31 Mar 2019 - Javier turns 10!

My boy has turned 10 years old today!  OMG, ten years has passed just like that?  Really hope that time can slow down a bit.

Just like the past few years, he requested for Swenson lunch once again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Javier!  Whatever wishes you had made, hope they will all come true!  :-)

30 Mar 2019 - "Uninvited" guest

What's that?

22 Mar 2019 - Night Luge and Movie Screening at Sentosa

We did not manage to complete all 4 rides of Luge at Sentosa yesterday because it was suspended due to lightning warning.  As such, we returned to Sentosa this evening to complete the remaining 2 rides at night under the colourful lightings.

It was a totally different experience to take the Sky Ride at night.

We had a nice view from Imbiah Lookout and even managed to catch a glimpse of the fireworks, which was likely coming from USS Resort World Sentosa.

As part of Sentosa FunFest event, there is free movie screening at Palawan Green every evening.  Tonight it was showing the popular animation "Frozen".

We left Sentosa at about 9:30pm.  This is the first time we stayed at Sentosa till so late.

21 Mar 2019 - Super Worm Equinox Moon

Tonight, we witnessed the last of the three supermoons for 2019.  Though it was quite cloudy after the rain, we still managed to catch a glimpse of it.

So why the name for the latest supermoon called "Super Worm Equinox Moon"?
According to National Geographic, during the equinox, the sun crosses the plane of the Earth's equator, making night and day all over the Earth of equal length.  As for the worm part?  This moon coincides with the time of year when earthworms begin to emerge from the thawing winter soil.  A full moon has not landed this close to the first day of spring since the year 2000, and the two celestial events won't happen less than a day apart again until 2030.

21 Mar 2019 - Palawan Pirate Ship

It's time for some water play at the Palawan Pirate Ship.  This is an area designed for children aged 3-10 years old, and it is free for guests to splash around and have fun as a family!  However sadly, it will cease operation on 15 April 2019 to make way for new attractions.  As such, this was probably the last time Jerlene and Javier got to play here.

After about an hour of fun, there was an announcement saying that the attraction will be suspended due to lightning warning from the NEA.  We waited for a while hoping that the warning would go away but the sky actually got darker with rain clouds.  From the look of it and based on the weather forecast, we felt that the chance of the sky clearing up was slim.  So we got ourselves changed and went for some sheltered places as it started to rain.

If you read one of my earlier posts, we still had 2 more Luge rides to go but that attraction was closed as well.  By this time, the rain actually got heavier.  Fortunately, the staff allowed us to come back within a month to complete the 2 rides.  We then drove off to Resort World Sentosa to have our dinner before heading home.

21 Mar 2019 - Sentosa FunFest with Sanrio Characters

We were here at Sentosa last year where the entire Palawan Beach was filled with We Bare Bears inflatables.  This year, Sentosa FunFest is back with larger-than-life inflatables and popular Sanrio characters - Hello Kitty, My Melody and Gudetama!

Other than inflatables of popular Sanrio characters, there were more inflatables of all shapes and sizes laid out across Palawan Beach, where kids navigate across the Balancing Beam, escape from the Kids Maze, climb across the Traversing Wall, indulge in some bubbly fun at the foam pool and more!

We were amazed by Gudetama (蛋黄哥) inflatables that were scattered all along Palawan Beach.

And one will not miss the the giant 3m tall egg yolk lounging on the sandy beach!

21 Mar 2019 - Skyride, Luge and 4D Shooter at Sentosa

This week is school holiday and we decided to bring the kids out for some fun.  Sentosa is the first place that came to mind.  Admission to Sentosa is free throughout this school holiday week.  We were here last year and one unforgettable experience we had was the Luge ride.  So we decided to do it again this time round.

The Skyride brought us up to Imbiah Lookout before we "luged" down one of the four trails.

We bought each of us a bundle of 4 Luge rides.  Each bundle comes with 10 Sentosa Funpass tokens which we could redeem for admission to certain attractions or drinks/ice cream at specific location.

We decided to use the 10 tokens at Asia's first 4D Interactive shoot out game "Desperados" at 4D AdventureLand.

After which, we rode down the Luge trails twice and decided to leave 2 remaining rides for the night.

14 Mar 2019 - I-DARE 12 km Hike

To mark the last phase of their primary school experience, the school had organized a 12km Hike for all Primary 6 students.  Jerlene and her classmates took up the challenge today.  They embarked on their journey at about 8am from Rosyth School.  They had a rest stop every 2-3 hours.  At the first rest stop, they did their goal setting. 

After which, they mainly followed the park connectors to reach their final destination at Coney Island.  When I first heard about it, I was like "What??!!?  Walk all the way from Rosyth School to Coney Island???!!!"  I cannot imagine myself doing such a long hike but these kids did it.

They reached Coney Island at about 3pm and it's all worth it.  They had a well deserved break by the sea at Coney Island before returning to school by bus.

Everyone received a "Finisher" medal at the end of this 12km hike.  Well done to Jerlene and all your classmates.  And thanks to the school teachers for organizing such a great challenge and ensuring the kids' safety throughout the hike.

8 Mar 2019 - Our 19th Anniversary

Today is our 19th Anniversary and we started our day by watching a blockbuster "Captain Marvel" at GV Paya Lebar.  After watching the movie, we can't wait to watch "Avenger: End Game" in about a month's time.  While looking for a place for lunch, we passed by "Cash Studio - Family Karaoke" and decided to go for a singing session in the afternoon.

The KTV room is very nicely decorated.  It has 3 TVs and even has a stage!  We were able to control volume, lighting and create special effect via a control panel.  The price is also quite reasonable.  Will come back again one of these days.

2 Mar 2019 - Will Alipay give Javier an offer?

Today I watched a Variety Show produced by China Zhejiang TV Channel called "智造将来", which translates to "Intelligent Future".  This programme showcases many innovative projects and technologies created by individual or companies that will benefit our daily life.  Through the most advanced TV narrative language and stage presentation technology, "Intelligent Future" fully demonstrates the power of science and technology to achieve dreams in a new and innovative way.

In the show, there was a 12 years old girl who showcased a simple game that she had created using a platform called CodeMao (编程猫).  It is actually a Chinese version of the Scratch platform that Javier has been using to code his games.  The girl claimed that she had created 45 games so far.  During a coding competition organized by Alipay, she won 2nd place but because she's the youngest participant, Alipay actually gave her an offer.   Following is the video of the above mentioned TV programme.
When I showed Javier the game that the girl had created, he immediately went to his workstation and started coding.  In about an hour's time, he completed the programming and requested me to test it out.  It actually works quite well.  He even added extra challenges to make the game more exciting.  Below is a video showing my first attempt of the game.
After watching the TV programme and trying out Javier's game, I am really proud of him.  Firstly the girl in the show is 12 years old and Javier is only 9.  Secondly, the girl had created 45 games while Javier had already created more than a hundred projects.  Finally, I'm not sure if the girl had gone through any formal training to pick up the programming skills but Javier had picked it up all through self-learning.  Now it makes me wonder if Alipay is willing to give Javier an offer as well?  :-P Anyway, if you are interested to try out his game, click here.

25 Feb 2019 - Student Leaders Investiture

Javier has started performing his student leader duty since few weeks back.  And today is the actual investiture ceremony.  This is the first time he's wearing a tie, which is mandatory for the ceremony.

Hopefully by assuming such role and responsibility, Javier can grow into a better person and leader of the tomorrow.  All the best, Javier!

24 Feb 2019 - Hydroponics and the carnivorous Byblis

Hydroponics is a form of gardening that uses no soil, but instead grows plants in a solution of nutrients mixed with water.  Tracy is currently into this and has turned part of our living room into a mini hydroponics garden. 

Below shows an Arrowhead plant that has grown so big from one month ago when it was just a few tiny bulbs (慈菇).  Chinese likes to grow 慈菇 during CNY as it implies benevolence.  Its arrowhead-shaped leaves that grow skywards signify continuous improvement and progress in all endeavours in the New Year.

Following are some of the hydroponics plants that are currently in our indoor garden.

One interesting plant is called the Byblis (below).  It is a carnivorous plant which has sticky hairs that trap insects when they are fooled into thinking that the glandular secretions are drops of nectar.  If you look at the photo below closely, you can see an insect got itself trapped by sticky hairs.  The insect is gradually digested where it landed.

23 Feb 2019 - Javier's very own Mario Party Games

For those video gamers out there, you would have probably heard of a Nintendo game called Mario Party.  And today, Javier published his very own Mario Party Game on Scratch.  He had spent quite sometimes creating this game.  At this moment, the game allows 1 or 2 players to start.  It consists of 5 mini games with full sound effects.  I was once again being "summoned" to be his beta tester.  After trying out the game, I must say I'm really impressed.  I tried to look at his codes to understand the coding logic and oh my god, it's beyond me.  Click here to try it!

Up till today, he had already created and shared 100 projects on Scratch platform.  And he's still going strong.  Very impressive, Javier!  Keep it up!  :-)

20 Feb 2019 - Supermoon at Dawn

When we left home early this morning, we saw an extremely bright and round full moon in the west direction.  We then realized it's actually a supermoon.  This year we get to witness three supermoons in a row on 21 Jan, 19 Feb and 21 March.

Supermoon appears up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than usual.

Below is a picture presenting some facts about supermoon.  Click to enlarge it.

17 Feb 2019 - CNY Lion Dance and Mom's Birthday

We gathered at my sis's place this afternoon for the Chinese New Year Lion Dance Performance.  This has been an annual event for our family and I started blogging about it since 2008.  When I looked back at those blog posts, it's amazing to see how much the kids have grown.

At the end of the lion dance performance, four Chinese words (财源广进) were formed by oranges on the floor which means "Wealth and Fortune in Abundance".  Huat ah!

Following is a video clip of the lion dance.
Tomorrow is my mom's birthday and we had an early celebration for her after dinner.

祝您， 生日快乐，身体健康，天天开心，万事顺利！