SKYNI

Dearest Linn

Happy Birthday and you are nine today.

I know this year has been rather interesting for you specially now that you are growing up and going through the growing pains. At times, you cannot understand why you cannot get your way. It makes you angry when Pappa and I get stricter with you. But one day, you will understand.

It has been quite a year. You had so much fun and had great adventures. You went on holidays to Iceland, Copenhagen, Singapore and Italy. I am so proud of what you have achieved at school. You learnt to read really well, improved your maths, even started playing the piano, composing your own songs and you went for your first scouts summer camp for 4 days in Gotland.

I wish you happiness and joy always. I love you very very much.

Love and Kisses,
Mamma

This year, the Walls had our summer vacation together in Milan, Lake Como and Bergamo. It was our first Italian holiday as a family.

It was really hard to be in Milan but not able to shop. But shopping is really not the kids’ thing.

Lake Como is simply stunning. Nicke rented a beautiful apartment just facing the lake in Lierna and each day, we just enjoyed the scenery from our varenda. The kids also love to swim in the lake. We visited the small cities by the lake, Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio using the lake ferries.

Our last stop before coming home was to Bergamo. A small city 2 hours away from Milan. Beautiful and unique with one of the most beautiful church I have seen.

After a week of pizza, pasta, foccacia bread and lots of gelato. We promised ourselves to stay away from italian food for a while as it was not helping our waist lines.

We will be back for sure.

Nicke,Linn and I went to Singapore in June to celebrate Yen Teng’s big birthday. It was not an easy decision to leave Jon in Sweden but he requested to stay in Stockholm.

We took it easy this trip and stayed largely in The Quek’s beautiful condo in Seletar. Thank you to our wonderful family who always take care of us so well. We ate our favourite food and spent quality time with our family and friends.

It was really really nice to be in Singapore again.

The Walls went on a roadtrip this weekend to Copenhagen. It was fantastic and spring is finally here. We are blessed with clear blue sunny skies for the past four days.

Jonathan wanted to go to his favourite aquarium The Blue Planet in Copenhagen to see his hammerhead shark. Nicke took a slow drive to Copenhagen with many detours. Both adults and kids had their fair share of fun. Nicke and I found the Copenhagen Street Food and the Meat packing district (Vesterbro)which is a hip trendy eating area. But we couldn’t stay as they are clearly not suitable for kids. However, the kids had a great time in the Experimentarium and Tivoli.

On the way home, we stopped by Sweden’s one and only KFC in Malmo and to visit Nicke’s old friend, Kristoffer, Guang Lu, Anton and Simon in Lund. He even visited the Military Aviation Museum in Linköping whilst I nursed Linn’s migraine in the car.

I love these road trips. But maybe it was a little too long for the kids to sit in the car.

I have no idea how we can spend the entire day in the zoo. Jonathan wants to see all his favourite animals like the polar bears, the seals, the sharks and he waited patiently for the brown bear to come out for this hidding place to take a picture of it.

I must admit that this is an amazing zoo.

Jonathan loves sharks…he can identify various species of sharks which leaves me clueless. He can stare at the aquarium for hours and not be bored.

Ok…i cannot compete with Linn’s amazing photos. They were outstanding.

But here are some of Jon’s photos

Linns Iceland’s trip!

This year, the Walls have a rather different Easter Break.

I had to go to Munich for work and took the opportunity to bring Jonathan with me as it was the Easter break. School was closed and the timing could not be better.

Nicke and Linn had other plans and they had planned a one week adventure in Iceland. Jonathan and I were not invited as they felt it was not for city dwellers. More on that later.

Jon was really well behaved during the 5 days stay. He enjoyed his own SPA pool at the hotel for 2 days and we then moved into the city. We ate street food and visited his favourite tourist sites / the Aquarium and the Zoo. He was so happy and it was really quality time spent together.

Jonathan is growing up so fast and it is nice to catch up with his growth and find out his interests, thoughts and views. During this trip, I realised that he can be quite independent and is learning to be more sociable. He does approach strangers and talk to them. He is really a sweet boy and very very obedient. Of course there are times when he gets upset when his requests are rejected. But my heart just melts when he kisses me and tells me that he loves me.

I have been to Munich over 20 times in the past 3 years but this must be my best trip so far.

The Walls could not go back to Singapore for Chinese New Year this year. I really missed not spending this with my family and close friends.

But such is life as the school holidays did not co-incide with the Chinese New Year.

so i can only wish all a wonderful new year and not think about the wonderful festivities back home.

Linn has been bugging me for the past 2 years about getting her ear lobes pierced. I have been reluctant largely because she is too young. Plus, I don’t see many places providing this service in Stockholm. I thought i need to go to a tattoo piercing shop to get this done.

So when I had the chance last week and saw a shop that provides this service, I surprised her by asking her if she wanted to do it on the spot.

She did not have much time to consider (or getting cold feet) and now, she is extremely proud of her pierced ear lobes. It was priceless seeing her grinned from ear to ear. She glanced at the mirror every moment she can and I can see how happy she was. I am just glad to be there with her, allowing her to choose her first earring, and holding her hands when they did the piercing.

I love doing these girly things with my daughter.

If only she likes shopping.

It has been a few months since i blogged. I must admit that i have forgotten about the blogg and I keep telling myself that i should. These memories are precious to me and i look at the kids now and feel that they have grown so much in the last couple of years.

The winter has been kind to us. The snow came a little late and it would have been great to have a nice white Christmas. But you can’t get everything.

The kids love to play in the snow and I cannot say the same about me. I am still very much hiding at home trying to keep warm. I am glad that my kids are not like me. Kudos to Nicke who forces them up to build snowmen and another fun snow activities.

Linn had a first piano recital sometime in December last year…..a really short one. But we are very happy for her and she did well.

I decided not to be the tiger mom and just let her try out piano classes with the school. Hopefully she will sustain her interest.

It was the Autumn break and I brought the kids to Copenhagen to see the Halloween festivities at Tivoli.

The 5 hours train ride from Stockholm to Copenhagen went very well…and many thanks to WIFI and Netflix. The kids were happy and arrived at Copenhagen central station well rested. We chose to stay at a Hostel/ Hotel/ B&B/Apartment called Urban House. It is great on the pocket, very kids friendly, no fuss, the location is just next to Tivoli and the Central Train Station.

We had four great days visiting The Blue Planet (spectacular Aquarium and even better than the ones in Singapore in my opinion), Han Christian Anderson Story Museum, The Experimental Museum and of course we visited Tivoli twice. Must say that for the second oldest amusement park in the work, it is very well maintained, with very good rides, magical and very beautiful. I really liked the Halloween theme and the kids found it very cool. Even Jon did not complain so much…although the crowd did get to him at times.

We went to the LEGO store EVERY DAY for the 4 days we were there. Jon loved it and if he has a choice, he will choose to live there.

All in all, a great wonderful trip.

Dear Jon

For your birthday, I wish you happiness, love and lots of joy and laughter…

We love you so much.

Big hugs and kiss,
Daddy, Mummy and Linn