Universal Studios

The day before we visited the theme park, it was raining the entire day. We thought we were destined for a drenched outing the next day.

But Singapore's weather often throw suprises at us. When we went to the park, there were just pockets of drizzling with cloudy skies most of the time. The temperature was perfect (27 deg C?) and we hardly perspired and we didn't get wet!

The rides were fantastic. The new Transformer ride is a "must-try" even if queues were snaking. The Battlestar Galactica ride gave me whiplash from all the violent jerks and motions but Ben and I enjoyed it tremendously. Ben even tried Cylon 3 times! Return of the Mummy was scary but the brave Rui tried it once!

The girls obviously had a blast trying rides like Enchanted Airways, a roller coaster ride for kids. Rui even went on the roller coaster on her own. The 4D Shrek show, Waterworld, Canopy Rider were cool too. We spent the entire day trying all the different attractions we even missed our dinner.

Great fun, especially given the fine weather. If the sun had been blazing, we wouldn't have been so taken in by the theme park.

First Overnight Camp

Sometimes, I think I have the bravest daughters in the world.

Yan is not even 5 years old, and she has survived her first overnight camp. No tears, no whining, and all gusto.

And to top it up, she completed the obstacle course at Forest Adventure at Bedok Reservoir. When I went to pick her up at school after the camp, the teachers rushed up to me to comment on how brave she was. She completed her course without help and apparently, was on a roll on the most difficult challenge, the swings.

Her enthusiasm rubbed off on Rui and now Rui wants to take part in Red Camp next year (she had previously refused to stay overnight after her first camp).

Three cheers to the brave little girl!

Crazy November

My November has been a crazy, exhilarating month.

4 Nov - Ben returns after 8 weeks in UK!
5 Nov - Tessa's Laser Tag Birthday
6 Nov - My ex student's Sixian's 21st birthday
11 Nov - Yan's year end concert
13 Nov - Uncle Patrick's Wedding (Yan and Rui are very into weddings!)
17 Nov - Rui's year end concert
18 Nov - Rui's meet-the-parents session and cruise activity

It's only halfway through and I am breathless from the flurry of events already.

Junior Master Chef

The girls are hooked on the reality TV shor Junior Master Chef. Kids as young as 9 year-olds whip up interesting and challenging dishes on this show. Rui is inspired to cook just as well. For a start, they are helping Auntie Yayu cook scrambled eggs. Apparently, it is more difficult to cook this dish well than the name suggests.

Miss Bo-Geh

In the span of one week, Rui has dropped 3 teeth. 2 at the top and one at the bottom left. Now she talks like she is lisping and she claims she looks like a vampire. Can't wait for her teeth to all grow back.

昕妍咏诗

When she is on vacation...

Here is how Rui passes her time during her one-week vacation when we are busy at work and unable to take her out.
1. Make pottery pieces.
2. Bake cookies with Yayu
3. Do homework or revision
4. Watch TV
5. Play Moshi Monster on computer
6. Read her books (she has completed almost all the books in the Princess Poppy Series)
7. Take pictures of herself
She is so good at keeping herself occupied at home she hardly stepped out of the house!

Her pottery pieces are little tooth containers



She took these herself. Cute eh?



Trying a shot from another angle

Swim Meet

The 2 girls had their first taste of real competition during the recent Novice Swim Meet held by their swim school. Yan took part in the fun swim and treasure hunt events. Rui tried her "fins" at the 30M freestyle. Although they did not take away the top prizes at all categories (coming in 8th or 10th), we felt it was a wonderful experience as they walked away feeling more confident of themselves and both displayed true sportsmanship. We stressed to them that putting in their best effort was more important than winning the first prize. It helped that they both got medals for their efforts!

Sick and Bored

A sick and bored Rae made these at home today.

豆花

最近，豆花瘾特别强。特地去了一趟Old Airport Road Market去买好吃的豆花。我最爱的那摊豆花大排长龙，我只好光顾另外一摊，结果味道一样好！摊名是Bean Flower Water (豆花水的译名）。

Fantastic Clay

Ben chanced upon this clay at Art Friend and he swears by it now. He claims the new clay is easily malleable, dries nicely and is vibrantly colourful. He and the girls have been using the clay to make angry bird replicates. The collection is growing!

The games they are playing

The daddy is trying to teach Rui to play chess and checkers. From the looks of it, Rui is not fantastic at the game of strategy.

Yan, on the other hand, loves this game - Sleeping Queens. And her reason? "The Queens are all so pretty!"

New School!

Yan's child care centre moved to a bigger, better premise. It is now 4-storey high, with a dance studio, vast play area and even an outdoor playground to be shipped from overseas!

According to the teachers, the kids say their new school is like a hotel. : )

Yan was lamenting about having to go home when I picked her up just now. What a change in attitude.

Swim Meet

Shin Rae and Shin Jen are going for their first "swimming competition" in September. Fun stuff! It's not a real true blue competition but rather a chance for the kiddos to learn to be good sportsmen, learn to try their best at honing their swim skills and most importantly, to have some fun!

Rae will take part in the 30M free style while Yan will do the 30M fun swim and Treasure Hunt. Dylan will also try his hand at 30M free style and Treasure Hunt.

I will post pictures of the meet later. Can't wait!

Me and my Mini

An innocent remark from Ben asking me to get my own car started the whole chain of events, that led me to buying a mini cooper for myself.

The car is a pre-used one, turbo driven, too small for my family of 4 + 1 helper, has non-existent boot space, not drive-friendly for our annual road trip to Malaysia and is too pricey for all its non-practicalities. Despite all those, I love my MINI!

Call it my mid-life crisis but I am determined to indulge myself with a big buy this time. I get to drive something I like, using my own money!

ROARRRR!!!!

Early Celebration

We celebrated Rui's 7th birthday early since the Grandma, aunt and grandaunt are over for the weekend.

The slices of cakes were from Canelle. The newly bought clothes were from Gingersnap.

Rui is a happy girl. Happy birthday darling!

If Yan can read, so can you!

Yan can read! (She had some help along the way) : )
I must admit, the Readers and Writers program at Julia Gabriel has made her more confident with her phonics.

Home-Made Games

It's good to have a mechanical engineer at home. We save money by having toys made out of unwanted materials.

The first one was a mock up of the Tumbling Monkey Game sold in major toy shops. Ben used an empty drink carton, unwanted pick up sticks, wire mash and paper clips to create the same toy that is sold for over $20!

Then Rui requested for a guitar and he made one out of cardboard boxes and rubber bands. Pure ingenuity!

Tie-n-Dye

As a home activity, we had to do a tie-n-dye T-shirt with the girls. We transformed a plain looking white t-shirt into a funky pink one.

Forest Adventure Videos

Forest Adventure

Rui plucked up her courage and attempted the Forest Adventure at Bedok Reservoir this afternoon, together with Dylan and his classmate Joshua. While the kids were climbing through tunnel, walking on planks and balancing on beams metres above ground, the parents were standing around, shouting words of encouragement and taking pictures.Even though the parents appeared calm and collected, deep inside, we were more anxious than our children.

All three completed the circuit without a hitch. The mummies and daddies are extremely proud of the brave kiddos.

Next up, Ben and I will try the adult circuit.

Hairstyles

Previously, she insisted on long hair as she was crazy over Rapunzel and she wanted "long hair like Rapunzel". Then, out of the blue, she asked for a haircut as she wanted to look like Suzanne from Monsters vs Aliens. Fickle minded.

华文口试

蕊在年中的华文口试及展示与讲述测验中考到满分的好成绩！加油！

Sensitive Soul

Last night, after dinner, we spotted an old frail looking man slowly crossing the road, with a walking stick in hand. There was a huge tour bus right beside him, waiting patiently for him to cross before it proceeded forward. We almost went forward to help the old man but he managed to cross eventually on his own, slowly but surely.

Afterwards, I asked my 2 little girls "Will you take care of mummy when mummy is old and frail like that old man just now?" Yan answered "Yes, I will take care of mummy! I will hold your hand (pointing to my right) and you hold the stick there (pointing to my left)" I had to go on. "So if mummy poo poos in my pants, what will you do?" Yan gave me a disgusted look but went on anyway. "Eww....I will wash away the poo poo." I was happy with the answers.

Rui, on the other hand, gave me a nonchalant "I don't know." We started teasing her, about her not wanting to take care of us etc. She went all silent and we thought that was that. But later on in the car, she whispered to me "I don't want mummy to grow old." and started tearing.

Sometimes, Rui's sensitive soul can be a challenge, because there are many things we dare not talk about to her, for fear that they will upset her. We have to tread carefully around her.

Prawning

We spent $15 for one hour of prawning at the nearby prawning pond and guess what? We only managed to catch 1 prawn!

Lazy Sunday Breakfast

It was a lazy Sunday morning and we decided to make french toast!