I do meet a number of mothers who spend a considerable time everyday on their car or on the road. No, they are not mechanics! They are stay-at-home moms just like me. But what we do have in common is that we drive around to take our kids to their different activities. We also need to drive around to do the groceries and other household ‘work’. I really never thought I’d be driving around this much or even have much involvement with cars.

Now, I even take on the chore of brining the car to the service station for routine service. It was just a few weeks back when I had to take our car to the service station for a repair of some minor issue with our car. It is not really complex as all I had to do was drive in, tell the service advisor what is wrong, I wait in the lounge, and after a short time, I get informed that all is good and ready to go. The whole process seems to be so easy that I could not really complain having this ’skill’. Now look who’s talking.

We have not really gone out of our way to go fishing. The closest is probably when we tried our hands into prawn fishing. Well, to cut the long story short, we were not so productive. Anyway, when we went to the beach about a couple of weeks ago, we did see some people having great success on fishing even though they are just do it from the beach. So it seems to be a favorable idea for a family with young children. Formerly, we thought that we had to take a boat complete with fishing clothing and go to the deep to get some real fishing action. But now the thought of just hanging around on the beach to fish becomes more appealing.

Where do babies come from? This is an interesting question young kids typically ask. And at their age, the answer that they will take is equally amusing. While at some point they probably realize that it does come from a mother’s tummy, the question still lies “how did it get there?”. So even before a baby boy is born and the father starts handing out macanudo cigars to his buddies, it is quite likely that an older sibling will have puzzled looks staring at his or her mom’s enlarged tummy. Of course that goes without saying that the famous question will be asked. Where do babies come from mommy?

A kid’s imsgination is a wonderful thing. By adding creativity to simple things, they can come up with some really good play things or play time. A brown box destined to go to the recycling bin can become a doctor’s kit, a cash register with laser barcode scanner, a jewellry box, or a hideout for Mr. Potato! It is inspiring to see these young kids believe that things can be made possible.

Raising a family is a great experience. Part of the experience is to face different challenges and uncertainties. It is here where several insurance products try to find their way into family homes. Competition is tough and hopefully that makes families the eventual winner. But that still leaves some work for dads and moms to do their homework to pick out the best one for the family.

A lot of parents wish to have more time with their children. But going to work daily would typically leave only the weekends. For some, even this time is taken overby work… or extra work. Some look at other ways to create more time such as doing a family business or may look at franchise opportunities. I guess it is really challenging. And parents who go out of their way to make more time for their kids should be applauded.

We have move a couple of times due to work opportunities in different countries. In fact, we are in Sydney initially ‘just for work’. But then we liked it here and decided to stay longer. It was a bit easier then when the kids were younger. But as they grow up, things will not be as easy. We heard of some interesting opportunities in the US. These charlotte jobs tend to be quite interesting. Besides, they could be yet another adventure for us. But at this point, we’re not really sure if we want to keep the moving pattern.

My eldest daughter went to a school camp earlier this week. This left little CN some ‘vacant’ time to fill in as she does not have her big sis to play with for a couple of days. She opted to be a helping hand in the kitchen. She did a variety of chores including washing dishes as well as helping in food preparation and more. Though, we did not get a chance to do some cookie making a-la mrs fields peanut butter cookies or the oatmeal cookies she is so fond of. Oh well, it’s school holidays from next week so there will be more work for the little cook.

The past weeks were really busy. The kids had activities one after another… both in school and out of school. One of the big ones was a public speaking competition on which both my kids participated. The youngest one got the top place in her level while the eldest got the second place for middle school (Years 5 and 6). It was quite rewarding when it was all finished and definitely worth more than a gold bullion in our hearts. But after the school competition, RD still had to compete in yet another inter-school competition.

We had a chance to go camping with some friends the past weekend. However, due to weather and a bit of a fever, we had to do a raincheck. Hopefully we could still plan one before winter begins. Actually, the camping spot is just a short drive of maybe 5-10 mins from where we live. And so a magellan gps may be more important to navigate the site rather than having a normal road/traffic GPS. There is still some chance to schedule a camp in the coming weeks. However, Sydney weather has been a mixed bag lately, signalling that the warm summer months are really gone.

Early this week, our youngest daughter brought out her old laptop toy which she had for some years now. We gave it to her as a gift when she was a toddler. But really, it is something she didn’t use a lot as she got bumped up to real laptops. Perhaps every parent of young kids nowadays agree that this is quite common. Perhaps the only thing keeping them from really exploring the web is the ability to type confidently. Thanks to browser favorites, they are able to navigate to places. At the same time, we also get to control the sites they go to. Of course when kids go older, they can type in anything including more useful ones like http://www.howtogetridofwhiteheads.org. The ‘favorites’ trick will no longer be useful and it is now up to more sophisticated parental control tools.

Our youngest daughter has developed keen interest for dinosaurs. It probably started when they touched on the topic in school. After that she wanted a book on it and the rest is history. She is now on to collect more books on these. Recently, she started her collection of dinosaur figures or toys. I found a toy/model which is scaled to indicate how bit they are compared to a typical human. Basing on that, even the tallest or biggest person aided by hgh will look minute when taken side by side with these massive creatures. Oh well, those models are really expensive so we are settling for the ‘toy’ priced ones. In any case, our daughter is having a blast.

There is a Better Way
by RDVA
for Rotary Ryde District Primary School Public Speaking Competition

I just know it. There is a better way. I may only be 11 years old but I am quite sure that there is . History will tell us that people have always been looking for and have found a better way.

Thousands of years ago, when people learned how to use fire and first tasted cooked food, I am sure they have thought that there is a better way.

When Thomas Edison developed the electric light bulb, it was probably not done in complete darkness. There was already some light but the inventor must be thinking that there is a better way.

Henry Ford has great contributions to how cars came about. But did you know that he used to walk more than 6 kilometres every Sunday to go to church? Who knows if that could have inspired him to work on cars! Whatever his motivations were, I’m sure he thought that there is a better way.

In the 1830’s Samuel Morse developed the telegraph as a way to communicate across great distances by wire. He must have thought of a better way. But another person by the name of Alexander Graham Bell again thought that there is a better way as he developed the telephone.

From the radio to the television, from the typewriter to the computer, from the telephone to the iPhone… we can all agree that many great people think there is a better way. And just when we thought that we have the best, it won’t be long and there will be yet something better.

There are more interesting stories about people who believed on something better and came up with great things. We should remember that they used to be ordinary people just like you and me. It all starts with them believing that there is a better way.

Each day, there are more and more people who, in their own way, have taken steps to make things better. It does not have to be as ground breaking as the examples I have given. It can be simple things at work, at school, or anywhere. It can start from anyone at any age. Yes, even kids like us can also start thinking and believing that there is a better way.

As Thomas Edison said, “There is always a better way”… “There is a way to do it better… find it”.

The kids just finished their public speaking competition in school. And I am pretty proud that they finished quite well. The speech topics are quite interesting. One topic is a rather popular one and circles around what children want to be or what their purpose is. Some might give straightforward answers as wanting to be a doctor or having an online it degree. It should be interesting how these thoughts change as time goes by. But I guess what’s more important is not just whether they ended up with that online it degree, but how they worked out to achieve what was on their hearts and mind.

What Did You See On Your Way To School?
by CNVA
1 Jasmine/2011

You’ll never guess what I saw on my way to school this morning. It all started when I woke up, I rolled off my bed and in the mirror I saw a small sleepy dinosaur. Yes, a dinosaur in pyjamas! It yawned as I yawned and it streched its arms just when I did. It was a cute but grumpy looking dinosaur. She was trying to tell me to go back to bed and sleep.

I would like to stay with her but I really need to prepare for school. So, after taking a shower and dressing up I went back to the mirror to see if the dinosaur is still hanging around.

But this time I saw a small princess. She look fresh in a blue dress same as my school uniform. She had her hair done up nice and tidy just as any teacher in Northcross would want girls to have.

Then it was time to have breakfast and soon we were on our way to school. But I still remember the dinosaur and the princess. If I went back to bed to follow the dinosaur, I wouldn’t have seen the princess in blue.

So what did you see on your way to school this morning?