June obviously flies by in a jiffy just like how we read out this mono-syllabus word. I even had problems writing this post on time and before I know it, it is almost halfway into the month of July!
I took several days off in June from work to be with the kids. One very tough mommy moment I experienced in June was separating from my girl for 1 week when she went for a cultural immersion trip. I was quite surprised by how much I missed her. Everyday seemed so quiet without her chatty voice. Each car trip seemed so empty without her by our side. I wonder if I am ready to face an empty nest when the time comes. Have you ever felt the same as me? When she was back by my side, I really hugged her tight. I can already foresee how it will go for my other 2 kids when they leave my side for school trips.
Pororo Park and Tayo Meet and Greet
While the sister was not with us, one of the days, I took off to bring my 2 boys to Pororo Park and Tayo The Little Bus Meet and Greet! It was certainly the little one’s day. My elder boy was a tad bored after some time but still kept his brother company and took good care of him. We drank Starbucks Matcha Latte while we swayed to Tayo song.
Coding Class by First Code Academy
We were invited for this trial lesson on coding. The kids could come out with a simple app to draw on the smartphone. I thought that was pretty cool. However seeing that the younger class could code a game, my kids were a little disappointed theirs seemed to pale in comparison. Nevertheless, it was an introductory class to expose them to what coding is all about and if they do pick it up as an interest in future, that will be a bonus!
Chek Jawa Guided Tour
We brought the grandparents along to have a nature walk and exploration with the kids at Pulau Ubin Chek Jawa Wetlands. The whole experience was very good although we were bitten by quite many mozzies which were resistant to insect repellent! Thank goodness the bites lost the itchiness rather quickly and perhaps these mozzies might not be as toxic as those lurking in urban homes. Read here for our experience in Chek Jawa Guided Tour.
Malaysia Road Trip – Kukup and Kluang
We went for a 4D3N road trip to Malaysia Kukup and Kluang with my best friend’s family. The kids had lots of experience with nature, put up Kongming lantern, played with pop crackers, see fireworks upclose, kelong life, organic farm visits and many more. I will share on this in a later post. Best part for them is probably the scooter ride by the very friendly landlady as shown in the picture above! They certainly could not have rode a scooter in Singapore!
Couple night out to Les Miserables
The long awaited top musical Les Miserables is in town after a long wait of 2o years. We booked the tickets as early as the first day of sales and got very good seats for our category. The hub loved it when he watched it 2o years back while this was my first time. Because the hub love the musical so much, he sings the songs regularly and watches DVD, Youtube videos on the 25th anniversary concert, hence, my kids can sing the songs too! But due to the expensive tickets, we decided that they would watch the musical when they grow up so that they can appreciate the performance better. The musical was marvellous and I was all praises for the good set up and stage coordination of the performers. My favourite vocals must go to the main actor Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert. In my opinion, all sang very well but these 2 performers had the best vocal chords!
Our temporary pet bird – Yoyo
We hosted a lovely LOVE BIRD Yoyo in our house when my good friend went for holidays for 2 weeks. Yoyo was easy to take care but she had quite a temperament. Nevertheless, the kids gradually overcame their fear of her more than friendly bites and knew how to avoid irritating her. Soon, Yoyo was great entertainment for the kids everyday. The cousins came to play with Yoyo too. But if you ask if we really want a pet bird, I would be the first to protest because it wakes up much earlier than the rest of us do and starts chirping at 7am haha!
Kitchen Fun with kids!
One of the last few days of June holidays, I took an impromptu off from work just to make ice-cream with the kids. It was my first attempt and the ice-cream recipe that I followed was too sweet for our liking. We will certainly half the amount of sweetness the next time round. The ice-cream was very easy to make and we did not use any ice-cream machine nor any electrical appliance. We beat the whip cream using the egg beater by hand. I will share the recipe soon.
On 2 nights, the hub cooked up a storm for Father’s day as well as experimented his first fish head steamboat. Master 9 was eagerly helping out in the kitchen by cutting mushroom, washing vegetables but not so tall to handle the hot steamboat soup. It was good to see both the Dad and Son in the kitchen bonding over cooking. The fish head steamboat was delicious! I must praise my hub for his talent in cooking and I am fortunate to have a chef in the house!
Eating healthier and raising my metabolism
I have been putting on weight which I guess has to do with the hub’s cooking! Haha! Anyway, I have been eating salads twice a week during lunch and exercising twice a week too. So, when my weight kept on increasing uncontrollably, I begin to suspect that my metabolism has decreased. I researched and found a few good tips from this link. Although I do not agree with some of the tips like drinking cold water to raise your body heat which in turn increase your metabolism, some of the tips are worth following like eating good breakfast. I have made healthy oat and yogurt breakfast too. Will see how it goes toward increasing my metabolism.
One small entrepreneur in making
My Missy 11 is good in crafts and the hub has been encouraging her to sell her crafts to experience being an entrepreneur. Recently, she made these Breadou squishies which look like real swiss rolls that we encouraged her to sell to friends who are interested. She handmade them, wrapped them up and packaged beautifully. She took some orders and did make small money. I told her the most important thing in this small venture is to enjoy it and experience satisfaction when she receives praises and orders, take rejections in her stride and treat them as understanding human behaviour, and disappointment if things do not go her way that she expects. The monetary reward is a reward for hard work at this moment and should not be viewed as a big thing yet.
If anyone is interested to buy one of these cute Breadou squishies which are really slow rising (the squishies are measured by how slow rising they are), do leave me a comment or pm me at christy.krs@gmail.com! I am doing my small part to help my girl to get sales! Each one is selling at only $2 !!
June passed very quickly as always, thanks for asking:). My daughters birthday, Midsummer and start of the kids summer holidays… but we had a similar new experience to you: our kids have this year 7 weeks off, me and my husband only three (we had a week offin May), so our kids spent a week with my parents and as my hubby was away at work, i was alone at home. it was so quiet!!! but i enjoyed it, didn’t feel as bad about it as you missing your daughter so i may survive the empty nest as long as i know all is good with our kds 😉 kids and grandparents had a blast too, so it was a fantastic. But i admire how you organise so much time to do fun and educational stuff with your children. Always fun to read about it.
Happy birthday to your girl! Do you have child care option for school going children during holidays? I feel that parents are wonderful to help out when we go to work. Else, how do we work when children are off from school? You will certainly survive the empty nest. However, if my kids are with the grandparents, I would have been less worried and probably enjoy the peace for a while like you did. It gets difficult when I worry for my girl’s safety when it was her first overseas trip without me. If it was the other way round when I was the one to travel and she at home, I would not have much concern. So I guess it is a mix of worry and quietness 🙂
Thanks for reading my June wrap up post. I love reading your activities too, especially it is on the other side of the world! Is summer hot now?
Eh sorry ah, what is a squishy??
Haha.. it’s a girly stuff. Have you seen those sponge like inedible breads that are squeezeable and have bread smells? Lots of places that sell teens stuff sell them.
No you are not! And most likely when you reach there, trends would have changed!
Me! Me! When my elder two first went for a sleep over with their cousin, I was suddenly lost and the house is so quiet. But now I got use to it. That will be my training for my 1 week without them at home? I think I will miss them dearly. Ok, I still have a few years to train myself. LOL.
It’s good to have a quiet house once in a while but usually it does more of the absence makes the heart grows fonder than really enjoying our private time. What an irony! LOL!