知足常乐。That has always been my belief in life and it's a very important mindset that I try to cultivate in the kids from young.
When we were thinking of how to celebrate Ariel's 12th birthday last year, I asked her for her preference and it was plain to see that she wanted to help us save money and was contented to do simple activities that were fun and free.
The one thing that she said she really wanted to do was to... ROLLERBLADE! So we made sure that she got her wish. This girl has always been a sweet, thoughtful daughter who doesn't like to spend money on unnecessary stuff and I hope she will always stay this happy and contented in life.
But well, this being the year that she is done and dusted with PSLE and has said her goodbye to primary school life, I wanted her day to be a little more special so we threw in a couple more activities for her too. Here's a look at how we celebrated this precious one turning 12.
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She loves Christmas — it's her ultimate favourite festival and holiday of the year — and since her birthday is just three days before, she gets to open her birthday gifts under the Christmas tree every year.
Since she was a kid, she loves building LEGO so this year, she received a Little Mermaid LEGO set and also an advent calendar that made her squeal in delight every time she opened one of the dates to reveal a figurine or accessory.
On the morning of her big day, both of us woke up early and had a nice mother-and-daughter cake making session. Yeah, this girl super love Oreo cheesecakes and always loves it when we make it ourselves. So I got the ingredients ready the night before and together, we made the cake while the siblings were still in bed.
The cake wasn't perfect and we needed to freeze it to make it harden but that's the thing about life too — learning to love the imperfections, to enjoy and appreciate the journey, and to see the positive side of things. In any case, the taste was so good that we enjoyed the cake a lot that night.
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In the afternoon, we made our way to Pasir Ris Park to realise her simple wish of going rollerblading! It's always a hassle of bringing out so much stuff for this sport — rollerblades, helmets, knee guards, wrist guards, elbow guards, and everything multiply by 4 sets. On the plus side, we have all the gear we need at home for all four kids so we didn't need to rent or buy anything.
Also, it is always worthwhile seeing their big smiles. We might not be experts at this sport but the fun part is in the trying, falling and then picking ourselves up to go again.
It was Ansel's first attempt st rollerblading so that made this outing even more memorable. He was a brave boy and didn't give up despite falling down many times and also learnt to break his fall using this hands. Kudos to you, little one!
So who is the best at rollerblading in our family? Well, without a doubt, the birthday girl! She always makes it seem so effortless when she glides down the path and given that she has had no formal training, I think she is pretty talented at this sport.
When the other siblings were tired and had changed out of their rollerblades, she wanted to go on a little longer and a little further. I really wanted to accompany her on this day and not let her be alone so I put on the big sister's blades, plucked up my courage and told her "Let's GO!!!"
She could have gone much faster than me but being the sweet daughter, she slowed down to wait for me. I also made her laugh out loud when I couldn't control my speed around a bend and rode straight into the grass to cling onto a lamppost. Was I afraid? Yes, terrified because I am not very good at rollerblading, I can't slow down when going down slopes and at this age, I don't really wanna fall down and injure myself. But I wanted to be brave for her and I was so, so glad we had that precious half an hour or so of one-on-one time.
Remember climbing up 'spiderwebs' as kids? I used to do that aplenty with my friends back in secondary school and now, I do it with the kids. Ariel loves to do all sort of climbing, including rock climbing, and is quite adept at it too. Yeap, I have sporty kids!
For dinner, we hopped by a beachside restaurant we happened to see while we were rollerblading. We ordered western cuisine and Ariel's favourite chocolate lava cake, as well as enjoyed the cool sea breeze. I love this shot taken of the kids and I wish they will always make time to celebrate each other's birthday, no matter how busy.
It was too early to call it a night after dinner so we made our way to one of our favourite playgrounds, which was complete with slides, swings and flying fox.
The kids always love it when Papa and Mama join in the fun so we made sure we did it too. They were very excited to get us to sit on the flying fox, push us with all their might and then see us flying into the air. Haha. Such simple, carefree, happy moments are priceless.
We ended the night with a cake cutting ceremony at home where we dug into our homemade Oreo cheesecake. She loved it and it was so worthwhile to see her big smile. Such ceremonies might be simple but it usually takes time to gather everyone and film everything down. But I hope that when we look back many years later, these clips will form a part of the kids' fond growing up memories.
Oh, we also celebrated Ariel's and Asher's birthdays at Adventure HQ at HomeTeam NS. It was a fun-filled action packed session for the big kids and myself as we conquered high element rope courses, climbing walls, caves and firemen slides. More details here if you are keen to see the highlights.
We also attempted a Ninja Warrior course and the girls managed to scale to the top of the vertical wall before going down the fireman pole. Woohoo! Yup, even Ariel is growing up fast these days and is a stronger runner and better athlete than me already. Awesome!
Of course, I can't forget to mention our epic 17-pax Bali trip where we celebrated Ariel and Asher's birthdays in our villa and got her a velvet cheesecake that she requested for. It was exactly the kind of celebration that this girl loves — no frills, no lavish meals, just the family enjoying a BBQ together, with a pool right beside, where she gets to eat, swim, play with her cousins and siblings, and just enjoy all that life has to offer. Happy 12th birthday, my dearest baby girl!
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Dear Ariel,
Happy turning 12! This year is such a huge milestone for you as you complete your PSLE, graduate from primary school and get ready to move onto the next phase of your life.
Secondary school is an exciting time and I can't wait to hear about all your adventures in your new school and hope that you will find a bunch of close friends whom you can count on and accompany you for the next four years.
Thank you for requesting for such a simple 12th birthday celebration but I hope you had lots of fun nonetheless. I know you are thinking for us and wanna help us to save up money — you have always been the thrifty and thoughtful one — but I want you to know that you deserve nothing but the rest.
Well, I hope you enjoyed all the fun outings we had during the year end, especially our family celebration in Bali where we sang the birthday song for you in our cosy villa which had the most amazing pool and we were surrounded by all our loved ones. Family is everything, but I think you know that already, don't you?
May you always be blessed with lots of joy and good health in your life and be our kind, loving and sweet girl always. We love you more than words can say.
Love, Mama
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Read more on Ariel's birthday parties here:
Ariel is 7 - Let's have ICE CREAM!
Ariel is 6 - The Ocean is Calling
Ariel is 5 - It's a Shopkins Tea Party
Ariel is 4 - A Royal Princess Party
Ariel is 3 - Sofia the First Birthday Bash
Ariel is 2 - Let's Get Frozen
Ariel is 1 - Turning One Under the Sea
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