We had our quarterly birthday celebration outing last weekend with our friends, at East Coast Park. To be honest, when the location was first suggested, the first thing my Hubby and I thought about was "What if it rains".
No, we are not people walking around with negative thoughts and negative energy. You see, it had been raining on alternate days for the whole of the last two weeks. In fact, the rain alternated on odd days. It rained on Monday and Wednesday, but remained bright and sunny on Tuesday and Thursday. And the date for our celebration meet-up happened to be on a Friday, Easter day.
But luck seems to be with us every time we prepare for our quarterly outing, well, maybe excluding the mini episode of miscommunication last year, when we went for our trip to Pulau Ubin. There was no rain in the morning of our meeting day. We made our way there, all ready for a few hours of fun before lunch.
My kids were excited about the trip. They had been counting down to Easter Day every day for the whole of last week. They agreed, between themselves, that they would definitely go for cycling once they reach the beach. I was pretty excited about the idea of cycling again. Of course, after the experience in Pulau Ubin, I've secretly decided not to take anymore backload (aka passenger) on my bicycle. I have made up my mind to ride on my own.
As we walked towards the beach in search of our friends, we walked past this bicycle rental shop. The kids, especially the Tiny Man, were so excited about it that they stopped by a group of bicycles, choosing and pointing out to me which style they wanted. My girl was still under the impression that she would get to be my backload.
Then my two kids saw our friend's son playing on the beach with his sandcastle-making toys. They went through instant memory loss. Forgetting totally about bicycle riding, they went running off to play with sand and the sea water with our friend's son.
While they played, I toyed with the idea of taking the girl back as my backload for a while. By the time we made our way to the bicycle rental shop, I discarded the idea. This park is actually very crowded on weekends and public holidays. The day we were there, there was a bustle of activities going on, cycling, roller-skating and roller-blading. There were experienced cyclists and skaters as well as the less experienced ones. I, for one, am not a professional. I have the tendency to swerve into somebody's path. It would save many lives and hassle if I do not take with me a backload. Instead, I've decided to be my Hubby's backload! Yes, we settled on this double-seater bicycle. Let the Hubby cycle me around for a change. I was pleased with my idea.
The truth is, this arrangement proved rather nerve-wrecking for me. It started from the beginning. Mounting on and launching into a ride. The Hubby wasn't exactly slender. And I am sure he was not used to a heavy backload too. We swerved about a little, before finally steadying out and cycling along smoothly. I was worried that I might be flung off the bicycle and fall flat on my face or perhaps fly into somebody's path. I was worried that the Hubby might forget that he had a backload, go down a slope too fast and again fling me off the bicycle. Or maybe he would take a corner too sharply and again fling me out into a nearby pond or grass patch. All these ridiculous thoughts went flashing through my head for a couple of minutes in the beginning. I was totally tensed and gripping the handles really tightly. I was nagging at the Hubby's back to "slow down a bit, you are going too fast, the kids can't catch up". I am sure the Hubby found this backload noisy.
I knew why I behaved this way. I was the passenger. I had no control of the vehicle, and I could not get a full view of what's in front of me. There were uncertainties. I could not handle the uncertainties. I was not able to entrust myself fully to the navigator of the bicycle. When I realized this, it was with some difficulty that I persuaded myself to relax the grip and trust the Hubby in his navigation and balancing skills. It was tough at first. I still found myself bobbing up and down, trying to get a view over his shoulders. But it got easier, I relaxed more and started to enjoy being the passenger.
I suppose life's like this too, especially in a family. When both tries to be in control, or there is no trust in each other, there would be tensions. There would be a lot of noise. It is only when both take a step back, come to an understanding of their responsibilities, have a little faith and trust in each other, that some balance may be achieved. With this balance, lesser noise would be created, taking away tensions arising from uncertainties. I know I simplify things. But I guess it is always easier to operate in simplicity.
So much for philosophizing. We rented those bicycles for one hour and we made full use of it. By the time we rode back to our starting point, which of course is the bicycle rental shop, the kids were almost dying of thirst. You see, the weather had been generous, showering us with tons of sunlight.
We headed back to our picnic spot where the kids replenished on the liquid and munched on some goodies prepared by our organizers.
For me, I went back to make more clicking sounds on the shutter. I loved the beautiful sunshine.
That to me is a good opportunity to practice photo-taking.
At least, I did not have to worry about the lighting.
Thanks to the lighting, I am beginning to like the photos I've taken.
The weather's behavior was in sync with our activities. Just as we were getting ready to leave for lunch, dense black clouds hung across the sea in the faraway, announcing imminent downpour ominously. Little raindrops came pitter-patter down on our wind-screen just as we drove out of the car park towards our venue for lunch.
It was a simple birthday lunch for us over here.
As usual, we ordered what we wanted to try, and settled down to our chit-chat before having to scramble back into action when our kids' food arrive. The conversation beside me switched between user review of the Samsung Galaxy Note and some sort of apps download. The group of tiny beings beside me were engaged in some games on a Daddy's mobile phone. Before long, food arrived, and that sent all the parents into portioning-the-food action, while some took the task of coaching and coaxing their kids to take this green and that morsel of meat ^_^
Our food arrived in well-spaced timing. These are our orders:
This, believe it or not, is my girl's order of cream of mushroom. Didn't she dislike mushroom, to the point of hate? Yes, she dislikes mushrooms, and well almost to the point of hate. But she loves cream of mushroom. She seemed to love the creamy, mushroomy taste. She didn't mind the tiny bits of blended mushrooms. Maybe she didn't know that those were mushrooms! ^_^ There was a large piece of mushroom sitting at the bottom of the bowl. She turned to me and said that she didn't want the soup anymore. I took out that large piece of mushroom, she cleaned out the remaining bowl of soup. *Sigh*
The son wanted pasta. He wanted the adult portion of Spaghetti Bolognaise. On the kids' menu, there is an exact version, Spaghetti Blow You Nose, this is it.
The Hubby needed to replenish in a spectacular manner after the morning workout. He wanted to try the Oven Roasted Pork Knuckles. The size of this dish really "knuckled" my jaw open!
The girl, a meat-eater like the father, went for something more dainty. Crisply fried wings with chips. The chips were crispy, not oily tasting at all. It was placed in such a strategic manner, looking deliciously at a friend's son. The sweetheart could not resist the chips, and the wings too!
For me, I missed Greek salad. A friend suggested that I could make my own. Yes, I could. But I missed eating Greek salad prepared in a restaurant. Why did I say that? My first Greek salad was in a restaurant, on the Greek island Mykonos, four years ago. I love the crunchy peppers and cucumbers, sweet and tangy tomatoes, slightly salty black and green olives, and the very milky and salty Greek feta cheese. There was Greek salad on the menu, so that would be for me.
It didn't quite taste like the Greek salad in Mykonos. There was feta cheese, peppers, tomatoes and olives. But it was just different. It wasn't disappointing, just different. This is the Greek salad I'd met four years ago.
Now that I take another look at it, I think there were capers and a generous sprinkle of oregano too, or was that rosemary? I am not too sure, I had forgotten how the dried herb tasted like.
As we, the "elderlies" made our way into the food slowly, most of the young ones had finished up whatever their taste buds fancied. And they went about their way of entertaining themselves. There was a bell, one that you would see in those steam ships, and that caught the imagination of the kids. They rang the bell, once, twice, thrice, and many more times, until one of the Dads threaten the kids with plate-washing in the kitchen. They got bored again, until one of them decided to imitate some of us poor old folks with presbyopia, or "old eyes".
Kids; they say the darn-est things and do the darn-est things, all at the darn-est time.
We took the opportunity to get a feel of the kind of activities, and most importantly, the most suitable timing, for the rest of our quarterly meet-up. It looks like this year promises more physical activities, with the kids more mobile and capable of looking after themselves. There is a swimming outing in the pipeline, my family would be looking at trekking in Bukit Timah Hill, and another family may be putting together a short trip to Malaysia. This is going to be exciting!
No, we are not people walking around with negative thoughts and negative energy. You see, it had been raining on alternate days for the whole of the last two weeks. In fact, the rain alternated on odd days. It rained on Monday and Wednesday, but remained bright and sunny on Tuesday and Thursday. And the date for our celebration meet-up happened to be on a Friday, Easter day.
But luck seems to be with us every time we prepare for our quarterly outing, well, maybe excluding the mini episode of miscommunication last year, when we went for our trip to Pulau Ubin. There was no rain in the morning of our meeting day. We made our way there, all ready for a few hours of fun before lunch.
My kids were excited about the trip. They had been counting down to Easter Day every day for the whole of last week. They agreed, between themselves, that they would definitely go for cycling once they reach the beach. I was pretty excited about the idea of cycling again. Of course, after the experience in Pulau Ubin, I've secretly decided not to take anymore backload (aka passenger) on my bicycle. I have made up my mind to ride on my own.
As we walked towards the beach in search of our friends, we walked past this bicycle rental shop. The kids, especially the Tiny Man, were so excited about it that they stopped by a group of bicycles, choosing and pointing out to me which style they wanted. My girl was still under the impression that she would get to be my backload.
Then my two kids saw our friend's son playing on the beach with his sandcastle-making toys. They went through instant memory loss. Forgetting totally about bicycle riding, they went running off to play with sand and the sea water with our friend's son.
While they played, I toyed with the idea of taking the girl back as my backload for a while. By the time we made our way to the bicycle rental shop, I discarded the idea. This park is actually very crowded on weekends and public holidays. The day we were there, there was a bustle of activities going on, cycling, roller-skating and roller-blading. There were experienced cyclists and skaters as well as the less experienced ones. I, for one, am not a professional. I have the tendency to swerve into somebody's path. It would save many lives and hassle if I do not take with me a backload. Instead, I've decided to be my Hubby's backload! Yes, we settled on this double-seater bicycle. Let the Hubby cycle me around for a change. I was pleased with my idea.
The truth is, this arrangement proved rather nerve-wrecking for me. It started from the beginning. Mounting on and launching into a ride. The Hubby wasn't exactly slender. And I am sure he was not used to a heavy backload too. We swerved about a little, before finally steadying out and cycling along smoothly. I was worried that I might be flung off the bicycle and fall flat on my face or perhaps fly into somebody's path. I was worried that the Hubby might forget that he had a backload, go down a slope too fast and again fling me off the bicycle. Or maybe he would take a corner too sharply and again fling me out into a nearby pond or grass patch. All these ridiculous thoughts went flashing through my head for a couple of minutes in the beginning. I was totally tensed and gripping the handles really tightly. I was nagging at the Hubby's back to "slow down a bit, you are going too fast, the kids can't catch up". I am sure the Hubby found this backload noisy.
I knew why I behaved this way. I was the passenger. I had no control of the vehicle, and I could not get a full view of what's in front of me. There were uncertainties. I could not handle the uncertainties. I was not able to entrust myself fully to the navigator of the bicycle. When I realized this, it was with some difficulty that I persuaded myself to relax the grip and trust the Hubby in his navigation and balancing skills. It was tough at first. I still found myself bobbing up and down, trying to get a view over his shoulders. But it got easier, I relaxed more and started to enjoy being the passenger.
I suppose life's like this too, especially in a family. When both tries to be in control, or there is no trust in each other, there would be tensions. There would be a lot of noise. It is only when both take a step back, come to an understanding of their responsibilities, have a little faith and trust in each other, that some balance may be achieved. With this balance, lesser noise would be created, taking away tensions arising from uncertainties. I know I simplify things. But I guess it is always easier to operate in simplicity.
So much for philosophizing. We rented those bicycles for one hour and we made full use of it. By the time we rode back to our starting point, which of course is the bicycle rental shop, the kids were almost dying of thirst. You see, the weather had been generous, showering us with tons of sunlight.
We headed back to our picnic spot where the kids replenished on the liquid and munched on some goodies prepared by our organizers.
For me, I went back to make more clicking sounds on the shutter. I loved the beautiful sunshine.
That to me is a good opportunity to practice photo-taking.
Thanks to the lighting, I am beginning to like the photos I've taken.
The weather's behavior was in sync with our activities. Just as we were getting ready to leave for lunch, dense black clouds hung across the sea in the faraway, announcing imminent downpour ominously. Little raindrops came pitter-patter down on our wind-screen just as we drove out of the car park towards our venue for lunch.
It was a simple birthday lunch for us over here.
As usual, we ordered what we wanted to try, and settled down to our chit-chat before having to scramble back into action when our kids' food arrive. The conversation beside me switched between user review of the Samsung Galaxy Note and some sort of apps download. The group of tiny beings beside me were engaged in some games on a Daddy's mobile phone. Before long, food arrived, and that sent all the parents into portioning-the-food action, while some took the task of coaching and coaxing their kids to take this green and that morsel of meat ^_^
Our food arrived in well-spaced timing. These are our orders:
 |
| TLC in the forefront, tomato juice at the back. |
 |
| Peach and lychee cooler |
 |
| Cream of mushroom |
The son wanted pasta. He wanted the adult portion of Spaghetti Bolognaise. On the kids' menu, there is an exact version, Spaghetti Blow You Nose, this is it.
The Hubby needed to replenish in a spectacular manner after the morning workout. He wanted to try the Oven Roasted Pork Knuckles. The size of this dish really "knuckled" my jaw open!
The girl, a meat-eater like the father, went for something more dainty. Crisply fried wings with chips. The chips were crispy, not oily tasting at all. It was placed in such a strategic manner, looking deliciously at a friend's son. The sweetheart could not resist the chips, and the wings too!
For me, I missed Greek salad. A friend suggested that I could make my own. Yes, I could. But I missed eating Greek salad prepared in a restaurant. Why did I say that? My first Greek salad was in a restaurant, on the Greek island Mykonos, four years ago. I love the crunchy peppers and cucumbers, sweet and tangy tomatoes, slightly salty black and green olives, and the very milky and salty Greek feta cheese. There was Greek salad on the menu, so that would be for me.
 |
| My Greek salad |
It didn't quite taste like the Greek salad in Mykonos. There was feta cheese, peppers, tomatoes and olives. But it was just different. It wasn't disappointing, just different. This is the Greek salad I'd met four years ago.
Now that I take another look at it, I think there were capers and a generous sprinkle of oregano too, or was that rosemary? I am not too sure, I had forgotten how the dried herb tasted like.
As we, the "elderlies" made our way into the food slowly, most of the young ones had finished up whatever their taste buds fancied. And they went about their way of entertaining themselves. There was a bell, one that you would see in those steam ships, and that caught the imagination of the kids. They rang the bell, once, twice, thrice, and many more times, until one of the Dads threaten the kids with plate-washing in the kitchen. They got bored again, until one of them decided to imitate some of us poor old folks with presbyopia, or "old eyes".
Kids; they say the darn-est things and do the darn-est things, all at the darn-est time.
We took the opportunity to get a feel of the kind of activities, and most importantly, the most suitable timing, for the rest of our quarterly meet-up. It looks like this year promises more physical activities, with the kids more mobile and capable of looking after themselves. There is a swimming outing in the pipeline, my family would be looking at trekking in Bukit Timah Hill, and another family may be putting together a short trip to Malaysia. This is going to be exciting!
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