ARMY OPEN HOUSE 2009

On 7th September, Hubby took Ryan, my niece Ayra & of course, me ... to this year's Army Open House. It was my idea to bring Ayra coz I know she has never been to one of these exhibitions. I remembered many years ago, when we were still childless, we took my two eldest nephews, Syakir & Syafiq to a similar Army Open House. The 2 boys were much younger. This time round, its Ryan's & Ayra's turn, to come close to these military vehicles & equipment.

We took the kids for a quick lunch at (where else) McDonald's & proceeded to the Jurong Camp thereafter. We had to "ditch" our car & ride the shuttle service bus to the Pasir Laba Camp, where the Open House was held this year. Even the ride there seemed exciting to the kids ... haha! It was a pretty warm day too but the kids did not seemed to mind (though I was sweating buckets).

First stop was "Combat World". Why was this station chosen first? It was one of the nearest station where we were dropped off by the bus & the place that I know the kids will love. This is where all the military vehicles - land & air, were "parked" for everyone to admire. Of course, a round of photographs do not do justice to these majestic machines that protect us from harm. The good men & women of the Military (Land, Air & Sea) are often overlooked & taken for granted. We are fortunate in modern Singapore, we are well protected & we do not often see or hear of their hard work, unless something goes wrong.

Being a military wife all these years, I have been exposed to their rigorous training, the sheer dedication & the sacrifices our men in green have to make. Our humble island-home is safe from harm ... because of them. And though I have many grouses about a lot of things in Singapore, we should never doubt that these men in green ... deserve our respect & admiration, for all their hard work & dedication. We should salute them ... instead!

P/S : We all wore red that day. Haha ... that's what we do as a family. We dress in similar colours for the fun of it, for camaraderie & togetherness. Trust me ... its makes life easier when they're all wearing the same colour (especially a bright hue, its makes it much easier to spot in the crowd).

Ayra, with her ever-peace sign in tow ... with my Munchkin, Ryan ... posing alongside the majestic Chinook.

Inside the Chinook, we can't help but take a snapshot of the kids.

Hubby & the kids take a breather at the tip of the Chinook.

Ryan, showing his Papa, that its time to move on to the next wonder-machine.

Whilst waiting for our turn, Hubby turned the camera on me & the 2 kids.

Ayra, looking all sweet & demure.

All three posed.

Ryan didn't look like a happy camper here. If you can see on the right, the hands of another kid that was behind us (in the queue). Ryan is rather territorial by nature (errm ... just like his Mummy) so whenever he is doing his thing & another kid, "interferes" or budges in, he will show his displeasure by muttering something or he'll give his "lemon-lime-sour look". I tell you, I didn't go out & teach my kid to behave like this but he's really, naturally like that. Not something to "trumpet" about, just his character I guess. Don't know what to make of it, though. I know that it might seem a bit odd to be so territorial about his "personal space" at such a young age but as someone who has similar thoughts, I can't really say that he's doing anything wrong. Its just that as an adult I am more acutely aware of my surroundings & am capable of being tactful & "reign" in my emotions or thoughts. Ryan, at two & a half, is not there yet. So there are times where I have to be the tactful parent & "apologise" on my son's behaviour or when he's being a little bratty .... The things a parent has to do!

See Ryan giving the other kid, the evil eye ... hehe!

Ayra, as a soldier.

Ryan's turn to be the soldier.

They look so obedient here.

Ayra, doesn't forget her peace sign, whilst Ryan hitches a ride.

The three of them inside a Unimog.

Ayra posing as a strong girl.

Ryan, poses as the "small" hero, guarding the vehicle.

Look at my little poser behind!

Ayra, with a very funny pose! So glamour rite?

My son ... looking very serious, like he's really reading from the notebook ... haha!

Auntie & niece pose awhile.

Ryan looking very gleeful.

The three of them pose beside the Apache.

Whilst in the queue for a photo-op in the Apache (which took a loooong hour), Ryan was busying himself, killing the tiny ants on the ground (my little sadist - he loves killing the poor insects).

Snack time for the kiddies. A small part of the cone biscuits got stuck at Ryan's lips & he was trying "valiantly" to lick it off, without much success. He looked rather cute, whilst doing it.

These may look like ants in the sky ... but they are actually 6 parachutist dropping from the sky (from a Chinook). We were lucky to get a glimpse of that!

Finally! Awaiting their turn, next in the Apache.

This cute little girl & her family were in front of us in the queue. She & Ayra started talking & made friends during the short time. She insisted on taking a photo with my lovable niece. Don't they look cute!

My son, giving his best grumpy look ... why? Because the guy that was manning the Apache was leaning too close for his comfort & Ryan ... no like! So it showed on his face. Haha .. my baby is as grumpy as sour grapes!

Still not a happy camper!

Ah! Ryan's best friend, Ms Ayra, saves the day ... he finally has smiles for the camera!

The front of the Apache.

This was a free train ride for the kiddies. They like!

There was a bouncy castle but I didn't allow Ryan to join in as it was rather high, so we let him jump at the tip only.

You can see Ayra enjoying her short stint on the bouncy castle.

Haha ... don't ask me what the kids were doing? I just asked Hubby to snap a pic of the 2 kids, as they were just being their usual "impish-mischevious" selves. Luckily, we were the only ones in the place ... so thats a quiet relief.

Overall, it was a damn tiring afternoon but I'm glad the kids enjoyed themselves. As usual, the lovely sweet Ayra was a great companion. She looked like she throughly enjoyed herself. I wasn't sure that she would like the exhibition, it being Army stuff & all, which most girls don't fancy but it turned out that I think she enjoyed herself more than Ryan did. I guess Ryan still has this phobia of strangers or people touching him (when he's being helped in or out of the exhibits). He's also very wary of new experiences & unsure of a lot of things. Whereas Ayra was extremely gungho & daring to try nearly everything. I'm really glad she enjoyed herself. Maybe we'll go again next time, if Hubby is willing to bring the whole gang again. We'll see.

IT'S BUM-BEE TIME

So ... Ryan is still obsessed with Bumble Bee & the Transformers gang. Anywhere we go, if he sees toys & such, he will look up to us (rather adoringly, if I may say so) & say "See Mem-Mem?" What is Mem-Men, you may ask? Mem-Mem is Ryan's definition of anything that's not remotely human - that includes alien-robots (Transformers), superheroes with costumes/masks (Spiderman, Batman), etc. So everytime he sees the Transformers robots, he will excitedly say "Mem-Mem", which we (as dutiful parents, repeat after the "genius" child) by saying & agreeing with this "unknown" word to mankind - "Yah! Its Mem-Mem!" ... haha!

I tell you, we often get stares from strangers when we humour our kid, by repeating his unintelligible words. Yes, we chose not to "correct" our child but its not to purposely let him pick up words that are wrong or doesn't exist. We realised that a lot of times, when we let him label things in his own "unique" way, using his made-up definition & dictionary, he actually ends up learning more. If I kept on trying to teach him something that he's not ready for, I know that I would end up (mostly) frustrated & Ryan would end up, not learning anything (at all). Many a times, we've let go of Ryan's imperfect pronunciation & enunciation because I really believe in the end, everything will sort itself out. Naive though it may sound, but its usually true.

Another example of Ryan's mis-pronunciation, if you may is ... byes. Yep, my son says BYE with an extra S. Plural or not, I encourage him to say bye (& bid farewell) to whomever it may be, for its the thought that counts ... not the extra S behind the BYE. And though its grammatically incorrect, as a 2 year old, I think its forgivable ... don't ya think? Besides, when I was 2 ... I really doubt I was even able to say BYE or possess half the vocabulary of Ryan's, but look where I am now.

So even though I'm not unduly worried about Ryan's grasp of the English language, I realise that I am rather relaxed about his grammar & pronunciation (at his age now). I don't think anyone expects a two & a half year old to be able to recite passages in prefect grammar. Not that Ryan is capable of that ... infact he might be considered a mish mash, as he sometimes mix his English, with a sprinkling of Malay. Well, he is half Malay after all ... it does make sense, duh! Well, on Chinese, blame his Daddy if his son can't speak any or Cantonese for that matter. I foresee spending lots of money on Chinese tuition, when Ryan goes off to school. Arggh!

OK, OK .... I'm digressing. This post is after all, about the lovable Bumble Bee. Whenever we pass any poster or mock-up of Bumble Bee (or Transformers), we can't help but take a few shots for the album. This time, its no different.

One, with Mummy! (Hubby took this photo)

Another, with Daddy! (I took this photo - notice that the "frame" of the photo is much nicer than the above, taken by Hubby. I guess having taken a million pics of my son ... has made me a much better photographer, after all .. haha!)

So the next time, Ryan comes out to any of you guys that know us (as a family), & he says Mem-Mem ... I know that you guys would humour him by saying - Yes its Mem-Mem/Transformers/ Spiderman, coz you would know what Mem-Mem means (by now) to that little boy. Thank you for making Ryan happy .... his parents appreciate it! ; )

IT MUST HAVE BEEN A SATURDAY

Why the title of this entry? Haha ... its because on a lot of our carefree Saturdays, we tend to take the bus (& train) to have our breakfast, in the neighbourhood (coz we can't drive). But all that will change, with the new announcement this week, that all OPC car owners can drive ALL DAY on Saturdays & the eves of the 5 major Public holidays, starting end of Jan 2010. Hooray! Its about time man! I've always found the 3pm time (rather stupid) coz its neither here nor there ... duh! But of course, there's a trade off right? We need to pay slightly higher road tax, which I see as a small price to pay ... to be able to use our car on all Saturdays of the year. We really can't wait for it to come true ... don't understand why they have to wait till Jan next year though. Oh well, can't complain ... just gotta bear with it, I guess - grin grin!

One other clue ... Hubby was carrying the smaller blue haversack (which is now unusable coz we just broke the side buckle recently). If we were driving, I would probably be hauling the smaller pink carry-on for Ryan's stuff (plain drinking water & his trusty supply of milk). Oh well, Saturday or not, you can see us bright & early ... catering to our boy's (many) whims of his eggy prata, for his usual weekend breakfast.

Waiting patiently for our prata supply to be ready!

Don't you think that Ryan smiles ... just like his Daddy?

After filling our tummies, we headed down the escalator. The photographer Mummy thought that it would be a swell idea to get some pics of her two boys down the flight of moving stairs. It was made possible because the escalator was empty & rather long. They were both game for the shots, so that made it easier for me to catch them at their most natural. We decided to bring Ryan to the nearby arcade. We have , for the longest time tried to avoid arcades of any kind because we were very sure that Ryan will get "addicted" to them (which turned out to be right). Most times he will be extremely reluctant when time comes to leave but as a treat. we still bring him to these arcade (sometimes).


A lot of times, its just to sit on the rides (no money or tokens involved) but of course, at times we cave in & allow some rides or games. I'm all for some enjoyment & games ... I just don't want it to become a norm or expectation that Ryan gets to play all the games that he wants. That's not what I want to teach my child. Its ok to play some games & such but if it becomes an obsession & an "obligation", that's where it stops being a "playtime" & becomes a tug-of-war of, if the parent wants to keep the child from throwing a tantrum, she has to give in to the kid's demands. I definitely don't want to go there ... nor do I wanna encourage free-play for all. I know I have to tread a very fine line of finding new experiences, giving my son a good childhood & trying to be a good-enough parent ... that's trying to find a balance between play & learn (especially when he starts going to school, next year). Well, I'm still trying ...

Posing on the car ride.

Ryan was wearing his new Bumble Bee watch (purchased at Toy's R Us).

Again ... posing at the carousel.

Nice horsey!

Banging on drums, with the sticks!

Singtel had a F1 car (which had a game installed inside the driver's seat) in the atrium. I guess its for die-hard F1 fans (not for muah).

Made Hubby & son pose beside the car.

Hubby looks tired ... errm, its still too early in the day to be tired but that little bundle on his lap, can tire any adult, without even trying ... haha!

AN ANIMAL RIDE AT MARINA

If you didn't know by now, my son Ryan is obsessed with rides of any kind. Everytime we head to Marina Square, we either have to get a cup of Mc's Chocolate Milkshake or let him have a go at this (kinda ugly looking) gigantic mobile animal rides that cost $2. Of course there are times Ryan gets both treats ... haha!

As usual, Daddy becomes the "ride guardian" or should I say ... the parent that is light enough, not to "kill" these rides. Ryan loves this ride ... as usual.

Ryan insisted on maneuvering the ride. He "refused" to let his Daddy help him!

Whilst walking back (after the ride), I noticed that there was a rather new mini playground for the kiddies nearby. There didn't used to be one (as I can recall) but there is one right now. Ryan of course, had to try out the new playground.

After having a good time on the rides & playground, Father & son made a quick pit-stop at the water feature beside a coffee joint (is it Dome or Coffee Club?) & posed for some cute pics. Everytime we hang out at Marina, Ryan will stop-over this rather mesmerizing water feature, as we have to pass it from the basement car park ... oh well, if that brief stop makes my Munchkin happy, why not? Its a very small "price" to pay, as I always tell Hubby. Errm ... at least it doesn't cost us any money, haha ... infact its free! (as can be). Since there are not many guilty pleasures that are FREE in "fine" Singapore, anything that brings a little joy & happiness to my little boy, me & Hubby will surely try our best to make our only child happy (ok, ok .... call us cheapskates, but we can't help it ... we can't afford a lot of things). Anything that's dirt-cheap or free is fair game for this family ... haha!

How, Mummy? Do we look cute?

I like this pic. Ryan looks forlorn, deep in thought as I "caught" his sideview ... Nice!

A TRAIN RIDE ... AGAIN

OK, these pics are definitely back-dated ones. I realised that due to my recently emotionally-charged entries, I had totally "ignored" the batch of new photos that lay dormant in my PC. Ahem ... so as usual, I am trying my best to get up to speed. I will take probably awhile to get almost everything up, so bear with me yah.

Again, this post will be the start of MANY back-dated entries for us. The "bad" thing about putting all these "old" pics up here ... once I get them all done, I will have a new batch of pics that will be considered "old news" by blog context. Oh well ... I'm doing my best, with my limited free time, so I hope that everyone will still enjoy dropping by for a read, anytime.

OK, on with the pics ...

This batch of photos are the first in a group of pics that I tried tweaking a little. I thought that they were kinda "darker" than usual, so I used Picassa to lighten them & add some brightness. Errrm ... I think I kinda overdid it. The pics are a little overly bright & I simply don't have the patience (nor the time) to redo them once again. So, here they are ... brightened & all.

Ryan giving me a sign for the photo op. As usual, Hubby's there for his Munchkin.

Ryan looking very excited ... & waiting anxiously for his train ride.

Ryan's Mummy posing with the little terror (note the "grabbing" of Munchkin's head ... so that he won't run away, before the pic was taken).

Ryan displaying his latest bad habit to the hilt ... the sucking of his tiny fingers, drool & all!

Ryan showing his Daddy the finer points of playing with his new book.

Grabbing & playing with the digicam cover ... again!