Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Can it be?

Can it be that the last post on this blog was more than 3 years ago?

Where did all that time go?

Well, I'd tell you. The boys have grown. No longer children. No longer pre-teens. They are now teenagers. 

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Little Memories

Take a stroll, if you will, Along the placid shore of Lake Griffith; Watch the stillness of e water broken by tiny ripples, And smell the gentle breeze carrying the scent of wild flowers - Or you may be persuaded to thread a tackle, Sit in the cool shade I'd an overhanging branch; Gaze expectantly at the bright orange float, And quietly contemplate the vigor of the spring morning. There, for a moment, You hear the soft chirping of the chickadees; Where you spot one, the other is often close by - Jostling in jest and admonishing the industrious chipmunks. The little friends of the wind are never far off, Whenever you care to listen; Titmouse, finches, cardinals and nuthatches Are frequent visitors at our humble feeders. The restless-at-heart may hike through the State parks, Of which Brown county is most spemdid in the fall; Or spend am evening at the tranquil McCormack Creek, to explore The well travelled trails and relax at the weekend concerts. Summer hours, long though they seem - Are best enjoyed by driving about. Take the road off the beaten track - the old 37 highway, Quaint farm roads around Bedford, and so many more ... If you must, drive to Tuscola, Il. Not for just another factory outlet mall - But visit Bowling Green, Rocksville and Otter Creek, And discover the famous covered bridges. Fall is without doubt our favorite Time of the year - The brilliance of the oranges and yellows, A dazzling and stunning harbinger Of what paradise must be. Take a mment to sit under a maple tree And behold nature's golden canopy overhead. Walk among the stately trees near Woodburn and Wylie To invigorate the mind and cheer the soul. The cheers echo still in our ears, From a sea of red in hallowed Assembly Hall - But perhaps what lingers more in our minds, Is the frigid walk along 17th. The cold winter air invokes images of snow covered walkways, Leading to the white slopes of Ski World and Paoli. And images of a cozy evening, Cuddledupin a comfortable sofa watching the snow falls. All too soon, the snow turns to slush -- But when the barren trees began to sprout, The splendor and anticipation of spring returns, Drawing us out from out little hideaway. A hideaway we have no more, But in its stead, we find the hustle and bustle Of an efficient society With in. Ire time for the little. Elmore's of yesteryears. Ruf and SE July 20, 1997

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Cold Storage Kids Run 2010

After missing last year's edition of the CSKR, the boys were keen to participate this year. Unfortunately, D was still nursing his flu and wasn't up to the task. So it was only E who trooped down to the F1 pit this Sunday morning.

The Happy Chase non-competitive category was at 8+ am, and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. Organization was really good, with different gates clearly marked for the different categories. Once the kids went through the gates, they were assembled and waited to be escorted to the start point. The route was simple and spectator-friendly.

Met Tekko who was with Singapura Finance, one of the key sponsors. Thanks to him, we got two fuel belts. PK and JN were also there, with their girls.

Pleasant affair.

And E was really pleased with his medal. At the evening's examen, he said that the race was what he was most grateful for.

Monday, March 15, 2010

A dream

What do dreams tell us?

There he was, hanging on the horizontal poles looking down into the water. I looked down as well, and it was really a long way down. I could see people swimming down there. Lots of people.

There were other people hanging on as well. Then he let go and fell into the water. I could only watch.

He splashed into the water and I thought to myself - good thing he didn't fall on anyone.

The relief was only too brief. My next thoughts were - how would he handle the waters down there? Shouldn't I dive down as well? How would I find him? I imagined the worst...

I was paralyzed.


Then I woke up.

What do dreams tell us?

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Stage it!

Mar 11, 2009

Good afternoon Mrs Lim and fellow classmates. Today I will share with you about a bird nest in my garden.

This is me in my garden, and beside me is a ficus plant. This was a bird nest inside the plant that we found last year. And inside the nest were two eggs. But the noise in our house scared the bird and the bird abandoned the nest and flew away with its eggs.



This year, a new bird built another nest in our ficus plant. The bird soon enough laid two little eggs.

This is another photo o the bird in our nest. The bird is hatching its eggs and up till today the bird is still in the nest. The name of the bird is yellow vested bulbul.



This is the abandoned nest from last year. It is in the container because I want to pass this down to everybody to take a closer inspection of the nest.

Thank you for being a great audience and that is the end of my presentation.

Ethan Ong

Thursday, January 22, 2009

And now they have their own blogs...

David's blog


Amazing how quickly the boys pick up adding items, videos, games, etc.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Looking forward by looking back

Boys started P3. How time flies.

To set the records right, we thought we should give credit where credit is due. So we emailed this note to the principal of TPS:


Dear Ms Low

Just a quick email to let you know how much we appreciate the good work Mrs Wee has done with her class (Pr 2A) last year. Our son, Ethan Ong was a beneficiary.

We were initially concerned when Ms Zhang left and Ethan had to adjust to a new teacher. Although Mrs Wee adopted a very different approach from Ms Zhang and the students were not used to her initially, it became clear to us after a while that Mrs Wee is an effective teacher. In fact, I vividly recall how I was going through math with Ethan one day, and he surprised me with a way to solve pattern recognition. He attributed that to his teacher. There were many other examples of "tricks" from Mrs Wee.

At the end of the term, Ethan told us that he would miss Mrs Wee. (He also said the same for Ms Zhang!). Once again, we would like to state our appreciation on record.

Best regards

Friday, December 26, 2008

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2008: Kids Dash

Not for the first time, D & E participated in a kids dash. This time is a 750 m dash around the Padang, similar to the distance for the Cold Storage Kids Run in June.

Both boys did well. Unfortunately, E took a fall after being pushed by an overly enthusiastic boy. But he wasn't hurt.



Yes, it was a hot morning! They were happy with their medals.

A recent dinner conversation evolved around distances for the deca ironman race. "How far is 38 km of swim? ... 760 laps!"
"How far is 422 km?... 10 marathons?!?"
"And how fare is 1,800 km? ... cycle from Singapore to Bangkok??"

Do you think you can do a kid's triathlon some day? 150m swim, 6 km bike and 1.5 km run? Surprisingly, E replied yes. In about two years' time.

We'll see about that.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

8th Birthday Party

Nov 15, 2008

The boys decided to celebrate their 8th birthday with their friends, classmates and cousins, as in the previous year.

For the first time, we had a piƱata - a horse. We stuffed it with sweets, candies and chocolates. It was the highlight of the party.

Video to come....

Temasek Primary School Prize Giving 2008

Nov 14, 2008

Yes, it is that time of the year again - Prize Giving day at TPS. We are really proud that David managed to come in second in his class.



What's perhaps more significant is that David and Ethan will be in the same class next year - 3A. Apparently, TPS grouped the better students into three classes - A, B and C - equally distributed. The other students are also equally distributed among the remaining classes. There are no longer any bottom classes - an experiment that failed since its implementation a few years ago.

Monday, October 06, 2008

The best is yet to be

Ethan was upset this evening. He was playing balloon-minton with David and lost. He was very upset and cried.

After he showered and calmed down, we had a one-to-one. Ethan was upset that he lost. But more than that, he felt that he was not good at anything. He always lost (out) to his brother and is not as good. Although we have long taken the stand that we are not comparing the two, and do our best to accentuate the positive and praise them for what they are good at, we also realize that comparison (among themselves) is inevitable.

I started off by telling him what he is good at. But he was unconsolable. Then we talked about how he was the most courteous boy in class, and the awards he received for being kind and helpful. Is it more important to God that a child get great marks or that he has good character such as kindness and concern? We talked about the story that they learnt in church recently about the rich lady who died and went to heaven only to find that her maid had a mansion but she only a wooden shack (thanks, pastor!).

We talked about trying our best and leaving the outcome to God. We also talked about the effort rather than the outcome. Just as in running, we train hard (effort) but cannot ascertain the outcome. But train we must, otherwise we are doomed to fail. Similarly, we have to study hard (train) or practice our swimming / abacus / MT so that we can improve and do well.

A confidence crisis, but we believe that the best is yet to be.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Ethan's Valentine Day card for Mummy and Daddy



Happy Birthday from David and Ethan

The boys made a family of skunks for Daddy's birthday.



Best Dressed award



Today is Children's Day. The students are encouraged to dress up for various themes. David's class had a party theme. And he was judged as the Best Dress student for his class!

And this is David's first medal from TPS.

Temasek Star Award 2009



Ethan was the recipient of the Temasek Star Award for being charitable for his class 2A.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

New friends at COSI Cambodia



We visited COSI Cambodia earlier this month. It was good to catch up with Vuthy, our sponsored child. Met up with his two brothers and his adopted mother as well.

Vuthy visited Singapore a couple of years ago, and gosh, has he grown! Taller, filled out, lean and muscular. He also plays the piano at vespa and outreach. A fine young man he is turning out to be.

We were a little apprehensive as to how David and Ethan would take to COSI and interact with the Khmer children. As it turned out, they had a whale of a time. They learnt how to play Cambodian chess ... they beat me every time! They also had fun touring the COSI farm, and the animals. Ethan almost got kicked by a cow! No wonder the kids keep well away!

The boys also had fun playing with Ella and Alex. They also liked the food, much to our relief. BTW, we enjoyed the food too!

When it was time to leave, we were surprised that David and Ethan were despondent. But they perked up when we told them that we will be returning the following year.

Perhaps for 10 days. "Yeah!!" was the response.

They don't mind staying one month. We'll have to see about that.

Happy Teacher's Day

David made this card for Mdm Normawati:





We think this is a very creative card, but of course, we are biased.

And this is Ethan's card:



Check out the detailing:



He won't let us read his message to Ms Zhang. But I think Ethan misses his former teacher. As do many other students in his class.

Most Courteous Pupil award: Second year running

Ethan greeted me with a big smile when I came home the other day. Without a word, he placed this on the table:



The most courteous pupil award. Well done!!

This is the second year Ethan received this honor. No doubt Ms Zhang had a big hand in this, but I believe Mrs Wee did as well.

Keep it up, Ethan! We are so proud of you!