Philly...finally

We have been in Pennsylvania for so long but we have yet to visit Philadelphia. We finally got a chance to visit this great city together with our relations. Philly is a beautiful city with many histories. In my opinion, Philly is many times better than NYC.


The modern skycrapers...


the old historical buildings...


...a great mix of the old and new, tastefully done. So, do we really always need to demolish the old to make way for the new?


Inside the Liberty Bell Center


The Liberty Bell


The Independence Hall


The statue of the Signer


Statue of George Washington


Driving on the Benjamin Franklin bridge

Poconos in winter

We drove to the Poconos Mountains. The Poconos was bursting with bright colours in autumn. In winter, it is covered in a sea of pure white snow. One word to describe 'AWESOME'


The ski mountain


Sliding down the snow-covered mountain


Bringing the tube up the slope...


All ready to slide....(sorry no pixs on the way down but it was fun!)


Mummy said when she was a little girl, she ate ice ball as big as this snow ball.


Ann building her snow fortress


That was me! Climbing the snow mountain was not easy but it sure helped to shed off some calories. Finally...made it


Snow turning to ice. Do you know that no two snowflakes are the same?


Part of the lake was already frozen


The swans on the frozen lake

On such a cold day, what is the best dish to have? Hot indian curry! God is good isn't He? He knows all our needs. Believe it or not, we found an indian restaurant in the Poconos.


It has a train carriage eating area


Inside the train carriage and the scenary outside


Mutton curry with papadums. Oooo... heavenly

All the fun things....

Since my sister's family arrived, I hardly have time to blog. They left for home yesterday and now the house is back to its normal self - peaceful and quiet and time for some blogging...

Downtown Ontario, Canada


"Fi-fai-fum-fum....who are these kids sitting on my chair"


Outside Frankenstein's castle...even he needs a burger


Ripley's believe it or not museum. Great place for all!

The wonderful thing about going on a road trip is that you will spot some beautiful and rare sight...it's now close to winter and birds are migrating to warmer places...

This rare sight of birds migrating was captured by hubby. Notice the birds flying together and forming the letter 'Y' in the far end


Ann turns 4!

Yes, while sister and gang were here, Ann turned 4!!! My little princess is now a little lady

I baked these little cookies and packed them into these colourful boxes for her to bring to school to give out to all her classmates

In the evening, we had a great Chinese dinner.

Princess Ann and her castle cake


The Disney Princess Castle cake. The sleeping beauty is Ann's favourite princess.

Beauty in winter

Everyone that come to US of A must visit the Niagara Falls. This is our third visit to the Falls as we bring our family to witness this wonder and I can assure you that each visit is a different experience.

On our way there, we noticed lots of snow-covered spots but we didn't expect to see such early winter


Snow-covered street...


Snow-covered car..

Then we hit the snow-fall. The more up north we drove, the heavier was the snow fall

Driving through the snow fall



We finally had to stop when we saw a huge park...the snow fight began. The kids had a fabulous time, it was their very first and mine too.

From our house to Niagara Falls is about seven hours, a stop-over is essential.

Yes, we stayed at the Best Western Horsehead motel again but this time, it was a different sight altogether

The next day, we witnessed more beauty in winter. It was really awesome to be able to soak in the beauty of God's goodness and His masterpiece. Looking at all these, you know God is indeed a great artist. Enjoy...




The kids have more fun...




We finally arrived at Niagara Falls...in winter






We have now experienced all the four seasons. It was a mind-blowing experience. This song aptly described my feelings...

You are beautiful beyond description
Too marvelous for words,
Too wonderful for comprehension,
Like nothing ever seen or heard.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Yes, my family came at the right time. In fact for most Singaporeans who have been living in the tropics, able to see snow is something they will really love...

... and I was so glad that my two nephews managed to see it and they were very excited!


While on our way to the Crystal Cave, it started snowing.

Yes, we have company...lots of them

My sister, my brother-in-law, their two sons and my uncle are all here with us in PA. Yes, the house has come alive once more.

When they Lims were here in August, we rented a 7-seater SUV to fit everyone in. This time, we needed a much bigger vehicle, we rented a 12-seater van and hubby drove it. He drove from Macungie to Newark airport and then to JFK airport and finally headed home. He is really getting better and better with his driving skill. I told him, the next one we will rent a campervan and camp out!


That's hubby and my brother-in-law and that's the 12-seater van.


Want to know what is jet-lag? Sleeping on the dinner table!


We had dinner at New York City - Dallas B-b-q. This is called an onion loaf. Very similar to our wild, wild west onion from Black Angus.

SCREAM.....the 'terrors have landed'


Yes...these four will be living together under the same roof for the next couple of weeks. Their age, 10, 8, 7 and 4!

I hope the peace and quiet in the neighbourhood will not be severely interrupted...or else we may find ourselves in the town council office. But for sure, there will be lots and lots of fun and good food and not forgetting....ROAD TRIPS!

There will be more bloggings...but they may come in slow and steady as my hands will be full...as yours truly here, the good 'yiyi' (aunt) has promised them lots of goodies...(slurp, slurp)

Parent - teacher conference

This whole week is the annual parent-teacher conference at Kai's school. During this conference, the class teacher will meet the parents of each child individually and discuss about the progress of the child.

I finally got to meet Kai's class teacher, face to face, one to one. The exact words coming out from her mouth, "Kai is highly intelligent!"

As a mum, I have every reason to be proud of him. I am not your typical Asian parent who often shy away from the praises of their kids with "no lah, no lah..." I accept it and I am very happy for my son. Eight years ago, hubby and I, collectively, made the decision to live on a single-income so that our kids could have the best attention and care. Not the 'perfect' but the 'best'. Looking at how Kai has progressed, we know the decision was right although it was laden with alot of challenges along the way... and still is.

However, the teacher has a problem, Kai is often restless and we both know the reason, he is not challenged enough. It is important that we arrest this problem early. He needs to move a level higher...continuing his education in US is a great choice. Some of the Ivy League Universities are here. If he can pursue his education here, it will be good but that means we have to be here for a good number of years...Will the education back home benefit someone like my son? Is the family going to give up everything for Kai to be the best he was created to be? God... help us!

Like grandpa, like grandson


This is so heartwarming. Grandpa and grandson blowing the horn shofar together during worship session in church.