Humans need Blue sky and Sunshine

We had only 2 days of low haze days this month. One day was before we went to Bangkok when I finally took the kids to the downstairs playground for the first time in weeks. I couldn't believe how happy the kids were just being outside in the fresh air!

And this morning, it started off very cool and CLEAR SKY! The PSI stayed very low for the entire day!!

I went shopping with my Japanese friends in the morning. The first thing everyone said was "So nice to feel the sun! Finally!! We were all in such a good mood! (maybe because some super sale we went to added extra excitement too...)

I couldn't help myself spending as much time as possible on our balcony for the rest of the evening. Oliver's little friend Liam came for a playdate so Charné and I had some refreshments. 

I just had to take some pictures, I can see miles away!

It is said the season and the wind is changing here in Singapore that will help us so much with the haze situation. Fingers crossed it will stay this clear! PLEASE!! 

Halloween Craft sessions

We had some fun Halloween art and craft sessions this week. Getting ready for this weekend's party I had some little helpers at my place. 

I had a few things in mind so instead of the kids choose what they wanted to make, I gave them a mission each! They were all great with it and showed me their wonderful talent. 

Ashley was happily using my paper cutter for over 2 hours. She used some tape to put the cut up pieces together too.

The boys were already very excited when I picked them up from school the next day and were asking if they could do more crafts. Of course!

Luca made some bats with his best friend Rafi. He was extremely intense and concentrated on his mission of making a group of bats!! He completed it beautifully!! 

I must remember not to put away my craft boxes and keep them in easy reach so that I can offer them more when they need something to do. Just some cutting and glueing makes them so happy. 

Art homework

Luca is itching to get some homework everyday like Oliver but it won't happen till next year when he moves to K1. But this week he had some art/craft homework: to design a fan.
I suggested we make a Japanese style fan as I didn't have any hard paper. He was very happy and knew exactly what the theme was for it - All Blacks.

His drawing is actually improving everyday. A kiwi and a silver fern!! 

Matthew and I

We seldom take pictures of ourselves anymore, but maybe we should do so more often.
I love you Matthew xxx

Australia vs Argentina

We heard a knock on our door just before midnight...

Great to have friends around and it was such an exciting game. Maybe I was the loudest of all?? By the time the game was over it was after 2am zzzz... Let's see if we can do it again this weekend. 

The RWC semi final

When leaving Bangkok we dressed ourselves ready for the big game - All Blacks vs South Africa.
Ashley wore the fantastic piupiu handmade by her aunty Kylie, which both Oliver and Luca wore on so many different occasions.

Ashley saying goodbye to Isabel:

The three musketeers :

Family picture:

We arrived back in Singapore at 20min past 10pm. We had to watch the National anthem and Haka on the phone in the taxi on the way to Jason and Danielle's place.

Luckily we were right on time!

They had their daughters' birthday party earlier in the evening so all the kids were still awake and having fun while us adults enjoyed watching the EXCITING GAME! 

Well now that we are in the final, it will be a party at our place this weekend. Let's see how our spooky Halloween night will turn out...

Relaxing time is what we needed

We decided we didn't want to do any touristy things i.e. visiting historical sights and exploring the REAL Bangkok, instead just chill out and relax. It was lovely to be able to see how well the Feran's have settled into their new home town. Their place is located perfectly, very close to supermarkets, lots of nice cafes and funky looking restaurants. To me extra special to see so many Japanese people! They live in Little Japan!!

On the last morning we had coffee and breakfast at this cute cafe:

Luca and Oscar had a hot chocolate EACH - you need to dip the big stick of chocolate into the hot milk to make your own - very cool! 

For lunch Peter did a fab job of BBQing:

We hope we will be visiting them again soon as we are only a 2 hour flight away and we have access to VERY reasonable airfares. Thank you very much for having us, Peter and Isabel. Looking forward to our next catch up. 

Outing in Bangkok city

On the second day, we took a tuktuk to the train station then BTS to MBK  to explore busy Bangkok. Our kids are in love with tuktuk now, it goes so fast!

Very very good train system - very modern, clean and fast!

Check out Ashley's fringe!

MBK was an interesting place. It has over 2000 shops selling pretty much everything. It caters for both locals and tourists so you can imagine how packed it was!!  I was imagining outdoor market type of place you can find in South East Asia but it was in an air-conditioned modern 8 story building. We had to make sure we didn't lose any kids in there!

Matthew and I had a mission of buying a set of new clothes, shoes and a bag for the surprise show and couples night. We assumed we were going out only on my birthday night so didn't bring any spare nice clothes (note for the next trip, always put an extra dress and a pair of high heels in the suitcase...)

In the evening we left the kids with P&I's babysitter and went out. After a tuktuk and a few train rides away, we got to the riverside to catch a boat. Still at this stage we had no idea where we were going...

After a 20min boat ride we arrived at Asiatique, which is a wonderful night time entertainment destination. Loads of space for the kids to run around with a ferris wheel and 40 restaurants! 

The surprise show we went was Muay Thai Live - the Legends and Heroes of Thai Boxing. You can read more about it here. During the show you are not allowed to take any movies or photos so I don't have any to share with you but it was basically covering the history of Thai Boxing from its origin to present. 

They even put on a live boxing match at the end! You can see who was most excited!?

The show certainly put Isabel and I on a high, well... I have to say especially Isabel!! 

I would definitely come back here when I visit next time. Looking up their website, there are 1,500 shops selling souvenirs, clothes, accessories and home decor items. I could be here for an entire day! 

Our night didn't finish there. Pete then took us to the roof top bar at the Marriott Hotel. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. Thank you Isabel and Peter for showing us your amazing home town!