Ashley's participation in CSTD 13th Asia Pacific Competition : Mulan Warriors

We have never thought of putting Ashley to any competition. It all happened so naturally that sometimes, I wonder if this is all 'fated'. Out of curiosity, Ashley joined TSOD. Without planning, Ashley was roped into joining TSOD 1 (a so-call 'dance group') and not long, took part in a dance competition. The whole practice period was short, I would consider. From end June-13Aug, barely 2 months. They started regular rehearsals (once a week) only late June. Ashley joined in July if I remember correctly. The rehearsals had been tough. All girls (except Keller) were unable to do somersault, and each time they attempted to, they fall. As parents, watching her fall hard on the ground has been a painful experience. Nonetheless, Ashley has a passion for dance and I could only provide her with my utmost support and guide her (showing her some tactics of flipping over. Well, her mum can be flexible!). After several times of practicing, the girls including Ashley made it. But the expectations did not just end there. Ms Lee expects more...not just 1 flip, but two, three and more. Soon, I realised it was through their rehearsals that she started planning for the role each girl will play in the dance. From individual dance moves, puzzle up bits and pieces, to a final piece of dance. That's not all, each phase had to be perfect with consistency, groove and jazz! By end July, the master piece-Mulan Warriors was ready for the day-13 August! Po Po, Cieran and me went to support Ashley. The whole theatre was full. I am surprised to learn that there was in fact, 3 sessions of competition on this date. 10am session for 7 years & below and 9 years & below. 2 pm session for 12 years & below, while 5pm session for 15 years & below. Ashley belonged to the category - groups, 9 years & below. As I watched the whole competition, I admired some girls who danced as professional dancers at young age. The level of dance was high (though I am not a professional judge). A total of approximately 13 schools took part in the competition. Mulan Warriors was the last category and last dance in the 10am session, before the prize presentation. I have to admit that I feel touched and proud as I watched Ashley performing on stage. I saw persistence, determination and teamwork in their dance. Their efforts were rewarded by cheers and screams from the audience, which was very encouraging. It was even more encouraging when judges announced that they have won 2nd prize! We cheered and clapped loudly. Out at the theatre, I cant helped but congratulated the girls for a job well done. Ms Lee grouped the girls as the cameras snapped non-stop.

I Am Proud of You, my Ashley baby!

Long Weekends with National Day

Thanks to the short school day on 8 Aug, I have a 4-Days break including the National Day. Since it is a long weekends, we have a fun bonding time together. We took bus rides, MRT... on purpose so to experience a different mode of transportation. The children, especially Cieran was trilled over the idea (though not their first time, but ever since I got my car, we hardly take any public transport). Immediately, they got their bus card ready before I need to go get them. Haha! We set off from home at 6pm and arrived at Toa Payoh Terminal 15mins later. Fast ride, wasnt it?! It was in fact very near from our house. Direct bus all the way... Next, we took the MRT from Toa Payoh to Dhoby Ghaurt, 5 stations away. Our final destination was Plaza Singapura, which needed some walking after we alighted from Dhoby Ghuart. Cieran has no fuzz at all, instead, he was enjoying the walk, looking around and asking me questions along the way. It has been a long while since I lasted visited Plaza Singapura, and it was certainly a relaxing opportunity shopping with children. No limitation on time, we decide where to shop, where to eat for dinner. As per children's request, we ended up having our dinner at KFC. Nothing special, but since the kids love it, I shall grant their wish. Both selected snackers -popcorn chicken, while I have my 2-pc chicken meal. For the 1st time, I allowed individual cup of pepsi. The children went wild...haha! After our sinful meal, we shopped around. No shopping list in mind, but always ended something to buy. Went in to Fox, as I am attracted by their "46% discounts"... and ended up with 1 bag of clothing when we walked out. :-p Inside, there's a hello kitty T for Ashley, Spiderman T for Cieran and a Minnie T for mum. Opps! The large sign board met the objectives! Next, I went to one of my favourite shop in Plaza Singapura, Daiso! I usually spent in this shop and I kept reminding myself to be cautious this time, not to buy things that I don't really need. Well, everything at $2 was another 'killer'... at least for me.. haha. Subconsciously, you tends to buy more items that you really need with the thought that "its just $2!' I am quite successful this time, as I only bought 1 item from Daiso. haha... and I think it was a good one. Can you guess? It's a large (real large) water sprayer for my plants. Kinda got motivated after I finally witness my orchid blooms... which I almost gave up growing. Next, we passed by Spotlight, and the kids were in their excitement. Lots of pinatas (licensed by disney) were hanging and displaying... and all at 20% discounts (for the week)! I am amazed as I never knew Spotlight sells pinatas. There's buzz lightyear, Barbie, Disney Princess, Thomas...etc. All at $36.20 before less. Hummm... tricky! After much thoughts, I decided to skip this buy. I wouldn't want to keep storage till Nov/Dec for a savings of $7plus. Moreover, I am not sure if we will be organising any birthday parties for the kids. Wise decision I felt... though I had the kids disappointed. To compensate, I suggested that we could take a bus ride down to Bugis and have ice-cream before we end our trip. This worked! The children's disappointed face lighted with glow. The next minute, we are out of Plaza Singapura, running for the bus. Bus 7 passed by and that's exactly the bus that will take us down to Bugis. Fortunately, it stopped for us and in less than 10mins, we alighted at Bugis with children each has an ice cream in their hands. Timing went well as they finished eating, daddy was here to pick us home.

A trip to Kukup on 1 May

The idea comes from Joanne who suggest a trip to Kukup. We agree to gather at my house at 7am and depart to custom from there. The kids are trilled when they learnt about the trip the night before. Ashley has been asking where is Kukup, what can be found there. I have been to Kukup during my Secondary excursion, and I can only base on that excursion experience to relate what to expect in Kukup to Ashley. The kids agree that they will wake up early, ready for the trip in early morning. Indeed, my children never delays... they wake up 6.15am and are ready by 6.45am! According to Marcus, the drive is about 2 hours from custom. The custom clearance is smooth on a Labour Day and the weather is fine with light shower. On the journey to Kukup, we stop over for breakfast by a coffee shop. We have wanton noodles and bak ku-teh. A little disappointed that the wanton noodles are not with the dark sauce where M'sian style usually are. Nonetheless, it taste good with a combination of fishball, char siew and wanton. It goes pretty well with my teh for a morning breakfast. After the break, we continue our journey to Kukup. We arrive at Kekup around 10am and manage to find a space for parking along the side of the road from the jetty. Our first stop in Kukup was a toy shop as we walk towards the Jetty. The children are probably attracted by the toys hanging outside. Little Clara is so cute! She spotted a little barney (size just nice for her little fingers) and couldn't let go. Eventually, her parents paid for the barney since she likes it so much. Little Clara is so clever! None of us realised that a song will play when you pressed the Barney's tummy, till Clara pressed it and Barney starts singing "I love you... you love me..." . It's quite a worthy purchase (esp when you pay in Ringgit)! Joanne also spotted bubble gums (the one we used to like when we are kids) and bought a pack. I think it's RM1.50 for a pack of 10. Both Vernon and Ashley get excited watching us blow bubbles from the gums and wanted to try. I have to warn them that gums are not meant to be swallowed. It is their first time chewing on gums and they love it! Poor Cieran who wish to try as well (from watching them having fun in trying to blow bubble). But I dont think Cieran is at the right age to chew gums, as such disallow him to have one. The children amused themselves with the gums while we wait for the ferry to get on board. Cieran keeps pointing to the speed boat, asking if he can sits on it. What an adventurous choice! The ferry will be bring us to 2 places-red forest and fish farming. This is an educational trip for the children. Our first stop was the red forest. It's actually the National Park. You have to pay a minimal entrance fee which we decide to go for it. It's a round walkabout inside the red forest of 600m, with a hanging bridge. After taking a few photos by the signboard, we start our adventure in the red forest. The first animal that welcomes us is a monkey! The monkey is on a branch that is only about a ruler distant from our head. Indeed, it stares us a little as we have to walk pass it. Next, we walk by the suspension bridge. Cieran is a little afraid to walk across but he bravely completes the walkover with me, to and fro! Well done Cieran! Vernon is a active boy who tries to jerk the bridge by hopping and making big steps while crossing. Believed all children have fun on this suspension bridge. As we are climbing down the stairs, the same monkey surprises us again. This time, it walks up the stairs (towards our direction) and swing up to level 2 from the bars. It scares the children since it's so up-close. All of us have a good glimpse of the monkey's ability in climbing and swinging. As parents, we are glad that the monkey didn't attack the children who are making so much noise. Our walk in continues with several spot on. There's long roots of mangroves, different speces of crabs in the mud, birds ...and wild boar! It's certainly a rare sight for all of us! On our return journey from the red forest to central jetty, we take the speed boat for a different experience. We paid total RM 19 for the ride. It was a breezy ride and the children love it! Our next stop is at the fish farm on kelong. As we alight from the ferry, few of us witness an accident. There has been a crowd anxiously waiting to get on board the ferry before all passengers can alight and through the push, a boy (around 10 years old?) fell and drop into the sea. Few of us shouted loud and the boy's parents (I suppose) quickly pull the boy out from the water. It is a blessing that nothing serious happen to the boy, but a traumatic experience for him. That accident reminded us, to look after our children carefully and constantly remind them of the safety on the kelong. The children are delighted to see the different fishes being farmed in each sectors with nets over them. We got to see how the fisherman feed the fishes. He pours a pail of fish food into a sector and the fishes are creating lots of watter ripples as they snatch the thrown food. We also saw an interesting fish...call archer fish (or spinner fish). The archer fish is a fish known for their habit of preying on land based insects and other small animals by literally shooting them down with water droplets from their specified mouth. They are remarkably accurate in their shooting! A few aunties who demonstrated to us on the skills of the archery fishes. They place a small anchovies on the wooden prank and not long, it captured the eyes of the archery fishes... and soon, we witness the shooting of water droplets from the archer fish. The auntie did a few rounds, and each time the water droplets hit on the anchovies, falling into the water and ate up by the archer fish. It is perfect and accurate shooting each time! Amazing! The children, no doubt was amused by the demonstration.... actually, I am too. By the time we are back to the land, it's lunch time. We are amazed that the crowd have formed with long queues waiting for ferries. Aren't we lucky that we are the early birds? The seafood restaurants are crowded as well since it's lunch time. We try our luck in the restaurant that was recommended earlier by an auntie we met at the suspension bridge, but it's full house. Believed that restaurant has earned its name for nice seafood. A pity we are unable to try it this time. We decide to walk further (away from the jetty) in hope to find one with less crowd. Finally we settle on one and have a sumptuous lunch. We ordered steam guroupa, sweet sour pork rips, dou miao, braised beencurd, several cans of soft drinks and two coconuts, all cost only RM100+. Cheap Cheap Cheap! An discovery before we leave the restuarant. The children spotted a fish-head alike creature with 2 front legs and a tail in the mud below our resturant (portion bulit on wooden pranks above sea level). According to Marcus, the creature is call 'mud-skipper'. Again, our first time seeing such creatures. There's so many of them in the mud! Yucks! After discussion, we decide to have some shopping at JB-Jusco. It is recommended by Marcus who mention it is a huge shopping mall. The drive to JB is a little slow moving with lots of cars on the road. Both Clara and Cieran fall asleep in ride. Jusco is indeed popular among the locals. We see a lot of shoppers in the mall. The retail shops are similar to Singapore ones, and I didn't manage to buy anything. Grace and Eric are the only ones that bought something from Jusco. We have dinner at Nandos before we leave for Singapore. Ashley slept on the way home, but surprisingly Cieran is wide awake. He has his shower, drinks his favourite milk before he doze off to la-la land.

The trip has been fun, adventurous as well as educational.

Activities During the long Easter Weekends!

I have this planned 2 weeks before Easter Day that falls on 22 May this year. I bought 2 sets of egg painting dyes, chocolate eggs, eggs shells...from Cold Storage so that I can have some activities with the children on Easter. Last year, we did our egg painting at East Coast. This year, I have decided to do it differently. We will have our egg painting at home, by the car pouch area. Ashley is reluctant to my idea at first, by after I point to the sky (which is dark, as if it will rain anytime), she gives in to my suggestion. The children are excited when I take out the egg dye. Learning from the experience last year, I have made some 'improvements' this year. Last year, we use water colours on real eggs (which I need to hard boiled the eggs) and the colours smerge our hands even though the paint dries up (coz our hands may be moist from sweat). As such, I replace the water colours with colour dyes and ping pong balls from real eggs, saving the trouble from cooking the eggs before painting. Each child gets to paint 2 eggs, including me. I start off by showing the children how to handle the dyes carefully, avoiding directly contacts with fingers and clothing which stains. I am quite confident that Ashley can handle it well, but Cieran..... will be tricky. Nonetheless, I am prepared that Cieran will create a mess. Ashley choose red dye for her 1st egg to start with, while Cieran goes for blue-his favourite colour. As for me, I go for yellow. The children are very engrossed in their artwork. I have fun as well. As expected, Cieran has his fingers stained with dyes.... which will take few days to wash off. Check out our creations! Whose eggs was the best 'decorated'? This was only part 1 of our artwork.... part 2 was to be continued another day.

The next day awaits us with more fun activity. We are going to make our own orange agar agar! The children are trilled over the cooking activity. I have them involved in preparing the ingredients needed for agar agar. We have gone to the supermarket to choose the oranges and buy the agar agar powder. The children have also help to bring in the chairs while I carry the table into the kitchen. The children are excited to squeeze orange juice needed for the agar agar making. Instead of using the electric juice blender, I use the 'traditional' squeezer so that the children get their hands on squeezing the juice out. It is a joy that the children have showed 'teamwork' in their task. They take turns to squeeze the oranges. After hardwork of about 25mins, we manage to collect 1 full rice-bowl sized of orange juice. The children's face glow with satisfaction! Next, we need to boil the water and mix the agar agar powder and sugar. Both children, standing on their stools watch with interest. The children both get a chance to stir the mixture by the stove while I get the moulds ready. Cieran, who is still young and as a boy lose interest after a few stirring and left to play. Only Ashley stays on and assist in the cooking. After I scoop the mixture into the moulds, Ashley helps to put them into the fridge. She has show tremendous interest in cooking from the start, till the completion. Good Job Ashley! I enjoy the bonding time spend with the children and I do believe they have lots of fun as well. I shall think of more simple cooking session with them in near future. :-) How do you like our orange agar agar? On Sunday, the children prefers to work on a new craft work-sad craft instead of completing part 2 of our eggs painting. Since this is suppose to be a fun, enjoyable weekends activity, I let them decide. The children help by laying the table with newspaper, while I get the crafts ready. I have got the same designs for the 3 of us (to avoid fighting over designs). After demonstrating how to stick the sand on the picture, we are on our own freedom to let imagination go wild... by selecting colours of own liking on the picture. We have great fun on our sand craft. Both children take pride in their own art work. Several times, Cieran will run over to show his daddy the added on sand colours on his picture. While working on his craft, Cieran has also mention that he will gives his art work to his teacher from Lorna. Take a look at our crafts... don't you think it's beautiful? I will get more of such crafts again, so that we can have fun working on it again next time. What a enjoyable weekends we had!

Children's Sand Play with Little Clara

Waking up in the morning and had a sudden thought to bring the kids to East Coast for sand play. As such, I message my sisters if they will be keen to join. It turned out that little Clara will be joining us. This is the 2nd time the children play sand with Clara. We agreed to meet at McDonalds for breakfast before heading to the beach. We arrived 1st and got a seat outside by the playground. The children play with eyes watching over our stuffs while I went to buy breakfast. The children shared a fish burger and iced Milo, while I enjoyed my sausage and egg muffin. Little Clara had cereal before we headed towards the beach. The children were trilled when we finally walked towards the beach. Cieran was the 'big brother', holding Clara's hand and Ashley helped carrying the sand equipments. We settled down on our usual spot with shade and immediately, the children start on their 'project'. Watching the children was a joy. My sister, Marcus and I sat by the mat and relaxed. The sand was moist from the rain the night before, which was great for sand play. We stayed for an hour before we slowly walked to our cars and headed home. Great that the children had some fun time!

Decorating a Cake for Daddy!

I happen to come across this shop-'The Icing Room" when I 1st visited 313@Somerset. Impressed by it's speciality where you get to decorate your own cake. Don't you think it's a refreshing and interesting idea? You get to lay your hands on creating own master piece! Anyway, this come to my mind suddenly and I know Ashley will love this. In my plan, the kids will decorate a cake for Daddy as Jeremy's birthday is drawing near. Indeed! When I throw the idea to the kids, Ashley gets excited and look forward to this day. As such, I have a deal with her. She completes all her work and learn her spelling by Sat latest, she will have Sun to 'get the cake dressed up'! Ashley has been good girl since she has something to work upon. Haha! Each day, she looks at the calendar and cross out the date... counting down to 27Mar! The day arrives. We had a swim in the morning, washed up before we pop over to 313. Both kids are excited especially Ashley. After all, she has been waiting for this day. There are few cake dimension to select from. After much discussion, we go for a 6" cake, vanilla sponge. The package includes the cake with white cream based, 1 pack of icing flower decorates and 3 creams (blue, yellow and pink). I add another heart-shaped decorates. For all, I paid about $24. Quite reasonable, I think.... We choose a corner and Ashley starts her 'project'. Cieran is not as keen for a start. He is easily distracted and more keen on walking around The Icing Room instead. Haha... I suppose, he's probably too young for such a decorating job. Ashley enjoys herself very much though. Finally Cieran helps a little by throwing the rainbow decorates on the cake. I stood near, taking photos of the 2 kids. A pity I didn't have my camera with me... but thanks to the technology to mobile phones... camera function comes in handy! We didn't disclose our 'mission' to Jeremy and he has no idea why and what we are doing at 313. He is merely a driver sending and picking us. Ashley likes to keep this a secret. Frequently, she reminds Cieran not to tell daddy that we got him a cake... haha! The children are so lovely! In the car ride home, Cieran mentions about the cake, and it's so funny.... Ashley quickly stops him and covers his mouth with her hands! I am sure Jeremy knows what's the kids are up to... after all, he can see the cake box that I am holding. Nonetheless, he will never guess that it was decorated by the children!In the evening, we went to Nex Shopping Mall. Our 1st time since it's opening. We had dinner at Jack's Place. It was such a heavy dinner (can't finished the food that was ordered) that we had to take a stroll around the mall and the water playground. The kids are trilled when I allow them to each choose a DVD. Ashley selected Princess stories, while Cieran got his favourite Buzz Lightyear. Back home, the children immediately asked for the cake! They cant wait to show Daddy their creations! Indeed, Jeremy didn't expect that the cake turned out to be the children's art work. The family have fun time together and the day end with ..... FULL stomach!