The Chronicles of Shannon - PERTH TRIP - 28 Sep to 30 Sep

After 3 whole days of physically recovering from the Perth trip, decided to get off my butt and start updating Shannon's Blog on our Perth Trip... with abit of help from Shannon of course...

28th September, Thursday night
We packed and crammed all our luggage into two 21 inch suitcases 1 haverpack, and 1 baby bag... some 'Cannot afford not to bring' items....
1) Inflatable mini pool for Shannon's baths
2) Her intensive moisturing creams
3) Her toys! Stacks and stacks of it!
4) Her nail cutter
5) BOTH her smelly teddy bears
6) Baby jar food
It got to the point that we were so overwhelmed by what to bring!

Shannon was a good gal all the way till we got to the airplane. She flirted shamelessly with all the elderly Australians and Europeans boarding the plane, stretching out her hands to them and playing peekaboo with them. All of them were charmed by her smiley face UNTIL...! The plane started taxi-ing down the runway. I had to buckle her on my lap, and it was then that she became a MONSTER! She started crying, and crying became wailing, and wailing became screaming... imagine Mal's and my hot and red faces and the pained silence surrounding us during takeoff. The little minx then decided to drop asleep once the plane hit the skies.... and from there on, it was sleep, wake up, cry, sleep, wake up, cry, sleep, wake up, cry...
all the way to Perth.

Service on the flight? Welllll, it was okie I guess, but not what I would call good... I think most airlines dun have the standards of being baby friendly yet, no baby food was offered to us, and once Shannon fell asleep, I felt that the sterwardess should have gotten us our dinner rather than wait in line? By the time our food was served, Baby was up and crying again!


29th September, Friday
After reaching Perth, and being greeted by Eileen, we headed off to the collect the rental car. Though we had asked for a Sedan, it became a Hatch.... hmmm, wonder how we gonna fit 3 suitcases and a pram into the boot?


30th September, Saturday
Today was a fenzy of packing again! We packed the bare minimum to bring to Peppermint grove Beach! Doesn't it sound so charming? Peppermint Grove Beach! Decided to forsake the pram coz we had a hard time squeezing everything into the boot.

We met Angie, Paul and Quintin at their house and it was off for a 2 hour drive! By the time we reached, it was nearly dark, but the house was cozy and welcoming.... boy, was it COLD! Brrrrrrr!

Shannon on the way to Busselton.... Huhhh? Who woke me up from my nap?





Our little family out for a evening stroll... BRRRRRRR!




Look at the Gorgeous Sunset! And the Strong Wind!









See our home away from home! http://www.capeviewcottage.com/

Family room









The kitchen where Eileen and Angie whipped up wholesome and fanastic food... also the place where the famous dishwasher which got Angie's Thumbs Up is stored!





Our place of zzzzz... thanks goodness for the King size bed and warm covers... looks out to the ocean.. hmmmm...





Dining table to seat 8... we had lots of fun lunches and dinners at that table, chitchatting in front of the fireplace.

This Is How You Tame A Tigger

Today was a tiring but fun day... we went to Anita's house to meet 15 other babies... wooahhhh! The energy level was super high, imagine 16 8month old babies put together with a loadful of toys and playmats... not to say a tableful full of delicious snacks for the mommies and daddies!

Shannon had loads of fun, and she skipped her noon nap in favour of playing, playing and more playing... hmmm, what did she do today? Played with loads of toys, learned how to tame a Tigger, rode a yellow rubber Pony, sat in a jumparoo and bounced around, got her feet painted PINK! Sounds like tons of fun right?

Photos says it all....

GETTING READY FOR THE HOT GROUP DATE!
So Mommy, do I look nice enough for the gathering?

Huh? What dun match? My hairband not nice? Maybe I should have worn the other one? Can we go home and change?














HOW TO TAME A TIGGER
First you grab the Tigger by its eyebrows...

Then you pull it's mouth wide open...

Then you shake the head reallllllly HARD! There, that's how you tame a Tigger!














FUN WITH 380 BALLS!
What do you mean time's up??? I just got in only! Have to pay again???









IN THE JUMPAROO
Hmm, I wonder if this Jumparoo can bounce me home...?









FOOTPRINT SOUVENIR
Shannon's little footprints... at 8 months 3 weeks old!

SMILE 2006 - Shannon Style

By Shannon:

Hummmf! fuming mad.... Mommy submitted my cutie passport photo to the Smile 2006 project, you know the one in preparation for the IMF meetings? I gave a demure smiley face for that precious photo, and mommy submitted it in. I had expected that the organisers of the project to pounce on it and pick it as one of the smiley faces welcoming the delegates when they arrive, who can resist such a angelic face right?But nooooooo! They choose to pick other people instead.... hmmmf! They really dun know a good picture when they see one!

See how demure and angelic I looked! This took so many hours of practise to get right!


So, who says that Smile 2006 can be the only project around town? I'm starting my own SMILE 2006 - Shannon Style, and this time, nobody can say that my picture's not in!

SMILE 2006 - Shannon Style

Another Level Higher.. Or In This Case, Lower

We lowered Shannon's cot today again... after the fiasco the last round we did it, it was with a little more than anxious nerves today when we did it....

But anyways, the deed was finally done, and so today, Shannon reached another level higher, or in this case, lower :).

hmmm, this is yummy!

BURP, that was a good dinner!



Hey you! The blue one... get over here!

Mommy, they're not listening to me!

When Did My Desk Become A Leg Stretching Machine?

By Shannon:

Hmmm, something tells me that Mommy and Daddy is obsessed with my height, or lack of it...

You know my work desk? The colourful one with such alot of stuff on it? Which shows how busy I am at times pressing the 'keyboard keys' and answering the ever ringing phone?

My Work Desk, Busy right?












Well, Mommy and Daddy raised the height of my work desk today... as if I don't have enough things to do already, like whacking the rolling toys or trying to pull the darn string off the silly turtle!

Now, I am standing on tip-toe, whilst trying to turnaround to kapo at all the things hapening around me. This is frustrating... since when did my desk become a leg stretching machine???

See how comfy I was before the height raising a.k.a leg strething excerise...

Just right!

The leg stretching machine at work...eehhhh!

Me Crawl??? Are you out of your mind????

Today afternoon, we attended the Tumbletots trail class kindly arranged by Sophia. Thanks to her hard work, we met up with some of the other Jan'06 mommies like...

1) SL and Charmaine
2) Cindy and Lucas
3) Chillies and Zaxier
4) Florence and Melody
5) Sunny and Ying Xin

Well well well, what a small world.... Mal discovered that he's NOT one of the oldest daddies in our gang... he met up with not one, but TWO of his Uni school mates, HA! So much for whining about not having kakis with common interets at the mommies' gathering...!

Shannon enjoyed the singing and actions very much, which was evident in the way she furiously chewed her little fingers.

But when it came to the excerise time, she balked at many activities, and iterally sat down and howled at the tummy/crawling excerise! We could clearly see what was going through her mind at that time, "Me Crawl??? Are you out of your MIND???"

That aside, she enjoyed the trampoline, and the rubber slide, though the rope swing gave her the creeps and she couldn't really decide whether to enjoy it or wail at it.


See me bounce, bounce, bounce away... on my bouncy trampoline.... ladalalalada...


Superwoman Shannon saving the day, pushing the heavy red cylinder away! Eh, actually, am being rolled around by it...

Fish for lunch, anyone?

I'll whack you if you say I look like a boy!



Fish for lunch, anyone?

Botanic CLOSE UP!

by Shannon

More pics of my hommies during the secret love trst..


See, make sure you delete all my sms messages to you after you receive them, like this... can't let Kirsten see mah?



One last hug before kirsten comes.... oops, we're caught red-handed!



*Eveil Grin* Finally, it's out in the open... he has to choose, either me or her!

Shannon's Secret Love Affair - 'San Jiao Lian Ai'

I bought Shannon to Botanic Gardens again today afternoon. The day didn't start out promising though, it was hazy and cloudy. We were really uncertain whether to go or not! this prompted MSN messages and SMSes flying around with a qn on everyone's mind, is it gonna rain???

Anyway, by 1pm, the skies were lifting so we just bit the bullet and went ahead. Anita with Tabitha, Wendy with Ethan, Val with Kirsten, and Celine with Edgar rounded up our group for the day.

Shannon had a great time! By some cosmic forces at work, she was in a SUPERB mood... by now, I think you should know that Shannon's SMILE switch is pertuately OFF whenever she is out, but today was a wonderful surprise.

She was chatty and smiley and downright KAPO!


Hmm, maybe her upbeat mood had something to do with the few stolen moments she got to share with Ethan before Kirsten's arrival, she even had a chance to snap a few shots cuddling up together, much to Tabitha's embrassement.. the poor little Tabitha pretended that she didn't see anything and concentrated on her toys.











Afterwhich, the rest showed up and group of babies had a merry time snatching toys, hair and westling each other to the ground...


Here, Mommy, look at me!



Look everyone, it was THIS BIG!



Hey, Ethan, this is interesting! Ethan? Ethan? Huh?



I really dunno Aunty Wendy, one moment he was sitting up, the next moment, he fell asleep!



We ended the day with Wendy sending us to the visitor centre to wait for Mal to pick us up, and dinner at Pasta Fresca (Thanks Wendy for waiting for us, even though your hubby was ready for you to pick him up!)

The View up here is GOOD!

By Shannon:

Hmmm, seems like there's alot I don't know about my body yet.... Mommy and Daddy keep making me do funny things, like placing me on my tummy and asking me to kick kick.. what is that, man? I HATE tummy time, HATE IT, HATE IT, HATE IT! Everytime they ambush me and plop me on my tummy, I'll give them a half-hearted attempt at reaching for the stupid toys they dangle in front of me, and then..., I slyly turn to the side, and tadaaaaaa! I'm on my back... hee hee...

Anyway, new game of the day, using those two funny long stumpy limbs to stand... see how well I'm standing? What can I say, the View up here is GOOD! But I have heard insidious whispering going around between Daddy and Mummy that they plan to ... lower XXX (dunno wat).... XXX level XXX...(dunno wat)... cot ... dun fall XXX (dunno wat) out and crack...XXX (dunno wat) skull... hmm, better see what they are up to this weekend.


Opps, caught in the act!


Okay, give you a BIGGGG SMILE!


Come closer, see the view from up here!

$3??? You sure?

Today, we met up with the rest of the mummies at Suntec.... supposedly for window shopping, when in fact, I was there secretly to shop for a birthday present for Mal.

The plot has seen been unraveled though, since I spilled the beans self righteously after my dear hubby nagged at me for bringing Shannon to crowded places... So much for being a nice wife!

Anyways, Sarah Mae and Sandra met up with us too, and we saw that Sarah Mae is still as chatty as ever! Such a Smiley happy baby! She seems to have taken a shine to Elijah, and vice versa!

Haha, that left a opening for Ethan to get close to Shannon again... the two were buddy buddy, hugging each other, and busy whacking each other with their fists... Shannon was a big bully again, and pulled Ethan's hair, ohmigosh, so sorry, Wendy and Ethan! When will the girl ever learn? Come to think abotu it, WHERE DID she learn that from?... Hmmm...

We went to check out a tip off from Christine my neighbour, about a Carters' sale at SUntec, and true enough, clothes galore! It was more for boys though, and lots of long sleeves and thick clothing... but I managed to get 2 thick pyjamas and 2 sweater suits for Shannon's Perth trip, as well as a cutie pair of bermudas and a dress romper, all for a mere $20!

Ewwwww, after all of it was over, I regret not buying more! Hmmm, Mal's eyes popping out after this realisation...