Her Holidays

Amanda and cousin, Ashley
With Amanda’s cousin, Ashley.

Amanda and us spent our first week of the new year in Beijing.
She too spent some time with her 表妹 cousin, who was only interested in pointing her 表姐’s nose.
While Amanda was more interested in her cousin’s (baby) toys too!

Amanda, at this point is very interested in relationships between people and her.
Like how Diego is Dora’s cousin, in her current favorite show.
She is excited to know that she too has 表哥 like Dora. In fact, she has quite a few in the extended family.
She too make mental notes, that her Daddy’s 舅舅 Uncle, stays in the estate across the road, and that her own 舅舅 is in Singapore.
She remembered and reminded us when we walked past her Daddy’s 舅舅 block, 2 weeks after telling her once.
She is now linking a few of her Uncle’s, and their cousin-relationship with Dp.
It took her awhile to understand that Dp is my husband, and not hers. And is still trying to differentiate 儿子 and 女儿.

And just now, she told me, 妈妈你的老公回来了!我给你的老公我的爸爸开门呢!heehee~!

We planned our trip to Beijing to coincide with Dad’s business trip to China.

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Eyes fixed on the original Smurfs cartoon,
and very happy with the many presents Grandpa brought over.

We made a trip to the Beijing Aquarium. We were in time for the sea lion and dolphin’s performance.
Which Amanda couldn’t take her eyes off the stage.
And by watching the performance, she learned and remembered her new words, 海狮 and sea lion. :)

Beijing Aquarium

Beijing Aquarium
I was really fascinated by the jellyfishes.
I don’t remember seeing any jellyfish this close before.

Beijing Aquarium
Was careful not too get too close to the fishes.

And she is happy to meet the Smurfs in Beijing too. Though the Smurfs looked really weird.

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With 姑姑.

These days, she can sometimes be found humming… and just sing “Happpy Sooong!”
She is such a big girl now. Happy. Fun. And talkative!
While I appreciate not having to chase after her at the malls, she now wants to be carried, almost all the time.
If she wants to be carried, she would say that she’s tired. But when she wants to get down, she would say, Mama, 你累了吧 (You must be tired.)

We want to expose her to stuff she don’t get to see in Yuncheng, and made sure she had lots of fun.
But the end of the day, she would still picked Yuncheng, over Beijing and Singapore.

We know its because, she loves and enjoys playing with her toys!!!

Amanda busy with her toys.
Busy with her toys.

I had just as much fun as her with the cash register.
From the picture, she has many pink toys, because blue is sooo not my color.
But I do get dizzy from too many Pinks sometimes. Hee!

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Amanda’s faint tan lines from her swimsuit reminds us of the fun we had in Sanya, Hainan Island.

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Amanda at Sanya’s Yalong Bay.

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Family Photo.

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Group Photo.
And Everyone in blue.

The trip, which we planned for it to fall on our 5th wedding anniversary was also an excellent chance for the father and daughter to bond.
And there were many many many times, that Amanda prefers Daddy to me. I was quite relieved. It gives me time to relax a little.

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There is no direct flight to Sanya from Yuncheng so it wasn’t exactly convenient for us to get there.
Traveling on the road for 3 hours with a toddler and kid can be pretty trying.

V chums

The kids started out as chums, but started fighting and crying over who should play the iPhone that has more interesting games / or toys and sometimes food.
It happens on a daily basis. But being kids, they pretty much make up a few minutes later.

And thankfully, they both prefer to hang out / bother DP, who is btw better with kids than babies.
He is good with them, playing, talking and entertaining them throughout the trip.

The purpose of the trip was to let the kids play with the sand and pool.
The first resort which is new, has great rooms (and bathroom) and great pools but has very disappointing beach.
We then returned to the resort we stayed during our babymoon.
The Ritz is definitely a family-oriented hotel. They were fully booked on the last day, that we had to move to another hotel, which pales in comparison.
It has a great family and holiday atmosphere.
Before the resorts at the other up and coming Bays are ready, Yalong bay still is the best white sand beach.

Some pictures from the first resort, first.

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At the Pool’s bar.

Smiling for Mummy
At Lunch. Looking sweet.

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Bonding & Lounging with Daddy at the balcony.

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Eager to dive into the pool.

The Water slides at the different resorts are the kids’ favorites.
This is video is their 28th or 39th time (I lost count!) down the water slide.

DP was tired from getting out of the pool and going up the steps to get to top of the slide.
But its hard to refuse Amanda, when she said (and kept repeating) the sweetest Some More.

Her eyes brightens up whenever she hears us say 滑梯 Slide.
Like how we were talking about going to the water park in Yuncheng, she listened intently to our conversation and grinned.

She’s either too young to know fear or she is frequently exposed to pool, she display no fear for the pool, some kids slightly older than her were too afraid to get into the pool.
There were times she slipped into the waters, she did not cry or became too afraid to get in again!
Unlike Singapore, kids are not frequently exposed to pools in China. It scares them a lot.
Then again, fear keeps them safe.

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Going up and down.

It was at the second resort, that she learned to stay afloat with the armband, by accident.
She was going up and down the steps at the pool.
And when she got deeper, she was kinda surprised that she was floating despite her little feet not touching the bottom of pool.
With some help and guidance, she learned how to balance and float.

The challenging part was however, to stop her from drinking the pool’s water.

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Slurp Slurp!!!

Which she does it on purpose and with a mischievous grin. Especially after I said, Don’t drink the water!
It all started when I told her to Drink water, from her bottle of course, she thought it was more convenient to drink direct from the pool.

Pictures from the beach…
I can never quite forget how happy and relaxed everyone were that evening, sitting on the sand, watching the kids occupy themselves with the sand and the Sun slowly sets behind us.

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Concentrating in getting the sand into the pail.

Playing with Sand
Prefers using her hands more.

Playing with sand
With Zhuozhuo. Which Amanda pronounce as 博博

A couple more photos.

Feeling Home.
First thing she says every morning, is either 哥哥 or 滑梯 (brother or slide)

kids slipper.
Slippers for young guest.
So cute, soft and comfy, that it came home with us.

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At the Kid’s Club.
When we want to stay dry.

This trip, we didn’t have the time to be the beach bums we were before lil’ judebabe came into our lives.
We were moving around so much.
And I was so busy applying sunblock on Amanda, that I forgot about myself.
My back, and only my back, was very sun burnt, because I constantly bend to look after at the busy, active little one.

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A quiet dinner.

We were lucky to have one quiet dinner in our room. The only celebration of our 5th Wedding Anniversary.
And just because the kids were exhausted that they slept after shower without dinner.

But the kids definitely made the trip very fun and memorable!
Zhuozhuo had so much fun that he asked his parents if they could stay in Sanya, everyday. (think he meant staying in Sanya, forever.)
His previous trips weren’t as fun! He said.

We plan to make going to Sanya, and annual affair.
Fun for the kids. And it makes everyone happy.

More Holiday photos on Flickr here.

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Destination: Sanya., originally uploaded by judebabe.

Since that babymoon to Sanya, Hainan Island two years ago, we have been talking about bringing Amanda to Sanya again!
Yes. Again. She was in my tummy her first time. :p

Last year, I bought 4 swimming floats online. In different sizes, colors, shapes and functions.
One came with shade.
Swim suits for me and Amanda. Hat. and Sunblock.
But the trip did not happen.

This year, I bought more swim suits for me and Amanda, more hats, more sunblocks, fit flops for the family and toys to play at the beach.

Lucky us, we are now finally at Sanya for Amanda’s first beach holiday

Amanda is excited too!
I inflated her pink princess float at home the other day, and she was excited and wanted to walk and play around in it.

We are spending 4 nights in Sanya together Amanda’s bobo gege and parents, she couldn’t quite pronouce Zhuo.
While we are here working on our tans, swimming and playing by the pool and beach, we are also celebrating our 5th Wedding Anniversary today.

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After nearly two months of not seeing Amanda, they both miss Amanda,
And I thought why not make a business trip to China, a holiday too?

So we arranged to meet up in Wuhan.

Amanda was happy and only wanted Grandma to carry and play with her during the ride from the Wuhan Airport to the hotel.
We too caught up with my Uncle, Auntie and Cousin, who are now based in Wuhan.
That night, everyone was very happy to see one another again.

Next day, we did some sight-seeing in Wuhan.
Everything was great, except I missed a trip to the toilet at a tourist attraction and was caught in the traffic jam.
The city is also undergoing some massive construction of subway, adding to the congestion of growing car population.
And we experienced some very strong wind on that day.

Some of the pictures from our short trip in Wuhan.

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Amanda with Uncle CK.
With GrandAunt and Uncle CK.

Near HuangHe Tower. One of the few famous towers in China.

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View From the tower.

In some massive shopping centre in Wuhan.
In some massive pedestrian-shopping street.

Amanda's first gloves.
Amanda and her first pair of gloves.

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When running, Amanda loves to concentrate on her steps by looking down.

We then returned to Yuncheng, while Dad continued with his business before joining us in Yuncheng again.
We didn’t do much sightseeing in Yuncheng but took short trips to nearby places of interest.
Most importantly, it is for them to bond with Amanda.

And for everything that I won’t agree to, Amanda would turn to Grandpa and Grandma.
She knows who spoils her. Who doesn’t.

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Amanda happy to be out.
Photo taken by Grandpa.

Mum n I.
Mum n I

Yuncheng Pheonix.
With Grandpa and Grandma.

We took a day trip to the nearby city in Henan Province.
We spotted some swans from Siberia, they visit every winter.
These swans attracts many tourist / photographers to this part of China every winter.
This is probably not the best Swan-spotting spot. There are a few other better spots, I heard.

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We then visited a muesum, similar to Xi’an Terra Cotta (but on a much smaller scale.)
And a old dam.

It was freezing at the dam. But Amanda was happy to run about in the open space.

Amanda goes Wheeee!!!!
Amanda gets a lift from GrandPa and GrandMa.

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One of my favorite pic of that day.

Amanda: Childish! *rolls eyes*
Amanda! Say Yeah!

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Yeah!
Imitating GrandPa and GrandMa behind the camera.

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Sunset. Time to go Home.

I am so happy that they came. They added much warmth to our Home. And definitely a great help!
And now that Amanda is able to remember people and things, she definitely warm up to them immediately.

I am sure, like me, she will grow to look forward to returning Singapore each time.

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Us in an old estate.
Looking at their laundry strings of undergarments and cured meat?

We planned to stay for a few days in Wuhan.
But Amanda started having runny nose in Shenzhen.
The weather was also cold and windy in Wuhan.
I felt like I am about to fall sick with my sore throat.

I was also starting to miss Home.
I hate to admit (in China) there’s really no place like home in Yuncheng.

These days, traffic in every other city is congested.
Being caught in the traffic with a bursting bladder and a baby who only wanted to bounce on Mummy was probably the most memorable part of my trip.

We have returned to Yuncheng for about a week now.
Been busy nursing a cold for the first 2 days (I was really tired and had little strength) and was out and about.

Mum came back to Yuncheng with us while Dad came to visit later after he was done with his business, the reason why he came to China in the first place.

I am reluctant to see them go tomorrow. But I am sensing that they are quite tired of Yuncheng.
And of course, they couldn’t quite get used to having an active toddler, who needs lots of attention, after some 20 years…

Amanda's first trip to Wuhan.

I know that Yuncheng isn’t interesting or an exciting travel destination but I love having them around and being part of my life here.

Amanda may sometimes push them away, these days she and her legs really has a mind of their own, but she definitely recognizes them, when we welcomed them at the Arrival gate.

I also love seeing her pull her Grandpa or Grandma to her play mat so that they can play with her toys and bond.
She enjoys their company. It warms my heart.

After all, it isn’t everyday that we have such doting Grandparents and parents around.

Hope I have more time and more pictures for this blog soon. Its getting quiet here.

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Family holiday – Shenzhen, originally uploaded by judebabe.

Visited the Zoo in Shenzhen and because of visa requirement Amanda and I, we had to get out of China made our shortest trip to Hong Kong ever.
Less than 3 minutes. And no shopping.
What a record!

We are now touring Wuhan and with my parents, Uncle, Auntie and cousin.

It’s good to let Amanda get acquainted with her Mummy’s relatives.

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