[Good game] Quoridor

For Christmas, we got this great game: Quoridor.

It's great! Simple, fast, and brain-excercise-y enough :)

They come in various level of difficulty. So be sure to get one suitable for your needs. The cutest pictured above is for 5+!

Castle

Recently, I'm hooked on Castle.

Not a game, not a toy, not a book.

It's a TV series. Murder mystery thriller, with a cool beautiful female detective. Although quality of the story varies from episode to episode (some scenes could be totally not realistic), it has some neat twist that even my beloved hubby couldn't guess the killer right.

But, the best feature I like is the father-daughter relationship pictured there. It's how ideal parenting is to me. With respect, honesty, love, and lots of fun. Daughter in question here is a late teenager, with all the rebellious hormonal stage, newly acquaintance to first love, searching for life footing, ... All the things I'm most anxious to face in our children future.

God helps, hope we will be good enough to have that breed of relationships with our children. Hey, He sent a model answer! Though it's very questionable whether one would be wise to learn from a TV series. 

Hankuk Taekwondo

1. At 1.5 years old, dear son requested to join big sis for... Ballet. Ha! Or course hubby flipped both with laughter and curiosity. Along with in laws' objection, I gently pulled him away from it.
   
   
   After prying and prodding, seems like he saw the ballet class as something fun. Body movement with friends, what's not to like.
   
   
   After understanding what he wants, dear son turned the request into 'any class that will teach him to fight'. Of course, this bring in another parental challenge to emphasize to him that even if we sign him on any martial art class, it's only and must be only for self defense.
   
   
   After much shopping around, we found one that is suitable for our expectation, budget, and location. It's...
   
   
   Hankuk Taekwondo School
2. 246 Upper Thomson Rd, 574370
3. 6456 1355

   http://hankuk.com.sg

   
   

   The masters are nice. Polite and good with kids. Son enjoyed the class and has no objection to practice for grading. He started almost 2 years ago at 5 years old, and the interest is still going strong.

   
   

   Great for parents who wait, the location is on top of Udders Ice Cream (yummy alcohol tinted ice cream!).

   
   

   Grading is held quarterly at one of their branch. Great, because at least it's on a location familiar to us. However, I do see a possible point of improvement. Not sure on how they schedule it, but if we come at the appointed time, we have to be prepared for a 2-3 hours wait. So far their reason is that because each examiner has his/her own way. Some may do it fast, some slower. Well, four times a year, I whipped out a good book or an iPad, sat cross-legged on the floor, and wait. Bearable.