Showing posts with label Parenthood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parenthood. Show all posts

Saturday, May 25, 2019

When cruising

This last ship that we were on had a lot of interesting features and things to keep everyone entertained. One of our favourite places served up these:



Made by these:





The robots did an awesome job, but pity whoever loaded up the mixers used pineapple juice instead of orange juice, and diet coke instead of regular.



Usually when we are cruising we tend to rock up to the buffet whenever its open at whatever time to have whatever meal. But since this ship was so busy at the set dining times there were always long queues. So we ended up going to the restaurants instead. We were very lucky to get great tables with windows - I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Jef and Kien's colouring and the shape of their eyes - I'm not kidding.





We had a lovely waiter one evening who showed Kien how to balance cutlery on a toothpick.





The cruise director and team print out a daily activities schedule to leave in everyone's stateroom every day. We try to attend activities that look like fun and we would all enjoy. We did some origami for one activity.







Kien entered a Jenga competition and was crowned the Jenga King - he was the only kid left in the competition and ran out of time, so there were (I think) 4 winners.









We enjoyed spending time in this place aft of ship. They held lots of activities and shows here. There's a cafe adjoining where we'd get breakfast and lunch.





Kien would hang out in one of the egg seats and play with his Pokemon cards or iPod.





Sometimes he'd pose for pictures with random aunties. Actually, this happened quite a lot. The Asians love Kien. They'd whisper and point and smile at him, and a lot of times they'd take pictures of him, and with him.



They'd invite him to join in on their games when he's hovering around watching.





One thing I signed Kien up for was to have a go at the trapeze. This little guy is scared of heights, but he agreed to do it. They strapped him and he climbed up there.







He froze up when he got to the top and couldn't go through with it, but we told him how proud we were of him for even attempting to do it even though he was afraid. That's ultimately what its about - pushing through and trying instead of not giving it a go at all.

Monday, March 11, 2019

Making pet rocks

Kien's school had a carnival in the weekend to celebrate the completion of many years of rebuilding work that went on over there. One of the activities they had organised was a pet rock competition. So a couple of his friends were over here last Tuesday to make their creations.







Glue gun, paints and a few other accessories and their pieces came together nicely.







Sunday, December 16, 2018

Kien's birthday party

Last weekend we had Kien's birthday party to celebrate him turning 9 at the end of the year. It's always difficult to juggle a late December birthday (as far as I'm concerned), and everything gets frantic leading up to Christmas. We were very lucky for amazing weather.

Jef took Kien to his cricket match in the morning while I finished off decorating the cake. When they came home Kien was very happy with his cake.



Kien decided once again that he wanted to share his birthday party with one of his best buddies, Naotaka, which is great because then I didn't have to do all the work. This year the piñata was hand crafted by Ayako, and we shared the responsibility with food.





We played classic party games like pass the parcel and treasure hunt. They had water balloon fights and jumped into the spa to warm up again.

















Candles stabbed onto cake by children, then lit by anyone who was keen.









I let Kien do the first cut of the cake since he was really keen for it. He's had lots of experience up at our ngahere in the glades chopping woody weeds down with the machete, so I can trust him with a giant knife...



After everyone devoured the cake (I didn't even get a slice - it must have been good!) Jef strung up the piñata and supervised as they all took turns bashing the thing.











Such a fun afternoon. I feel very fortunate that we are able to provide these experiences for Kien. This will contribute to his childhood memories, and adds to my fulfilment as a parent.

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