Sporty morning

Our boys were introduced something new the other day. We have been talking about this for a long long time but somehow failed to go. Matthew likes playing tennis and we played a bit together until we had Oliver.

It doesn't take us long to get to the practice tennis court, it's just in our condo :)

By the time I got there the boys were already in full swing!





Oliver was too excited to have his own racket and didn't really listen to Matthew on how to hold the racket etc but I guess liking it is the first step for starting new things!



Our ball-boy:



It got really hot by the time we started to play a bit of basketball:



Phew! good exercise!



Not to mention after this we all got changed into swimwear and jumped into the pool to cool down.
It was a great way to spend a family morning together!

The boy's girlfriends

Oliver and Luca so enjoyed their reunion with their little girlfriends (and of course the parents enjoyed catching up!). The Brunke family came through Singapore on their way back from holiday.



It was Mina's 2nd birthday so we took some candles and sang happy birthday to her.



After a long flight and being shy with each other, it took a while but once they connected they were best friends again :)



It is too short just seeing them at the airport. Oliver really wants to visit them in Brunei. So we are thinking of a short holiday in Brunei once we are back from Japan!

Lunch with a great view

Nicola and James invited us for lunch before the boys and I head to Japan next week. They live in the next tower to ours and higher up so the view from the balcony is much nicer.







The kids had great fun playing together:



Matthew with gorgeous Aisla:



I really enjoyed a relaxing chat with Nicola and I believe Matthew had fun having a few too many rum & cokes after lunch!

Craft time!

I haven't done any craft work with the boys for a long time. As they received some special stamps from Merryn and Dennis from IKEA we sat down and made some fish :) Thank you M&D!

Well... Luca wasn't quite there so I put the paper down on his high chair:



But Oliver was right into it!





Taddaaaa!!!





I must spend more time doing these things with the boys :) :) :)

Wide and Narrow

The boys are so into drawing at the moment. Luca loves yellow (pretty much all the colours are called yellow) and is very intense scribbling on the paper. Oliver on the other hand can now draw all sorts of things.

I like this masterpiece - Wide and Narrow:



Well done son!

Saying good by to M&D

Merryn and Dennis decided to leave a couple days earlier than they planned as the flights were looking full on their original travel date. Unfortunately Matthew was still in Japan so we couldn't go to the airport to say good bye (I guess we could but chasing two boys is getting harder and harder for me with a big bump!). Oliver was so sad and some tears were coming out when they got into the taxi downstairs - bless him...

He was convinced they will return in 3 days or so like mummy came back from Japan and daddy comes home from his long overnight flights. So cute.

We hope it won't be too long before we can get to see them again. Next time 3 of our kids will be at the airport to welcome them back!!

Park hopper

Our boys were so lucky to be treated with the Zoo and the Bird Park weekend. Oliver has seen the Bird Park buses driving around Singapore for the last year or so but we have never made it there until this time.



Again it was a very hot hot day so we started off with the penguin exhibit. It was very cool and we were right on time for the feeding.

As we spent a day at the Zoo the day before, we didn't want to make it a long day. So we picked two or three main things to do. After we came out of the penguin exhibit we headed out to see a show in the amphitheatre.

Luca was very excited and cheerful but Oliver was somehow very serious... or concerned?





The climax of the show was very exciting and Oliver still talks about it. They called 100 birds onto the stage. Some walked to the stage, some flew in from behind us. It was very well done.



And again we hopped onto a tram to have a break from the heat.



Both boys enjoyed each others company and had a great time walking around in the African Waterfall Aviary. M&D were a little bit disappointed it was slightly run down and we didn't see many birds...





We had some homemade sandwiches for lunch - they were pretty tasty! But we could hear the thunder and while we were eating it started to pour down :( We were lucky being close to the tram stop. We jumped onto it and headed back to the main entrance.

We weren't sure how long the rain was going to last (and it was a very big storm) and had almost given up on viewing anything else. The only exhibit we could walk undercover was World of darkness - which was perfect! Oliver was dying to see some special owls, and so was Luca!

They got to see different owls, Snowy owl, Eagle owl, Great grey owl, and Boobook owl etc. They were all awake and looking at us with huge gloomy eyes!

As you can guess I couldn't take many great photos in the dark...



I did enjoy the Bird Park but to be honest was a little bit disappointed. Maybe because I am not such a bird person but the park as a whole was a bit run down as M&D mentioned and also lots of the birds were kept in the cage and didn't look like they had enough space...

However the kids had a great fun and I am glad we went there. Maybe next time we might find something different to excite me there :)

Fragile Forest

Oliver's must-do-with M&D list had two things. 1) Show them around the Zoo and 2) visit the Bird Park. We knew it would be very crowded being school holidays and Saturday but Matthew was going to be away for 3 days from Sunday we decided to do the Zoo with him.

It was a very hot day (pretty much everyday it is hot here in Singapore... but it was extra hot!) and we woke up rather late. So we decided to do only limited areas. M&D were very keen to see the Pandas so that's where we started off. I like the panda exhibit as they are kept in an airconned room :)

They were quite active and we could see a lot of them. This was our 4th(?) time so I didn't take any photos.

Then we saw some white tigers and got on the tram to have a rest. It was a very good idea to get the tram ride! Especially for me :)

We visited the Zoo a number of times last year but still had an area we haven't been to. Oliver always points it out on the map but we never managed to find it - Fragile Forest.

He wanted to see the lemurs for a long long time. Somehow M&D knew this area very well, apparently it was the area they often checked out when they came to the Zoo.





Firstly we were surprised to find some active bats during the day - Malayan Flying Fox.



Oliver took some photos and it's always interesting to see what he finds...



As we walked through the forest Oliver finally encountered his long awaited creature from the movie Madagascar - Ring tailed lemurs!


He was soooo excited when they came close to him and just wandered around.



They were so gentle and calm or maybe they just totally ignore us humans?


(Photo taken by Oliver)







Luca was more interested in, and also running away from, this peahen that followed us around.





We didn't do much animal watching after this except for looking at them from the tram. We ended up in the water play area. It was a rather short but very satisfying day out!

Adults only night out

We got a babysitter to look after the boys for the night so we can take Merryn and Dennis up to KU DÉ TA  at Marina Bay Sands. I just love being up on the hotel roof. This time we couldn't stay overnight but at least we could go there for pre-dinner drinks.

It was quite windy when we got there but the skyline was very beautiful:







Unfortunately there were so many people up there and the wind was quite strong so we didn't stay long...



But we did get to see the laser show:



Then we took a taxi to Chijmes for a feast!



Well as you guessed, we ate way too much! They have a great range of salads and too many kinds of meat that you feel like you should try all of them - big mistake... We were so full very quickly!



But I couldn't resist my favourite - BBQ pineapple!!



Some couple's shots:





It was very nice to be able to have a good chat with Merryn and Dennis without being interrupted by the boys. We also enjoyed outdoor dining in the fresh air :) I am already looking forward to the next adults only night out - well... might not happen for a while tho...