weekend with the hub part 2

as promised, here's part 2 of my time-out "dates" with the hub.

the present count thus far: a movie treat, 2 PC games and a home-cooked dinner of beef steak, carrots, mushrooms, corn and escargots (bought from carrefour). this was on friday. our typical weekend schedule resumed on saturday and sunday - which means, of course, time with the girls and hub's family. my 2 older nieces, eileen and cheryl had borrowed a baking book from the library and it was decided that we'd all do some baking on sunday itself (hub's actual birthday) since they wanted to use our oven.

it was a mess, of course. xian and her cousins went wild with the cookie cutters, chocolate drops and sprinklies. but the girls had their share of fun though they were obviously spared the cleaning-up - which was naturally, er, less fun.

anyway, both the hub and myself had applied for leave on monday. my initial plan was to serve him lamb chops (one of his favourite western dishes) and i didn't like the idea of a last minute-rushed meal i had to conjure up on friday night. after the hub sent xian off to school, and with wen sound asleep, i was able to potter about in the kitchen leisurely to prepare the food. we picked xian from school and dropped the girls back at MIL's to have their lunch and afternoon nap. then we returned home to our haven @ arif, i cooked and we sat down to have a *peaceful* lunch. so that's his 4th gift. the 5th is here.

aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............

i love my 2 girls immensely, but sometimes i do need a short break from them. think the hub would agree with me on that point.

of course, with the extra time on my hands i did a little facial mask-slapping exercise and took a luxuriously afternoon nap while the hub answered office calls/emails (i know he's supposed to be on leave, but that doesn't stop him from working) and watched TV till it was time for our evening "date", a corporate function.

no matter. a date's a date right? gotta look spiffy and presentable, which was what we both tried to do. heh.

the hub was invited to sentosa for the launch of Songs of the Sea, which is to replace the old Musical Fountain (to make way for the up-and-coming integrated resort). the last time we visited sentosa was for the Sentosa Flowers Festival 2007 during CNY with the girls. the last time we visited sentosa without the kids was a loooong time ago. before we got married.i'm not one to be easily "wowed" by tacky attractions. guess this haughtiness comes with age, having "been there, done that". but it was nice, sweet, warm feeling to be strolling with the hub down to the beach where they'd built an outdoor amphitheatre for the show.

on the way to the show, we passed by the Sentosa Express Beach Station foyer. they'd decorated the place with marquee tents (for food), soft colourful lights hanging from the trees and glittering bulbs embedded in the ground to create a romantic, sea-like atmosphere.

it was...*rather* lovely. :D

i bet no expense was spared for this event. i stopped the hub midway and snapped a couple of pictures - for memories' sake, since we probably have to wait a couple more months, or even years before we can arrange another exclusive hub-wifey-only outing.

we were then ushered up the steps into the amphitheatre and took our seats near the back. the place was already 3/4 filled, mostly with media folks (it's the official opening ceremony after all) and industry watchers.

and so we sat...

...and waited...
...and sat...

...and waited...

and i decided emulate the typical Gen-Y thing: take our own picture. awful angle which makes us both look like we have humongous faces! but, what the heck...

before the show started and since it was the official opening, the sentosa bigwigs and G-O-H delivered their speeches first. there were laser shows, lotsa singing, fire displays, water-sprouting fountains and fireworks. the next few pictures are self-explanatory:

looking back, i think the show itself wasn't spectacular, and i think the pictures made it more exciting than it really was. but that's my jaded opinion. :X

it was then time to check out the buffet spread. as usual, the queues were snaking all over and we were contemplating to leave and have dinner somewhere else. but the kiasu singaporean trait burned in my system passionately, and we lingered around to join the shortest possible queue around just to sample the food...

it *had* to be the salad/sushi tent. hub complained jokingly that i *had* to pick the vegetable tent for the meatosaurus.

we ended up staying for dinner as the crowd thinned (these people rushed out to pile on their plates immediately after the show, ate their share and left fairly quickly). no regrets staying on. our tummies were most-contentedly filled :) there was also free flow of beverages - we each had white, then red wine and soft drinks. the hub downed some beer too. unfortunately i'm a terrible drinker and my system's not too good with alcohol so my heart started pounding wildly and i tried to flush out the wine with more 7-Up. that's why i don't drink.

hub and i left sentosa at about 9pm. the night was young, but reality hit us: we'd to rush back to attend to the kids.

and that, my friends, was the end of my little tête-à-tête with the hub. almost 2 days spent chatting idly about whatever we fancied. and i'm looking forward to another one of these sessions. whenever. wherever.