Gardens by the Bay + River Safari

The weekend before Cheh-Cheh Joelle went back to New York, and while Yi-Zhan was in Singapore, we went out together, and did some touristy stuff. We visited 2 tourist attractions that they, including Yi-Ma, have never visited before.

First, we went to Gardens by the Bay.

Even though we've been to the garden a few times, we'd never been up the OCBC Skyway. We tried this time round, and it's pretty nice walk, with gorgeous view!

Nadine went round snapping loads of photos, including the above photo of Yi-Zhan, Yi-Ma and Cheh-Cheh Joelle.

Cousins

Inside the flower dome, Nadine snapped more photos of the colourful flowers. Not sure if she was more interested in the flowers or in photography.

Another first for us at Gardens by the Bay - first time into the Cloud Forest! We'd been into the Flower Dome a couple of times, but always missed out the Cloud Forest. Glad we made it in this time, coz it's quite an interesting place, with a very tall waterfall, and a "Lost World" maze.

The 2 air-con domes are very pretty, and have a huge variety of plants. But, they can definitely do with more sign ages, to educate visitors on what they're seeing!

After Gardens by the Bay, we went to River Safari. We got there past 4. Still had sufficient time to enjoy the walk, but too tired to take photos!

Here's one of the kids on our way out.

It was a great day out, with fantastic cool weather, and even greater company. Cheh-Cheh Joelle took really good care of Nadine and Aaron, and there was Yi-Zhan who shared the burden of carrying Aaron with Daddy whenever Aaron didn't want to walk!

Kids' creativity

Daddy was playing with the kids in their room one day, and they decided to play "decorate Daddy"! Amazing how they can randomly come up with funny games like that!

Nadine's abstract art

Nadine drew this picture this morning. I thought it was just meaningless doodle. But she actually has an interpretation for it!

Jesus on a boat with his friends (I can sort of make out a man with a paddle, but can't see the "friends") and suddenly, there was a storm!

I was more impressed and pleased that she remembered this story. Which means she had paid attention at Children Church! Well done, Nadine!

Aaron's English

For a 2 1/2 year-old, Aaron has a pretty good command of English. He speaks in full sentences most of the time, and with some words, he's even able to differentiate between past and present tense and would correct himself when he used the wrong tense.

For eg, once, he was telling me about his toy car which dropped from the table.

"Just now my car fall down .... fell down."

He now likes to tell stories - about the movies that he's watched during the day, about the games he played, and about what he did in school. When he's in a good mood, he can really talk a lot. When he's not, his answers become incoherent.

Nonetheless, we're still really proud of little talkative Aaron!

Facing the wall

Had this conversation with Aaron last week, when he was wearing his robot pj.

A: I'm wearing robot. My robot is a little boy. 
Me: Your robot is a little boy?
A: Ya! And then he grow up and he will destroy the wall. 
Me: Destroy what wall?
A: Destroy that wall (pointing to a particular wall). Because Daddy taught me to face the wall. My robot will destroy the wall so Daddy cannot ask me to face the wall again.
Me: Oh ... Ok (nodding ... trying to show an understanding and empathetic face)

Hmm ... so the 1 and only time that we punished him by making him face the wall worked! Since then, whenever we threaten him with the wall, he'd stop whatever naughty thing he's doing.

Nadine turns 5!

Nadine turns 5 today!

As per the last 2 years, we had a combined birthday party with Marcus, who turned 8 last week.

We went to Sengkang Swimming Pool, probably the most fun public pool in Singapore, as it incorporates a water park (no photos as Daddy was in the water with the kids, while I went off to collect Nadine's cake), and had lunch Brewbakers, within the Sports Complex. Food was bad, but the kids had loads of fun, and the adults enjoyed great fellowship.

Nadine's 5th birthday celebration in school

Aaron's 4th day in school coincides with Cheh-Cheh's birthday celebration in school.

It was quite chaotic at the door. Almost all the Pre-N kids cried at the MPH door, and had to be carried in by a teacher. Aaron was no exception. He hung on to me tightly, and no amount of persuasion would get him to go into the auditorium. So a teacher had to carry him in. But by the time we sang birthday song for Cheh-Cheh, he was perfectly ok.

Nadine celebrated her 5th birthday in advance in school. She was so excited about the celebration that  she woke up at 6.30am. Actually, it was much of a celebration. She stood in front of all the students, with 2 other birthday boys, and their school mates sang birthday songs for each of them. They blew off the candle on a fake cake, get some fancy claps, a little present from their teachers, and that's it. LSK doesn't allow cakes, but do allow the birthday boy/girl to bring goodie bags for their friends. Nonetheless, the excitement of having all her friends sing a birthday song for her, and being able to wear her home clothes to school, were enough to thrill Nadine.

Aaron's 3rd day in school

3rd day of school, was still unable sit still during assembly, nor willing to queue up with his classmates to go into the classroom. He didn't want to hold any teachers' hands either. So I let him hold my little finger and walked to the classroom door with him, before pulling my finger.

To my surprise, he didn't protest, scream, nor cry. Walked in and just started wandering around. There were a number of big Che-Chehs from church who were helping out. One of them, Cheh-Cheh Eunice, who serves in Little Lights, took really good care of him. And he just kept holding her hand and walking around. Didn't seem like he missed me at all. So off I went to work, crossing my fingers and hoping that he'll be as good tomorrow, when he has to start joining all the older kids for assembly.

Aaron's 2nd day in school

2nd day - Daddy went into the classroom with Aaron. After a while, a teacher came and brought Aaron out for a walk, and asked Daddy to leave the classroom. When they came back, Aaron seemed ok that Daddy's not there, and got on with class activities pretty well. He also fed himself, and finished all his food.

One comment that a teacher made to Daddy, "he talks a lot!" I guess that means he's becoming comfortable with the teacher!

After school, instead of driving the kids back home, Daddy put them on the school bus. He saw Nadine carrying out her big sister responsibilities - helping Aaron take out his bag, put his bag aside, and helping him to sit properly. Well done, Cheh-Cheh! And well done Aaron, for settling well into school life so quickly!

Aaron's 1st day in school

Yesterday was Aaron's first day in school. He was so excited. Woke up early, got changed and was ready before everyone else. Kept repeating that he's ready to go to school, while waiting for Daddy, Mummy and Cheh-Cheh.

Pre-nursery class starts an hour later for first 3 days, so that these new students will be able to ease into school life. Daddy and Mummy were planning to send Cheh-Cheh to school first, and then come home for Aaron. But Aaron insisted on going with Cheh-Cheh, and once we reached school, he insisted on entering the auditorium with Cheh-Cheh too.

Mrs Elsie Tan, the principal, was kind enough to let him in, and even let him drive his favourite toy car. With all that enthusiasm, we thought it should be easy for him to settle into class.

But, just when class was about to start, he cried and said he wanted to go home! Daddy had to carry him into class and he koala-beared Daddy throughout the next 2 hours of class.

Sigh .... why the sudden change of mood? Hopefully, it will not be like that for long!

1st family outing in 2014 - Bird Park

1st family outing of the year - Jurong Bird Park, Nadine's favourite park. Not sure why. Maybe it's because we'd always had nice breezy weather on our visits to the Bird Park, and the park is generally not crowded, unlike the zoo and River Safari.

Having attended Watchnight Service the night before, we were all pretty low-batt. So we took it easy - enjoyed the tram ride, and then walked around for a bit.

Aaron was not in the mood for photo-taking, and wanted to be carried all the time. And Nadine kept complaining that her legs were tired. Signs of them being low-batt. So we stopped for ice-cream!

After about 2 hours, we left the park and went shopping at JEM, a mall that we'd never visit if we were not in that area!

Christmas lights 2013

Christmas 2013, we went to see the Orchard Road Christmas lights twice  - once before we went for to Korea, and a 2nd time, after we return, with Yi-Ma and Jie-Jie Joelle.

The first time we were there, there was a little "garden" just outside Ion.

But second time round, the garden was gone! Which was really puzzling. Why would Ion build that garden for just a couple of weeks, and dismantle it before Christmas? 

Anyway ... this was the first time that Jie-Jie Joelle saw the Orchard Road Christmas lights. She spent most of her growing up years in Taiwan, and never came back during Christmas. This year, she's entered college in the US, and is back for her winter break. Just nice, she finally gets to see the lights!

Focus On Family photo booth