Park and Ride.

As we didn't have any specific plans for last weekend, Babah insisted that we should still take the children out for fresh air. As I've said in the previous comment box, the children and I normally stay at home for the whole weekdays. So weekends are the only day outs for us. Last Saturday, while waiting for Amar and I to be ready, Sarah made a quick call to her Nanny and Atuk. Babah said, Sarah told them all sorts of stories he has no idea if they understood her or not.


When everyone was ready, Babah drove us all to Swanswell Park. There's a duck pond there full of ducks and some other water birds. Babah spent some time with the birds while Sarah, Amar and I straightaway headed to the children's playground.

The playground was empty! May be everyone else was busy doing their Christmas shopping. Both Sarah and Amar played with every single equipment there. First they attacked the springy see saw.

Not long afterwards, Amar demanded a stop. He had his eyes on the swing!

Fine, no problem. He was allowed to have his wish granted since there wasn't anyone else there. Mind you, both Sarah and Amar were on the swing for a super long time. Amar enjoyed it very much. After a while he looked like he could fall asleep there!

Sarah asked me to push her swing very hard. She wanted to touch the sky!

Then, Sarah ventured on the slides, climbing units and tunnels. I felt like I could already trust her playing at the playground. Before this, I could get worried because she could easily slipped and hurt herself.


I should trust Sarah more. She is a very good sister too. You will hear her telling Amar to be careful when climbing the slippery steps.

Amar remained on the swing for a long time, but upon seeing Sarah having so much fun running freely and having a go at other equipments, he soon wanted to join in the fun too. We supervised him on the slide.


Amar was very careful with every steps he made on the climbing unit. It was like a mini bridge so he took one step at a time. He was like this slow tortoise, and Sarah was like the hare in the tale. She passed him ten times and then only he reached to the other end! (See the photo above, Amar crawling way behind Sarah)

Both Sarah and Amar had so much fun at the playground. It was only a small playground but good enough to keep them happy.

Our day didn't end there. Swanswell Park was within walking distance to the town centre. We then took the children for a quick meal in the town and let Sarah have a ride on her favourite funfair car ride. The Barbie car was already taken by another girl. She chose a bright red truck instead. Initially we tried to make Amar join too, but he started to cry. He was not over his fears of this stuff yet, so we took him out again.

Sarah was having so much fun. Next, we took her for a reindeer ride. The ride seemed a little bit distance from the rest of the rides. No children was riding on it. Well anyway, Sarah rode alone on the reindeer. There was this huge belt tied around Sarah. So I thought, it was secured enough for her. (I should learn not to worry so much, hey?) Surprise, surprise Amar suddenly made some gestures that he wanted a ride too.

Babah was more than happy to ride with Amar. It was so funny, because Sarah was on the front reindeer, Babah and Amar were right behind her. Sarah thought Babah and Amar were chasing her. So she was shrieking and laughing excitedly. She wanted her reindeer to go faster so that Babah couldn't catch her. It looked like they were having so much fun. Suddenly, we saw there was this long queue of people wanting to have a ride too.

On the way back, we passed by the first car-go-round thing again. Sarah didn't even hesitate when Babah suggested for both of them to have a ride together. She leapt into a yellow Lamborghini truck and quick to teach Amar to press all the buttons available, making all sorts of sounds.

Amar was horrified! He looked as if he could puke anytime! I was not quite happy with Amar in the ride looking like that. But it was too late because it was already moving. Although I knew he could reach the door handle and open it on the moving track, but there was another latch securing the door. On the other hand, Sarah just 'drove' happily and asking Amar to press this and that buttons once in a while.

After four-five rounds, I could only see Amar's hood. You don't have to guess how worried I was at that time. I went to the person incharge, thinking I should ask him to stop the machine if necessary. But it was the last round anyway, it stopped before I even asked the person.

I found Amar squatting underneath his seat. He looked a little bit relieved when he saw me. I was relieved myself. But I immediately understood what he was trying to do then. There were some smarties on the floor, must have been from the previous riders. He tried to pick them up! Urgghh!

Lesson learnt, we will not force him to go on any rides anymore unless he wanted to.