BEST June Holidays EVER

Best June Holidays Ever

This June holiday is unique - instead of slapping a trip to fulfill our obligations as parents to show that "we had a holiday"... I  impressed myself by working out a whole month's calendar with Megan by early May. We agreed to try new things together but she steers the ship on how everything evolves. 

Ceramics

Learn a craft! We went for a 3 hour long bi-weekly basic coiling class. Megan was rejected by the workshop on day one because they don't take kids (booboo me) and she is way too short for their set up.

After some discussion, they were kind enough to set up a special program for the kid and every lesson starts with what Megan wants to do. The answer is always "let's make a guinea pig", much to the misery of all the adults who tempted her on more structure.

Very impressed with the pieces she made but the pottery teachers asked me to look beyond the physical product and that I should be more proud of Megan's patience and ability to filter out distractions during such long sessions. Not forgetting it is physically exhausting to stand throughout because the wheel is too tall.

Parkour

Learn a sports! I introduced parkour to Megan because being an highly skilled, attractive, illusive, hard-to-catch international "criminal" has always been my childhood dream. The scene where I leap from heights, slide down handrails, negotiate obstacles and disappear into the streets of Hong Kong with panting cops on my tail, cursing and swearing for losing me again played itself out in my mind thousands of times. 

But I was realistic with the reach of my thunder thighs so my daughter can take up this cool sport while I live my dreams vicariously through her. And OMG, parkour is so fun and exciting, and as a discipline, it has much more depth and strategic application than the public is aware of. Megan loves parkour. After every parkour lesson, she tells me " best day ever"...

Strange enough, I see a lot of similarities between ceramics and parkour. Both requires high level of self regulation, patience, humility, situational problem solving and honestly, you cant achieve anything until you try.

Calligraphy

In little pockets of free time, we practiced our handwriting.  Or rather, I rely on this as a form of moving mediation to calm myself from my long "to do list". Megan disappears after 10 mins to come back every now and then to kapo with my strokes. 

Tree Top Adventure with Friends

The kids course no longer posed any challenge to Megan but unlike all her friends who can go on to a more advance course, Megan is way way way too short to advance...

The food we are feeding her did not pile her up vertically. Too short for ceramics, too short for tree top.... height features irritatingly bright for her this holiday.

Trampoline

Who would have thought that jumping can kill? Contrast between overly excited Morgan and laborious us cannot be higher. Eat my dust! Two adults cannot catch a bouncing kid. Joyce contributed her eye power to track Morgan and luckily no heart attack. Let's not go back there anytime soon.  

Baking

Long before the holiday starts, neighbor kids were already asking "auntie yy, when are we baking cake pops and pizza tarts again?" This round, the nutella tartlet baking shifted to their place. Love it when the kids organize themselves to get work done.

Did a second round at home for Morgan. Amazing effective engagement activity getting his full attention and commitment for hours. We will do this again for him.

Museums

Good exhibits are worth visiting. Now that Lx, Ally and me are no longer the museum-going-trio, I drag Mimi and Megan out when good stuff comes to town.

This round I gathered all the folks plus Morgan, the destroyer to the Art Science Museum. He is ready for interactive exhibits! Just prepare enough cash to pay for broken artifacts, or in this case, a few deflated inflatables.... 

Staycations

Kenneth planned two staycations - M Hotel, during the most important week for Spurs fans. We are there solely because there is a room. Nothing much to do in the city so we embark on our national hobby. Hokkaido Sushi - pleasant discovery. Clinton Street Baking and Co. - thumbs down.

Shang's highlight was Buds - which M&M like. Had my very first "co-sleeping with Morgan" experience... Boy has special talent for pushing, kicking and rolling... I don't think I slept at all.

This June holidays kick start a lot of activities that will continue into our daily lives. So thankful to be able to spend quality time growing with the kiddos... Next school holiday, here we come. 

Family trip in Bali

Our 2nd family trip to Bali.

Trip was a smashing success for different groups of people... M&M certainly had a great time and thanks to many people who helped in the planning, activities and schedule was varied enough but not too tiring. 

Coffee place was quite charming... Maybe we should do the swing the next time?

One of my fave places in Bali - Bambu Indra. Always wanted the folks to stay at the Green Village to experience my passion for bamboo construction. But Morgan's jumping and climbing around will make staying there too dangerous. This is the next best place to explore and exploring they did! Everyone nowhere to be found.. Food here terrible as usual so no lost... go have fun while I man the food.

Potato Head serves as a direct contrast to Bambu Indra. 

Meant to bring the folks to La Laguna but aiyah renovation...Last minute plan change to La Favela - really not sure if this is fun for my mum and friends but wow such a hit... PHOTOS!!! 

Rare rare rare chance to see the beach in Bali..

Bali Safari

Somewhat of a weird place... But this is a trip for the kids so base camp right in the middle of a safari with giraffes and zebras right outside your villa sounds like a good idea after zipping around in town.

In the mornings, the elephants will come and pick you up to breakfast on the other side of the safari... Morgan has no fear... Megan actually likes it and look forward to the ride the next day... wow...

What you see on the posters is exactly what you get. It's actually very exhilarating. My mum and her friends had more exciting stories to tell with their doors opening accidentally inside the tiger's enclosure.... Well... Bali... 

It was a fun trip... Good experience for M&M.... Let's wait for a few more years then we can try the more exciting activities Bali got to offer... yeah!!!

Our 2018

2018 is the most balanced and fulfilling year to date. 

My days of constant flying are over. Work travels for me and Ken were reduced drastically and for the first time ever, we spent so much time with the kids and it was epic.

Megan’s confidence and happiness index soared as she opened up to new experiences and tried her best at what was given to her. 2018 marked plenty of play dates, breakfasts, library books, screen time restriction (hahaha!!).

Morgan on the other hand, still believed he could get away with all mischiefs with his smiles and hugs. Could not keep still and wailed at whatever he did not want to do (which is everything). This boy is going to have a hard time in school but that we will worry about later. 

2018, he made good progress in his speech and let’s hope he will be able to communicate like kids his age soon.

A new chapter of my work life opened up in the field of elderly care. I never cared to know anything about this topic before this year but having immersed myself in medical conferences, discussions on sustainable facilitates for the aged, listening to designers talk about which tables and chairs are suitable for the elderly and unlike hotels, how little the industry knows which model is the best approach, I feel much needed to be done.

While many countries are still asking the question - who to pay for the elderly, I am very heartened to know that years ago, Singapore had already taken steps to restructured our health care system, thought of ways to create a dementia friendly city and experiment with different medical, lifestyle models to prolong the elderly pre-frail stage in their extended lifespan. This is no easy feat considering the complexity of the solution needed. And yes for the first time in 40 years, I am impressed with Singapore’s foresight and planning process to problem solving (having witnessed this  process myself).

The shift in perspective from hotel (which I still love) to elderly facilities is timely because if I want to dictate the environment I want to live in years down the road, this is the time to start. My mum, in-laws and relatives are also smack right in the middle of this silver tsunami and this can be a sensitive and fearful topic for the unprepared.

But we will all grow old so our attitudes towards how to live our last 20 years become important.

Kudos to my mum for learning to drink wine, eat cheese, cycle and hike in the rain in Bulgaria, Czech, Albania, Romania, Hungry, Moldova, Slovakia and Croatia etc. She traveled to more places with her gang of buddies than her daughter, which is totally impressive. 

Hearing cousins share stories on how our parents gossip family news via morning walks, getting drunk like giggling teenagers during family gatherings makes for a good laugh. All the more meaningful now that I learnt more about preparation for old age. May I be like them one day. 

Half the time I have no idea where you are travelling

Climb the mountains and explore the oceans Mimi! Me too! Hence have to stay healthy and fit. 

 My hilarious first 10km

 Many celebrations of friendships

 Cousins gatherings

Bangkok for our big 40s

 Chengdu Chongqing and memorable "massage" experience

Relaxing Taipei

Doing my part not to take earth for granted and reduce unnecessary waste. In this year alone, I have rejected an estimated 700+ single use plastic bags simply by bringing my own bag. And I have not even made any real effort to make much change in our lifestyle. Happy with my progress. Will do more in 2019. 

2018 has been good to us. We cannot ask for a better-balanced year. Met people new and old, all of them made an impact. Some showed me a different way, some served as a mirror to look at myself and others came into my life to remind myself never to be become one like them. So fortunate our family are, we are filled with gratitude.

Now welcome 2019!