RSAF Open House 2011

Every boy dreams of flying a plane in some phase of their life. I too had that dream when I was young. So when RSAF had their open house this year, I thought Xavier too might be keen. Indeed he was.

We went on Saturday morning and thankfully it was an overcast morning. On display right at the entrance was the pride of the RSAF, the F-15SG (bottom right of the collarge). F-15SG is a variant of the F-15E Strike Eagle, one of the most versatile fighter aircraft even built.

There are many photo enthusiasts at the open house with all kinds of gadgets. I took a photo of this man with a super extended mono-pod with trigger mechanism. The open house also have sections where you can sit in the aircraft, probably the closest non-pilot can get to flying it (beside the Flight Simulation Centre). But the queue for it is crazy, at least one hour for the not so popular aircrafts.

The main highlight is the open house is the Aerial Display. We went 10mins earlier and the seats were already filling up fast. Manage to get front seating. Was initially afraid it might be too loud for Xavier and might scare him but he kept pushing our hands away when we try to cover his ears.

Before the start of the Aerial Display, the pilots came by and threw some pins to lucky people at the back. The display showcase the ability of most of the aircrafts in RSAF, including the F-15SG, F-16D, the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter, Super Pumas, Chinook, C-130 Hercules.

Took multiple shots of the F-16SG taking off and soaring in the sky and piece them into a single photo below.

F-15SG fighter aircraft taking off

After the Aerial Display, we went to check out the helicopters on display. I was particular interested in the Apache, influenced by the 80's show Airwolf. There is also a S-70B naval helicopter on display.


We left shortly after noon as it was starting to get really crowded and the sun found its way out of the clouds. Overall a fun open house. Got Xavier a jockey cap before leaving.

Sundown Half-Marathon 2011

This would probably be one of the most hard-earned medal I have crazily earned.

I signed up for the Sundown 21km run end of last year, when I was still in good shape and had a passion for running. Fast-forward five months and it was a different story. I had lose my motivation to run and the last time I wore my running shoes was for the Compression Run in April. So it was pretty close to suicidal going for a 21km run with almost no training at all. But I told myself to just go and have fun, take it as a leisure jog. Or walk.

Surprisingly I enjoyed the run, well at least the first 15km of it. Running in a large event with so many other runners makes the event fun and enjoyable. And I was able to draw strengths from other runners. I lasted till the 15km mark before I finally walked instead of jog.

At 16 km, the soreness and pain on different parts of my legs were there, yet bearable. But another form of distraction hit me. I was hungry, really hungry. Every time I pass by a volunteer of the event, I wished they were holding out a banana to give to me.

Determine to finish the race so I can have supper (I was trying to turn hungry into my strength), I did a mixture  of slow job and fast walk. Then at 18km mark, the tightness on my thighs threatened to give me cramps. I had to do more stretching along the way and walk more to prevent the cramps from coming up.

Having looked at the timing on my watch, it seems like I could still do it under 3 hours if I hasten my pace a little. With a focus aim in mind, I started to pick up my pace again. Then at 20km mark, the thighs gave up, tightening up so much that I couldn't jog anymore. Even fast walking proved to be a teeth grinding affair. That was it, I could only hobble on towards the finish line.

As I approach the last 300m to the finish line, it seems like under 3 hours is still possible. The competitive mind then took over and pushed the wasted legs on towards the end. And I did it under 3 hours.

I'm gonna hang up my shoes and take a break from running, a break of at least two years.

Cold Storage Kids Run 2011

Xavier thrilled with his first medal

Xavier did his run today and got himself a participation medal. I signed him up for the Sunny Family Chase" category and accompanied him for the run.

And boy was it a hot day. We were melting under the scorching sun while waiting for our turn to run. Xavier was all excited about the run on our way there but when it came to the actual run, he became all whiny and needing, and kept asking to be carried every few steps. Maybe it was because of the huge number of unfamiliar faces all around us during the run. Pretty overwhelming for him I guess.

We took a break at the water point and while resting, we saw his classmate Thomas. And all the sudden he had a 180° change, and was running after Thomas and having fun and laughter. He suddenly seems so confident. My conclusion, peer pressure works well on him and he is quite a show-off. Ha.

Here are some of the other photos. The carnival atmosphere from the line of proud parents cheering their family on and taking photos and videos is just wonderful.

Xavier, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Green Monster and The Skeleton Dance

Xavier pick up things like sponge these days and flood us with things he learn in school. And it left us scratching our head figuring out what he was trying to say or do while he feels frustrated (at us not knowing what he is trying to expressing).

So it's good to know what the school is teaching so that you can relate with your kid when he tries to express to you what he has learnt, be it by singing or dancing or trying to tell you the story he learnt.

Image from Wikipedia

I heard of this very famous children book call "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. And I have seen this big book at Xavier's classroom and it seems like his teacher is using it to teach the kids as I see artworks of eggs on leaves, butterflies and hanging cocoons.

Classroom artwork with eggs on the leave, hanging cocoons and butterflies

Then when we went Kinokuniya, Xavier grew very excited about this same series of caterpillar books, showing us the various food the caterpillar has been eating and amazingly, he can rattle off the different food the caterpillar eat in exact sequence. We decided to get him his own book.


What's interesting about this book is that it has holes in some of the pages where the food are illustrated. And the kids can wiggle the tip of their finger thru them as if the caterpillar was eating them.


And this is the clip where can list the food the caterpillar eats followed by the stomach-ache acting. In case you are wondering what he is blabbing about, "One chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one cheese, one salami, one lollipop, one cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, one watermelon. Tummy-ache!" This book also teaches counting and how caterpillar can turn into a cocoon and finally into a butterfly.


Xavier is crazy about this song now and want us to sing it again and again and again. I told him if he is scare and anythign else, like Kungfu Panda, just sing "Kungfu Panda Go Away!".


Xavier has also been doing this dance sequence while trying to sing the tune but we had no idea what he was doing until I chance upon (so lucky) the Skeleton Dance clip. He was sitting on my lap and when I played the clip for the first time (for me), and he was rushing to get off my lap. I thought he was scared and wanted to run away but he actually wants to get down and dance!

Cold Storage Kids Run - Race Expo

We sign Xavier up for the Cold Storage Kids Run '11 just so he can get some exercise to hopefully do away with his tummy... just kidding.

Thought it would be fun to go for such runs just for the fun of it, since Xavier's "Sunny Family Chase" category is just a 800m "run" with an accompanying parent for age 2-4 years old with no prize. We went to collect the goodies bag today and there are quite a number of stuffs in the bag I must say. Things include race tee, milk, snacks, wipes, milk powder, stickers, drawing paper with colour pencils, backpack, etc. The expo also has activities for kids to engage in like a mini obstacle course and balloon sculptures but Xavier was sleeping in the car while daddy went to get the stuff.

Xavier's number for the race ends with "007". Do you think he looks like one with his poses below?

Happy Mother's Day 2011

This year's Mother's Day artwork from Xavier is very different from last year's. This year has two cookies in it together with a hand-paint artwork on a green straw that looks like a flower.

Xavier was all excited to present it to Lilian. And he seems even happier eating the cookies. Happy Mother's Day Lilian.

Xavier the Broccoli Singer, 27 months on...

Xavier is now 91cm tall and weights 15.80kg, which means I have to buy him MRT and bus tickets and pay for him to watch a movie. :(

Polling day today and Mother's day tomorrow. Xavier has entered the "I, me, mine" phrase. He is not into sharing yet, and is proud to declare things as his. So you would often hear him say my car, my bread, my mushroom, my apple, etc. He would even detail to you, "Not daddy's, not mummy's. Mine!"

He would also be very impatient such that when you tell him to wait or can we do this first then do that, he would kick a big fuss. And sometimes he would totally ignore your instructions and do the opposite of we asked of him. And the best part is, when I get angry and scold him, he would turn to Lilian and say in those sad puppy tone, "Daddy angry" as if trying to get sympathy votes from Lilian.

When he is in good mood, he would break into songs out of the blue. Or he would just be silly and laugh at little things. Below are two videos I took during one of the supermarket trips where he suddenly decides to use the Broccoli as a microphone and sing "Lalala" and be silly.

Thomas's Birthday Party @ The Polliwogs

Xavier was invited to his classmate Thomas's Birthday @ The Polliwogs. He's been very excited about going to birthdays and going to Polliwogs, so you can say he was doubly excited this time. But probably because we were late (having to vote in the morning), Xavier took a very long time to warm up, to the surprise of even Lilian and myself.

But it's not his birthday and as long as the birthday boy and all the other kids are having fun, that's all it matters. There were party coordinators doing activities with the kids and they even got Thomas's daddy and Gabriel to join in the fun (as super heroes?). There was also a balloon entertainer chunning out very well sculpted balloon characters. I'm impressed by the red pokka dots octopus, yellow bus, Barney, Elmo and Cookie Monster that he made, among others.

Cake cutting time and it was Thomas favourite Cars character Lightning McQueen. And boy was it a big cake and kids were trying to get their hands on it. I know Xavier was as I had to fend him off as he exclaimed excitedly "Car! Car! Car!".

After the kids got their tummy filled, they were running around with a balloon sculpture each, filling up the room with laughter. What a fun filled day!

Xavier brought his Cooke Monster balloon home to join his collection of other cookie monsters.

Psst... Where is the Y.O.G.?

Lilian reminded me that I should shall this tip on the blog.

Xavier is better at expressing himself now and understands most of the things we tell him (although sometimes he chooses to ignore us).

There are instances when we do not want him to know what we are talking about, we would use codes or spell the word out. Actually it was my mum who started it first and we found it very useful.

For example, "Psst... Can you take the Y.O.G. (yoghurt) out of the fridge?" or "Put the A.P.P. (apple) on the table first." If we were to use normal words, he would demand to have it immediately. By spell out the word or the first few alphabets, he still has no idea what we are talking about. *snicker*