Update X

Sunday 17 July, one more weekend before my business trips and holiday trip starts.. 

Mabel came to stay over on Saturday, so we took her along to ECP on Sunday morning. So unlike the previous week, Lynn has company. They actually went into the sea, for about an hour, before Lynn complained about being bitten by a crab!  

 

And finally, here's some random photos of life around the neighborhood..

 

Update 6 - June holidays soap making class

(Rushing to complete this post on way to airport). 

This is one of the more memorable June holidays activity this year.  In the past when Chloe was younger, I still have to keep an eye on how the 2 older girls are interacting with her, as the 2 older ones tend to talk a lot to each other when it is just the 2 of them.  Back then, I will make sure that Chloe won't feel left out.  This time, I realized that Chloe has grown up. They can handle themselves.  Kids being kids, they enjoyed the hands on activity thoroughly.  It was fun but the package is expensive, because of the good grade material. These soap may look normal, but they are actually high end products. 

That week Mabel and Chloe stayed over for quite many days, as they love the dance programs of our newly acquired Xbox. 

Ok, so that's it, for memory sake. Got to run!  See you all next weekend..

Update 5 - June holidays visiting

The last day of school for Lynn was 28 May Saturday instead of Friday, as it was the school's open house on Saturday. Lynn was assigned duties, so she went to school that morning. We fetched her from the school gate at slightly after 12 noon. 

It was the first time we went in on a Saturday afternoon. It took twice the time that we usually took with early morning departure.  We reached Muar at 430pm to fetch 5th Aunt. We stayed for awhile at her place, during which I took some pictures is her plants and her dog.  After dinner at Muar, we only reached Malacca at 7+.  

 

Nothing stand out about this trip; we simply spent some time together, for the folks to catch up. With wifi, it was mainly surfing on the phone, shopping, and some gardening for us the "youngsters", hah!

The journey home on the Monday morning, which was a work day, was breezy.  5th aunt came with us to Singapore to visit Liying who started her studies here. 

Just this morning, WK commented that the new kl-Singapore HSR will pass by malacca at where his aunt's house is, so by then we can take the HSR there!  10 years is a long time; look at how much changes there are in my past 40 years.  Changes in people, changes in relationship, changes in things.  I wonder how I will look back on this post, and other posts, 10 years later.

 

Muar, 5th Aunt's house:

 

Malacca, 1st Aunt's house:

 

Momo is 10 years old already.  He's a June baby, whereas Lynn's a Oct baby, in 2006:

Update 4 - Lynn's p4 PTM

June holiday started early this year, on 28th May.  I took leave on 27th May (Friday) to attend Lynn's parent-teacher- meeting.  I missed the session last year as I was on biz trip.  This year, I got my boss to make the trip in the 3rd week of May instead, so that I can attend the meeting.

Lynn has the same form teacher for the 2 years of P3 and P4 - Ms Chua, like she did for P1 and P2 (Mdm Ong).  I know Mdm Ong well because I was much more involved in her class activities during those 2 years.  It was different with Ms Chua.  She is a young teacher, so she uses Whatsapp to communicate with us (parents) more often.  She seems friendly, and the kids seems to like her.

We waited a long time outside the classroom for our turn.  Ms Chua really took her time with each set of parents.  When I walked in, she said out loud ".. and you are...".  Then she saw WK walking behind me, and she said ".. ahh... Lynnette's parents..".  Ha!  Proves that Lynn looks like Daddy more.

It was an impressive session.  I was so surprised that the teachers, as in Ms Chua and Ms Kalpana (Lynn's English teacher) are really spot on in understanding their class of 40 children.  Ms Chua explains that Lynn's results are really ok, as we can see all are quite good, but.. hmm but...  Then she explained, that the teachers just felt that she can do better, that she is not giving her best.  We laughed, because we understand what she means.  Lynn just gives the minimum effort in most things that she does.  For example, when she writes her composition, instead of using interesting sentences and expanding the details, she would just write it plainly and quickly to just hand in the job.  I told Ms Chua that we will continue to encourage her; we don't want to be too pushy either, so it's going to be tricky to find the right balance to motivate her to do better.

And she told us that Lynn cried the day or the week before, because Ms Chua asked her to play captain ball, but she didn't want to.  Again, I will take a "watch and see" approach.  I do not want to be too demanding in this aspect too.  I do not know if Lynn's a softie by nature or not, or if she will grow out of it eventually or not.  I learn, through my own experience, that we cannot change a person's inner character.  On one hand I want her to be more resilient, on the other hand I do not want to impose my expectation (model) on her.  But I did talk to her to encourage her to speak up more to solve problem. 

Soon she will be at starting her PSLE journey, because I was told that it all starts at P5.  Every year is a blessing and a milestone :)

Finally MOE announced that the new PSLE grading system will take effect from 2021.  It had been a long wait for most of us who are already entered the Primary school journey a few years back (It was first announced by LHL in 2013, when Lynn was only P1, that there will be a new system).  It was with mixed feelings that it is finally confirmed that Lynn will not be part of the new system, as the new system will take effect only for those in P1 currently.  So it is a lengthy 8 years from first announcement to full implementation.  That gives the parents and students affected plenty of time to get to know the new system.

The reactions of parents are per expected.  All changes are greeted with suspicions by detractors.  And the media likes to blow up a negative comment to be that of the view of "many parents".  If a parent commented that now the child needs more tuition than in the past for a weak subject so that it doesn't drag down the overall grading, the media will report that parents feel more stressed out and consider more tuition under the new system.   So a Kiasu parent will still be a Kiasu one, and will try to beat the system, or cry foul about the system.  That's why the message has always been a mind set change is needed. 

Well, I will refrain from giving too much comment on the new system, since Lynn is not in the batches affected.  My next task is to start assessing the different secondary schools that she may be eligible for.  As a "not-too-extreme-but-should-be-considered-kiasu", i.e. concerned and well-informed, parent, I want to ensure that we pick the most suitable environment for her to grow and flourish.  I am quite dishearten to see friends' kids who went to top notch schools that are really pressure cookers.  They do their homework up to and past midnight.  I wonder if it's doing them good or harm.  It is better to expose them to the reality of intense competition, or to let them enjoy learning for another few more years?  Still the good schools also come with branding and prestige that is tangible; until today, I still get a lot of positive comments of me coming from the very branded Hwa Chong JC.  It was in HCJC that I first experienced doing homework up to midnight..  There's a price to pay, and a trade off for everything in life.  See, the worries of being a parent..

That Friday afternoon, we went hover-boarding!  

A staycation at Clarke quay

Wk and I did a staycation without Lynn in June.   It was at Clarke quay. The hotel was nothing fantastic, but cheap considered its central location.  Went around, took some nice photos, and spent our time leisured on that Friday afternoon.  Had super nice and expensive Japanese food  for dinner.  On Saturday we jogged to marina bay. It's nice to spend couple time now and then..

Update 2

Decided to do a post about our new car. 

Our Honda was 8 years old at the beginning of this year. We went car window-shopping (didn't really meant to buy) during CNY.  Then when I was in Vietnam in end February, WK went to Subaru and liked the outback. So we got it and it was delivered in May. 

It has it's pros and cons of course. It is bigger than the Honda so parking is a problem. Soon it has quite a lot of scratches.  

It is nice to drive, feels very much like the Honda in terms of turning.  It's fuel consumption is very similar to the Honda too.  

The hatch back is both an advantage and disadvantage.  It cannot be opened in the mutistorey car park.  But when opened fully, putting in and taking things out is very convenient and easy.  It can fit Lynn's bike with one back seat lowered and still can take 2 passengers.  Posted some pictures below.  

When all 3 back seats are lowered:

 

When only one back seat is lowered:

Update 1

Nowadays as I blog lesser, I tend to scroll through my photos to determine how much behind I am, and on what topic I want to catch up on.  This time round I am going to catch up on some pictures from April and May.  I want to post them on my blog so that next time I can still search for them if I want to. 

Went to Vietnam for a second time in April.  The grass jelly ice coffee was great and the difficult to find Secret Garden restaurant has a nice roof top deco.

Bought souvenirs for Lynn:

 

In May, we celebrated Jocelyn's birthday. We bought her Kim Joong Ki cushion cover, hah!

In May, Lynn and WK sent me to the airport (biz trip) as we wanted try the hello kitty cafe.  But there was a long long q...

 

Went into the departure area early, so took a stroll in the butterfly garden

 

Saw this plane with Singapore flag on its body:

 

Shanghai office and airport:

 

Saw this beautiful flower outside the canteen of Tianjin office. But I was told this is a 野花，dah!

 

 

Home sweet home at Changi airport:

First impression is always the best

(This post is written and completed on 17 July, but somehow it's publish date is 10 July)

Two weeks ago, I watched Les Miserable at the Esplanade with WK and Lynn. The tickets were on sale some time back, but I dragged my feet, and only purchased the tickets sometime back in May or June. Thus I paid full price (i.e. no discount) for it, which is a whopping $200 each (yes, gasped!).

We had a hectic morning and afternoon that Saturday. We reached Esplanade slightly before 7.  When we went to the first floor foyer, I was quite delighted by the ochestra that was performing there. With the music and the crowd watching the performance, there's a artistic feel at that place.  We went outdoors (outside Esplanade Mall) for dinner, and again was greeted by dance performances.  The atmosphere was great. 

We proceed to the theatre early, to buy the programmes. In order not to waste money and effort, I prep Lynn before hand on the story, so that she roughly know what to expect.  As this is her first musical, watching prop change and performance happening live on stage, she was impressed by the show. It is a great relief and I am very pleased that she said she enjoyed the show. 

As for me, this is my second time watching this show in Singapore. The first time was a long time ago. I think first impression is always the most lasting.  I have this cd, which was the recording of the original London cast. So this show quite ordinary for me.  In this cast, the actor of inspector Javert is probably a tenor rather than a bass; I think bass is more suitable for this role.  And the stage seems too limiting for this show too.

Still, it was very enjoyable. I am very happy that I watched this show with Lynn and WK.