap pictures of them. Don't blame me ... blame the fingers! Yes, I know .... I'm extremely trigger happy when it comes to snapping photos. Its got me plenty of fantastic photos but some people might also think that I'm a somewhat crazy woman ... taking pictures of her son & hubs on the moving travelator. Errm ... who cares what other people think! Its my camera, my time & my life ... & ain't no one's gonna stop me from snapping away like crazy! (Ok, if the batteries die ... that will stop me, pronto! But not to worry ... Hubby will soon save the day, coz he carries spare batteries in his pouch! My hero ... never fails to "rescue" me, always!).

Enjoy your weekend everyone! This week, might be a slower one for us ... as we had jam-packed weekends the last 2 weeks, so we are slowing things down a little ....

SNAPSHOTS WEEKEND 2 - SWIM TIME !

I did up my 1st entry of Snapshots Weekend here, a while ago. Today, we went swimming (again!) with my niece, Ayra (yep ... we went last week too ... with cutie-pie Ms Faith & her parents). I managed to get a lot of cute pics but that batch of photos will have to wait coz I don't I have the energy at the moment (errm ... coz its 3 am right now!) to do a very long entry. So to make up for it ... here are 2 pics of the two adorable kids ... I barely (just) managed to snap a few "precious" photos before they eagerly stepped into the swimming pool. As you can guess, they couldn't wait to jump in for their splash ... errm ... swim, I mean.

As you can see, there's not much I need to say ... these 2 kids are the best of buds. They get on swell & I know Ryan just loves his (only) Kakak. Being an only child (& the youngest grandchild in the family) makes Ryan, kinda a loner (among other things) & I know he always looks forward to any outing that he has with his favourite Kakak Ayra. Infact, we have another outing tomorrow (Sunday), which is co-incidentally our wedding anniversary. So definitely more pics, for sure ... haha!

Don't they look cute & adorable?

RYAN'S CHU-CHUT

Last week, I managed to pack some of Ryan's old baby clothes to pass on to my Sis' friend. I gathered some stuff (mostly home clothes for the yet-to-arrive baby boy) & found 2 unopened pacifiers (or chu-chuts, that's what we called them at home). The pacifiers made me laugh now ... Ryan used to be so attached to them, that he could never fall asleep without it in his mouth. I was wondering how I could wean him off it, without creating World War 3 (at home). Surprisingly, it was relatively smooth sailing when I decided that the chu-chut should go MIA (missing-in-action). He created a small ruckus, cried a little but it was actually easier than I expected. The draining nightly feeds was much tougher to drop though. As he gave up the pacifiers rather easily, I thought (assumed) that the night feeds will be a breeze too. Errm ... it wasn't! .... but its still much better than I anticipated. Phew!

Whilst looking though some old photos, I discovered one of the last photos of Ryan "sucking" on his pacifier (whilst napping in the car), taken in December 2008. I could have sworn that he gave them up much earlier but the picture proves me (dead) wrong ... haha!

I was glad to give away them pacifiers. Its a stage that Ryan has long passed ... & giving it away is a sign that me boy is no longer a baby ... he's a toddler now! Well, just gotta make him give up his (baby) bottle for a real sippy-cup-thingy (its been an uphill battle so far). Well, wish me luck, ya!

YES ... I'M STILL ALIVE

Yep! Still alive & kicking ... just not in the mood to blog much. Have been taking pics too but its still in backlog land. Don't know why ... just seem gloomy these days. Is it because of the weather? Its been sunny one minute, cloudy the next. Thundery on some days, scorching on others. That's been me ... these couple of weeks. Just can't pin down whats wrong though ...

Our wedding anniversary is coming ... this weekend to be precise. Its been 12 years (yep! a dozen) since we've been married, though we've been together for much longer. Am I in a celebratory mood? Nope, not really! We've been together for so long ... I guess its just another year to notch up. I don't know ... when I was younger I thought being married for more than a decade seems great, an achievement even ... but the reality is ... marriage is a lot of hard work. Its more than 2 people being together ... its a lot of compromises, sacrifices, negotiations, heartaches, etc. Do we have any plans? Nope ... being on a budget, well what can you do? No special dinners, no special getaways, no special gifts ... I kinda got used to the life that we've lived these couple of years that we don't do anything grand on any special day. Its like any other day, I guess.

I've been thinking a lot about our future ... in the coming year of 2010. As we will be making major changes in our lives, I don't really know what to expect. Our routine family life will change & although I hope its for the better, there is a LOT of trepidation on my part. I don't know what to expect or whether we will make it through but I know that we made this decision as a family ... and we will have to stand strong & be brave ... in facing our new life together. I hope we made the right decisions ... coz there's no turning back now .... just to look and move forward. Whatever the future brings, we will face it head-on ... we will be strong, we will still stand tall & survive ... like we always do!

I FEEL RATHER "STUPID" ...

Yep! When compared to my son ... I feel a little stupid. I did not remember when I was young, being able to talk or yak like him at 2 and a half (nearly 3). Nor do I posses his memory & deftness at such a young age. Yes, I know ... all parents would like to think that their offspring are geniuses but even if Ryan does not grow up to be Singapore's next Einstein, he is DEFINITELY smarter than me (& his Daddy) ... I can vouch for that!

Of course, I dearly hope all these "smartness" will translate to book-smarts when he goes to school but only God knows! Ryan definitely has the smarts in the memory department & I am also pleased to report, he is also quick at picking up things, is extremely hands-on & very directional & "driving" savvy ... all of which he has inherited from his Papa! I'm glad ... coz I'm none of that ... & many many more.

I do hope he takes after me in the language department - in spelling, vocabulary & memorization. I also hope he picks up more than a couple of (third) foreign languages (French, Spanish, Japanese?). I hope he loves to read. I hope he does better academically ... than both his parents. I hope he does better in life ...

Here is the pic that inspired this ("stupid") post. I caught him placing the numbers (magnetic numbers we placed on the fridge, for him to play with - bought from Daiso) in this order, so I decided to take a pic of it. He was in between changes ... errm, that's why he was shirtless ... haha! Maybe its a fluke ... hell, who cares! All I knew was that, I was happy I managed to get it in print. Yes, though the numbers are not in the right order, its pretty good for a less than 3 year old, who's yet been to pre-school. Don't ya think?

There is hope yet ...