Tuen's Blog

In early July, ourselves, Chongs and Chias went up to stay for 4 nights at Dinner Plain. We went up in 5 cars altogether , because ourselves and the Chongs needed two cars per family. We had no shortage of drivers of course, as all our older kids can drive now; so the 4 plus hour journey was quite pleasant. Melissa’s boyfriend and Jie’s girlfriend came along as well.

This was the first time we were driving in a snow resort in a 4 wheel drive, and what a convenience it proved to be. The Chias and my son’s cars were not 4×4s and they had to stop and put on snow chains; which was pretty time consuming and inconvenient.

Anyway the 3 families stayed in 3 different houses but we got together each evening for a combined dinner, which was cooked separately by the wives and then brought together for the combined meal. We had a really great time together. We even managed to squeeze in a mahjong session, thanks to Henry, who was capable enough to dismantle his mahjong table and bring it along, sans the legs, which gave us a bit of problem in trying to find a place to set it up, but we managed.  Henry, bring the legs in future!

The kids went snow boarding this time, like the last time we were up at Mt. Hotham.  It seems snow boarding is the in thing for kids now. Well, the three older, ’sub-prime boys’ were deciding whether or not we should stick to skiing or try snow boarding as well.  Thanks to some funny ideas from Tony, who later deeply regretted it, we decided that we should try snow boarding whilst we still could, and sort of tick the ‘bucket list’ on that item.

And so we hired our snow boards and joined a beginner snow boarder’s class, much to the amusement of everyone around us.

Well it turned out to be an interesting experience, although we could hardly stay upright on the snowboard. I shan’t mention who was the worst amongst us, but it wasn’t me and it wasn’t Henry. 

I was really impressed with how fast the kids picked up snowboarding, especially the younger ones like Louie and Raph. Little Ren didn’t try snowboarding of course, but he did go tobogganing.

Co-incidentally, Frank and his gang were also on Mt. Hotham around the same time, and Mary and I had an opportunity to catch up with them on one of the late afternoons.

The one disappointing thing was the poor snow cover and not cold enough temperatures. It was a far cry from the last time we where there, when it was almost blizzard like at times. This time around, I was almost convinced it was summer.

But it was still a great holiday, and I’m looking forward to our next holiday together!

Some photos can be found here.

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I’ve finally finished the frame for my jigsaw puzzle. It’s been quite a journey.

Back in Jan 2009, I bought a jigsaw puzzle from Singapore, and started working on it some time later back home in Melbourne. It was slow going, as the kids were no longer interested in jigsaws, and Mary was too busy to help. So it was just me and the 2000 piece jigsaw. In the midst of building the jigsaw, I started thinking about the frame, and wanted to try and build my own frame, as frames are expensive to purchase over here. I started reading up about frame building, and enlarged my interest to woodworking in general. I found the subject so interesting that I took up woodworking and built several projects including my own workbench, a shoe cabinet and other items.

On Easter Sunday this year, I finally completed my jigsaw, after more than a year. And soon after that, I built a router table so that I could route the moulding of the frame. I started work on the frame after that, and today, I finally hung the jigsaw up, one and a half years after I started the project. It’s been a long but rewarding experience!

25 Feb 2009

8 March 2009

21 Jan 2010

24 March 2010

Back of the Frame

Finished and Hanging!

We had the pleasure of the company of the Chuas for about a week last month. 

Stephen, Pat and Abigail came to stay with us from 12th to 20th June. We really enjoyed their company and we brought them to various places.

On the very day of their arrival, they were invited to dinner by the Chongs, who were celebrating both Connie and Louie’s birthdays. Then on Sunday night, it was dinner at the Chias’ togther with Chongs and Kuangs. Then on Monday, we took the opportunity to visit Hanging Rock, a place which we ourselves had not been to before. The next evening, the Chuas’ treated us to dinner at Sakata-ya, which was previously known as Sakata and had just reopened at a new location. Over the next few days the Chuas spent time visiting some universities, schools and we also brought them to our favourite tea-place, Miss Marples, up in  Sassafras.

Before we knew it, Sunday arrived and it was time for them to depart. We had a great time together and we look forward to more visits from our friends in Singapore.

Photos can be found here.

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We recently celebrated Ren’s 5th Birthday with a small party at home. We invited some of his preschool classmates and their parents over to our home for some snacks, games and a magic show. Guess who was the magician? I was pretty nervous about performing, as it had been years since I last performed my tricks. But since the alternative was to hire a professional magician or other form of entertainment, I agreed with Mary’s suggestion that I perform the tricks myself.

The party went very well and the kids had a great time. Mary was great at organising the games and Melissa and Wen helped lead the kids in the games too. The magic show didn’t go too bad either, from the feedback I received. It seems some of the kids were even inspired enough to want to become future magicians themselves!

Ren of course, was thrilled with the company and the presents he received. We had no regrets organising the party, but considering the amount of preparation we put into the party, and the amount of cleaning up after, I think it will be some years till his next big party! 

Oh we must express our thanks to Cecilia, an old friend of Mary’s with whom we recently met up again after many years, for baking Ren’s Ben Ten cake. It was really an excellent cake!

Photos can be found here.

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In the last few months, I’ve been going cycling with a bunch of guys. Tony and I got ‘convinced’ to sign up for Melbourne’s “Around the Bay” ride in October, and the 210km route to boot!

So we’ve been doing about 60 to 80 km each ride about once a week. Each member of the group (4 of us at present) had fallen at least once, and some more often, with the exception of myself (up till last Tuesday). In fact, Tony had even broken his collar bone in a rather nasty spill.

So last Tuesday, there I was, pretty smug in being the only one who had not fallen. I even recall some rides back when Frank told me it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, I would fall, and I had told him that “I’m pretty skilled, so I’m not so sure about that prediction”. Well Tuesday morning, Joo Ann was commenting about how he had damaged his cycle computer in a fall and how he did not want to get another one. I smugly quipped “Well, don’t fall so often”.  I was joking of course, but the man upstairs has his own brand of humour; because 2 mins later, I found myself sprawled on the ground, with some painful cuts and abrasions!

The whole thing was quite funny, but when something like that happens to you; it actually strengthens your faith in an almighty yet very personal God. Yes, I was joking about being the only one who hadn’t fallen, but deep down, there was some pride and arrogance about that fact too. So when He took me down a notch, it was actually quite a faith experience. And I realised that there was a lot of care taken in his ’strike’. I was hurt just enough to suffer some pain and to realise my arrogance, but not enough to cause serious injury or permanent damage, which could have easily happened as well!

The Lord truly works in mysterious ways.

Ming had his birthday on 11th May. We had the usual quiet cake cutting ceremony at home. Jie had his on 19th April, and Wen had hers on 26th Feb.

Respective birthday photos below:

Ming

Jie

Wen

At the end of May, Sr. Liz paid us a visit. She had a short teaching stint at Bendigo, and stayed a few nights in Melbourne. We met at our home, together with Sr. Joy and Margie.  Sr. Liz met Margie only sometime last year, and it turned out that Mary and Margie were from the same school and further more, Margie is James’ wife’s uncle’s wife (figure that one out)! Not only that, it turns out Margie is the daughter of my mum’s good friend.  What a small world.

Mary prepared tea and the ladies had a very good time.

In the classroom

Ren attended traffic school at Kew last week.

The kids started the day with a short lecture in the classroom, where they learnt some basic rules about cycling and walking on the streets. They also learnt how to put on their helmets properly and how to adjust and tighten them.

After that, it was off onto their bikes and a ride around the simulated streets and pedestrian walkways. I’m happy to say that Ren learnt to obey the lights and traffic signs and had a good time.

Last Sunday, we set off on a trip I had been planning for months. The route was specially chosen so that my cousin’s ’soft roader’ could handle it, and I also tried to locate on the map a few potential fishing spots to make the trip more enjoyable for Henry and the two young ones.

The route was set in the State Forest just south of Warburton.

We set off around 8.50am in the morning and reached Noojee town around 9.15am.

 From Noojee we went north into the forest. The tracks on this leg were quite easy and were mainly gravelled. After about 45 mins we exited the forest and proceeded for a short break at Warburton town. From there, we entered the forest again, this time travelling south and here the tracks were a bit more muddy and wet. There were some changes to the actual tracks compared to the map and we had to backtrack about 2 to 3 km at one point.

We reached Starlings Gap and had our lunch there. The picnic ground was really nice and the view was quite scenic. It was quite amazing to find such a lovely spot in the middle of the forest. Tony, Henry and I went off for a short walk along a forest trail, to try and find a fishing spot, but we realised that we were too high up in the ranges. Louie and Ren in the meantime were enjoying themselves playing with the hand held radios.

After lunch, we set off south again through the forest in search of a good fishing spot, but according to our resident expert Henry, there weren’t any along the way. 

So when we exited the forest, we decided to head for a stretch of the Yara river at a place called Doon Reserve, just west of Warburton town. We found a nice spot there and set up three lines, but unfortunately, the fish were just not biting that day. Still, we had a good time fishing, especially Louie and Ren.

All in, I thought it was quite an enjoyable outing, although feedback from my cousin and wife was that the drive through the forest was just too long. We had driven about 70km of forest tracks.  I think I agree with them, and will plan shorter off road drives for future trips!

More photos can be found here.

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Jeya, an old friend of ours who’s also Jie’s god ma, came to Melbourne recently with her daughter Crystabel (our god daughter) to attend a friend’s wedding.  We managed to catch up on 11th April with the both of them and went for lunch at Queen Vic market. Then on the following day, they took a train down to our home and from there, we brought them to Sassafras and to lunch at Miss Marples’.

Jeya enjoyed browsing through all the quaint shop houses at Sassafras and bought quite a few souvenir items. All too soon, the visit was over and we drove them to the airport for their flight back to Singapore.

Some photos can be found here.