Fly Kite Blood Moon Day

Date:  Apr 4, 2015

Today, we decided to go to Marina Barrage to fly kite and to watch the moon eclipse.

The kids love outdoor so much.  And they keep on jumping up and down.  The found a big bird statue behind.

A lot of people when they come, they will walk up to the roof top.

For us, we walked from the reverse direction, from the Satay by the bay, we will see this green green slope.  And surprisingly not many people here.  So, we decided to fly our kite here and we setup our picnic here too.

There is a nice view of the MBS and the Singapore Flyer.

Let’s fly kite.

Kay Kay flying the first kite.

The Red Angry Bird kite.

Look closer.  This is the one.

Kay Kay just witness a runaway kite.  The kite and the handle flew away in front of him.  

So, he was a bit scare of loosing his kite.

So what we do is we tie the kite on to his waist.

So, that he can fly the kite even the wind is strong up there.

See… Hands Free flying kite.

Jay Jay will fly the rainbow parachute dog kite.

And up up and away...

Jay no need the kite to tie to his waist.

He is very steady flying the kite.

Hello little friend.

We started our picnic.

Terry & Laurel joined us together with their niece Claris.

She gets to fly a kite too.

Here comes my dinner.  Kueh Pai Tee.

OK.  The night is coming.  Sun has set.

And we are searching for the Moon direction.

There is an app for it.

The kids were playing the Star Tracker App.  There were amaze of seeing things that they cannot see.

Later, mommy and Jay Jay setup the telescope.

We will use this Telescope to search for the blood moon.

And we have align the telescope properly towards the east.  The moon will rose from the East.

Let’s see if we can see Jupiter or not.

This is the direction the moon will rose from.

Oh… some people are playing the drones.  The drones change green and red color.  Cool. 

Here we get the glimpse of the moon.

Laurel’s camera can see the color.  Some how, my camera filtered off all the color.

This is what Laurel’s took from his borrowed camera.

The eclipse has begun to uncover the moon slowly.

Bigger now.

They found a way to take photo via telescope.

Bigger.

I am using my Sony super zoom camera.  Automatic mode.

Jay Jay was amazed when looking at the viewfinder of my camera,

Moon getting bigger again.

These astro-scientist is trying to take photo thru the telescope eye hole.   

Moon getting bigger.

And bigger.

Laurel took the photo and the color is definitely are more real than mine.

Hers is yellow color.  

I am still taking lots and lots of photos about this eclipse.

When we reach home, the moon has become round moon.

So round.  And that concludes the blood moon day.  The full moon back to the full moon again.

Lego Organisations

Date:  Mar 10, 2015

Nowadays kids play Lego very differently.

1.  Daddy daddy, I want you to buy this Lego set for me.

2.  Once they build it.  The Lego set will stay there for months or years to collect dust.

3.  You end up with many Lego sets all fully build with lots of dust on it.

You wonder...

Lego suppose to help your kids creative.  Not to follow instruction and build the Lego set.

Kids should learn how to build things that they like using their imaginations.

Luckily The Lego Movie has taught our kids one important thing.

Master Builder!!!

Is your kid a master builder?  No?  Neh-neh-neh-poo-poo!

Then, the next thing you know… all the kids wanted to be a master builder.

In order to become a master builder, you need to build a correct environment for them to easily become a master builder.

Here is what I did.

A.  Break all the sets up.  Those that is not worth keeping, break them up into pieces.  Of course, those like Star Wars set, if you wish to keep it, don’t break it.  Once you break the Lego set up, you end up with lots of different Lego items.  So, you will need to know how to organise it!

B.  Of course, you can arrange all the same or similar part together.  Such as like this.  But one problem, there are too many different types of parts.  So, it does not make sense to do so.

C.  I used to keep them in here.  But still too many variety makes it harder for you to find the parts.  You simply cannot mix them together.

D.  I try to keep them here too.  It works, but still not enough.  And the container is not so stable.  Sometimes when you bring them around, one of the box lose the grip and drop on the floor, you end up with many Lego pieces lying on the ground.  Haiz. 

E.  It can be a mess to leave on the ground just like that!

Solutions

F.  I found these cabinet shelf at the hardware department of Giant Supermarket.  It is OK affordable (from Giant).  And it is quite useful.  So, I slowly buy a few of them and slowly begin my organisation project.

G.  You noticed those small Lego pieces “stick” on every drawer compartment?  Yeah, to quickly identify where I store all the different Lego parts, I stick one of the same parts outside the drawer.

H.  So, if you need any parts, just go to the drawer and pick.  It is easier this way.  All same or similar parts are placed in the same drawers and each drawers has a marker to indicate what parts it is.

I.  So, how do I stick it on the drawer?

J.  Go to hardware store to buy these heavy duty double sided tape for plastic.

K.  I thought of using the super glue, yeah, Kra-gel.  But better not.

L.  See what I mean?  After you organise it, it is simpler for you to look for correct parts so that you can build something you like using your creativity, and imagination.

M.  Oh ya, forgot to introduce, under these uni-color blocks, underneath it is a House.  Build by my son Jay Jay & his play dates Ashlyn.  Under the big roof, you see table inside the house, you see stairs, and you see people inside.  Got chair, got cupboard, etc.  Beside it is a sky bridge.  Under the bridge is car park space.

N.  I am very happy with my work here.  I will reuse some of the container to place more different parts in it.  And hopefully my son will learn how to find parts to build what he wants.  And thus become a real master builder.  hahahaha