Sunday, December 9, 2007 ;
6:30 AM
Dec 7
Fri
Sent dh to work in the morning, then went to pick Ruoyi and her dd, En, up. They stay in a very nice and cosy apartment that IMF provided for all the employees. It's at Riverton, so after that, we went to Ikea for some shopping and makan.
Now, the Ikea in Draper is no longer the newest in USA. Ikea is opening store after store across USA, I think there are 3 or 4 newer ones by now.
This time there was enough space in the playroom they call Smaland. So ds1 happily went in.
Above right: ds1 inside the huge playroom, with TV on a loft, huge ball pit, activity tables, slides. Sorry poor pic quality, taken through the glass panel.
Above left: Toilet yes, no mistake. I like going to the toilet at Ikea actually. Always spacious, fun and clean. At the family toilets, strollers and 10 kids can fit in, together with the parents. The younger ones even have toys to occupy them with, when the parents are doing their business or changing diaper for an infant. And they provide free diapers and wipes too. Nice comfy sofa for nursing as well.
Had a good time chatting with Ruoyi and learnt a lot more about her family and her hubby's work. Really glad to have even more Sporean friends in Utah. They'll be here for at least 6 months, same as my JC classmate.
Above right: her adorable daughter, En, almost same age as ds2.
After our meal at the cafe, and then buying some things, I sent them back, and went up for a while. Had some stuff to pass to them and also needed to wait for dh to finish up his work.
Passed them some stuffed toys, cos ds didn't care for them, and some books. Chatted more, and had a tour of her apartment. Lovely view of the mountains. It is very new, and well-stocked. The company was thoughtful in furnishing their place, because the cutlery, appliances and dishware were very Asian, like Japanese and so on.
Meanwhile, ds1 played with En. Surprisingly, they got along well. And ds1 was actually gentle enough with her. He's usually so rough with his brother, I feared he might want to fight with girls too. They scribbled on paper together and played with toy animals.
Then we went to pick dh up from work. He knocked off earlier, because we were going to celebrate our wedding anniversary. 6 years already. wow. how time flies. we felt we were only married for 1 year, this past year. before that, what happened? we seriously don't know, it passed all in a blur.
Somehow being a SAHM and being here all by ourselves brought our family much closer together. We had time to do a lot of things together as a family, as a couple. We stayed with his parents in the past, and his day would be work first, back home, parents next, then dinner, care for his fish (the prized arowana), then bath, then kids, then computer (email and work), then me. By that time, maybe I was asleep already. Or I would be busy marking Bio scripts.
His job was just like mine too. No fixed hours. He was conductor, and teacher-in-charge of string orchestra, later SYF and the SNYO. All the concerts and events were held at night, or on Sat or Sun. He was always at work, in the day, at night, and on the weekends.
When he had free time, he needed to be filial and respectful to his parents too. I don't blame him for that. He needs to talk to his parents since we are staying together. Then he needs to be there for the kids too, right?
We seldom had time to talk or discuss things at length like now. But we did manage to celebrate a lot of special occasions together without the kids because our parents, mine and his, will help babysit.
Still, I think the situation now is healthier for our family and couplehood. Both of us strongly feel that, not just me.
We planned to leave the kids at Little Gym and have dinner by ourselves actually. Little Gym here offers "parents' night out" on Friday evenings, from 6pm to 10pm. They'll care for the kids, let the kids play on the gym equipment, organise activities for them and so on so the parents can enjoy an evening, have dinner or catch a movie.
BUT they weren't having it just that Friday. So no choice. Kids tagged along. :-)
Dh chose Outback, seems like our family's favorite now
The Outback was in Orem, and we celebrated the occasion by spending the night at the Hampton Inn there. Orem is even further south of Ikea, about 2hrs away from home, so we decided to eat leisurely and then spend the night there, adn the next morning we can tour the area.
Hampton Inn was having a promotion, and it was all geared up for Xmas. Lovely fireplace, tree, lights, presents and decor. Even a train that chugs around the fireplace too. (below right)
The next day, we went swimming in their heated pool and jacuzzi.
The kids had a lot of fun, esp so when they made dh swim up and down the pool ferrying them together.
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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