New School year

2016 has begun

Madison starts Primary 2 at SCGS this year. Where does time go! She was just in Primary 1! This year things get a little bit more serious, with year end streaming. She was very fortunate to have had her P1 form teacher continue teaching her English this year.

Annika is finishing up at Pat's Schoolhouse. Unbelievable. I still remember Madison in K2, preparing for her year end concert, Chris being away in Germany etc. Now it's Annika's turn! She's so excited to be the big girl at school. She has had the most impressive changes over the past 4 years. I still remember the days of her tantrums, whining, refusing to eat etc. Now she's ready for school nice and early, there's barely a struggle with breakfast, getting ready etc. She's doing well with her reading ( phew !) . I think she's looking forward to starting primary school!

Liam started Playgroup at Pat's Schoolhouse just a week ago. Things couldn't have gone better. At the end of last year I started to bring him along to school when I dropped Annika off, and let him hang around, to play with the toys, in the playground at school. I think it helped and he understood that he was going to school with her. For the first 3 days, Chris' mum accompanied him to school ( and took tons of pictures!). Then this week it was solo time. I couldn't be more proud of him! I drove Annika and him to the entrance, took him up the stairs and he willingly went over to the teacher, and waved 'bye-bye' to me! Not a tear! The teachers have reported that he's doing ok in class, and hasn't had any major problems so far.

Now that all 3 are in school, things have simplified tremendously! My 2 helpers have tons of time in the morning to tidy up/ iron/ cook etc, then bus over to school to pick the 2 younger ones up. That saves me from rushing around at lunch time trying to make pick up. Madison still goes to school via schoolbus, but I'm considering letting one helper take her to school by public transport. Schoolbus is $140 one way per month! Public transport for one child is $12 a month! Add the cost for an adult at $30 and it's still about 1/3 that for schoolbus! The only thing is schoolbus is door to door so very hassle free.

Tennis lessons have come to a bit of a stall. The lessons with Weber haven't continued because he is too busy, so we are left with Saturday sessions with Hashim. Which is fine. I'm encouraging Chris to spend more time coaching and playing with the girls because that'll probably make the most difference in the long run. Golf is still at Marina bay for Annika and Madison is going to try the school at Tanah Merah Golf course. The girls have forgotten about art lessons for now, and I don't think we will re start for the moment.

Hopefully we will have a nice peaceful year at school... I'm a bit nervous with the curriculum advancing, but it's what it is. Cheers to a new year!

Hard Rock Hotel Penang, December holidays

We've finally taken a family vacation away with Liam!

With the drop in the Malaysian ringgit, we decided to go to Penang for a short trip with the extended family. Chris' mum and Anthony joined us during our stay at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Chris and I have seen the hotel previously when we stay at the Rasa Sayang near by. The pool is really something.

So this time we chose it because of it's pool.

Completely fantastic experience. Going to the Penang Hard Rock Hotel is a great choice for families with small kids.

First of all it's a breeze getting into Penang from Singapore. The flight is 60minutes long, the airport has been renovated and fairly easy to navigate and to clear immigration. Just outside of the arrival gates we had easy access to large taxis that took us straight to the hotel in 30 minutes.

The hotel isn't big so it's great for small kids. We didn't have to navigate around grounds to get to food/pool/room. They have 2 main restaurants and the Hard Rock cafe. We booked 2 standard rooms and a Roxity family suite. The suite was a hit with the kids, but my grouse is that one bathroom for 5 people is not good on holiday. Especially with pool + sand = muddy floors and insufficient towels !

The kids had a ball! We were up early, had breakfast at the main hall ( which was of reasonable standard ) , then they hit up the pool. There is direct access to Batu Ferringhi beach as well, and for those keen there are boat operators willing to take passengers for 30 minute joy rides, jet skis for hire and banana boat rides as well.

When it got too hot out, it was usually time for a shower, lunch and then nap for Liam while the girls hung out at the playroom. The playroom was amazing! It's only a small space, but what makes it work are the facilitators and the hourly programmes. They had a 'cooking' lesson, face painting, story telling and apparently they could also participate in pool games !

We did manage to do a short tour of Georgetown during our stay. Penang has cleaned up alot since the last time we visited, and there are now tourists abound taking photos of the street art. Georgetown achieved Unesco Heritage status and no wonder. The main area is so quaint, and now filled with bustling new cafes and shops.

I had a spa day with my girls ( they are old enough to enjoy this! )-- booked us in at the Rock spa for a body scrub and manicures. To be honest, it was my first ever experience with manicures myself
( paronychia alert!!!)

All in.. a great family break.. we arrived back in Singapore in time for Christmas eve dinner with the rest of the family!