Thankful for… my husband’s extended family

In this day and age, families are spending less time together and people are getting more isolated. However, on the hub’s side of the family, they still have a strong sense of kampung spirit. The hub’s cousin was getting married and the clan flew over to Melbourne in full force to celebrate the occasion with them. All 30 of us stayed together under one roof for a couple of days and the kids had a great time playing together. Being a Hainanese family, there was never ending cooking and eating. Most of the cooking were done by the men, and they all had their speciality which they proudly whipped up. Even after a huge dinner, at like 10pm, we started smelling the aroma of curry and we asked incredulously, “Supper? We are stuffed!” And uncle answered, “Lamb curry, for breakfast”.

There were only 3 bathrooms for everyone and we had to take turns. Some had to sleep in what we termed the “workers dorm” which was an outdoor shed converted into sleeping quarters. Yet there were hardly any complains and we had a whole load of fun and laughs.

I myself come from a huge family on my dad’s side, with almost 100 extended family members. Sadly, most of us only meet during Chinese New Year and we don’t even remember the names of the new additions (with 6 kids, no one remembers my kids’ names!) For their generation, even though they are cousins, they seem more like strangers. Maybe I should suggest to my cousins that we should organise a simple family trip too, although I can imagine the logistics!

Mornington Peninsular National Park

It is heartening to be part of a family that is so close knit. It turned out to be a very enjoyable family vacation spanning 3 generations of kin which I’m sure everyone will remember for a long time to come.

Thankful… for my father-in-law
Thankful… for all who helped create this blog
Thankful… for #4’s resilience and forgiveness
Thankful… for blogging perks

Linking up with:

~ www.mummyweeblog.com – a blog on parenting 6 kids in Singapore ~