Fruitful weekend

Visited the Woodleigh NPC open house this morning. Honestly, we usually skip such events coz the mountain of people, long queue and crazy weather will cause me to feel overwhelmed, not even mentioning my kids! 

But I decided to give myself + my kids a chance. After all, we did a school carnival on Saturday, and the crowd was so super crazy too. Wouldn’t have agreed to it, if not bcoz Joy invited us. And despite the crowd, all 4 kids had enjoyed themselves. I didn’t get to see Joy at the carnival but William said she came over and help took care of Joash for a while. I was in charge of the twins and we took some kiddy rides, had some overpriced carnival food; face painted and sprayed their hair in blue. 

The whole experience, even though tiring, was pretty pleasant. Was thankful that we forged some good memories together. Even Joash had a lot of fun! He took 3x on the train which actually means 6-9 rounds around the school entrance. Being cheapo parents, William just let him take the ride on his own coz more 划算 to spend the same amt of $ and maximise the number of rides.. hahaha

So on the way home, I asked the twins if they would be keen to go to the police open house the next day. This was what I said.. 

Me: Would you girls be keen to attend the police open house tomorrow? There will be police vehicles behind showcased; visit to the police station (which we have never done before) etc

Twins: Yes!!!

Me: Let me manage both yr expectations first. There will be ALOT of people, maybe even more than today’s carnival, much longer queues; crazy heat etc. I need you all to understand that it will be super tiring for mama especially. I do not want to see a situation where, after the event, you girls start screaming at each other or worse, kill each other. I do not want to bring you girls on a treat, and later regret and wished I hadn’t done that in the first place. Do you understand?

Me: if you girls would like to go, I need u all to EXPECT the following 

1) Long queues and CROWDS

2) Crazy Weather 

And what I expect of you all:

3) Do not tell me you are bored

4) Pls be kind to each other for the whole entire day

Me (also) : I will be over stimulated and I know Vera will be too. So if you girls can do the above, we will go. 

And both of them agree. 

And right after the conversation, I personally felt a lot better. Coz I was setting the stage not just for them but for me. It is normal that after going to such an event, we end up being so tired and overwhelmed and start blowing our fuses. But if we can talk abt it, then all of us could extend a bit of grace to one another. 

We went and maybe becoz we had the “staging” beforehand, everything went well today. We splited ways and queued at different lines, depending on which kid was interested or not. The crowds were a lot more manageable bcoz we reach before it was open. Thank God! 

Completed the place abt 1hr plus and headed for our fav ramen place at Paya Lebar Square. Kids were happy; I’m happy. Tummy and in spirit. Hahahaha

The kids were treated to ice cream for behaving their best after that. Came home and showered. Joash and i napped while vera went for her art class. 

We probably can do more of such activities now that the twins are older I guess. Coz when they were younger, it’s just sheer exhaustion when we go out happily but come back w grouchy, over stimulated kids.. 

Fruitful weekend! Thankful