30 Nov 2016 - Certificate of Academic Achievement

We received the below certificate presented to Javier for his academic achievement and good conduct today.  I remember Jerlene also received this when she was in P1.  Well done kids and keep up the good work!

27 Nov 2016 - "凤阳花鼓" by Jerlene

Jerlene has been practising her Erhu quite diligently recently because she will be participating in a performance early next year during a Chinese New Year concert.  She seems to really enjoy playing Erhu.  Previously when she brought her Trombone home, she just left it in the corner for the entire weekend.  However, she would play her Erhu on her own every now and then.  As such the switch from playing Trombone to playing Erhu was a right decision.

Following was a CNY song called "凤阳花鼓", which will be one of the songs to be played during next year's concert.  Jerlene has improved quite tremendously in playing her Er Hu (二胡).  To be able to play like that with less than two months since picking up this skill, I must say it is a superb achievement.  Even her teacher commented that she has picked up the skill pretty fast. Keep it up, Jerlene!

27 Nov 2016 - Pasir Ris Park

Following last week's pokemon hunting at Ang Mo Kio Park, we decided to "conquer" Pasir Ris Park today.  While on our way to the park, we caught a few rare ones along the way.

Unlike Ang Mo Kio Park, there is no up hill or down slope around Pasir Ris Park.  However, this park is huge.  It's also a Shellder nest which is why we were here.  Other than catching all the Shellders we can find in the park, we were also able to enjoy the nice scenery around.

There was actually a Maze at the center of the park which we decided to give it a try.  Here is our victory signs after successfully escaped from the maze.

At one end of the park, there is a boardwalk.  We went in for a quick look and saw a squirrel on the tree.  There were many crab holes on the ground but no signs of crab.

We spent about 2 hours in the park before leaving for Jalan Kayu to have our dinner.  After dinner, we went around our place to catch a few more rare pokemons before calling it a day.  Once again, it was a great family outing!  :-)

20 Nov 2016 - Pokemon hunting at Ang Mo Kio Park

It's the start of school holiday and so is our pokemon hunting season.  We began our hunting at Ang Mo Kio Park today.  While having fun, it was also a great workout for all of us as there are up hill and down slope all around the park.

The main reason for coming to this park is because this is an Omanyte nest.  From the map below, you can actually see 3 different nests.  There is a Bulbasaur nest at Lower Pierce and a Kabuto nest at Bishan Park.  After we have caught enough Omanytes, we actually went over to Bishan Park but it was too crowded due to some events happening there.  We decided to come another day and went for our dinner.  We had a great family bonding and workout time today.  Will do it again soon.

18 Nov 2016 - Why bears?

We had our meals at Ci Yuan CC hawker centre today.  As we passed by a poster (below) on the wall, Javier suddenly asked:"Why are there bears in the picture?  We are not bears and bears don't come here to eat!".  Frankly, I don't have a good answer for him, do you?  :-P

13 Nov 2016 - Ender Dragon Minecraft Lego Set

We bought Jerlene and Javier their favourite Minecraft Lego set to reward them for working hard in preparing for their exams.  Even though the exam results are not out yet, we still think we should reward them for their effort.  We bought two Lego sets (Ender Dragon and Mine Cart) but they only took out one as they wanted to do it together

From the photos, it seems pretty simple to fix but in reality, it's quite tough as there are many small and similar pieces.  They spent the entire afternoon to build up the complete set.

12 Nov 2016 - Javier got his Taekwando Green Belt

Javier finally got his Taekwando green belt today.  Time flies and it has been one year since he started as a white belt newbie.  He's on track to his "dream" black belt.  :-)

He started learning back thrust kicks during the class.  His punches and kicks seem to have improved.

10 Nov 2016 - Playing "HOME" with ErHu (二胡)

After one month of practising with an Erhu, she can already play a few songs, though some parts still need more practices. I tried it myself and it's actually not easy. So to reach this stage with just 3-4 lessons is really an achievement. Keep up the good work, Jerlene!

In the following video, Jerlene was playing the song "Home" with her Erhu.

5 Nov 2016 - Javier is now officially a YouTuber

Have you heard of DanTDM?  If not, ask your kids or any kid along the street.  They will probably say "Yes I know DanTDM!  He's my idol!".  I started learning about this 24 years old British YouTuber when Jerlene and Javier showed me the videos that they were watching on their Tablets.  DanTDM started to gain popularity among kids around the world after he posted a series of YouTube videos focusing on the popular game Minecraft.  He currently has 12.8 millions subscribers and earns an annual income somewhere between $200,000 to $2,000,000.

Jerlene and Javier have idolized DanTDM so much so that they decided to become a YouTuber themselves just like him.  Javier had taken his first step today by creating two videos of his own.  He is now officially a YouTuber with his own channel.  Do give him some support by subscribing to his channel!  :-)

The following are his first two videos currently available in his YouTube channel.  When he first showed me his videos, I was pretty amazed by his commentary.  Enjoy his videos and do click on "Like" to give him some encouragement.  Hopefully by creating such videos will help in his Oral examination in the future.  :-P



What do you think of the above videos?  I love his creativity in building his Minecraft World with Pokemons such as Butterfree and Beedrill.  His commentary was quite interesting and I'm not even sure if I myself can do better,  He has plan to post more videos real soon so do stay tune!  :-)

4 Nov 2016 - Music Certificate by Wild Empire Choral Group

Every Tuesday, Javier had music lesson as part of his school curriculum.  Initially I thought it was just a normal music class taught by the school's teacher.  However. he brought back a certificate today showing that he had completed Voice Training (Basic Music Theory) conducted by an external vendor.  I do not recall Jerlene had this when she was P1.  No wonder Javier nowadays can sing much better.  :-)