Family Fun-Kranji Countryside

The last 2 weekends, we have been exploring Kranji Countryside and relishing mother nature-lots of greenery & open skies... & a lot of new experiences. There is something for both kids (fish & giant frog feeding, guppy fishing, exploring vegetable & fruit farms, seeing fishes of all size & shape & colour... & the young at heart (fish spa, shopping for unique food, grocery shopping at bargain prices for fresh produce (everything taste sweeter!). Many new food to try for the more adventurous (crocodile, frog, goats milk etc...). Spend a day in rural S'pore and enjoy lunch at one of the many dinning places listed at the website.

We were also checking out the Farm Stays :) Great for family quality time right here in S'pore with a healthy dose of fresh air & fresh food surrounding you.

Check out the places of interest at http://www.kranjicountryside.com

Tribute to My Mum

I'm so blessed to have a role model mum.

She shows me by example - how to be super caring, unconditionally loving, generously giving, work hard for the family, trust in God through prayers & thanksgiving. I'm not as good as her at these YET...still trying. My son is so blessed to have her as a Grandma...she is of course his no.2 favourite (sometimes she takes over my no.1 favourite spot). I really couldn't have survived being a mother without her love & help in so many ways.

My mum also sacrificed a lot for the family. Just money wise alone... she is a Saint & a miracle worker. For the past 25 years she has worked so hard, usually 12 hours daily so that she can provide for me (she saved for my overseas degree against all odds), for my sis (she helped her pay for her poly studies through her CPF), and now still supporting my father who rarely worked these 25 years (she has the burden of saving for both their old age needs - so she had to defer her retirement as long as she is able to as she doesn't want to 'burden' me & my sis). I had to work since I was 12 years old to help support myself & it has taught me a lot of valuable life lessons.

In so many families, someone has chosen not to work & not to contribute to the family...of course some people work & do not contribute either. It's a choice and it's not fate-stop using fate or health etc.. as an excuse if you are cos it's your life, your choice & even Dr Willian Tan who is ill in many ways has lived a truly inspiration life, many stay at home mums have started online shops to supplement income or take on low paying home based work. If there is a will, there is a way! I think one way to improve this issue is to teach the children of today how to live a meaningful & purposeful life. Hence I have gone from being a social worker to a trainer of life skills programmes & to be a personal life coach. Our life experiences can inspire us :)

To all the dedicated parents & grandparents (yes...there are super dads & grandpas out there too) thank you & keep shining cos you are special & appreciated and most importantly, what you do does make a big difference (even though you seldom hear us say so).

Clothes: Raincoat & Rain boots

Thomas the Train raincoat from Pasar Malam-$7 and

Disney Tigger rain boots were hand me downs

(you can get rain boots from shoe shops in the suburb).

By the way, you can also get a kid's size umbrella from Diaso for just $2!!!

Caleb has a sky blue one.

Isn't my Little Prince simply adorable in this?

It's sensible gear for going to school on rainy days :)

We'll be dancing in the rain in this cheery gear when he gets older :)

Fun : Sand play & Education

Sand is a creative tool that's free & fun for hours of experimenting & learning. I teach Caleb to draw on the sand & he also learns about big, small, shapes by jumping on to what I have drawn. Sometimes he requests for a drawing, ie. guitar, train...and I'll try my best :) He always appreciates them :)

Tip: Best time to go is the day after rain as the sand is cleansed & has some moisture so that the drawing is more obvious. Do apply insect repellent & sun block when necessary.

Do click on the comments box below to share your favourite sand boxes in Singapore :)

We love West Coast Park-clean sand & tons of variety for fun for young & old. These photos were taken at the playground outside Japanese Garden-secluded & 'free' parking in front of playground. We usually buy a bottle of carp fish beads or a loaf of bread to feed the fishes at the Chinese Garden too (watch out for more infor on this in another blog entry in the future).

Memories-Photos & Videos storage tips

Do invest in the best camera you can afford with the following functions :

1. anti hand shake (cos your kid will be active & not sit still for most shots)

2. shock proof (mine can survive a 1.5m drop)

3. waterproof (mine is for up to 3 meters-great for outdoor water activities like swimming pool, beach, rainy days).

Of course, buy an additional battery to carry with you..trust me, you will need it cos you don't want to miss capturing any precious moments...also when you start videoing, it gets used up fast. Personally...I like Olympus...very clear pictures :) I bought one for home and one for work too.

My all time favourite handphone is the Sony Erricson Cyber-Shot hand phone my thoughtful husband got for me as a 'delivery' present when our son was born :) It's 3.2 megapixel captures stunning shots & I love the multiple shots it can take so that I can choose the 'best picture' (this function is a gem for taking active kids in action). He knows I love taking photos & it's so convenient to have a camera on me all the time cos my hand phone will go out with me everywhere.

Photo/Video storage tip: After many trial & errors, I have set up a system that enables me to save & retrieve my growing collection of photos & videos. I save them on my laptop into folders titled : Jan-Mar 09, Apr-Jun 09, Jul-Sept 09 & Oct-Dec 09. Every year I save them into a DVD discs for that Year. In each folder, there are sub categories by occasions (CNY, Christmas, holidays), celebrations (Birthdays, Mother/Father day), photos with friend's kids, name of outing (ie. Singapore Zoo, Sentosa) etc. I also separate the videos into another folder but this is up to your preference. I plan to put all the videos into a VCD next.

Printing Tip: In the 1st 6 months, I printed tons of photos...every photo is important (sounds familiar?). It was a costly 'hobby'! Anyway, you'll soon outgrow that stage and practicality will set in. So...now every 3 months/ 6 months / yearly (depends on how free I am), I will select a short list of my favourite photos to put into another folder titled For printing 2009 and then at the end of each year, I shortlist them again & put them into a VCD for printing. If you print 200 photos, it's only 20 cents per piece!

Showcasing photos: Albums are the norm...but I also enjoy selecting 2-3 dozen MOST FAVOUITE PHOTOS (meaning baby & me look great) with FAVOURITE MOMENTS & FAVOURITE PEOPLE & arranging them on to a big picture frame-Ikea has lots of great varieties for all price range (cut & paste your FAVOURITE parts of the photos). My mum often ask my son about those photos and he can tell us who the people in it are and what we did when we took it & even what we did together with them recently :) Brilliant memory & visual aid. Sometimes it's very funny too...like he keeps saying the baby photos of him is of 'Di-Di' (Mandarin for little brother) but he is our only child! We are still trying to tell him that's him & that he's even more handsome now :P

Clothing: Fancy theme clothes

It not only makes him/her outstanding & look extra cute...but also add fun & increases confidence to your child when he/she gets compliments & brings smiles to those they meet. My child has quite a few-super man, tiger (check out photo at zoo-what a great place to dress up as a tiger don't u think), kimono for boys, traditional festive clothes for Christmas & Chinese New Year. Many of these clothes were gifts or hand me downs.

So another tip is that fancy clothes make great gifts and are FUN and memorable!

I hunted high & low for this Santa Suit...we absolutely love it. There is a beanie & mittens as well but they were in baby size so Caleb can't fit into them anymore. The bib adds to the santa clause feeling and we were at IMM 'snow' time where bubbles fall like snow-what a beautiful setting to compliment his festive suit :)

Investments: Singapore Zoo Membership

One of the best investments we made was to buy a year's unlimited Singapore Zoo pass :) We bought it on Children's day :P It's a joy going to the Sinagpore Zoo, especially on weekdays (much less crowds & free tram rides). Caleb has learnt many animal names, overcome his fear of water at the Rainforest Kidzworld, and we have many precious photos of him with animals. He will elaborate on the actions of the animals during dinner time to his adoring audience-doting Grandparents. "Monkey swing in the tree & eat banana" "Tiger play ball. Got three white Tigers." "Hippo run and run...round and round. Hippo swim very fast." "Dinosaur bite Caleb leg. I sit on Dinosaur. Dinosaur so big."