We had a really good chillax time in Bali with friends. There was nothing much on our agenda, other than food. We kinda planned our day around food and chilling (or trying 101 ways of jumping into the pool) by the pool in the villa.

By night, we sat and chatted by the pool and looked at stars. Beautiful. We even spotted shooting stars! (Yes, by last count, I wished for 3 Birkins!Hahah).

It felt as if we were back in the good old days of “chalet-ing” with friends…It’s our first trip with friends in a long while and we are really thankful for eye_deas and bw and their partners for accommodating us and a toddler who could get abit cranky at times. Really appreciated them entertaining Nat.

And I loved that I had some time out to read! There was no Internet connection, or rather, we didn’t pay for it. And so, we just did what we do before Internet came along – watch movies, play ipad games, chill by the pool with music and drinks etc etc.

And yes, my appetite really did get back in time! It started from a pre-flight meal of pizza hut, then a $10 chicken sandwich on board Jetstar…And went on to…

:: On our night of arrival, the rest decided to head out in search for supper and found a gem of a place – Teh tarik and prata shop (murtabak!) located near our villa. It was so good, we went back again and again, packed back to villa every day for supper and tea.

:: We chilled at Cafe Wayan after Ibu Oka Babi Guling. And we chilled for a good 2 hours, with drinks and dessert. “This is life”, I proclaimed!

:: Metis (the foie gras!) was absolutely yummilicious and worth every IDR we spent. It was our first dinner and it was a high benchmark to match. In fact, we were joking about booking the next cheap flight out, just to eat the foie gras!;)

:: Though we had breakfast in-villa, we opted to venture out for food. Kopi-Pot was a great discovery, introduced by our friendly driver (highly recommended!). I am still thinking of the banana pancakes! *slurp* Our next breakfast haunt – Klapa – was great in terms of view, but low in terms of food (by the last day, we had many many good food liao!)

:: We came to a conclusion that places with good view doesn’t necessarily equate good food. La Lucciola was one such place. But then again, we were benchmarking against Metis. But hey, Nat enjoyed his fish&chips, & that’s all that matters to me!

:; Before our night flight, we managed to head down to Seminyak for dinner at Ultimo. It was a good choice! The food was great and certainly very value-for-money. Definitely a good foodie note to end the trip.

And with this, I shall let the photos tell the story…

It’s really been awhile.

The radio silence here is due to me doing a “What to expect when expecting” rerun and lethargy got the better of me.

That and the missing appetite just threw me off doing anything else but a need to lie down in bed and snooze after work. And it doesnt matter what time I sleep or how long I slept, I still end up not wanting to wake up or still feeling tired in the morning.  Alot of energy is needed to grow my baby…

Yeap, I’m pregger. Almost at the end of the first tri and as I speak, I think I can feel my appetite coming back.

Which is good news. Seeing that we are off to Bali this evening with Eye_deas and bw!

When we booked this trip months back, we wouldn’t have known that it was going to become our babymoon.

I’m determined to enjoy the short trip, have fun, not think about work and come back hopefully more refreshed and energetic to take on the world and what August has in store for me (all the work deadlines!).

Preamble::  Im still a pyscho-mummy in the sense I kinda still restrict Nat’s diet – homecooked and less salt (minimal) and nothing fried if possible. And no sweets as yet. Fruits is the choice of the day. Macdonald’s Happy Meal? Not for him. I just want to provide him with nutritious food at this age and I believe he will eventually start on junk food anyway. He’s still a darling in the sense he is still compliant to mummy food-rules. If we do go out to eat, I try to order nat-friendly food (no seafood, non-fried etc etc) so he can pick from my plate. Again, I try to feed him his proper meal before heading out so whatever he takes in are small portion. Yes, I’ve already said I’m psycho this way.

Yesterday, after a morning of work, I felt like brunch-ing and after a quick call to Dada, we decided to head out to PS Cafe Palais.

I’m happy with my PS Breakfast Stack

while Nat was happier that the plate of truffle fries was placed in front of him. He kept going at them.

With a small round table and having ordered a main each and having to choose the fries or the hot chicken soup with alphabets (sounds totally suitable for Nat!) to be placed nearer to Nat, it was a tough decision. At which point did we stop him? Well, I swopped the plate with the soup (when it was colder) and he was just as happy having the soup (mummy has to feed him of course) and telling me which alphabet pasta he wants. Yes, he did protest mildly but was quickly placated if he has a fry in hand.

I like the place. The food is not bad  and it’s a good way to kickstart the weekend.

Happy siigh. Now I feel like having afternoon tea!

Nat gets all excited and curious whenever an ambulance, police car or fire engine  is in sight.

So, when I happened to walk past the Central Fire Station and noticed the sign ‘Open House, Sat, 9 am to 11 am” I thought it would make an exciting trip for Nat. I realised every fire station is open to public every Sat morning. And so, it was a date with Edgar and Noah (and parents) last Saturday.

We arrived almost on the dot and there was already a long Q of parents and their boys.

It was really like a tour – we had a friendly SCDF officer showing us around, presenting the (very heavy) tools they use and demo-ing their work for us. And letting us explore the insides of their vehicles.

Quite educational but of course, all words were lost on the boys. They wanna see action!

And action they had. They had a go at the hose!

The ladder went up up up. And the men came down down down the pole. It was infotainment in front of our eyes.

And we had more than we bargained for, when there was a real fire call (video uploaded by silver_crv) and all the men and engines had to be deployed. I was really worried we were in their way, but the men were certainly very pro and we witnessed what goes on behind the big-firestation-door-before-it-opens.

Sadly, this also meant there’s nothing (left) to see but surely, this being our first time, it won’t be our last.

I have to admit. I’ve never flown a kite, nor went kite-flying. So, when I knew that shutterbug was getting really good at it, I had to arrange an outing.

On Good Friday evening, we, together with ms clover, silver_crv & family as well as DCboy & family, convened at Marina Barrage. And it seemed like like half of Singapore had the same idea as us. Not that many open spaces, I guess.

We managed to find a spot for us all and set up shop. I rolled out the mat and all the ladies in the house sat down to enjoy the breeze while the men get to work trying to get the kites flying. Nat and Edgar had a good time with frisbee-throwing while DCboy was kinda content eating his dinner and taking in everything.

When the kite was up, I had to get my hands on it!

So, here’s me flying the kite. Or rather, holding onto the flying kite. Heehee.

Nat took a break from frisbee-tossing to point at the kite….

Soon after, we had to quickly pack up as it was getting dark (late as well as threatening weather). And we all trooped to GardenSlug for a hearty meal and chats.

It was good fun. We should do it again!

As we sat around the table and told my dad of his grandson bedtime tactics and us having to count to 100 and back (which tehpeng had to do that last night, although we thought Nat was all tired out from an evening of play and fun catching the Chingay floats with silver_crv & family), he recounted that I was good – I was asleep by the time he counted to 20.

WAHAHAHAH! 不亏是Little Snooze!

Actually, when tehpeng took over the countdown to sleep duty last night, I was out by the time he counted past 5. Wahahahaha.

It’s increasingly hard to get into work mode on Monday morning (say only la, once I step into office, it’s full-on work and juggling to-do lists!) when we spend 2 full days with Nat, having fun together. And he knows it too – weekend is mummy and daddy time! He never ever sleeps during the weekend, preferring to play play play with us.

The weekend that passed, we did a few things which typically weren’t in our programme.

We started the weekend with a beach boys & a girl date at Sentosa. The tots had fun with the sand and at the waterplay area. Well, I never thought I would let my son play in a public water area (the logistics of cleaning up and all deters me)..but oh well, being a parent changes things. I even went in as well. Heh.

Then, tehpeng and I attended the High Scorers concert , in support of our church friend who was performing  the flute. I was wowed by the young talented ones on their musical instruments, playing their exam pieces. Again, I felt the pang of not being able to play any musical instrument. I suppose we must let Nat start young on this musical journey.

On Sunday, we went to the National Museum, for the Mummy exhibition.

Thankfully, there’s 50% off with Mastercard payment. 

The exhibit area was kinda dark but that didn’t stop Nat from exploring on his own (such a big boy!). Here he is, posing for mummy (me) with the ‘mummy’.

It was a good weekend and it didn’t involve any retail-element. Part of my ‘bring nat out,  try to avoid shopping centre’ plan which I just hatched up. Heh heh.