http://www.berriesworld.com/
Yesterday our boys started learning Chinese at Berries. Even though they have both had Chinese once a day at school for two years, they know very little. The level was just too high and maybe they gave up before they had even truly begun.
Luckily they had a great time at Berries! I was permitted to stay for the entire class and watched as Frunty and Pit danced and sang in Chinese and even said short sentences. Day 1! The Singapore school system may be good at teaching to those who are strong learners but anyone who is at a lower level, they are made to sit at the back of the room during Chinese and told to draw pictures.
This is what has happened to Frunty and even though we tried to get a tutor in for him, it was not permitted. Pit learned a bit more in K1 and 2. But at Berries, we hope they both can learn even more...just for fun and just because they can!
Sai-chen! (I learned something too!)
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Papa's Home!
Papa's home! It was a busy 10 days for all of us so the time flew by even though we missed Papa a lot. We kept busy with school, exams, karate, French lessons, Sentosa and swimming at the Hard Rock Hotel. But then, we all came down with something and Papa came home a bit run down too. So we will recuperate little by little together.
Frunty studied hard for his exams. Pit cooperated while playing alone a bit longer than he usually would...good job, Pit. I needed to go over many math problems with Frunty and had Papa at the airport solving them too and Bella at home, at 3am, working them out too so that I could check our answers! Frunty has his third exam tomorrow in English. Hopefully he studied Prince Zak and the Frog and The Nasty Accident enough. It was funny studying at the park. Every time Frunty skate boarded by me, I asked him how to spell or define a word.
Pit had his own spelling quiz. He thinks he got perfect again. This time the words were as promised: 3 to 4 letters. For the other quizzes this year, somehow quite long words were thrown in like caterpillar, duckling, frightened etc...But Pit rose to the occasion and got them correct. Good job!
I am so glad Papa is home. We made a big, hot chicken soup with Ginseng. Hope we all feel better soon.
Frunty studied hard for his exams. Pit cooperated while playing alone a bit longer than he usually would...good job, Pit. I needed to go over many math problems with Frunty and had Papa at the airport solving them too and Bella at home, at 3am, working them out too so that I could check our answers! Frunty has his third exam tomorrow in English. Hopefully he studied Prince Zak and the Frog and The Nasty Accident enough. It was funny studying at the park. Every time Frunty skate boarded by me, I asked him how to spell or define a word.
Pit had his own spelling quiz. He thinks he got perfect again. This time the words were as promised: 3 to 4 letters. For the other quizzes this year, somehow quite long words were thrown in like caterpillar, duckling, frightened etc...But Pit rose to the occasion and got them correct. Good job!
I am so glad Papa is home. We made a big, hot chicken soup with Ginseng. Hope we all feel better soon.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
weird photos with my laptop....
Well, I gotta get out the little black laptop and try again. In the meantime, I will keep these here as a souvenir of what my champagne, pink laptop is doing to me! Starting to fail in some areas...
Frunty can dance like this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8
Check out the guy with the big hair and white glasses! That's Frunty in 15 years! Awesome! Rock on, Frunts! You are an amazing dancer!
Check out the guy with the big hair and white glasses! That's Frunty in 15 years! Awesome! Rock on, Frunts! You are an amazing dancer!
The AirForce Show and good bye party with the McMahons
On Saturday, Papa took the boys to the AirForce Show here in Singapore where they got to see the Dreamliner take off! We had seen the building of this incredible, new plane in an IMAX movie last year. So to actually see it in real life as it flex above the Singaporean clouds for the first time was pretty special. It was a wonderful day out for the boys. What did momm-a do? Well, I caught The Iron Lady and window shopped. What's a girl to do?!
I also booked a massage for Monday morning, Papa's orders! On Sunday morning, Papa left for his ten day business trip to Washington D.C. The boys woke up asking, "where is Papa?!" They completely forgot our conversations about the trip from the days before...kids! Their memories can be like elephants when you promise them a McFlurry and yet they forget so many other pieces of information we give them. After I cheered them up with lots of snuggles, we headed to Karate. This is always a fun place to come even though no one seems to be in the mood to get there. First of all, there is Sensei Cindy who does an absolutely incredible job with the kids. She tussles their hair and steps on their feet and pokes them in the ribs but all with a huge smile on her face and the kids laugh and smile too. She commands respect the next minute but that tiny interchange makes Karate a joy for everyone. Frunty has always done very well. Pit now is starting to pick up the kata and was asked to yell out 1-10 yesterday. His tiny, baby voice yelled the numbers. I was very proud of him.
After Karate, we met the McMahons at the Kallang Leisure Park. I tried to get there by taking the MRT to Kallang and then the free shuttle bus but that no longer operates. The best way is just to go to the Stadium MRT on the yellow line, something the boys told me while we waiting for the free shuttle bus that never came and had to jump in the taxi instead. Thanks, boys! I had to remind them that everyone makes mistakes...even and especially grown-ups. Well, it's true and I am not afraid to admit it!
We were going to splash around at Wet Wet Wild with the McMahons but changed our plans due to rain/thunder/lightening. Instead, we made the spontaneous decision to enter the Karaoke Box and have our bentos delivered to us while singing Dancing Queen! Lee decided to take off and do some errands. The combination of no Papa and singing Adele songs did not appeal to them. The children did very well and at the end, Pit tried to sing Party Rock. It was about the 10th time we all sang and danced to that fun one. Keep on shuffling!!! Frunty could not get that song out of his for the rest of the day even after I put on our night time Mozart. Then again, neither could I!
After Karaoke, the fun did not stop as we all went bowling. Little Emma tried to beat her mom, my dear friend Chris, but in the end, Chris won two points ahead of her. We had doughnuts afterwards to celebrate our two year friendship and made speeches with the microphone in the karaoke box about the past and the future. It is so easy to keep in touch these days so we decided to say "see you later" instead of "good bye". If you know me, you'll know I need another good bye like I need my foot stepped on by Frankenstein.
We all headed home and embraced on the MRT. All the best to the McMahon family who return to their island and may their next chapter be filled with lots of fun adventures too!
The boys and I stopped at the Tampines 1 Mall as Frunty was in dire need of new school shoes which have to be pure white but must also be good running shoes as he runs every recess and plays floorball after school. Last year I let him get deck shoes but this is not proper and I insisted on good ones this year. I always bring out the Grampa card and talk to him about proper shoes. We settled on some pure, white Adidas. I am sure they will stay white for 0.5 seconds. How silly to make children wear white shoes...don't get me started. We also picked up some Adidas, quick dry shirts. We had been looking for some sleeveless ones for running but the boys don't actually want sleeveless, they say, and chose too bright orange ones. I thought about the high vis factor (Grampa!!!) and was happy they chose bright orange. It sure is easy to see them in the park now.
And of course, when you buy new shirts, you gotta "make" sports. So we got our water bottles at home and all our gear and the boys spent the following hour at the park doing skateboarding, cycling, basketball and floorball. A girl in Pit's year was happy to share the various games with us and we had such a nice early evening time. By 8pm, the boys were gobbling up their pasta and asking to go to bed! And fell asleep wo seconds, listening to Bedtime with Bach. We sent a big hug through the universe for Papa. I hope you felt it, Papa!
I will now attempt to add photos which has been hard recently with this laptop. Let's see what happens!
I also booked a massage for Monday morning, Papa's orders! On Sunday morning, Papa left for his ten day business trip to Washington D.C. The boys woke up asking, "where is Papa?!" They completely forgot our conversations about the trip from the days before...kids! Their memories can be like elephants when you promise them a McFlurry and yet they forget so many other pieces of information we give them. After I cheered them up with lots of snuggles, we headed to Karate. This is always a fun place to come even though no one seems to be in the mood to get there. First of all, there is Sensei Cindy who does an absolutely incredible job with the kids. She tussles their hair and steps on their feet and pokes them in the ribs but all with a huge smile on her face and the kids laugh and smile too. She commands respect the next minute but that tiny interchange makes Karate a joy for everyone. Frunty has always done very well. Pit now is starting to pick up the kata and was asked to yell out 1-10 yesterday. His tiny, baby voice yelled the numbers. I was very proud of him.
After Karate, we met the McMahons at the Kallang Leisure Park. I tried to get there by taking the MRT to Kallang and then the free shuttle bus but that no longer operates. The best way is just to go to the Stadium MRT on the yellow line, something the boys told me while we waiting for the free shuttle bus that never came and had to jump in the taxi instead. Thanks, boys! I had to remind them that everyone makes mistakes...even and especially grown-ups. Well, it's true and I am not afraid to admit it!
We were going to splash around at Wet Wet Wild with the McMahons but changed our plans due to rain/thunder/lightening. Instead, we made the spontaneous decision to enter the Karaoke Box and have our bentos delivered to us while singing Dancing Queen! Lee decided to take off and do some errands. The combination of no Papa and singing Adele songs did not appeal to them. The children did very well and at the end, Pit tried to sing Party Rock. It was about the 10th time we all sang and danced to that fun one. Keep on shuffling!!! Frunty could not get that song out of his for the rest of the day even after I put on our night time Mozart. Then again, neither could I!
After Karaoke, the fun did not stop as we all went bowling. Little Emma tried to beat her mom, my dear friend Chris, but in the end, Chris won two points ahead of her. We had doughnuts afterwards to celebrate our two year friendship and made speeches with the microphone in the karaoke box about the past and the future. It is so easy to keep in touch these days so we decided to say "see you later" instead of "good bye". If you know me, you'll know I need another good bye like I need my foot stepped on by Frankenstein.
We all headed home and embraced on the MRT. All the best to the McMahon family who return to their island and may their next chapter be filled with lots of fun adventures too!
The boys and I stopped at the Tampines 1 Mall as Frunty was in dire need of new school shoes which have to be pure white but must also be good running shoes as he runs every recess and plays floorball after school. Last year I let him get deck shoes but this is not proper and I insisted on good ones this year. I always bring out the Grampa card and talk to him about proper shoes. We settled on some pure, white Adidas. I am sure they will stay white for 0.5 seconds. How silly to make children wear white shoes...don't get me started. We also picked up some Adidas, quick dry shirts. We had been looking for some sleeveless ones for running but the boys don't actually want sleeveless, they say, and chose too bright orange ones. I thought about the high vis factor (Grampa!!!) and was happy they chose bright orange. It sure is easy to see them in the park now.
And of course, when you buy new shirts, you gotta "make" sports. So we got our water bottles at home and all our gear and the boys spent the following hour at the park doing skateboarding, cycling, basketball and floorball. A girl in Pit's year was happy to share the various games with us and we had such a nice early evening time. By 8pm, the boys were gobbling up their pasta and asking to go to bed! And fell asleep wo seconds, listening to Bedtime with Bach. We sent a big hug through the universe for Papa. I hope you felt it, Papa!
I will now attempt to add photos which has been hard recently with this laptop. Let's see what happens!
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Mind Cafe Meals
We encouraged the boys to get to bed early last night so that we could wake up early and play Australian Monopoly before school. So what did they do? They set their new alarm clock from IKEA and at 6:15am, Frunty ran into our room and yelled, "Time for Monopoly!" Normally Papa has to pull him out of bed by the ankles. The boys absolutely love when we combine breakfast/lunch or dinner with a board game which we try to do quite regularly. It is called "Mind Cafe" after a restaurant in Singapore with the same name. You can go there and eat a meal and play a board game. Imagine how sticky and gooey their Monopoly money is?! We try to be careful with our games but tonight, the wind blew some of my money onto Pit's plate of tacos. Oh well, what the heck! We'll always remember the fun we had as a family when we see that mild salsa sauce on the 1M bill. And who won our game which lasted three meals?! Can you guess?!
It was Pit! He had at least 19M and almost all of the properties with condos on them. And who taught him all the strategies and the funny sayings to go along with them...of course, one of his favourite cousins...Daniel! Oh what fun! Come and join us sometime but beware the Monopoly mini-kings!
Sunday, 5 February 2012
IKEA visit
We saved up our points on our IKEA card and were sent free coupons. Good job, Papa, for making sure we got our two year's worth of points redeemed! So after our run/bike at the Bedok Resoir, we went to IKEA to spend the coupons before they expired. We had lunch first and a family from England sat down beside us. They noticed my Stone Manor bag from Brussels and we soon discovered that we all lived in Belgium at the same time and both had babies at St.Luc. We engaged phone numbers and may get together for more chats. It is already funny how two sets of friends from Lausanne now live and work in Singapore.
We bought some fun home items and the kids bought jars and plants to make two terrariums. Now the boys are playing Lego and I am putting photos in some frames from IKEA for their bedroom of grandparents/cousins. It is great how we have a free shuttle bus from our area to IKEA. Very handy. Yesterday we enjoyed Karate and took our bikes to get fixed to visit the Sun Plaza Park and the Mountain Bike Park. We finished up at a new Portugese restaurant called Nando's which originated from South Africa. It's always nice to eat something different.
It was a busy weekend but nothing compared to next weekend...but that is a big surprise which I cannot divulge yet in case it accidentally gets back to the kids!
We bought some fun home items and the kids bought jars and plants to make two terrariums. Now the boys are playing Lego and I am putting photos in some frames from IKEA for their bedroom of grandparents/cousins. It is great how we have a free shuttle bus from our area to IKEA. Very handy. Yesterday we enjoyed Karate and took our bikes to get fixed to visit the Sun Plaza Park and the Mountain Bike Park. We finished up at a new Portugese restaurant called Nando's which originated from South Africa. It's always nice to eat something different.
It was a busy weekend but nothing compared to next weekend...but that is a big surprise which I cannot divulge yet in case it accidentally gets back to the kids!
Thursday, 2 February 2012
More Highlights of January 2012
Our school invites parents to visit the classroom on occasion. We did not have this opportunity in Brussels so you can imagine how delighted we are! We visited Pit's P1 class in order to learn how to make mini-paper lanterns by using recycled hong bao envelopes. It was really nice. Papa and I both attended along with many other parents some of whom we introduced ourselves too. I think Pit was quite delighted and especially when we got to see him write the date on the board. His job for the month of January has been to write the date on the white board each morning. Well done, Pit! You're such a big kid now! We are so proud of you!
We went to Mustafa Center, a department store in Little Indi, after Karate one day and the boys chose new skateboards. Prior to that purchase, they had been sharing one skateboard that they found in the garbage bin at D'Manor. They spray painted it orange to jazz it up but it was really starting to fall apart and sharing one skateboard was getting tricky as both boys want to practise a lot! These pictures were taken at our park which is situated between our flat and our school. In the background, you can see our flat. It is quite simply the most convenient home we have ever had! So we are focusing on the positives...and watching the boys having fun in the park. I am practising too and sometimes I rollerblade around with them too. Papa jogs with them. We cycle around and try the open-air exercise machines. I am thrilled that our boys almost never ask for tv. They ask to go to the park though, all the time! Even after dinner! Then they come in and need another snack before bed!
I had to add two more photos at the WaveHouse. I did not put them in the correct order because it looks like Papa had a cocktail and then went back to the WaveHouse and BOOM! Really, we finished all the wave fun and then enjoyed a nice lunch together at the beach...nachos, pizza and cocktails. The boys sat at the bar, drinking their mocktails with the other surfer dudes and wearing their Oz hats again. It was a really nice day and we are happy we stayed in Singapore this CNY!
Highlights of January
Papa and Frunty enjoyed the WaveHouse on Sentosa Island. After Hawaii, they got hooked! Bonzai Pipeline here they come!
We love playing Jeux de Societe, games from France. In this picture, the boys are sitting on Uma's bed at their French teacher's home where there are lots of these games. We babysat their dog, Lulu, on CNY. What I loved is that the boys put on their Oz hats from Gramma and Grampa and went and played so nicely on their own. They disappeared and were not up to mischief but getting along so well and having fun!
We enjoy grass-fed burgers at a place called Handmade Burgers from time to time. We try to find places which serve quality food here in Singapore. More expensive but at least no MSG. It's a treat!
Frunty is holding a picture he drew at the National Museum of Singapore after we viewed an exhibition on Impressionist paintings a few weeks ago. It was Papa's idea for us to meet him afterschool and he came from work. The boys were a bit negative about going to a museum as they love skateboarding at our park. But once we were there, they loved it and really looked at most paintings and read the information about the works of art and the artists. Great fun, Papa! Thanks!
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Living in an HDB
We have been in our new place for a few months now for Papa, and one month for Mama and the boys. One word to describe it? Convenient. This home has got to be the most convenient place I have ever lived in...of my 8 countries. Within a 5 minute walk, there are shops, supermarkets, restaurants, bookstores, several movie theaters, a running track with sport center and pool, the metro and of course, our school.
Further afield are friends with pools who invite us which is very nice indeed. Somehow I do not miss D'Manor or our pool there at all. It was a lovely place for two years and I am grateful for that opportunity. But after two years of shuttling the boys back and forth to the kindergarten by bike and the primary school by MRT, we are really enjoying the short walk through a beautiful park to get to school.
If the saying, "location, location, location" is true in terms of importance, this place gets a 5 star rating. Even though it is small and sometimes noisy, it is just too convenient and comfortable. And another car-free year won't hurt our planet or our bank account! Yipeee!
Further afield are friends with pools who invite us which is very nice indeed. Somehow I do not miss D'Manor or our pool there at all. It was a lovely place for two years and I am grateful for that opportunity. But after two years of shuttling the boys back and forth to the kindergarten by bike and the primary school by MRT, we are really enjoying the short walk through a beautiful park to get to school.
If the saying, "location, location, location" is true in terms of importance, this place gets a 5 star rating. Even though it is small and sometimes noisy, it is just too convenient and comfortable. And another car-free year won't hurt our planet or our bank account! Yipeee!
