Company Event - Family Day at the Zoo

On 26 Dec 2010 on our way home from a lunch gathering, we drove passed Mandai road and the children saw the Zoo billboard. Both said they wanted to go to the Zoo. In reply, I told them: “yeah, we would come to the Zoo soon.”

In 1st week of January 2011, Adrian told me his company was organizing a family day event – we were going to the ZOO!

On 22 January 2011 was the event and we only told the children of the outing on the day before as we don’t want them to feel overly-excited.

Early morning, we woke up to a nice breakfast and then headed off to the Zoo. After doing the registration and collection of our goodies bags. We started our Zoo tour. Both Anthea and Anders had a Zoo map and they started navigating which way to go.

We went through the common area to view the animals and also managed to watch 2 live performances before gathering at the Forest Lodge for the lunch. Lunch was KFC meals and Pizzas. Also there was some kind of ceremony and performance in the air-conditioned room.

Anthea had requested for us to go to the Kids World but we had to reject her request as we don’t have the luxury of time and I didn’t pack their wetsuit along.

Around 1 pm, we left the Zoo and headed home to rest. After few visits to the Zoo, I am beginning to find the place a little boring and also the animals are not as lively as some other Zoos. Perhaps it’s time for a major revamp….hehe.

A Perfect (PreFect) Dream..

I still remembered when Anthea was in Primary 1 – she had an aspiration: “mommy, I want to be a school prefect.”

During a Parent-Teacher-meet, I told her then form teacher of Anthea’s dream. She told me: “it’s possible, she had the required qualifications.”

When school started this year, Anthea told me her name was on the Prefectorial board and she was asked to go for a meeting last Friday. After the meeting, she came home with her official title – the Prefect Tie and her duty roaster.

It was a very proud moment for her and as a mother; I shared her pride and joy. I just hope that she would be able to carry out her duties as assigned.

Anders, upon seeing Anthea being promoted to a Prefect, came and told me: “mommy, I want to be a prefect too.” I explained to Anders that I am not the one who gave her the rights to become prefect. She was chosen by her teachers. Also importantly, I told Anders – a prefect must display certain qualities in term of behavior and characteristic, in order for the teacher to choose them. He would need to ensure that he can build up all these to qualify for the role.

Hopefully, this would train Anders to become more responsible and take good care of his belongings…: P

Anthea has been sharing her next aspiration with me and it’s a HUGE one for sure. I would continue to support her and gave her my blessing and may she achieve her next DREAM.....: )

1st week of school in 2011..

It had been an exciting start for Aces family for 2011. Yes, this year marked the beginning of 6 years of primary education for Anders.

On 1st day of school – 4 January 2011, I accompanied him into the school compound. Parents were allowed admission of the 1st two days of school. After saying goodbye to Anthea, I brought Anders to his class – 1 Bravery.

Most of the children had reported to class and I noticed only a few seats were left in the classroom. So he took his seat and waited for his form teacher to start introduction.

The school had kindly organized a Kopi Session aka Parents information session for the P1 parents. We were led to the AVA room on the 3rd floor. Breakfast of fried bee hoon was served with coffee/tea and water. During the 2 hours breakfast session, the school gave some valuable tips to the parents and also provides a breakdown of the P1 Holistic Assessment.

After the session ended, we went to the canteen and were allow to watch from far how the P1 children lined up and bought their food. Each P1 child had a P5 student to buddy them and help them with the buying of food for the 1st week.

Anders was very happy and I could see him enjoying his 1st purchase from the canteen. Then he came over and asked if he could buy a drink. I told him Yes. : )

Recess was ½ hour and when it was over, all the parents were asked to leave the school compound. I went home to prepare a simple lunch for them and returned at 1pm to fetch both Anders and Anthea.

Day 2 – 5 January: we had 2nd day of Kopi session provided by the school. This time, the different subject HODs gave introduction of the school curriculum and also some important pointers on social network behavior. There was also a talk given by the Parents Support Group and I signed up for some ad-hoc activities.

At recess time, I saw Anders bought himself a bowl of noodle soup. It was a good improvement and knowing that he was able to handle a hot item on his own was quite assuring.

Day 3 – I said goodbye to both Anthea and Anders at the gate and went off for my exercise.

Now that both of them are studying in the morning session, it makes it easier for me to plan my own morning exercise and work routine.

Recently we bought a new study table for Anders as he wanted something similar to Anthea and the new table was delivered on Wednesday. Now the room is my home office cum their study area.

A new year and a NEW routine with the new beginning. I am looking forward to an exciting year of 2011 !!