"I can do it" Carnival

The kids' school had a carnival today and there were loads of activities to engage the kids. The teachers certainly have put in great efforts in making up the place with various themes, focusing on the value of confidence that the school is driving among the children.

Abel in his little world of African Jungle following the works they had done after the trip to the bird park.

 

Keziah in hers, with loads more activities dealing with coordination and perception. The place was rather crowded at the hour we went so we didn't quite catch many of the activites.

Some of her works that we spotted along the way…there were more but we just didn't have time to take down everything :)

 

Craft the little kids made with their parents as part of home project on the theme of circus.

Daddy's the cook

Daddy took a day off as the kids didn't have school today and went grocery shopping. Surprise surprise he even made them a lunch of miso beef udong and baked salmon fish for dinner. It's always nice to have home cooked food.

Farm trail...

Well the kids in the rarest occasion slept in till 8 am. So we had a late start with breakfast at our favourite porridge store and on with a farm trail. Lim Chu Kang is one area we have a farming cluster. Though not the first time we are going there, the last we went were ages ago when Abel was not even born.

First destination: Hay Dairies Goat Farm

So disappointing we missed the milking of the goats. So if you ever want to go down for that segment, be there early between 9 - 11 am. Even more unexpected was that we weren't allowed to feed the goats anymore! AVA has issued a statement to avoid close contact between humans and the goats. So well, we simply enjoyed a walk around, seeing goats from a distance and drinking goat's milk. 

Destination 2: Jurong Frog Farm

Wow, the many tadpoles and frogs. Hmmm..didn't realise tadpoles can be that big! A quick recap of the lifecycle of frogs that we talked about some time ago with with kids.

Destination 3: Gardenasia for lunch
A nice little hideout for an alfresco lunch among the greens. Price is a little steep but the salads were great!

Destination 4: Qianhu
The famous fish spa. Surprise Surprise, our girl was game for a try and was so tickled by the fish nibbling on her feet. Interesting to note though, the fish didn't really cluster around the kids' feet but the adults'. So guess we adults have worn our feed so much that we need some fish therapy.

 Abel finally joined his sister for a dip after seeing the fun she had.

 A new type of spa fish. The big one for a bigger sensation. Really feel like sanding off your dead skin..

Whew! What a lot to see…the kids were even asking to see the crocodile farms and chicken farms after examining the map but I think we had enough. Furthermore, not all farms were opened to public.

Little Dolphins

Our little girl's choice..

Learning out of Class - Jurong Bird Park

It was a parent accompanied trip and Daddy took a day off to bring our boy out on excursion!

Birds to look out for... 

Abel tried to lure some birds to feed from his cup of worms but none were interested in taking a flight up. End up he threw the worms on the floor and the birds happily enjoyed every bit.

 One of his favourite friend in class...

The little explorer looking at the different eggs and wonder what a microscope is. Oooo he's as taller than the King Penguin now..

 He had this little project to do from his trip - make a waterfall...

 Geez…how close in resemblance of this tall waterfall comig from a rock looked?

Abel's water confident!

After about 7 months at the pool, here's our little prince very confident of water! Which means Daddy and Mommy have to keep a closer watch of this water lover as he still can't swim to save himself yet.

Abel's swim after 7 months from Joan on Vimeo.

Happy Mother's Day

Lovely mother's day gift from the little ones...

Changi Village

We had an extra day off in view of polling day and since it was Mother's Day weekend, we took the opportunity to getaway for a short hotel stay at Changi Village Resort Hotel.

 It was nice and cozy in the room with great view. The kids were so fascinated by the open concept bath.

 Nothing beats swimming on the roof top and watching air planes fly by.

Dinner was local fare at the hawker centre nearby. You'll be surprised by the good food you get over here at cheap prices.

 Cooling coconut to quench your thirst. Even the flesh of the fruit was not spared.

Next morning we went out to the beach for sandplay which the kids hardly had time for. Interestingly, the sand at Changi were so fine but since it was low tide, the area near the seafront was rather coarse. One thing not too pleasing was that the beach was littered with rubbish. As usual they will be building their structures, picking shells and anything they found interesting...

 Us four...

 Mom and kids...

 We managed to catch sight of the fisherman unloading their live catch!

Lunch as at Jacob's cafe just a block off the hotel based on reviews from www.hungrygowhere.com. We must admit the food was good. The baked marconi was layered just like lasagne and loaded with cheese and beef. The beef goulash was so well made that every mouth was full of flavour. The brownie was just as good and the kids just didn't have enough of it.

Fine motor skills - writing

It was time to get Abel to train up his control over the use of pencils. He was diligently joining the dots with care and colouring with great precision to ensure he kept within his lines. Colouring was not his favouritie but surprisingly today he finished colouring 3 buckets decently well. Cheap simply book to keep him occupied with some interesting activity.

Pasir Ris Park

It's been a while since we were out to a park. Taking the opportunity of May Day, we decided to head for Pasir Ris Park which is at the corner of Singapore. We were pleasantly surprised by the variety of play stations. There was even flying folk and large climbing structures. Though we had to encourage Keziah quite abit before she would go up to attempt the high ropes, we were glad she made it and she was very happy herself.

Blending fun..

Got this idea from another mommy! Saw these magnetic alphabets at the pasar malam today and grabbed 2 sets at a real steal of $2.90 each. We'll see if this makes it more fun as we embark on blending to make words when we write our diary!

It is DONE!

Keziah had a home project to do and this week we were busy working on it. She was to make a clown for her school carnival this term. Well, here's the going with loads of pasting, cutting and decorating of stuff we accumulated over time.

 The final works!

 Daddy is the real creative bug at home and he added on the banners to complete the stage!

Movie night out!

We haven't been out to movies a long time and since tomorrow is a May day holiday, it's our night out! We had to be careful with the movie we chose as the kids were highly affected by the visual and audio stimulation. Rio looked promising and simple enough for these animal lovers to attempt.

We chose a less crowded cinema GV Grand and took leisure time out for dinner. Keziah was just simply into Japanese food. Of course, Abel would be in total agreement being a noodle lover.  We walked into Sapporo Ramen BISHAMON.

 

Without much doubt, Abel chose this set, not because of the food but the presentation! Nonetheless, he did quite a good job finishing most of the food.

 The rest of us had noodles...

Verdict of the food: Good for Singapore but can't be compared to the Ramen we had at those standing shopfront in Japan. Cheap and good!

The highlight!

 

Can't go without the popcorn...

Favourite character at the end,
Abel: "Blu" (with great certainty)
Keziah: "The two bluebirds…Blu and Jew"

Best part of the show,
Keziah: "The end part….Blu set free all the birds."

Good and simple story for the kids.
Morale of the story:
1) "Must always try and not avoid trying just because you had never done it before." Blu, in captivity as a pet, never knew how to fly and think he can't fly. He only realised he could when coerced by the situation. Do we wait till then?
2) Always think for your friends and not just yourself.
3) Reading makes one wiser. Though Blu doesn't know how to fly but he had read so much that he knows many things in theory to try out when faced with the situation.

Happy Birthday Joshua!