Back to regular weekend!

After a weekend away, it was nice to have our regular weekend again!

Mum left the car with us on Friday. Thought we might go to Ikea for fried chicken again but they seemed to be coughing a little, probably from some grapes this week, so we just stayed in.

But let's start from earlier in the week...

Ane cooked chicken feet soup on Monday. I told her to take it out of Sito's soup as he wouldn't eat it. So she brought one foot to me. Yang saw it and asked excitedly, "What is that?!" I guess the little toes were attractive? :p I told him what it was and he wanted to try! And so did Yu!

So I did a demo with the first of three feet in my soup bowl. Bit off the toes one by one, sucked off the meat in my mouth, spit out the bones. Then they had the remaining two. Kai bit off a toe gingerly but spit it out almost immediately - 不识货 *.*

Yang bit off a toe!

Yu bit off a toe too!

Yang cleaned off the last foot!

Kai decided to go botak on Tuesdsy

Yu wanted corn from my soup bowl on Thursday - he cleaned it up nicely!

Kai also had a bit of corn - may this be a good start....

Yesterday was Yang's last music lesson. He decided to stop coz he wanted to watch TV with his brothers on Saturday morning - what a reason! But I had decided earlier that I wouldn't force him if he didn't want to continue. I did try to persuade him but he didn't want to continue anymore.

Last video of him doing chords - a bit of mistake here but he did it perfectly before and after the video!

Kai now has this big smile, just like the one above :)

Yu made a lot of boy sounds yesterday. Sito said he was mimicking the card/robot/car fights in Turning Mecards, hmm...

Kai drew these cards

This weekend, they spent more time playing and running about than watching TV coz Sito and I bought some Daiso toys on Friday

Btw, the sword handle has already come off *.* But they couldn't wait to fill their guns with water at the pool!

Yang did his 老爷爷 with moustache and beard!

Running and jumping around in our room

Climbing my poor sofa

We had "yummy spaghetti" for dinner. That's 18 Chefs, ha! It's easy to eat there coz they can play at the kiddy ride area until the food arrives, and they like the food. We went to the playground for a while and then the library.

Yu was disobedient on the way home. I scolded him and he pouted. Cute until... But I kept my stern face: 扁嘴没有用！要乖，懂不懂？He nodded..

Sample pout at only 50% power when I didn't want him to cut me up!

And they brushed their teeth at the same time Sunday morning!

It can be so hard to get them to brush teeth! Kai can go days without brushing *.* Yang used to forget but this week, he was quite diligent so finally, I see less yellow on his tiny teeth. Yu started showing some yellow on his teeth but after a weekend of brushing, he's fine now.

Next is to get them to brush twice a day!!

Yang playing Chinese checkers with Sito yesterday

I used to like this game but now I've forgotten how to play :p I have this suspicion that I'll slowly relearn all these games in the next few years...

Bintan wedding weekend

I can still count the number of times the boys didn't have their mama with them at night.

Three times for Kai - when Sito and I went for a babymoon with Yang, when Yang was born and when Yu was born. Two times for Yang - when Sito, Kai and I went for a babymoon with Yu and when Yu was born. I thought it was once for Yu but I just remembered that it was twice - in 2018 when the rest of us went to Legoland and last weekend. And this monkey missed both naps!

Monkeying around at nap time

Caught him in the act! (The lump on the bed was Sito :p)

So yup, I left the three monkeys with the old monkey, said good luck and left for RN's wedding in Bintan on Saturday :p

I purpose chose 2 pm so that I could still send Yang for Yamaha. I had meant for Sito to buy lunch while I spent some last minutes with them before I left but Sito was still working when Yang and I got back, and Yu was very hungry. So I rushed down to get lunch and left as they were eating.

It was a long ride to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. But I was well entertained on the Grab ride - retro songs! Forever Young is still ringing in my ears...

Then it was a long wait for the ferry... Texted with Sito before he starting trying to get Yu to nap. He said Kai said that he was missing me already, awww!

First of many selfies - this one on the ferry before it moved off

The walk down to the berth reminded me of our trip to Bintan in 2016 - I think Kai was rolling his trolley bag along that path :)

It was a very choppy ride! I'm glad I had my peppermint oil with me! Applied it before we started off and again past mid way. I tried to sleep but couldn't so I just kept my eyes closed. I kept hearing retching and puking noises *.* When I took a peek, I saw staff walking around with big bags to collect puke bags - and it was a pretty heavy-looking bag!!

It really felt like a roller coaster at some parts. Once, I opened my eyes to see if shore was near and happened to see the ferry rear up and I saw only sky for a split second before we crashed down on the surface of the water! Wa liao, better shut my eyes...

But there was a crazy - presumably angmoh - guy behind me who went "YEAH!" at every crash. I had to laugh :p

When shore was near - I peeked again - it was finally calmer. I survived without puking!!

The ferry was not full at all and I breezed through immigration. Found the resort guy and went to collect my boarding pass for the return trip before boarding the car - it was only me! The ride turned out to be bumpy and I had to put on peppermint oil again...

At some point, it hit me that this was the first time I was out on my own. The last time was probably before we got married?!

I arrived at the resort just as the tea ceremony ended. The guys were just standing on the main pathway separating the two rows of huts. I went into the room I was going to share with Mother and MZ, with them and Ah Yee, and spent some time dolling up :) Then I called home and saw my boys! :)

Cosy room but I slept on a rollaway just visible on the right side of the picture :p

Jacuzzi in the balcony, overseeing low tide when I got there

Windy at the beach where the couple exchanged rings

I was glad I decided to tie my hair and gel up the stray bits. Yes, the stray bits were still flying. But can you imagine if I didn't tie my hair? There would just be hair and no face *.*

A rare photo of the clan and Mother was looking elsewhere! :p

A photo with the sisters

So glad I wore slippers! Heels are no good with sand...

Our hut of four or five rooms - the tide was starting to come in towards the evening

By the end of the day, the waves were lapping on the shore under the hut. Natural white noise! I'm glad I'm the type who can sleep coz it was really quite loud *.*

The dinner setup

When we came out of the hut, we realised it rained a little while we were resting. Lucky! Saw the staff wiping the chairs at the dinner area...

While waiting for dinner seating to begin, I hopped into the gift shop and bought two dresses for $30 in total - happy! :p

I rejected the wine and got me self a beer, burp!

The groom gave a little speech and impressively remembered the names of almost everyone there, including RN's colleagues and extended family members. Then the buffet dinner began! I started with chendol and ended with ice-cream - in between, the otah was good!

I finished eating quite quickly and sat around listening and singing to the songs. There were some old songs I recognised and songs from Taiwanese dramas, like 99次我爱他! Gosh, songs of my early 20s?! Also went around taking photos.

Photo at the swing behind our table

With MY and RN - don't they look like Nakajima Nanako and Matsu Takako?!

The wedding ended with a huge bang - fireworks!

My sparkler went crazy in the wind

A few of us cousins and a niece stayed around to play darts, foosball and pool. I love foosball! But the handles were so rough they hurt my hands - I very 激动 you see, haha! Auntie couldn't take such late nights, especially when I was still in SG time so I bade them goodnight and went back early.

But I didn't sleep immediately. After washing up, I decided I need a snack! This one, I learnt from Mum, haha! But no one wanted to eat with me! So I had only some groundnuts - yummy! :) The wifi in the room wasn't so good but I managed to send a photo of snacks to Sito :p

What I had intended to eat

That night, I slept with no little ones snuggling up to me and waking me. But I woke early anyway - pai mia?! Mother and I left for breakfast at the starting time. Just as well coz I intended to eat lots and skip lunch - let me not puke out any lunch on the ferry!

Called home again - better wifi at the lobby/breakfast area! - and they were like, are you at Bintan??! They also recognised WaiPo who was sitting beside me. Seeing them soon!!

Took this photo to show the kids - not much reaction to see banana mama, ah well!

From the balcony - high tide with people para sailing in the distance

I started my spa session a little earlier while Mother they all went out of the resort to walk to a bridge visible from the resort.

Mother and SuiGu on the bridge

Source: Group chat!

My two hours of relaxation was truly relaxing, with a quick foot bath, a vigorous scrub and a massage. But it wasn't therapeutic; I felt like I still had sore bits all over. I miss my Amore massages! But auntie has not splurged on that for years...

Washed my face and watched an old Jackie Chan movie before checking out. This time, I shared a car with a family of four. We were early and had to wait for check-in. I just read my novel - saved three long chapters on notes coz no wifi at the ferry terminal! - and when I turned around, wow, long queue behind me!

More waiting past the checkpoint. I was thinking whether to get some polo shirts for Sito but suddenly there was an unintelligible announcement and people started moving so I moved. And ended up standing for a long time again!

So glad to find a seat - this time, I sat at the back half of the ferry in case it was choppy again. But thankfully, it was pretty smooth sailing. I watched a lot of Mr Bean cartoons on the TV screen, hoho!

Plenty of taxis at the ferry terminal so I hopped into one. Going home, I realised this is how Sito does it all the time - long journeys to and from Changi. Can be super sian :( It was nice to have some me time but gosh, I was yearning to be home!

CCA for Kai and forgotten homework

Kai didn't want to take up a CCA last year. This year, I tried again. I took one afternoon - yeah to part-time! - to go through the list with him. I thought he could go for swimming; it's way cheaper than his current lessons and can free up our Sunday mornings if I stop Yang's lessons until primary school!

But this boy of mine isn't too keen on sports. We saw chess club and I encouraged him to go for it. It starts taking students from only primary two coz it's a good time to start. And he has been playing chess and xiangqi for a while since last year. I think he wasn't too keen on a CCA but eventually, he agreed to try.

The first session took place on Wednesday. The week before, he was fine at first as he realised that his best friend T was in chess club too. Then, he became a bit more whiny etc whenever I mentioned chess club coz he thought it was held at the secondary school side, "but I'm not in secondary school!" On Wednesday morning, he finally said that he was worried.

My poor boy has been experiencing anxiety! And there I was, thinking he was whiny :(

My heart went out to him but we had to prepare to leave the house. So I recalled the parenting koyok I sell, and spoke with him nicely to get ready and we would talk more on the way.

So we did.

I flashed out the app with the instructions on where chess club would be held - his classroom! And a note from the school talking about staggered recess and lunch. So it turned out that he misunderstood his teacher when she told them about seating arrangements for recess and lunch during COVID-19 period - his class had been assigned to sit at the secondary school.

So all was well. I packed fried rice for his recess and gave him $2 for lunch.

I left the office later than usual to pick him up. I got there 15 min earlier so I sat at the bus stop to read, and got to the gate at 414 pm. Kids were just starting to stream out; most onsite CCA, like his, ends at 4.15 pm. But there was no sign of Kai.

Then I got a call from the general office.

Kai: Where ARE you?

So rude *.*

Turned out that he was a bit early and didn't see me so he went straight to the general office. Ok, at least he followed SOP!

I was glad to hear that he enjoyed chess club, even though T missed school and wasn't there that day. He played with a couple of his classmates and a boy from another class.

I was dismayed, however, to hear that he had crisps and milo for lunch! My poor boy must be hungry! So I brought him for some chow - he looked so happy but going by his comment that the burger tasted like potato, I got the idea that it wasn't terribly yummy, hoho!

Happy boy!

We managed to squeeze in one round of spelling practice after his shower before I had to fetch his brothers. After dinnertime madness, I sent them to bed. Sito was away so I let Yang and Yu go to our bed. At 8.30 pm, Kai came in to say that he forgot to do homework!

mf: Must you hand it in tmr?
Kai: Yes!
mf: Chinese issit?
Kai: Yes!
mf: Too bad - it is bedtime. You just have to do it in school before assembly time.
Kai: But one part needs parents!
mf: ...
Kai: I know! We can do it on the bus!

Ok!

And I woke at 6 am ytd to find him eating breakfast and doing homework at the same time. My conscientious boy! Love love! :)

So I played my part and asked him to show me the part for parent participation. And lucky I did coz it required a square paper, cutting and pasting! He couldn't do it the first time round and had to redo. There was another similar one but we had no time so too bad for him!

Kai did the rest of his homework on the bus

Coz I was worried when he couldn't follow instructions the first time round so when I got back ytd, I had him do a similar piece. He could do it. When asked, he said he couldn't do it in the morning coz I was rushing him *.* Ok, my fault :(

He attempted to teach me chess ytd. I was so confused - no words like xiangqi!!! To think that was the bigger set which I bought just last week as he had to bring his own set for chess club and his first set was quite tiny. We played again today - I still couldn't tell a few things apart *.*

My cleaning boys

Some time last month, I told Kai it was high time he did his own dishes. So after dinner, I showed him how to throw food scraps and wash up.

Throwing food scraps

Soaping it up!

And Yang had homework this weekend - household chores! He wrote three things in his list - making his bed, washing dishes and sweeping. He had to do that for three days. Yesterday was the third. He did not make his bed today haha! But he didn't sweep the floor yesterday so he had to do it this morning.

Proud owner of a well-made bed

Reaching for the soap, wearing his PJ top and... underwear! That's why I took the pic from this angle :p

I don't know a cuter dishwasher :)

Sweeping bread crumbs

Of course he had to be a witch!

Kai's enthusiasm has started waning. Will try to encourage him further, even though it takes a lot of soap and water when these kids wash dishes!

Ending the LNY with crazy shopping

Sito and I like to go to the supermarket at the end of our regular date night just to look around and perhaps stock up on stuff. But we had a shock last Friday - there was no basket available and the last trolley was just taken away. Sito thought they sent them for sanitising while I thought perhaps they were being wheeled back at the moment....

But no, Sito discovered snaking queues! Must be due to the evening announcement on DORSCON orange. The Singaporean kiasuism was out in full force!

We have a steamboat party the next day so we really needed food. I sent Sito to queue while I picked the goods. Also wanted to buy some stuff to prepare Kai's recess food - new initiative! - but gosh, cans were almost out, pasta was almost out! New initiative could wait...

The next day, I had wanted to swing by the supermarket after Yamaha to get prawns which weren't available on Friday night. But Yang had a tummy ache so we missed Yamaha. I agreed to bring Yu to the supermarket while Yang was on the throne. Yu was such a good boy! Of course he wanted this and that but he was ok - not exactly pleased - to put them back.

Helping to push the basket when the queue moved

"What is that?" (Shampoo!)

I had to go to the supermarket again on Sunday coz we needed milk. But luckily, the queues were normal - thanks to PM coming out to speak the evening before? Hope people don't waste all the instant noodles and toilet rolls they bought......

We spent a quiet day at home coz the boys were quite happy to watch TV! Oops... Though Kai got impatient after a while and kept asking when AhYe and AhMa were arriving.

Fruit yusheng!

I had yusheng four times this year, none with fish haha! But it's the crackers that I love... And the plum sauce... Oooh...

Steamboat spread!

Our second steamboat this year :) Kai surprisingly wanted more beef slices - eat more, my skinny boy! Yang wanted to cook shabu pork belly like last time and this time, I was able to take pictures and video :) But he didn't eat as much as last round - was it the soup? Yu also didn't eat as many fishballs and meatballs as I thought he would. Perhaps it was the Paw Patrol!!

Yang was just tall enough to see what he was doing :)

And so there we are - end of the 15 days of LNY! By this time next year, I hope the boys would have a more adventurous palate and be able to sit with us at the dining table during steamboat, yeah!