25 Jul 2010

Family Day 2010




Yesterday was our family day - the one day in a whole year we get together as one big family - my brothers and sisters, their children and mine, our spouses and our grandchildren. We've had this organised family outing every year since the year 2000 although at first it was mainly impromptu and hardly organised at all.  At that time we just got together as a family - those of us who could attend. We would have a picnic at one of the beaches in Malacca. This was after both our parents had passed away and we felt that we needed an  activity to get the family together, to be closer as brothers and sisters. But without an organised day, not many of my brothers and sisters took the time to join us and we wanted everybody to attend. So my sisters Sabariah and Jasmine took it upon themselves to organise a proper family day - complete with games, special t-shirts, banners, prizes and all!
Yesterday's event  is the  6th such event and this time almost everybody with the exception of Zaleha, attended. Leha could not attend because she lives in Singapore and her children are schooling. Sarah was back for the summer holidays as was Amir Ridzuan and they both joined in the activities. This year Rizal and Poh Lin my son and daughter-in-law also attended with their daughter Sophia. I think everybody had fun, as can be seen in the pictures here.

There were many competitions - jigsaw puzzles for kids below 12, a Treasure Hunt, for everybody, a  Waiter Race for the nimble, Stepping the balloon,building sand castles and the grandest one of all - the karaoke competition.








My brother  Zin, taking part in the karaoke competition!

Without our knowledge, a turtle - a hawksbill turtle - had landed on the beach in the middle of the night. Some of the kids were awake to watch it laying its eggs. The turtle hatchery and conservation center is just next to the resort where we had our Family Day. Some of us could see the men collecting the eggs to be hatched in the center. Quite an educational experience, though totally unplanned.

3 comments:

The Chair Speaks said...

Good to have annual family gathering. Your children and grand children will be able to reminiscence about how much joy and love they shared in the future.

Sophia is certainly growing up fast!

The Bookworm said...

Yoru family reunion sounds wonderful! And what a nice smile Sophia has.
Very cool about the turtle also :)
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Wanos Repinos said...

yeah I saw the whole thing. Funny thing is that we expect to encounter this kind of thing in Terengganu not Malacca. Good news is that according to the conservationists there, the turle numbers are increasing. Unfortunately only a few species of turtle remain. Its great that they are educating our people about the importance of protecting our turtles n wildlife.