A Simple Life 5

Saturday mornings are we do something fun with the twins. Everyone's not in school and both Packrat and I have had a little bit more sleep than usual. It ranges. It could be hotcake breakfasts. It could be a visit to the park. It could be an outing to somewhere more significant like the Singapore Flyer.

But generally, we try to do something that doesn't cost a lot and doesn't involve shopping malls. Packrat's mantra is 'if it was good enough for us when we were kids, it's good enough for our kids.' As a result, we end up at the park a great deal.

It works out for the twins because they like the open space. Evan loves the water features; he loves the water fall and is obsessed about the pond. Is it deep? He asks. Is it cold? He wants to know. I warn him and his sister again and again that they are not to go so near that they might fall in. And Evan is extremely wary of falling in.

We brought their bicycles this time round to the park. Evan was adamant that he didn't want to ride it. On further probing, we discovered it was because he remembered the time he saw a boy careen into the pond. The boy was unharmed but hysterical, wet and covered in mud after that. Evan witnessed the whole thing and has remembered it since. Mark, who came with us to the park this time, was full of praise that Evan was 'learning from someone else's mistake'.

I was more concerned that I had to drag his bike round the park if he didn't want to ride it. We eventually convinced him he was safe to ride the bike and promised that he wouldn't go near the pond on it. Unfortunately, the wheels of the bike had no air and that made it difficult for him to ride. This meant, we still had to drag his bike all over.

Some time back, while at the supermarket, Packrat picks up a bottle of fish food. He decides to buy it because it's cheaper than the little cannister that the park sells for $1. So we generally practice BYO fish food. Sometimes we bring bread but I'm less enthused about that because sometimes the twins decide they want to share the bread with the fish and often we give them stale, expired bread to feed. They, of course think that if it's good enough for the fish, it's good enough for them.

They become hot, sweaty and dirty after the whole experience. Sometimes they kick off their shoes and wade into the little streams that are all over the park. We warn them about slippery rocks but generally we hold on to them and let them do what they want. They also discovered the joy of finding dried leaves and letting the flowing water carry them down stream, thanks to Uncle Mark!

It's a nice way to start off the weekend, as long as it isn't too hot. Everyone has fun. Everyone is ready for lunch and a nap.




















Uncle Mark teaching Evan to hold fish food in the palm of his hand with his fingers closed.


















Tossing the food in and watching the terrapins, swans and fish make a scramble for it. He claims the swans are the most 'poor thing' because 'they have no feed to eat'. I disagree but keep my views to myself.


















Peppering the pond with fish food. Being warned not to drop the bottle in as he once did. Once again, he remembers that incident and promises he won't drop it in because Papa has to 'swim to get it'.


















No more food. His next request was ' Can I catch a bird?'. I told him he was free to try. And off he went.

Note: It sounds like Muffin doesn't get to do any of this. I wanted to bring him. But he'd been put down for his nap when we were ready to leave. Next time.


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