Magical Musicals

Watching musicals is mesmerising. Seeing the actors sing and act 'live' on stage just reinforces how talented some artistes are. The Bees had learned to be as fascinated and captivated by musicals as Hubby and I are. We always look forward to new musicals in town, and never failed to make each outing a special occasion to celebrate talent, art and expression in life. It is such a pity that really good musicals are few and far between in Singapore. I dream of the day that I can bring the Bees to the West End or Broadway and indulge in incessant excellent musicals!

I had previously written about our experiences with The Lion King and Wicked. These 2 years, we had watched Annie The Musical, and more recently, Phantom of The Opera. 

Annie The Musical, while really fun and entertaining, was a little disappointing in terms of sound quality from the lead child actress. Perhaps she had been singing for a full season in Singapore already. Perhaps she was having a sore throat, as what the Bees justified. But, nevertheless, the musical still engaged the Bees wholeheartedly with its touching storyline.

The highlight came after the show though. As we ambled out into the stunning vista of the Marina Bay, we saw a few of the child cast from Annie, with 3 Golden Retrievers (which were the dog featured in the musical). How thrilling! The girls walked up to them, and patted the retrievers, although they were a little shy to make much conversation with the gregarious cast.

2 weeks ago, we went to watch Phantom Of The Opera. This had always been one of my favourite musicals, and I love the themes of love, longing, desire, beauty, insecurity, and ambition. Some people told me that it might be a little profound for the Bees, and they did express a little confusion when the Phantom released Christine, even though she reluctantly promised she would be his. However, after a little explanation, they grasped the meaning of insecurity and hopeless love.

As always, I love its haunting tunes, the Phantom's feelings of futility and despair, as well as the gorgeous sets. It was a little spine-chilling for the Bees though. As Big Bee said, "The musical was very scary, but the storyline was very meaningful and thrilling. My favourite moment was when the chandelier moved to the stage because it looked so majestic!"

I am now awaiting the next great musical to hit town! Maybe we might end up watching Hairspray?

Too Big, Too Fast

I was feeling melancholic and nostalgic this quiet, halcyon night, and decided to look through some old photos. My my, I uncovered quite a number of gems! The photos below are 6 years apart. How did my baby girls transform from cherubic angels to sensible young ladies in what seemed like seconds?! See how fast they had grown...Big Bee is just 6 centimetres shorter than me, and Little Bee is fast approaching the height of my chest.

Although I had been trying my best to cherish every single second with them, savouring their present loveliness, it still amazes me that time ravages through our lives, leaving us with nothing but memories of the joyous past through photographic memories or old photos like the ones here.

 

Before we know it, our children will be adults, and we will be grandparents. Somehow, this rapid journey through time frightens me tremendously. Does anyone have a solution to slow time down, perhaps?

 

When was the last time you looked through your children's birth or infant photos?

Learning At Home: All About Singapore

With the impending National Day celebrations, I thought it might be fitting for me to share what we had done for homelearning some months back. We completed a whole series of homelearning on Singapore where we did lots of activities. However, I must highlight that I find it much harder to do any homelearning these days, because (1) Big Bee has such a full schedule of homework and CCAs, and (2) I am increasingly doing more (boring) academic stuff with Little Bee so she can catch up on her schoolwork. Therefore, it is a wonder that we can complete this series of Singapore studies!

Books 

We borrowed, bought and read lots of books about Singapore - our history, culture, languages and prominent sites of attraction. The Bees particularly enjoyed this book, On A Street In Singapore, which depicts Singapore's historical sites, food, history, culture and Singlish in a hilarious and easily comprehensible comic and text format. 

Even I enjoyed this book, and learned quite a lot of new things about my own country that I had never known about! For example, do you know that fish-head curry was created because an enterprising local Indian chef wanted to create a dish for the Chinese customers who loved fish head for its flavour and tenderness? Or that Roti John was named in the 1970s after a Western tourist who probably asked for French toast in a Malay hawker stall?

Little Bee also enjoyed reading this book below, which wrote about a lot of interesting attractions in Singapore.

History

We visited the Singapore National Museum (yet again) to learn about the history of Singapore, and I am so glad that Singapore citizens now enjoy free trips to the museums, yay! 

The pretty domed ceiling of our National Museum

Field Trips

We visited lots of attractions in Singapore, focusing a lot on the cultural enclaves like Little India, Arab Street and Chinatown. 

The Bees in Arab Street early this year

National Day Parade (preview)

Thanks to my cousin, Hubby, Little Bee and I were able to get preview tickets for the remarkable National Day Parade in mid July (which warrants another blog post!), while Big Bee attended the same parade as part of the primary 5 national education. We were awed by the brilliant fireworks set against a beautiful background of our cityline, and were dazzled by the military displays of our army, navy and air force.

Lapbook

Little Bee completed a lapbook on Singapore where she covered topics like our languages, climate, history, religions, geographical borders, her favourite places in Singapore, etc. It was really fun in an educational and intimate manner to get to know your home country this way. Big Bee dabbled a little in the lapbook, but was not able to complete due to her hectic schedule. 

Enjoy the festivities of our nation's independence this National Day! 

Port Of Lost Wonders

With Big Bee blossoming into a tween, it is increasingly harder for us to find activities that would engage both the Bees in a way that both would be equally enthusiastic and absorbed. 

Which was why I love the Port of Lost Wonders so much, because even skeptical Big Bee was charmed.

 

We were invited to a birthday party at the Port Of Lost Wonders in Sentosa one Saturday last month, and could literally sit back and admire the Bees indulging in so much water play that they were shrivelled and brown by the time they emerged from underneath the scorching noon sun! 

Our good friends threw a party under a marquee in the Port of Lost Wonders for both their daughters, and what a party it was! All the kids were excitedly playing with the myriad slides and water features, and it was quite a feat to lure them up halfway through their water play for party games and the cake-cutting activity! 

The Bees were getting a wee too old for kiddy party games, although Little Bee gamely plodded on with the other toddlers and little kids. Looking at her with all these kids, it struck me once again that my baby girl is growing up really fast as well! What a deja vu feeling, because I seemed to have felt that whimsical, bittersweet whiff of emotion when looking at Big Bee a few years ago, and now it is Little Bee's turn! Nooooo......!! 

Big Bee, on the other hand, was getting all excited discussing about her latest craze, Taylor Swift, with Alexis, another 9-year-old daughter of a good friend. Boy - kids are getting more sophisticated at a younger age these days! They made me dedicate incessant Taylor Swift songs to them with the DJ, and were joined by an equally enthusiastic Little Bee. 

The party ended with much squealing and reluctance to emerge from the captivating water playground. But at least I know where to spend a lazy afternoon where both the girls get to enjoy themselves equally well!