SpongeBob Squarepants Lego

Thanks to Auntie Irene who bought Justin a SpongeBob Squarepants Bikini Bottom Lego set from Gotemba outlet yesterday. Good news - he has finished it today!

Packet 1 was done before bedtime last night. Packets 2 & 3 was today completed after his afternoon snack back from school. He sat quietly at the dining table from 3:45pm till 4:30pm and finished it by himself.

Justin "generously" gave Jonathan Spongebob and Patrick figurines to play. The cheeky fella kept telling Jon that it was "Patricka" even though he knew it was wrong. Sounds like PoPo isn't it?

CNY Reunion Dinner

This year's reunion was special because Auntie Irene and Uncle Fred flew over to celebrate CNY reunion with us. Ah Mah prepared the sumptuous dinner. After dinner, the kids played with their balloons and trains, while adults were engaged in FIFA 2009 and mahjong game.

Thank you for the supplies of laksa, mee rebus, hainanese chicken rice, pork floss, nian gao, kueh bangkit, kueh bahlu and love letters!

Here's wishing all our family and friends in Singapore, a

Happy & Prosperous New Year!!!

We miss you lots!

Trip to Hakone, Kanagawa (Day 1)

This is an overdue post because of the time needed to sort all the photos which I took during the trip.

There was a public holiday on Monday, 12th Jan, so we decided to make a short trip over the weekend to Hakone.



We bought the 2-day Hakone free pass which provides unlimited access to 7 different types of transportation and discounts to various attractions to the area. Free and easy, own time own target, great for families with kids.

Day 1: Shinjuku -> Hakone






Local Train

Express Train "Romancecar"

The kids woke up at 6am and we were ready to leave the house at 7am. We had to take the Tokyo Subway to Shinjuku station, where we transferred to Odakyu line to take the limited express train "Romancecar" to Hakone-Yumoto Station.

The journey was to take one and a half hours. Shortly after a light snack of tuna and ham sandwiches, the kids took a short nap in the train. The weatherman had forecasted a cloudy and windy day, after the previous day's cold and rain where temperatures dropped to a new low in Tokyo. The previous night's temperature was -2 degrees celsius in Hakone so I was secretly hoping for snow so that the kids could play.

At Hakone-Yumote, we visited the Hakone Toy Museum owned by Teruhisa Kitahara an antique toy collector.


We stopped by a ramen shop for lunch before proceeding towards Gora station via Hakone Tozan Line. Another type of train. Oh boy, was Justin thrilled! He was so excited that he sat right in front of the train and kept looking at the driver intentively while the driver turned the gears and levers.

Another approaching Tozan Line train

After arriving at Gora station, we took the Hakone Tozan Cable Car to Sounzan. To our delight, we began to see snow as we travelled further up the mountain. Yippee!!!! It's the first for Jonathan.

We headed for Owakudani, also known as the Great Boiling Valley, with active sulphur fumes coming out from the crater of Mount Hakone. This reminded me of the previous post on rotten egg smell. (*Smiles*)


We had afternoon tea of sweet potatoes, coffee and hot chocolate. The kids took some rides on Thomas the train, another mini-train and Shinkansen. The hats on them were hanging on clothes racks for visitors to use, together with uniforms. And of course, they were outside playing with the snow for awhile.

At around 3:45pm, we started our 30 minutes descent from Sounzan to Togendai on Lake Ashi. It was a panoramic view of both Lake Ashi and Mount Fuji.

View of Mt Fuji from the cable car

We were just in time to catch the 2nd last ferry for the day, on board the Pirate Boat (Hakone Sightseeing Cruise).

We arrived at Hakone Hotel around 5pm, checked in for a short rest before heading to the French restaurant for dinner downstairs.

The best thing to end the day was being able to see the Orion constellation in the clear sky. This was a shot taken by Papa. Photo is unedited, constellations are a little light but I can still make out Orion's belt when I double click the image. A better picture of Orion, the hunter, can be found here.

Trip to Hakone, Kanagawa (Day 2)

Day 2: Hakone -> Shinjuku

After breakfast, we took some photos by the lakeside. It was a beautiful day with the sun finally showing it's face. The lake was calm with the Sightseeing Cruise steaming away to the next destination. After our hotel check-out we walked from Hakonemachi-ko to Moto Hakone-ko. Along the way we passed by some souvenir shops near the Hakone Checkpoint. The boys posed for some pictures (*lol*).

We walked through Cedar Avenue from Hakonemachi-ko to Moto Hakone-ko. This is the old Tokaido Highway where Cedar trees were planted on both sides of the road to shade travellers in summer and protect the road from snow in winter.

Cedar Avenue

We were just in time to hop onto a Hakone Tozan Bus from Moto Hakone-ko back to Hakone Yumoto. The bus ride wasn't that comfortable. The roads were steep and winding. Five minutes into the ride Ah Mah started feeling nauseous. The bus driver kept on hitting the brakes and releasing it very quickly. We were glad to survive to the station in one piece.

Another Romancecar

We took the limited express train back to Shinjuku, and then a subway train back home. It was definitely an enjoyable and refreshing trip.

Let me teach you how to wear a scarf

Here is Jonathan showing us how to wear a scar. His typical "I do!" phrase, refusing help from anybody.

Slide 1 - I will now show you how to wear a scarf

Slide 2 - Step 1 : Put the scarf around your neck

Slide 3 - Step 2 : Put one end into the hole behind

Slide 4 - Step 3 : There you go!

Homemade Bak Kwa

I chanced upon a website with recipe for Bak Kwa and decided to try it out. On a side note, I am beginning to crave for Singapore food. The fishball noodles, Hokkien mee, carrot cake, roti prata, laksa, tom yam gung, and the list goes on. I can't seem to find fish balls and fresh red chillies here either.

Bak Kwa fresh out from the oven

The verdict for my first attempt making Bak Kwa:

Justin - "Good. Very nice mummy. Can I have one more? I only had five ....."

Dad - "A little sweet. Texture too soft, a little harder would be great."

As for me, I felt that the colour came out great considering that I didn't add any colouring. It's easy to make, only have to watch the oven temperature and it takes less than 2 hours. Hopefully I will have time again to try out another batch with less sugar.

Trip to Asakusa - Sensoji (Asakusa Kannon Temple)

Ah mah is here! The children are elated with the numerous gifts which she bought. Amongst those - Shinkansen train and Pikachu car for Jon, JR train and bus for Jus, funny bricks play set, towels, and lots of other goodies. How lucky you two are to be doted and pampered by your grandparents!

This weekend we headed to Asakusa to visit Sensoji (Buddhist Temple). A few streets were closed to traffic in celebration for the new year. Justin and Jonathan had their fair share of playing on the road. The streets were filled with people going to visit the shrine.

After entering the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate), the one with the huge red lantern, there is a shopping street of over 200 metres. After which the street leads to the temple's second gate to the Asakusa Shrine. The entrance of the temple was so packed with people that we decided not to go in. It would have been difficult manoeuvring through the crowd with 2 kids.

Kids ......

Can you tell from the picture who is the cheekier and active one? Well, BOTH are. Jonathan is catching up quickly to Justin, always imitating exactly what the elder brother does.

Sometimes it can be frustrating, especially when I try to calm them down and tell them to behave themselves - which is almost impossible when they are highly excited. But when I think of it in their perspective, I get a little less tensed. After all, they are just normal kids trying to have fun and be happy.