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!
We had Edris over one day in May for what would end up being one of the last playdates with him, as he and his family are moving to Zurich in the summer. Sad, but we made the most of the time we had!
Like…Lego time:
And goofing in the elevator on the way down to the pool:
Edris is a great little guy, and we’ll miss him for sure!
Let’s check in on our hero and his various friends, and the antics they get up to.
It’s always fun with Jayden (and with Johnnie too):
Nyan and Haowei, playing games:
Goofing around in the mornings, waiting for the school bus, with Helena and Izzie:
And sometimes just playing with Izzie:
And finally, goofing around (again) with Jayden and Jonnie:
And finally finally, two of Nyan’s best-of-all friends: Slothie and Slothington the Second!
River Safari is this sort of zoo-aquarium hybrid. It’s mostly outdoors, a smallish animal park with displays of the animals that live in some of the world’s great rivers. It’s right next to the Singapore Zoo, and it’s fairly compact and makes for a nice three-hour visit. One day during Nyan’s spring break in March, we grabbed Nyan’s friend Edris and headed out.
There was lots to see – and yes, there are exhibits that include birds and monkeys (which technically live alongside some of these great rivers, I guess that’s why they are included?)
Did Nyan and Edris enjoy themselve? They did! Check out the excitement in these pics:
One of the main attractions of River Safari is the Panda House, which is home to two Great Pandas. (As far as we can tell, there is zero connection to any river here — we imagine that China offered Singapore a coupe of pandas for the Singapore Zoo, which would be the natural place for them; probably some internal politics among the local wildlife conservation scene led to the pandas going next door to River Safari instead. But anyway…)
The boys were excited:
We had some great views of the big fellas:
The pandas themselves were either napping or chewing on giant piles of bamboo. Living the panda life, basically.
(Added in August 2021: It was just announced that, back in about April of this year, these two lovebirds, er, love pandas became in a family way, and gave birth to a bouncing baby panda in August! How cool is that!)
Back to River Safari. There’s also a brief boat ride that took you through the Amazon river.
And of course a stop for lunch.
It was a really fun day!
Here’s our latest look at our boy with some of his best pals.
Playdate and swimming at Nadia’s with some other pals, including former schoolmate (and good friend) Bella:
Doing a “magic trick” with Jayden:
Jonnie’s birthday party, complete with time on the swing:
Solving a Rubik’s cube with Jayden:
Walking home from school with Ellie:
Nyan spent some time in January building a couch fort. It became a favorite place to chillax and read (or play video games):
We spent a lot of time with pals in January, as usual. There was a playdate with Oscar, Noe and Edris:
Fun times with Haowie:
And of course, sleepovers and other fun with Jayden:
And we went on many bike rides along the coast. On one of them we came across a pair of hornbills up a tree. Very cool!
Nyan had about three weeks off from school over the Christmas and New Years holidays. The challenge is, of course, how to keep him occupied and busy and engaged, and not just watching YouTube for four or eight or 12 hours a day! (He would if he could, I fear….)
Happily, our boy has lots of friends, so he was able to have lots of playdates and sleepovers.
He spent time in the pool with Ellie and with Nadia:
He played Monopoly with Hao Wei (those two also played a fair bit of Minecraft!)
There were playdate and sleepovers with Jayden, of course.
Those fun times with Jayden and Jonnie (his two brothers, we like to call them) included indoor sack races:
And indoor sack-and-dinosaur races:
And sliding-on-the-floor races:
And just general running around, boys-being-boys style:
Nyan also spent time at a week-long soccer camp with Edris. Check out those skills:
And being goofy with Edris:
Edris hung out at our place one day, and they went for a swim. Mid-swim, the heavens opened up. No worries: they were already wet, so they logically just kept playing in the rain and had a blast.
Lots of fun over the holiday break!
Nyan Thomas L's Blog 