Lake District

23-25 May 2008 – We heard so much about Lake District.  We finally got a chance on this Bank Holiday weekend to explore the beauty of Lake District.

The Lake District, is a rural area in North West England.  A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes and its mountains. Quite similar to the highlands in Scotland.  It’s about 4-5 hours drive from our home.  We stayed in a hotel in Windermere, facing the lake and mountains.  The Windermere town is fantastic. Swans and ducks can be fed at the lakeshore with boats for hire around the pier.  There are excellent array of eateries and plenty of shops there.  We tried the traditional English Pub food on the first day and Chinese food on the second day.

The most memorable activity was our mountain hiking trip.  Initially, we were prepared only for a walk by the Buttermere lake.  Our plan changed instantly by my adventurous husband and my ambitious son.  1 hour walk turned out to be 6 hours mountain tracking, and we reached Red Pike. On top of that, we lost our foot path on the way down the mountain. My poor Yi Hong and Yi Xuen were exhausted.  Yi Hong’s leg was cut by the plants (he was wearing shorts, not jeans). Danny had to carry them.  I felt so relief when we touched the ground.  I must said the scenery was great from the top of the mountain and I absolutely proud of my children.  Danny suggested we do it again on our next holiday.  Well…… I need to think twice.

 

The Golden Ball

17 May 2008 – This was another ball held to raise fund for the Sue Ryder Care Hospice in Peterborough.  Sue Ryder Care works to support people with disabilities and life threatening diseases.  Another oppoturnity for us to dress up, have fun and support charity at the same time.

 
We were in the ET paper!

 

Walking on Sunshine

10 May 2008 – I felt like I was back in tropical country this week.  Sunny, bright and beautiful days! Temperature upto 27 celsius.  Everybody couldn’t wait to go out for some summer activities.  Also, I guess probably 60-70% people here had BBQ this week.  So did we. 

We drove to Hunstanton and Sandringham on this rare sunny day in May and YX absent from ballet class again :(    Hustanton (pronounce as “Huston”) is a seaside town in east coast of England.  It is also famous for its red and white striped cliffs. We walked by the beach and the cliffs, quite chilly though.  We had our  ‘garden’ lunch at a pub called ‘The Ship’.  I wish the weather could last longer.

 

 

X-Factor Contestant: YX sang Had A Bad Day

Let’s welcome our future X-factor contestant.  She has been practising in our kitchen while I wash dishes.

Parenting

Being a parent is not easy. What I meant was our responsiblities raising and educating our children.  When my children shown bad behaviour, I blame myself for not doing a good job as a mother.  When they shown good manner, I feel like I’ve got a ‘merit’ in my appraisal/assessment.  I watched ‘Super Nanny’ with my children (you may not believe it but they love it) .  We have a ‘naughty corner’ and ‘behaviour chart’ at home.  Sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn’t.  I think it’s a learning process not only for the children but for me too.  I’ve learnt to be more patience and understanding.  Children can make us laugh and make us mad. I just have to learn.

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Little things that make my days:

Yi Hong was worried about me this morning.  He has a football club after school and he afraid of leaving me alone at home.  He kept asking me if I’ll miss him or if I’ll be bored at home.  I told him that I’ll be busy cleaning the house, shopping, going to gym and will forget missing him.  He felt better after that.

Yi Xuen started reading and writing since going to reception. She came home with a letter one day.

 

Family Visit

Apr 2008 – We finally convinced Grandma to come to England! Grandma, Ah Chu (Danny’s sister) and family were here.  When they touched down the first few days, they were not used to the chilly weather and jetlag. Grandma rather stay at home most of the time.  Luckily, Sunshine and sunny spell followed later and we could do more outdoor activities.  They visited the Sacrewell Farm, Burghley House, Ferry Meadow, Nottingham, London, Cambridge.  Of course, a lot of shopping. As Grandma’s 3 (out of 7) children are residing in England now, so we had a big big re-union here.  Ah Chu was the Chef and cooked a lot of delicious Chinese meals for everybody.  YH & YX were not settling very well in school that week, wish they could stayed at home with their cousins.  Now that they are gone, the house seems much quite than ever before.  Miss them!

 

 

Home Trip

We were back to Singapore & Malaysia in March and spent about a month there.  It had been 10 months since we left our family and friends back home.  We miss them dearly and wish to see them desparately.  On the other hand, we also feel sad leaving our Glinton ‘home’ and friends.  The day before we took off, Yi Hong came home with a farewell card, which was signed by all his classmates.  It was so touching. Yi Hong was worried that he won’t see his friends and requested to shortern our home trip. Yi Xuen also written a letter to Mrs Hillier, her class teacher, told her that she was leaving to Singapore and would be back very soon and she missed her teachers and friends. 

I couldn’t slept very well few days before our departure because I was too excited.  I was also worried if I could handle my kids alone in our 13 hours flight journey (Danny only joined us 2 weeks later).   Danny drove us to Heathrow Airport with 2 big luggages.  We arrived Singapore at 3pm.   At night, due to jetlag, YH & YX only slept at 3 o’clock in the morning and woke up at 12 noon.  We took a few days to recover. 

We travelled quite a bit during our home trip, ie. Singapore, Sandakan (my hometown), Tawau, Sibu (Danny’s hometown), Bintan (one of our favourite beach resort), total of 40 hours of flight time.  Eating, Relaxing, Shopping were our daily activities there.  Catching up with our family, relatives and friends were our main ‘agenda’.  Thank you to our family and friends who taken leave, spent time and $$$ (presents & meals), flew to Spore/Msia to meet us.  Sorry to those we have missed.  It’s harder for me leaving them the second time.

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The reason why we went back this time of the year was to coincide with Chinese Ching Ming festival.  It was the day to remember and honour one’s ancestors at grave sites. 

My dearest mum (1949-2002)

My mother is the most incredible person in my heart.  She was a kind, patience, soft-spoken, yet a strong woman. She had sacrificed so much for the family.  She was still very positive and supportive even in her last 5 years battling with cancer. To me, to her children, she is the greatest person.