Singapore's 41st National Day

Dear Skyler,

We were still in Oriental Hotel. You woke us up in time to watch the sunrise. As we wanted to go down for breakfast early, we decided to stay up. Then we went over to wake up Kow-fu and Kow-mo for breakfast as well. Since we were awake earlier, we went down first to get ourselves a table and they joined us later. We completely stuffed ourselves silly with the food. :D Breakfasts at hotels are always a highlight for Mama and Papa because of the variety and the fact that we can choose to eat a bit of everything that we want. We tried to feed you a bit of prune but you totally rejected it. You didn’t like it at all!

The whole restaurant was full! We think that the hotel was especially crowded with Singaporeans who had come to stay there the day before for the fireworks as well. It was the first time that we saw a long queue of people trying to get in for breakfast. Thank God we came down earlier!

After breakfast, we returned to our room to catch up on some more sleep as we were very tired. We simply slept until Kow-fu and Kow-mo had to leave to bring Por-por to the airport as she was flying off to Hongkong that afternoon.

When it was time for us to check-out (we had asked for a later check-out time) we quickly packed up and left. We had to rush to the airport as we wanted to see Por-por off as well. Por-por was going to miss you lots so we had to let her see you before she left or it would be terrible!

We managed to get to the airport half-an-hour before Por-por had to board the plane so we spent the time at one of the cafes in the Departure area. Then we wished her farewell.

We then came home to rest as we were still quite sleepy. :D

We woke up to watch to National Day Parade on TV later that evening. We had overslept slightly so we only started watching from the part where our Prime Minister arrived at the National Stadium.

This parade was extra special because this is the last time it will be held at the National Stadium as the stadium will be torn down and rebuilt. Papa has fond memories of the stadium as the place where he was introduced to soccer. When Papa was younger, his Papa and uncles would bring his cousins and him to the stadium to watch the Singapore National Soccer Team play in the Malaysian Cup – a soccer competition where the Singapore Team played against the State Teams of Malaysia. It was always very exciting. This was also the place that Papa was remembers Tetrapack drinks (shaped like pyramids) and curry puffs as people walked around the stadium selling these to the spectators. When Papa was older, he made his own way there with his friends to watch other soccer matches as well. One of the people that he went with is your Godpa! Papa also went there for other events like Singapore Youth Festival Opening Festivals and National Day Parades (Papa thinks he went there with his Pre-U Class for something like this). After the events were over, we would then have to fight against the crowds to get to our transport and home!

Anyway, the parade lasted until about 8.15 pm and throughout the broadcast, Mama kept on remarking that Papa was allowing you to watch TV for so long. But Papa felt that it was the National Day Parade and that it only took place once a year so he continued to let you watch the TV. But Papa has to agree that it was very long for you as you kept on getting distracted. You couldn’t watch it continuously.

Skyler, as a Singaporean, you must remember that National Day is very important, okay? It is the day that Singapore was made independent! Singapore was officially asked to leave the Federation of Malaysia and be on its own. It was a very scary period of time as everyone really thought that Singapore would perish as it had no resources whatsoever to fall back on for economic survival. Singapore had no armed forces to speak of except for a couple of battalions of infantry soldiers, no air force and only a few obsolete naval ships for sea defence. But the first independent government of Singapore led by our then Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, showed Singaporeans the way and our forefathers followed them! And now, we are what we are – a fairly prosperous nation known practically throughout the modern world with lots and lots of comforts of modern living. Papa will educate you about Singapore’s history in more detail when you’re older, okay?

We love you, Little Girl!

Papa and Mama

Oriental Hotel Stay & Fireworks Festival (Team Singapore)

Dearest Skyler,

Wow! We had such an exciting National Day celebration!

We started our celebrations on the 8th of August. Papa had to go to school in the morning for National Day Observance followed by the school’s annual speech day. Because of that, Mama had to bring you down to meet up with Papa as we had to get to the Oriental Hotel in Marina Bay area to check in on time as we wanted to maximize our stay at the hotel.

We quickly checked into the hotel and went to our rooms. We had reserved two connecting rooms as we had invited Kow-fu and Kow-mo to join us in the celebrations. We’d also gotten the hotel to supply us with a baby cot so that you could have a safe place to sleep. The hotel supplied a wooden cot with some ‘ill-fitting’ cot bumpers. Mama and Papa were so worried that you wouldn’t find it comfortable to sleep in but surprisingly, you were quite ok with it. And you didn’t really move around in the cot so there was little danger of you hurting yourself against the sides.

Since your arrival, Papa and Mama simply had not had time to spend with each other as we spend all our time taking care of you. So, we took the opportunity to ask Kow-fu and Kow-mo, when they arrived, to watch over you as you had gone to sleep and we went for a dip in the hotel pool. Even then, we didn’t spend very long there as we were so concerned about you. We love you so much!

We then went back to take care of you so that Kow-fu and Kow-mo could go down to the gym to exercise for a while. We bathed you in the bathtub in the room. This was the first time that we bathed you in a bathtub. We could lay out the bath toys that we’d purchased before for you to play with. However, we got so carried away that we kept you in the bathtub too long and you got too cold. Sorry!

When they came back, we went out for dinner together at Gluttons Bay. This is a food centre next to the Esplanade. It was very very crowded as a huge number of people had come down to the area to watch the fireworks that would be on display later that night. It was part of the Singapore Fireworks Festival. It was Team Singapore’s turn that night. You were fairly tired during our dinner so you slept almost throughout our meal. We had to wait quite some time for our food to come due to the super-long queues.

When we completed eating, we barely had time to rush back to our hotel room to watch the fireworks! In fact, we’d just sat down when it started. And it was worth the cost and effort! The fireworks were spectacular and the finale will be something we will never forget! The whole night sky was filled with lights and colours! It was a very stupendous performance by Team Singapore! Much better than the one we watched by Team Italy the previous Saturday. :D

After the fireworks display, Kow-fu and Kow-mo played with you for a while before Papa and Mama tried to get you to sleep. I think you were very excited by all the fireworks that you had a difficult time trying to get to sleep. Papa and Mama were so tired out by you! :D But finally, you did go to sleep, Sweet Darling. But it was a fitful night for you as you woke up almost hourly. :D Poor Sweet Baby Girl!

We Love You Little One,

Mama and Papa

Message to Readers

Hi! This is a request that Skyler's parents would like to make. Will those of you who visit this site to keep up with Skyler's growth and development please leave comments? We would like Skyler to know who has been interested in her journey through life when she is old enough to read this. :D

Thank you so much!

Fireworks Festival 2006 - Team Italy

Dearest Baby Girl,

On 5th August, we brought you to the Esplanade to catch the opening performance of the Fireworks Festival 2006. We had invited Grandma along to watch it with us as we thought that she would enjoy it as well.

We met Grandma at Raffles City for dinner before walking over to the Esplanade. The Esplanade has a very unique design, Little One. When it was first revealed, many thought that it looked strange – the most common reactions were that it either looked like a pair of mosquito eyes or durians! Anyway, it has now become a much-loved part of our Singapore landscape!

It is also situated right on Marina Bay. This place has a very significant role in Mama and Papa’s courtship days, Skyler. We spent a lot of time walking down the bay and chit-chatting when we were dating. But that was when it wasn’t so built up. It’s quite different now as there are many developments that have been constructed over the years.

The fireworks started only at 8 p.m. but the place outside the Esplanade was already jam-packed with people from 7 p.m. There were people all over the place all eagerly awaiting the start of the fireworks. At 8 p.m., the Master of Ceremonies announced that our president himself, Mr. S.R. Nathan, had arrived to declare the festival open. Soon after, the fireworks began.

It was a spectacular display. You were so awed by it that you just kept staring the bright lights and colours. We couldn’t take our eyes off it for the whole duration. The display was put up by a team from Italy. There would also be displays choreographed by teams from Singapore, France and New Caledonia over the next week.

Once the display was over, everyone made their way back home and it took us many long minutes to get back to the MRT Station at Raffles City to catch a train home. It was a very long night but it was definitely worth the effort as it made you so happy.

We love you, Baby Girl.

Papa and Mama