Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Boxing Day
The weather was nice and cool when we got up, so we quickly packed the buckets and shovels and headed out to the ECP.
Before hitting the beach for paddle play we stopped at McDonald's for some hotcakes and coffee. The place was packed! I guess others had the same idea, easy brunch and some exercise.
We haven't taken the boys to the beach for a while. When we got there, they were just so happy and started to run around and scream!
We had to get them out after a while as the tide got too high with a strong rip and we weren't sure if we could watch Luca without losing him. He is just so fast but so clumsy... Lucky there was enough sand to entertain them!
Both boys were exhausted after our fun morning play. We had a very quiet afternoon with both of them asleep zzzz....
Before hitting the beach for paddle play we stopped at McDonald's for some hotcakes and coffee. The place was packed! I guess others had the same idea, easy brunch and some exercise.
We haven't taken the boys to the beach for a while. When we got there, they were just so happy and started to run around and scream!
We had to get them out after a while as the tide got too high with a strong rip and we weren't sure if we could watch Luca without losing him. He is just so fast but so clumsy... Lucky there was enough sand to entertain them!
Both boys were exhausted after our fun morning play. We had a very quiet afternoon with both of them asleep zzzz....
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
With his new friend
Oliver was too tired for an after lunch photo shoot. But look at our gorgeous, happy boy!
Merry Christmas!!
Merry Christmas!!
Christmas lunch 2012
Christmas morning flew by with so much excitement and lots of play with the boys' new toys. Before we realised it, it was time for us to jump into a taxi. We decided we would have a nice buffet lunch in a kid friendly hotel restaurant this year - just the 4 of us. Some of our friends recommended Novotel Hotel on Clarke Quay so that's where we went.
The boys were dressed in matching red Christmas shirts and jeans:
We were seated at the window by the outdoor patio which was very nice. The selection of food was just amazing, very international and lots was made to order.
Even with the huge selection our boys went for some cereal and ginger bread cookies...
Later on they had some sushi, noodles and a rice dish too - phew!
Us adults started off with some fresh oysters and parma ham & melon:
While dining, a surprise Santa came to the table and greeted the boys and even gave them a present each!
At first Oliver was hesitant to get any presents from him - he said "I already got presents from you..."
So cute I thought.
And Luca just didn't like Santa at all:
We must have been there for almost 3 hours. The place wasn't packed and the boys were happy which made us very relaxed and merry!
Not to mention I spent most of my time eating these delicious looking desserts!
I think this was the first time in a while I didn't feel stressed eating out with the boys. What a lovely way to spend Christmas day!
Merry Christmas everyone!
The boys were dressed in matching red Christmas shirts and jeans:
We were seated at the window by the outdoor patio which was very nice. The selection of food was just amazing, very international and lots was made to order.
Even with the huge selection our boys went for some cereal and ginger bread cookies...
Later on they had some sushi, noodles and a rice dish too - phew!
Us adults started off with some fresh oysters and parma ham & melon:
While dining, a surprise Santa came to the table and greeted the boys and even gave them a present each!
At first Oliver was hesitant to get any presents from him - he said "I already got presents from you..."
So cute I thought.
And Luca just didn't like Santa at all:
We must have been there for almost 3 hours. The place wasn't packed and the boys were happy which made us very relaxed and merry!
Not to mention I spent most of my time eating these delicious looking desserts!
I think this was the first time in a while I didn't feel stressed eating out with the boys. What a lovely way to spend Christmas day!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Christmas morning 2012
A very excited boy came to our bedroom and woke us up nice and early this morning "Mummy, Santa and the reindeer came! The cookie is eaten up and the milk is gone!" His eyes were 10 times bigger than normal and oh boy! he just couldn't hide his excitement when he found all the presents under the tree!
We started off with the Rose tradition (what Matthew grew up with) - presents from Santa in their stockings. Santa left some little cars, sweets, a toy mouse and a mandarin each!
Oliver thought it was so funny Santa left him a mandarin:
Then non-stop unwrapping started!
Time for the bigger presents!
Getting some help from his big brother:
Their presents from us were actually Oliver's wish. He wanted a big dump truck for himself and a digger for Luca so that they can play together. Straight away they were into work, picking up all the empty boxes and the wrapping paper - they were busy!
The boys got so many nice presents. Christmas is just magical!!
We started off with the Rose tradition (what Matthew grew up with) - presents from Santa in their stockings. Santa left some little cars, sweets, a toy mouse and a mandarin each!
Oliver thought it was so funny Santa left him a mandarin:
Then non-stop unwrapping started!
Time for the bigger presents!
Getting some help from his big brother:
Their presents from us were actually Oliver's wish. He wanted a big dump truck for himself and a digger for Luca so that they can play together. Straight away they were into work, picking up all the empty boxes and the wrapping paper - they were busy!
The boys got so many nice presents. Christmas is just magical!!
Monday, December 24, 2012
We are ready!
Santa has been to the Rose residence! Phew! last minute present wrapping and goodies from Santa were put into the stockings!! Who is more excited to go to bed, me or the kids?
Christmas Eve treat for the boys
This year Matthew managed to get quite a long Christmas/New Year holiday. We were originally planning to spend some time in Japan and some in NZ. But we decided we have done so much travelling this year since we left Brunei (almost non stop!) and thought it would be nice to spend Christmas time just the 4 of us in our new home country.
We didn't have much in mind what to do tho. Even a day before Christmas Eve we didn't have a plan for the next day. When we got up we thought maybe it is nice to take the boys to the zoo, as Oliver has been begging us to take him to there since we got back from Japan.
Oh boy both of them were so very excited!!
A nice live Christmas tree at the entrance:
Straight into animal watching!
I think this was the first time we let Luca walk a lot instead of sitting in his buggy. As you can imagine he was very very happy :)
I didn't know that the panda exhibit was already open, there was no queue to get the extra tickets (adults $5, kids $3) so why not check it out!
Oliver is now very into reading (?) the information board, or rather imagining what the board says from the photos and making up stories. He is pretty good!
Some pandas (they have two, Kai Kai and Jia Jia) arrived here in Singapore a few months ago but have been in quarantine. They have been upgrading the zoo and opening up a new part called River Safari and Pandas will be part of it. But for now you can only get to the Giant Panda Forest.
When you purchase the tickets they give you a certain viewing time to control the number of people there at once. I was very impressed how well organised it was.
Still, lots of people were there:
You are allowed in the exhibit for 15min - we found it was a sufficient amount of time. I was expecting them to be so far away and people everywhere but this is how close we were to them.
Zooming in with my iphone:
Maybe being there nice and early helped, they were quite active and moving around a lot. The boys were very excited to see this live giant teddy bear!!
After the viewing we popped into the Panda cafe for some morning tea. The boys got to sit on the Panda chair and shared a panda pau (Yes! I picked the perfect T-shirt for the day!)
After seeing the pandas we did our usual walk around the zoo - Mr. Oliver the zoo keeper told us where to go and what animals to see. We didn't stay long as we know we will be back with our friends in a weeks time but it was still a lovely outdoor morning/afternoon activity for the boys on Christmas Eve!
In the evening we went downstairs to join our friends who were having a Christmas BBQ. Oliver and Luca were in their Christmas outfits (with some gumboots... of course).
There was so much food! Kangaroo patties, Jamaican jerk chicken, pasta, homemade bread, salads, you name it!
These little egg and tomato mushrooms were my favourite! So creative!
The party ended with some Christmas carols and continued at Stefan's place.
Stefan leading the others in some songs:
Our boys were too tired so we had to leave after the BBQ but we had such a great time. Again, I met some new people and Matthew got to relax with some workmates. The best part? We just had to push the buggy upstairs when it was time to head home :) I love it!
We didn't have much in mind what to do tho. Even a day before Christmas Eve we didn't have a plan for the next day. When we got up we thought maybe it is nice to take the boys to the zoo, as Oliver has been begging us to take him to there since we got back from Japan.
Oh boy both of them were so very excited!!
A nice live Christmas tree at the entrance:
Straight into animal watching!
I think this was the first time we let Luca walk a lot instead of sitting in his buggy. As you can imagine he was very very happy :)
I didn't know that the panda exhibit was already open, there was no queue to get the extra tickets (adults $5, kids $3) so why not check it out!
Oliver is now very into reading (?) the information board, or rather imagining what the board says from the photos and making up stories. He is pretty good!
Some pandas (they have two, Kai Kai and Jia Jia) arrived here in Singapore a few months ago but have been in quarantine. They have been upgrading the zoo and opening up a new part called River Safari and Pandas will be part of it. But for now you can only get to the Giant Panda Forest.
When you purchase the tickets they give you a certain viewing time to control the number of people there at once. I was very impressed how well organised it was.
Still, lots of people were there:
You are allowed in the exhibit for 15min - we found it was a sufficient amount of time. I was expecting them to be so far away and people everywhere but this is how close we were to them.
Zooming in with my iphone:
Maybe being there nice and early helped, they were quite active and moving around a lot. The boys were very excited to see this live giant teddy bear!!
After the viewing we popped into the Panda cafe for some morning tea. The boys got to sit on the Panda chair and shared a panda pau (Yes! I picked the perfect T-shirt for the day!)
After seeing the pandas we did our usual walk around the zoo - Mr. Oliver the zoo keeper told us where to go and what animals to see. We didn't stay long as we know we will be back with our friends in a weeks time but it was still a lovely outdoor morning/afternoon activity for the boys on Christmas Eve!
In the evening we went downstairs to join our friends who were having a Christmas BBQ. Oliver and Luca were in their Christmas outfits (with some gumboots... of course).
There was so much food! Kangaroo patties, Jamaican jerk chicken, pasta, homemade bread, salads, you name it!
These little egg and tomato mushrooms were my favourite! So creative!
The party ended with some Christmas carols and continued at Stefan's place.
Stefan leading the others in some songs:
Our boys were too tired so we had to leave after the BBQ but we had such a great time. Again, I met some new people and Matthew got to relax with some workmates. The best part? We just had to push the buggy upstairs when it was time to head home :) I love it!
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