Mummy & Sophie

Taken on a wet windy day at Hadrian's Wall in northern England

Miscellaneous (blurry) photos

Playing at home

Snacking on a piece of lin ngau (lotus root)

Birthday

Yes, I am now officially categorised as someone in her "30's". We had initially planned a simple small makan with Aileen, Christine & Kit Mun, but ended up with a group of 11 people at our small little house. We didn't even have enough cutlery!

It was great, though, to have all our friends together in one place, and it was good to see Francis again after his round the world (well, almost) trip. Fuh Yong & Evelyn were surprisingly alert and active after their Berlin trip, although they lapsed into the zombie mode towards the end of the day.

We wound up the day with a fast game of Taboo which Christine had received as a birthday present from Aileen & Vivian. She was good! The two teams had a very close race, but erhem... the REAL birthday girl's team won, of course! Christine, we can play again on YOUR actual birthday on Wednesday, and maybe your team will win this time :)

Works of art

Sophie has been creating masterpieces after masterpieces at the nursery, and these are a selection of her best works :)

Public transport

At the Westferry DLR (Docklands Light Rail) station with Aunty Aileen Che Che

Waiting at a bus stop in Canary Wharf. Sophie started turning on her charms at a bunch of ladies waiting for their busses at the same place.

Relax

Watching TV and snacking on cereal & apples on a Sunday morning

Meal time

Sigh! It's either this messy and this much waste during meal times, or a whole lot of screaming (Sophie), crying and kicking (Mummy & Baba) and still more or less the same amount of waste at the end of it.

She's in a self-feeding phase so we have to give her finger foods like boiled pasta & carrots. But we need to give her carbo too, and we can't be giving her porridge to grab with her fists, right? At least she likes plain white rice. Maybe we should just give her plain white rice, then. Cheaper...

Still don't look like a girl

What do you think? Does she look girly enough yet?

Sophie in York

Lake District & North England

Everyone together

In front of a portion of Hadrian's Wall
At the Birdoswald Roman Fort section of the Hadrian's Wall
The babies are sleeping, we are finally free!!

In front of a portion of Hadrian's Wall. Too bad it was too foggy to enjoy the landscape behind us.

Seeking refuge from the sudden downpour
Near Lake Windermere

Near York Minster

Besides Lake District, we also had time to visit portions of the Hadrian's Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage site, built in AD 122 by the Roman Emperor Hadrian to demarcate the northern frontiers of the Roman empire in England. Today it is roughly near the Scottish borders, and a walker's paradise with beautiful trails to enjoy.

We also waltzed pass the cities of Carlisle (to visit the Carlisle Castle), Durham (to see the Durham Cathedral, another UNESCO site, set dramatically on the edge of a gorge), and York (to appreciate the York Minster, Europe's largest Gothic cathedral). Whew!!

Travelling with two toddlers and battling with the elements was no easy feat, so we rewarded ourselves with a feast each evening at the local English pubs. Fuh Yong has now sampled enough steak in Northern England to be an expert in this area.

Lake District - Landscape

“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host, of golden daffodils …”

These words tumble out of me like a waterfall whenever William Wordsworth is mentioned - thanks to Ms. Nair, my much feared but enlightened Form 2 English teacher. The poem began to make perfect sense when I found out that William Wordsworth lived in the Lake District, which I know from reputation to be a paradise of an English countryside.

When we decided to make a road trip to the Lakes – our furthest so far - I can’t help but imagine warm sunshine, cloudy skies, uninterrupted views of vales and hills, and us prancing around undulating meadows carpeted with daffodils.

Sunrise just outside our B&B at Scales Farm, near Keswick in the Lake District

Needless to say, Murphy’s Law reigned. It didn’t help that we chose to go in late October, during a relentless stretch of rainy days. We had one sunny day out of the four, and that was after we had left the Lake District and was loitering around the medieval city of York. The rest of the time, we were caught in on-off showers, challenged by the raging countryside wind, and held battle with foggy road conditions.

One minute it was clear; the next minute, the mist had enveloped the road behind us

Having said that, the elements gave the place a different flavour (the landscape was a mixed bag of drama, reality and romanticism) and a reason to return.

This shot had better be good, coz Sophie & I had to endure wet and cold winds and the driving rain for it...

Snacking bunny

Bushytails Nursery