Recognition ceremony

Were you wondering a bit about the erratic posts lately? Indeed Mama and Kecil had been a bit preoccupied. And the fact that Skool is over is so not helping with Mama's schedule.
But yes, Skool is over. We are now officially on summer break, even if nature have not seem to realize it yet (we still have plenty of cold winds and dark clouds around!).
And to mark the end of the Skool term, we had recognition ceremony, just like last year.

It's funny how as we are now in our third year in this location, we are already clocking quite a few recurring events such as this recognition ceremony, the food festivals (this year and last year), the field trips (this year and last year), even our epic holidays (this year and last year). But that was just this Mama speaking. Back to the recognition ceremony, we did not have it in Skool as the Skool community had greatly increased in size since last year, and so we had it in a rented venue near Kecil's house.

As it happened, Kecil had that paper crown of hers lying around in the house as we were getting ready. No escaping it, we ended up with a paper-crowned princess this year. The good part? Daddy managed to make it this time round, from the beginning!

Having had another recognition ceremony under her belt, Kecil is pretty confident this time round, less confused with all the hulabaloo. Look, she even agreed to pose next to the balloons for Mama!

And after taking a good look at her certificate, she went on to show off to her friend.

Look at the proud Daddy showing off Kecil's medals:

And some scenes around the room:

As usual, the highlight of the ceremony was the students' performance. This time round, Kecil did not freeze up in action, she was actually dancing happily and following the teachers' instructions. It was such a great sight to see, and it was so worth jostling with the rest of the proud parents for the best position to see the kids doing their stuff.

This Mama had decided to simply enjoy the moment instead of stressing over documentation. (Well... actually that was a lame excuse. Let's just say Mama got a bit teary eyed at the sight, hm?) But it was really good. I am so looking forward to more of the kind.

Well, Kecil, this Mama and Daddy are definitely very proud of you. With the summer holidays started, Mama might have to do more of entertaining the Little One and perhaps we'll be less present in this space as we go out to enjoy each other company and the weather, whatever it may be.

Cheers and until next time!

Field trip: final images

No trip to our field trip destination is complete without any picture of the ducks,

and so here it is.

Around early evening was apparently the time when these ducks get fed.

A few students (and Mamas) noticed the ritual and started 'interfering' with the staff effort.

Privately convinced that large number of kids and proper care of animals don't quite mix, this Mama is very relieved when the staff wisely decided to move the feeding venue away from the kids.

But we had some good time watching (and feeding) some of the ducks.

Lastly, of course, no field trip is complete without the very last visit to the playground.

And so, here it was. The Kid wildly careening out of the chute.

We had some really good time with this year's field trip, and we would really thank the Skool and the in-house staff for arranging everything so well.

Kecil and Mama would also like to thank both Curtis and Cuther's Mamas for giving us rides to and from the beach back to town.

It was a very good field trip.

And for the whole listing of Field trip posts:

2011 Field Trip: Going, the Pool, the Beach, the Afternoon, & wrapping IT up

This year's Field trip: Going, the Morning, the Lunch, Afternoon Activities, Afternoon Swim, and Final Images

Thank you for following Kecil's stories on her Field trip. Let's see what other kind of stories are coming up soon.

Field trip: afternoon swim

In between making the kite and decorating the cupcakes, we actually managed to squeeze in a dip in the pool. Kecil finished her kite in record time, and so we had the whole pool practically to ourselves while the rest of the kids were still busy with their kites.

It wasn't long, however, before some of the kids 'remembered' the pool and went back for a second/third/nth dip.

Which is also a good thing, as we soon see some collaboration...

Or should I call it mischief?

Two kids, with a ball, going missing for a while... hmm hmm hmm...

Nah... they reappeared soon after, so nothing happened.

Although I do believe that they DID have a ball. (!)

Elsewhere around the pool, Mamas are patiently waiting for their errant offspring.

Well, but the sun soon was pretty low in the horizon and it was time for us to pack up for the day.

But not before we took some group photos.

Amidst all the din and commotion, I suppose a (few, or many) group photo(s) were taken.

And of course there was one Mama who had to hog the limelight (at least on her camera)

And we were ready to head home.

Well... almost. Perhaps after one last post. We'll see you then.

More on the field trips series in chronological order:

Last year's Field Trip: Going, the Pool, the Beach, the Afternoon, & wrapping IT up

This year's Field trip so far: Going, the Morning, the Lunch, Afternoon Activities

Field trip: Afternoon Activities

Among other things, the afternoon was spent again exploring the playgrounds.

I suppose when you are 3 years old, exploring playgrounds carries as much importance as breathing, or something like that.

But of course, there were other activities already lined up.

Like making kites:

Well... so.. since the process of making was a bit involved, we are just sharing the end results here.

We also did manage to bring the kite to the beach and Mama had a hand in getting the kite airborne. It actually flew, if for a while only before the string came off. I guess it was not tied quite properly.

Here was Kecil's Skool friend trying to untangle her kite from the tree.

And Kecil watching, fascinated.

She soon went back to more important matters at hand though.

The other set of activities involved the few things shown in the pictures above:

Cupcake decorating!

Unfortunately, it would seem that a certain boy's iPad is more interesting than the task at hand. 

Well, but they all did all right with the cupcake.

While we were suppose to enjoy the cupcakes, however, Kecil's friend actually came up with a pair of paddles and a ping-pong ball, and so Kecil ran off to play instead of attending to her (decorated with Mama's help) cupcake.

And so Mama too ran off after grabbing the camera to keep an eye on those two.

And so ends this part of the series for now.

We'll continues (and hopefully round up) in the next post.

In the meantime, should you be interested in the rest of the series, both from last year and this year, you can simply click on the links listed below.

Cheers!

More readings:

Last year's Field Trip: Going, the Pool, the Beach, the Afternoon, & wrapping IT up

This year's Field trip so far: Going, the Morning, the Lunch

Field trip: Lunch!

And so it was lunch time.

But as we walked towards the lunch venue, we passed some beautiful view,

as well as some distraction in the form of hanging bridges.

So, of course Kecil had to stop and try the bridges first.

It's good to see that after a year, her coordination had definitely improved,

and she's so much more confident in handling the obstacle course.

(Not many beach photos from last year due to some problems with the camera. The camera was still brand-spanking new that time, remember?)

In any case, we soon reached the lunch venue, where Kecil was served a kiddie platter while Mama got to enjoy some delicious food from the buffet spread.

It was a good, good lunch, especially in the company of friends for chats, giggles and, of course, pictures!

Mama's tip: In a buffet situation, it's good to stack up your food at one shot and feed the kid as soon as possible, cos the Kid has very short attention span when it comes to food.

True to Mama's tip above, she soon found something else more interesting to do.

Like organizing a pretend puppet show. 

It was actually some beach sofa with some curtains/awning to block the sun. But it was a good place to play for the kids.

And as for the quasi-puppet show?

This Mama thinks they deserve some points for coming up for such a fantastic backdrop, no?

And look at who else was there to make use of the backdrop:

Why, it's the photographer/Mama, of course!

The "puppet show" went on for a while, at one point even involving a few other kids as well, but soon we were back in the fray at the obstacle course with Kecil working her way all the way to the head of the line.

She's feisty, that one.

That's all for this post. We'll continue in the next post on the afternoon activities.

In the meantime, check out the links below for the rest of the series.

Until later!

More readings:

Last year's Field Trip: Going, the Pool, the Beach, the Afternoon, & wrapping IT up

This year's Field trip so far: Going, the Morning