On our last moments together, Papa

"Pa..." her voice trembling during the call, "Pa hit his head after a fall. Found him on the 3rd floor. I could hear the loud bang from the 2nd floor. The ambulance had taken him. It doesn't look good." 

My heart sank, tears started flowing.

Hours passed. More updates came in - his CT scan was clear, he's stable. 

Even so, I decided to fly in. Checked online and found 3 flights. I wanted to book the 2nd flight at 3pm. This timing would give me enough time to slowly pack and head to the airport. But when I got to the payment page, the price just suddenly spiked 50% more. Now I am left with 1pm or 6pm flights. 

I had a strong inkling that 1pm would be a better option. I booked without much hesitation. Left with less than 4 hours to flight time, I rushed to pack quickly, got the children's things organized and headed to the airport.

After arriving in my hometown, my brother drove us to the hospital directly. 

There... he was lying on the hospital bed with intubation. He looked weak but fully conscious. His motion very slow and careful. When he saw me walked towards his bed, his eyes glowed up - with a smile. I held his hand, his grip warm and strong. 

Relatives were there too. 

Mom was asking him to write with his finger on the bed, he was able to spell but it wasn't easy to interpret. I drew a sign & communication board - body, face, eat, poo, S.O.S, sleep, emoticons.

I asked him to point to the drawing. His finger lingers and pointed to HAPPY emoticon over and over (just like clicking on the phone multiple times). 

We all laughed at his lightheartedness. I asked "Are you happy that we are all here?" He gave a small nod with a blink. 

Not too long afterwards, he point to SLEEP. "You must be tired, You should rest".

Unbeknownst to me, this was quietly becoming our last moments together.   

If only I knew that it would be the last time I'd see you awake, I'd asked for a few more moments; to keep you there with me longer, to linger and capture every details, imprint it into memory.

That last night with you, the hospital was quiet. Just you and me. Everything else around me didn't matter anymore. 

You started breathing hard - sweat beads formed on your forehead. Your heart rate spike up to 240 for a brief moment. Your legs turned purple. Then everything calmed. You slowly faded away like going into a deep deep sleep. 

Your heartbeat came back when Mom and Bro Max reached the ward. But it was only a short few minutes of goodbye before you left again. 

I was in disbelief. It happened so quickly. Hours and hours of flashbacks of our good times together, from the earliest times I can remember till the most recent coffee chat. 

In this same hospital, on my first day of life, you held me and took care of me for the first time. 

In this same hospital, on your last day of life, I held you and took care of you for the last time.

But why in both days, you were happy and I cried so hard?  

"Who do I talk to about my silly random day?"

"Who would support me secretly like you do, listens and don't complain when I do more talking?"

"Who would give me honest life advice?"

"I'd like to share with you all my happy moments and wins. Are you proud Pa?"

Pa I do not want to forget, I'll hold you close with me even until the end of time. 

I love you so...! 

Odyssey | Before the Coffee gets Cold

Brayden 9Y5M27D
Bevlynn 5Y2M20D

Hub and I watched Odyssey at the cinema. To summarize the movie in a few words would not do good justice to it. It kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to the end. Surprises after surprises. The story was so smoothly delivered - I can immerse into the characters of the fellow returning soldiers as they voyage across the rough seas and search the unknown lands. I felt the layers of obstacles one after another; cleverly solved to reach to the next level - it's like a battle game of human vs Greek mythical beings. 

When the quote in the movie about what the siren song said, "All the things you want it to be. Then all the things you wished you never wished for. It was the delicious itch you go to scratch but find it's under the skin. You can't reach it. So the delicious itch becomes unbearable. Told you what you most want, is what you most can't have. And what you most can't have, is what you already had, and lost" 

It really struck hard. We always have an itch for more wishes & bigger dreams. Yet in the pursuit, we might forget to cherish what we already had and lose it. Once lost, we can't have it back. Ah~~~ 

This also gave a strong connection to the book I finished reading this week Before the Coffee gets cold. It's about being able to travel back or into the future to have certain conversations with the person you love. It tells a story about lovers, husband and wife, sisters, mother and child. With the story of how they change and deliver just a small part of their conversation in the past and future, the outcome of ones life may change. 

It made me realized how we sometimes have unspoken conversations, because we are so scared of being misunderstood or we just assume the other person knows what we think. The present moment is when we can really deliver our messages and do it before any coffee gets cold. 

Cashflow | Cow Play Cow Moo | Slime and MORE SLIME | Safra Kidz Amaze

Brayden 9Y5M26D

Bevlynn 5Y2M19D

It was a week filled with loads of fun for the children. 

Brayden played Cashflow Rich Dad game. It's an easy game to win. But this time, he's won over $165 mil in a single game within less than 1 hour. Never had I won this much money in the game.

We also won the Cow Play Cow Moo arcade game jackpot; winning almost 30,000 tickets.

Also this week, we made more slime. In class, Brayden had volunteered to buy the slime using a very very small budget. We, the Mommy and Daddy had no options but to DIY the 50 boxes of colourful slimes under 60 cents a piece. 

We trial and error with different colours, glow in the dark, different textures, even adding essential oils for better smelling slime. While crafting the slime, we played little creative games we created - Slime Baseball, Longest Noodle, Throw-&-Stick (If a thrown slime sticks onto another slime, the person can own it. If not, it will be left on the table for the next round - we cannot imagine how fun and full of laughter this game is - we always fail to estimate the trajectory of our throw. The whole table was filled with slimes)... Slime is FUN. 

On the day of the sales, the children had decorated their pop-up stall; there were bath bombs, slimes and bracelets to sell. The children tried their hardest to convince other parents to part with their money. How could parents say No to such good effort. The slime almost sold out. 

It is E's birthday. He invited us to Safra Kidz Amaze Indoor Playground @ Jurong to celebrate. It is a 3-storey playground and has a tall slide. The kids got some good exercise in the playground. How does kids turned to "little hamsters" that run around non-stop for more than 3 hours straight without complains? Is this the best way to convince them to self-exercise without much effort from the parents? 

We'd love to come back here again.

What a FUN-filled week.  

I hope Bray and Bev don't outgrow out of these fun-moments too soon. Mommy is still loving all the moments and laughters - Especially love Bev's facial expression to hold back her happy smiles so that it doesn't show.

  

 

 

  

SG Sience Fest | Science Center Singapore | KidsSTOP

Brayden 9Y5M13D

Bevlynn 5Y2M9D

SG Science Fest 2026 @ Science Centre Singapore

It was ocean-themed this year. 

We met at the entrance. It was a long queue at the entrance. As always, it is a crowded event. 

In less than 3 hours, we tried to complete as many stops and activities: 

• Sticker collection at various locations. Unlocked by completing activities
• Outdoor waterplay
• Ocean blue, glow in the dark, build the marine garden
• SS Ombak Cahaya Sunken Ship, with almost 360 view of under the ocean - occasionally a whale swam by
• Live Mermaid in a giant tank, dancing to modern music
• Haunted House, Phobia: Science of Fear (we slept in a coffin, got scared by sudden snake appearance, aliens, bedroom monster behind the door, pirate ship)
• Mirror Maze
• Know your Poo and toilet display
• Meet the Scientist (live demonstration of amusing science activity)
• Science solving activities (catch all fish in a box, paper boat origami) 
• Quick snack of Fish and Chips

After that, we went to kidsSTOP for 2 hours, it was also ocean-themed in there. 

• The children played in the sand, hanging cloud, little ant kingdom, farm... 
• Touch the marine life (real starfish, shelled creatures) 
• Ancient sea relic display
• Live Liquid Lights Show, projected at the sand play area (I am mesmerized by the music and art combination, almost in a hypnotized state)

Such a long long day. It's a good mix of learn and play - A gentle stroke of the children's curiosity and stimulating their desire to explore more.

Science Centre Singapore

 

 

KidsSTOP

 

Karaoke Kaki | Mid Valley South Key | Spider-Man | Kiddytopia | Palo | The Art of Spending Money

Brayden 9Y5M12D

Bevlynn 5Y2M8D

I had a good catch up and karaoke session with JW and LT. 

It was 13 years ago - we still remember the daily morning pratas we had before starting work. Times were good. 

We used to have stamina singing for 3 hours straight. Now with just less than 2 hours, we were out of breath. We still love the off tune singing and carefree moves like no one's looking. We accepted each others silliness, reminiscing songs from our eras (our children might be calling them oldies now!).  

We'd still know each other's favourite Disney songs and step-in as a male voice to duet together.

Now that I look at what we have together, I am glad we had those days that we can re-live and feel like we're 20s all over again. It's exactly like what was described as "Positive Time Capsule". How many more such Time Capsules can we "capture" now, tug away and "open" in the future when we needed them again?

During the long weekend, we took the children to Mid Valley South Key JB. We took the bus to cross the border and arrived early.

We wanted to catch Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The seats were full and we had to take the front rows. Spiderman is Bev's favourite super hero. I could hear the children saying "Oh that is so cool" during the fight scenes. 

When Jean mind-jump from one character to another, I loved how the flow of the characters were in sync - the timing, the body-possession and the awakening. You can "see" the imaginary wave as Jean's mind-hop from host to host. I don't think the children could catch what was happening because the motion was very fast; we'd had to whisper to them to explain.

The cinema sofa was very comfortable, Lily fell asleep. 

The children was also able to go for Palo arcade and Kiddytopia indoor playground. There was a colouring competition for National Day too. The adults were able to get short massages and some shopping done. 

It was a good thing there were not so much crowd at the restaurant we chose, Nam Heong Restaurant and Sushi Zanmai. The ride home was tiring, we all fell asleep in the car. 

This week, I finished reading The Art of Spending Money. 

The interesting chapters are What makes you happy, Most valuable financial asset is not needing to impress anyone, Social debt, Quiet compounding and Identity. 

It's definitely hard to build the spending habits which are balanced and not overly excessive. To just frugally save and not spend at all, might sacrifice good chance of creating good memories. To spend to impress others, is an expensive habit. 

Values and Identity should align with the Art of Spending. Don't lose yourself while spending and don't rely on just money for happiness.