As Time goes by

 How time flies, the days are long but the years are short. In the blink of an eye S is now 16 and A is 14. They are teenagers with a mind of their own. I cherish the time I got to spend with them over the years especially the years in Switzerland where I wasn’t working for the first few years and then had a simple part time job for the last few years. At that time I was filled with a yearning to have a more fulfilling and interesting job, but now I understand and am grateful for that opportunity to spend time with the children in the most beautiful place in the world.

S is fiercely independent, smart, outspoken in her views, yet kind and gentle. She’s emotional like me and gets stressed quickly but can plan well and find her way out of a situation.

A still the baby of the family, jolly and lively, always a pleasure to be around, Creative and bright, she brings a smile on everyone’s face.

Wish you girls all the best. In 2 years S would be off to college. I wish we could be in the same country or city as her, but if not, at least have equipped her with life lessons and habits to be happy, safe and self sufficient in the outside world.

Summer holidays 2024

 This year, after the usual trip home to Bangalore ( where I’m working) we are doing a 3 week trip to Boston. S is doing a two week course at Harvard so we are accompanying her and chilling out while she works hard. 

To minimise mine and Nip’s leave while maximising kids holidays and long travel to USA we are doing me and  the girls for first two weeks, then N join for two weeks. So N and I have one week in common and girls get 3 weeks here. 

It’s Avery long journey from Singapore to Boston - 7 hours flight to Dubai and then 13 hours flight to Boston. Quite exhausted by the time we got here .the frist evening just went in picking up dinner and supplies from whole foods.

Saturday we went walking past MIT to city centre - Brandy Melville for the girls and then some nice Mexican lunch at Lolita.s followed by. Ooziest from Levains bakery. In the evening we went to Faneuil market hall - some Jewelry shopping and walking around,

Sunday S started her course - poor thing she got cough and chest congestion from me- touch wood she recovers soon, 

Monday A and I went for a 4 hour whale watching cruise - saw a shark, hump back whale and Mimi whales. Nice trip but very long.after cit was back to Faneuil market for some shopping and lunch, then we had to buy a fan and supplies for S and managed to met her for a little while in the evening,

Still getting over jet lag - slept at 7:30 on Friday, 8:30 on Saturday, 9:30 on Sunday and 10 on Monday. Still gett ing up fairly early each morning

Weather has been gorgeous so far but today looks like a rainy day. A and I did a one hour walk along the Charles River and then went to meet S for lunch near her college.

Wednesday A was under the weather but we managed a 45 mins walk to Museum of Fine Arts where they had a lovely collection of Impressionist paintings, Egyptian mummies, Greek statues etc. after a relaxing siesta in the afternoon we headed out to Olive Garden in the evening for some yummy pasta.

Thursday has been a relaxed day, 1 hour walk along the Charles river, then some cooking and relaxing in the room. S joined us in the afternoon to unwind and we caught some Olympic stuff on the TV. 

Tomorrow we leave for NYC to meet my cousin D who is flying down from SFO to spend the weekend with us. Can’t wait. 

Skiing holidays

 One thing we have been doing regularly and as a family is skiing holidays. Having started the practice in Switzerland here is the run down over the years

2012-2016 : Very regular trips to Hoch YBrig, St. Moritz, Davos

2017 February : Davos and St Mortitz with various families (T, S, I)

2018 February : St Moritz

2019 February : Niseko (Japan)

2020 January : St Moritx

2021 December: Lake Tahoe with various families

2023 February  : St Moritz

2024 February : St Mortitz

Girls are now better than N. N is pretty decent. Am getting slower and more nervous (especially after bike accident and surgery) and come slowly down the blue slopes. But still there with them, taking in the scenery and going at it at my own pace. Love the family holidays in the snow together!

The last few years

I've been out of touch updating this blog and I'll try to be more regular. Its been a strange last few years. We were stuck in Singapore from February'20 to Dec'21 due to Covid and unable to travel out. Really missed seeing Ajja and Ajji. When we finally made it to the USA in Dec'21 we got Covid the day before flying out and got another 2 weeks in San Jose. Looking back now, it was stressful the first few days, moving into a service appartment, waiting for A to recover, trying to figure out a way home. But we also enjoyed those days together as a family - cooking together, watching Jeapordy, going for long walks along the river and playing board games. 

After returning to Singapore our next trip was to Bangalore in July'22. Thereafter we tried to go every 3-4 months for a week to Bangalore. But there was a big change in the girls between Aug'19 and July'22  - they had suddenly grown up and were not the little girls that Ajji and Ajja used to know. And Ajja's health has deterioriated rapidly and I worry the bond between Ajji and the girls is also not the same as it used to be. This last year we have only been able to travel to Bangalore once - we went in August'23 and due to S exams (she's in 10th can you imagine) we did not travel in December or April. We are going to Bangalore for two weeks in June-July. Have been urging Ajji to visit us in Singapore but she doesn't want to leave Ajja in his current situation by himself. 

Sadly Ajja's mental health has deteriorated quite rapidly and he struggles with day to day tasks. I hope Ajji is able to find mental peace being with Ajja at home. I feel sad that the girls are growing up without seeing their grandparents regularly. 

In other news, N left his job of 24.5 years and took up a role in India. That was the only role he could find after a 6 months exhausting search so we are grateful for what we get. He travels between Singapore and Delhi -initially weekly, and now once in 2 weeks (but for 3 days at a time). We'll be spending some time in the summer together as  family in the USA, which will be nice. 

Its time for a break for S as well. Its been a very intense year of iGCSE - 11 subjects, 22 plus papers, mock exams and now final exams over a 1.5 months long period. Its the last two weeks and final 5 papers. Hats off to her, she's studied really hard, and deserves only the best. She'll be doing a summer course in Harvard which should be fun. 

A is in 8th grade, some end of year tests for her. Still very much happy go lucky, though would not call her little anymore, towering over me. She continues to be joyful and sweet, both girls the love of our lives. 

Have made some good progress on the career front. Finally made it to the big Director this March. Its been a long journey with many twists and turns, but grateful to have the support of my parent, N and the girls all the way. It promises to be a long road ahead also (fingers crossed) as I have many responsibilties to keep and miles to go before I sleep....

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)

Long summer holidays during Covid

 This is the second year we are stuck in Singapore in the summer due to Covid. So far summer holidays have been spent 2 weeks in some location (2017-Japan, 2018-  , 2019-Switzerland) with a month in India with parents. Since the lockdown from March'20 we are not allowed to leave Singapore till who known when.Day to day life has been ok with the kids only spending about 3 months totally doing HBL with the rest of the time back at school, though sports have been severely curtailed. Office has been largely a mix of WFH 3 times a  week and RTO 2 times a week except for when the country goes into lockdown in which time its all WFH.

The problem has been in the vacation time. Last summer we were still enthusiastic, We took 2 weeks off, hired a car and made a daily schedule to go exploring Singapore. The kids did 3 weeks of 1/2 day camps and the long 7.5 weeks holidays went by. This year nobody is feeling the same level of enthusiasm. My worry about when i can go visit parents in India is overshadowing all plans to go explore within Singapore. A boredom and ennui has set in. Cannot visit the Zoo another time. Gardens by the Bay is boring now. No more roller blading. Cycling enough. Hubby and kids are against staycations. Kids are already moaning about the 2 summer camps they are enrolled in at school.

And the unfariness of the situation doesn't help. Their friends who are PRs here have flown away to US/UK etc for the summer. They are allowed to travel out and come back and do the quarantine. Strange isn't it. It seems Covid doesn't impact PRs and citizens only EP holders. 

Have to keep myself and the family cheerful and positive and try to enjoy the holidays. Hubby has taken one week off and im plannign to take 8 days off in two stretches. current restrictions for dining out at 2 per table. So if we go out to eat we will have to sit at different tables. Still waiting for my second vaccine and S first vaccine. Fingers crossed i will have something more cheerful to post next time. 

On the positive side, there is one family member who is enjoying the restrictions fully. And that is Fido. He's happy to have us all home, no holidays where we leave him behind and me and the hubby largely WFH. He's better trained in the new house also with this sleep and potty habits. Need to stop his indiscriminate barking - everyone walking past our gate (young kids, familieis, workers) etc are subject to this and jumping/barking at everyone who comes home.