All Pumped Up

After hearing rave reviews about the place from moms in the neighborhood, I finally found time to check out Pump It Up with Kayla. Filled with giant inflatables, this popular indoor play facility offers "Pop in Playtimes" where parents and kids can bounce, slide, climb and jump together.


It has become our fun thing-to-do on Fridays and Kayla loves it. We usually hang out there with cutie Ella and her mom (whom we got to know at the playground) before heading to lunch together at the nearby Marie Callendar's. The girls love each other and it's always nice getting to know and catching up with a fellow mom. Here's the best part: Kayla gets so tired bouncing all morning that she's usually all pooped out in the afternoon. :)

Heading Home

A couple more days and we'll be hopping on a plane back to Singapore. Getting ready for the trip has kept us busy the whole of last week and this time around, I'm going to make sure there's no last minute packing. :)

I'm happy to say Kayla's clothes are all taken care, and I'm hoping I'll get mine done tomorrow. But it isn't so much the packing I'm worried about. It's the plane ride. We're still haunted by the no-sleep 20-hour flight last year and I'm really praying hard that this time round, it'll be easier. We've armed ourselves with an arsenal of snacks (lollipops, Gerber stars, rice crackers) and I also bought a couple of little crafts to keep the lil princess occupied. We're just wondering if we should bring some Benadryl for backup! :)

It's going to be another busy next few days, since we're expecting visitors a day or two after we return (in other words, we've gotta get the house spick and span before we leave). And I'm hoping we won't return to a yard of withered plants. Mikey spent an afternoon fixing up the drip irrigation and it seems to be working alright (*fingers crossed*).

Now that she's older, Kayla's really excited about the trip, though I don't think she remembers anything about the plane ride. It'll be fun hanging out with Gong Gong and Po Po, instead of just talking to them via the computer. And I know she'll have a good time playing with her not-so-little cousin Darrell. :)

As for me, I'm just looking to recharge my batteries, chill out at home, hit every item on my to-eat list, and of course, catch up with my precious old pals. See ya real soooooon! :)

Our very own American Idol

From the minute she was born, Kayla convinced practically everyone (nurses included) that she has a set of huge pipes (nowhere near angelic, but definitely loud). Thankfully, those incessant, piercing cries have since been replaced by melodious tunes. Once Kayla figured out how to put a tune together, she's been learning song after song after song. Here are some snippets.

Spring-ing into Action

Now that the sun has returned, our schedule has been filled with tons of fun activities. We took Kayla for a Spring Farm Tour at Deer Hollow Farm (http://www.fodhf.org/) last month and she had a blast getting acquainted with the baby animals and their proud mamas.

The little munchkin also dived into her first swimming class two Saturday mornings ago, but her response has been somewhat mixed. For the most part she's fine. She just hates the backfloat and putting her head underwater...

Here are more videos! (If you haven't figured it out, I've finally downloaded all my videos onto the laptop, so over the next couple of days, I'll be uploading fresh ones as and when time and energy permits!)

The Speak Mandarin Campaign

It's been an uphill task trying to impart Mandarin to Kayla since I'm the only one who speaks and understands it at home. As much as possible, I've been trying to grow Kayla's Chinese vocabulary, one word at a time. It's still pretty dismal at this point, but it's getting better. She can count 1 to 10 in Mandarin and I'm proud to say her vocabulary has surpassed Mikey's. And for some strange reason, she speaks it with an accent, albeit a very endearing one.