What will we remember?

I had recently picked up the Autobiography of Agatha Christie, the famed mystery writer, and am enjoying it very much, especially her recollections of her childhood in victorian times. The memoirs was written when she was between her fifties to her seventies, and in one chapter she talked about what one remembers: "It is curious to look back over life, over all the varying incidents and scenes - such a multitude of odds and ends. Out of them all what has mattered? What makes us choose the things we have remembered? "

Hhmm, I think as scrapbookers, this is an interesting question to ponder! When I look back into my childhood and younger days, I remember moments here and there, happy ones mostly, fascinating and funny ones, an embarassing one, and a few that I think stems from what others told me. A big part of the reason I'm scrapbooking is to remember for myself and dh, and a big part is also for my boys (and their wives and children, one day, I hope :) . So although my scrapbooks are filtered through my 'lens', I will keep going, keep capturing the big and small, funny and fun, happy and disappointing (this is harder to do) moments of our everyday life, and hope my scrapbooks help them remember and bask in the memories of their growing up years and our family life, as much as I do!

In the first page of my August PL, I have captured the following: a day of cycling at the beach, Jared reading a fiction book again after a long break, Ryan's hilarious school video, Ryan's screen background, and the latest recipes we tried - to me, great slices of everyday life :)

Next page captures a lot of Jared's excursions to the Art and Science museum, the Singapore Art Museum, and his painting of Ryan

Here is a copy of the Museum gallery brochure he brought back, included in PL with stationery store-bought plastic pocket.

On the flip side of the pocket, I put in a copy of Jared's weekly school and weekend timetable - we will always have a record of how long his days are at 13! 

My birthday was in August, and that takes up a lot of this next page, including two anecdotes:

What Day Is It?

On the morning of my birthdady...  

Me: "Do you know what day is it today?"

Ryan: "Teachers day?... Mothers day?... Fathers day?"

(vigorous shaking of head from me and knowing glances)

Ryan: "Your birthday? Your real birthday? Oh!"

(yes he forgot, it's okay, I know he would unless dh reminds him, 

I am cool with that, he's a teenager :D) 

(after hugs and kisses) Ryan: "I will name a star system in 'SPORE' (the computer game) after you"

I am now a star system - lol!

Isn't he a darling :)

For the Record: KEEP CALM

When I opened the card that DH gave me for my birthday, I immediately took out from my drawer and showed him the EXACT same card that I'd bought and was saving to give to him for his birthday!! How cool is that? The card said "KEEP CALM IT'S JUST YOUR BIRTHDAY" 

And here are my August digital 365 pages.

More daily life shots of time in the pool, Mario-karting, bedtime devotions, movie night, homework, chinese spelling, and so on!

In the second half of August were lots of shots of various meals and celebrations I had with my family, friends and colleagues for my birthday, I'm so blessed!

Up next: 11 more pages for our Vietnam pages completed!! All of them continuing in the one big photo + multiple small photos format - you can find them in the store, thank you for your interest!

Here we were visiting the Hanoi History Museum - so good to learn about the rich and long history of this amazing land and people.

Then we visited the Opera House (well, the outside of it) that was apparently built in the style of the Paris Opera House - the most fun part was enjoying the atmosphere of all the young couples taking their bridal/wedding photo shoots.

Here was an experience for the boys especially at the Hoa Lo Prison. Previously used during the French colonisation to house Vietnamese political prisoners and later by the Vietnamese to hold American POWs. Ryan who loves history was really interested in the exhibits.

In the night the central lake Hoan Kiem area was transformed, bathing and glowing in lights and people everywhere. I love the shots of Jared very seriously setting up his camera to take the shot of the lake with the lit up temple.

Ah this was the greatest thrill of the trip, lol. We had been terrorised (at first) of the way traffic haphazardly moves in Hanoi, then gradually mastered the art of walking and crossing the roads, and then bravely took a spin on their trishaws. They went at breakneck speed! Weaving through traffic among cars, motorbikes, throngs of crowds, going in and out, left and right, haha, the boys loved it and asked for one more round the very next day. 

Next we went on a 2D1N boat trip on the famed Halong Bay. Our lodging was on one of the Chinese Junk style boats, which surprisingly can take 8 rooms of guests, plus lots of crew, providing all our meals on board. It was beautiful!

Once we set off, on board there is little to do except to relax and spend time with each other, while admiring the endless sccenery of limestone islands and monoliths passing us by. Great bonding time :)

From our boat, we did some island hopping, visiting limestone caves, climbing up some peaks for this beautiful view of the Bay

And making our own fun on board

Back in Hanoi, a layout to capture the bits and pieces of our time there, wandering their streets, eating at quaint local eateries, getting shoes mended at a road side store, we really love 'getting local' in the foreign land we visit!

I have one more layout from Halong Bay, amazingly there are openings in the huge limestone 'islands' where we were 'rowed' under and into the inner 'hidden' world - awesome! I cropped and enlarge the photo to fit along the bottom of the double page - makes for a new layout template style :)

And here's the template for you to try

This template is now available as Template Pack 8 in the Store. Thanks for your interest!