The weather still isn’t that bad for us here .. right now.. but come January and February.. where we are hit worst during the winter months that’s when everyone in Canada wants to get outta the cold .. for some warmth and sun. Like any smart women, we try to get the best vacation deal for the entire family. And what better deals than the All inclusive family vacations.

Lovely beaches and gourmet food and all kinds of water sports - stress free time for yourself and your entire family. Choose to have candle-light dinners for 2 .. or go with the entire family for bbqs and grills. They have so much to offer.. sometimes, i wished we had more time on the island. Check it out yourself.

So we have great plans - or so we thought - our plans included many activities and lots of sightseeing. It even involved getting some horse supplements on the way home. But lo and behold, THE KID DONCH WANNA WALK! I never thought this was gonna happen to us - some other kids but never us .. of course, but expect the unexpected. Moment of truth and revelation time! THE KID DONCH WANNA WALK !

There was so much to see at the Halifax Waterfront during the summer but the kid continued whining and wanted to be carried. It was too hot !! the wind was too cold!!! How long more do we have to walk - she would continue asking. Is it normal..??? of course it is..!! she is afterall a kid. I just burst your bubbles didn’t i ..?? about going on vacation with your 5.5 yrs old.. or even 6 yrs old. I bet when she is 9 .. we might still have the same problems. But nevermind, this time we were ill-prepared.. but the next trip.. we have a plan.. muahahahhaha!!!!

No .. no..!! we are not leaving her behind .. that’s for sure.. i can’t lived without her - and she won’t let us go .. that’s for sure. I would be too sad.. to even enjoy my vacation. So what is my plans..??

I am getting a stroller or a wagon with us for the vacation ..!!!! yes.. and if she whines about walking .. we are gonna put her in there.. with lots of sunscreen.. so that we can enjoy our walk.. and sightseeing.

And to make sure.. that there is a play place for her to spend time at .. so that she can get some exercise as well.. and be happy to explore and play with other kids.

She’s happy now.. and so will we .. you think..?? i think it might go better than our last trip. One can always plan .. and hope for the best eh..?? but this time.. i have to remember to bring our sunscreen.

So we headed to the discovery center in Halifax on Barrington Street, the second day in the city. It wasn’t hard to locate the place.. but parking sure suxs..! and darn expensive..!!!! But we’ve heard so many good things .. about the Discovery Center.. so how can we deprived our brat of it right..?? it is a non - profit organization.. so yes.. even though it was ex.. it was alright lah. Cannot right.. be so stingy.. Plus it’s not like one needs to have mesothelioma before you can afford to go there.

Chloe trying out a baby dino nest?

The magic box .. for those who had been wondering how your favorite magician does it.

Chloe took a little coaxing before she would go in to the magic box.

A mini model of the McKay/Macdonald bridge and Chloe going up on it.. to see how it feels up on the bridge that she had traveled on in a car many times.

Magic balls that float by itself.

Here’s Chloe testing them out herself.

A Plasma Ball

Chloe loves this - wished we had a sandbox for her… when she was younger but we spend so much time in the store.. so we didn’t bother.

Blowing big bubbles here - we had a good time and we bought some glowing stars as well as some rocks that Chloe wanted which was a buck each but like i said before, it is a non profit organization, so we don’t mind paying for it.

We stayed at Uncle Budd’s for the first nite .. when we were on our vacation. As usual Uncle Budd was very nice and we even met his friend .. and am very happy for him. This trip Chloe just took to Uncle Budd and his friend immediately - unlike the last time we were there, she woke up at 4am.. and wanted to go home.. and crying and whining and the works. As you can see, she was showing Uncle Budd how to work her DS. We didn’t stay for another nite because we wanted to be able to get a better night sleep with internet access and we had promised Chloe a hotel stay for her vacation. But it was definitely a nice visit.. and staying at Uncle Budd’s saved us a lot of money .. because that weekend was when Sir Paul McCartney was playing in Halifax’s commons.

So we are back from our vacation, a short one .. but that was all the time we could afford. We didn’t go very far.. but we did a lot .. more than we had for the last 5 yrs. With your own businesses and a child.. and years of ex-employees that had the “me first” attitude.. there was just no way to go anywheres. This year, we had Katelynn who double up as a part time employee at the store.. and looked after the store.. while we were gone. Yes, she followed instructions to the tee .. and we had no problems with her manning the store.. for she is trustworthy. On top of it.. we had our good friend, Gary come see look.. and help Kate when it was busy - during the days we were gone. Grateful for good friends.. and finally a good employee - we are going for another short break in August before the summer ends. So while PB bought some golf training aids for himself, he bought me this handmade necklace. Love it..!! and he insisted on paying for it.. so i’m happy.

Our next stop was the wild life park - at Upper Clements about another 30mins from Digby. But I have to tell you .. it is a very small park and we took only an hour - walking really slowly and we got thru’ the entire park. There was a lot to see .. for Chloe.. but for me.. it was so-so… afterall, i had been to so many already from different places.

The trail begins here.. the walk was definitely good for me.. but after the walk around the wildlife park.. my tummy hurt in the evening. Hahahha!!! But i know it will get better as the days goes by.

They do have signs up.. but the only thing the irks me a lot is there is no safe station where there should be ppl to help in case of an injury or someone fainted. You all know how huge some of our Canadians are here eh.

A very calm eagle as you can see here. It did not move nor fly anywheres.. but can’t blame it eh.. no space to fly.. the cage was really small.

A closer look at the eagle - A bald eagle - anything but bald as you can see .. muahahhaha!!

We started our vacation with very good weather.. and we woke up early enough.. and headed out before noon. Our first stop was Digby - a town 45 mins away from us.. and it is a very beautiful place as you can see. The ocean, boats and whale watching and many eateries for seafood - known for its famous scallops. No we didn’t have scallops.. but food was good.. and the portion were huge. It was a really good start albeit the fact that PB had a bad tummy last nite.. and this morning.. when we started off.

After lunch, we took a short walk around town.. and had some ice cream.. before we headed to our next stop.. the zoo..!!! I had rum and raisin ice cream.. the first.. after so many years. And no they donch have rum and raisins here.

That was what Chloe’s school friend mother had said to me. You see, I am not the only one who migrated from abroad. We have an Australian mummy here.. and a Europe daddy .. and also a U.K daddy and another American husband here. And it seems like all had gone home for a short break and/or holiday recently or planning to. So, when Chloe’s school friend mummy came over the other day, she said.. my turn should be soon eh..? In which the “ang moh” grouchly agreed .. and said .. he would start looking for travel deals. Muahahahah!!!

The brat is sometimes so funny. She was having a conversation with the babysitter, where they were discussing about going to college. Chloe whined and said she doesn’t wanna go to college because she loves us. .and don’t want to leave home. In which, the babysitter replied to appease her.. that she doesn’t need to go away for college because we do have a community college called Burridge. So Chloe said.. ok.. i’ll go to Burridge then. In which the babysitter said… then you can’t be staying in hotels or going to the city because you have to stay home. In which the brat staying crying and said.. ” I wanna stay in the hotel..!!” *slap forehead*

Christmas is just around the corner and boy is it coming fast! I was at the mall this morning and the place was packed! I was out of breath and the traffic was horrid. Yes ! Christmas is here, there’s no denying it now. And like any wife/mummy, we are now in a frenzy to try and get ready for this once a year celebration. Most people have a love-hate relationship with Christmas and I’m sure you can relate to that. Getting Christmas party ideas , recipes and most importantly, decoration tips for our home.

If you are anything like me and need planning tips and ideas, you will find this online site to be very helpful and insightful. It provides simple planning tools and expert advice for all your upcoming parties and is a place where you can pick someone else’s brain to find all the information you may need for your Christmas celebrations and more. With so many tips and ideas shared on this site I find that I am less stressed out, in fact I put my kid to work on some Christmas craft ideas and kept her happy and busy, plus she thinks she is all important now. Now I know I’m going to have a Merry Christmas! Are you? Get ideas online easily at celebration.com.

My blogging buddy had written to ask me what I would recommend when she is on vacation in Las Vegas. While some people loved the casinos.. i love the Las Vegas Shows. Truly, they are a once in a lifetime thing and they do have some amazing shows with amazing artistes performing. One thing I know about these shows are they are too many good ones to choose from but if you go online and see what ShowsLasVegas.com have to offer in term of the selection, you can find yourself coming into some very good show tickets and paying exclusive prices for them. If you are like me or my blogging buddy, bringing kids with you for your vacation, check out the World’s greatest Magic Show.

Skiing in Courchevel 1850, France, was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had. When I saw a blogging friend post pictures of it one day I was truly in awe and I cannot explain how happy and sad I was at the same time. Happy because it brought back many wonderful memories and sad because I truly miss traveling around the world. Those were the days.

Of course now that we are nearer to the States than France we can choose the various places in USA for our skiing trips. Telluride Ski Resort was pretty laid back and it has it’s own town where you can find everything you need… from food, lodging, shopping or any kind of outdoor activities you choose to do. The Gondolas are free to use and you just hop onto it and go to town anytime you want.

Lugging our ski equipment for our trip wasn’t really my ideal vacation and if you are like me and bringing the whole family along it only make sense to use Telluride ski rentals. They have the right fitting equipment, even boots, for you and your entire family or group of friends going for your trip; junior size are covered too. Making arrangement to have your ski equipment reserved or delivered is so easy, you can do it online or call them toll free. Rest assured that they really are the professionals and they come equipped to outfit you perfectly for your ski vacation. When you rent from Ski Butlers, customer service doesn’t end when you pay for the rental, they will also assist you with any technical problems you may encounter. Wherever you are, they offer the best and the latest ski equipment and their prices are quite reasonable by my standards. If you know me, I always go for the best deals.

How i long to go home.. and to those of you .. who knows me… you know that this is as good a time to go .. as any. For years.. i had put everything of the spouse’s before myself… but i long to go home.. so much.. it sometimes gets very bad. Yes..!! i go crazy at times.. and poor PB .. gets the hard part of it. Plus going home with Chloe means more travel insurance we have to look into.. and since she is already 4.9 months.. her seat on any airplane is gonna be of an adult fare. I can’t wait to go home, so everyone.. watch out .. for news here.. so that we can meet up.. and yak till thy kingdom come. . when i get home. I know .. my buddy, Coco is overjoyed now.. because we haven’t seen each other for so long.

Yes..!! and ABOUT TIME…!!! but the funny thing is .. we didn’t even buy the ticket for the contest. It was a ticket given to us.. by our regular and bestest customer.. Sherri. And we won ..!! we won..!! A round trip to Montreal..!! how awesome is that.. !! Now we’ll have to wait .. for the man.. to see if he wants to or not.. ?? we have an option to take cash too.

A long time girlfriend of mine, has moved from Australia back to USA and then from USA to Singapore… and from Singapore back to Connecticut.. and from Connecticut to San Fransisco. And she is moving again .. because her husband had another offer with another bigger company. This time to New York and I guess she is using New York Moving Company to help her relocate. The last time, I know she did it on her own.. and she was pretty pregnant then . and she wasn’t really happy at all. This time, she was just gonna leave it to the professionals.

We had wanted to go for a short vacation .. if not for my surgeries.. and i’m still recovering from it. PB had gotten a set of Titleist golf for Christmas.. and when we tried to explain to the brat .. that we won’t be going for a golf vacation as planned, she had an answer to comfort us. She said “it’s alright mum, papa can play golf here.. and it can be counted as a vacation too” muahahah!! afterall, we live behind a golf club.

I was at the Bank of Montreal this afternoon and met a Chinese couple and their son from New Jersey (I kid you not). They were originally from Malaysia and it is always good to see an Asian face in town because you get to chat in Chinese and it’s great to somewhat connect to home. According to the couple, there are quite a few Chinese families where they come from. Now that’s comforting to know if I was thinking of re-locating or doing business there.

Real Estate New Jersey has more information on the population and it is good know that it is the second wealthiest state in the US. One can also learn a little bit more about the community on this site, and of course you can find a Realtor on their website as well as see homes for sale. From pricing to a brief description and pictures to help you narrow down your dream house thus making it easier for your re-location. You can even schedule a viewing time online as well as get a pre-qualified loan for your mortgage. You can just value up a house and be on top of things too if that’s your preference. In other words, your search begins and ends here, stress free because you get all the information you need and more. Here you have people who are ready to assist and help you make the right decision.

You know.. with my operations.. and the emergency one that happened.. and because of not knowing what was actually wrong with me… i had so much fear. I really for that moment worried..that i may not be with my family ever again. And because of the operations .. i have a different perspective towards how i want to live my life now. Life is too short .. don’t you think..?? I feel that family comes first.. above everything else. For all the times.. we won’t leave the store.. because of our business, now I’m looking forward to getting well.. and taking a vacation at least yearly and taking care of my health. I hear that the Winter Park real estate is a great place for a getaway, whether as a couple or as a family. I’m gonna get PB to check it out.

Vacations are great wherever you choose to go. I guess for some it is a great bonding time to be the family and for others it is for experiencing a new culture, new sights and scene. And for some who loves food, it is the all new and authentic food that one can only get in that particular country.

One of my most memorable holiday was in Miami Beach. I am pretty sure.. that everyone has heard or seen on brochures and tv what a fraction of Miami Beach looks like. Blessed by good weather all year round, Miami seems to have the most tourist whatever time you choose to go. And the beaches stretches like there were no end to it.. and the people on the beaches.. you would think people don’t ever work in Miami and not forgetting the water sports they offer there. It was certainly a fun & unforgettable holiday for me.

Of course Miami is not only about the beaches and hotels, there were plenty of other things that we did too. Like the Miami Boat show, a spectacular 5 days event and we did the art walk, shopped at Sunset Place, visited Little Havana and all these were made possible because we were smart enough to rent a car in miami. In fact, using SideStep, one can plan your whole vacation through them for their search engine is very comprehensive and with the access of a large database of over 200 travel websites, thus bringing you the very best travel values that you cannot find elsewhere.