Thursday, November 10, 2011

I Survived my Child's first overseas trip without Me!


I'm so, so, so VERY honored to be invited back to be part of The Daily Digi's Digi Files for November! Today Yin Designs is being featured, so do hop over to The Daily Digi to take a look :) Thank you to Steph and Katie for this great opportunity!

And here is my contribution to the Digi Files #35!
I greatly enjoyed creating these pages, especially the single pages, all photos taken by dh using his Vista Quest , must be the tiniest digital camera around, I think, that takes these quirky little pictures, that makes these interesting layouts :)
Credits: Background paper, paint smudge, sea shells, word art, ringspill from Tropical Paradise by WM(squared), word arts by Suddenly Artistic , word art and flower sticker from Vacation by Wild Blueberry Ink



I Survived my Child's first overseas trip without Me!
Jared has come back safely from his 4 days school trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam! His school took 200 12 year-olds there for learning (museums and the Cu Chi Tunnels), sharing (they visited a Vietnamese school) and sight-seeing. We wonder how the teachers survived it and are so thankful to them for giving our kids such a great opportunity! (Ryan laments that he still had not had such a chance at a school overseas trip) The trip costs each child S$590 (about US$480), our government Edusave fund paid S$300 and we paid the rest. It was a great deal as they stayed in a 5 star hotel and flew SIA!
Before he left for the trip I nagged him so much, he kept telling me "Mom i know what you're going to say for the next 15 minutes!"and proceeded to do just that, lol. I tried to be a level-headed, modern, open mom, but it was hard to stay cool and calm especially when all the kids did not call home as instructed on the first night, 4 hours after touch down at Vietnam! They were apparently delayed and were too tired when they got to their hotel past midnight. The next few days were almost the same in terms of communicability and it sure was hard for me! Thankfully some of the moms (who had daughters that messaged a few times a day) fed us boys' moms some information so we could 'get' by, bless the girls, haha!
Especially during each evening when the three of us left at home find ourselves having these rather quiet and serious conversations, we so missed the sometimes crazy, nonsensical inputs from Jared! I was going on so much about missing Jared that dh and Ryan joked about drugging me till Jared got home, lol!
In due course after a 2 hour flight delay Jared arrived home none the worst, thoroughly enjoyed the trip, a little wiser, and a little more independent. And me, a little better at letting go and letting my little boy grow up :) He will be thirteen in 2 months time and I know there is a lot more of letting go I will have to do - as Tracey said to my last post, this age is so exciting, this age also keeps us on our knees!

Here are some photos he took on the trip:
This is a board game J and his team mates made, for 'teaching' English to the Vietnamese children they met. I must ask him, I'm not sure how it's played :)
And here's a scene from Ho Chi Minh City. Bikes everywhere!
He had no photos where he was in the picture! There were lots of photos where his friends were holding their cameras to their faces taking photos of him though, lol. Aren't they cute! It's fun looking through the lens of my son!

Mousescrappers.com
Some time ago I came to know about this lovely scrapbooking community where the focus is on anything Disney related! You can find Disney tips, resort & travel info, Disney layouts and scrapbooking supplies! Recently I had a chance to get to know a group of ladies at Mousescrappers.com who are volunteering to make photobooks for families of children who have had Make a Wish trips to Disney World. The books are of photos from their wish trips! It is just so meaningful I had to join them. However, it is the lives of the children and the families, their courage, joy and grace that touches and blesses us many folds more. If you would like to contribute or help, please let me know by emailing me at yindgs at yahoo dot com dot sg, and I'll link you up if they need more help. Isn't it a privilege that our hobby can be part of something so meaningful!

And here are more Shanghai trip layouts, it was really nice scrapping the photos and reminiscing and checking my travel journal for details to journal, I do have so much to catch up though!
Here we were at the Science & Technology Museum. It's almost compulsory for us to visit the Science museum in every city we visit :P . What was different in the Shanghai museum was these various robots doing Gungfu moves, dancing chinese dance!
Credits: Background Paper by EGiovanni, stickers from Danielle Engebretsen, Allison Pennington, and 'Science' page by Abish Allen created from PDD Hypothesis
This next layout is from the time we spent at the Historical Museum of Shanghai - really charming museum that brought to life how the traditional chinese and new western ways coexisted in old Shanghai.
Credits: Background paper and coins by Girl Boheme, Flowers by Heather T, and Alpha by Jady Day Studio
And then we spent a meaningful time at the old home and museum of Mr Sun Yat Sen, learning a lot about his life, ideology, brilliance, and his love for China and the people.
Credits: Background paper from Sahlin Studio's watercolorpapers, black ink by Emily Merritt, Borders by Shawna Clingerman, alpha by Retrodiva designs
And here is the first of many layouts to come, featuring the World Expo at Shanghai 2010! We spent 3 full days at the World Expo, exploring many countries' pavillions, exhibits, finding out about places we might never be able to visit, tasting their food, buying their souvenirs, it was so much fun and interesting and just the sort of stuff my family digs :)
Credits: Background paper from Chelle's Creations, earth and word art by Kaye Winiecki, flags by Miss Cato
More photos from the World Expo - night scene - arguably even more beautiful! We got there as early as we can and leave as late as we can, and start again the next day!
Credits: Background paper by Pretty in Green, glitter by Emily Giovanni
This template is now available as Template Pack 8 in the Store. Thanks for your interest!
And here we are with my cousin's family in Shanghai, we had a great, great time catching up, enjoying their hospitality and company!
Credits: Background paper by Allison Pennington, border from yesteryear by The Tattered Pear, alpha by Gina Miller
This is now available as part of Template Pack 7 in the store. Thanks for your interest!

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