SKYNI

We have been back in Sweden for almost a week now. Well, the kids are slowly adjusting to the time zone sleeping at 8.30 pm and waking up at around 6 pm. I, on the other hand, will take a while to adjust as I am still waking up at 4 am every morning.

We had a great trip back to Singapore. The familiarity and the warmth of family and friends is really comforting. It was really nice to be back.

It was hard on the kids in the first 2 weeks. They had to get over jet lag in the first week and in the second week, they fell sick as they were not used to the environment and heat. I was really looking forward to meeting our friends but had to cancel meetings as the kids were too sick to get out of the house. Linn was bitten by a rabbit and Jon caught the flu. But we all recovered in time for the great Bali trip and we had such a wonderful time there.

Overall, I would say that these are the top highlights of the trip…

1. Staying with the Queks in their 7 star resort home with cable, food, snacks, wine, laundry and LEGO on demand. Seriously, we are truly blessed. Thank you so much!

2. Bali … Fantastic Villa, Great food, 24 hour butlers, massages, champagne every day, unique shopping…we were pampered!

3. Meeting friends and family ….It was great to catch up with my dear family and good friends. I would have loved to spend more time with friends but it was hard with sick kids. Also being a recluse in Stockholm for such a long time has seriously impaired my planning skills with scheduling meetings. There are dear friends that I did not have time to meet. Thousand apologies…i promise next time.

4. Chinese Channel on SCV … well, I was pretty stuck in the house with sick kids. It was great entertainment for me. Entertainment that I really missed.

5. Chinese food,desserts and soups… needless to say,my waistline expanded quite a bit during my stay. I must say that the best food I ate during the visit were the 8 Unique ‘Xiao Long Bau’ in Paradise Dynasty.

and a lot more actually…but think i better stop here. It is hard enough to get used to the life back in Stockholm once again. 🙂

Can’t wait till the next return trip…

Barely 2 hours after we touched down at Stockholm, we were on the way to Farmor’s house in Köping. Farmor in her usual christmas tradition prepared a very special christmas feast. It was a great welcome home after a long trip. God Jul.

Our family just got back from a week trip in beautiful Bali. Everything was perfect. Thanks to the Queks for organising such a successful trip. It wasn’t easy planning a trip for all 18 of us.

The kids had a great time. We ate far too much and drank at least 30 bottles of wine and champagne. The food was great and most importantly, the company was fantastic. The kids love the villa so much that they don’t really want to go anywhere. More photos to come.

It will be really difficult to top this trip. Definitely one unforgettable trip.

Hello from rainy and humid Singapore. It is nice to be back. We arrived last evening and were lucky that the kids were really well behaved on the flights. But they were a complete nightmare last night when they could not sleep at all. They only fell asleep in the early morning at 6 am. So I guess you cannot get everything!

We had a wonderful welcome from the family with all our favourite food, popiah, roast duck, chicken, pork and bbq pork and all the traditional kweh that we missed. Thank you so much.

Will get in touch with all friends once we get over this jet lag! Won’t torture our friends when we are so crabby from the jet lag.

Hej Tomten

Jag har varit snäll till Jonathan och jag tror att jag ska få många presenter från dig.

Den här är min önskelista. Det är lite billigare för att jag önskar inte så många Legosaker. Du kan handla de flesta av dem i ToysRUs.

1. Fashion Girl Salongset (Varunr: 143255) Sidan 68. (Min mamma gillar inte för att hon tycker att jag är för ung för att måla mina naglar)

2. Disney Princess Cinderalla Glass Slipper Spel (Varunr: 026816) Sidan 10.

3. Barbie Fashion City (Varunr 026846) Sidan 10.

4. Belville Lego. Solskenshuset 7586 (Varunr 153948) Sidan 42.

5. Binden Djurtstudio (143369) Sidan 50 BR Önskeboken

Snälla…..jag kommer att blir glad om jag kan ha presenter.

Vi ses snart.

God Jul.

Kram och puss,
Linn

Hej Tomten,

Hur mår du? Du måste vara så upptagen nu.

Jag har varit en snäll pojka och den här önskelista är vad jag önskar för Jul. Jag vet att många STAR WARS leksaker inte billiga. Men du behöver inte oröa sig. Lego gubbar kommer att blir bra.

Jag önskar mig

1. Mace Windu’s Jedi Starfighter (7868)

2. Sith Nightspeeder(7957)

3. T-6 Jedi Shuttle (7931)

4. Lego Creator : Bergshu (5771)

5. Hoth Echo Base (7879)

Det finns ingen snö ännu. Kan vi fa lite snö till Jul också? Det finns inte Jul utan snö.

Tack så mycket! Vi ses snart!

God Jul!

Kram och Puss,
Jonathan

But Mummy…Why you forget that it is photo taking day in school? I really don’t like this Hello Kitty shirt because the Hello Kitty is not pretty and I don’t like black.

But don’t worry mummy…I will still smile for the camera.

Hey Singapore,

I will be coming back soon! See you.

XOXO
Linn

Every year, there will be professional photographers who will go around the schools to takes photos of the students. They will send a package to the parents and ask the parents if they would like to have these pictures. This picture came in different sizes and the package can cost up to Kr 721 (SGD 110). I think it is quite a nice service tho’.

I love this picture of Jonathan. His smile in the picture just warms my heart.

The temperature is dropping very quickly. It has been averaging between 4 to 10 degrees during the day time. At night time, it can drop even lower. But still no snow.

This year, it is a little tougher getting used to the early sunset and the days are surely a lot shorter now. We need to get used to the darkness and the Swedes make really good use of cosy lighting in their houses.

Nichlas thinks that November is the most difficult month of the year. The early darkness, the wetness, naked trees and the drop in temperature makes it quite depressing at times.

However, the children are just looking forward to the snow and their favourite holiday, Christmas!

Just a couple of weeks to our visit back to Singapore. Our first since moving here last July 2010. We are really looking forward to it.

We have already started preparing the kids for the trip, telling them that they get to see their po po, aunts, cousins and for Linn, her best friend Anan. I think it will be really sweet. I wonder how they will react. Linn was asking me if we can physically move our house in Sweden to Singapore as she claims she likes our house alot.

Loo, as per your request.

With the kind courtesy of Estee Lauder.

Definitely too much work to do this regularly.

Happiness is watching my kids playing together.

My dearest Jonathan,

Happy Birthday Jonathan! You are six today and I felt like it was just minutes ago when I held you in my hands for the very first time six years ago.

You are growing so fast and I am so proud of you. I hope you have enjoyed all the birthday celebrations and your pirates party.

My wish for you for your birthday is that mummy can help you to fulfill your dreams and that you will always be happy.

I love you Jonathan. I may not be able to show you often enough as you probably only hear me giving you instructions. But you are truly special in my heart.

Kiss and big hug,
Mama

We had a fantastic weekend with lovely autumn weather. The sun was shining and the colours of autumn are simply breathtaking. I love it specially when the leaves turn yellow and red. The temperature can be quite cold averaging 10 degrees every day But there is quite a lot of sweeping to do in the garden with the fallen leaves piling up high.

Time really flies and in a few weeks, we will take a short Autumn/Winter break in Singapore. It has been a rather busy 3 months and I am really looking forward to going back to Singapore. We will be back 26 Nov to 22 Dec.

Do I miss Singapore? Honestly, I do not think so much about Singapore food, my old life, transport, shopping, warm weather, services etc anymore. But what i really miss are my family and friends. And spending time and catching up with my family and friends will be my number one priority when we get back to Singapore. I am really looking forward to that!

Today we took a leisurely drive because the weather was very nice and we needed to get out It was then we found the open green airstrip with old planes, check out the photos of the kids

Dressing the little diva is getting harder these days. She insists on wearing clothes that are either Pink, Purple and Yellow – today she reminded me and added ‘and a little bit of gold’.

I got her some new Hello Kitty long sleeves T shirts because she likes all things ‘Hello Kitty’ but she says that she does not like them because the clothes on the Hello Kitty are not pretty enough and the Hello Kitty character on the t shirt must also wear pink, purple or yellow.

The picture below shows Linn’s current favourite t shirt – from her cousin Elin. She wants to wear this shirt everyday!!!

On the other hand, Jonathan is a perfect angel when it comes to dressing. He will wear whatever I tell him to wear and will never argue with me.

In my attempt to discipline my daughter, I told her that she cannot negotiate with me as long as she is shorter than me.

Linn gave me a smile, said ‘Ok mummy…let’s do this’ and she stood high on top of a chair.

I asked Jonathan what he wants for his birthday and he showed me a toy magic lamp…yes, like the one in Aladdin.

Yes, how i want a real one too.