@ 41 months 2 weeks 6 days
Hubby has been a F1 fan for more than a decade; since Aryton Senna days. For me.. I don’t follow each and every race as much as I used compared to when I was in my Uni years. Now I only keep abreast with the general F1 news.
Hubby bought the tickets many months in advance to enjoy the early bird discount ($248 pp). This year we decided to get the grandstand tickets as opposed to the walk about tickets which we opted for last year. It was simply too tiring walking around without a fixed spot to sit. I was telling hubby it was a decision wisely made, otherwise I doubt I would be able to keep up his pace walking around with my current condition.
Ryan knew about the impending F1 race weeks ahead the actual day as we passed by the route every morning when we send hubs to work. He would tell us he wants to bring along his camera (our old Canon IXUS 50D is Ryan’s possession now). You should see how excited he was just by looking at the prep work (fences, seats, lightings) the organiser put up. We wished we could bring Ryan along but kids below 7 years old were strongly discouraged to attend due to the loud noise. We dare not take the risk. Hopefully we could bring him along to Sepang’s race next year, at least the track is much further from the seats/spectators.
Day 1 – 25th Sept. I decided not to go for the practise session as I felt heavy hearted leaving Ryan at home alone with my helper 3 days in a row. With a spare ticket on hand, Hubs invited his friend ‘Machine’ who was more than pleased to go with him. Normally Ryan would watch the race with Daddy but tonight he watched the live telecast on TV with Mommy. He asked so many questions about the sport (what team, what they were doing, what was this and that, etc) to which Daddy proudly proclaimed Ryan’s interest on motorsports is definitely from his genes. I have no doubt about that. Â
Day 2 – 26th Sept. I felt extremely heavy hearted the whole day anticipating Ryan would be very upset when he learned we had left him behind for the race. Just before we leave home, I quickly got him ready for bed - sponged him and brushed his teeth. He was in the play room with Loida when hubs and I sneaked out. It has been a while since hubs and I had to sneak out. Ryan had been a darling, waving goodbye to us when we were going out for a long time until recently – a couple weeks back to be exact. I could only assume it’s because of the little person in me. Mmm….
The qualifying race is at 10pm but we sneaked out earlier at about 8.00pm anticipating the bad traffic. We reached Suntec at around 8.30pm. So we took a quick bite at Cartel’s Cafe @ Marina Square. I had their award winning St Louis Pork Ribs and hubs ordered Cartel’s Pan Fried Macaroni. Yummy!!
At about 10.30pm, Loida texted me – “Ryan cried a lot and just slept”. Oh dear.. poor boy. Slept at 10.30pm!! That was kinda late.  :(
The qualifying session lasted about an hour. It ended at 11.15pm. There were people everywhere. So many F1 enthusiasts. I guess the night race is a real big catch and this year there were many supporting races and shows. After the qualifying, we walked a distance until we reached the Suntec Convention Centre to hail a cab. We were lucky. There was no queue and we reached home around 11.40pm.
Loida told me Ryan refused to sleep. He cried so much and demanded Harry-Boat-Harry stories (it’s actually 3 different bed time stories which I would tell Ryan every night. First is about Harry visiting the zoo/animal kingdom, followed by Mickey and Minnie on boat ride and lastly a story of Harry again – can be any storyline) but poor Loida had no idea what stories were they. It doesn’t helped Ryan only wanted the 3 stories and no others.
  Â
Day 3 – 27th Sept. Ryan woke up demanding us to tell him where we went last night. We told him we went for the race. He seemed to understand that he is too young to attend but can’t denied he was still visibly upset. Poor boy.
We had to leave before 6.30pm for the 8pm race. I had intentionally allowed Ryan to skip his nap today so he could sleep early. I briefly told Loida about the stories in hope tonight will be a smoother night for both of them.
We had our dinner at Crystal Jade. At about 8.30pm, Loida texted me. I was so relieved to read that Ryan did not fuss as much and he was asleep after the stories. Phew. I found out the next morning Ryan slept after 1 Harry story. When I asked Ryan about it, he said it was because ‘kakak”s story was not nice. Hahahaha……
The race ended around 11.00pm. Overall it was a boring race, hahaha at least for me. F1 is really a TV sport. Being on-site is really for the feel and atmosphere. You could only see the car zoomed passed in split mili seconds.
Safety car – I think it was during Heidfeld (BMW) and Sutil (Force India)Â impact
The race organisation was really poor too. We were literally shoulder to shoulder on our way out. It doesn’t helped with the very limited exit points. Thumbs down to the organiser!
–
The next day, to make it up for Ryan, I brought him to pick Daddy after work.
He saw this pair of shoes and fell in love with it right away. I thought they were ugly…
Having fun at the indoor playground @ Marina Square
His latest craze is Bob the Builder
Looking extremely auntie and pregnant here @ 22 weeks 2 days
Â