Thinking Thursdays: Savoring summer

We more or less put aside our "lessons" last week as the FIL was visiting.  The boys just romped about more at the playground and we went for walks and cycled about the town.  Junior J did manage to dress up his summer vase of twigs though.  I gave him a whole bunch of crepe paper strips in bright colours (reminiscent of the bright hues of the summer blooms we've been seeing at the farmer's market!), and he opted to drape them all over the branches and call it his willow tree.  It does look bright and happy, and reminds me of the season of sunshine, picnics and sunflowers.  (You can see our spring vase here.)

We also squeezed in a little reading related to summer, and enjoyed the following books:

:: The Salamander Room, by Anne Mazer.

:: Summertime in the Big Woods, an adaptation from the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

:: James and the Rain, by Karla Kuskin, since it has been raining so much!

:: Time of Wonder, by Robert McCloskey.

Wish I could elaborate more on the books, but we're busy packing, so I'll leave you with more summer book recommendations from one of my favourite book blogs instead!

World Wednesdays: Eating and sleeping in Brussels

Mention Brussels, and most people would think about food.  So of course, I couldn't just blog about the markets and museums, and leave this bit out right?

The Belgians are famous for their waffles.  In Brussels, there are waffle stalls on every street, selling waffles with all sorts of toppings, from whipped cream and chocolate sauce, to strawberries and ice cream.  Half the tourists you meet would be holding a waffle dripping with something sweet.  Thus far, we've tried a few, with the most unique one being topped with a gummy in the shape of the Manneken Pis!

Then of course, there are the chocolates.  Godiva, Cote d'Or, or Wittamer?  You'll be spoilt for choice.  Even the souvenir shops that stock postcards and stuff like Manneken Pis miniatures sell boxes of chocolates... and there's also the chocolate museum if you want to learn more about the history of chocolate (read the blog post here).

The hubby is a big fan of seafood, so he couldn't resist ordering "Fruits de Mer" at one of the restaurants that we ate in:

After having to poke at various slimy snail shells and eat their contents (I refused to share with him and ordered some salmon, so that I could share the food with Junior J), he vowed never to order the seafood platter again.  However, he still couldn't resist having mussels (known as moules) almost everyday during our second visit there!

Moules are to be found on the menu for most restaurants serving seafood, and are commonly served with fries (called frites).  We tried the ones at Chez Leon, which was supposedly famous for their mussels, but found that they weren't that fantastic.  However, the nice thing about the place is that children under 12 eat for free, and their child's menu includes not just a main, but dessert as well! 

This pot came along with a plastic top hat for putting the shells in!

So far, the best moules that we've tried are the ones at Le St Georges, which was near where we stayed.  The ones in white wine are excellent, and those in curry had us slurping away!

One of the strangest things we've seen on the menu of many restaurants is Steak Tartare (or Steak Americain), which basically consists of raw minced beef.  We've witnessed a waiter at a restaurant mincing slabs of beef using a machine in full view of the diners, and serving those.  The hubby initially wanted to try it, but after his encounter with his plate of sea snails, decided that he would just stay safe and stick with mussels.

Finally, we particularly liked the food at Lola, which was located near the antiques market.  In addition, their service was great, a welcome change from the grumpy waiters we encountered in most eateries in Brussels!

~~~~~~~

On both occasions, we stayed at the Ambriorix Bed and Breakfast.  The hubby and I aren't too fond of hotels, and prefer the homeliness of B&Bs, and this one was charming:

One great plus point of the B&B was that it had a loft suite, which consisted of a room connecting to the attic:

The lower level in the loft suite.

This was perfect for us since Junior J could sleep upstairs, and still be in the same room as us.  He loved the idea of sleeping in the attic, and it was good since he wouldn't disturb baby J when I was putting baby to bed.  Another plus point was that there was loads of space in the room, something that is very rare in European hotels.

The upper level (attic) of the suite.

The boy was also very charmed by the rubber ducks that were displayed in the bathroom.  He would choose which ones went into the bath with him!  (The loft suite has a separate bathroom that is on the same floor, however, the guests in the two other rooms have to share a bathroom.)

Breakfast there was simple, but still pretty good fare:

All in all, it was a pleasant stay, which was why we booked the same place when we visited Brussels the second time.  When we arrived during our recent visit, Junior J excitedly climbed the stairs to show his Ah Kong "his bed upstairs", which he was supposed to share with his grandpa!

Thankful Tuesdays: Work in progress

Blogs are usually happy places.  At least most of the time.  You share activities with your kids, and trips with family.  Tips are shared, and pretty photos are uploaded, and there's loads of inspiration to gather.  However, what you see online is just a slice of true life, and many a times the negative bits are left out.  Most days, we do want to write about the positive, and leave the whining aside... so you see the fun home lessons, the yummy food and the beautiful homes.  You don't really get to hear about the days where Junior J doesn't want to try the activities planned for him, or how he sometimes doesn't eat the food painstakingly cooked for the family.  Or how sometimes our art activities don't turn out as planned, and how terribly messy the house is.

I get questions like "how do you do it, managing without help?", so I thought I'd just share.  There are days where we get nothing done, except eat our meals and just sit about and read a book or two.  There are times where I can't get out of bed in the mornings and baby J has to bite me before I really wake up.    And while you've seen those bentos that turned out ok, you've not seen my recent attempts at making sushi.  The rice was too hot and the seaweed tore, I was in a hurry and didn't roll it tight enough and everything fell apart.  The hubby can tell you about my many failed culinary attempts in the kitchen too!  

So well, how do we manage?  We just take it a day at a time, and do the best that we can.  And remember that we are just works in progress, and not perfect yet.  And perhaps its best that we can't do it and have it all, lest we forget to be thankful to the One who provides and gives us strength?

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Weekend Wanderings: Beautiful Brussels

Hello, how was your weekend?  Am popping by to share more about our Brussels trip (click here for the places you could go if you have kids).  One of the must see places in Brussels would be the Grand Place, which is the city's central square, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Just walking around the square itself is a feast for the eyes, with its guildhalls and its beautiful town hall:  

The Brussels Town Hall.

There's usually something happening in the Grand Place.  The first time we visited, there were preparations being made for a jazz festival.  And we planned our second trip to Brussels mainly because we wanted to see the flower carpet:

The flower carpet.  The building on the right is the Maison du Roi (King's House).

This is an event held once every two years, where the square is filled with flowers to form a certain design.  My photos do not do justice to the actual carpet, and you can see all the designs here.  It was pretty amazing just to stand there and just stare at the carpet, and how painstakingly the flowers were arranged to fill the entire square.  Apparently the flowers have to be packed tightly, to ensure that the wind does not blow them away!

Aside from the Grand Place, we (or rather the adults at least) enjoyed walking around the Sablon area, which is full of shops selling all sorts of antiques, from beautiful clocks to old school desks (hubby commented that they looked like the ones he used in school).  During weekends, an antiques market is held at the Place du Grand Sablon, and there are stalls selling all sorts of things, from old books and prints to delicate chinaware (as well as gramophones, which I had to restrain the hubby from buying!).  However, all I've bought from the market are vintage postcards (which I blogged about here).  On our second trip, I managed to find these postcards, still including postmarks and stamps, featuring famous monuments around the world.  Oddly enough, these were cheaper at the antiques market compared to those at the flea market!

There's also the Place du Jeu de Balle, about a 15 minutes walk away, which houses a huge flea market that runs everyday.  While I love rummaging at flea markets, we've always managed to visit Brussels at the hottest times of the year (it was 39 degrees during our recent trip!).  We've never survived very long at the flea market, which seems to get the brunt of the sun, unlike the antiques market that is nestled in a shady area, and tend to concede defeat after walking among the stalls for abit.  However, for our second visit, we did manage to score this beauty, before we made a run from the sun:

The globe was in almost pristine condition.  And it lights up!

If flea-marketing is not for you, then there are the various cathedrals scattered all through the city center, and museums that feature everything from music instruments to lace, and even beer!

Or if you want to keep it simple, just walking around the residential areas can be interesting too.  We've shopped at a street market to get fresh produce, and also stocked up on peanut butter from the supermarket (they sell the Dutch Calve peanut butter, which I prefer, as its less sweet compared to the usual Skippy!).  And all their houses are unique, with different coloured doors:

... different house numbers and letter boxes:

All, in all, Brussel's a pretty nice place to just wander about in (but do watch out for your valuables, since horror stories of pickpockets abound!)!

Thinking Thursdays: Books on dinos (and why study them)

Initially, I had planned to start the boy on books related to our Brussels trip.  However, kid lit (at least in English!) on Belgium seems to be rather limited, and we ended up reading a book on how chocolate is made ("From Cocoa Bean to Chocolate"), as well as a book on the Belgium artist Rene Magritte ("Rene Magritte: Now You See It, Now You Don't").  Unfortunately, the boy wasn't too taken with the first book.  And I must admit I'm not very fond of surrealists, and found it a little hard to engage him on a book with strange paintings.  We did talk a little about how certain artists painted differently from what was seen in the real world, but I decided not to pursue those topics further, and just moved on to something the boy loved: dinosaurs!

For a topic that involves extinct animals that don't seem to be furry or cuddly, dinosaurs are certainly one of the big hits with kids.  At least, I know they are a huge hit with Junior J.  He asks to read about them all the time.  He carries his toy dinos with him everywhere, to the playground (where he buries them, ever since we tried those excavation activities), to bed, and on trips, where he chooses which friend goes along.  He composes songs about them.  He invents new dinosaurs with names like "blackie-curra-saurus", and calls his brother a "spoonosaurus" (because baby J chomps on the spoon during meals).  He manages to arm-twist his papa into letting him watch youtube videos of these terrible lizards roaring at each other, but shows his preference for the herbivores by dreaming up scenarios where all the herbivores escape while the carnivores meet with rather unfortunate fates.

All in all, this is one topic that I do not need to consciously teach him about.  He just soaks up everything dino-related.  I did try to hunt for good books on dinos for him, but most of the available titles usually involve stories where the dinosaurs stomp about and roar, and then a couple of dinosaur names are introduced, and that is that.  We did find three books by Aliki that looked promising: "Digging for Dinosaurs", "My Visit to the Dinosaurs", and "Fossils Tell of Long Ago".  However I purchased preloved copies off Amazon, so they are still on their way.

Other than those titles, we did read "Katie and the Dinosaurs", by James Mayhew, which was probably the book that started the dino craze off (do note that Mayhew uses the name "Brontosaurus" for the Apatosaurus, which is no longer used now).  And we also read one of the books from the Harry and the Dinosaurs series:  

Pages from "Harry and the Dinosaurs at the Musuem"

And this was one book that Junior J particularly enjoyed, Tyrannosaurus Math, which was about a number-crunching dinosaur.  The book introduces various math concepts briefly, for example, skip counting, addition and division:

Finally, we had two reference books that I found were more useful in letting Junior J learn about the dinosaurs.  The first, "The Big Book of Dinosaurs", is a pretty good introductory book for kids.  The second was "Scholastic Dinosaurs A to Z", which is a useful reference guide.  The book arranges the dinosaurs alphabetically (which makes it easier when you want to look up a certain dinosaur!), and includes many details about each.  Ours was a second-hand steal at less than 4 Euros!

Anyway, I do know that some wonder if there's any use in letting children learn about dinosaurs.  After all, they are extinct, and most definitely not test material in the school curriculum in the future.  So why bother to read or learn about them at all?

:: Firstly, those long dino names are pretty good for handwriting practice.  At least in our case!  (And you can get our handwriting printable here.)

:: Learning about these creatures, and how they went extinct introduces various aspects of physical geography to kids.  They get to learn about sedimentation and volcanic eruptions.  They also see how the physical forces actually affect living organisms.

:: Exploring the features of those skeletons allow us to appreciate form and function.  Sharp teeth of the T-Rex indicate he was a predator.  The spiky thumbs of the iguanodon might have been for defense.  All these structures were made to perform a function.  You see this concept running through biology, from the way the leaf cells are structured and arranged to maximize photosynthesis, to how the lining of our intestines are folded and have tiny projections to increase the surface area to absorb nutrients.  As kids study dinosaur structures, they are picking up a key skill of making inferences and forming connections between form and function.

:: Finally, just for the sake of appreciating creation around us.  Whenever I stand before these enormous skeletons, I cannot help but marvel at how great those creatures must have been when they were alive.  And how amazing God must have been to have created them!

What about you?  Do you have any favourite dinosaur reads?  Do you think dinosaurs are worth your kid's time and attention?

Thinking Thursdays: Digging for dinos

Hello!  Here are some excavation activities we did to explore more about dinosaurs... We dug for bones in the sand using brushes (I've uploaded the printable here, all you need to do is to print, cut and bury in sand. You may want to laminate them for durability!  Oh, and if you would like other skeletons, the illustrations were obtained from this site):

Junior J had great fun digging for the "bones".  Then he had to sort out the two sets of bones (something that wasn't easy to do, and he required some guidance), and then assemble them into skeletons, which we displayed in his natural history museum.  It was a great activity for introducing how difficult it is for the paleontologists to sort out the fossils and figure out which bones belong to which organism, and he also got to learn terms like "rib cage" and "vertebrae" along the way.

Since he had so much fun, I gave him a dino egg the next day (this was a gift from his godmother).  Those were the ones you could put in water and that generates loads of fizzing, and you get a dinosaur at the end of it.  Pretty fun!  His happened to be a T-Rex, which I kidnapped that night and froze in a milk carton:

Then he was given a spoon, a syringe, and cups of coloured water (I coloured them using food colouring), and some salt (got the idea from this post).  We sprinkled salt over the ice block to create all the crevasses and tunnels, and then he got to work with squirting coloured water all over to melt the ice and rescue T-Rex.  He needed some help at first from Ah Kong (who's staying with us for the week), as the syringe was a little tight:

But he got the hang of it pretty quickly:

It took more than an hour of work, chipping away with the spoon, squirting coloured water all over, to get T-Rex out!  And after he was done, the remaining iceberg made for some fun sensory play... great for a hot summer's day!

Thinking Thursdays: A little dinosaur book (Free printables!)

In anticipation of our trip to Brussels, I prepared a little dinosaur book to keep him occupied, especially for the long car rides.  It consisted of an introduction, and a whole load of pages where he could practice writing the names of various dinosaurs, something that he always asks to do (this boy ONLY wants to write dino names, and is not willing to pick up his pen/crayon for any other topic), as well as a mini sorting activity for dinosaurs based on their diets:

Little Dino Book (Printable)

(You can click on the button above to download the printable, all pictures used were obtained from Wikipedia.)

I printed the pages out, cut them into half, folded them and glued the backs of the pages together to form a mini-book.  I also added other activities, such as pre-writing practice, pattern matching, and mazes from the following sets of printables:

:: Dinosaur Mazes from Busy Bee Kids Printables (you can actually tailor the level of difficulty!)

:: A whole load of activities from 3 Dinosaurs

If you want, you can get more printables from here:

:: Dinosaur Kindergarten Pack from Royal Baloo

:: Dinosaur Printables from Activity Village

To fit those other activities into the book, I chose to print two pages per side, cut them to size and glued those pages down too.  Then I just added some washi tape to reinforce the spine, cut out the other bits that the boy needed to paste, and brought along crayons and glue in a ziplock bag:

The boy was delighted with his book!  It kept him busy during the car ride, where he flipped through and identified the dinos:

It kept him occupied during a long wait for lunch:

And also gave us some moments of peace after dinner:

And to be fair, I prepared something for Baby J too, a modified version of the treasure hunt bottle, which was filled with colourful balls, rice, and various types of pasta for him to examine.  It has kept him pretty happy during car rides!

I brought along some pasta for Junior J to thread too.  These were coloured by him using markers previously.

I still don't understand the little boy's fascination for those huge beasts, but I'm glad the little book was well used during the trip!  And I have to admit I'm learning a lot about dinosaurs along the way, like how Iguanodons are supposed to walk on fours and are not bipedal as previously depicted... and do you know that those Velociraptors in "Jurassic Park" are actually Deinonychus?  The real Velociraptors were much smaller and had feathers!  Ah, home-learning means mummy learns too!

Thankful Tuesdays: Shadow of your wings

Nesting stork, one of the many that have decided to make themselves at home
on top of an aviary in the Munster zoo.

Munster, the little city that we live in, is known to be a safe place.  People can walk home in the middle of the night without fear, and in general everyone is courteous and helpful.  I've had an old lady stopping and offering to carry baby J, when she saw me struggling to set up the pram, and most people usually have a smile, and even sometimes a hello for you when you meet them on the street.  Thus far, I've been able to bring both boys out on my own without having to worry about running into trouble.

Last Wednesday, I decided to try bringing the kids over to the farmer's market, which was a 20-30 minute walk from home.  We managed to get there and did our shopping (flowers, raspberries and peaches).  Baby J started fretting so I took him out of the pram and put him in the carrier.  We headed for home, Junior J and I looking rather odd pushing the pram which held a toy dinosaur, fruits and a bunch of flowers.

We reached this rather quiet pathway, which runs parallel to the river.  On most days, this part makes for a lovely walk, with the sounds of the rushing water, and a red brick wall running along the path that is now green with ivy.  Some days we see ducks paddling in the water, and we spot berries in the bushes. This time though, we walk past a scruffy looking young man, sporting a bedraggled beard and worn clothes, headed in the opposite direction.  He looks at us as we walk past him, and then he turns around, and starts following us.

I start to panic.  There's no one else on the path.  The man has one of his hands hidden in his pocket, and he clutches that hidden hand with his other.  All those episodes of "Criminal Minds" start running through my head.  Gun?  Knife?  I start to pray.  I ask Junior J to walk faster, which of course was a signal for him to do the opposite.  He lags behinds and says he doesn't want to go faster.  I pretend to play a game with him, saying he couldn't catch me, which makes him run a little.  But the man is still following us, and catching up.  An old lady walks past us on the path, but then quickly turns and disappears.  The man is still following us, his hand still hidden in his pocket.  I'm still frantically pushing the pram while carrying the baby, and half-dragging Junior J with me, thinking that I only have $2 in my pocket and that I wasn't worth robbing, and that he was welcome to have our peaches.

And finally, we reach the main road, and cross over to the playground.  The man reaches the road, and turns to walk down the street instead.  My heart is pounding.  We head back home, Junior J blissfully unaware of what had happened, me still taking occasional glances to see if we were being followed.  Home never felt so safe before.

This week, I am thankful for safety.  Safety that we tend to take for granted, be it here in Germany, or back home in Singapore.  While there are others who live with the threat of bombs or natural disasters, we are blessed with ordinary life, devoid of unwelcome excitement.  We can walk with our children on the streets and not have to look over our shoulders (but I think I will avoid that path when I'm alone with the kids and stick to the streets).  We can let them play at the playground while only keeping half an eye out for them.  And I am thankful for how we are kept safe in our Father's hands, under the shadow of His wings.

What are you thankful for?


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Weekend Wanderings: Brussels for kids

We spent the weekend in Brussels, which is currently one of my favourite cities in Europe.  The traffic there is crazy, but the vibrant culture does make up for it.  We've stood and listened to a string trio play "Summer" from "The Four Seasons" on the street (they were really good), and we've driven past a pair standing in the middle of the zebra crossing juggling lit torches.  We've also spotted peregrine falcons that are known to nest at the top of the St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral.

Junior J particularly loves this place because of the Museum of Natural Sciences, which boasts the largest dinosaur gallery in Europe.

Junior J sitting with "Iggy"
(what we've christened the Iguanodon statue that stands outside the museum).

One highlight would be the large display of Iguanodon skeletons from a coal mine discovery in Bernissart:

The dinosaur gallery feels alot more open and less crowded compared to the one in London (which was rather dark and cramped), and the boy loves running from exhibit to exhibit exploring and identifying the various skeletons.

There are many interactive displays, and the boy especially loves digging around in the mock excavation site:

Kids can learn how rocks in the dino's stomach help to break down the plant material, and how to estimate the weight of a dinosaur based on their thigh bones:

And of course, if you tire of the dinosaurs, there are other galleries to explore, such as the one on the history of natural sciences, as well as on minerals and the animal kingdom:

If your kids (or yourself) like chocolate, then you could check out the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate, which has various exhibits on the history of cocoa and chocolate production:

There's also a chocolate making demonstration, where you get to see how pralines are made.  Junior J was rather happy when we visited the museum during our previous visit, because he got to eat quite a bit of chocolate!

We are rather tickled by the all famous Le Manneken Pis, which is a statue of a little boy peeing.  There are usually crowds surrounding this little fountain, and he apparently has a wardrobe of over 700 different costumes!  During our previous visit, he was dressed in a jersey for the Euro:

As for our recent visit, he was being changed into an Indonesian costume to commemorate Indonesia's Independence Day.  We didn't stay for his unveiling since it was way too hot, but we walked past a whole troop of Indonesian dancers and a couple of folks wearing jackets with a Manneken Pis crest, all headed for the fountain.

He may be a small statue, but he certainly is big in Brussels!  (More legends on the little statue here.)

Did you know that both the Smurfs and Tintin were comic strips created by Belgians?  The older kids would probably enjoy the Belgian Comic Strip Center.  We didn't manage to visit the center, but it does look interesting!

Spotted during one of our walks around the city center.

And if you would rather go shopping for toys, we spotted two toy stores during our walks around Brussels.  There's Le Comptoir (Rue Blaes 114, 1000 Bruxelles), which is a DIY shop that also stocks toys, of which many are made of wood.  Some of them are made in Russia, and are cheaper than the German versions, and there's also a range of wooden toys that are made by the disabled.  

There's also Woodee, which is outside of the city center.  They seem to have a huge range of toys, but we've not got a chance to go in since its always closed when we walk past it in the evenings!

If your kids are more of the outdoors type, then there are parks to explore, like the Mont des Arts, and the bigger Parc de Bruxelles.  Or you could head down to Bruparck, and explore Mini Europe, have a splashing good time at the water-themed park, the Oceade, or take a walk around the Atomium.  Those were on our itinery for both visits, but both times we chickened out since it was so blazing hot (it was 39 degrees out today when we left Brussels!).

Scorching hot summer weather aside, Brussel's a pretty cool place for kids to visit!