Piano concert

Natalie had completed two years of Junior music course (JMC) with yamaha and next year she will move on to the intermediate level without having the parents tagging along. As a parent who didn't possess any musical background the courses conducted by yamaha sets an extremely good foundation for the kids for we had to accompany them and ensure that they learn and practice the techniques at home properly. So strong foundations coupled with family support were set at the forefront and parents too get to learn music at the same time. The philosophy behind this makes the course successful in instilling interest in Little children making them unafraid of hardship and with the year end concert in place they are given an opportunity to show off their talent to the rest of the family members.

Natalie enjoyed music and she is such a systematic student that I don't even have to ask her to practice, and she always manages to find time to practice before she sleeps. I love the fact that she can now organise her own routine and she don't't need to be stressed by a pouncing mummy who had to nag at the kids all the time to get work done. I am glad I never have to go down that route either as it is tough for the parent to want to be in control all the time and it makes you an unpopular figure in the house as well. -"Thank you darling for not transforming mummy into a tiger mum. "

Nathan seems to love music too. He attended jie jie's performance last week and couldn't resist dancing to the beat! Everyone watched on with amazement as he grooved and jumped in front of the class.  We had such a good time that day!

Natalie had been practicing her techniques on a key board and given the perseverance she displayed over the last 2 years,  we felt she can now handle real responsibilities and be rewarded with a real full height piano. The salesperson Anthony was such a persuasive guy and played such wonderful pieces which mesmerised us into agreeing to purchase the piano for her. The piano came on 24th and it was the biggest present that we have gotten for the kids thus far!  Natalie the ever responsible one dusts it each time she plays with it without me having got to remind her.

Thank you Jehovah for giving me such wonderful children and please continue to care for us despite our shortcomings.

Scary Bali

Rachel was at Bali recently and I thought i should blog down her encounters as a reminder for all of us so we know what to do when faced with an emergency.

Dangerous beach
Bali beaches are famous for their surfing and their sheer beauty. Yet despite the huge demand for this destination, never assume the peaceful surface meant that it is safe to explore particularly for children. We are all vulnerable to  treacherous undercurrents, and even the miniscule (but very real) risk of tsunamis. Parts of Bali’s coastline – mostly the southwest part extending from Kuta to Canggu – have dangerous rip tides and undertows. At certain times of the day and year, red flags are erected on dangerous beaches. If you see a red flag on the beach, do not attempt to swim there – the currents can sweep you out to sea and under before anybody on shore can attempt a rescue.

However flags are erected only along shores next to 5 star hotels and Lifeguards are unfortunately quite rare in Bali. Some beaches have lifeguards and flags with yellow and red markings that indicate the presence of a lifeguard, but many dont.

For rachel,  She thought she could rest in the shallow waters which was only knee high next to the beach. She sat there frolicking water when the undercurrent came all of a sudden and dragged her out by at least 30 metres away from the shore within seconds. She struggled to swim back, but the currents are impossible to fight and overwhelmed her. She thought she might die.  And perhaps it was due to her training... she remembered to put her hand up to gesture to the lifeguard for help. In he jumped as they both struggled to return to shore. He shouted at her to stand up before the next current attempt to drag her out again. It was such a hallowing encounter as she brushed against the near situation of drowning! So parents with kids be warned! Including yourselves!  Try not to play near the shore when you see currents and especially when you see the red flag. It does not take a windy day for currents to drag you away!

Treacherous Mountain trekking
Rachel who was never the outdoor adventurous girl somehow decided to challenge themselves via mount trekking with her colleague.  They hired a local hiker who fetched the 2 girls early morn at 2/3am whilst everything was pitched dark. Not sure what came into them since security is not exactly great in this country and what's more they were just 2 young pretty and vulnerable girls without male company. As a group I think they already looked vulnerable. Fortunately nothing bad happened during this trip.

Anyway back to trekking,  the girls were brought on a Stoney trek on Mount Batur, one of the active volcano on the island of Bali, with an altitude of 1717 meters above sea level. You can travel by road approximately 2 hours drive from Denpasar. 

They had to climb couple of hours before reaching the peak.  Climb gets worse as they struggled to get to the top. Rachel mentioned that there were couple of near misses where the large rocks almost hit her. Again she didn't know what to expect when the day breaks and they finally saw the treacherous path that they have taken. View was great of course but was it worth dying for?  I don't think so. In fact,  the volcano is an active one and cases of tourists falling into the crater was not uncommon.  So please ... Those who have never tried trekking or mountain or even Hill climbing don't try to scale the volcanic mountains in bali.

Water -Chris' experience
Drink lots of water… but don’t drink from the tap. The tap water in Bali is of uncertain quality, and is often pegged as the cause of many a tourist’s case of “Bali belly”. When in Bali, stick to canned drinks or bottled water. Chris suffered from bacterium growth even without having to drink it ie via their bathing water as he was the only one who bathed at the standing shower head whilst we all used the bath tub.  So yes never drink their tap water.

Night Safari

We visited the night safari over the weekend. It was our first time at the safari and the experience was amazing!  I like the fact that it happened at night and it makes the journey into the animal Kingdom a lot more mysterious, minus the dreaded tropical heat. Jie jie was kinda afraid of the dark as Flash lights were not allowed and the atmosphere was almost pitch dark with soft lights shining into the animal dens. Hyena and asiatic animals like the deer, goat,  buffaloes,  Tiger,  elephant,  hippopotamus etc seems to dominate the safari. Of course individual trails which allows you to walk closer to the enclosures makes the night ever more adventurous since this was their first time Travelling in darkness.

I must say being pregnant and travelling with young children had its privilege.  We had priority treatment throughout the trip. . Priority boarding without having to queue for the tram rides and reserved seating at the amphitheatre.

Overall great experience and will go again with baby 3!

Children's activities at Cafe Mosiac

High tea at Cafe Mosiac, Carlton Hotel, great food and children's activities including balloon sculpting and cupcake making and not forgetting great company with Daniel and clan.

1st JMC assessment

The first asessement passed with breeze and surprisingly when children didn't know what's instore for them they are more at ease. Perhaps it's one on one without the stress of having to face a group of eager audience, Natalie performed well and responded to the examiner's enquiries in a more light hearted manner.

She sang the "lullaby of the stars" and listened attentively as the teacher tested her listening skills. She was assessed on 3 song pieces and I must say she aced all 3 of them - "little red shoes", "lavenders Blue" and "the Dove".

Session ended within 15 minutes and she felt it was too soon.  I was glad she didn't even felt a tinge of fear and this bodes well for her as she advance further in music.

Baymax

Big hero 6 was about the sacrifice of a talented elder brother for the sake of a renowned scientist who had gone astray in seeking revenge for his daughter, leaving the brilliant minded younger brother(hiro hamada) who ultimately discovered the truth about the professor as he formed a team to fight him off. Baymax, the medical giver robot, who possessed the like mindedness of his elder brother, intending to do good for people ended up as a member of hiro's team under the pretext of providing treatment and counselling for the grieving boy. 

Nathan enjoyed the show but ultimately gave it a bad review as he didn't understand why the elder brother and Baymax had to end up sacrificing themselves. He was saddened by the fact that they had to leave the younger brother in order to save others. 

Natalie felt sad for the sacrifices that were displayed in the show as it's atypical from the usual storyline on princesses and way heavier as a life learning topic that transient beyond time.

Gong gong the storyteller

The babies made gong gong tell them a bed time story today.... The three little pigs! Nathan insisted that gong gong finishes the story before he is allowed to leave for the night.

Name for baby

Oh boy!  Kinda stuck on the names for our second boy.  There are not alot of names starting with N out there and us wanting to keep to the tradition of Nats and meaning that our children are gifts from God, the search just became more limited. Our short shortlist as follows:-
1. Natanael
2. Nathaniel
3. Noel
4. Nigel
5. Nicholas
6. Nash - think this is more a last name then first name.

My current favourites are 1 and 3. Got to make up my mind soon!

Lunch time joke:-

Natalie: "let's call baby noodle ng."

Nathan: "yes... so he can eat all the noodle that I prepare for him! "

Lol!

Elsa's dress

It had been a year since the launch of the frozen movie but elsa has yet lost her magical touch with the kids.

Christmas and it's association with snow and icicles simply didn't help and rekindled the obsession within Natalie. Of course beautiful designs of elsa's dresses which are rampant in the market now makes it even more difficult for parents to brush off the request that easily either.

Daddy being a big fan of his daughter was not able to restrain himself from giving in to the pleas of his only daughter. He gave in at the first request and set the weekend aside to shop for that perfect elsa gown.

Natalie was not the only one who was pleased with the new dress. We allowed her to wear it immediately upon purchase and it was a head turner for many kids. Couple of dads even approached Chris to ask where he bought the dress.  The proud daddy was so pleased with his find, particularly when it was reinforced by desperate dads who were still searching for that perfect gift for their daughters.

Natalie was so happy with her gown that she kept wanting to look at it when it was being dried and made plans to wear it next week during her first piano assessment ☺ and she will match it with the white princess crystal - heeled shoes from Laura Ashley (another one of her priced possession from daddy! )

Lion's novelty race

Attended a Lion's Event jointly organised at ITE Simei this morning. As we were the only family who registered for the novelty race,  it was a clear walk over!  Well at least the kids spent the morning running around, and had fun engaging in the rest of the activities.