Introducing (and reviewing) Robot-kun

Robot-kun (Robot-君 in Japanese) is our favourite helper whose sole mission is life is to vacuum and mop the floor :) 

Ours is a Xiaomi Mijia 1C. I took some time to read reviews and comments from users on this vs. other Mijia models and other brands, before deciding on it. 

After using Robot-kun for some time, I realised that there are various types of product reviews:

1. Online ratings. Such ratings may not be about the product itself. For example, when I buy things on Shopee, I see many ratings saying that the buyer has not used it yet. I don't know why they bother to rate *.* I use such ratings to tell me if the seller is reliable, whether the plug is a local plug, etc, but I really appreciate reviews of the product by buyers who have actually used it. 
2. Professional reviews. I think it's wonderful you can review products for a living, ha! Check out this fantastic review by SRR which links to reviews of other robots as well. I referred to this website a lot during my research.
3. Customer reviews. Most of the reviews online are #2. If there are comments, I would read them to understand the product from real users who have used it for some time. Coz only time will tell 🎵

Today, I'm going to give a customer review of Xiaomi Mijia 1C.

Why did I buy this?

Good professional reviews. Good price point. Can meet my need which is to outsource sweeping and mopping.

Is this really what the professional reviews say it is?

Oh yes!

What more would I like to know before getting this?

1. Tips on how to map the floor. It took two or three tries for me. I had some difficulty as Robot-kun got stuck in my kitchen where the cabinet doors happened to be just a wee bit taller than Robot-kun. When I pulled it out, it said it would reposition itself and moved around a bit. Then I heard this: I detected a new area and will start a new cleaning path. This means no map *.* Another time, it went to the yard and couldn't come up due to a small step. I had to run Robot-kun again, starting from the dock. I had to close the yard door so the yard had to stay out of the map. I can always bring Robot-kun to clean the yard - it will tell me to bring it home when it can't find its way out :p

2. Get more accessories at the same time as buying the robot. At first, I handwashed the mop pad after every use. That was also the time when I started doing all the housework and cooking. The skin on my hands didn't love me much. I bought a set of three mop pads. While I was at it, I found other parts and bought more filters, sweeping tool and roller brush. Later, I bought more mop pads so now I use two each day - one for parquet in the bedrooms and one for tiles everywhere else. I collect the dirty mop pads to wash with floor mats etc in the washing machine every week. Yes, I have a small pail of dirty mop pads lying around in the yard!!

Glad to have spares for this - found the lost arm in the dust box last week. Yes, Robot-kun is a cannibal!!!

3. Grout lines, corners and edges can get dirtier. My grout lines are not even with the tiles and can trap dirt when helper mopped the floor. Same case with Robot-kun but worse as I don't follow it around to wipe up the dirt so it just dries up and leaves grey spots! The same thing happens at corners and edges. Robot-kun turns on itself at corners and dirt can get left behind. Along the edges of cabinets and balconies, Robot-kun will gently hit the edge as it moves, i.e. turn, mop, move, repeat, so it also leaves some dirt behind. No such issues along wall edges. 

Leftover dirt on grout line and corner

4. Area behind doors still need manual mopping. I keep the bedroom doors open for Robot-kun but I don't follow it around so the area behind the doors remain unmopped. Not a big deal as it's not very dirty back there.

5. It takes quite some time to mop. It takes 30 minutes for our four bedrooms and another 30 min for the dining room, living room and kitchen. If I mop myself, it would be much faster. But it's good to reduce manual work on my part! I usually let it clean the bedrooms when I send Monkey to school and iron clothes when it cleans the other rooms.

Would I still get it if I had known more?

I think so. As it stands, I already use a lot of wet wipes for various things. I have never done it myself but I estimate that I would need at least four wet wipes to mop the whole house manually. Not very pocket or environmentally friendly, not to mention having to spend active time mopping it myself.

I might take longer to decide though, as #3 is awful. But since I happened to have a steam cleaner bought separately to sanitise the floors especially the oily parts after cooking and eating, it's not a big deal as it cleans up Robot-kun's trail very nicely. I try to do this once every two weeks.

Anything else?

For my next house:

1. Cabinet doors must be tall enough to accommodate Robot-kun. 
2. Any sliding doors must also be tall enough else I would need to mop under the sliding doors every few weeks like what I'm doing now, and this is dirtier than behind bedroom doors.
3. Marble gum grout the floors to eliminate dirty grout lines situation.

And, some tips on maintaining the machine. I do this once a week. If you vacuum and/or mop more than 60sqm every day, you may need to clean this more frequently.

1. Put on a mask first. It gets dusty.
2. Prepare a bag to contain the rubbish.
3. Remove the dust box, roller brush, sweeping tool.
4. Use cloth or wet wipes to wipe the body - two big wheels and a removable rotating wheel - and the cavities for the brush and dust box. My white Robot-kun can get scratch marks easily when it gets trapped in the kitchen so I also use a melamine sponge.
5. Remove hair from roller brush. Be patient if you have long hair like me!

My long hair needs some detangling...

6. Wipe dust off the orange part of the roller brush. You don't want dust to get into your sink.

7. Wipe the roller cover too. I never knew that dust can stick like this!

All the grey/black stuff? Dust!

8. Empty the dust box. Remove the filter and whack it against the floor through the plastic bag to remove dust. Tie the bag before throwing.

One week of dust!

9. Wash everything with water and let dry, especially the filter.

10. Finally, wipe the dock, put back the accessories and dock Robot-kun to charge.

COVID struck again!

The last man has gone down now. Yup, Sito who escaped the past two times, finally could escape no more... Must have got it in KL as he was visiting various warehouses or something.

I heard Sito cough on Monday, 1 Aug. Not uncommon. Then at bedtime, he said he had a sore throat. Time to whip out the ART. The result was almost immediate as the capillary action (?) happened :(

That was past 11.30 pm, i.e. kids were in school night beds and only the upper bunk was available. Um, no. So I continued to sleep in our bed, but with a mask on.

His symptoms were mild. Sore throat was gone by late morning the next day. But he started feeling cold and developed a fever. The poor guy was mostly in bed on Wednesday. By Thursday, he was on the recovery curve.

Dinner was served at his desk - he said it felt like hospital *.*

His next test was Saturday, i.e. day 6. Still a dark line. That was the last time he tested, ha! By Sunday, he could go out after 12 noon - considered low transmission risk.

But... I tested positive on Monday morning :( I guess it's inevitable since I was still sleeping in the same bed and I woke a few times to find his mask lost in bed *.*

I was so glad I had been wearing a surgical mask around the kids since Sito tested positive, in case I had already caught it from him. In fact, I was surprised it took so many days for me to test positive - kids and I tested every school day so I could bring them to the bus stop.

When I developed a sore throat on Thursday, i.e. when Sito was still positive, I thought I was going to get it. A bad cough started from Friday. No body ache but that could be because I tried out a new massage machine from JY which was so powerful that I was hurting for a day! But nope, negative. So we thought I happened to have caught a nasty bug, since I brought Yu to the NUH PD clinic on Monday.

Then I developed a fever on Saturday after lunch. We all thought that was it. Yet, I remained negative. I even brought Yu to his friend's birthday part on Saturday evening! But I kept my mask on except when eating and taking that one photo. So far, no COVID news from the group haha!

I didn't test on Sunday as I didn't go out. Maybe I was positive then? No idea.

Sito started feeling sick again on Monday. We think I had the bug before COVID and he was having it after COVID *.* My cough when I first got COVID in February was not this bad. I'm still coughing...

Anyway, Sito took over the meals on Monday and Tuesday. He left on Wednesday so we had food delivered until Friday. I was very happy to find 25% off for Dian Xiao Er takeaway on weekdays so I asked Yang to collect it. Plus it was high time they got more vege!

This time, I felt very bored. I switched to N95 mask when I tested positive. So hot compared to February! I watched too much drama the past few days - sounds wonderful but it got boring staying in. 

Yu also felt bored - again, he couldn't go to school. I gave him unlimited access to TV and iPad from Thursday when his brothers returned to school but they became boring soon. The poor kid would stand at my door to tell me he was bored :(

Or roll on the sofa

Or watch Robot-kun

At first I thought it was so sad that he was watching Robot-kun mop the balcony! But right after this photo, he reached out with a leg *.* Bored, maybe; playful, definitely!

I was running low on ART kits so I didn't test after my positive result until this morning. It was a clear negative. So happy - coz we were down to our last bottle of milk so someone had to buy milk :p

We're going to stay in the next couple of days as well. No school for Kai and Yang on Monday and Tuesday due to PSLE orals so I think I'll just keep Yu home. It happens that there's some virus going around in school; two friends are down with high fever.

Will continue to test the kids next week just in case. Hope they stay negative 🤞

Start of the second half of 2022

Sometimes, I don't realise it's 2022 already. COVID seems to have caused some confusion in me. Maybe it's the "lost time" - such precious little socialising in 2020 and 2021. Maybe it's what Yu said - why is COVID (20)19 still here when it's already (20)2x?

So we're now in the second half of the year. So fast! I'm determined to get the kids more localised...

On our way to the hawker centre - only the baby got to wear his PJs 

My boys in the playground!

:)

That was a very familiar playground even though the equipment had changed a bit. It was the one near our old place. We went back there for house hunting - well, more on this another day...

Since we were there, we went to Star Vista for dinner. 

Happy with his burger!

Stuffing his mouth with a hotdog bun

He wanted his photo retaken so that he could pose properly

Yu was blowing bubbles into his drink - using his nose!!!

Trying to make lazy GeGe's bed so that they could watch TV

He made a sad face!

I made these signs for my bathroom door - mummies the world over would understand...!

Then, before I could introduce the signs to them, Yang knocked for some trivial thing. When I asked him why, he said I wrote “快敲门”！Ok, an introduction is a must! Read the arrows! Green for yes and red for no!

A few weeks in, I think the signs aren't working too well, haha!

These two like KFC

Yu likes KFC too but he ran off with Yang who didn't like it and who found it too hot! We didn't queue to enter the exhibition coz it was too long.

Went to the playground instead

And had a happy dinner at Bornga!

Kai looked like: Why you steal my show??!

We had a similar shot in 2013 at Bornga at Star Vista :)

Sito showed Yang the receipt for dinner, and...

Yang was appalled to know that a small piece of BBQ meat cost $3 - "we're never coming back here!" So funny!

Love this shot :)

Who's the master mind??

Pool time coz it was hot

We haven't come to this pool for a while and Yu is now tall enough to go without his puddle jumper! He was very pleased and so were we :)

That day, we had steamboat for dinner. Yes, it was a very hot day! But we spent some time in the pool too? :p The kids finished more than a 300g box of beef rolls. I was very happy - eat more!!!

Two weeks ago, Sito came back on a Saturday instead of Friday. So the kids and I went to fetch him, yeah! But we were late and his flight arrived early. In the end, he came to welcome us at Changi MRT station instead *.* 

Oops, Kai was trying to put Papa's arm over his head

Gave them a lollipop as a reward for being (relatively) well-behaved on the long train ride there. It helped keep them (more or less) quiet on our way to Jewel.

... Why so many qualifiers in brackets?! Haha! My kids....

Anyway... We saw DTF the moment we entered Jewel. No one outside so we thought no queue. Wrong. Virtual queue! So we walked on and found Jumbo - why not? :) But we didn't order crabs la. Too much work. Had chilli crab sauce with buns instead.

Looking at the fish outside Jumbo 

Yang and Yu liked the fountain a lot more this time than back in 2020 when we last came here

Helping Papa or playing??

That afternoon, I brought the kids to YX's place for a play date while Sito rested at home. Just as well, coz our new washing machine arrived at 5.30 pm! So much for night delivery...

Must play chess on a play date

DT was there with his family as well, so five boys and two girls in total. But they didn't play together, haha! SF cooked a lot as usual. We had a good chat while the kids played. Finally left just past 8 pm. I think the kids were quite pleased to stay up past their usual bedtime...

Kai was very happy to get and solve a new 8-cube!

But the cube is now lying on my desk, with a few loose pieces *.* So difficult to fix back! Ok, I try later...

While waiting for neighbour popo - Yu had to make and give this card to someone and he chose her

Hurt-my-knee playground struck again - Yu had a bad scrape on his left knee on Saturday as we left the playground. Actually we were nearer the traffic light than the playground when he fell while scooting. So hard to put the dressing on him - always moving or shaking, grrr! Baby, only four months left in kindy!!

Airing my dirty laundry

TL;DR: Wash daily and hang dry overnight!

+ update: Wash full loads only!

For years, we washed clothes on a fixed schedule:

• Monday: 2 loads - helper, kids
• Tuesday:1 load - Sito and me
• Wednesday: 2 loads - kids, bathroom mats
• Thursday: 1-2 loads - bedsheets; we rotate bedsheet changing schedule for all of us
• Friday: 1 load - Sito and me
• Saturday: 1 load - kids

Not counting bedsheets, that was effectively one load per pax per week. 

Now, it's simplified:

• Daily: 1 load comprising mix of adult and kiddy clothes
• Monday: +1 load comprising bathroom mats, robot mop pads, steam mop pads, other wash cloths
• Tuesday: +1 load of all our towels so I can wash at a higher temperature
• Thursday-Saturday: up to +3 loads comprising bedsheets or Sito's laundry from business trips

Now that the kids are not babies anymore, there is really no need to split our laundry. We have been using the same detergent for quite a while now anyway.

So no smelly piles of clothes waiting for their day in the wash. No need to worry about uniforms not drying on Wednesday in time for Thursday coz each kid has only three sets of uniforms. Best of all, we don't need many clothes coz the shirt worn on Monday is back in the wardrobe by Wednesday! 

The last point is most useful for underwear! We used to need so many pairs coz each kid wears two to three each day. Accumulating that many pairs for washing day means we need about as many pairs on standby in the wardrobe. So I started throwing out underwear that were too worn - they end up in the storeroom as disposable cleaning cloths for major clean-ups.

In the past, helper would start the washer only after kids had changed out of their pyjamas so the clothes were kept much later in the day. When I took over, I set a timer for washing to finish up by 6.30 am or so, when I would be home from sending the older two to the bus stop. Some clothes would be dry by late morning and thicker ones in the afternoon. This means I still have to fold clothes when kids are home. 

Over the June holidays when I needed to maximise time with the kids in the afternoon, I started running the washer right after dinner. Yes, I would have laundry chores hanging up the clothes later at night, but I wake up to almost dry clothes! On days when I have additional loads, they can be done in the morning and would usually be dry the same day. 

Now, where's my efficiency medal? :p

Update 9 Nov 2022

So some months into daily washing, I thought that I wasn't maximising the washer. So I decided to wash only when there's a full load. This works as well. Often, I still wash at night. But there were times when I wash after breakfast when the kids throw in their PJs, or mid afternoon when the kids throw in their school uniforms. So I ended up with fewer loads per week while still churning the laundry, yeah!

Kai is ten!

Ten. 10. That's double digit!

I still remember seeing baby Kai when he just came into our life and thinking, why does he look quite grey? Maybe it was due to the grey towel he was lying on :p

In the blink of an eye, he's ten. TEN. 

We have had difficult days, slow days when we argue, when we struggle with revision. But on the whole, time really flies. My baby is growing up!

First celebration - with the grands

As Kai doesn't take cakes, he requested for ice cream. On the table were nine squares of Haagen-Dazs ice cream with cute animal designs on top. All the kids wanted this and that. In the end, Kai had just over one while Yang and Yu didn't even finish one!

Kai had originally wanted to go to Macs at BPP on his birthday which was a school day. But since we decided on Swensen's ice cream for his "cake", Papa must be there! Luckily, it was a public holiday yesterday so Papa could come along; he's still working as I type this...

Second celebration - us at Swensen's

Oops, birthday boy and "cake" got blocked...

Earthquake as birthday cake!

So many eyes were on the earthquake as it arrived at our table haha! The kids looked amazed to see the dry ice, which disappeared way too fast... Again, the kids wanted this and that but I prioritised Kai since it was his cake. Kai was supposed to have four scoops while the rest of us had one scoop each. 

In the end, Kai had only two scoops and Yu didn't finish his scoop. Yang decided he would not have any coz the other chocolate scoops had cream on top *.* But he eventually came round to it and enjoyed the chocolate ice cream :) Guess who had the most? Papa, coz Mama had a bad stomach that day... I think we should just go for topless five or firehouse next time...

Pokemon as promised

They roped in Papa to help!

Finally got his hands on his birthday present!

He must read it while having his birthday mee sua. So happy - I love his smile :)

This is the first year I started making mee sua on their birthday. Didn't take photo for Yang's, oops... Hope to continue this :)

Happy birthday to our dear Kai! Thanks for making us parents :)

Is afternoon sun really that bad?

This has been a wonderful week, and not just because term 3 has started (which is great, btw!); after all that rain, I'm welcoming the sun back into our lives!

One of our duvets sunbathing, cover and all

We didn't know that three of our four bedrooms would get the afternoon sun (or 西照 in housing speak) when we bought this house. When we got the keys and saw the sun, we had the windows all tinted. Blackout curtains definitely but those were more for the kids' nap time as they were all still taking afternoon naps at that time.

When we moved in, we realised that it got really hot after 3 pm as the sunlight goes about 1 metre into the bedrooms. 

Solution? Aircon. But this doesn't affect our electricity bills:

• The kids napped with aircon with or without afternoon sun.
• Now that the kids are not napping, we are also not in the bedrooms in the afternoon. And I'm at home the whole day most days!
• Until WFH happened as The Hub converted a bedroom to his office. But even if there is no afternoon sun, he will need aircon for WFH.

So afternoon sun doesn't affect us negatively. In fact, I love the afternoon sun! It's usually windy so laundry can dry even without the sun. But it's really nice to smell the sun in the laundry, you know? The kids' school shoes get a good wash during the major school holidays, and nothing dries them better than the good old sun. 

My fave is to sun pillows and duvets - these are difficult to wash but why wash when the sun is free to use?

Just like today. I usually sun pillows and duvets when I wash the bedsheets. But since it's so hot and sunny today, let's smell some sun when we sleep tonight :)

Yang is eight!

My sweet boy has turned eight!

He was a bit sad to know that term 3 would start on his birthday... As it turned out, the school gave them all an ice cream surprise to welcome them back to school :) With parental consent, of course.

Celebrations started on Saturday with a BBQ. I had wanted to get a cake for him then but he preferred to have his Doraemon cake on his birthday instead. So Sito arranged his schedule to celebrate with him :)

So his first cake was on Sunday, at AhMa's place. And it was actually eight mini cakes! I had already ordered Doraemon for him but we passed by Polar that day when we went to Lot One for Jurassic World Dominion and he saw Angry Birds... So he asked AhMa for Angry Birds. Both Yang and Yu liked the cake but they couldn't finish it *.*

The two in front can't wait to dig in!

Dinner was at Crystal Jade. Plenty of char siew and XLB for the birthday boy :)

For his birthday today, I made longevity noodles for him. Actually, just mee sua. Didn't add the egg when I realised I prepared way too much meat :p Kai had the same thing but with extra duck left over from Sunday.

Let them play Yang's present from YeePo - Super Mario Maker 2 - in the afternoon before we went to fetch Yu. Yang chose Ichiban for his birthday dinner. He also extracted a promise from me to let him play the Pokemon machine *.*

First time and they got a nice disk!

Eight candles for him to 吹到够！

Making a wish... 

I also have a wish for him - to have smoother bowel movements?! Oops :p

We bought him a box set of books some time ago but told him he could have it only on his birthday. He also received hongbaos from the grands and aunt. He still hasn't finished reading the birthday card from the grands - too distracted *.*

Very happy with his books :)

Oh yes, he had to change his shirt coz he somehow got cream on his back and a sleeve!! My dear sweet boy, eight years old now, please be more careful when you're eating, ok? :)

 Happy happy birthday to Yang Yang!!!!

Happy June holidays!

Why do we call it June holidays when they start in end May and end before June is over? :p

There are so many happenings in June - bah zang, Chengzhu, National Family Week, Fathers' Day!

Yu must still go to school - saw this in their new classroom

Let's make a wish at the Fountain of Wealth!

Yang made two - one for baluku to go away and one for GeGe to not bully him, poor boy! Kai and Yu made candy wishes *.* I had to carry Yu around the fountain three times - I should have the wish, hoho!

Went to Suntec to support the National Family Week and bumped into quite a few old friends who were, sadly, on duty that weekend. The kids weren't terribly excited as they couldn't go on the bouncy castle having just got their vaccination.

Hello, the sign says not to climb...

This was quite fun for them though

Kai found chess so he played that...

My sweet boy and me resting by the side :)

We made a terrarium! It was quite fun!

Biggest kids at the ECDA booth :p

Hopped over to Marina Square and found photo ops!

Mama also wants a photo! Pup must join in...

I had planned for an early dinner but there wasn't much to do so we ended up with a late lunch. Timing was just nice as they had late breakfast at Yakun just before leaving for Suntec.

20 XLB not enough!

One last stop before going home

Yu wanted to poop when we stepped out of the train station. Jialat. But ice cream beckoned. Then he really wanted to poop in the shop but refused to go so he didn't want ice cream - couldn't eat. Then he changed his mind. Then he had 10% of his cup. Yang also couldn't finish his ice cream. I ended up eating a lot when I already had my sinful Emperor Mao. Next time, they shall share!

We weren't hungry for dinner but the kids gotta eat something. I bought spinach from Dian Xiao Er and cooked some rice for them. I had spinach neat :p But I also packed some fried chicken from the pasar malam for my supper :p

Yang helping me with pizza dough

Yang likes to help here and there. He has helped me make bread, make pizza and stir coffee. He also likes to see me wash the toilets *.* Your turn will come, don't worry :p

Their poor bolsters!

Papa and his pups were all in horizontal stripes!

Went to CCK to support National Family Week again, hoho! And we ended up having BBQ for dinner. The kids enjoyed the beef and even the rice!

And we gave them this pretty candy floss - $4!!

We went back to Lot One the following week to watch Jurassic World Dominion. Kai and Yang enjoyed the show and of course, the popcorns!

Snacks on my bed?!

Yup, decided to do a sleepover instead of a staycation. Quite ex to find a room to take all of us so I chose a night when Sito wasn't home to do sleepover, else not enough space... I went to check on Yang who slept on the outside and Yu rolled over to my side *.* I slept at the foot of the bed for a while, gave up and went to the kids' room to sleep. 

In the end, none of us slept well! But quite fun la. They had yummy snacks, watched YouTube Kids until late, and did a short video call with Papa. The next morning, we had Yakun.

Yu was wearing swimsuit as he had water play in school that day

Discovered a rainbow when taking out the laundry and called the kids in!

Kai: Boring..

And he returned to breakfast.

Yang: Do you know why the rainbow ends there?

Mama: Why?

Yang: Because in cartoons, rainbows always end in the clouds *sweet smile*

I melted :)

Yu: It's so bright!

Ok, let's all get back to breakfast!!

Happy Fathers' Day to Papa!

I got the idea for this cake a couple of months back when I saw Sito playing Chinese chess with the boys. I thought 帅 stands for handsome, general and Chinese chess! But I couldn't find it online easily so decided to make it as a surprise for Sito. The boys were in on this and were supposed to help but in the end, guess who did all the work? 

I baked two cake layers on Thursday and froze it. On Sunday, I made the frosting and decorated the cake. Couldn't do cake piping so I searched high and low for red decor and found candy beads! Yang and Yu kaypoh added more candy beads to the bottom.

When Sito saw the cake, he wondered if he had missed a kid's birthday, haha! No la, the cake was for you, my dear!

The cake was yummy but the frosting was too sweet! Maybe try a different recipe next time...

Yang made a card for Papa - but couldn't explain why lonely Papa!

Yu made this in school - he pats his chest and says it's for here :)

My drawing of our little family - same hand and leg pattern coz lousy artist :p

And it's on recycled paper - it's got some stamps all over the other side hence the blackish hue. Yang and Yu wanted proper shoes instead of slippers. Yang said I could draw very well, hoho!

Sito changed his travel plans so he spent the last week of school holidays in Singapore, yeah! He took leave but had plenty of meetings anyway *.*

Yu discovered a drawing lesson at the back of a library book so they all started drawing!

Yu vs. Yang

Kai vs. Yang vs. Yu - written by Yu

Kai vs. Yang

And again coz competitive :p

Finally brought them to Bouncy Paradise on the last Friday of school holidays. I told them I'd bring them only after they were vaccinated. And we clashed with a student care trip - so many kids and so many pulled down their masks *.* But ok, so far no one got COVID!

Spot the boys!

He decided to bua butter on bread with his finger coz yummy

But I later discovered the wonders of whipped butter - way easier to spread! I whipped up a block for our BBQ on Saturday, and I have enjoyed spreading butter on bread easily for the past two days! 

Anyway, this was our second BBQ in five years... It was meant to end the June holidays with a bang. At first, it was also a birthday party but the birthday boy didn't want a cake that day.. Akan datang for birthday post...

What's on the grill?

Burgers!

Yu stuffed his mouth

The burgers were really yummy! I made the buns and patties that very morning, and Sito was the chef. Yang took the first burger, which was unfortunately ugly. He ate it over a long period of time so I didn't manage a picture. But Sito got the hang of it very soon so burgers looked wonderful too!

Lettuce for the adults; none for the kids :p

We also had salmon, pork sausages, chicken satay - must have all sorts of meat for BBQ! :p But we didn't manage to finish the sausages and fish. For vege, I prepared mini portobello mushrooms and Mum brought vege bee hoon and salads. I just realised I forgot to take a photo of all the food together :(

The kids had fun playing in the pools until the sun set and we got them out of the cold and changed their tops. They watched and played games while the rest were chatting until past 8 pm. Quite nice to chillax downstairs. Also a treat for the kids to stay up late. They all said they like BBQ!

Watch YeePo first, then complete takeover!!

On Sunday, the very last day of school holidays, Kai solved a 7-cube within an hour. He didn't read the instructions. Just used experience from his smaller cubes. We're all so proud of this boy!

Kai was also very happy with the cube :)

And so we're back in term time! Lots of cleaning this week coz I did only basic cleaning, i.e. toilets and floors and kitchen,  while the two were home. Hope the kids have a good term!