Chopsticks

Joram ate up a bowl of noodles using chopsticks for the first time! *applause* 

This is nothing great compared to the many children who started using chopsticks way younger. However, most of them do not know how to handle them accurately. Call me a perfectionist but I would rather my children master the skill late then to use them incorrectly by making an "X" with the cutlery. In order for the kids to practice the right technique, I cut up foam sponges into cubes and bought the shorter chopsticks meant for little hands. It is only when they are able to do it without crossing the two sticks that I let them try with real food. 

My second-born achieved this milestone very quickly while my no. 1 and 3 could only start using them after they entered primary school, with my eldest taking the longest to learn. I'm happy that Joram is a pretty quick study too and thus we have yet another lifeskill acquired.

Sengkang Swimming Complex

Normally, our family goes for our annual swimming trip on National Day. However, due to various reasons, we might not be able to do so on that day this year. Thus, I decided to bring forward the event to the June holidays. It was a pity that none of the kids went on the long water slides because they are adverse to having water splash onto their face at the end. 

One happy thing is that I FINALLY managed to teach my eldest boy how to tread water (30 seconds for now) and swim a little (2 meters for a start). This is truly a major breakthrough for him. It has been a really loooong journey from him screaming his head off whenever it was bath-time as a toddler and being fearful of water deeper than knee-level. He was not keen on being taught by anyone else but me so I couldn't just enrol him in a swim class. My older girl is rather coordination-challenged so even though she is brave enough to float on her back, unlike her timid brother, it will take a lot more practice for her to master the strokes. 

The younger ones are not interested in learning how to swim so I shall wait till they're ready for it in the future. To be perfectly honest, I was totally prepared to teach my kids to ride a bicycle but it never crossed my mind that I would have to be the one to teach them how to swim too. I had kinda assumed that their schools would take care of that or I could simply send them for lessons. Oh well, looks like I'll just resign myself to adding one more item to our life-skills curriculum. 

Father's Day 2019

We had a combined Father's Day celebration with my Dad this year. Because he enjoyed wearing the family superman t-shirt I gave him two years ago for his birthday, I thought to give him yet another matching tee for him. It was so hilarious that he pretended to be a boxer due to the hood the shirt came with and I took the chance to have the two daddies pose for a boxing match! May the Lord have mercy on my Dad and bring him to his salvation eventually.

Two year ago...

Ding, ding, ding! Round one!

Blessed Father's Day to you too, Bear bear! It has been exhausting and long-suffering for you to take over the care of the kids whenever I'm physically down with my health issues. I'm looking forward to an empty nest one day and we can just delight in our 二人世界 in time to come. *heart*

First Family Vacation

I know that many families in Singapore, especially those with dual incomes, travel for leisure together regularly. My family, however, can ill afford to indulge in such luxuries, not just because Joshua has been the sole breadwinner, but also because we have a large family by our nation's standard. The only time we travelled overseas were with clear purposes:

1) To attend my BFF's wedding as her matron of honour (my firstborn was only 8 months old)

2) To attend church camps (once with 3 kids and another with four)

3) Our first and second honeymoon cum visiting my BFF

When I started browsing for part-time jobs end of last year, I had thoughts of saving up for a family vacation, among other reasons. For the four months I did manage to work before my health took a turn for the worse, I could not earn enough for what I had originally in mind; Star Cruise. Thus, after much research, deliberation and calculations, I decided on a trip to Legoland Malaysia.

We fuelled up on a heavy Macdonald's breakfast before catching the bus transfer. I was prepared for traffic jams and long queues at the customs because it was the school holidays and made sure the kids all packed books and toys to occupy themselves. Thankfully, the journey took only 2 hours; the return trip was even shorter.

I was glad that we could lunch at Secret Recipe at the nearby Medini Mall. That small shopping center proved to be very useful for us to settle mealtimes apart from the complimentary continental breakfast and the snacking throughout the time we were at the theme park. When we arrived at the hotel, there were plenty of activities to entertain the children while we waited for our Ninjago room to be ready. They spent most of the time at the Games Room playing the lego video game with the exception of my second-born who was more interested in building a giant house with me using foam lego bricks. Joshua and I could relax a bit at the cafe as the kiddos were at play.

It is finished!

And here comes the destroyer... LOL

The girls created this. So cute!

By the time we got our key card, we were ready to go upstairs. The lift was soooo cool with funky music and disco lights. Watch the video below to see how they 'live it up' in the elevator. Hahaha... The hotel room did not disappoint us at all. Apart from the beautiful themed decor and wall games, there was a welcome treasure hunt to accomplish and the prize was a board game that could amuse the older ones. The younger ones were duly charmed by the duplo legos available.

Bingo!

We finished off the day with a nice dinner at Absolute Thai and a magic show at the hotel lobby. Back at our room, I used the bed covers to drape over the sides of the bunk bed, creating a cozy tent effect. The boys totally loved it! Joshua and I had a really hard time calming the four young ones down for bedtime because they were overly excited. *nervous smiles* However, we still managed to end on a happy note when I burst into contagious laughter as I entered the toilet to see what my elder two did to their toothbrushes!

Can you spot the toothbrushes? *wink*

The children woke up eager the next morning and we had a leisurely breakfast at one of the best buffets we ever had. Then, off we went to have a funtastic day at the theme park! I'm so grateful that the place was not very crowded and we could go for every ride and try all the stuff we wanted. The only sad part was that the Observation Tower was under maintenance. For those rides that the kids liked, they were able to go for them multiples times. Their favourites were the Lego Ninjago The Ride, Beetle Bounce, and even the most thrilling one The Great Lego Race. To my surprise, Joram, despite being the youngest, turned out to be quite the adrenaline junkie too! And of course, how can he not LOVE the Driving School so much that he went there three times no matter the long waiting duration?

The look on Joram's face!

Pretending to lick the
giant popsicle... *facepalm*

Totally lost count how many times he went on this. Hehe...

Joram's favourite event

The firstborn already had his 'license'
when we celebrated his 10th birthday.

This time, it's the younger siblings' turn.

Family tees as souvenirs

We spent the entire day at the park from opening to closing, thanking God the whole time for the beautiful weather even though the forecast was not supposed to be favourable. After a quick dinner at KFC (would have been quicker if not for the sloooow service), we barely made it to the last bus home. What an epic vacation we had! I'm praying that I will be able to smoothly transit back to work next year when Joram goes P1 so that we can have more disposable income to travel with the family in the future.