Growing up - another milestone

 So last week marked another milestone in the girls journey to adulthood and independence

- A took the public bus back home from school on her own. She had camp at school the whole week and I was dropping and picking her up by taxi. Mid week she said can we try coming back by bus so Wed and Thursday i came with her in the public bus and showed her all the landmarks to our place, where to press the button and when to get off. Friday she managed it all on her own. She messaged me from the bus stop, messaged me throughout the bus journey saying where she was, how a strange lady had sat next to her and I was waiting for her at the bus stop when she got off. My little baby, you are growing up so soon!

- S took the taxi home from Sentosa on her own. Her friends have been taking the taxi home for some time but both her and I have been reluctant for her to try it. We figured SG is the best place for her to start, and with a mobile phone and a location we have been multiple times in the past that would be the best time. So yesterday after a friend's birthday party at Sentosa she messaged me about where she was (she was a bit confused but we spoke and we realised she was in the correct location to book a taxi). I was able to book a taxi and share the details with her. This was I could monitor her journey home, have the driver details. I watched the trip on my mobile the whole way and also send her messages every 10 mins. She took the taxi at 5 pm and was home by 5:30, all while it was still bright and sunny outside. So all good!

Sigh, am happy the girls are becoming independent but also slightly sad as they are not my little girls anymore. 

So what did we do in the Summer then

 So the girls agreed (albeit reluctantly) to go for 2 weeks of camp - S did 1 week DT and 1 week football camp and A did 1 week multi-activity and 1 week drama camp.

The hubby and I took a week off and this is what we did  in the one week

- 3 hour boat trip around Sembawan and Pulao Ubin area alongwith visit to fish farm and some fishing. Got more exciting as our boat's engine was damaged halfway through the trip and the driver had to call to tow us back to the fish farm and then he organised a 'bumboat' to take us back to Singapore. I kid you not the name is bum boat. It was high excitement as we were marooned at high sea! Just kidding it was 5 mins and we were 100m from Pulao Ubin shore. 

- Day trip to st John and Lazarus island. Took the 11 am ferry there and the 3 pm ferry back. Super hot and the ferry we took there was very slow (as per S we could have swum there faster). I enjoyed the picnic we had  carried and the 4 hours of no phone/ipad and some family bonding

- Lunch at Changi beach, Had planned to walk around there before lunch but we reached a bit late (after picking up hired car) and the beach wasn't that great, and we had to reach school by 1 pm to drop S for her football camp so we headed straight for a nice lunch at the Bistro there overlooking the sea

- iFly for the girls. A did the intro session and S was brave enought to try the advanced one. Looked super exciting but sadly with my broken arm and hubby's bad back we won;t be trying that anytime soon

-Visits to Sentosa beach and Botanic Gardens with F (our silly dog). He met his cousin in Sentosa beach and was quite happy to be off leash. In Botanic Gardens S went running with her long distance running buddy while I walked with the mum and the hubby and A took F for a walk around his old area. Chilling with F at home, he loves to sunbathe in the balcony!

- Dinners for the hubby and me at Tiffin Room (highly recommended), Sabai Thai, Anand Bhawan (yummy) & at Kazbar (Lebanese food) again yum. Drinks at Lantern Bar. Think I've put on at least 1 kilo after all this extravagance

3 weeks down, 4 and 1/2 to go! S has been meeting friends about twice a week (playdates, trips to WWW and Sentosa) and A might have a pizza party to watch her drama production (Midsummer's night dream where she was Oberon)