Happy Birthday Singapore!

Jayna has been looking forward
to hanging up this flag she made
in school for the past week.

We're continuing the newly-formed tradition of celebrating National Day from last year so as to teach the children to love and serve our nation. 

During the day, I decided to bring the kids to the public swimming pool a few blocks from our home, killing two birds with one stone. The story being that Joash forgot to tell me about the visit to the swimming pool organized by the school a few weeks ago and it just happened that I missed reading the consent form that was supposed to have been put in his bag. He was very disappointed that he couldn't go on the actual day and when I found out later that day, I promised him we'll bring him there ourselves. We've never brought the kids to public pools partly due to the higher chlorine levels and also that it would most likely be more crowded. But now, I figured that Jayna and Joash were old enough for it. (Jaide, still too young, would stay dry with me.) And praise God that there were only a few people there even though it was a public holiday!

Getting started

Joshua trying to coax Jayna
to go deeper and failed

Off on his own in his trusty boat float

Went down this slide
countless times

Contented to simply splash water

Daddy teaching son
to do the flutter kick

Jayna decided that she has had enough of the water and wanted to go back. However, Joash wanted to stay so I took the girls home while Joshua continued on with our son. He loved it so much that despite our caution regarding sunburn, he was at it for more than 4 hours! As we feared, he did complain about his face feeling as if it were badly scratched after the effects of being in the sun for too long set in. Let's hope that he'll heed our warning the next time round.

Finally, it was time for the National Day Parade. Armed with the flags saved from last year, the older kids got ready to watch the show on TV. No home-made jellies this year but there were pretty candies galore! I saw these beautiful sweets in a shop last week and couldn't resist getting them. Plus, I've almost never allowed my kids to eat anywhere else in the house except at the dining table. Today, I've made an exception. Watching TV, enjoying sweets and eating in the living room: all the restricted things made 'legal' to show what a special day it was!

Yay! We're going to eat at the coffee table!

The colors are so attractive!

First time eating
while watching TV!

Further indulgence:
Nuggets for dinner!

Packet milk, anyone?

After dinner, they found the marches a tad boring so they decided to play with their toys while keeping an eye on the show. Joash built a tower and placed the flag on top! Haha...

It's National Day after all...

Switched off the lights during the fireworks.
Look at them waving their flags enthusiastically!

As part of educating the kids to honor and respect our nation, I taught them to stand at attention during the singing of the national anthem and place their fist over their hearts during the saying of the pledge. Hmm... Preparing them early too, for primary school's flag raising ceremony? LOL

Doing it in all seriousness

That was not all! After the program was over, we took them downstairs to play with sparklers as an extension of the fireworks viewed on TV. I saved the sparklers someone gave to my kids just for this occasion. Thankfully, I forced the children to take a nap in the day so that they could stay up past their normal 8pm bedtime without getting cranky. (Surprise, surprise! Joash could not fall asleep in the afternoon despite swimming for so long. Instead, he merely rested for 20 min.)

Jaide watched from a safe distance

The best reward I received for planning the celebration was Joash's comment at the end of the day, "Today, I had soooo much fun!"