Grandma is 85 !!

What was meant to be a surprised got Grandma all worked-up. Getting her dressed up but not telling her that she is going for a "surprised" birthday meal angered her cos she thought no one wanted to tell her anything. So it was only when she reached the restaurant did her facial expresion changed. (Phew !!! Thought she was gonna flip the table already. The "perankan meal" was at Pow Sing Restaurant. Ordering her favourite chicken rice with "ngoh hiang" and "tau hoo" !!! ), she very quickly gobbled down her food. She even "snatched" the ngoh hiang" when Sarah offered her the last piece. Without breaking it up to smaller pieces, it was already into her mouth. All watched in silence, as she went "gumming" her entire piece of "ngoh hiang" (without teeth. Amazing !!!) Next came the ONE CANDLE birthday cake (count on Son #2, not to get the correct number of candles !!).

As Clare happily sang the birthday song, the other two sibblings softly whispered it, knowing that they are in the "view of the general public". Blowing the candle was

















a breeze (even without teeth !!) but cutting the cake was a major exercise. Finally a quick snap shot with the 3 grand-children, Rena & Yayuk for the album.

New Uncle & Aunties

SMS from Grandpa Andrew on 27 Sep 07 announced the arrival of Ms Kaylen Teo, the latest addition to the TEO family. This makes the 3 sibblings (Sarah, Aaron & Clarissa) as Aunt #1, Uncle #1 and Aunt #2 respectively). All 3 visited Ward 609 (the Delivery Ward at Thomason Medical Centre) to catch a glimpse of their little niece. She certainly had her pressence felt ... wailing loudly in the all familiar baby tune.

To capture this historial moment, a snap-shot was taken with the parents and of course, the 2 day-old (2.5 kg, 45cm) Kaylen Teo.

Night Scene from Labrador Park

After picking up Daughter #1 from the HarbourFront, introduced her to the Olive Ristorante & Cafe Restaurant @Labrador Park. With hardly anyone there, we had the full attention of the waiter there. Certainly a quiet evening, close to nature whilst enjoying the Italian meal. Overlooking the Park was the approaches to Tg Berlayer (the western tip of Sentosa Island).

The lone coconut tree that stood in the background of a moonlit sky and lights from some barges, Daddy & daughter tried their hand at taking a digital shot of the night scene. Not too bad an outcome (don't you think !!!)

The Hole-ly kueh-kueh !!!

It's amazing what some sugar coated kueh-kueh (some with a hole in the middle) can get dozens of people lining up to purchase them. Not sure if its a case of .... the lack of productivity on the part of the counter-staff (usually observed that there are many other staff around but only one to two are serving the guests), a market strategy to protray that the product is in high demand or simply the dozen of people in line simple loves donuts and its part of their daily diet. (Could be a case of ALL OF THE ABOVE !!!)

Whilst browsing the many shops at VIVO CITY, the usual line of people was "suddenly" not there. With a couple and 2 others in the queue, it was the perfect opportunity to have a go at these little hole-ly kueh-kueh to test its goodness. Bought a dozen of various types to try them out. Here goes !!! Indulge !!!!

( Will declare later if there is a need to join the crazy queue in the future !!!)

What's Next ?

Mascot ?!! Security Blanket ?!! Good Luck piece ?!! What ever !!

The first of such was the remains of a "bear's nose" ... (Yes !! Right !!! What's was then, part of a Teddy Bear that was required at bedtime). It was a morning ritual that this "part of the face feature" needs to be held and rubbed. Probably for luck. (The Daddy's nose was once rubbed in place, cos bear's nose was missing, to complete the waking up process !!!)

Then, there was this ugly, (+ dirty looking) bald headed doll, named ANNA, dressed in "cheong-sam", with one of its arms dangling (about to be separated from the body).
It gets sat on, slept on, be hung or brutally abused from time-to-time but a must to be at the bedside comes "zzzzz" time .... Occasionally, she gets held for ransom.

and now the latest is a "way above BMI", unhappy looking pink bear that joined the collection. (No points for guessing correctly, what belongs to who).

Hanging to its dear life at the back of a school bag, this pinky looking round thing is certainly catching attention (Sure caught mine !!!)

Long Time No Sea !!!

The last event that LTK Zainal Mohd and I had jointly organised was the 10th Anniversary Sea Demonstration for the Indo-Sin Coordinated Patrol (ISCP) Celebration held in the Straits of Singapore. Since then, it was only the occasional SMS and E-mail that were exchanged to maintain the periodical "comms checks". LTK Zainal was then posted from Batam to Surabaya and subsequently to Jakarta. Hardly had the opportunity to meet, after our last get together at Sea. Out of the Blues, an SMS from an old friend that he was in town for Exercise Planning. Wasting no time "recall" was activated. Rounding the past gang was a breeze. Kerby Chew and Baljeet Singh were quickly mobilised, together with S3 181 Sqn. Had an evening of good chats over red wine and Indonesian songs. It was certainly a "Long Time No Sea" event.

Budget Cake

More birthday celebrations on 1 Sep 07 @ Albert & Shawnna's home. This time, its a combined event for Poh-Poh (73), Clarissa-Anne (13), Ashley (10) & Zachery (5).

With enough candles for everyone, the top layer of the "black forest" cake could have melted (from the heat of the candle flames. Almost had to activated SCDF !!!) Thanks to the many "sprinklers" from the grand-children which helped put out the flames and cool the top layer. (Yaks !!!). No wonder the black forest cake had "mixed" taste.

Whilst older brother, Zachery, happily attacked his desert (with no hands), younger brother, Timothy, was glued to the TV screen watch "Cliff Richard" doing his "Young Ones & Summer Holidays". (Aunty #1 was also humming away in the background !!!)

Sarah_Marie & gang end-of-exam get together

Whilst younger sister, Clasrissa-Anne celebrates her 13th Birthday at BBQ Pit #1, older sister, Sarah-Marie had her Temasek Polyechnic friends over at BBQ Pit #2 to commemorate the end of exams stress and also to mark a closure for the Serangoon National Day Dinner which she and her fellow classmates helped in the organising the event.

Joined by the NDD 2007 EXCO and staff of The Serangoon representatives, the combined group had a different type of get together with conversation topics ranging from "Internship", "Rising Cost of ERP", "Yellow Ribbon Projects", etc .... It was a "any topic will do" sharing session.
Clare Ng & Family and Randy+wife also joined in the evening to round it off by the official shut-down time at 2300 hrs.

Clarissa-Anne turns 13 !!

Whilst Malaysia celebrates their Golden Jubilee of Independence at KL-Malaysia, Clarissa-Anne had a share of her birthday celebration in KP-Singapore.

With Ex-OLCG and present SJC classmates, they roamed the grounds of Kensington Park just to have a good time. Their BBQ meal was religiously done by her brother, Aaron-James. Aside from the cake-cutting at the BBQ pit area, the group was everywhere else having fun. Funtunately, none of them brought their own fireworks to end the evening of celebration, except for some sparks from the embers of the BBQ pit.