2021 year end recall
From a fear of Covid, to this stage where it’s a matter of time anyone can get Covid, this was the swift change of tide within these 3 months into 2022. People are embracing this stage; some with gusto, some with real pain in the neck experiences and some as though they caught a mild cold. The important thing is we are slowly moving on together in this 3rd year of the masked up life.
Singaporeans are actually very adaptable people who may complain but still comply to the rapid changes thrown at us. We are survivors.
Came new year eve, before midnight I had an awful fall. Slipped on the wet kitchen floor and landed like a bear with all paws in the air. I had to go back Physio for my neck issue. Nonetheless, I thank God I could still function despite the discomfort.
2022
The new year was adjusting to our new house move, new domestic helper, new responsibilities and heavier projects at work, and new phase of having 2 teens in the house.
One of the big challenge is to begin my new routine of driving my girl to school on a daily basis. Even after three months of driving, I still felt the subtle stress of competing with time to avoid a jam.
I had meant to blog about the highlights of Term1, and the draft still sat there hibernating forever. Fast forward, I decided if I don’t blog about our latest trip, I may not have any posts this year! Let me highlight Term2 first.
Term2
Term 2 was filled with tons of work I had to churn out like a machine in the new projects and workshops (a first) I had conducted. Thank God for the timely ideas and came to pass workshop. The second workshop almost didn’t happen after an hour of failure to log into zoom. Needless to say, my hubs and I were praying for God to help and He answered our prayers when I entered successfully into the zoom meeting at 2.31pm sharp! The workshop started at 2.30pm. So it was an eventful day where finally all the months of preparation took place in 2 days by God’s grace. I wanted to record this as a highlight of His training to trust Him.
Another highlight this year for me- it is a privilege to play complementary roles as a mum and with my hubs as a dad to our growing tween and teens.
I am also learning to embrace the teenage growing up phase, while still not losing sight of the path that they should be trained towards- Christ as our centre.
June Holidays Here we Come!
I began the holidays with a library visit to borrow books to occupy and had fun playing charades guessing on a swing with my tween/teens. Then, I brought my girl to Changi Airport for a good meal and snapped away with snoopy and friends! We sat at the indoor aircon forest to enjoy our reads together before heading home with ice cream.
A time for everything, now time to play hard!
Select Mission 1114 from Focus on the Family
We bought 2 packages. One for me and Bao(no.2) , another for hubs with Yi (no.1). We were surprised to also be one of the families selected by them to do live streaming shots for their @thrivingfamilysg instagram. It was an interesting experience being tailed and trying to ‘ignore’ the photographer. My kids kept asking our lovely photographer (J) questions and she even took care of my girl so that I could have that uninterrupted One-on-One time with my boy for this assignment. Thanks Focus on the family for the wonderful program lined up and this opportunity to be featured on your media. We really had loads of fun and laughter!!
We began in style with a burst of rainbow poppers provided in the box. The program began with a few puzzles to solve before doing our personality tests to know each other better. Then we had more puzzles before we could open this ‘super cool’ locked safe disguised as an English Dictionary (my boy was very impressed by this ingenious idea). Then we were supposed to have our lunch where junior had to lead the way without my help. This was pretty easy as he knew his way around. During the lunch and our walk back, we did our conversation starters. I loved those specific questions that steered the conversations towards opinions on social issues and growing up as a teen.
This One-on-One time is not new to us, as my hubs and I spend such times regularly with each child since young. It is our practice to have such lunch dates with each child. Nontheless, this project added an element of excitement and fun into the mundane dates! I strongly recommend families to join this for their growing tweens (11-14yo) when they launch it in future!
Malacca Trip (the umpteenth time, but a first after 2 yrs of hiatus)
I always appreciate and treasure how my hubs would be the holiday planner for our family. He would always search for the fun and adventurous places to engage and challenge our children while I am happy to just go with the flow. Yes, I really have it easy! We are glad to catch Jonker street and delighted to join in the familiar hustle and bustle of the colourful town.
This time we stayed at Swiss Garden Hotel. There was a huge pool and a huge gym plus a tennis court. However, I would not recommend it unless you are a fan of gym and you do not mind the highly concentrated chlorine (bleached) pools. The room service was not great. Also, the shopping mall only had a few eateries with many shops closed. The up side was its location next to the riverside Quay. It’s something like our Singapore riverside. It comes to live at night and we enjoyed walking up and down for the 4 days stay other than the Jonker street.
The main attraction here was the Skytrex experience. My girl feigned being insulted when I asked if she took the Little Dino package. Turned out, they all took the Extreme Warrior package (advanced) and I was so impressed especially by her gutsy attempts to complete it! Mama did not join them due to my neck issue, (alright that was just an excuse), due to my fear of heights! Instead, I spent the time having an enjoyable peaceful Quiet Time with the Lord in prayer and soaking in His word.
This is where Dads play such an important role in teaching our kids to risk take and be challenged out of their comfort zone! Our complementary roles as mum and dad takes on a huge meaning here. If it were up to me, I would take a safe and soft approach to life within my physical comfort zone. Because of Papa’s zest for life and zeal for our children, they are truly blessed to have the best of both worlds in our parenting styles. We are not perfect, but we do try our best to invest meaningfully with our children.
We ate at different restaurants but the best dining was the least expected at the Teratak Ayah Bonda Cafe nearby the hotel. We had the most authentic Malay cuisine of special burgers, nasi ayam goreng and ayam soup. It only cost 60RM for a feast of the above mentioned plus another kway teow Cantonese style with drinks. Since teens have no wifi, they engaged in old school ‘chopsticks’ play.
Too much game play for the day, so it was a ‘read books’ time for that night. With teens, we need to also designate the time for everything, otherwise everything will be related to the phone or a screen.
We also visited the Makota and Palawan Malls to do our fair bit of shopping for necessities and clothes.
Austin Heights
Our stay at Austin Park Hotel, was a heavenly one after the first hotel. The room had 2 twin beds and the service was efficient and very clean. We wanted to check if the kids now tween/teens would still enjoy this trip as before. To our disappointment, the place famous for baking classes and the Virtual Reality game store were no longer operating. We were left with the Austin Heights Water Park. Even the Go-Kart and the adventure park had closed down.
However, we were comforted by their food paradise. Hua Mui kpt is always our go to comfort food. I also had a peaceful time of painting at Chi Cha San Qian. A short getaway for a night or two is good enough here.
Lastly, I wish to thank Hubs for being the best dad He can be to our kiddos! We are privileged and honoured to have his constant encouragement and involvement in our daily lives. God bless you with strength and wisdom and love to show the Father’s love in this father figure endowed to you Hubs! We love you!
Happy Father’s Day to all Daddies!
For more post for Dads, hop over to my hubby’s blog
For more posts on PSLE thoughts
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- Staycation with Second Son Shared by Papa
- Our Milestone Momentos from Tween to Teen
- Papa shares his staycation time with our 12yo son
- How to help our Post PSLE son transit to teenagehood?
- Counting up blessings to PSLE
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- Free printable: Chinese Characters Illustrations Series 2
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- Younger Peek-a-day! Routine
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