Disney on Ice's Magical Ice Festival

Three months after writing this post, I find it lying amongst my many drafts - completed but forgotten! So here you go. 😊

What a treat to start the school holidays! This was our first time to Disney on Ice and we thoroughly enjoyed this experience. Themed Magical Ice Festival, the 90 minutes show brought us from one Disney fairytale to another. 

Many of the little girls came dressed as one of their favourite Disney princess and Amanda was no exception. I must have seen the most Elsa's and not surprisingly, the Frozen segment was the highlight for most in the audience! Even my little boy was singing his lungs out when it came to the popular "Let it Go" and "Do you want to build a snowman" songs. 

I heard this was one of the best Disney on Ice's shows, and I'm glad our first was also the best! It was so entertaining that even daddy commented how good it was. It made mommy want to pick up figure skating immediately at this old age! 

Best buds reunited

To end the holiday week, we treated the boys to their first get together ever since they parted ways for primary school. We gathered the boys at Timbre@Gillman's Saturday Social BBQ and oh my, what fun they had roughing it out at the outdoor green space, complete with bubbles, balls and bouncy castles. Those screams of delight when they were reunited! 

Our choice of venue was perfect for the boys as it was casual with lots of space for the boys to run around. I don't think they would have enjoyed anywhere confined. They played football, jumped on the bouncy castle and had a hand at table tennis. 

As the kids had their share of pizza, spaghetti and orange juice at their own kids table, the mommies and daddies chilled at another table, chatting the night away. Definitely a thumbs up to a wonderful Saturday night! Till the next outing - in just two weeks as the April babies (3 out of the 4 boys) reunite again for some birthday fun! 

Despite Amanda not having any of her own friends there, she didn't miss out on the fun as she played and even had a beautiful butterfly hand painted on her arms. She didn't lack babysitters with two of the boys' older sister gushing over how cute she was and readily followed her everywhere she went, making the night even sweeter for mommy!

And there goes Term 1..

Term 1 came and went by so quickly.

It's funny how this primary school routine felt like the norm right from the beginning. I expected a large adjustment both for him and us, but strangely (in a good way), we hardly felt any.

So it was an eventful Term 1 and we couldn't have asked for more from this little turning-seven years old boy. He looks forward to going to school each day, proclaims that he loves Taonan and takes to his new routine without any fuss. Thank you for that! As a working mom, it's stressful as it is juggling work, housework, kids and everything else there is to take care of (the worst is really coping with the late nights working after the kids sleep). So, for this little boy who cooperates and doesn't add any stress to our routine despite the big change for him - I am so thankful. 

So Term 1 updates: 

"Cut queue, barbecue, go and marry kaka chew!" or "Ryan Tan, rambutan, born in 1961!". These are just some of the, well, interesting stuff he has learnt in his new school. I wonder what more is to come. 

Wayne also started wushu lessons this term. They don't need to have a CCA in P1 so since this came up, we thought why not, now that he still has the time. Lessons are on Thursday mornings and so he has his lunch in school. He enjoys the 'fighting' and I think he secretly thinks that with these wushu lessons, he is going to grow up a kungfu master or something like that.  

He was made monitor in his second week of school, pleased as punch with his coveted badge. His form teacher commented that he was one of the better adjusted students and so he was chosen. While we were really pleased (as it got to also mean that he was rather well behaved?), I was also a tad worried that he may take his monitor role too seriously and start 'reporting' his friends' names to his teacher and as a result, erm.. not have many friends. It was after all his first term and he hardly knew anyone, and I really wanted him to have lots of friends and have much fun in school. 

But as like most other times, I worry too much, and of course he didn't have any problem making friends. At this age, they play with everybody! He even has a few P2 friends that he plays with after school. But most fun is his time with the boys in his class; especially Ian whom he has declared his 'Buddy Brother Six', telling me he does EVERYTHING with him in school. Don't ask me what Buddy Brother Six means, I have no idea. 

Common across all kids, recess time and pockets of time before and after school is the highlight for him as he gets to let loose, run around and play with his friends. Each evening when I pick him up from his school canteen, he and his friends would be having so much fun that I'd almost feel bad for breaking up their fun. I would love to indulge him, if not for daddy and Amanda waiting to be picked up. After a long day at work, this ten minutes of picking Wayne up, watching him have fun with his friends and asking about his day has also become the highlight for me. 

In terms of his work, it's pretty much still honeymoon period for him. He hardly has any homework, the only ones are the weekly spelling and ting xie that he has to practise for. He has been coping well with the syllabus, there were a few surprise practice 'test' and he did well, so we are happy. His teachers praised him for his neat handwriting, put him right at the back of the class (reserving the front seats for weaker students) and gave him a bookmark for being a 'hao hai zi'. His teacher told him that she may appoint him to be her 'xiao lao shi' for term 2 and I think he is secretly very pleased and hoping that it happens. In the last week of the term, he also had the experience of being 'punished' for not bringing a piece of his homework to school. He was held back during recess time for a few minutes, which I thought was rather stern, but well, if it helps to make him more responsible over his homework, good for him. =)

So this week, it is playtime for him and he is looking forward to all his free time! Happy holidays Wayne!!

Swimming - gaining confidence

Slowly but surely.. Wayne has been making good progress with his swim lessons. It's been a few months of lessons now and I'm really proud that he has overcome his fear. He started lessons without even being able to have water gently splashed on his face. Today, he's able to completely submerge his head into the water - certainly a long way from where he started! Thanks to Uncle Dennis who is both patient and stern at the same time, knowing when he needs to push Wayne and when to hold back. 👏

Here's Wayne during his last swimming session:

It's a matter of time before we start Amanda on her swim lessons, meanwhile some photos of our happy baby girl by the poolside.  

We heart holidays - Florence, taking us through the Renaissance

This post holiday blogging is making me miss our holiday so much.. I miss how relaxed, happy and carefree we were as we roamed around! So, moving on to Florence..

How do I best describe Florence? It was after all, top on the husband's list. It's a city you have to visit in person to fully appreciate its beauty, and trying to describe it in a few lines just doesn't do it much justice. Perhaps it was the richness and beauty of rennaisance art and architecture that so defines Florence which made it so charming, perhaps it was the birth home of many fashion brands like Ferragamo and Gucci that made the shopping so gratifying, or was it the delectable Florentine cuisine that did the trick? Regardless, Florence was truly beautiful.

We spent a total of 5 nights here, with a break in between as we did a self drive around the Tuscanian countryside.

Getting to Florence from Rome

After hearing lots of horror stories of how messy and dangerous the train stations in Italy were, and of stolen luggages on trains, we were constantly on our toes the moment we arrived at Rome's Termini station for the first of three train rides planned. Only to have our worries unfounded as it really wasn't as bad as it sounded. In fact, the train journey surpassed my expectations. It was both comfortable and safe, and we even enjoyed complimentary wifi, coffee and chips/biscuits onboard. The kids spent most of their time on board playing with their toy figurines, as we enjoyed the scenic view.

Accommodation in Florence

In our first leg, we stayed at Firenze Number Nine and later switched to another hotel called The Spadai for our second leg in Florence. Both were beautifully designed and right smack in the city. Which was better? Hmm, while the service at Firenze Number Nine was superb, The Spadai, being just a few steps away from the Duomo and shopping streets wins for its location.

Charms of Florence

The shopping 

The shopping in Florence truly deserves a mention of its own. With two kids and limited time on our hands, I'm pretty sure I only covered 20% of what Florence had to offer, but still, I must say our shopping experience here alone would be enough to draw me back to this city again. And, I am pretty sure the husband echoes my sentiments! 

Florence is small, and because of that shopping in the city itself is easy. All the shops are lined along the streets (and more streets) of Florence; you just keep on walking, from one street to another, taking you from shop to shop. Big brands, small brands, international ones, local ones.. shoes, clothes, bags, art.. shops and street-stalls alike, they will all keep you very much occupied.  With the two little ones,  we couldn't walk that much, had to skip certain shops that didn't look too kid-friendly and took turns to try clothes and explore the shops... but still, we were happy!

Thanks to the mainland Chinese, who have earned quite a reputation for themselves with their bulk purchases, enter luxury designer boutiques and you'd be treated quite like royalty. We shopped at Dior, and were offered a whole tray of macarons with coffee and tea. They even offer to deliver your purchases to your hotel, should you wish.

Shopping at the popular outlet mall, The Mall, was another experience altogether. I loved the setting it was in - amidst the countryside, lush greenery and open space. The weather that day was fantastic as well, with the sun out and keeping us comfortably warm. The kids enjoyed running around and playing among the stoned filled areas, kicking stones and scratching their boots in the process, but mommy and daddy weren't complaining as it did give them some reprieve from the full day of shopping. The Mall occupied our entire day, we were rushing to catch the 4pm bus back to Florence as we had our cooking class scheduled at 6pm, if not for which I'm sure we would have continued shopping till the evening. I recall because we were running out of time we even had to split up in the last hour, daddy and Wayne in one tag team while Amanda was with mommy, taking her afternoon nap. Well, splitting up proved fruitful as daddy managed to snag that pair of mahogany Italian shoes he has been searching for at the very last minute.

Duomo

The Duomo is one sight that takes your breath away the first time you lay your eyes on it. It's grand and majestic, and you can't help but stand in awe of it. I just read that its the world's fourth largest cathedral, after the Milan duomo, St. Paul's in London and St. Peter's in Rome. I didn't realise we've seen all four, three in this particular trip! 

We had a lovely outdoor dinner overlooking the Duomo one of the nights which gave us plentiful of time to admire this work of Brunelleschi.

Piazza Michaelangelo

One of the must-goes of Florence, where you find postcard worthy views of the entire town. I just wish our photography skills were much better, because it really looks a lot better than what you see below.

Ponte Vecchio 
The famous old bridge of Florence across the Arno River, which needs little introduction.

Yummy in my tummy

Having experienced different meals throughout our holiday, Florence comes up trumps when in comes to the cuisine.   Food is such a big part of the Florentine culture, it was no wonder there were so many cooking classes available for tourists as well, one of which we opted for (pizza and gelato) as mentioned in my last post. 

The most delicious pasta I had over the entire trip was also here in Florence, in this restaurant called Osteria di Giovanni and this is the dish that made me swoon with every mouthful I took. Not exaggerating..

Another meal worth mentioning was this famous butter chicken dish at Trattoria Sostanza, which was really really good. We almost didn't manage to secure a reservation, finally managing to squeeze in a lunch reservation on the last day before we departed Florence. I'm so glad we didn't miss it! The chicken was so fragrant, it literally blew you away upon that first mouthful.

Twice over the five days in Florence, we dropped by this cafe which was at the Piazza della Repubblica.. not for the food, but more for the ambiance. This casual open aired cafe faced the carousel the kids so loved, and was along the shopping street, making it a perfect rest stop after much walking and shopping. 

Florence for kids

I think if you asked the kids what they enjoyed most about Florence, it would probably be the carousel at Piazza della Repubblica and the ice-cream from Venchi.

Venchi

We had our first taste of Venchi in Florence, and loved the chocolate ice-cream so much we'd squeal whenever we discovered a Venchi store in the other cities. The ice-cream was really rich and creamy, and we favoured this over the award-winning Italian gelatos anytime. After discovering they had a store at the Milan airport, we spent our last few Euros stocking up on lots of chocolates!

This was Amanda's face after discovering that last bit of chocolate ice-cream have been devoured. Amanda, taking after mommy, was definitely the bigger chocolate fan of the two!

Carousel

This is the famous antique carousel which has been around for three generations of the Picci family, and for which we used to 'bribe' the kids into walking that bit more whenever they were on the verge of giving up. Haha. At Euro 1.50 per ride, it wasn't too expensive (cheaper than the ones we had at the GBTB Christmas Wonderland!) and the kids loved it. They must have had at least five rounds on it!

So that was Florence for us.... The town we enjoyed so much that we did an impromptu additional one night stay here with a few clicks of the button - the power of the Internet! It was the only place that left the husband yearning to be back even before we left. Thank you Florence, you were indeed beautiful and we were utterly charmed!