Picnic and movie night @ Moonlight Cinema - Royal Botanic Gardens.

It was thanks to Joan, one of our tennis mates that we even heard of the Moonlight Cinema at the Royal Botanic Gardens. She had organised for us to watch Toy Story 3 last friday. It was a movie night cum pre christmas kris kringle.

There was a "Gold Grass" area where bean bags are provided and there was free flow of snacks and drinks. For us, we had to bring along picnic mats and rented bean bags or blankets if needed. We did the gift exchanges before the movie while we were having dinner.

People chowing down KFC chicken - our dinner.

Check out the amount of junk food we had.

As it got nearer to show time, the inflatable screen by the lake was set up and advertisements were playing as usual before the movie.

Here's a shot of the beautiful evening sky at the back, halfway through the movie.

We weren't supposed to tell who we got for the kris kringle. But I think from the laughter and looks when we each got our presents, we could probably guess who it was. We all couldn't stop laughing when Andy opened his present - which was ceramic/glass egg plants!

Absolutely loved the movie we watched: Toy Story 3 - so much that I really want to get the blu-ray versions of all the movies from 1 to 3. I've also pretty much completed the Toy Story LEGO sets, some of which are on display at home! Just need more room for the rest arggh!

And though the forecast was cloudy and rain, we were lucky that the weather held up for the duration of the movie and droplets only started falling when we were leaving. But it was pretty cold for a summer night when the wind blew and so a thick blanket is definitely recommended for next time!

St. Peter's Carols by Candlelight and Andy's Birthday

I joined one of St. Peter's Catholic Church choir around 2009, they are called the Contemporary Choir. We used to sing every 4th and 5th Sunday of the month, but being the Youth Choir and singing songs that were more upbeat and cheerful, parishioners have suggested that they would like to see us more and so we're singing on 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays now.

Anyway around last year, a new Music Director Chris joined the church with his wife Chenade. They are really nice people and Chris decided to organise a Carols by Candlelight event. The event was called "Emmanuel - Carols by Candlelight, held on 11 Dec 2010. All the different choir groups took turns to sing christmas hymns and all were invited.

A group shot at the room back of the stage where everyone was warming up.	Can't really see, but this should be Patrice or Val's choir group doing their stint.
Us, the Contemporay Choir Group leaving the stage after finishing our songs. We did four songs in total.	When the sky turned darker, we lighted candles and continued into the night with the singing.
THe Korean Choir from Waverly church were also invited. They were really awesome and blew everyone away.	The finale where we performed the song "Emmanuel - God is with us" again. We did this at the start too.

The four songs that we sang:

1) Silver Bells	2) Go tell it on the Mountain
3) Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas	4) Joy to the World (All the boys and girls)

It was a great night and all of us really had fun celebrating the spirit of christmas. Thanks to Michelle and Tubby who were there to watch and support us as well. I'm definitely gonna join again next year. :)

We also celebrated Andy (one of our tennis mate's) birthday that same weekend. He turned 30 and so it was a pretty significant one. We had dinner at these Chinese/Malaysian Restaurant in Balwyn called Mabrown. They had really good grilled spicy quails and you had to make a booking otherwise you won't get a table on a Sat night.

And dinner we headed to our place for a fun night of wii and games. Joan decided to make the birthday surprise at 10pm+ so that Andy can enjoy the last couple of hours before he actually turned 30. LOL. The cake was a very yummy and elaborate one from Brunetti and present was a Lego Star Wars set as he's kinda of a Lego fan as well.

The birthday boy very happy to take his cake (from James I think).	Opening his present and already guessing what it was due to the sounds.
Usual group shot on our pretty big and comfortable couch.	Sexy shot of the two princesses "Troy and Andy" hugging.
And then we started on the Wii gaming - Mario Kart was first on the list.	Then Troy decided to make us try the wii fit board and these funny pose exercises.

It was a great weekend of fun and celebrations. And with christmas getting so close, it certainly brought more spirit and feel of the upcoming holiday mood. :)

Our 6th Anniversary - of being together. :)

Time surely flies! It felt like just yesteday uni mate Len and I volunteered for the Orientation in 2004 when we spotted Tubby during the registration. He was a lonely "banana" who only spoke english and didn't really mix much with the new group of students when they first came as they mostly conversed in mandarin.

And so the three of us hanged out together heaps, then soon become a crazy bunch when the rest of the students came back and from then they say, the rest is history. We only went official on 6 Dec 2004 and so it's been 6 years (of happiness, joy, ups and downs). This year on 6 Dec 2010, we decided to make this anniversary a little bit more significant as we'll be married by the next one.

It was nothing too elaborate, we both just took a day off to spend time together. Afternoon was pretty much bumming at home and we only went out in the evening for dinner at The Langham Hotel - Melba Restaurant. It was the first time I stepped foot into the Langham Hotel Melbourne. We have heard about it so much especially from Master Chef. The hotel was just beautifully designed and lighted and because it was near Christmas, they had a big christmas tree set up.

Dinner was the famous Melba buffet and boy did they really have a big spread! The highlight for me was the abundant sea of prawns, bugs, crabs and sashimi! I think I ate the moreton bay bugs and prawns the most! They also had a variety of desserts and the running chocolate fondue fountain which I didn't miss as well.

There was also chinese and indian food there and we tried the naan and curries. You can also order anything from the stir-fry section and ask the chef to make the dish to your liking. I don't think I ate much of the main courses, I just kept going back for the seafood. We really stuffed ourselves that night and for once Tubby actually felt he had eaten too much! :p

Meeting Jaelyn again and a first party night of Wii.

We met up with Janice and Joseph last friday. Almost 7 months since we last met as Janice went to the U.S with their daughter Jaelyn for 3 months shortly after April and then mum was here visiting and so the time just flew by. Wow has little cutie Jaelyn grown! Her hair's much longer now and she has much more responses too!

Dinner was at aunty's (Wah Kee) in Clayton as they had to find a "baby-friendly" place. Jaelyn was actually pretty good and sat quietly during the course of dinner. Her favourite was her plastic spoon which she held on to it tightly for the whole time we were there. I tried feeding her and she looked relunctant at first, but eventually gave in. :) It was only after dinner when the hours went by as we chatted did Jaelyn get a little bored and wanted to move about. So we took turns carrying her to watch the fishes in the tank while the guys chatted. And Aunty took out a toy mat puzzle for her to play with. You can see Tubby in training above. She seemed to have taken an instant liking to him!

On Saturday, we also finally met up with busy-guy Wangwei, Khim and Ellen again. Daniel bro also joined us as it was his last weekend before he flew back to Singapore.

Dinner was "all you can eat" at this Hot Pot restaurant in Glen Waverley and it was yummy! You get two choices of soup base: spicy and normal flavoured. Certainly good for that cold rainy day! After that we retreated to our little hut for some Wii gaming! You can tell all of us were pretty much engrossed in it except for Ellen who watched from the side. Also being a Lego fan, she preferred to look through my Lego stuff or play with Jasper. We tried getting her to join us in some of the games but she just wasn't into it.

The boys really got into it when we were playing Virtual Tennis, they were literally up and about jumping here and there, especially Khim. And it was just such joy to watch when people have fun! The night ended around 11pm-ish as Khim and Ellen still had to drive all the way back to Pakenham. So that was a pretty fun-filled weekend for us.

Chinese Museum and Mum's return to Malaysia.

Mum just flew back from her 3-month Melbourne trip on Saturday. And so I took a couple of days leave before she left to spend time with her. We did the usual shopping, had afternoon tea together etc. But one of the more significant ones included a trip to the Chinese Museum in the city.

As funny as it sounds, "Chinese visiting a Chinese Museum", I still think that sometimes we need to remember our roots and not forget about our history. In this case it was also about how the chinese from other parts of the world came to live in Melbourne. We were also treated to a Acrobatic, Performing Arts and Magic show which happened to be on that time.

Lady pouring water from a magazine	The inter-change masks act
Acrobatic wheel toss/juggle	The funny M.C who tried some tricks
Acrobatic vase juggling	Terracotta Warrior
Traditional Wedding Dress	One of the longest Dragons in Victoria

We had a great time that day. There was also a group of kids on a trip and boy were we impressed at them counting numbers in mandarin. One caucasian traveller there also speaked very fluent chinese - I think definitely better than Tubby's!

On the day Mum flew off, we had lunch and decided to head towards the airport earlier to avoid any traffic jams or delays. It was raining and we had tea at Villa Hut at the Essendon DFO. I also managed to quickly snagged a Country Road scarf and a Ralph Lauren Polo tee - courtesy of Tubby. :) Till we meet again in April mum, loving and missing you. *hugs*

The launch of Yong and Mel's Wedding Blog.

Today is a special day for Tubbs and I and we just want to announce something important! From exactly 365 days from today, on 21 Oct 2011, Tubby and I will be walking down the aisle:

So I'm launching our wedding blog: http://yongandmelswedding.blogspot.com. Do pop by to have a look and feel free to leave a comment or say hi! :)

Mum's birthday trip: 3D2N Great Ocean Road and Grampians

Mum and I went for a 3D2N Great Ocean Road and Grampians trip last Wed-Fri. She had initially asked for Great Ocean Road only but I thought since there was an offer and we get to spend more days together on the trip, we might as well go for the one with Grampians as well.

Day 1: The weather was rather bad and cloudy. We had to wake up at about 6am in the morning (5am for me since I take an hour to get ready!) to get to one of the pick-up points. There were a number of pick-up points but we chose Habitat HQ, a backpackers along St. Kilda road.

Itinerary: Bells Beach, Memorial Arch, Beach Stops, Drive along Great Ocean Road, Lorne & Anglesea, Otway Rainforest Walk, 12 Apostles, Loch Arch Gorge, London Bridge and Cudgee Wildlife Park.
The highlight for day 1 was definitely the visit to the Cudgee Wildlife Park. We were each given a bucket of bread to feed the animals such as Wallabies, Kangaroos, Ducks, Emus and more. Mum also had a cute pink parrot who took an instant liking to her. But the best part when we got to hold a wombat and koala. I couldn't quite remember what the other animal I was holding is called, but they were so cute!

Day 2: That day was certainly a much nicer and lovelier day. The sun actually came out and warmed us up when we were driving up to Grampians. We stayed at the Warrnambool Beach Backpackers the night before and so after breakfast, our tour guide suggested a walk around the area.

Itinerary: Stingray Bay, Thunderpoint Coastal Reserve, Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre, The Pinnacle and true aussie BBQ for dinner.

Day 2 was probably one of the most tiring ones with the club up the Pinnacle. The 4.2km trip from Wonderland Carpark took us about 3 hours to get up and back. It was pretty strenuous and mum had to stop halfway and went back down to wait for us. But the rock formations were wonderful and the view from the top was just stunning that it was well worth it.

Day 3: What luck that out of the 3 days, 2 days had to be dampening. Day 3 was also pretty wet and cold. It was raining and pouring the whole night before. We were supposed to also visit the Boroka & Reeds Lookout and the Balconies, but it was just to wet to go there.

Itinerary: McKenzie Falls, Drive along Halls Gap, Wartook Reservoir and Bests Wines Winery.
And the hightlight for that day was certainly the cute and lovable Border Collie at the Winery. He was just so friendly and loving to everyone. They also had a book there on all the dogs in different wineries. We bought some moscato home that evening and boy did it feel good to get home again after much travelling. :)