Mid-Autumn @ GBTB

I saw some articles online about the Gardens By The Bay's lovely lantern display so I thought it would be nice to bring the kids there to celebrate mid-autumn festival this year. 

Before we went, the children ate their favourite ice-cream mooncakes for tea break. I even sourced for jelly Hello Kitty mooncakes for my no. 2 who is on a gluten and dairy-free diet so that she wouldn't feel deprived. 

We have never tried the OCBC Skyway despite visiting GBTB a few times before. Thus, the moment we reached, we went up there to enjoy the scenery and the breeze. Sadly, Joram was afraid of the height and Joshua had to carry him all the way. Kinda explains why he looked so grouchy in the family shot. Sigh...

We are holding the
Singapore Flyer
in our hands!!!

Family Pic

My girls and I

After a decent dinner at the Western Bistro, we headed out to try some interesting street food. The kids were naturally attracted to the rainbow-coloured ones. LOL Not all of them tasted good though. Hahaha... One appalling thing was that a stall was selling fermented beancurd and stunk up the entire area. That horrid smell, coupled with the hot and humid weather, made the whole experience rather unpleasant.

Next, we strolled around and tried our level best to admire the lanterns and lights while ploughing through the throngs of people and sweating profusely. I was so utterly exhausted at the end that I had to postpone our annual lantern walk and playing with sparklers in our own neighbourhood to the next night. I guess we'll not go back ever again for mid-autumn festival.

  

40th Birthday Surprise

I planned a surprise birthday party for my husband's 30th birthday in the past. How can I not do something special for his 40th birthday? *wink* 

We started off with a normal quiet lunch with just the two of us to throw Joshua off the scent. We ordered his favourite food, finishing off with a giant dessert which we could not finish even half of. Afterwards, we bought some new pants as birthday gifts for him. We then headed down to JCube for our next program of the day.

I tried to gather his best friends from yesteryears for a KTV session to relive the good old days. Sadly, most could not make it. Only two turned up towards the end. So there went my idea for a grand surprise when we reached the karaoke lounge room. I had to cook up some lame excuse why I booked such a big room for just the two of us! Hahaha... *sweat* Nonetheless, he was greatly surprised to see his buddies entering the room much later on.

We ended the day's program with dinner at Aston. Joshua widened his eyes when I asked for a table for ten when there were only four of us. So yes, there were more friends coming. 

Ten years ago, I played a trick on him with magic relighting candles. I decided to do the same this time round but he already suspected it when he saw sparks flying while we lit the candles. Yet, he was very nice to play along. *grin* Watch the videos below to see the hilarious moments.

30th Birthday

40th Birthday

We are so grateful to have close, faithful friends who took the time to celebrate Joshua's birthday despite their busy schedules. It is now so much harder to meet up with everyone having heavy responsibilities at work and at home. We had such a wonderful time catching up and I must say, the old adage totally rings true: Old friends are gold!