A Day at the Beach

Our sandcastle

The kids learnt about the beach (沙滩) during Chinese lesson the other day and they showed a lot of interest in sandcastle building and the whole concept of the seaside. However, due to Jayna's eczema and Joash's squeamish response to walking barefooted on the beach in the past, we've yet to bring them to the beach to play. We did go to the ECP for cycling before but the memory was fuzzy for them too. So what better way of learning about the beach than going to one and experiencing it for themselves? I promised them we'll take them to the beach the next public holiday. So despite running a fever myself, we went to ECP on Hari Raya. 

Filling up the lobster
mold with sand...

... and 'printing' it out.

Their enthusiasm for actual sandcastle building lasted a mere half an hour. In the end, they were far more excited about pouring endless sea water into the 'swimming pool' that I dug out for them. So I became really busy trekking back and forth the sea to get water for them! LOL

Watering the pool

More water please?

I'm surprised that I
didn't look unwell at all!

At least, I managed to coax Joash into experiencing the feeling of the waves drawing the sand from under our feet. But only for a few seconds. And he was off to pour more water down the bottomless pit. Sigh... I guess they were intrigued as to why the water keeps disappearing. Perhaps it was also therapeutic? Joash did ask why the sea waves kept lapping onto the beach and I'm glad he could understand my simplified explanation.

Isn't it nice, Joash?

Jaide was asleep in the
carrier most of the time.

Before we ended the fun, I picked some seashells for the kids as mementos. They were delighted with them and held onto them like treasure. Jayna actually started putting them in her hair and asked us if she looked pretty! I wonder where she learned to do that... Back home, the kids played with the shells as if they were money tokens despite my warning to them that they are in fact quite fragile. Well, you can easily guess what eventually happened to the shells.

Look, children! Seashells!

Am I pretty?

All that was left.

I brought along the frisbee cos I knew that Joash would love to try his hand at it. He was really getting pretty good and we could catch the frisbee that each other threw rather frequently. He had so much fun that it was tough ending the session to go home for dinner. 

See his sheer delight!