SKYNI

The family had a nice little vacation recently in Gotland, a small island 3 hours away from Stockholm by boat. We have not been there for almost 9 years now. Jonathan was just 10 months old when I first visited the island. Nicke lived there for 3 years and it remains special to him. Now that the kids are alittle older, he wanted us to see where he lived when he was a ‘hardworking’ student.

Gotland is even more beautiful than I remembered. We spent 2 days in the south of Gotland, listening to birds, enjoying the great outdoor and stayed in a farm which was great for the kids

We couldn’t have better weather. Sunny but windy at times.

Simply a fantastic stay.

To be honest, it is not easy to keep this blog going. You probably noticed that the postings are rather sporadic and i tend to blog after big holidays and special events.

During the ‘normal’ daily lives, we try to get through from one activity to another – out of bed, breakfast, school, catch the bus, work, catch the bus home, grocery shopping, prepare dinner, clean up, homework, household chores, bed. It is not mundane, but time just breezes by. It is already difficult to find time to do my own thing. I wish i have the discipline to write weekly to report on the kids’ progress and what we have been up to. But it is definitely not an easy task.

At times, i do feel like giving up but when i read through all the old blogs, it does bring such wonderful memories to me. I really want the kids to keep their childhood memories, how they celebrated their birthdays, what they did during their school holidays, their naughty pranks, the seasonal holidays and the sweet memories of spending time with their family. I have to keep reminding myself that this is the purpose of the blog, to keep these memories alive and to share these with our dear family and friends.

So i hope that i will persevere with this …to keep this blog alive. I do think that it helps to keep track of my English which is deproving quite a bit. Not that my swedish is getting any better. I am embarrassed by the numerous grammatical and spelling errors and for the lack of content at times. But maybe i shouldn’t care so much after all….this is OUR BLOG!!!

It was the Easter break and I took my last batch of official ‘paid’ maternity leave before they ‘expire’ in June 2015.

How should I keep a very active Linn entertained and happy for the week? We went to Junibacken, a fantasic playground at Marieberg, Tekniska Museet, and watched a really girlie Cinderella movie. It was fantastic and we had a lot of fun.

Time really passes and I do enjoy spending time with the children. It is very interesting to find out their new thoughts and interests. For example, Linn shared with me her fears as she gets older. It is not always easy to come up with the right thing to say but at least, we can try to conquer her fears and find a way to help her be positive with the changes that she will go through.

Jonathan loves to take videos and will always take my phone to do film his Godzilla movie. He gets angry these days when he does not get his ways. He spent a wonderful long weekend with Farmor in Köping and we noticed that he is calmer when there are ‘less to do’ and ‘less gadgets to play with’. In Jonathan’s case, ‘less is definitely more’.

This is a little city close to Köping. I must say that it is quite nice. We had a great lunch and walk around the city. Specially under the great blue skies.

The children love rock climbing but of course, i get a little anxious to see them climb so high.

Jon and Linn take after Nicke. They love the outdoor and love running around the forests, Unlike me. I have been living and breathing the city for too long. I just need to get out there more often and enjoy the clean fresh air.

I guess it is never too late…and i really enjoyed it.

We had a fantastic time this Easter at Farmor’s house. Linn went around the neighbourhood collecting easter ‘godis’. Her cousins and her dressed up in traditional costume and wore very interesting makeup. I did not noticed it but an old childhood friend of mine, Pang Kai Wei pointed out to me that they look like russian dolls.
True indeed.

Words cannot describe how i feel about Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s passing. An extraodinary man who executed his vision not only with excellence but built a remarkable country over a short period of time.

I expressed my sadness to a Swedish friend who has no idea of who Mr Lee is and what he had done for Singapore. His first question was..’Was he a dictator?’. Sadly, my answer did raise question why Singapore would mourn for the loss of a dictator.

I guess perhaps Singaporeans can understand why his ‘dictatorship’ worked at a time that was most needed. He governed Singapore like how a father will look after his child. Without him, we would definitely not have a successful Singapore. Without him, I could not answer with pride when someone ask where i am from.

Thank you Mr Lee. May you rest in peace.

Nicke brought Linn to her first pop concert in March..a Katy Perry one. She has been a big fan and has been ROARing to us for quite a while. We thought she would be really excited. But i guess it was way past her bed time and she fell asleep at the end. Hilarious!!
Meanwhile, mummy had a great time snuggling with Jonathan.

We hate to admit…it took a while for our taste buds to get used to the food in Singapore. It was strange …

Thank goodness, we overcame the ‘technical failure’. and really started enjoying the food very much. It was really really wonderful and Nicke and I were eating all the time.

Linn’s favourite …was the Sugar Toast with Runny eggs.. she simply loves it.

Writing about this makes me hungry again…I am still thinking about the best Nasi Lemak i ever had in my life at Residence Quek and the biggest jumbo prawns i ever had at Residence Cundy. And of course not forgetting the delicious Reunion Dinner my mom cooked with her love.

Thank you so so much for the food extravaganza!

Everytime we come back to Singapore, we have to bring the kids out to the various attractions. That really kept us very busy through out the 13 days. We are tourists in our country. But Singapore has changed so much in the recent years that we felt that we have to go to these tourist spots and check them out.

Things we did this time
..River Safari
..Universal Studio
..Underwater World
..Marina Bay Sands
..Kusu Islands’
.. Botanical Gardens..

The children enjoyed themselves..i think they kind of enjoyed getting away from the cold for a while.

We had a great time going back to Singapore this Chinese New Year.

Our family really spoilt us with fantastic food and the 13 days felt too short. The children really enjoyed playing with their cousins.

It was fantastic seeing our dear friends as well and those we did not manage to meet, our sincere apologies and we will try to do catch up the next time.

Thanks for another wonderful stay in Singapore.

The Walls would like to thank family and friends for the loving support in the past year. You have been a great part of it and we hope that we will get to spend more time with you in 2015.

It seems like we did quite a lot this year.

The children have grown, specially Jonathan. He is enjoying his 9th year and gives us a lot of joys and hopes as he grows. We are proud that he tried out motor crossing and judo. He is making good progress with his reading.

Linn continues to be the loudest in the house with her numerous crazy and fun ideas. She never ceases to amaze us with her energy and pranks. She actively participated in school activities and perservered in Saturday’s Chinese class even though she hates it.

Nicke has been my rock in his own special way. He can be hard at times when it comes to family matters but it is good when i am too soft at times, and a balance is required. Thank you Nicke for everything. Loved our 10th year anniversary. Thank you for loving me through everything and being there for me.

We had great family vacations in Singapore, Bali with our family in Singapore, Edinburg in April and a wonderful summer vacation in Corfu. Linn and I had good mother-daughter time in Paris whilst Nicke and Jonathan bonded over chocolates in Munich.

Spending time with Nicke’s family has been great. Farmor as always is fantastic and the love and care she showers us is so greatly appreciated.

And all our wonderful friends and family, near and far. We don’t get to see each other as much as we would like to but we cherish you in our hearts dearly all throughout the year.

All in all, thank you and have a great 2015.

And may all your Dreams come true.

Nicke and I recently celebrated our 10th Year Anniversary. Yes, time truly flies and it seems like a lot have happened in the past 10 years.

Back then in 2004, we were still travelling all the time, spending fun carefree weekends in Hanoi, Japan, Chiang Mai, sneaking off holidays in Sweden, Paris, London. Now, we are at the mercy of school holidays and can hardly take any romantic weekends together.

Yes, it was really sweet and fun then. But i so love our family now. Sometimes the kids can drive us truly crazy but they also make us so happy at times.

I like to thank my wonderful husband, Nicke. It wouldn’t be possible without him.

Cheers,
Szeto

We could not resist taking some pictures of them.

Linn and I spent 2 full days in Disneyland Paris and had a really Funtastic time. The first Disney holiday for us.

As soon as we went past the entrance gates, Linn was out of sight and she was so excited. I had to hold on to her and even insisted that she carried a little note in her jeans, listing my contact details just in case she gets lost.

It was the Halloween weekend and they did up the entire park in true halloween style. Really fun to watch. We enjoyed all the rides and including the spooky ones. Linn and I are not big on roller coaster rides and so we skipped those. The park was super super crowded and we stood in line for almost an hour for some rides. It was rather surprising that Linn waited patiently in line most of the time.

Truly one great funtastic experience.

The girls just got back from Paris and had a wonderful funtastic time..and our first mother and daughter trip.

I chose Paris as I wanted to show Linn one of my favourite cities in the world. She only was excited to see the Eiffle Tower and of course, Paris Disneyland.

What was her first impression …she wondered how can it be so beautiful when it did not smell so good.

She really liked the Eiffle Tower and insisted on climbing all the way to the second floor. I would never have waited in line for 2 hours to climb, but she convinced me that she wanted to. She loved it.

We had a great day in Paris…eating Nutella crepes, drinking hot chocolate, macaroons etc.

It was really special for me to spend a day with Linn. She has so much energy but she did complain walking from Chatelet Les Halles all the way to Eiffle Tower and back.

We wish you a wonderful day full of hugs and kisses