Police Heritage Centre

During the school holidays, the slots for the tour at the Police Heritage Centre were all taken up. This was probably the third holiday I had encountered the lack of vacancy. So, I had no choice but to register us for one on the first day of school. It was kind of a rush to get the kids to finish their homework and settle their tea break before heading down. But I figured it would be worth it.

Alas! I had a traumatising experience the moment we reached. I unwittingly stepped into a public toilet filled with cigarette smoke! Before I knew it, I took in a huge breath of the toxic substance I'm allergic to and immediately went into violent spasms. I retched, coughed and wheezed uncontrollably. An officer asked me to go to the bushes if I wanted to vomit but I couldn't explain to him that my body was trying to expel smoke, not undigested food. Many concerned individuals asked me if I needed to go to the hospital but I know that it would spell the end to the exciting trip my children were looking forward to for such a long time. 

Praying desperately for the pain in my chest to subside and struggling valiantly to keep my breathing under control, I must have looked like a mad woman to everyone. I was raking though my hair and airing my t-shirt repeatedly to get rid of whatever nicotine residue on my person. It took me a while before I realised that the entire tour group was waiting for me. Embarrassed, I urged everyone to proceed while I bore with the burning sensation in my lungs. I really did not want the children to be disappointed. 

The first part was a short presentation regarding keeping safe. Then, they had a chance to make badges and try on the police uniforms and props. The kids were thrilled.

Half an hour later, we exited the seminar room to go on a guided tour with a friendly police officer who gave us interesting knowledge nuggets about the history of our police force. I'm grateful that he was engaging and patient to the children, despite their constant mischief.

Kampong Captain America? LOL

At the end of the tour, we were given souvenirs of vehicle craftwork and stickers to remember the place by, much to the children's delight. Apart from the initial health scare brought about by the utter selfishness and inconsideration of a smoker, we had a wonderful time there. This officially marks the end of our June museum roundtable.

  

Belated Father's Day

When we were at the National Museum, I asked the children to send the museum postcards addressed to their Dad so that he could have a surprise when he opens the mailbox. I figured that there were 3 working days till Father's Day and it could get to him in time. WRONG! The postcards arrived today, 6 days belated. One of the cards went missing too. That is how "efficient" our Singpost is. *roll eyes*

The sad thing was, my father-in-law was hospitalised and Joshua wanted to visit him with his immediate family to celebrate Father's Day with him. My FIL forbade the children from entering the hospital because he felt that they will catch a bug there. That's why I was tasked to babysit the kids at a nearby mall while the adults visited him.

After that, we did manage to have a nice dinner at Paradise Dynasty. As for my original plan to celebrate for Joshua, it had to take a backseat due to the circumstances. Another year perhaps.

Cute jelly made by Joshua's sister
for Father's Day

Bedtime Lullaby

While I'm at it, I am putting the bedtime CD I used ever since the era of my firstborn into my souvenir drawer for safekeeping. I bought it to be played during bath time which was part of the bedtime routine and during nap times as sleep cues for my babies. Although they no longer listen to it, they still find the CD strangely familiar whenever I played it. In fact, I still sing one of the songs to them as a lullaby occasionally. May the melody of this song remain a comforting tune which reminds them of the love of the God who watches over them and their mother's warmth and safe embrace. 

LULLABY, LULLABY

Lullaby, lullaby

Close your sleepy eyes

Lullaby, lullaby

Go to sleep, my child

I can tell all is well

Angels hover near

Jesus Christ Emmanuel

God is with us here

Mini Beach Ball

It was tough deciding which toy to keep as a souvenir, representing something which the children had all played with as toddlers. It has always been my policy to pass on things not needed anymore to someone else who would have a use for it, so most of the items that had entertained my kids since babyhood are no longer with me. Over the years, the kiddos had also destroyed countless toys. It's pretty hard to find something that lasted through all four of them. The rare ones which actually did survive are either too bulky to keep or part of a bigger whole. 

It was the recent swim date which made me take note of the tiny beach ball which came together with the first boat float I bought. That poor boat float didn't make it because it burst after the third kid came. The ball made it though. The children did not go swimming that often and so the yellow little thing did not have to suffer through too much wear and tear all these years. And thus, I finally found it: the one toy which all the children have played with. *applause*

Nordic Adventures

During the previous visit to Changi Airport, we were caught off-guard by all the new regulations pertaining to the slides and the terms and conditions regarding redemption using receipts. I didn't want to go to back there unprepared and tried to research online as much as I could before planning the trip. Thanks to that, I could properly attire the older two who were old enough to enter the Snow Fun House by themselves and planned alternative activities for the younger two while the older ones were at play. Since the slide had a minimum height requirement too, I invested in coins for Jaide and Joram, who were still not tall enough, to go on kiddy rides to their hearts' content. 

We went to Xin Wang Hong Kong cafe for lunch to clock the receipt for the first pair of tickets. We totally love the food there and wouldn't mind eating at the restaurant even without the need for hitting the minimum amount. And then off the dynamic duo went into the "freezer" for some fun. Sadly, we didn't realise that hoods for the winter jackets were provided only upon request and the kids had painfully cold ears when they came out. 

Our second attempt at clocking the amount was not as pleasant. We tried Manhattan Fish Market for the first time and it was a disaster. The salad was drowned in dressing which made everything terribly sour, the fries were soggy and the volcano sauce had so much pineapples in it and was hardly spicy, much to our disappointment. "Volcano" was definitely a misnomer. They should have called it pineapple sauce. *faints* What's more, despite having "fish market" in their name which would imply good fish dishes, the salmon and black cod were nothing to rave about. 

After the dinner fiasco, we headed down for round two of snowy fun. This time, we were prepared and properly suited up and the older kids had loads of fun inside doing what they discovered they liked most: the ice slide. 

Ouch!

Better prepared
for round 2

Alternative entertainment
for the little ones

Daddy-powered
joy ride!!!

Their frosted spectacles after coming out

Lego playing afterwards

In spite of my research efforts, I somehow still managed to miss the fact that the canopy playground at T1 was no longer around and was replaced with a pale version of itself. Thankfully, the viewing of real life planes up close fascinated Joram for a long time and the older three went crazy making paper aeroplanes out of the paper originally provided for the wood block rubbing station and they played in the large empty space for more than an hour.

Because none of the kids qualified for the tall slide, Joshua and I tried it ourselves using the smaller receipts. We took turns to go down it while the kids watched us from the sidelines and via the TV. It was pretty cool. Too bad, no pictures were taken. 

Before we headed home, I made an impulsive decision for us to have desserts for supper at the famous Hello Kitty Orchid Garden. We never let the kids eat beyond dinner-time, let alone something full of sugar. But hey, Mummy can afford to go crazy once in a while, right? Plus, I'm sure the kids would remember this special sweet treat for a very long time to come. :P 

The meal was so 'atas' and expensive that we could redeem yet another ticket for the snow fun house. It was too late for us to go again but we could benefit another CG family who intends to go down to Changi Airport sometime soon. 

Lychee rose cake

Affogato aka expresso float

Hot chocolate &
vanilla gelato

Flower pot

Both kid no. 2 and kid no. 4 ordered banana split!

The Sling Journey

I really thank God for the friend who introduced me to the baby sarong sling while I was pregnant with my first child. It had been essential in my decade of raising my children till I retired it last year when Joram was 3 years old and had grown too heavy to be carried for long. It was versatile and very portable. It served as my breastfeeding cover, an effective tool to put baby to nap especially when we were out, the quick and straight-forward way to keep my hands free with the piggy-back position and when I didn't need it, I could simply stuff it into my handbag. It helped me travel light. 

So far, I have had 5 slings: two cotton ones, one yellow and one baby-blue; two sateen ones, one purple and one navy-blue; and a sky-blue silk one. I bought the cotton ones first. Back then, that was the default material sold in stores. My eldest boy was completely comfortable in them. However, my girls who came afterwards perspired super easily and it was really uncomfortable for the wearer and the baby to be stuck together, soaked in sweat. Thankfully, a new lighter and cooler material, sateen, became very popular around that time and so I bought two new ones and gave away the old cotton ones. Another friend later handed-me-down the gorgeous silk one. However, despite looking really lovely, the material was too smooth and the baby would slide down gradually over time. In the end, I only used it on special dressy occasions.

Now, I have kept my favourite navy-blue sateen sling as a souvenir from the back-breaking baby-toddler days. It is extremely well-worn and it had tears which I mended. This sling carried all four of my kids. But because I got it only when I had my elder girl, the big brother was only carried in it when he needed to nap while we were out and so I couldn't find any picture of him in this particular sling. Obviously, I found the most photos of my second kid in the sling because she was such an ultimate sling baby and was truly my daily burden! 

Swim Date

Last week, because of the girls' constant disobedience, I told them that I would not bring them to the swim date with our CG mates because it is very dangerous to have to deal with mischievous behaviour near bodies of water. It could lead to drowning in mere seconds. I do not want to be distracted while teaching my firstborn to swim or fail to keep a lookout for the youngest as he plays. 

Therefore, I asked my husband to take time off work to handle the girls while I made my way down with the boys. The ride there was so peaceful without the girls' monkeying around. The two boys also did not complain when we had to walk for 20 min from the train station to reach the condominium. What bliss!

I'm so glad that Joram is no longer afraid of water and could enjoy himself splashing around in his boat float at the shallow pool. He carried the tiny beach balls everywhere he went. How adorable! Watch the video below to see how he tried to squirt water at me (albeit unsuccessfully :P) with the water gun. LOL

I am also thankful that my eldest boy agreed to try swimming with the kick board for the first time despite his fear of drowning. I'm proud of him for being such a quick study as I taught him how to hold the board and kick properly to propel himself forward. May he, one day, overcome his fear completely and master the skill of independent swimming. 

After that, we washed up and sat down for a sumptuous meal prepared by one of the CG aunties. Some of us also contributed food items to the feast. Then, it was time for more fun with chit-chatting for the mummies and board games for the kiddos. We had such a great time!

Firefly Park

Due to rain, we could not head down to Clementi when we did the playground-hopping. And so, when the weather looked favourable, we went to visit the playgrounds at Firefly Park one afternoon. They had the children's favourite playground equipment: swings, guaranteeing at least two solid hours there. 

On our way to Clementi Mall for lunch, we passed by yet another interesting playground and spent some time there too.