Winter in Seoul (Part 5/6)

The highlight of the tour was the trip to Phoenix Park Ski Resort.  My darlings were very excited as it was the first time they went skiing.  We had engaged an English-speaking Korean instructor to coach us privately.  My Cutie was very diligent and had mastered skiing quickly.  My Sweetie, being young, did not like wearing the extra ski jacket/pants, ski goggles and having two long skis on her legs.  Honestly, it was really difficult to move around with the skis on the legs and you would need a lot of strength and energy to sustain throughout.  Guess it's too straining for her especially at the beginning.  In the end, Mommy stayed with her to play on our own instead of joining the ski lesson.  Mommy could only teach her the basics which I knew, eg. the proper way to go up the slope.  To my surprise, this Sweetie was so brave as to go down the slope on her own, without the instructor by her side nor me (mmm... though doubt I would be of much help being a beginner myself).

In total, we had a great time skiing for 2 days here and all of us were quite so confident of our skills that we even had a race among ourselves.  On the 3rd day at the Ski Resort, we decided to take the gondola to go to the highest peak of the mountain.  For your information, you will need to pay to use the gondola to go up and also to go down.  It was quite a weird experience for us, as guess we were the only ones taking the gondola two-ways (all those in the queues were going to ski down the slope).

It was an experience as it was really cold up there (even though it was extremely sunny).  We even had to cover our face during phototaking.  My Sweetie loves my sunglass too.  :)  It was really worth the trip as the air here is extremely fresh and the view is mesmerising.

Winter in Seoul (Part 4/6)

My darlings' FIRST.

The last time when we came to Lotte World Theme Park, my darlings were still quite young.  Hence, we did not go for many rides.

How time flies.  They are quite independent now to try new rides, some of which, they have to be on their own.  It was the first time they tried the bumper car rides.

We had also tried the hotair balloon ride (see photo on the right).  Although it wasn't really 'hotair', the designs (look at the other hotair balloons in the photo) was similar to one.  It was quite an experience when the hotair balloon ascend towards the ceiling of the theme park and also descend at the end of the ride.

Since our many visits to Legoland this year, my Cutie has started to have fears of roller-coaster rides (although the rides we went were just supermini type, that even my Sweetie was okay with the rides). As she was quite a pro in reading the map, there was no way we could get her into a ride that involves a little roller-coaster ride.  After much persuasion, my Cutie, being a brave little girl, decided to give the Adventures of Sindbad a try.  Everyone was proud of my Cutie of her achievement at overcoming her fears.  What an adventure for my Cutie and Sweetie.

Saranhaeyo 사랑해요 (I love you)

It was also the first for my darlings to eat ICE-CREAM in winter.  Look at the Lorry-design ice-cream.  Yummy.

For my Sweetie, it was also her first --- to roll down a staircase.  Luckily, she had her thick winter wear which helped to cushion her and slowed her down the roll at the stairs, gee... Mommy could only watch in horror with my Cutie as we were at the top of the stairs.  That scene was like the Korean drama, as she rolled SLOWLY down.  What a scare she gave to Mommy.  Naughty.  Naughty.

Winter in Seoul (Part 3/6)

 When we were in Lotte World, we happened to walk to a gallery area.  To our amazement, it was something like the Alive Museum artworks.  My darlings had a fun thing posing for photos.  Watch their great acting skills in some of the pictures.

1)  Quick, close the vault door before all the money fly away!

2) Call for help quickly while I try to hold them back.

3) Oops, I didn't mean to tear the picture.

4) Neither do I mean to burn the picture.

5) Alamak, you smell fishy!

6)  Hello, wake up, someone is trying to take away your fan.

7)  May I have some milk please? SURE!

8) Is that a mirror?

Obviously, NO!  It's just us wearing the same clothes.

9)  We have wings.

Winter in Seoul (Part 2/6)

We went to the Lotte World Theme Park the next day.  The outdoor theme park seemed magical to my darlings, however the cold weather kept us in the indoor theme park most of the time.

OUTDOOR

INDOOR

 

Indoor Ice Skating Rink

Visit to Jurong Bird Park

Brought my darlings to the Jurong Bird Park.  Daddy was unable to join us as he could not apply for leave.  The other time, they had come here with their Daddy as Mommy could not apply leave.  Nevertheless, my darlings love going to the Bird Park again.

We had a fun time learning about the various animals here such as the penguins, spoonbills, scarlet ibis, hyacinth macaw and many more.


When we arrived, we went to the Penguin Coast and were in time to watch the High Flyers Show at the Pool Amphitheatre.  My darlings had also learnt about the various owls at the World of Darkness.     The weather was cooling after a slight drizzle.  My darlings loved the Birdz of  Play the most as they could play with water.  They had such a wonderful time, but they could not play too long as the pool closed at 5.30pm.  They were very happy to bath outside.  Lol.

We went to the Jurong Point shopping mall after that, but we could not manage to find our favourite restaurant.  With the evening crowd, we just made do with eating at Burger King where we could get a seat.
My Sweetie was tired and dozed off after dinner.  Luckily, I had brought the stroller along.  Mommy had almost thought that we do not need a stroller anymore.  The stroller is my saviour, cannot imagine myself carrying this little 21kg girl around with all the rest of the stuff too.

My Cutie, as usual, is always very sensible to help Mommy and did not fight over the stroller with her sister.  Thank you, Cutie.  Love you.

Phuket-Langkawi Cruise (30Nov - 4 Dec 2013)

We went on a 5D4N cruise.  It was fun and we had a great time on board.  My darlings love the cruise so much that they wanted to go on a cruise again.  To them, the cruise is like a mobile hotel that floats on sea.  It was their first time on a cruise and they were amazed at how big the ship is.

On our first day onboard, we had an emergency drill exercise where everybody had to wear the life vests and gathered at the muster stations.  It was a good drill as it provides some comfort to my kids (who had some fear that the ship would sink as they had watched the show "Titanic" before).  We enjoyed the various performances such as the Magic Show, Opera Singing and the Acrobatic Show.  My darlings enjoyed the candlelight dinner of lobsters on the Gala Night.

We did not get the chance to swim in the swimming pool as it drizzled on those days that we were on the ship.  However, we managed to get a swim at near Kalim Beach in Phuket.



We paid 200 Thai Baht for the beach chairs and beach umbrellas.  My darlings enjoyed playing with the soft sand and had their own sand spa.  We love to stand in the sea and wait for the waves to come towards us.  There were a number of small crabs on the island.  My Cutie had a shock when she felt something pinching her foot in the water.  She scurried towards me and clung onto me tightly with her feet off the ground.  Her expression was so cute and funny.

In Langkawi, we joined a Land Tour.  Yet on the tour, most of the time, we were on a speed boat to watch the eagles and the Fish Farm.  My darlings love the Archer Fish who can squirt water.  Then we went to the limestone caves where we got to see the bats as well as the stalagmites and stalactites.

Throughout the tour, we did not get to buy much things as we did not bring currencies other than US and Singapore dollars.  Nevertheless, we found that the things sold were quite expensive as both Phuket and Langkawi are tourist resorts.

While waiting to disembark from the ship, my darlings got to move around the place and play with their Trunki.  Then we went to the highest deck of the ship and enjoyed the scenery of Singapore from another angle.  The Marina Bay area is quite beautiful.

My darlings were sad that the tour had come to an end.  Though it was relaxing on the cruise, we dozed off immediately when we reached home.  The ship was quite stable throughout the cruise, guess our bodies 'knew' and were adjusting to being back on land.  We had a great time on the cruise and we would love to go for another again.

My Sweetie was so creative to form the name of the ship with the boardgame.  Can you find the name of our ship?

3D2N stay at Shangri-la Hotel

It's National Day again.

Taking advantage of the holidays, we had a 3D2N stay at Shangri-la Hotel.

Usually, we had only stayed for 2D1N in our hotel stays and my darlings were always grumbling why we had to go back so soon.  With an addition day of stay, it did seem to make a lot of difference... ie. more fun.

Of course, the happiest are my darlings.


They love playing in the swimming pool and luckily, our room faced the pool.  Mummy could just stay in the room and waved to them when they went to the pool with Daddy.

Not forgetting their favourite bouncy bed.  This time round, we got 1 additional bed and my darlings were very happy to have their own territory (without sharing with Daddy and Mummy).

But for Mummy, it was the pool view from the balcony, bathtub as well as the automatic mechanism (of curtains and the wooden window that separate the bathtub and the bedroom) that caught my attention.

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We enjoyed the tranquility by the pool at night and we had a great time having our supper at the balcony.  We had additional stuff of 'kueh' made by my darlings with their dough.