Exuberant Carnival

Our "Egg Toss" games stall

Big Bee's school organised their annual funfair on 28 October, as a celebration of their last day of school and the finale to the many months of hard work for the final exams. I was volunteering as a parent helper, manning a games stall called "Egg Toss". It was a simple game where the students had to throw brightly-coloured ping pong balls into empty egg crates. 

The empty egg crates where students had to throw their ping balls into. 

Very cheap set-up fees, and we charged $1 for a game of 5 tosses, complete with prizes that all the parents chipped in with funds to buy as a school. 

Our decorated "Egg Toss" games stall :) 

The students were thrilled with the different tiers of different prizes. As a parent manning the prize station for a while, it was very amusing to see how the kids were excitedly selecting and comparing their prizes! The game drew a lot of word-of-mouth, probably due to its relative easiness and great prizes - so we made a whopping $700 in one morning, all for the good of charity :) 

Some classes' parents were really impressive, decking their stalls in a fantastic theme. Check out this "Fairy Finger Food" stall selling food, with angels as their parent volunteers, complete with themed aprons and fairy wings for the students in the class! 

I lifted some pages from Big Bee's diary to provide her perspective on the funfair. It is fairly long, with 6.5 pages from her diary, as she told me she wanted to preserve every single detail of that day. Enjoy reading!

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Pages from Big Bee's Diary *unedited*

Yesterday, it was my school fun fair. It was the best day of school! Mummy went in with me to school because she was a parent volunteer. She was having a games stall at the concourse. Her games stall was called "Egg Toss". Mummy went to the concourse to find the other mummies who were also helping out at the games stall. 

I went back to class. Then, I went to my flag raising. After my flag raising, we went to start the fun fair! I went with my best friend, Rachael. We first went to Mummy's games stall. Rachael and me played Egg Toss. It was very fun. After that, we went to another game at the quandrangle. I had to throw a ball into a hole. I won a prize. Rachael played that game too. 

After that, me and Rachael took a walk in the canteen. We found a nice cupcake stall. We could decorate our own cupcakes. I had a vanilla cupcake while Rachael had a chocolate cupcake. I put some strawberry icing on my cupcake. I also decorated it with sprinkles and little, sweet stars. I put a pink butterfly on the nice cupcake. 

After that, I went back to Mummy's games stall to show Mummy what I did. We ate the delicious cupcakes. It was nice and sweet. Rachael and I decided to ride something together, so we went to a ride called "A Time To Ride". Rachael called it the friendship ride. There were some animal floats - a giraffe, a cat and a kangaroo. The floats were like real cars. We could steer the floats round the courtyard. 

Although the queue was very long, me and Rachael still wanted to ride it. We waited for over twenty minutes, and finally our turn came. We sat on the cat float. I drove the first round, while Rachael sat beside me watching. Rachael drove the second round. It was like bumper cars, for we kept bumping into things. Rachael and I thought it was so fun that we wanted to go again. Unfortunately, the queue was super long, so we decided to go for another game. 

We went to a rather interesting game. The game was called "Money Catch". We went inside a door, into a small box. There was wind underneath to blow the money up. We had to try to catch as much money as possible. A parent volunteer helped me to count my money after the game. I won a prize. It was a pinball machine. Unfortunately, it spoiled. I threw it away. 

After that, I went back to Mummy's games stall to rest and drink water. I played one game of Egg Toss. Then, Rachael and me ran to the courtyard to ride the animal floats again. The queue was still very long, but we waited for half an hour. Finally, it was our turn. While I drove the first round, we saw Rachael's sister selling some nice bookmarks. She sat down on our kangaroo float for a while. Half way while we were finishing our first round, we saw our principal. She said hello to us. We also met our vice-principal. She took some photos of us. 

After we finished the ride, Rachael and me saw some yummy biscuits at the canteen. I bought two biscuits. They were the shape of a schoolgirl. They were wearing my school uniform. After that, we went to Beauty World. It was at the hall. Rachael and me bought a hairband each. The hairband was like a small wig. I tied up my hair with the hairband. 

Big Bee proudly showcasing her snazzy hairband! 

After that, I went back to Mummy's game stall. I saw Popo and Annette. Mummy followed us to the hall. Annette bought a clip. The clip had a plait tied to it. It is orange colour. After that, we went to the courtyard. Annette went to a balloon stall. She wanted a flower bracelet balloon. 

Then, we went back to Mummy's game stall. Rachael did not want to go to the haunted house. I wanted to. My friend, Analisa, went with me to queue for the haunted house. The queue was too long so we did not go. I went back to Mummy's game stall. Popo and Mummy bought some popcorn. 

After I finished my popcorn, I went back to class. We tidied our classroom. I wiped the tables and took out the staples on the notice board. After an hour of cleaning, I went home. 

Gleeful Cherubs

On 19 October, I volunteered as a parent helper at one of Little Bee's school field trips. This would be her 3rd field trip but my first time volunteering. Previously, with Big Bee, I helped out with several field trips and found the experiences enriching and uplifting, especially in getting to know their classmates better, allowing their classmates to know me better and to inject some sense of pride and happiness into the Bees, as all children felt whenever their parents helped out in school. 

So, it was on a hazy dusky day (unfortunately, the haze from Indonesia was rather severe on the day of the field trip!) that we set forth to West Coast Park. It wasn't a very exciting destination, compared to all the other funner places they had been, but this term's theme in school was "Children Of The World", so I guess the gigantic playground at West Coast Park would really be an ideal venue symbolising what every child in the world would love! 

It was so heartening to see the little kids getting really excited in the classroom before the trip, anticipating an entire afternoon of playground time. Little Bee was already giggling with exhilaration on the way to school, and in class, the rest of her classmates were hopping around in full glee! 

It was hilarious on the bus, listening to the two N2 classes singing nursery rhymes at the top of their voices, and watching each pair of kids chattering innocently to each other. 

They were immensely well-behaved once we reached the destination, walking quietly in pairs and patiently ambling to the heart of their mirth - the colossol sandy playground! 

Once they were "released" officially into the playground, you could hear them squealing away in cheeky delight, all running to the liberty of clambering up all sorts of different structures that they fancied. This was the first time I accompanied a field trip where the children did not need any formal guidance or supervision, so it was truly relaxing strolling around, helping Little Bee tackle a steep ladder or her friends with some other obstacles. 

After some time at the open playground, the group made our way to the flying fox. When I told Little Bee that we were going to try the flying fox, she looked worriedly around and asked me if foxes would bite little children! Haha! 

Most of the little kids were rather frightened by the seemingly eternal distance that they had to spend on the flying fox. Besides, given their short little selves, I am sure the flying fox seemed like miles from the sandy ground! However, Little Bee was filled with unusual courage for her petite little frame. She was the only one in class to try the flying fox twice, hanging on for dear life on the menacing contraption! It was great fun, and she descended the flying fox twice with giant beams on her cheery face. 

The little kids were fooling around a lot on the sand, taking out their socks and shoes and dirtying themselves all over. It was rather tiring and challenging for the 2 parent volunteers and 2 teachers to manage a class of 12 messy and boisterous children!

Hence, it was with much relief when we settled down for a little picnic teabreak, although we adults did spend a fair amount of time cleaning up the children before that! Little Bee's appetite was really good, relishing off 2 fluffy buns and 2 packets of succulent dried raisins. It was truly gratifying to sit on a picnic mat, chatting idly with these cute innocent angels, and laughing at some of their jokes and antics! 

Time really zoomed by swiftly when we had fun. Soon after the picnic, we had to go clean up the children at the nearby toilet in MacDonald's, before adjourning to the bus for another fun ride back to the school. Little Bee and one of her good friends Olivia were really laughing hysterically on the bus, and it was so amusing just to watch them having such tremendous fun. 

Little Bee told me she really loved it that I helped out at the field trip, and I am sure I would be back for more field trips next year! 

A Happee Day For Little Children

On a halcyon Sunday morning, with sprinkles of fluffy cumulus clouds and gentle, placid sunshine, our family descended upon a very Happee Day in Hort Park. This was an event conceptualised and organised by a very altruistic and gracious blogging mum, Daphne from Mother, Inc. The entire event was a beautiful gesture of love and compassion for 30 (or more) families from the Children's Cancer Foundation. The abundant actions of  kindness by so many volunteers who made the event an exciting one with an exhilarating atmosphere of fiesta and festivity was truly inspiring. 

We were there as "helpers" where we were supposed to mingle with the parents and children with cancer, but we ended up enjoying ourselves so much that I felt almost apologetic! I think it was also uplifting to be mingling freely as one with the patients and their families, not treating them any differently, giving them warm smiles with our kids playing boisterously alongside theirs. Because other than the dreaded illnesses inflicting them, these children need acceptance, love and fun - just like any other kids in the world. 

And that was what they had - the entire event was filled with non-stop fun and conviviality. The helpers and guests alike were enjoying themselves tremendously. What was really touching was how the "true" volunteers - face-painters, mascots, balloon-sculptors, caricature cartoonists, performers and many more - seemed to be enjoying themselves thoroughly, beaming smiles of warmth and cordiality. 

The Bees hobnobbed with all the different children to frolic around in the gigantic bouncy castle, ran in the wide open grass patch, decorated cookies and watched the fantastic Ironman and his dancers in full captivation. 

The Bees decorated cookies and Big Bee decorated a whole big cake! 

Big Bee decorated a big beautiful cake while Little Bee had her arm painted with a gorgeous pink butterfly. They both had caricatures drawn, which resembled themselves so much! 

Little Bee had a butterfly painted on her arm, and both the Bees had cartoons drawn of their faces! 

And we met up with such an engaging and quirky balloon sculptor who created a Cinderella balloon for Big Bee and a butterfly for Little Bee. 

They posed with mascots from all sorts of fables - from Pooh Bear to Bugs Bunny to Ironman to Flash to The Incredible Hulk to Batman! 

In the bouncy castle and with the mascots! 

All in all, as "helpers", we did not help much except to participate in the many bustling activities! What an event - spawned by a big-hearted mum and her hubby, publicised purely through fellow bloggers and by word of mouth, yet touching the lives of many more. We are looking forward to the next Happee Day, and hopefully, we could help in even more meaningful ways! 

Of Ghouls and Demons

The dusky, lavender gloaming was filled with the ominous promise of an imminent storm with rising winds and angry rolling grey clouds. Chatters could be heard at the estate's main hall - a low muffled orchestra of restrained yet excited babble. The scene gradually opened up to a massive gathering of hair-raising ghouls, sinister demons, creepy witches, gruesome vampires, macabre mummies and menacing monsters. 

Take a closer look, and this gathering of creatures from the dark actually comprised of small, child-like beings, many of whom were impatiently waiting for a list of homes whose families had gamely volunteered to participate in the tricks or treats festivity. 

Welcome to the Halloween party of our estate - no doubt one of the most exhilarating events of the year, especially for the children who could give themselves a good scare and a fantastic excuse to run wildly about in pitch darkness, yet collect an avalanche of sweets and goodies from the adults!  

This year, the crowd was bigger, the costumes were equally creative and the participating homes were fabulously decorated in the most innovative of ways. It was an event not for the faint-hearted - with most of our corridors and stairwells shrouded in total darkness, so that the children can truly experience the malignant spookiness of Halloween in the perfect ambience. 

Big Bee dressed up in her usual witch costume, and this year, she covered her entire face with her long hair, blending in with the eerie crowd. 

Little Bee opted to be a white angel - the pure radiant ray of light in the midst of all these darkness. 

The Bees went about trick-or-treating in the early part of the evening with their friends, Aurelia and her sister. I went along with them to experience the fun, and it was certainly rather spine-chilling when we knocked on houses replete with chilling decorations of skeletons and bats in complete darkness. And then waiting with palpitating anticipation for the door to slowly creak open, revealing different specters of all varieties, beckoning scarily to the children. However, the ultimate reward - SWEETS - usually instilled much bravado into children of all ages, including the usually timid Little Bee!

The Bees with Aurelia and her sister

PF came with her family, so the adults had dinner by the poolside while Big Bee dashed about madly with Eugene and Claire all around the estate, getting spooked by phantoms of all shapes and sizes. I decided to put Little Bee close by my side over dinner, for fear she would be too startled by abrupt phantasmal apparitions! She had a wonderful time chomping on french fries and my burger, while the bigger kids were rushing about in the dark. 

Big Bee, Claire and erm, Eugene! Little Bee was too spooked by Eugene's mask and did not want to be near them for photo-taking!

Some interesting stories emerged from them: a ghastly demon jumping with a bloodcurdling scream out of a spookily decorated house in darkness, scaring the living daylights out of the kids. A long-haired witch who kept beckoning at them to "come closer....come closerrrrrr..." to her door, and the courageous kids did just that - all in the name of treats! And a sweet family who displayed an entire tub of fragrant, warm popcorn for all the visiting kids to grab a fistful of the crunchy delights! 

Haven amidst fright night - the Bees grabbing fistfuls of divine popcorn!

The final reward: a whole pumpkin tub worth of chocolates (for me!), sweets, jellies and many more! Very sinful indeed. 

The Bees were trading treats with Eugene and Claire 

Hubby is quite intent to participate as one of the families dishing out goodies next year. And I wonder what I should dress up as....! 

Snakes and Ladders

One evening after I brought Little Bee home from her school's field trip, I was shocked to find a colossal snakes and ladders game, crafted lovingly out of a wooden board from Little Bee's old discarded baby cot!

Big Bee demonstrating how big the board is! 

Hubby and Big Bee worked on this splendid craft over a couple of hours, with Hubby drawing the boxes on the board with a black permanent marker, and Big Bee filling in the entire game with her perfectly drawn ladders and snakes, all placed at strategic intervals! 

The entire family, including Little Bee, tried our hands at the game that evening - amidst much success. The huge board allowed easy access by all of us to throw the dice and place our tokens, and let all 4 of us enjoy the luxury of space when playing a family board game. Wonderful indeed! 

Hubby informed me his next project with the Bees would be a labyrinth, along the likes of Dungeons and Dragons, I assume - using the other boards of that same discarded cot! 

October Reflections

October was a significantly eventful month, filled with ups and downs, highs and lows. All kinds of activities on the social, family, school and work fronts combined to make October a month of hustle and bustle. Here are some of the highlights in chronological order:

1) Big Bee's final exams  

2) A weekend getaway with my cousins at the Changi Village Hotel

3) A long weekend cruise with both sets of parents

4) Big Bee's release of results and streaming into her primary 3 class, with new classmates next year. Thank goodness she would be in the same class with her best friend since kindergarten days!

5) Little Bee's field trip with me as a parent helper

6) My work trip to Shanghai and Nantong, an up and rising city to watch for in China

7) Our 10th wedding anniversary celebrations :) 

8) Big Bee's school funfair where I was a parent helper at the games stall

9) Start of Big Bee's long, luxurious year-end holidays! 

10) Halloween fun with friends

11) Big Bee's Swan Lake ballet performance in a school concert with me as a parent helper

12) My birthday celebrations with my dearest family :) 

13) Our attendance at Happee Day, a wonderful event for children from the Children's Cancer Foundation, organised by an amazing and fabulous mother, Daphne from Mother, Inc. 

...and there were more activities like parties and Children's Day celebrations, etc, for the Bees! 

What a marvelous month indeed...and lots to update in the blog!  

High Seas

2 Fridays ago, we went on a weekend cruise to nowhere on SUperstar Virgo. With our little family were both sets of our parents, Hubby's sister and our helper. The Bees were ecstatic with such a big crowd consisting of everyone who loves them dearly, and were hopping, giggling and squealing incessantly!

As we boarded the ship, the weather was a breathtaking sunset with golden rays of brilliant sunshine that illuminated all our faces with dazzling radiance. Everyone was filled with blithe effervescence and vivacious anticipation for the herculean ship to start sailing. It was enlivening to see all 4 grandparents so relaxed and contented just to be close to the Bees, laughing and chatting with them. 

Some indelible highlights of the 3-day, 2-night cruise: 

1. Perpetual eating!

With 6 meals served every day, eating became a never-ending activity where the families bonded with each other. Hubby and I were very heartened to see our 4 parents gossiping like old friends, right down to telling each other hilarious tales about their respective courtship days! We discovered many tidbits of information that we had never heard before! 

It was a blessing that Rosilyn, our helper, came along. When the kids slept on the first night, all 4 grandparents, my sister-in-law and us lingered around the ship till the early hours of 2am! We gorged on the delicious supper buffet with more chatting, strolled on the alfresco decks of the ship, and Hubby went to the casino with his father, my mum and sister-in-law while I sat in the comfy lobby area with my father and mother-in-law (a funny combination, right?!), chatting into the wee hours of the morning! 

I particularly love the alfresco breakfast on our last day - lounging on the open-air deck, feeling the fresh sweet morning air on our faces and chatting languidly with the gentle sunrays emanating through the open decks. 

Hubby and I also loved the bustling, outdoor BBQ buffet dinner on the second night, right beneath the stars. We were all awed by the splendid array of food, from local favourites to exotic delights. Tastes of the grilled beef, Hainanese chicken rice and heavenly cherry crumble still resonated vividly in my mind! 

2. Open decks

I love strolling around the decks of the gigantic cruise liner, staring into oblivion at nothing but the vast, boundless blue sea that stretches unto infinity. Seeing nothing but the interminable ocean made me realise that humanity leads such a fragile existence - long before the humans transformed the world so drastically, the omnipresent oceans were the first occupants of the planet. And I am sure long after we humans are extinct, the celestial oceans will still endure. 

Humans are nothing but miniscule chess pieces in the prodigious chessboard that represents our world. Yet, sadly, we had been creating such destruction and chaos since we occupied the earth. 

Anyway, it was really gratifying to hear the gentle lapping of the waves against the giant cruise liner, and to observe the little ripples and motions of the ocean far beneath us. Entirely soothing. Wonderfully relaxing. 

In fact, the gentle balmy breeze caressing our faces was so lulling that our parents were snoozing on the open deck in the afternoon of the second day! 

3. Captivating shows

Our parents really loved the enthralling nightly performances which were highly entertaining. On the first night, we were treated to a dazzling display of acrobatics and musicals depicting life in the old imperial Russian regime. On the second night, we were lured into the mysterious world of magic and illusion with a dramatic magic performance. The grandparents gawked at the performers, the Bees were dumbstruck at times, and Hubby and me were just contented in the knowledge that everyone enjoyed themselves. 

4. Recreation for the Bees

We indulged in myriad leisurely activities with the Bees, as a celebration of the end of exams for Big Bee! Big Bee and I went swimming one lovely evening in the kids' pool, where she enjoyed many rounds of the slide. I had the rare opportunity of soaking in a warm jacuzzi tub right at the edge of the ship, staring into the frothy waves as I immersed into the enveloping comfort of the warm water. Divine bliss indeed!

Meanwhile, the Bees also spent an enjoyable hour creating some handmade crafts with the hosts from Superstar Virgo, together with 5 other girls (where were all the little boys!?). Both the girls created their crafts independently, with a little help for Little Bee, and both of them proudly showed off their completed 3D butterflies to me! 

The Bees also participated in some stage games. It was truly amusing to see both of them onstage, with Big Bee grudgingly and shyly partaking in the competition, and Little Bee animatedly enjoying herself! In the end, both of them won a medal each - it was really delightful for them. 

5. Where time stops for us

Finally, it was the tranquil midnight stroll with Hubby on the second night that I truly cherished. We went to the top deck of the liner, and allowed the wind to flirt capriciously with our hair, whipping it wildly. We sat down on 2 lonesome deck chairs and chatted like the good friends that we are. It was rather chilly but we relished being away from the glare of the lights and noise of the crowds, indulging in some quiet, romantic moments with each other. Away from the madding crowd indeed. 

Going on a cruise is an excellent way to truly unwind. With limited activities onboard, we had no choice but to amble along slowly, paying more attention to fellow cruisers and feeling time crawling to a standstill. It is also a fuss-free way to bring the children for a vacation, unlike faraway holidays where we had to lug lots of luggage and dashed about to sightsee. 

We should be back soon, I foresee :) 

Her First Project Work

Last month, Big Bee worked on her very first project for Social Studies in school. Remember the days of us slogging and cutting pictures to be pasted on construction paper? Those days remain vivid as indelible memories in my mind, and before I knew it, my own daughter is working on a similar project. Life dashes past us really swiftly indeed. 

Big Bee's first project centred around the theme of "Multi-Racial Singapore", and she was able to provide distinct directions about how she wanted her project to look like. She had a little difficulty trying to sieve through the copious information on the internet though, so I helped her to collate concise data and pictures on the 4 major races in Singapore, before letting her design the entire project on her own. 

The project required a significant amount of effort on the part of the student and parent, but I think she emerged wiser, gaining more knowledge on the 4 major races of Singapore and the festivals that we celebrate here. It was also a wonderful way for her to think creatively and to attempt to source for more information on her own, inculcating a research mentality which would benefit her in future years, I hope. 

Here are a few sample pages of what she had done: 

The introduction page with a turning wheel featuring pictures of children of the 4 major races

Chinese New Year where she inserted photos of the festival inside the angpow

Christmas with a lift-up Christmas tree where she wrote she loves Christmas underneath the tree

She applied colourful glitter glue around and in the candle on the bottom left, in the spirit of sparkling Deepavali

More photos of the festival are inside the Hari Raya Puasa's green packet as well

Chums

The Bees have bountiful friends that they hang out regularly from all quarters - their own school friends (and Big Bee has 2 sets of them, from preschool to primary school!), Big Bee's enrichment classes' friends, their cousins, children of Hubby's and my good friends, their neighbours, and the list goes on! 

Hubby and I usually let them mingle with a broad plethora of different friends, and recently the Bees had been getting really busy with all the parties and social get-togethers! The outcome: each Bee is able to adapt to each other's little or bigger friends, so together, they have a huge circle of common friends! 

Some recent gatherings:

At Alexis' (Hubby's good friend SJ's daughter) dance party. Alexis' parents hired 2 hip-hop dance instructors to teach them the art of funky dance! 

The kids were taught a repertoire of dance movements that encompassed a full performance item in a span of 45 minutes! It was great fun to see the kids striking different poses, and dance-lover Little Bee thoroughly enjoyed herself! 

A little dinner gathering with my good friend YM's kids: Little Bee, Sophie and David striking different poses! 

During the gathering with Sophie and David, Little Bee drew all of them playing at a slide, anti-clockwise from top girl figurine at the slide as Sophie with a voice bubble "I want to play!", then Little Bee with really long legs, then David, Big Bee and Mummy! 

A Slice of Bucolic Singapore

The tranquil road to Changi...

Last Saturday, the cousins and I planned for a weekend stay at Changi Village Hotel in the rustic environs of Singapore's far east. The adult cousins yakked aplenty whereas the little cousins had wonderful fun playing incessantly! Short weekend stays are remarkable - they rejuvenate us tremendously and stretch the weekend endlessly and luxuriously.

We started the stay with lots of marvelous hawker food in the hotel room, all thanks to Irene and CC! Fragrant nasi lemak, succulent fried carrot cake and refreshing sugar cane juice. The Bees were devouring the nasi lemak, struggling with Hubby to fight over the rice and chicken wings! Little Bee could not get her little fingers away from a huge delectable chicken wing, massaging and digging into it like a surgeon!

The grannies (Irene's and my mum) also joined us for a couple of hours before they scooted off to indulge in their own social programmes. So, we had great fun in one hotel room, gorging on mouthwatering food with 3 generations!

After the divine teabreak, we ascended to the rooftop swimming pool with breathtaking panoramic vistas of the sea. The kids conquered the entire kids' pool, and had a blasting time splashing about with water toys! The view was stupendous - I love the expansive seascape just beyond the reaches of the pool and the giant planes zooming smoothly across the sky.

Big Bee was shooting water guns, shrieking excitedly, whereas the 3 little girls - Little Bee, Val and Chloe - were contentedly pouring water in and out of the myriad pool toys, courtesy of Irene and Fiona!

After swimming, the grannies adjourned to their next destination, whereas the 3 families spent some time on our own, bathing and chilling in the hotel rooms before dinner.

Dinner was at Thaipan restaurant, just a stone's throw from the hotel. The food was scrumptious, the company was enjoyable but the kids were mostly sleepy by then (with the exception of the hyper-active Bees)!

Everyone turned in early, and our family had a relaxing time lounging in the room before the lights were off!

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Big Bee and Hubby woke up bright and early the next morning at 7am for a romantic stroll at the beach, with sounds of awakening birds and the crisp fresh morning air - how divine! I had to stay in the room because Little Bee was snoozing soundly all the way till 8.30am.

Breakfast was really pleasant, served in a bright airy restaurant. We binged on the buffet breakfast, chatting and munching. The kids indulged in the plethora of food before crowding around Chloe to watch cartoons on iPhone, giggling away - how cute!

After breakfast, we proceeded to walk around the pastoral surroundings. We strolled past the idyllic ferry stop with the timeless Pulau Ubin bumboats.

We ambled around the Changi Beach and finally settled down on a grassy patch with mats and lots of bubbles, thanks to Irene! We women just reposed on the mat, while the kids frolicked with the bubbles and dug little holes on the sandy patch.

The men dispensed much of their energy in a short game of frisbee, with Big Bee and Val joining in shortly.

A gentle breeze caressed our hair softly. The rhythmic sounds of the crashing waves at high tide was soothing. An occasional formidable container ship sailed past majestically. The edge of the shore abounded with amateur fishermen eager for a lunchtime catch. The hypnotic halcyon quietness was interrupted by sporadic pompous airplanes thundering over our heads. Life is splendid indeed.

Closer to lunchtime, we packed our mats and sauntered back to the hotel. Our family ate lunch bought by Hubby at the adjacent food centre - minced pork and fishball noodles. The Bees slurped the noodles delightfully, savouring the local hawker fare.

Before we knew it, we were all packed and ready to check out by early afternoon. As we gathered in the lobby, we cousins agreed that more weekend stays are in store for us! What a glorious way to spend a weekend!

Farm Animals' Wheel

Last Saturday morning, as part of the farm animals theme, I made a small wheel for Little Bee to work on. I encouraged her to think of 8 farm animals to write in the wheel, and she was able to independently list down all but 2 farm animals (horse and goat). 

 

The wheel with 8 farm animals. Little Bee copy-wrote the names of the animals, except for "pig", "cat" and "dog" which she wrote herself without any assistance from me.

It was enlivening to see her furrowing her little brows and thinking hard about what farm animals to list down (although I did use helping terms like "perhaps the next animal is a lion? a bear?" just to reinforce the difference between farm and forest/safari animals). 

I was pleasantly surprised that she could spell out "pig", "dog" and "cat" by herself, probably due to the crafts she did which usually comprised of writing down the names of the animals she worked on.

She was thrilled when we completed the wheel and "sealed" it with a bronze fastener. We turned the wheel around and she read the words eagerly, treating this like a game, and reinforcing her whole-word recognition of these words. We took around 20 minutes to complete this wheel.

Little Bee loves her farm animals wheel. She wrote the words "Farm" and I wanted her to write "animals" but she told me the word was too long, and she was too tired! Ha!

She can now recognise quite a lot of sight words, all thanks to the Peter and Jane Key Word series that she loves. I stopped teaching her phonics these days, as I prefer the Bees to learn reading by understanding the meaning and appreciating the beauty of language (like us in the good old days!). I have full faith in the whole-word recognition as Big Bee and us learned to read ardently through that method.

All dressed up and acting coy, in preparation for a Children's Day party in school! 

Through thematic homelearning and daily reading of books borrowed from school, she is now expanding her reading vocabulary slowly, and could read simple books with short sentences by herself. I do hope she will turn out to be an avid reader like the rest of our family as well :)

After the wheel craft, she took the remaining pink paper, snipped around and created this beautiful flower all by herself, which she insisted I must use another of her favourite fastener to attach the stem. She told me she learned this from the TV series "Kailan" and was able to replicate it quite well.

Assiduous Cogitation

* The answer to the Math problem below is in the comments section*

This is the season again - right smack in the midst of intense revision and constant coaching for Big Bee's primary 2 final term exams. With no tuition or enrichment classes, I am her de facto creative writing mentor, English and Chinese tutor as well as Math teacher. Thank goodness my mum helps out with Chinese coaching sometimes!

Teaching and coaching is easy. Facing an occasionally irate child who is a perfectionist is a wee bit challenging. I believe in instilling discipline for children from a young age to be self-focused in their academic pursuits - which is not a relentless quest for perfection, but rather, ingraining a sense of responsibility and accountability. However, Big Bee carried this belief much further than I would like.

The evenings before her exams, she would get cold, sweaty palms and soles, although she still maintained a cheerful disposition. And she, very much like Hubby and me, prefers to work under stress and adrenaline, instead of dwelling in a complaisant environment with no pressure. As parents, we never ever gave her pressure to succeed and I tried not to talk about her exams as we revised her work, but she would give herself an invisible shroud of pressure.

Thankfully, we are now into her last paper tomorrow - Chinese. She slept easy tonight, ecstatic in the knowledge that she can celebrate and relax tomorrow afternoon. I had promised her that there would be no academic activities for a while, because I - like her - believe very much in the good old adage, "We work hard and play even harder".

Meanwhile, I am also looking forward to a breather from all these rigorous coaching, and to get back the momentum for more enjoyable homelearning activities with Little Bee, who had been feeling rather neglected this week.

To end off, here's a Math problem in her school workbook that was somewhat baffling for 8 year old kids, I thought. We managed to solve it for her (she was too mystified to solve it!), and I heard from Big Bee that no one in her class could solve it.

You have two empty pails. In one pail, you can put exactly 5 litres of water. In the other pail, you can put exactly 3 litres of water. You need exactly 4 litres of water. How would you measure exactly 4 litres of water using only the two pails?

On a lighter note, here's a composition from Big Bee that she wrote in May, which had gotten her 9/10 (4.5 marks each for language and content):

The Rescue

One windy afternoon, Danny decided to play with his new aeroplane that his father had bought for him for Christmas. Danny went to a park not far from his house. He went to a field near to a canal.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew Danny's precious aeroplane into the canal! Danny did not want his precious aeroplane to be swept away in the flowing water, so he tried to reach for the aeroplane. As he was too near the edge of the canal, he fell into the flowing water in the canal!

He was afraid that he might be swept away with the flowing water so he shouted for help. Luckily, a young man who was coming back from work heard Danny's screams. He rushed to the canal as the screams were coming from there. The young man jumped into the canal and carried him out of the canal. He had rescued Danny!

Danny's parents were getting worried as Danny did not come home, so they decided to go to the park to look for him. Danny's mother was shocked to see so many people crowding around her son who was wet. The young man told Danny's mother what had happened. Danny's mother thanked him. She also gave him some money as a reward. That was Danny's most unforgettable day in his life.

Breathtaking Bay

The weekend before, we descended to Marina Bay Sands for the first time. We were dazzled by the picturesque views of Singapore's CBD, Fullerton Hotel, the Merlion, Esplanade and Fairmount Hotel.

We enjoyed ourselves tremendously at the outdoor promenade by the bay, drinking in the views of the expansive waterfront and the majestic towers of the MBS hotel towering above us. The Bees were dashing about in exhilarated delirium, chasing after frolicking stray leaves revelling in the mirthful breeze.

Hubby and I simply loved the view, having spent a good part of the mid 90s staring at the same scene in the old Marina Bay park, long before all these stupendous transformation. I do miss the rustic charm of the park where we could drive our car around though.

Inside the mall, we enjoyed that first stirrings of vivacity and enthusiasm that one could only experience while exploring a brand new place. The Bees loved the sampan ride, but the wait was too long (45 minutes!), so we decided to skip it. They took a photo with a man decked out in gold paint - almost like a statue on a tricycle!

It was rather good fun, and almost felt like we were on holiday! Who needs a holiday when there are so many wonderful and new places in Singapore these days?