...so good to have a ski trip sponsored by FourGen

I had just left Oracle to join FourGen (ERP system based on Informatics technology) based in Seattle. As part of my orientation, I had to go for training in Seattle for a week. It happened between Christmas 1993 and New Year.

So the whole family took the opportunity to travel with me. We arrived on Boxing Day and everything was closed including MacDonalds. Finally we found a restaurant that was open on the waterfront that served the best clam chowder we ever had.

So I went for training in the day and in the evening we drove to Snoqualmie mountain to ski. This is the first time that Kenneth actually tried skiing. We had lots of fun and started a tradition of winter skiing holidays in US.

... so good for the kids to visit USA for the first time

Connie and I did the unthinkable (Singapore terms), we took Jon out of school for a week after his Sept school holidays so that we can have 2 weeks in US. We flew into LA, drove to Las Vegas and then on to San Francisco.

We did all the tourist stuff like Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios, etc in LA, Golden Bridge in SFO and Circus, Circus, etc in Vegas. Our stay in Excalibur in Vegas was also exciting for the kids (and the big kids, us). It was also our first visit to a factory outlet and we bought all sorts of stuff including crockery for our house.

The kids were excited to get autographs from all the Disney characters. This was the first of many visits to US for Disney, skiing and other vacations. 

At the end of days, the best legacy we can leave for our kids are memories of our good time though they may be too young to remember some of the trips.

... so good to have MacD as the party organiser for Ken's 4th birthday

We took the easy way out to celebrate Ken's 4th birthday. We went to MacDonald with about 30 of his friends from church. They took care of the food and entertainment. It is certainly a lot easier than to have it at home - with the catering and cleaning up.

They even made him the 'Indian' chief for a day with feather head dress and all.

Below is Ken with the spoils gifts that he got !!!

Following that the family took a short break at Turi Beach resort on Batam island. It was a really relaxing time for all after the hustle and bustle of the party.

... so good to take a small break (just the two of us)

Was sent to Sydney, Australia for training. So Connie joined me after that for a short weekend at Hunter Valley. We visited the VineYards for wine tasting. The unique experience was having lunch in a restaurant on the vineyard and they brought different wine to taste during the meal. We also visited some fruit farms - fresh peaches, apples, etc.

We stayed a night in a motel in the area and had a lovely steak dinner with local wine. Safer to stay the night than try to get back to Sydney after all the wine tasting and drinking at the meals. So good to have some couple time!

... so good to have family holiday in Bangkok

This is our first family holiday to Bangkok, Thailand. I was there to do some work with Oracle but decided to bring the family up as well. Took a day off, booked a private tour and did all the tourist stuff ... visited Rose Garden, watched snake show, ride an elephant, watched some cultural performances, rode the river cruise and visited some palaces and temples.  Having the private tour was a real bonus, we had a Mercedes to ourselves, the guide would rush ahead and 'chopped' all the best seats for us.


Of course, we also had a lovely seafood dinner that we over paid for ... probably the guide had some kick back but we enjoyed it.


Overall it was a good break for the whole family (plus Oracle paid for my air ticket!)

... so good to attend first Oracle incentive trip to Bali

Oracle had their Achievement Club in Singapore this year. They organized trips to Sentosa (booked almost the whole island), had races at the Turf Club with Christina Ong performing (including ward robe slip to show her frontal assets) and gala dinner at the Raffle City hosted by Victor Khoo and his puppet.


Consequently the local team did not enjoy the benefits of achieving club. So we were rewarded a separate trip to Bali for the local team. It was a great trip from being picked up from home in a limousine, to a cruise on a sail boat, given shopping money to shop at Kuta Beach ... but most important it was time of bonding for all of us who worked hard to make our numbers. 

... so good to be happy

So good to be contented with the little that we had. We lived in an old 5 room HDB flat in Bukit Merah Central that we moved in only days after we took over the unit because we could not afford renovation and we had to give up our 3 room HDB at Telok Blangah Rise.

We were driving around in a Korean tank (Hyundai Stella) but life was great. The boys were the source of our happiness ... just seeing them happy was all we needed.

Though they were 4.5 years apart - they played and fought together. Guess brothers will always be brothers!