Jurong Lake Garden | Canopy Restaurant | Treasure's Day | Inter-House Recycling | Book Bugs | Talent competition

Brayden 9Y5M6D

Bevlynn 5Y2M2D

For a company walk this year, we had chosen Jurong Lake Garden. The weather was breezy after the afternoon rain. I was wondering if I should join the team since I had just recovered from dengue. I was extra cautious and sprayed loads of mosquito repellent; the smell was so strong I repelled not only mosquitoes, humans too. 

We walked in the Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden. And end up at Canopy Restaurant for dinner. The restaurant had a good vibe and nice serving of fusion cuisines - Mala Pasta, Satay, Dry Laksa, Salmon... we shared a good portion of food. 

At night, I could not sleep from all the excitement. 

Bray and Bev had several activities for school and some new events this week. 

• Slime making and sales. Bray had volunteered to prepare the slime for his team. The challenge was to make 50 boxes of slime with a budget of <S$25. Hub and I had to experiment with small batches to make sure it works. It was fun for the children.
• Treasure's Day. Bray donated some toys and got one in exchange.
• Inter-House Recycling to collect points for his sports house team. We had 3 weeks of recycling material collected. In the end, Bray earned 46 points for his team. 
  
• Book Bugs: The Secret of the Shards is back. We've gone to the library to borrow more books for reading and collecting points. 
• Talent competition. Bray sent a video of his piano performance for the audition. Unfortunately, he did not get selected this year. He was disappointed but he was not upset for too long. He wanted to prepare for next year's competition. 

On top of all the busi-ness, we had to manage our time between the school schedules, medical check-ups, work,... .... .... it was a havoc. 

I needed some good break. A facial and a massage did the trick; Hub booked it. <3

Good food and book also boosted the motivation. 

SOMETIMES LIFE IS A MESS , And It's OK. It's better a messy life with cherished memories than an orderly life with empty moments. 

 

 

 

Characters Alive Day | Book of Magical Creatures | Journey of Prince and Princess

Brayden 9Y4M27D

Bevlynn 5Y1M23D

For Characters Alive Day, we did not have time to make preparation for the children. This year Bray was dressed as Harry Potter while Bev as Kuromi. 

After the long break, I had to catch up on work and to-dos that piled up like mountains (insurance, childrens' scheduling, transferring data to new phone,.. endless list) It is easier when everything is broken down to small to-do and work on easiest tasks & highest priorities to strike it off the lists. To move in small steps forward is always better than procrastination.

I am also back to story-telling for the children: The journey of Prince and Princess - this time they went into a mythical dark forest full of amazing magical creatures (I got some inspiration from this book Bedtime Book of Magical Creatures : An Introduction to More Than 100 Creatures from Legends and Folklore - I'd highly recommend this book to parents who want to add a little magic into their bed time story telling). The Prince and Princess found shelter in a giant tree house, there is one small opening. Inside is a friendly Giant. The children ran away, as they were scared of the giant being. After coming into danger and the Giant saved them, they started befriending the Giant. 

Bev: Mommy, is the Princess me? 

Mommy: No.. of course not. What the Princess goes through is too dangerous for you. 

Bray: Am I the Prince?

Mommy: No, you're not. The Prince is brave, adventurous, protects the Princess. Are you? 

They love the stories and relate very well with the characters. Once in a while I'll copy our daily conversations into the stories, and they will be like - that is me?! I loved how we would all laugh at the stories when the ending twist was totally unexpected or when it ends so abruptly because it's too late in the night. 

Bro Max adopted a cute puppy. We'll play with it soon. 

 

Dengue | Books - Strange House, Strange Buildings, The Wealth Money Can't Buy | Positive Mental Time Capsule

Brayden 9Y4M15D

Bevlynn 5Y1M10D

It started with high fever. I had mostly slept in; trying to fight through the muscle aches. On the 3rd day, the doctor gave some medication for food poisoning. 

The high fever continued. It was dengue. Had to be hospitalized. There was hardly any pain, just some rashes on the body and dizziness due to the high fever. 

Took the time to finish some readings:

1. The Wealth Money Can't Buy (Wellness became the emphasis of the week out of the 8 Forms of Wealth) 

2. Strange Houses (Interesting Read)

3. Strange Buildings (Interesting Read - when all of the stories came together in the end)

4. Strange Pictures (Need to understand the flow of the stories - the ending was when everything pieced together)

5. How to Tidy your Mind (Nothing new) 

6. The Ritual Effect (Ritual is part of life, Pieced together some ol' rituals, "the positive mental time capsule" is an interesting ritual, What can be new rituals to enhance life?)

7. The Rosie Project (Predictable Ending)

It seemed I was trying to drown the anxiety with all the reading. The stay in the hospital had brought chaos to my routines. My usual self wanted to get things done, but I had to put everything on pause to nurse back my health. 

It is such an opportune timing to think about the concept of positive mental time capsule. How we tend to lose track of precious moments when we just follow the flow of time. Sometimes we are living in autopilot mode so that we can go through our days with much ease; however, we would missed the little joys life brings. If only, we can "capture" and stash away the little joys; to keep it for later (when life gets hard). 

Little joys - Bev laughed while holding our ears; Bray hugged in our arms like a baby even though he is already so heavy; Hub laughing at our silly jokes - only we find funny. 

June Holiday Trip | Day 5 - 6 | R&F Mall | Toy Story 5 | Kidz Republic | Classic Video Games | Bed time story

Brayden 9Y3M27D
Bevlynn 5Y23D

Day 5: cont'd from previous post.

We stayed at R&F Condo. The balcony has a view of the bridge connecting JB to Singapore. 

Tried a few of the eateries at R&F Mall.
Sushi Plus - The children loved sushi, there's many variety
Chun Man Ren Jian Food Court - Love the pork noodle and koay chap
Shi Quan Shi Mei - Delicious but some dishes are too spicy for the children. 
Uncle Five Coffee - Hainan Chicken Chop and egg mayo wholemeal bread were good, did not fancy the coffee. 

Went to Southkey Mid Valley to play at the arcade.

We watch the Toy Story 5 at Womei Cinema. I was literally lying on 2 seats because the row was rather empty. The children loved the story - when devices are replacing toys. Bev came back and asked "Will my toys also move at night?" 

In the condo we were staying in, there was a video game box with classic games. We played Chip & Dale, Newspaper Boy, Contra, Tetris, Golf, Track and Field, Balloon fight, Ice Climber. These were the games we played in the past when we were still kids. Nice memory. 

Day 6

We brought the children to Kidz Republic Indoor Playground. They really love the slide, zipline, jumping into soft foams and building castle with giant Lego foam blocks.

That night, when we arrived home, the children ask for a bed time story. 

I told them about the Prince and Princess trip to a secret island. 

"The lightning god was angry and started sending lightning and thunder. They even saw Lapras Mommy coming to the beach to save her babies. 

Then they saw many magical lights on the Christmas trees. As they got closer, the lights are from magical fairies. The fairies gave them magical dust and the boat they are on started to float in the sky. 

The boat then came to an island with forest. There was a black shadow that moves very fast around and always like to catch children. So they had to be careful. 

There they found also some Giant Ant Soldiers - holding a weapon on 2 hands, and matching together down the forest. They are protecting the forest." 

By this time, Bray started to ask, "isn't this about our trip?" "Yes, don't you realized our trip is so magical" I replied. A good imagination can bridge reality to endless possibilities.

June Holiday Trip | Day 3 - 5 | Mutiara Taman Negara | National Park | Night Jungle Walk | Jungle Trekking | Hike Teresek Hill | Aborigins Settlement | Rapid Shooting

Brayden 9Y3M25D
Bevlynn 5Y21D

Day 3: cont'd from previous post.

On the long road trip, we had to think of games to keep the children entertained. Guess the animal, Guess the number game, Shoot the cars with imaginary hand guns, 10 levels of door reveal (choose the correct door to move forward) there's themes for the door reveal; circus, aliens, pirates...

Finally we arrived to the next destination Mutiara Taman Negara (National Park). The car cannot drive into this park. We needed to park the car beside the river and take a water taxi to the resort entrance across the river.

We were already very tired by then. The children were still hyper. 

Our room is so strategic (no. 89). It is right beside the path to go into the forest. 

During dinner buffet, it started to rain. Oh no! We signed up for a Night Walk. If the rain continued, it will be called off. 

Night Jungle Walk

We were lucky, the rain stopped just in time before the walk. Everyone brought their torchlights ready to go into the park. It was really dark. The guide was able to spot giant ants, spiders, agamid lizards, flying lizards, scorpions.

Then I spotted one very big Agamid Lizard. It is 1 in 60 chances to see one. 

Bray loved exploring in the dark, Bev was a little scared; it really was pitch black.

In the end, we arrived at a 3 storey observation deck. There we can observe from a distance a plain field, and in the middle is small pond of water under a tree. There the animals would come and drink the water, but we could not see any. 

We were told there was a black panther that night and we shouldn't stay out with the children too late.

Time to go back and sleep. There's more activities the next day. 

Day 4 

Bray woke up early to go to the observation deck with Hub, it is about 5 minutes walk from our room. They only spotted a big black furry bird. He laughed at the sound of the bird ; "ooh - OOH, ooh - OOH, Wahahahahah" (No kidding).

After breakfast, we had a jungle trekking on Teresek Hill. The canopy walk would have been easier, but Bev was underage and could not join. 

Jungle Trekking

It was a nice walk and stroll at first, after way through, there were only steps upwards. I've not done any hike for a very long time. I needed to convince Bray and Bev that the peak is just around the corner. Every time they'd say "Mommy, didn't you say it is just around the corner? When are we arriving?"

Along the way, we found some sun lizards, agamid lizard, monitor lizard, poisonous snake, leech, butterflies, monkeys, chickens. The guide shared with us knowledge of the flora and fauna. 

When we reached the peak, the view was amazing. 

Aborigins Settlement

The "Orang Asli" Aborigines lead a nomadic lifestyle. They are called Batek. Living in temporary small huts or tents. They showed us how to start fire and make darts which could shoot up to 20m. Bray and Hub tried to blow the dart aiming at a "Baby Shark" soft toy. They missed.

There are still about 2000 Orang Asli living at Taman Negara. They are cut off from civilization; hunting while animals for food. 

Rapid Shooting

This was fun and exhilarating ride. The shallow boat goes through seven rapid water on the river. We can feel the bump every time, we pass the rapid waves. We got so wet. 

Bev said, "I accidentally open my mouth and swallow some water". The children loved the rapid shooting experience.

Such a long day. We went back to the hut and rest. The children continued to play their own games in the room. I guess the adrenaline rush must have gotten them so hyped up. 

Day 5

My leg muscles already started aching, wobbly legs.

We went into the jungle one last time. This time we didn't have any guide with us. Somehow without the guide, my human instinct became sharper and more conscious with the surrounding. Any tree branch dropping, leaves falling - these smallest sounds would make me nervous and looked to the direction of the sound. 

Wild thoughts played in my mind "What if there's a panther or a snake appear suddenly?"

Then, Bev asked me to carry her. When carrying her I felt her quick heartbeat, my thoughts became calm.

We checked out and started the 8 hour ride to JB.