School Holiday Outing

I take my children everywhere, but they always find their way back home. ~Robert Orben

It’s almost a must nowadays to take your children SOMEWHERE during the school holidays. Your every effort will be assessed accordingly by your kids and you’ll get your report card when the school reopens. Your kids will appraise your performance based on the places they visit and the level of fun the have.

Besides your kids, be prepared to be interviewed by other parents who’ll want to find out if you have let the kids spend an enriching holiday instead of being cooped up at home. “Poor kids,” they’ll go and proceed to blabber on the stupendous experience their kids have during the holidays.

My sister’s-in-law company held a Family Day Carnival at West Coast Park today. We packed my three kids, my dog and her pup into the back seats of her car and drove to the destination with high spirits.

We stopped at the McDonald’s there for a quick breakfast before we dove into the merciless heat of the morning sun out in the open field.

The kids kicked start their busy day with a badge-making session. Spotting a hair-braiding corner, I coerced Angel to give it a try while Rachel and Mervin decided to try their lucks at the various game booths available.

I’m not sure how long I stood behind Angel and the “stylist”, who was sweating away to plait Angel’s hair. It seemed like almost half an hour to me but the staggering heat may have me disoriented and I miscalculated the time. Perhaps it was only twenty-nine minutes. I only remembered Adel, my sister-in-law, passing by me a few times remarking about the time the "stylist" was spending on Angel's hair; and my kids scampering away several times after checking if Angel was done. Suddenly I felt like I was in one of those shots in a movie whereby the main character will remain fixed in a position while all the others zoomed past me in exaggerated speed.

When Angel’s hair was successfully braided into two nice half-scorpions, I still thanked the "stylist" profusely for her painstaking effort. Of course I also needed to praise Angel for her remarkable endurance by sitting there so long without even fidgeting a little. I doubt she’ll be as cooperative if I’m the one braiding her hair.

We had a few drinks (of plain cold water of course) and Adel mingled a little with her colleagues. It's just past an hour but the temperature was so sweltering high that we just needed to find a shade to sit down and cool down a bit. The kids were like daredevils who still managed to plunge themselves into the scorching open playground for another round of fun. With smoke sizzling off the tops of our heads, Adel and I had no choice but to interrupt them amidst their fun, and dragged them over to McDonald’s again for three big tubs of ice cold Coke. Like Adel had put it, “Coke has never tasted so nice before.”

After maybe a thirty-minute break, we continued the day with more games and more prizes for the kids. They had in all two notebooks, a stationery set, a puzzle set and a teddy bear in their loots. Not a bad catch for the day!

The fun-filled day ended with a friendly soccer match between two teams from the company and an entertaining cheerleading performance. Mervin enjoyed the soccer match the most. He always aspires to be a soccer player but I'd rather he plays basketball for the sake of his height. Soccer puts me off with the mud and grease I'll have to face every day. But seeing the glint in his eyes everytime he watches a soccer game, I somehow feel a little guilty.

By the time we reached my in-law place, I was too tired to even move a limb. I had wanted to shower Kristel after the outing but my body was screaming for some rest. Adel and I hit the bed instantly and drifted off.

I really take off my hat to my kids and the dogs. I was so worried that they'd get heatstroke being exposed to the killer rays for such a long period. But they proved me wrong by continuing to zoom around the house with their trademark malfunctioned car alarm sirens. Even in my sleep, I could hear them as my background music! I tried to administer my "Tiger Roar" on them but my power was dangerously low and I couldn't do much while recharging.

Needless to say, I woke up with a stiff neck and a pounding headache at dinnertime.

It's home sweet home after dinner at my in-law's and we had a nice scrubbing down before heading to bed. Poor Kristel. She just has to wait for the next day for her shower.

But Kristel may think otherwise. She hates showers!


... to be continued