Sleepover

The idea of our female grandchildren staying overnight with us was first mooted in Dec 2015 when all of us were holidaying in Taiwan. In Taipei we stayed at Palais De Chine, a hotel with pretty big room space. The one my wife and I stayed had a master bedroom with an adjoining room with mattress on the floor.

                                                                             Master bedroom

                                                                  Adjoining room
The kids were pretty excited and wanted to stay with us for the night. There were 4 girls at that time but SH at 16 months, was considered too young and would probably create problems. The adults were apprehensive of the whole suggestion  but with the parents nearby, it was not considered a big issue.

SH, centre of picture , was left out from the attempted Taiwan sleepover

                                               The threesome

Initially they had their fun but near bed time when it was time for lights out, ChO couldn't sleep with lights on. SX on the other hand need a light on. Habit when young I suppose. CLO was already dozing off. CH started crying and Sx joined in the chorus. Meantime ClO was sleeping soundly. We called the parents to bring back the girls and ClO, woken up from her sleep, added to the decibel already in the room.
So the idea was abandoned for the rest of the trip.

A year later in Dec 2016, the girls wanted to stay one night during the Dec school holidays. There were some misgivings with the Taiwan event in mind but kids will be kids. Hard to dampen their enthusiasm. The light off light on episode was still there but Popo compromised by bringing in a lamp shade casting dim light. Apparently workable.

SH was now a year older and also allowed to form the quartet. Sometime in the evening towards bedtime she did show her homesickness but CHO, a year older proved a stabilising influence. The light on light off problem was still there but Popo compromised by bring in a small lamp shade casting a dim light. Apparently workable. The lamp shade was used over the next couple of sleepovers but after that the light off was accepted.
Overall the girls appeared happy. Did some artwork to pass time.

The girls were now treating the sleepover as a norm. There were the usual artwork session. For Jun 2017, Popo decided to let the girls made some gingerbread man. They did a decent job, at least the cookies were edible.

                 Another gingerbread man session, this time a little more creative and colour

                  Apart from the usual art session, the girls were shown how to make mooncake
                  by Popo. Edible too.

                                     Another new session was added, this time making hotdog buns

This was an additional sleepover due to SX and SH's day care scheduling. The other two cousins joined in as well.

Making more hotdog buns. Even SH joined in.  The thing was the buns disappeared quite quickly once out of the oven as the girls couldn't wait to sample their products.

The girls are getting older. CHO is now in secondary school. There is plan for a sleepover in Jun this year.

Growing Up Part Two

Last blog I mentioned the limitation of photos to 1997. I liked to add that 1997 was also significant as it was the last time we went travelling as a family unit of 4. The children had all grown up and had their own activities. To balance the time for planning a trip could be challenging.
For this blog I am showing the growing up photos of OLT.

 

1980

 

1981

1982

 

 

1983 celebrating birthday with brother

1984 at Lakepoint after attending YWCA kindergarten nearby

 

1985

1986 with brother and two cousins

 

1987 the whole gang again to celebrate birthday

1988

1989 with my brother's daughter

1990

1991

 

1992 - Genting Highlands

 

 1993 Christmas time in Genting

1994 Chinese New Year Lakepoint

 

1995 Brisbane

 

1996 Star Aquarius

 

1997 Changde

 

 

Growing up Part One

In the last blog I showed some photos of the grandchildren growing up. For this blog I thought to show the childhood photos of my two children. The photographs were generally not of good quality. I liked to blame it on the films and the bulky cameras (not fully automatic) but in reality the photographic skills of yours truly probably left much to be desired as well.
The other limitation was that I didn't seem to have the printed photos (when digital was still foreign) beyond 1997. Even when we acquired a digital in 2002, the copies seemed to be misplaced. It was not until the 2011 decade when phone cameras became common that I started having my photo collection again.
That was the reason the photos stopped at 1997. We shall see if those missing photos will surface in the future.  Since there were quite a number of photos even to 1997, I shall post in 2 parts

Part One
Des

                                              1978 as a 6 month old baby

                                            The old boy at 6 months old. You can see where the young Ong get those features from!

                                                           1979

                                                              1980 jockeying at the Mandai Zoo

                                                            1981

                                                                             1982
                                                                          

1983 - with younger sister

 

1984

1985

 

 

1986 - Coney Island with sister and their 2 cousins

 

1987

1988

1989 -at Lakepoint

 

1990 East coast budding fisherman

1991 Boat trip in Phuket pictured with sister and a cousin

 

1992 railway to KL

 

1993 -Genting Highlands

1994

1995 - Gold Coast

 

1996 Star Aquarius

1997 -Changde, China. First snow experience for the whole family.

Their children now  started young and by now all have experienced snow probably more than once.