infobabytripsmommy good afternoon!

infobabytripsmommy

 

 

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KimFreeland

infobabytripsmommy how do you do?

infobabytripsmommy

 

 

https://bit.ly/3KBoM4I

 

 

KimFreeland

One by one....

One by one we are catching up with friends here in Singapore. I did not think we would see many of them for a long time to come. I had no idea that we would return to Singapore so soon. Although unexpected, it is a lot of fun and we are having a ball! The rainy season means overcast days with a light breeze. It is very comfortable here and I am grateful for clear, clean air. Here are some photos of our reunions with friends and a photo of a new friend too!

 Jessi and Abi Shepherd have been our friends since we first started homeschooling in Singapore in 2012. Last summer they visited us in Toronto with their mom, Cassandra. These four chat and laugh non-stop. They are dear, old friends.

 Keith Mauck has also been a friend since 2012. We mostly spent time with his wife, Jennifer and their children, Quinn and Logan. They left Singapore shortly after we did in 2014 but Keith has been back many times for work. Here he is on a business trip and we all met down at Satay by the Bay for an amazing prata lunch and ice cold beer.

 Above is a picture of Cassandra who also joined us for lunch along with Abi and Jessi. (Richard and Dan could not attend.)

Sam, Su and Siena are long time friends too. We met them when we first moved to Singapore because Su and Papa worked together at Verizon. Siena is a real peach and apparently has been asking for the boys to visit. So nice that we finally could!

 Lauren McIntyre from Auckland, New Zealand is a new friend we met at the Homeschool "not back to school" picnic. She has two children, Connor (12) and Sophia (10). I will add a photo of them another time. We have met several times at the Xtreme Skateboard Park and sat and chatted but the last time, I said Lauren could use my scooter while I roller blade! It is great meeting new friends and doing activities together around Singapore. It feels like summer holidays with homework squeezed in as often as possible. It is great to be back for an extended holiday!

Memory Lane

Since we have been away from Singapore 

for so long, our first few weeks will include walking down memory lane, visiting our old haunts and catching up with dear friends. Getting a freshly squeezed juice is still a real treat and something we used to do often. I still love ABC with lemon. (apple, beet root and carrot...perfect for jet lag!) Frunty got Juicey Lucy with strawberry and banana. Pit loves mango. Soon we will go for bubble mango with tapioca balls. Dinner and board games at Mind Cafe is still lots of fun and produces lots of giggles: Chateau Roquefort and Tiki Toppers are hilarious. It's a great family date night. 

Welcome to Singapore!

We arrived from London directly to Singapore on Singapore Airlines ' Airbus 380 to a very warm welcome by Papa, Pit and Jessi.  Papa brought me beautiful orchids.  We were starving so ate at the Kopitiam right before driving Jessi home and heading to our lovely three bedroom flat near Tanah Merah MRT. It's great to be the four of us again!

The children had their coupons for free slides at Terminal 3!

Fruity enjoyed his kaya toast very much.  It's toast with a sweet,  coconut-egg butter topping! Kopitiam's kopi of kosung coffee is delicious as are the dumplings below!

Beautiful orchids from Papa! It is fun to be back! 

Bletchley Park

We had a great visit with Toby and Alex to Bletchely Park in Buckinghamshire. The night before we watched the Imitation Game again to reaquaint ourselves with the machine The Bombe and other details about World War 2. It was fascinating to learn more about Alan Turing and other code breakers during that time.  We learned that most of the employees at Bletchely Park were women. Both boys were captivated by the day trip.  I am so glad we went and grateful to Toby for taking the day off to join us!

The boys listened intently to the audio tour.

Turing chained his mug to the radiator so no one would steal/borrow it! Genius!

Heading to London. ..with pride!

I am very 

Proud of our family as we embark on our new adventure to Singapore. We all left on Friday but Pit and Papa flew to Singapore via Chicago/Hong Kong.  Frunty and I flew via London and enjoyed a one week holiday with the Pillings in Chalfont St Peters and the Eglintons in Teddington.

Gramma 

treated us to the U.P experience from Union to Pearson!  It was nice.  Thanks,  Grams!

Frunty worked hard to attach his skate board to his backpack and made sure not to forget his coloring book and pencil crayons!  Jet Airways bumped us to a direct flight with Air Canada as their flight through Brussels was overbooked. Easier for us but I was unable to get Belgian chocolates for Eggy! (Got him some British in the end!) Great trip! Lots of fun ahead!

Los Angeles Adventure

We went on an incredible adventure to Los Angeles the week before Christmas.  It was so special because the Daddy surprised the boys at the Star Wars Light Saber battle at Pershing Square on December 18th!  A few months back,  Toronto had a light saber battle at Nathan's Philip Square.  We missed it for several reasons: the Mommy had a fever,  it was raining and some other  parents said it was not safe. Pishaw! The day after Toronto's light saber party,  Papa and I cooked up an elaborate plan to take the boys to L.A and when they woke up Sunday morning boy were they surprised and happy!  Little did we all know that the Daddy would have to work in California and would fly up to L.A to meet us and thenfly home with us to Toronto! I never saw Frunty look so surprised when Papa started fighting him during the glow - in - the - dark battle!  We all hugged.  It was a great moment after almost three months apart!

The security guard said "no" because the area was blocked off for the Star Wars movie which premiered that very weekend. But after we explained our DeMille story, we were specially allowed to enter and take photos! Btw we saw Star Wars the next day but not at the Chinese Theatre but closer to our hotel, The Millenium Biltmore. 

It was fun to catch up with Brooke after more than a decade. We had a great day together.

Beautiful Fall hike: Bruce Trail

While  Frunty was on the Odd Squad set,  Pit and I did a little bit of studying and enjoyed some mini hikes on the surrounding terrain including the gorgeous Bruce Trail.  Later Frunty realized that he had scaled nearby cliffs with his  scout troop when we stayed at Camp Nemo last year.

It was a beautiful, fall day!

from: C Scarabello

http://togetherwedonate.com/yourself.php

C Scarabello

Nonna

On December 28th at about 9 am, Nonna died. It was after almost two years of struggling with ovarian cancer.

Frunty and the Mommy were lying in bed when Papa came in and said, "wake up". I could tell by his voice what he was about to say. I knew that Nonna had died. Frunty was still groggy and speechless. I felt a heavy hearted feeling.

The Daddy got the call while eating breakfast with Pit at King's Diner. They had taken Butler for a walk, dropped him off at home and headed over for a special breakfast for two. Nonno phoned Papa and Pit was soon sitting on his lap comforting him.

We drove right away to the Robin's nest where we saw Nonna lying peacefully in the hospital bed in the front room. Nonna looked so peaceful. No more pain...physically or emotionally. No more agony and suffering.

Now it is our turn to feel the pain of missing Nonna.


RIP Nonna

Thank you for all your loving kindness, for always thinking of all of us, for making sure we had songs in our heart (Baby Beluga), food in our bellies and love in our family. (Raffi) Thank you for traveling around the world with us (four continents) and maybe we will visit your homeland of the Philippines with Nonno one day. Lots of love from all of us, especially Frunty (Pucin) and Pit.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was really great to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and family in Uxbridge yesterday. On the way, we stopped to buy pumpkins. I can't even remember our last Thanksgiving together. It was also fun to meet their new puppy, Duke, a doberman-great dane cross. We had to make sure he did not steal our slippers or shoes though!! We are grateful to be back in Canada and celebrating special occasions with loved ones. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Niagara Falls here we come!

On October 1st, we drove over to Claudio's parents for their 53rd wedding anniversary! When we arrived, a white limo was waiting and we transferred the luggage from our car to it. How exciting to go in a limo all the way to Niagara Falls and back...you can just imagine how excited we were. We arrived in our finest...the boys in their new suits. I wore the dress I had made in Hoi An, Vietnam. It was so exciting. We took off in cloudy weather and arrived in the beautiful sun. Our hotel was the Fallsview Marriott and we had views of all three falls plus fire places. Mami and Papi had a big, jacuzzi tub as well. I was so proud of Mami for making the trip as it is not always easy with motion sickness at the best of times.

We had an amazing three days of eating really well, sleeping in, short walks, and the four of us went on the Hornblower, the new Maid of the Mist type boat, where we got soaked. We even had a Griswald moment when the funicular we were in just came to a stop. For about half and hour, we were stuck in it with a couple from California. We had some good laughs and took lots of photos but it did get hot in there and I worried about Mami who started to feel dizzy. But still enjoyed the moment...I think. And that was the main feeling of the whole trip...let's enjoy the moment even though things are not always easy. And now for some photos!

 Happy Anniversary, Nonna and Nonno! Hope you had a very fun and memorable trip to Niagara Falls! Thank you for inviting us! We loved it!

 Our rooms had these beautiful views of all three falls! It was fun to sit with some bubbly and enjoy the views by the fire place!

The Terrapin restaurants was delicious. We enjoyed the buffet breakfasts and the gourmet dinners. Who needed lunch!?! The Shirley Temples were good too! What a special time together!

Joy of Pets

We adopted two pets after returning from Singapore which was one of our dreams! We looked at websites for months before arriving...it takes time and luck to get just the right pets.

One day we were vising Nonna and Nonno when we decided to check out the Oakville Milton Humane Society. We had visited the Toronto Humane Society but did not see any cats that matched the bill.
We were looking for a short haired domestic tabby about one year of age and a male. And who should we find in Oakville...you guessed it! Named "Nemo" by the volunteers, we brought home our big kitten on Sunday March 22, 2014. Actually we brought it directly to the nonni for the first night which was a tradition started with Mowgli.

And doing homework now is a lot more fun! And what about a big, wet nose to add to the mix!? You guessed it! On May 25th, we adopted Butler from Lab Rescue Canada also out in Oakville. Can you guess where he spent his first night! At the nonni and he did not scratch the floors or vomit like Mowgli did either! I saw a photo posted by Almira Haupt on her Facebook page but after reading the comments from people who wanted to adopt Butler, I thought we did not stand a chance! But three weeks, I happened to check the Lab Rescue website and saw Butler was still up for adoption!! I talked to Al who said they always wait to find the best family for their dogs who are temporarily placed in foster homes.

Next thing you know, we are completing the on-line form and phone interviews and then the big day came to meet Butler, his foster mom from Collingwood and a rep from Lab Rescue. And the rest is history!

A boy with his dog. There is no seen more beautiful. Ok, maybe a boy with his cat above. Either way, we got two very happy boys whose dreams of having some pets have come true!

Oh, the joy of pets! They are without number!