A Quick Trip to Singapore

I flew down to Singapore for a few days this week, leaving Sunday night and rushing back Wednesday night, to much protestions as I left and much fanfare as I returned.  Singapore was hot and humid, which made it such a relief when I was able to swim in the rooftop pool on one of the early evenings. 

On one of my trips about town, I happened to pass the historic police heritage center, which was beautifully done up in the most colorful rainbow gradient.  Below, some additional shots of my view from my hotel room.

All the Sweet and Good Things

We have been up to lots of fun.  The boys had a cultural appreciation day at school where they wore beautiful Indian kurtas (borrowed from their friend and neighbor).

The kids put on a super elaborate production for me (a Disneyland train in Australia) when I returned home last week. 

Yesterday we went to a birthday party at a place called "Kids Kids Car" which was basically a bunch of playrooms strung together in a mall with things kids love - ride on vehicles, inflatables, bouncy castles and ball pits. The highlight was when all the kids rode on police motorcycles together.

We then went to the American Club town club for dinner. The kids were great. This has become a ritual for us while Michael is out of town.  Turns out the boys love watching the NBA playoffs.  This weekend they were rooting for the Celtics. I'm starting to think they are just fair weather fans though, because they always pick the team with the higher score. After dinner we came home and the three cuddled on the couch to watch Paw Patrol, Lego City and Number Blocks.

Today Lola wrote a little story about her wish and it was so sweet I helped her build a little nook. Just no magically appearing book when summoned, alas!

I leave for Singapore on a business trip tonight and I am sad to go.  When Al found out I was going he said, dismayed, "how come you always go to so many places and you don't take me. I miss you so much."  In a fit of pique he claimed he wanted to sleep on a plane forever.   Teo was also very woebegone, but both ultimately seemed to perk up when they started thinking about what airplanes and airport pieces I would bring back (for example, "Mom! Bring back a Singapore airplane but NOT Japan Airlines okay?!")

May!

This month has kicked my butt!  Don't get me wrong, I am loving life at the moment.  Not a day passes that I don't spend at least a few moments reflecting on how adorable, smart and sweet the kids are (and how much better and easier life is now, compared to when we had three under three, for example) and often not more than a few days pass without my reflecting on how much my professional life has improved, especially compared to where I was a year ago. The difference has been utterly transformational.  Friends that I haven't seen in a while all marvel at my energy and just overall lightness of bearing compared to before, which I wasn't even aware.

But this month has also been hectic and fun and fast paced, like life just IS nowadays. After my long time traveling abroad I really felt the need to hibernate a bit with the kids, and spend some time soaking them up. I try to take Lola and the boys to school a couple of times a week, and in any event always sit with them and eat breakfast together.  I try to make it back for dinner with them also.  

Weekends are great, in large part because I've consciously slowed down the pace of scheduled activities. I went through a period of intense FOMO during Covid where I felt the need to plan elaborate field trips every weekend - but that was probably more a measure of restlessness more than anything else. Now I am quite content just to play with the kids, doing dress up and make believe,  cooking and fort building, creating train stations and elaborate lego, or just reading together - with birthday parties, school or extracurricular performances, and special events, there is already so much to do at home!  This weekend the boys tried a taekwondo class.  Al told me he did not like how noisy it was when the coach clapped the bags together... 

I am pleased to report that the kids love reading.  (I am currently blogging while treating myself to a spicy curry noodle lunch, as I stayed up nearly all night engrossed in a novel I. Could. Not. Put. Down. I feel very bad, very tired, very very worn out right now. Definitely paying for that terrible judgment. But still defiant and elated because I finished the book.)  Khao Soi from Mak Mak, to cure a binge-reading hangover:

Lola especially will opt to wind down and just read some books quietly in her bedroom.  She is on a Matilda kick at the moment, having watched the new musical adaptation and now watching the older film adaptation - and started reading the book.  It is a pretty intense chapter book and I am impressed by how fearlessly she is tackling the dense words. I've already purchased Mrs. Piggley Wiggley, the Little House on the Prairie set and thinking about The Boxcar Children, The Babysitters' Club and Nancy Drew, among others. I just bought her some beautifully illustrated condensed stories for kids, like The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers and Chinese fables.  She usually loves any books about the Titanic, Ancient Egypt (or ancient civilizations, cultures and religions generally) and travels and adventure, but also has devoured books of her contemporaries, like Junie B. Jones and Judy Moody.

Al and Teo also both love stories so much and some of their happiest moments are sitting quietly, not being disturbed, flipping through picture books in both Chinese and English.  Among their favorites are Curious George, Fly Guy series, Don't Let the Pigeon [...!] series, Elephant and Pig, Dr. Seuss, Busy Busy World, and any pop up or flip open books having to do with airplanes, airports, trains, or the earth, the oceans and the universe.

Thankfully we are also balancing all the reading with some sports and activities to keep the kids active.  Three or four years ago if you had told me I could go to the club for dinner with one adult and three kids I would have shuddered in disbelief.  It seemed like #parentgoals that we could only dream about.  And now look.  We had a fun time playing soccer on the lawn at American Club, just me and the three kids, before we enjoyed dinner followed by some dessert while watching Babe on the lawn.  It's amazing how quickly things change.  

Lola's school is pretty intense academically, so it requires pretty much constant vigilance checking reading, spelling, math, and projects, which also keeps us busy on weekends. We are bracing ourselves for what is to come when the boys also enroll in the school in fall. Three different classes with three different themes, colors and homework schedules...in two different languages... that's six distinct workstreams.  Zomg.  I recently got Al an ipad as well, so now the kids are equipped and ready for their school apps and learning games.

Pictured below is a birthday party we attended at the beginning of the month, and some chill playtime at home when the weather wasn't so good.

This past weekend we had some friends over to ours, and enjoyed a nice impromptu soccer/rugby/eagle and chicken tag game despite the drizzling rain, and then a nice dinner out at the American Club town club. 

At dinner, Lola chose to wear her full Indian dance costume including head dress, though she was mostly very fixated on her loose tooth and whether it would fall out soon.  (NEWS UPDATE: IT FELL OUT DURING PE AT SCHOOL TODAY!! Meaning I was spot on with my prediction!)

Al was very cute, demanding a picture being taken outside to "show mommy the beautiful view" - and also because he knew he was wearing his nice shirt.  Check out the picture of him thrusting two arms up triumphantly with his peace fingers...

Meanwhile, Teo was also so hilarious and so cute.  He was enthralled by the basketball game on the TV screen, completely fixated on whether his team was going to win, and at one point when the Mavs came from behind for a stunning upset, burst into tears because he was overwhelmed by the tension. This kid!! 

Overall our playdate and dinner was a really great experience.  The kids were all generally pretty sweet to each other and it made my heart squeeze to see how kind, empathetic and generous my kids were.  Lola especially made the little girl in the group feel so included, Lola was definitely her fast favorite. 

It miraculously went off without any major meltdowns or issues, and served as an excellent reminder that sometimes the most pleasurable joys that make us happiest and most fill us up, are the simplest and purest. For kids, and adults too.

Happy Mother's Day and a Junk Boat Adventure

I am long overdue for a blog catch up! 

I had a lovely Mother's Day last weekend.  Lots of well wishes from friends and family.  Our teacher/ nanny Rachel came to tutor the kids on Sunday morning and also brought me a fresh strawberry cake.  It was a very promising start to a really nice day. 

It was a little bittersweet because Michael wasn't here to celebrate in person, but the kids were so sweet and loving. We took a tram ride to the birthday party of one of Lola's friends.

The birthday party was in a great communal space in a new building in Tin Hau - great kitchen and dining facilities, connected to an outdoor garden area with a very cool glass (but thankfully air conditioned) dome.  The food served was really delicious, all homemade or grilled, and on point.  It was also really nice for the parents of the schoolmates to gather and have a chance to catch up also. 

My mom tried her hand at flower arranging and got some pictures with my grandma.  Beautiful!

On Tuesday night, I met up with two girl friends (all working momma expats of 3 kids) and enjoyed a delightful dinner at Francis West.  It was probably the first time I had dinner on Peel Street in 7 years, haha!!  Crazy to think we used to live in that neighborhood.  Just goes to show, the seasons of life and the passage of time. We do well to enjoy each one.

For Wednesday, in a classic move, I got super excited and a bit ahead of myself, and ended up hosting a junk boat trip for about 20 people on the public holiday that we had on Wednesday.  It was so fun and I have no regrets, but it ended up being a lot of work to coordinate and arrange. It was the perfect day out on the water though.  I couldn't have asked for anything else.  Just look at the joy on Al's face at the pier!

The kids started out the morning pre-junk trip by settling into a little house that I made for them out of pillows, cushions, a big bed sheet, and blankets, between the window sill and the couch. 

We departed from central pier on Wednesday at 10:15am.  There was a huge crew of police, all fully uniformed, milling about.  We haven't seen police presence like that in Hong Kong since the protests, so this drew a lot of attention. We saw them all get on the big ferry boat ahead of us, which sparked speculation that they must have been going to Cheng Chau Island to police the crowds for the bun festival in relation to Buddha's Birthday.

Our boat was from the Aberdeen Boat Club, the one pictured in the middle in the collage above.

We journeyed to Turtle Cove in Tai Tam.  The wind was strong so the boat ride was actually quite choppy at times. Thankfully we didn't have any one too sea sick, though I think the waves did make some uncomfortable.  It took nearly 2 hours to get to Tai Tam.  As soon as we pulled into the inlet (right by Redhill Peninsula) the water calmed a lot.  One of our friends brought an inflatable stand up board which he then used to ferry a few of the older girls to the rocky little beach.  Lola went and found "treasure," which was a delight.

I really couldn't think of a better way to spend a midweek public holiday.