CNY 2018

CNY 2018 seemed longer this year (because of the weekends and off-in-lieu we've taken on CNY Day 4) and as usual, we ate to our hearts delight! :)

1. The week before CNY: Reunion Dinner with DC's family

Great feast prepared by MIL and first lo-hei! A finally saw his uncle and family with the little cousin this year. :)


2. The day before CNY: School Celebration and Reunion Dinner with CP's family

The Chewzies preparing for school (above) and us at my parent's for reunion dinner (below).

Us and the great food - See how A enjoyed his chicken wings!


3. CNY Day 1: Visits to DC's relatives home

The good food that we had at various homes! The luohanzhai at the in-laws, the bee hoon at the uncle's, the candy floss that the Chewzies finished up at the aunt's, the honeycomb cookies that the Chewzies munched much at another aunt's, the sweets, kuehs and pastries at the cousin's and finally the yummy Buddha Jump Over The Wall delicacies back at the first aunt's. Wow!

This year, A seemed very excited about home visiting, that he kept counting the no. of homes we have gone! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...and back to 3(or 6)? and he learnt to say "See You Again!" instead of "Bye Bye!". Of course, we travelled with the same group of people around the island! After some corrections initially he picked up the phrase with ease. :)

Not forgetting our CNY family photo:

This year Day 1 was red shirt with floral dress combi... special thanks to mummy for buying B and me the mother-daughter dresses from her recent trip to the Philippines!


4. CNY Day 2: Visits to CP's + DC's relatives home

Quick visit to my parent's place for sweet soup and abacus... and then off we rushed to my uncle's place for lunch. It was then naptime for the Chewzies and after dinner (at home, we've packed lots of stuff from uncle's!), off we went to DC's aunt's newly renovated place! :) As usual B had lots of fun munching on the snacks there (past years was the seaweed crackers but this year the gummies) and watching her cartoon on TV -  but soon she regretted, read on to find out!

Day 2 family outfit was pink shirts vs pink checkered shirt dresses. :)


5. CNY Day 3: Church Service and a Staycation (something new this year!)
Going to church during CNY was something different and we went to a Chinese service... it was especially meaningful that MIL also went with us. :) The service really impressed! Much has improved since the last time (ages) we went!

Day 3 family outfit was red checkered shirts vs blue florals dresses. Clashing colours and patterns but I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. :)

Lunch was at Hans at Suntec City and then we made our way to the next destination... the next new thing we tried this year! It was to book a stay at one of our favorite hotels! :) A had been really looking forward to it and was so upset when he learnt that the room was not ready. We requested for another room for B to rest (as B was developing fever then) but A was too anxious and couldn't stop asking when the new room will be ready! We had to call to check before the room was finally ready. It was a spacious room, signature indeed! The kiddos as usual love the stay especially the wardrobe and the living area!

Photo Fun at the hotel:

Did you see the red packets on the table? ;)

We got macaroons as gift for our wedding anniversary! Not a fan of macaroons, we didn't really appreciate them... A pity we didn't manage to snack and wine at the lounge and have a dip at the pool like we always do as B was sick...


6. CNY Day 4: Off-in-lieu, Back from Staycation and a Family Dinner
This day, DC and I took off as A and B's school was not opened. We didn't sleep very well the night before as B had blocked nose and was running a high fever at night! So, we didn't wake up very early. I wonder how DC could still get himself up to visit the gym!!

We had breakfast at the hotel's Kopi Tiam. We found many people from HK there (hmmm...).

Must take family photo there everytime!

After the stay, we're back home for lunch (bumped into cousins at the market), tried to check if the doctor's open today (no chance), then we went back to took a nap before welcoming DC's aunt who came visiting us at  home. After that, we had dinner with her and DC's family (2nd Lo Hei).


7. CNY Day 5-7: Visit to the doctor's (B's sick!) and A back to school
A went off to school without B and he was completely ok with B's absence, awesome A! The clinic was full when we reached there. We decided to go back home and return after an hour later. It was not until 11:35am that we got to see the doctor! B got 3 days of MC, she was still having high fever, cough and blocked nose. I stayed at home to look after her. Fortunately her fever subsided on the second day and she got to attend her lessons on Wed and Thu. :)


8. CNY Day 8: CP back to work and Scare from CP Dad
I got back to work on Fri. There were 2 meetings back-to-back. In the middle of the 2nd meeting, I received a WhatsApp chat message from my family. Dad seemed to have suffered a mild stroke and my sis was asking for advice! He had since recovered himself but we felt safer for him to see a doc immediately. He was driven by bro to the nearby hospital and was admitted that day for observation. Thank God he was okay! :)


9. CNY Day 9: Reunion Dinner Again
The kiddos continued their weekly lessons and we went for the dinner reserved for my family at one of our favorite eating hangouts. We're missing Dad as he had not gotten permission to come out. Our 3rd Lo Hei this year, food was good! As usual, there was quite a crowd at the place during this period.


10. CNY Day 10: Home visiting and Hospital visiting
B brought home loads of homework after her 3 days of absence from school. She had to do it during A's class in the morning. After that it's back to home visiting... B had been wanting to visit her nanny, finally she got to do it today. :) It was a happy reunion for her and aunty (the nanny)'s family. Good to hear that the youngest daughter had given birth to a baby boy already.

Then we went off to visit my dad at the hospital. He looked good and was happy to see the kids there. :) We stayed there for a while before we went off for lunch and then back home for nap.


11. CNY Day 11: Visit Dad at Hospital
Good that Dad was fine. Sis and bro was there too.


12. CNY Day 12: Team Lunch
Had CNY team lunch at the nearby Tim Ho Wan. Food was very value for money, we didn't order a lot but everyone's tummy was filled! I paid for it first, as I happened to have the card that has discount.


13. CNY Day 15: Company Advance
This year the team was the organizing committee for the retreat! Busy busy... we had a workplan discussion followed by a volunteer activity together. Quite a nice one actually.


What a happening and busy CNY this year! Let next year's be a much peaceful and prosperous one! Huat ah!


Related Posts:
2018 CNY Ang Pows

CNY 2017

A very full-filling Chinese New Year this year! Everywhere we went, we're sure to eat around!

On the eve of CNY, we had a great reunion dinner with DC's parents, it was sumptuous as usual. We had our first lo hei too! This year, again we're missing the brother's family again as they were in confinement with their newborn boy. It was strange that when we're back at home, A asked me why his uncle did not turn up for the dinner! I didn't know he would be bothered by his absence.

The loving chewzies:

The good food:


That night, the kiddos helped DC wash his car, and in turn we allowed them to sleep later (till midnight) watching their favorite cartoon to their hearts' delight.

Look at the diligent helpers! :)

Us in our matching outfits on CNY Day 1:

The CNY started off with the vegetarian 罗汉斋 at the in-laws, where A finally met his uncle and cousins there.

As usual, the first stop was to the uncle's place. A and B found prawn crackers there and couldn't stop eating them! :) DC and I had our fill with the fried bee hoon, yam cake and the CNY goodies like ba kwa, pineapple tarts and love letters!

Next stop was to the aunt's place. Over there, A and B kept running around and eating crispy seaweed and prawn crackers. Sensing that they were tired, we tried to force a short nap on them at the aunt's place. Well, it was better than nothing... they were refreshed enough to move to the third place of the day... and that's the cousin's place.

At the cousin's place, by then A and B already know where to find sweets - the table tray - they consumed lots of Ribina gummies and chocolates! The kiddos also found themselves a favorite spot at the place!

At 5:30pm, we went back to the aunt's place for dinner and we had Lo Hei (our second) and delightful home cooked food. DC and I were in love with the mini Buddha jumped over the wall! The kiddos love the chicken cutlets.

Us in pastel colors on CNY Day 2:

On day 2, we went to my parent's place and we had lunch there. Mum cooked the most delicious fried bee hoon and porridge! We also had the CNY must served red date tea:

Shortly after, we all proceeded to my uncle's place. Good food awaited us there! We had another round of feasting of our all-time favorite crispies! This year there were mushrooms! A was very appreciative of the food there and ate them in big bites! B loved the crispy prawn skin too! :) DC commented that the chicken wings were perfect! Food was so good we just had to pack them home. We managed to have our big group photo and family photos there too.

We took the kiddos back home for a nap, before we began our visiting at another aunt's place. This year, the cousin and his wife was around and they helped entertain the kiddos. A and B got to watch their favorite animated series - Mr Bean - while eating the strip crackers (again!). Surprisingly B was ok with the cousin's wife, and she was willing to sit on her lap while watching TV! We had A kept asking to go gai gai after the visiting, not wanting to believe that shops were all closed on CNY, haha...

Our Family Photo on CNY Day 3:

On day 3, we went to B's nanny's place and B had a wonderful time running around the place looking for new changes. :) Again, the kiddos grabbed a lot of sweets at the sweets tray. They also had milo and some cakes there.

Next was to their grandparent's place where MIL whipped up lunch for them, and after lunch we proceeded to another aunt's place. The kiddos drank coke and again had seaweed crackers there before bidding goodbye to day 3 visitation. The rest of the day was spent at home, where they had a good rest while it was pouring outside.

Tomorrow will still be a rest day for DC and me, we have taken leave as the kiddos are on school holiday. We have promised B that she could return to her nanny's... as for A, we'll have fun bonding with him! :)


Related Posts:
CNY 2016
CNY 2015
CNY 2014

CNY 2016

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐！

 Our matching outfits on CNY Day 1. :)

Not a lot of places we went to this year. We've only managed to go parents-in-law's (10:20am), DC's uncle's (伯父) (11:15am) and DC's aunt's (姨妈) (1pm) on Day 1; DC's aunt ("Lai"姨) on Day 2 night (8pm) when B got better; B's nanny's (10:45am) and my parent's (12:30pm) on Day 3.

Both kids had fun visiting the relatives from house to house, so much that A didn't want to go back home on the first day of CNY! B learnt that every family would put sweets in trays and she ate quite a lot of them! A was just recovering from his cough and B was having runny nose and slight fever this year. Her fever went up at night on CNY Day 1 and she had difficulty sleeping. Both of us only managed to fall asleep at 5am. As a result, the next day which was CNY Day 2 we could not do any home visiting... It didn't help that I had to work on that day, rotating shifts to monitor our stuff following some unnecessary alerts that came out on the eve of CNY! Yes, CNY Day 2 was quite a damper! So, on CNY Day 3, after DC and A went to work and school respectively, I resolved to take B (whose childcare centre was closed) out to continue our visiting. :)

Some snippets of Day 1:

Besides the fire engine that they have been playing for years, now there was this to entertain them, or rather let us be entertained by them! I was pleasantly surprised that both of them were not afraid when their grandaunt handed them the lion and I must say they did a reasonably good (first-time) job imitating the dance! They must have learnt from the lion dance performance we took them last Sat when our MP came for the pre-CNY celebration at the clubhouse!

Jenny biscuits from Hong Kong! 

We had guests on Day 1 :) The boys played cars and the girls played the doughs.

This was what B made:

Snippets on Day 2:

Pictures above: A and B posing with oranges.
Pictures below: A and B at grandaunt's place. The kids couldn't get enough of the seaweed crackers that, like last year, they packed some back home!

Snippets on Day 3:

Look what Ang Pow B got herself at her nanny's! It's now sleeping with her every night! :)

After that, my sis drove us to our parent's for a nice lunch. We had food that were brought back from paternal uncle's place (ngoh hiang, prawn balls) and maternal aunt's place (abacus, vermicelli). Yummy food! B had her ever so tasty porridge cooked with love from my mummy! :)

We went to find Daddy after B's nap, for coffee and cakes and then B had her rides, before we went home for dinner and A! :)

Snippets on Day 4:

B on CNY Day 4. She skipped school, as I had to take her to the doctor's! This was her at one of the shops, after the doctor visit. We also went Toys "R" Us where I got her an Elsa gift. :)

Day 5 was business as usual, how we wish CNY could last the whole 15 days!