ACS Orientation

It is Orientation Day at ACS today and it marks my next milestone. We got to school at about 2.30pm and Daddy had to drop Mummy and I off while he parked the car at Newton Food Centre. I was ushered to the Music Room where all of my other classmates from P1 were to gather. I wasn't quite used to the crowd and cried as Mummy tried to convince me it is not as scary as I thought.

I was eventually left alone with the rest of my new friends while Mummy and Daddy went for the presentation by my new Principal Mrs Koh. We were then brought around the school and introduced to the canteen and some other areas in the school. Eventually we were gathered in our new classroom for 2015 and got to know our new teacher Ms Shabnam and my other classmates.

Mummy and Daddy came to get me after their presentation. We were supposed to get our new textbooks and uniforms so as Mummy and Daddy queued up for those items, I played at the playground with most of the other students. We only managed to get the textbooks as the queue for the uniforms were too long.

I think I like my new school and am excited to start my new school life for the next 6 years here.

USA

We headed to the United States for about 12 days for an exciting holiday. We arrived at San Francisco and spent about 4 days here and then Daddy drove us along the Pacific Coast Highway for another 4 days before we arrived at Los Angeles where we spent another 4 days mostly in Disneyland.

We flew by EVA Air which is a lot cheaper and just as comfortable, if not more, compared to Singapore Airlines, according to Daddy. It took us 4.5 hours to get to Taipei where we transit for 2 hours before making the 11 hour flight to San Francisco. we enjoyed the flight as I watched my movies and played some games and slept quite a bit.

SF was interesting as we visited most of the highlights. Fisherman's Wharf, Sausalito, Golden Gate Park, Crissy Fields, Palace of Fine Arts, Ocean Beach and Marin Headlands were the highlights. Along the PCH, we also visited Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Dennis the Menace Playground, Santa Barbara and also Santa Monica Pier. Before spending another 4 days in Disneyland, we also enjoyed Farmers Market in LA.

Andrea and I had a great time, although there were many times we fought and fussed and got Daddy and Mummy mad but I think generally it was a good trip and we all enjoyed ourselves very much.

The Best Is Yet To Be

I have reached, perhaps, the biggest milestone in my life this week. On 21st (Monday), Mummy and Daddy went to ACS Junior to register for my Primary One enrollment. We registered under Phase 2B (church affiliation within 1km).

After 4 days of suspense, it was revealed that there was no need for any balloting which means I am officially an ACS Jr boy from Jan 2015. Mummy and Daddy are very happy that we have secured my Primary One spot and they cannot wait to see me in my new uniform. Joshua Tan, one of my best friend from Pat's Schoolhouse will also be with me there. Tristan and Joshua Chan will be going to ACS Barker which is a short distance away from us. Lucas too, won't be far away in SJI.

I am not sure what to expect as I have no idea what a primary school is but Mummy and Daddy keep telling me it will be very different from Pat's as there will be many boys there and many activities in school. I guess I will wait for it to happen next year.

The Best Is Yet To Be!

NDP 2014

This is the first time we attended a National Day Parade. Although it is only the rehearsal, we were  very excited with this new experience. In fact, it was also Mummy and Daddy's first time attending a parade. We got tickets from one of Mummy's friend who is volunteering for this year's NDP parade. Daddy thinks there might not be many chances to see a parade at the Floating Platform now that the National Stadium is up and there are talks that the Floating Platform might be removed.

We took the train to Promenade station and walked to the platform. On the way there, we were distracted with the ice cream man. We couldn't resist and had a couple of chocolate chips waffle.

The pre-parade show started at 5.15pm and the actual show started at 6pm. The atmosphere was electrifying as the whole platform was packed with a sea of red and whites. The highlights were the parachute jumpers and also the helicopter fly pass as the national anthem was played. For me, the highlights were the goodies in the goody bag that was given to everyone. 

The grand finale were the fireworks and we were pleasantly surprised to see the whole works and not just a bit since it was just the rehearsal. Andrea fell asleep just before the fireworks ended and Daddy had to carry her and walk to the train station. She only work up when we got home. We had a good time and wouldn't mind doing this again soon.

Handwriting

Mummy and Daddy are rather concerned about my handwriting. Although they feel my handwriting is nice for my age, but the way I hold the pen looks awkward and it might be ok for now as there are not that much writing, however, it might not be ok when I start having to write more.

Mummy has asked around the chat group as well as some other parents and there were various mixed remarks. Some feel it is ok as long as my writing is legible and shouldn't change it in case I don't like to write or my writing looks bad. Others feel I should go get it changed and hold properly to write comfortably in case it becomes too late and really cannot change anymore and have long term bad effects.

I think I will be going to see a handwriting expert really soon.

Khao Lak

Mummy and Daddy wanted to bring us to a new place with the beach and a nice swimming pool so we could have fun for a couple of days. Godma agreed to join us and brought her family along too for the holiday. Daddy's friends Aunty Sharon and Aunty Alice were also part of the holiday.

Khao Lak is about a couple of hours bus ride from Phuket. Initially we almost couldn't make it for this holiday as there was a military coup in Thailand. However we were told that tourist are not really affected, moreover Khao Lak is away from the capital so should be fine. The first day we arrived at Khao Lak, heavy rain descended on us after we checked in. So we just rested in the room and waited for dinner. Just after dinner, we prepared the lanterns which Aunty Sharon and Aunty Alice bought from the shops when we were resting. It was really fun as we lighted many lanterns and allow the hot air to fill the lantern before letting them go and seeing them float over the ocean until it was out of sight. Beautiful!


The next morning, after we had a heavy buffet breakfast, we were surprised to find a baby elephant at the children's playground. We fed the elephant with bananas from breakfast and took pictures with it, while some of the other kids played at the swings. We then headed to the swimming pool and had a ball of a time swimming and playing on the slides. I had a lot of fun coming down the slides but Mei Mei Andrea was too small to go alone so Daddy went with her. It was awesome! After spending a couple of hours at the pool, we decided to check out the beach. The waves were quite strong so we could only play along the edge of the water and build sand castles. We had lunch by the beach and the kids were playing until dark clouds moved in and started raining.

Time to head to the children's playroom and do some kids' activities. Eva and Andrea decided to do some batik painting with the help of our mummies. It was quite fun and we had to wait till the next morning before we could see the finished product. After the painting, we headed back to the room to get some rest before dinner.

We went to pool again on the second morning after breakfast but we spent more time at the beach that day. Thank goodness the weather was perfect and we could do what we planned for. We even signed up for an elephant ride and Khao Lak local market tour in the afternoon. I was very excited as this was my first time riding on an elephant after having rode on camels and horses before. I had a lot of fun at the waterfall too, jumping from stone to stone. I fell into the water a couple of times but that was fun too. We all had fun with the Burmese tending to the elephants as they took many pictures of us with our phones as the elephants walked on their own.

On the last day at breakfast, we celebrated a simple birthday for Eva and Mummy made a simple cake out of the cup cakes available at breakfast. We were given back the batik painting the girls did and it was beautiful. Unfortunately in our excitement over the birthday celebration, we left it behind at the restaurant. Mummy was very upset when she found out we didn't take it with us.

We had a good trip with everyone and looking forward to our next trip!

Pulau Ubin

Godpa had been planning this trip to Pulau Ubin for some time now and finally we are here in Pulau Ubin. Mummy and Daddy took leave today to spend the day with Godpa and Uncle Justin and their family. There were a total of 5 adults and 5 children so it was quite manageable.

Started the day with a heavy breakfast at Changi Village hawker centre but Mummy wasn't quite satisfied with the nasi lemak, probably cos it was not the world famous stall. We then took the ferry across to Pulau Ubin and because there were so many of us, we decided to charter the whole bumboat for $30 one way. We headed straight to the bicycle shop upon arriving at the island cos we realized we didn't have much time as the last ferry out was at 5pm.

Our intention was to visit the Chek Jawa Wetlands and were told it will take only about 45 mins to get there. That sounded easy except that first we had some trouble with the kid's bike and had to change it halfway into the journey, then it started to rain and we had to take shelter in someone's house which reminded Daddy of the house Great Grandma and Grandpa stayed in in Hougang long time ago. Our journey was interrupted a couple of times because of the rain and when we were almost there, we realized that there were a bunch of wild boars at the entrance to Chek Jawa and they looked kinda fierce, so we decided not to proceed and to turn back.

We ended up in a coffee shop selling food and were delighted that they serve crabs too. The meal was simple yet very delicious and everyone looked contented after the meal. As we still had some time before the last ferry, we decided to check out the beach near the jetty and found small fish and lots of hermit crabs there. The kids were thrilled to see so many hermit crabs as this is probably the first time we were introduced to this strange creature.

Click here to view these pictures larger