Thanksgiving for 2008 and Goals for 2009

Last night my family sat down in the study room to write about our thanksgivings for 2008 and things to work on in 2009. This is what I wrote:

Thanksgiving Items for 2008

1. I entered my first chess and gym competition.
2. I joined the endurance programme in my swim class.
3. I went for my first missions trip to Segamat.
4. Our first family drive up to Malaysia for the church camp and mission trip.
5. Completed renovation of my bedroom and study room.
6. I memorized Psalms 23.
7. I received a new bicycle on my birthday.
8. My first Discovery Rangers Training Camp and Camporama.
9. My first lapbook on insects.
10. I made new friends from my neighbourhood and gym competition.
11. I passed my grade one music exam with distincion.
12. My brother and I took MRT to swimming class on our own.

Things to work on in 2009

1. Improve my Chinese .
2. Get into the chess junior squad .
3. Memorize Psalms 1 and The Lord's Prayer.
4. Write two book reviews by myself.
5. Work towards geting into the swimming half squad.
6. Invite a friend to church.
7. Pass my grade three music exam.

My Trip to HortPark

Yesterday after my swimming class, we went to HortPark for a visit. The place has many plants! We spent a lot of time at the Garden Patch which is a patchwork of outdoor display plots that showcases garden designs, concepts, products and ideas on home gardening. The two gardens that I like are the Fantasy and Cactus Garden. The Fantasy Garden is based on the story of 'Wizard Of Ox'. We can see the Tin Wood Man, Scarecrow, and Lion in it. At the Cactus Garden there were many Cactus; big and small! Later we visited other gardens and saw chilli plants, elephant ears (which are plants that has leaves that look like elephant's ears!), and many others. My favourite was the dancing plant because there was a sign that told us that if we play some music it would dance! We decided to try out and used dad's handphone to play some music. Daddy thought the plant danced, but it was actually the wind blowing it! After that daddy brought us to a bridge that starts from the Hort Park at Alexandra Road that goes all the way to Mount Faber. We did not walk all the way of course as we were all very tired. I drifted off to sleep within minutes in the car on our way home. I shall go back to this park again as there are so many interesting things to see...

What I did on Saturday

A sunny day has finally come! I am very excited because we are going to Warren for a swim! Over there I could not wait to try out my Catamaran which I had brought. After the swim we ate some snacks which was yummy! Then we went to the playground to play and went home for lunch. Later we are going to the Science Centre look for a guidebook on plants. That's all for now.....

My Christmas Dinner

Preparing our first chocolate fondue

Today I am in a mood to blog ...... So here is my Christmas Dinner! This evening, mummy prepared a special dinner for us. There were lettuce, prawns, sparkling juice, satay with rice and carrot cake which mummy bought from the hawker centre. It was delicious especially the rice cakes. Later we had chocolate fondue for dessert. To make the fondue, we melt chocolate with butter and water in a pot and then dipped marshmallows and strawberries into it. It was delicious and I was extremely full. I enjoyed this dinner very much.

My Christmas Menu

Welcome to my new cafe!!! ( OPEN ONLY ON CHRISTMAS DAY)

CJSN Cafe

Appetizer

French Fries with chili sauce.

Coleslaw

Main Course

Mini Steak with brocoli and carrots

Fish and Chips

Desserts

Chocolate Sundae

Brownies

Beverages

Sprite, 7UP or Coke

Christmas Day

This morning I woke up with excitement because I could not wait to open my presents! The first present that I opened was from mummy and daddy. It was a new pair of track shoes! Then we had breakfast. We ate noodles with chilli. Then I started to build my science experiment toy. It was a gift from uncle Yeow Pheng and auntie Elaine. It was difficult to fix because the screws were hard to screw in, and there were many wires. But I did it in the end. Later grandma came to our house to give us our presents. Mine was a soft haversack bag. In the afternoon we went to Ten Mile Junction for lunch. At 'Different Taste' restaurant, I ate pork chop, spinach, fish-head curry and drank bittergourd soup. It was delicious. After that we went to the supermarket to buy mineral water (I need the bottle for my science project - Bottle Catamaran), a can of Kickapoo drink and corn flakes. Then daddy fetched grandma home.

Vacation Bible School 2008

Last week was the start of my VBS. The theme was "Living God's Unshakable Truth". My class name was Tahiti. My two church friends, Noah and Ian Kang were in the same group as me. The highlight of the VBS for me was on Wednesday. We went for an outing at Labrador park. Over there we played treasure hunt and this was unusual because we had to hike a trail to identify for the places on the photos. They were mostly hideouts of soldiers during WW2. It was exciting and spooky! I enjoyed this field trip very much.

My First Chess Competition

Today was my first chess competition. Mummy and I left very early in the morning to catch a cab to the place as it was very far. At the Civil Service Club, mummy took me to a big hall with rows of tables. This was where the competition was held. I felt quite nervous and excited. My first opponent's name was Lionel. I lost because he was a very good chess player. However I enjoyed the game very much. After my first game, mummy took me to Dhoby Plaza Singapura for lunch. We ate at Burger King and the food was delicious. For my second game in the afternoon, I lost again and felt a bit discouraged. Mummy told me that it was alright to lose as it was my first time playing serious chess.

On the second day, Daddy and I took the public transport to Civil Service Club. First I checked on the list for my pairing partner and went to look for my seat. This time round, my opponent was easier and I won him in a short time. I felt happy.... Then I called mummy to come and fetched me. I walked to Farrer Park station myself and boarded the train to Doby Ghaut to meet her. I just ate a curry puff as I was not very hungry. We went back to the place of competition for the next game. Do you know that for the afternoon game, my opponent was my friend in the chess class! I was very surprised that we could be paired up together. Anyway I won this game again.

Today, daddy brought me to Outram Park station first and then I took a train myself to Farrer Park station. I felt great going to all these places by myself! At the club I found my seat and can't wait for the game to start. I won this game although I did an illegal checkmate! I only found out when my coach analyzed my game. Then together with my brothers and mummy, we met daddy at his office area for lunch. I ate fishball noodles which was my favourite. The afternoon game was very tense as my opponent was a good player. I lost as I made a careless mistake.

On the last day, I lost two rounds I felt very disappointed that I could not make it to the National Junior Squad. You need to have 3.5 points to enter the squad, but I had only 3 points. Daddy said that next year I could try again. I am thankful for this experience.

The A-10 warthog

I borrowed a book titled "A-10 Warthog" and found some amazing facts about these planes.
The A-10 warthog can still fly even though one engine is destroyed! Its front has a big machine gun that shoot many rounds of shells. Its wings also has compartments with flares and chaff to confuse the enemies missiles. The A-10 warthog also has a bulletproof cockpit. These planes will stay in service until 2028 and it will be used as a spotter plane. I wish the Singapore Airforce will buy this plane, so that I can fly in it!

F15 Estrike eagle

This morning, when I looked in the newspaper, I found an interesting article about the F15 Estrike eagle! Wow! what an amazing modern plane. I have always loved planes. The radars and missiles make this plane looked so cool that I feel like flying in it!

Science centre (Robotics)

Yesterday, together with the homeschooled group, we went to the Science centre. We were followed a man, who took us to the lab.

Inside the lab, I saw a big rectangular table with many gadgets. I was very excited because it was my first time seeing such complicated things. First we sat down and the teacher taught us about robots. Then we were split into groups of two. I paired up with David. The first activity was to use a computer to programme our robot to shoot at a round lego piece. This was fun because we could control the robot. Next we used icons on the computer to make the robot take out the germs which was in the form of blue balls.

Finally we used a lego saw hooked on the robot to cut rubber tubes. The purpose is to unblock lungs. I had a great day at the Science centre.

Baking (chemistry)

After lunch I wanted to try out an experiment using milo, butter and sugar. First I melt the butter with milo in a pot, then add the sugar and stirred the mixture. Do you know that the end result looked like "poo poo" to me! Next I put in coloured sprinkles and freeze the mixture. After an hour I ate a bit of my creation , it tasted very buttery.

Thoughts of singapore

I am thankful that Singapore has freshwater for me to drink, lots of greenery and good public trasport systems.

Praying for Singapore

I pray that the people in Singapore will not smoke and that christians will tell others about Jesus.

Rangers camp (mar 08)

Last Thursday was the start of my Rangers camp.I had to wake up at 7.00 am and at around 8.00 my brother and I arrived at Home TeamAdventure Center. First we had some camp briefing followed by devotion followed by some ice breaking games and played some tricky obstacle course. The first game was called 'blow wind blow '. I did not really enjoy the game because I find it a little childish. Next we had our lunch in the shed. We ate chicken rice which was delicious.
After lunch we had a bible study on the book of Ruth. In the evening we had a campfire. All of us sat around the big, glowing fire and sang songs and ate our dinner. After that we wentback to our bunks to bath. You know what, we played Netendo Wii after the wash-up! The game was fun and exciting. At about mid-night we went to sleep in our sleeping bags. What a long day.

May day outreach

Yesterday we went to Pulau Ubin with some homeschooling families, nature volunteers and a corporation called 'Intel'. This is my first visit there and I was looking forward to it. When we reached the island, I saw many bicycle shops along the sides and you can rent them at a very cheap price! I wished I could ride a bicycle too! However we took a van to Chek Jawa.

First we all gathered at a beautiful cottage and I saw some artists painting a mural on the wall. Next auntie November took us on a walk through the mangrove swamps. It was thrilling because I saw feedler crabs, mudskippers and mud lobsters and the nipah /"atap chee" tree! After that we headed back to the cottage where uncle Joe divided us into three groups for some activities. I chose to do the clean up at the mangroves. We were given gloves and thongs to pick the rubbish. It was fun for me, though at one time, my shoes got stuck in the mud and I thought I was going to sink! After the cleanup we went back to the cottage for lunch.

This trip was a nice experience for me. Hope to make another visit there when I am older, this time riding on my bike.

Our trip to Wild Wild Wet

Yesterday we went to Wild Wild Wet. On our way there we stopped by at IKEA, to have lunch. This place is very big and looked very nice. They have a wider variety of household things there. At the restaurant I ate seafood rings with fries. The rings were delicious especially when I dipped it into the mayonnaise. After our meal we drove to Wild Wild Wet!. Over there I tried the slides. They were very fun because it was very fast! We then went to the "Ulah lah" it was pretty scary when the float went down a steep slope but eventually the ride was smooth. Next we went to the "shiok" pool. This pool is like a little river where you can sit on a float that will bring you around. You will also come upon bubbles and steam in the pool. For the last 15 minutes we decided to"cycle the bicycle on the track". It was a bit frightening because of the height and you felt like falling off from it. In the evening, we showered and went home after a long day. I had a wonderful day.

sergamat mission trip

While it was still dark, all the cars gathered to meet at Bukit Panjang Plaza at 5.30am. Although my brothers and I had to wake up very early, but we were all in high spirits!

At Tuas checkpoint we were caught up in jam because of the terrriost, Mas Salmat. I was very bored so I tried to occupy myself by looking out of the window and tried to spot the other mission trippers cars.

After driving for an hour we arrived at Yong Peng for breakfast. At Anthoney's cafe, we had fishball noodles and some yummy pastries.

At about 11.45am , we arrived at the Golden Lake Hotel. I was very thrilled when I saw a connecting door that led to my friend Noah's room.

At around 2.00pm we left for the orphanage. Over there, the children lined up in a row to welcome us. We shook hands with them. Next we had some introduction of each other followed by some games. One of the game was passing the parcel. The game was fun because we got to know everyone better.

After the game we had some snacks provided by the orphanage.

At around 5.00pm we went to the park to play soccer.

The game was fun because it was my first time kicking the ball into a real goal post.

Before playing the game, we were first divided into two teams.

It was an exciting game for everyone ,however my team lost the game.

Discovery

About the flower crab

I find flower crabs very special to me because when the shell is too small, it will come out of its old shell, this is called moulting! How does it moult?

It grows a new shell which is still soft, puffs itself with water until its shell hardens and finally releases the water so that it will have more space to grow.

Soft shell crabs

Do you know that fisherman only catch the crab, when it is moulting? That's because its shell is soft at that time!

About the enemone peacock

The anemones peacock is one of the new marine creature I saw!
During high tide, its tentacles will open up, such that it looks like A flower.

Just now I went to the blogging workshop and learned how to blog! It was very fun because I got to put my fingers on the keyboard. When I came home, I just couldn't wait to try out this new skill!

A day at Changi Beach

The trip to Changi Beach has been exciting!

I learnt to care more about marine creatures.

Over there I saw hermit crabs, flower crabs and even a white bellied sea eagle.

journey

hi
My name is Caleb.
I am 8 years old. I have 3 brothers.

I enjoy swimming, soccer and playing lego. My favourite colour is blue.
you can contact me at legoCJ@gmail.com