Greens for kids

Spud has never been too fond of her greens, but the two types of greens which she does eat and would willingly snack on them are peas and boiled green soybeans or otherwise known as Edamame.

Source: Wiki

In fact, Spud prefers eating Edamame beans rather than peas at any given time.

Edamame beans are essentially a preparation of immature soybeans in a pod, and is a very popular dish most often found in Japanese restaurants. The pods are boiled or steamed and served with salt. 

These highly nutritious beans are rich in carbohydrates, protein, dietary fiber and micronutrients, particularly folates, manganese and Vitamin K. They make for a very healthy snack and even though I don’t like the taste that much (and neither do I like peas!), I am ever so glad that Spud loves it.

In fact, I am thankful that these beans have become sort of a safety blanket for us whenever we ran out of greens to feed her, and has saved us a lot of trouble as it has become one of the sure-fire food that would go down well with her.

I don't know what is it with these beans or how she has come to like them so much or how long this beans-loving phase of her will last, but as long as she keeps eating them, I will keep on feeding her. Kudos to the beans!

Hugless Douglas

A gift from an old friend, and, incidentally the same Mom who introduced The Gruffalo to Spud (us), this Hugless Douglas book is a joy to read as Spud’s bedtime story.

It’s about a huggable, lovable young brown bear who was in need of a big hug. He went all over the woods looking for a hug, and none of which seem quite right for him. The ending is, of course, quite predictable (and something that I find to be appropriate for a Mother who has once been rejected!)

Spud’s memory is incredible; as after 4 days of nightly bedtime reading, she could already memorize almost the entire book by hard!

I feel like Spud and me bonded a little bit more ever since I started reading this particular book to her before her bedtime. Her resistance towards me has lessened, and has lately, stopped insisting that Silver Bullet read to her like she usually does if given a choice. She now seems to genuinely enjoy the fact that I am reading it to her.

The book is fun, and it makes her laugh to no end; with lots of cuddle time to take advantage of. The illustrations of dopey looking bear, leaves with eyes and legs as well as frightened, annoyed sheeps running away from the lovable bear are pretty neat too.

At the end of the book are illustrations of the various types of hugs; from tummy hug to upside-down hug to group hug. Most of which that makes Spud laughs like there is no tomorrow. For Spud, she "only wants the Big Hug" (quote unquote) and occasionally asks for the upside-down hug when she is in a playful mood.

I can only thank Lawwie’s mom for giving the book to Spud as a gift. Thank you, Fi - this has been a really great gift!

Related post(s):
The Gruffalo Movie
Little Gruffalo

Resigning in a new age world

Even resignation from the corporate world is getting more creative these days...

If you are wondering what that is, it is cake. Yep...resignation in the form of a cake with a pretty neat pipework for handwriting.

Talk about leaving the organisation in style! Coolest thing I have ever seen. Perhaps something to think about if I ever decide to leave my organisation - except that I will not be leaving to pursue my dreams as a baker.

Original article here.

When honesty doesn't pay

A recent article I stumbled upon not too long ago about an honest French couple who were arrested in Phuket made me really, really angry.

It was one of the most absurd and ridiculous thing to happen to a young couple, who, by virtue of circumstances given that it was their first trip to Thailand,  was arrested because they were honest enough to travel back to the airport to sort out everything because they did not want to get into trouble. The worst thing about it was: they were travelling with a 22-month old child.

And they got into trouble by being honest.

What I don’t understand was how they were treated throughout the ordeal. My ears were smoking with wrath when I got to this section of the article:

Like I said, it was the most ridiculous thing ever. Does anyone actually has any understanding or  empathy for the couple who not only have to deal with their young child but also had to face the ordeal of being held, imprisoned and charged through no fault of their own? 

I shook my head in sheer disbelieve when I read the article. I do not know what I would have done had we been in the same situation. It’s a scary thought.It occurred to me that humans in the highest level of hierarchy in this country have no sense of humanity in them. 

Moral of the story:
Be sure to first find the immigration counter and get your passport stamped before you exit the country! Never underestimate the stupidity ignorance of people in authority.

Being Spud

When Silver Bullet decided to keep his precious guitars out of Squirt’s curious hands - little hands that kept plucking the strings, retuning his guitars and turning the knobs unnecessarily -  Spud did not waste too much time and was quick to claim the vacant spot as her own...

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Talk about being opportunistic!  

Needless to say, when Silver Bullet placed his (now covered) guitars back to where they belonged, she wasn’t too happy about it. In fact, she whined and whined and insisted that HER guitar be placed back at the guitar stand. She was not going to have her way; her Papa made sure of that.

I watched the entire episode unfolded with a cheeky grin plastered on my face. I thought the whole thing was hilarious. Cute, even.  

His two precious instruments are now placed in their rightful spots.

 

Somehow, the colourful plastic guitar did look endearing when placed over there. It sorts of brighten up the room too, don't you think? :)

A Street Cat Named Bob

The last time I read a book for me has been more than a year ago. Not that I have given up on reading altogether; I tried, but it had seemed impossible to try to finish a book when you have to run a household with 2 kids! The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo has been on my bedside table for more than a year now, and I still have not gone past page 102…

Anyhow. Silver Bullet had picked up “A Street Cat Named Bob” on one of his travels and there were only 2 reasons why I had attempted to read it:

• There’s a cat story in there
•  Silver Bullet said it was an easy read. He tends to be a very, very slow reader, yet he finished reading it in a few hours while in transit.(very promising!)

A Street Cat Named Bob is based on a true story on how one man found and his cat found hope (and each other) in the streets. James Bowen, a street musician who was once a homeless man,  had turned into one of the bestselling authors on how his cat had saved him from drugs. He had his first “debut” in YouTube when somebody posted up a video of him and his cat while he was busking. In fact, if you search in YouTube, there are several videos in there about the cat and the street musician.

It is a very heart-warming story and I enjoyed reading it. While I couldn’t find the time to do a one-go-marathon reading, I managed to read a couple of tens a day, and finished the entire book by the 4^th night. Very slooowwwww as compared to my usual reading pace, but at least that was ONE book read after a 2 year hiatus.

I miss reading. I really need to try harder to get back into the groove of reading again.Bedtime stories for the kids not included.

Espadrilles

Judging by the increased sightings of people wearing Espadrilles in the recent days around Bangkok, I’m guessing that the demand for such footwear is now the “in” thing.

Just seeing it being worn by one of my younger clients the other day  (above picture) brought me back into my teenage years in the early 90s. At that time, Espadrilles were the rage – they were not too expensive and it was the coolest shoes to own once-upon-a-fad. I remember that Esprit was the only shop that had sold them, and they were pretty much out of stock for several weeks on end.

I also remember owning several pairs in different colours. Unfortunately, one of the reasons why I had a few pairs was because, each pair did not last very long. They get soaked really quickly if you stepped into a puddle or get caught in the rain, smelled really bad if you don’t wash them, and when washed too often, they fell apart. When you are a teenager going to school, and you take every opportunity to wear just that one pair of shoes when you are not in uniform, then it would be quite hard to keep such shoes in a wearable condition for long. I fondly recall owning a peach-coloured wedged Espadrilles that comes with what looked like a ballerina-shoes strings which was used to tie around my ankles.

As it comes to light, Espadrilles were once the shoes worn by peasants (source: wiki), but has since gained popularity. The shoes are made of cloth and have flexible soles made of jute rope – the defining characteristics of Espadrilles.

Funnily enough, the older folks who don’t quite agree with our fashion sense at that time called it the silly karang-guni shoes. I guess they were not too wrong about it as the jute rope seems like the kind of material they used to make a gunny-sack, and, in Singapore, we used to have karang guni men.

To explain a little, karang gunis are essentially rag-and-bone-men, who went door-to-door to collect old newspapers and unwanted items to resell for recycling or reused. They would bring along a karang-guni (aka gunny sack) to hold the newspapers in, haul them on their backs and continue their rounds to do the collection of old newspapers or unwanted items.  That’s the long and short of it.

Karang-guni or not, the shoes are back in fashion. I don’t think they appeal to me anymore at this day and age, but, I don’t necessarily think they look bad.

If, however, I could find me a nice wedged espadrilles, that would be a very different story!

Eavesdropping Spud

Spud loves a little bit of a chatter whist having her meals, and being the natural chatterbox that she is, she takes every single opportunity to yak. That usually means, talking with her mouth full – even if she would be talking to herself. And at which point, we would tell her that she should not be doing that because it is impolite.

With her Papa sitting next to her and feeding her one evening, Spud did what she usually does while eating – talking with her mouth full. Even though I was sitting at the same table, I was busy with Squirt and was oblivious to the entire conversation. It was only later that Silver Bullet repeated the following conversation to me:

Silver Bullet: Don’t talk with your mouth full. It’s impolite.

Just when Silver Bullet was about to give her another bite, the little imp said, in Dutch,  “Nee nog niet. Ik wil eerst praten!”

Translation?

“Not yet. Want to talk first!”

I could only laugh my head off in amusement. The little imp is catching on fast!

And here's a moment with her Oma from our last visit. Come to think of it, "loves a little bit of a chatter" is an understatement. Actually, Spud, like her father, is quite the chatterbox and the only time she is quiet is when she is sleeping.  

Quick meals

We’ve had Jaime’s 30-minute Meals book for a while now, but we have never really attempted any of the recipes for the following reasons:

• Preparing a 3-course meal in 30 minutes sounds ambitious
• I was not convinced that 30 minutes flat was all it took without resorting to short-cuts and tricks (I am an “all-from-scratch-cook”)
• The recipes seem “so-so” (sorry Jaime)
• Some of the ingredients in the recipes can be hard to find or just too expensive (not that they are expensive ingredients by nature, but because they tend to be mostly imported stuff, and Thailand slaps a huge import tax on imported items)

Then, Jaime’s 15-minute meal book came along as a gift. One of the recipes includes making a Chinese dumpling or Masala Curry as ONE of the meals as part of the set. Seriously?  Dumpling or curry in 15-minutes flat?!

Bite me. I make stir-fried noodles from instant noodles in 20 minutes!

I became an even bigger skeptic.

But then...Silver Bullet loves to challenge himself just to prove that it may just be possible, and so decided to give one of the 30 minutes meal recipes a go. He whipped up 3 separate dishes consisting of Mustard Chicken, Gratin Dauphinois and Mixed vegetables:

Jaime Oliver got by within 30 minutes with a few tricks and tips to save time (some of which I’m already doing), but other than that, I am convinced that he just happens to have a little bit of Flash’s superhero power in him.  

Silver Bullet did it all in no less than 45 minutes. End-to-end.

All in all, not a bad attempt to beat the time. It was quick-ish, but in no uncertain terms that the 3 meals could have been done within 30-minutes! 

The good thing was, at least, we had food on the table.  I’ll post up the recipes of the above separately.

Watch this space.

Quote of the day

I have said it before, and I'll say it again - there is absolutely nothing wrong in being different and NOT conforming.

The sippy transition

While we had introduced Squirt to a sippy cup when he was about 4 months in our attempt to familiarize him with sippys (read: let him PLAY with the sippy), the actual proper transition to a sippy did not happen till he was about 9.5 months.

Squirt wasn’t really too keen on it. The sippy to him seemed like it was just another toy, and even though we tried to get him to use a sippy at least once a day, he still would prefer the good old bottle to consume his milk. To be fair, which baby wouldn’t!He would take only a few sips from the sippy and then turn his head away; perhaps, because he knew that he had an alternative.

So, when he hit 9 months, like his sister, I had it in my head that it was time for him to lose the bottle.

By that, I mean going completely cold turkey and not give him a choice. We had expected that the first weekend in which we went cold turkey was not going to be very successful. It wasn’t and while he did drink some from the sippy (quite encouraging), he wasn’t too happy about it. We had to revert back to a bottle on Sunday because he was a little under the weather.

We tried again the next weekend, and below is an account of our journey from bottle to sippy.

2^nd attempt Day 1: Saturday

His first milk of the day started with only his milk in the sippy. He took a little bit but was not too keen on this. We kept up and offered him only the sippy throughout the day.

While his intake was not much, he still managed to drink at least 300 ml exclusively from it. We made sure that he had enough solids and we did not give him the bottle when he went to bed at night.

[I admit that I was feeling a little apprehensive. Despite the fact that this was something  I had done before with Spud, I somehow  was constantly second-guessing myself , questioning if I am doing the right thing by “imposing” the sippy on him. My consolation was that Silver Bullet was behind me on this one and he was confident that Squirt will pull this off]

Day 2: Sunday

Nothing, but sippy day. His first milk feed was encouraging as he managed to finish off almost half the milk in the sippy.

I alternated with him using the Doidy cup at meal times and he seemed to be enjoying sipping his milk from him. He took it like it was second nature. I was jumping for joy in my head, but managed to keep my cool for fear of jinxing it!

He took the sippy cup at bedtime and finished at least half of the content. While it was not the usual amount that he would drink from the bottle at bedtime, just the fact that he actually took is milk from it without much fuss, was certainly encouraging

Day 3: Monday

Instructed our Nanny to follow through with using the sippy.  She was completely onboard with us. While she did mention that Squirt was not too keen, he still took some of the milk from nothing but the sippy. (hallelujah!)

I fed his milk in a sippy at bedtime and again, he finished half of the contents.

Day 4: Tuesday onwards

It got easier as the days passed. He got the hang of how the sippy works as he learns to control the flow of his milk intake.

By Thursday, he started to drink from his sippy cup like a champ.  There was no looking back!

While Squirt has been generally easier with taking to different things as compared to Spud, it was however, not without resistance. I guess it also proves the theory that persistence and consistency works – and when faced with moments of doubts, having a supportive partner helps. A lot.

We have, once again, been a bottle-free zone for more than 2 months. None of the kids would be needing any more feeding bottles or whatsoever. That has got to be the neatest thing ever!

Yet, I am humbly being reminded of a saying I came across a while back,  “ When a child climbs to the next rung on life's ladder, it means the previous rung is no longer going to be trodden on”

Related Post(s):
Spud's sippy story
Sippy cup in review

Eavesdropping Spud

Spud has, in the recent months, picked up a very annoying habit of sounding like a spoilt brat who is just barking orders and being demandingly rude whenever she asks us for something that she wants. She would literally go, “Give me this”, “Give me that”, while putting out her hand, and in a tone that we don’t really appreciate.

I am not so sure where she might have picked that from, but since we heard her saying that, we have been trying to get her to ask for things nicely with  a “Can I…please..Mama/Papa/whoever” or a“ May I..please…Mama/Papa/whoever” rather than just “barking orders”. Whenever she slips up, we tell her that saying "Give me" when asking for things is not polite. We will then encourage her to repeat herself nicely for us to accommodate her wants. She would then willingly correct herself.

When I came back home from work one evening, Spud came to me and went, “Mama, Mama! Nanny says “Give me”. Nanny says “Give me. Not polite”"

While a part of me was trying to make sense of what she said into context, a part of me wondered if the Nanny has been telling her the same thing as we did, or if Spud was, in fact, telling on the Nanny ! When I acknowledged Spud, she then rattled on with a, “Give me pleeeeaaasssee. Say thank you.” (The emphasis was on the word please, and it felt like I was hearing myself!) 

I then verified with our Nanny and it turned out that the Nanny confessed to saying “Give me” whenever she asks Spud for things. I reckon, it is not something the Nanny does consciously but that day, the Nanny said that Spud had “scolded” her and told her exactly what we told Spud: That “give me is not polite” and to  please say, “can I have it please…!”

We both had a good chuckle and I suggested to her that we should refrain from saying “give me” from then on whenever we want something from her, and that we need to teach Spud to be a little bit more polite with the words that are coming out of her mouth.

Never, ever underestimate the honesty of a child.

I feel like a very  proud Mom - and I believe we taught her well. I am, indeed super pleased. :)

Solve global warming?

As I walked into my office this morning, I caught sight of a box and had to literally do a double-take just to be sure that I had not made any mistake while trying to read the prints in 5 seconds as I sauntered past it:

I thought "solve global warming" was a very bold and ambitious statement to make. Ironic, even. Talk about making a sweeping statement.

Global warming is a big problem. No. Make that huge fucking problem. Just 5 days ago, the news reported that the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been recorded at their highest level in human history. (Article from BBC here) Scientists are saying that we now have reach to the point of no return…which means that using Double A paper ain’t going to SOLVE global warming.

Like I said, it seemed like a sweeping statement. But I am also aware that it may have been done with the best of intention…which, in this case, a little bit misplaced with the choice of word used.

I am not sure if global warming can ever be solved in my opinion, but we certainly can minimize the impact and decelerate the rate of global warming by first stop using paper altogether to reduce our carbon footprint.

Roasted Honey-Pepper Chicken

Here is one of my "do-over" oven dishes for when:

• I'm feeling lazy or knackered
• I run out of idea what to cook
•  Silver Bullet couldn't figure out what he wants to eat
• I feel like throwing a bunch of ingredients together and see how it turns out

And this is what I came up with recently:

 

Looks yummy? Well, it is! Here's the ingredients:

• 6-8 pieces of chicken breast
• 1 onion, sliced thinly
• 1/2 inch ginger, pounded roughly
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tspn salt
• 2-3 tbsp ground black pepper 
• 1 tspn cumin powder
• springs of rosemary

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Combine pounded ginger, dark soy sauce, honey, salt, black pepper, rosemary and cumin and rub it all over the chicken. Leave it to marinade for min. 15 minutes. 
3. Prepare aluminum foil - put in the marinated chicken and spread the sliced onions on top of the chicken.
4. Crimp the aluminum foil together end-to-end loosely. Put in the oven for 30 minutes
5. To make the skin slightly brown and crispier, open up the aluminium foil a little bit and roast a little more for 5-10 minutes. (Leave it too long or the chicken will get dry)
6. Keep the aluminum foil loosely crimped together to keep it moist

The chicken is great to serve with rice or just salad

Quote of the Day

"When you start feeling the springs in the heels of your feet, it's good"

- The Sleeping Dragon- 

There's no way else I could describe it as I'm literally only echoing the vibes that has lingered within me since Friday night as the sudden surge of energy ignite the fire in my soul.

2 days later, I think that it is time and it still feels right. 

I could feel the springs on my feet and when I said it out loud in my head, it turned out to be quite an awesome sounding quote.

Holland wrap-up

We have left the Netherlands for two weeks now, yet nice, warm memories from the last trip still  lingered on. Even though it was tougher traveling with 2 kids, the entire vacation went better than I thought it would. It was tiring, but it was actually quite a pleasant trip for all of us.

Air and noise pollution were pretty much non-existent. For once,  it was nice to be in a country where people actually say what they mean, retail staff are very service-minded, vehicles on the roads abide by the rules and there seemed to be some form of a decent and practical civilization again. There were nice, fresh breads again and most of all, the weather had been kind to us. The occasional drizzles and cloudy days were something I did not mind too much; I actually like it better than the sweltering hot and humid weather in Bangkok.

The chorus of "Weather with You" song by Crowded House:   “Every where you go, always take the weather with you” has been playing in my head for weeks since we arrived in Holland. It seemed apparent that we had brought the Bangkok’s weather with us, and when we left, we had brought Holland’s rainy weather to Bangkok.I wish we had brought the cooler temperatures too!

Funny how weeks before the trip I started getting real apprehensive and thinking of all the worst possible scenario that could happened. But really, it wasn’t that bad at all! The kids behaved, and we all had a splendid time. Most importantly, the kids got to spend a lot of time with not only us, but with their grandparents and great-grandparents; making 2 sets of parents a very happy grandparents.

Interesting, Spud’s Dutch improved by leaps and bounds. She has since started to blabber more in Dutch. She throws me off every now and then with words which sometimes makes me wonder if they are in Dutch or something that she makes up herself (something she is doing a lot now), but, certainly her acumen of the Dutch language has improved tremendously!

This time round, while we were all ready to come home as were the kids, it felt like the holiday was over too quickly. I guess that was a positive sign., and we could only thank the awesome hospitality of my in-laws for having us over. My favourite ornament in their house is this - it just cracks me up:

This trip really has all been good.

Holland- Day 11-16: Anything goes

Given the extended period of bitter-cold winter that hit Europe, there was not that many tulip fields blooming this time. It was a real shame as I had hoped for some luck with the tulips. We did not make it to Keukenhoft this time round too. (Review of Keukenhoft visit can be found here)

Whatever time we had left, we took it real easy.

On one of the days, we went to a Bakkerij Museum at Medemblik when we ran out of ideas where to go. It is a small museum that displays and explains the bakery tradition in Holland which dates back to as long as 100 years ago.  It is run by volunteers and they sell freshly baked cookies, chocolates and candies – all baked in the most traditional ways.

Really ancient mixers

That was how they roll (then)

Hand-made candies - a rare fine.

Spud (and me!) salivating at all the hand-made chocs for sale

Another really ancient baking  machine

The baker guiding Spud what to do

This is how Spud rolls!

I was quite amazed at the old-skool baking equipment which they still have as exhibits in the museum. At least Spud had some fun decorating her own cookie!

The rest of the last few days in Holland included us either visiting or receiving visitors, having a day out in Amsterdam and leaving the kids with grandparents (yes!yes!yes! whole bloody day!) and leaving the kids with grams (again!) for a couple of hours while we ran some errands or needed some alone time.

Before we knew it, it was time to do a big clean-up and pack for home.

It was all sunshine when we got to Holland, but on the day we left and headed out to the airport, it started drizzling away in a very Dutch fashion.

Holland- Day 10: Spud’s long lost friend

Call us brave or plain stupid,  but we both thought that it would be timely to attempt hauling the two kids all the way to Amsterdam by train to visit an old friend of ours who used to live in Bangkok. It was only a 50 minutes train ride, and come hell or high water, we thought that we’d have to do this trip with the kids not only to see them, and to also get Spud re-acquainted again with her long-lost pal, “Lawwie”.

Now, I am not sure if Spud and Lawwie both remember each other, but watching them play together and interacting was pretty amusing. Spud, being Spud, was her usual shameless self. She pretty much helped herself to the toys that were available (and so did Squirt!) while Lawwie got a little possessive of his treasures (and so he should be!), and apprehensive of her.

It took him some time to warm up to her, and when he did, they both were chasing each other around the house and laughing away like crazy. Of course, this happened when we were about to leave their place …

Seeing old friends is always, always something special,  and being able to watch the kids play together is very heart-warming .

It was a real challenge to take pictures of the both of them, but here are a couple of snapshots from that trip:

And here's a post of them I wrote from last year.  Just look at how they have grown!

The trip to Amsterdam by train with two young kids was pretty cumbersome – it was not stress-free, but my take is that  as long as we don’t have to rush (a potential challenge given that Dutch train leaves on schedule!), the trip can be quite manageable.  

And in case you are wondering about that Hello Kitty top on Spud, NO. I.DID.NOT.GET.HER.THAT.TOP. It happened to be a loan from my mom-in-law's friend, and Spud had spotted it, and selected that as her outfit of the day.

Holland - Day 9: Sprookjeswonderland

Somewhere in Enkhuizen, there stood a Fairytale Land which housed all the various famous fairy-tales from Snow White to Hensel and Gratel to Thumbellina designed specifically for kids. Everything, was of course, in Dutch.

It was a place highly recommend by Oma & Opa who were ever –willing to bring us and the kids there. There were horse rides, and trains and statues aplenty, but Spud spent a lot of time at the playground.  Needless to say, that little bundle of energy had way too much fun! She had so much fun that she did not even bat an eye-lid when we left her with her Oma & Opa to get home first so we can put her little brother to sleep.

She came home all happy, smiley and bouncy about an hour later. I recalled that she then later joined her Oma for groceries, then to another playground near home and scored herself another Mint Ice-cream.

It's awesome to be kids again! And every kids should know that. 

I have to say that this place is a treasure trove for kids - I can see how kids can just let their imaginations run wild and enjoy themselves thoroughly while at it.

Holland - Day 7 to 8: Kids’ Day

Did I not mention that De Heuttenheugte Center Parc is such a kid friendly place? There were plenty of kids’ activities to choose from, that, we have to be smart in choosing the activities which we want to indulge the kids in and maximize our time, yet leaving ample room to ensure that Squirt gets his naps as well.

There was not enough time for everything that they have, but we managed to amuse the kids with the outdoor playgrounds (there were several!), petting zoo and some Kiddies Program where the kids can play and make friends in a nursery-like setting. 

With the park being almost completely car-free, strolling to and from the Market Dome (the centre of everything with restaurants, supermarkets, shops…) from our bungalow was always a nice thing to do. We were surrounded by nature, were practically smothered by fresh air and with the weather being fairly nice, a leisurely walk while breathing in clean air was a welcome change.

We checked-out on a Friday morning after spending 4 nights in Center Parcs, and by then, it felt like the kids were ready to spend time with other people rather than us. With Spud specifically wanting to go home (she repeated this a hundred times over several days!) and explicitly asking for her Oma & Opa, 4 nights in some strange bungalow house seemed to be adequate.  For us, the size of the 59 m2 bungalow was beginning to wear us down.

On our drive back, we made a detour to Silver Bullet’s grandparent’s holiday house – a half an hour drive from Heuttenheughte and located right on the entrance of a Nature Park. It was a special place for Silver Bullet and his family who had spent most of their vacation in that house. As Silver Bullet has not stepped foot in that place for more than 10 years, I sensed that the visit was more of a nostalgic one for him.

We arrived at Silver Bullet’s parents’ place barely 2 hours later since we left Center Parcs. Spud had fallen asleep and woke up screaming her head off for a good 15 minutes before we finally reached our destination.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t going solo – she was soon joined in by Squirt who had refused to nap, was clearly over-tired and started to scream his head off as well.  With both of them screaming in such melodious harmony, the last 10 minutes felt like forever.

It reminded me of a horrid experience we had with Spud 2 years ago. Luckily, this time, it was not half as bad.

Holland- Day 6: Aqua Mundo

De Heuttenheugte Center Parc is immensely huge!  I reckon that if we were to explore every nook and cranny of the place, and make use of every facility in and around the vicinity of Center Parcs at leisure, we would have to stay at least a week longer.

With only 2 more days to spare before we head back to Silver Bullet’s parents, we took our own sweet time to explore the facilities available there.

Swimming in the heated indoor themed pool, called Aqua Mundo, was more of a novelty for me and the kids (whoever swims in an indoor, heated pool in any tropical country?!).

What I like about the place is the fact that not only there are several variations of pools - from a toddler’s pool to Wild Water Slides – there are also playpens available for parents within the resting area. Such convenience! (And, not to mention, extremely kid friendly!)

With both Spud and Squirt being the ever-enthusiastic water rats, they took to the water in no time at all. While Squirt was happy splashing about, playing and exploring the shallow area, Spud seems to be happier when she gets to swim and dive in the deeper waters. She only did not like the man-made waves in one of the pools and was upset by the waves. She thought it was “scary”.

The layout reminded me of a place in Singapore where my parents (along with several extended families)  used to  take us to a a place called CN West on weekends  when I was a little kid eons of years ago. CN West was an outdoor pool and was not quite as sophisticated as Aqua Mundo, but, I remember that as kids, we used to spend hours and hours in the water and riding the water slides. It also housed one of the first man-made waves and was designed almost exactly like the one they had in Aqua Mundo. At that time, circa 30 years ago, it was considered as THE “state of art”. When I was little, I had also thought that the waves were scary.

The good thing with taking kids to such a place is that they tire easily. (Yes you read that right! That means, we don't have to hang around there for the entire day.) Spending just about 45 minutes splashing about in the pool was enough to tire them out. By the time you pull them out of the pool, walk to the changing area, change them and yourselves, clean up the mess, put on their socks, shoes, jackets and pack everything up, another hour has passed and it was time for lunch!

We never fail to continuously hope that the kids would nap well in the afternoon so we could also get some rest. We were successful with Squirt, but with Spud…forget about getting anymore afternoon naps.

Ever.

Holland - Day 5: The Zoo

We started the day with some nice fresh bread from the bakery for breakfast and then proceeded to drive to Emmen – home to one of the most popular zoo in the Netherlands.  It isn’t really a huge zoo but it is a nice, spacious zoo with lots of open area; with only a ditch that separates visitors from the animals.

A magnificent view as you walk to the zoo

It’s about 25 km away and a half an hour drive from Center ParcsHuttenheugte. Kids from 0-2 years old go in for free, but those above 2 years old would have to pay the following prices:

3 to 9 years: €17
10 to 64 years: €19.50
65 years and older: €17.50
disabled people: €17.50
groups of 20 persons or more: €18.50

The zoo is divided into several sections: The Biochron (a museum about the history of life on Earth), the butterfly garden, the sharks in the aquaria, the Afrikahuis, the tropical AmeriCasa, the Aziëhuis and the penguin school.

Spud was a little unsure about the butterfly garden and kept whining about wanting to “go to the zoo” even though we told her that she was already at the zoo.  She only stopped asking to “go to the zoo” when she saw some giraffes and zebras. She didn’t think the lions were part of the zoo, and was more than happy to venture out to the playground. (Funny, how the mind of a child works!)

Squirt, in the meantime, was only too happy to be strolled around. He fell asleep in the stroller for his morning nap, and was very excited to toddle around with his swanky new shoes when his sister explored the playground.

According to Spud, this is THE zoo!

Father-son shared a joke

Squirt toddling sround

On the other end of the zoo (and I mean a complete OTHER end where you would have to walk out of the main outdoor zoo area and walk a few kilometers to get there), there was a spectacular play expedition area called the Yucatán. It is an indoor area covering more than 17,000 m2.

We did not take the kids to explore the entire place, but I reckon that if the kids are a little older, they would enjoy the place immensely for hours on end! Instead, we confined them to a small-ish area where they can let off steam before we head back to the bungalow. At one point, Spud gave me a heart attack while I was minding Squirt – from the corner of my eye, I saw Spud almost jumped off a 3 m ledge to a pole after she saw a 10 year old girl spiraled down on it. My heart skipped a million beat, and had I not turned around in time and prevented her jumping of the ledge and trying to grab the pole, I reckon she may have broken a bone or two! *Gasps*

The road to Yucatan

Spud & Squirt playing explorer

Even though we both we more focused on the kids than on the animals this time, for us, any vacation would not be complete without a trip to the zoo. It was indeed an enjoyable day at the zoo.

They were so worn out from the sun, the wind, the walk, the playing and the chasing around that they both fell asleep blissfully as we drove back to our temporary home at the De Heuttenheugte that afternoon. 

Unfortunately for us, both Silver Bullet and me could not do the same!

Finally OUT!