(28 Nov 13 Thurs) Barbie Mariposa show at Raffles City

papa was on leave again. Mama had so many activities lined up for Nov and Dec as it was the school holidays and the malls usually had free shows and events for the kids! And the malls would be decked in splendor in all those glittery ornaments, we loved to check those out.

The bargain-sniffing mama bought some DEAL vouchers for the Gardens by the Bay and Flyer tickets. When we drove to ah ma's house, we always passed by the Gardens and you would spot the Super Trees excitedly. You also mentioned you wanted to take the Flyer. So mama bought the tickets, all ready for a new adventure.

We dropped by this quaint quirky cafe at Novena. Take 2 cafe was featured in the 8days magazine and was near that travel agency where we had to collect the tics. Good coincidence. 

Very pretty place, I loved the brick walls, the whimsical drawing, the little creative touches, like that insect clock.

Ok, moving right on to the Barbie Mariposa show at Raffles City. Mama planned for papa to drop us then for him to head to EXpo for the IT fair. Last night, papa mentioned that he actually wished to catch the show with his darling xun xun...erm...well...today he dropped us but then realised he did not bring his wallet! So he parked and came to find us instead. Both of you were ecstatic to see papa, esp Xun, who was lamenting that papa was not around and how she wished papa would come back in time to catch the show...you had totally wrapped papa around your little finger, he was soo deeply in love with you...

Only the kids could be seated on the carpet while the parents had to stand at the side. Tong was pretty ok at first till some time into the show when he got really groggy and wanted mama to feed to sleep.

Ooo the back drop was really charming...

 The crystal fairy!

Barbie Mariposa, the butterfly fairy! So the lands of the butterfly fairies and crystal fairies had been estranged and it was up to Mariposa to reunite the two kingdoms. Throw in a mean witch who wanted to usurp power, ah, there you go, the classical story of good vs evil and how the kind ones always triumphed.

 Well, tong had a good nap and we were browsing at the Toys section after the show. Papa promised to buy you a Mariposa barbie...it was really costly, $49.90 and mama saw it on sale at Giant IMM for $39! I thought it was ridiculous to pay so much for a barbie, erm, and even more absurd to buy it here when we knew a cheaper alternative existed. well, but since you had papa around your little finger, and for him, if money could solve the money, it ain't a problem anymore...then we realised that if we bought $50 worth of barbie merchandise, we could get a free makeover, we threw in one more dvd and presto...the BARBIE makeover...

It really melted my heart to see you being dolled up in the dressing room...it was like a prelude to the wedding day when you would be doing the same thing, except it would be to start a new family on your own...you had grown so much, so fast, so tremendously...

You chose purple eyeshadow as it was your favourite colour...

Pursing the lips for the perfect pout...

Yiyi told papa that she only did curls for very obedient little girls...you had much favour with everyone at the booth...you were such a joy..papa claimed, "who wouldn't love xun xun?" He was your most ardent supporter...

Well, you went into the studio alone and came out excitedly to choose the photo. You were so bold nowadays, you no longer clung to mama...papa said you were ready for sch. Yeh, sure thing, erm..but I would just keep you with tong and me for a little longer...you were so goofy, you chose the funniest photos - those with clownish faces and silly grins, ha we had to steer you towards a more acceptable choice...oh well...

ha..that day, both of you were bathing and we were talking about tong tong being so goofy. We talked about the Goofy in Mickey show, you laughed and said, "goofy Goofy, get it?" grins...mama was always amused with your wry sense of humour, your knack for picking up bombastic words , your heavily accented, grammatically perfect sentences..i loved you soo much...

tong tong seemed to be having some bouts of terrible twos recently...he would go into whining and crying spells, even at Wai po's house. It so alarmed wai po that she called papa to hurry over to help out. Eh...wai po managed to pacify him after awhile...she thought tong tong must have inherited papa's personality...coz she said xun xun was just like mama, we had such unflappable and placid personalities...papa would not admit it...but eh...you know...sly wily grin...wai po was as wise as an owl, tong tong did take after papa, they were both prideful creatures, totally Leo-like, they liked attention and control...

I loved you two so much so much...never knew love could be so deep and so intense. love you, sweethearts.