Since we couldn’t travel this summer — for the second summer in a row, not that we’re bitter — we found several different day camps to occupy Nyan’s time during summer break. You’ve seen his efforts from cooking camp; in July, he was off to two more (before new Covid restrictions put an end to day camps, aargh!)
One was called Mountain Camp — a sort of multi-activity five-day camp that featured lots of outdoor activities as well as indoor action like artwork and meditation. Nyan had a blast. Here’s some of the action:
They did some work on emotional resiliency and whatnot (which we loved!) and check out some of the art Nyan drew as part of that.
The camp was held at the Swiss Club, up in the hills on the west side of the island. Nice place!
Nyan also spent a few days at Space Camp, learning all about outer space and space exploration. He did a fair bit of writing in the class:
And maybe best of all, he got to keep his very own space astronaut uniform:
As you can see from some of these pictures, Jayden attended both of these camps as well. So not only did they get to spend entire days and weeks together, they also got to get together after camp for the occasional dinner and playdate!
Not a bad summer, not a bad life.
Our hero turned 10 years old in July! Singapore was back on Covid restrictions so we were limited in what we could do, but we still managed to make it a nice day for the boy.
His bestie, Jayden, certainly helped, as he came over for a mythical, rarely-seen “double sleepover” — two nights in a row of sleepover! They spent a lot of time in the pool:
They played a lot of computer games.
Nyan wanted Shake Shack burgers for his birthday dinner, and since restaurants could only do takeaway, we got takeaway:
More time in the pool:
More games in the mornings:
And Nadia came over on his birthday night for birthday cupcakes and general silliness:
Remember the recent post where Nyan played on the Oculus virtual reality headset with Kyle? We all enjoyed it so much that we got one for Nyan for his birthday. He, Jayden and Nadia all had a blast with it. Check out all these videos:
Silly and fun – just how a birthday should be!
We got to spend time with Kyle, Kara and their parents in July. As you’ve seen, it’s always a great time when we can manage to get together.
The big draw this time around was the Oculus – a virtual reality headset that lets you play games, visit the International Space Station, prepare virtual meals, and much more. We all liked it so much that Nyan got one for his birthday a few weeks later!
Here’s Nyan playing a virtual boxing game. The kid’s got a mean swing!
The boys also found time to just veg on the couch playing non-VR games.
A good time for sure!
In the far northwest of Singapore is a place called Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, a coastal nature reserve featuring jungles and wetlands, with boardwalks and trails and viewing platforms to look at the birds and lizards that live there. It’s quite a haul from our place, but one morning in July Nyan and Daddy headed up there for a morning of light hiking and communing with nature. We were glad we did!
It’s a beautiful place. Supposedly there are crocodiles there, though we didn’t see any. We did see this water monitor lizard though:
Nyan had a good time.
Listen to those jungle sounds!
At the end of the trails is a more curated area with small man-made ponds you can sort of walk through. Bit different from the raw nature of the rest of the park, but fine enough.
All in all, a great way to spend a few sweaty hours!
Nyan Thomas L's Blog 