YowCH & Grace

The boys got to climb a tree after lunch. Tree climbing is good, overcomes fear of heights, builds physically, learns to grab and push, and fun.

After church, we had our church Care Group, eCG, Christmas and year-end dinner at the Leong’s place, fantastic food.



The desserts were great! The Wees made cake with salted-caramel sauce, and the Leongs made Rainbow Cake.

A little update on the terrapins, they have grown really large!

On Sunday, the children had some time to play at home.

Then we went to Vivocity for lunch at LeNu 樂牛 (of Paradise Group 樂天):


And after some shopping, we had dessert at Madam Kwan’s before heading home

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YowCH and Grace were married 14 years ago, 16 Dec 2000.

Our wedding page is here.

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The Isis repairs completed just a we returned from our Langkawi trip. The right front fender and the two right doors were replaced. The front suspension was also replaced.

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The SMRT cab company has confirmed taking full responsibility for the accident, and repairs of the Isis have started at Mova, estimated 2 weeks. Likely to change the rim and some parts of the wheel and drive shaft.

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After dropping Joseph and Samuel off at the childcare (Alfa Centre), YowCH drove Grace to work, and right after starting off into Mackenzie Road, an SMRT cab drove into the side of the Isis. No one hurt, but the car right side panels were all affected. The worst is the right wheel which was knocked crooked. The car had to be towed to Mova for repairs.


The cab’s front was pretty damaged, considering that the impact was rather great.

Again, on rental car, this time a Toyota Prius, strangely silent to drive because it is a hybrid car.

Looks like at least 2 weeks to repair. Thank God no one was hurt.

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Grace bought 2 bicycle poles from Groupon, to help with the management of the bicycles. The poles can each carry 2 bikes. They were delivered to TYLin and YowCH drove them home.

Esther and David were both helpful in setting up the poles. They are supposed to be mounted by drilling into the roof and floor, but we stuck some anti-slip mats and just pressure-mounted them instead. Hopefully no accident of the poles or bikes dropping.

Here are two views of the neater bikes arrangement. The children can now get their bikes out without removing the adults’ bikes and the overall space taken is reduced by several inches.

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To see the ground better at night, we have talked about a glow light under the bumper to help light up the rear wheels. Linked to the reverse light, it has a relay to the red tail lights to come on only when both the tail lights and the reverse is engaged.

This was done as YowCH sent the Isis back to Tong Lee Wee to fix the recently replaced right wing mirror motor, which apparently is spoilt again.

The row of LEDs are cheap China made, but waterproof. Supply and install at $38.00.
1. Cutting the LED strip and joining the power wires, then installing the lights under the bumper.

2. The relay switch, and the installed LED strip.

3. Here is the end result, there is a glow behind the rear wheel and visibility is better (particularly when reversing near open drains or slopes. Even the reverse cam is clearer as there is more light now.

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Here’s a photo of Esther studying for her PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examinations). She worked hard over the past few weeks. The last paper is on Tuesday 30 Sept (tomorrow).

Today, YowCH brought the Isis to Mova workshop to repair at 10:00am before going for a meeting. Mova gave a very beaten up Toyota Vios as a temporary car to get YowCH to his meetings.

The rear right seat was repaired and aligned (not perfect, but acceptable) so as to be not a safety concern.

Also, the spare tyre cage has been bent to be curving up to reduce the scraping against higher kerbs, especially with the car loaded.

Mova’s service is reasonably good, the Isis was returned at about 3:00pm.

Tags: Esther, General by yowch
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With the Isis returned, we first reinstated the spoiler on Friday night. The workshop placed the 3M double sided tape (for car) and we measured off the bike rack before putting up the spoiler.

David was helping on this as Esther was focusing on her PSLE exams. Below is the before and after photos.

Here, you see David doing a load test.

On Saturday morning, YowCH brought the Isis to Tong Lee Wee (Lengkok Bahru) to repair the wing mirrors. The right wing mirror was repaired on Thursday. However, after opening up the left wing mirror, the motor was found to be spoilt, and a replacement part must be found. We will have to return to the shop in a few days.

While waiting for the wing mirror repairs, YowCH started on the gear knob cover (a project that was conceived a few weeks after getting the Isis back in 2009). Here is the before and after photos. The plastic knob is now grey-coloured fake leather, and stuffed to be bigger (nicer grip).

Here is the process:

Started with a piece of tissue to get the shape and size. Then marking out on the fake leather and cut.

After trial fitting by hand, the slow work of stitching took about 1 hour. YowCH’s stitches are not very neat.

Then the stuffing and finally wrapping onto the gear knob and secured by tie-wires.

On Sunday, the boys went to The RainForest Sports Hub to play friendly tournament with 7 other clubs, under the Community Football League (www.apsm.com.sg).


The opponents were mostly Caucasians and larger in size, plus more experience. Our West Coast team didn’t do very well, but we still had some goals and some wins.




Samuel had fun, too.

While the boys were playing, Grace drove Esther to and from church (baptism class) and then to and from Chinese tuition (prep for PSLE).

Tags: Family, General by yowch
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We got the Isis back at close of business today (25 Sept, 6:30pm), 27 days from the accident on 30 Aug.

The tailgate and rear bumper has been replaced and looks great. The front right fender has been shaped, and the front bumper touched up.

The right back row seat, which was squeezed during the accident, wasn’t set properly. Mova will realign it again, a one-day-job, which will be done sometime next week.

Other than that, everything else seems fine. The repairs comes with 6 months’ warranty. Mova noted that the shocks are not strong enough and the engine mount is not functioning well, perhaps time to replace them (5 years). Mova also recommended a shop in nearby Lengkok Bahru to help replace the wing mirror motors. We will stick the spoiler over the weekend.

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