Pesta Pulau Pinang

30 Nov 2023

Brayden 

Bevlynn

We were visiting Penang for a week after our Australia holiday. It is a more relaxing trip as we have more time to enjoy the family's company. 

One stop is to Penang Pesta. It is a festival ground that is available within November - December every year. It felt like a smaller localized version of October Fest. I had already forgotten how much fun it was at this place. 

Used to come here as a child and even competed in a "Little Miss / Mister Pesta" long time ago, at 6 years old. I was much more shy and reserved then, walking down the stage in a beautiful white gown. Kong Gene, who was 4 years old, dressed up as a cowboy. He would do his signature jump with the hats off. That is a cute little performance. 

Bev is a little too small for most rides, while Bray is not tall enough for more "exciting" rides. We only went on a roller coaster, a children car ride with colourful lights and funky song. They wanted to play more of the balloon popping but we didn't go for it. 

Perhaps some other time. We will definitely try to visit again some other time. 

We had managed to go to Queensbay Mall kids playground and KhunTai beach restaurant as well. 

Australia Perth Trip of 4

Brayden

Bevlynn

18.11.2023 ~ 25.11.2023

Day 1 - Saturday 18.11.2023, 

Bunbury Town

We went to Perth and picked up the rental car at the airport. Straight away we took a drive from the airport to Bunbury Town. It was nice in the long straight highway, with stars filled the dark pitch black sky. On the way, we received a call from Eva that she had missed her flight to Philippines. We had to quickly rebook her on the next available flight which was the next morning. Good thing we can managed We reached a small house with a backyard. The weather was chilling and windy. The back entrance has a tree filled with sakura-liked flowers. All the flowers spread across the garden. It was a cosy house with 2 rooms. The shower water was super chilling.

We went to the Sunshine Farm. The children loves the animals. They love to carry the chicks and joey baby kangaroo. They have fed the animals which has to be 

Frementle

A slide down the sand dune, the zoo, 

Rottnest Island

Graduation from Kindergarten

17 Nov 2023

Brayden 6Y8M24D

Bevlynn 2Y5M17D

Brayden had his graduation from K2 childcare Bukit Batok Presbyterian Christian Childcare. He did a performance in a large stage catering to almost 600 audiences (consisting of parents of children from 22 other childcares, grandparents). 

He'd dance on stage in pink bow tie.

It was a big performance. And I was very proud and again very emotional - teared up the moment he is on stage. My big baby has now stepped into the next milestone. I can still remember the first day he was at childcare, there is another child named Mikha who was sick and napping. Brayden on the other hand was very clingy and crying like a baby. 

He no longer cried when going to school (ok, not really true! still cry once a long while). But he had grown to like his friends (like Shou Zheng, Ming Shuen, Mikha, Charmaine, Avery, Avelyn, Eason, Ethan, Joshua, Joseph, Petervi, Kim). Mommy will missed those days when I was peeking through the window to secretly see how he is playing in class. He was shy when Mommy and Daddy shouted "I love you" loudly across the classroom. After the classes, we would head to the nearest playground and there he'd find all his friends playing - and Mommy / Daddy catching up with other Mommies and Daddies. 

His last teachers were Ms Azizah and Huang Laoshi.

HAPPY GRADUATION!

Starting tomorrow - Off we go for a holiday in PERTH and PENANG. 

Brayden will stay with grandparents in Penang for a month until end December 2023.

Then we will meet in Genting and KL to bring Brayden home to Singapore. 

This will be the last long holiday before starting Primary.

Values | Magical Moments

Brayden 6Y8M20D

Bevlynn 2Y5M13D

At work, I had attended a leadership training and in it, they have highlighted know our values. My top 5 were : FAMILY, MEANING, GROWTH, KNOWLEDGE/WISDOM, INFLUENCE

Family means the world to me. They are my everything. In good and bad times, I can go home and still pull through with every last ounce of me left to give my best to them. They are my safety net and I wish to be their safety net too. 

Meaning means I look for meaning / purpose in everything. I love meaningful movies, books, stories, songs, having meaningful connections & relationships. Everything comes with meaning. 

Growth means it motivates me to wake up reflecting what I can do better for that day. Small growth, even 1% means it is already a small little success in life. To fall behind on growth or to have no growth at all, there would mean no aim or objective in life. 

Knowledge / Wisdom means to discover more in life. Life is full of knowledge waiting to be discovered or explored. There is just so much we can learn through life. I am like a child (a white cloth) to be painted with beautiful colours. There is limitless knowledge available in this world. 

Influence means to be able to do something and give a ripple effect to someone's life. I would like to be able to give help to others when it means the most to them to be out of their worst circumstances. I would like to motive or to inspire through giving motivational talks to share my knowledge so they can have a better living. To me, these are part of influence and giving back to society. 

We were at a magic show on Sunday. It comes with stories, life has to have meaning, hope and happiness. It started with a dance into Alice in wonderland. It then stops to reflect on the life. You have to look from within to be able to live a meaningful and purposeful life. I realised through this magic show, I looked at my children and watched how they were in awe believing the magic. As we grow old and rationalized, we stop believing and looking for magic. 

My life with my family is magic. We can continue to bring magic into life and believe in its existence. We will need to be more child-like and have more hope and in turn create more magical happy moments.

First piano recital by Brayden

Brayden 6Y8M12D

Bevlynn 2Y5M5D

He had his first public piano performance yesterday. He was nervous and asked for "squishy" - means for hugs. He played his song well 'Twelve day of chrismas'. He could play it without looking at the book. That is amazing for a 6 year old. 

Bev is also speaking lots of words now. She was setting up the bed the other day and said "this pillow Daddy, okay?" "This pillow gor gor, okay?". "Let's go playground, mommy. No more hot, no rain." "This is library". "Thank you Mommy, I love you." With her sweetest voice. 

It was Brayden's P1 orientation. I was all teared up at the end of the orientation speech by the headmaster and teacher. It just suddenly hit me, my boy is already 7 years old. He is going to start another milestone of his life. How many more milestones do I have with him before he leaves home, he leaves me? I am on one hand very proud of him, another had really fighting this emotional step forward. He still hugs me like a bear at night and the conversations we have at night. 

Even writing this made me teared up. I am not sad; this is just a tough moment - tougher than working with high expectations at work. 

I find it hard to talk to my hubs about these emotions. Sometimes I felt he's absent emotionally and sometimes does not have the same level of understanding on the children's upbringing. However, he's been giving me more authority in the decision making for the children; which I appreciate. But it will be nice to have him on board as a team.