Beach and dinner

The last day of our Singapore trip was accomplished with even more fun stuff. We love walking down to the East Coast Park. For sure this is one of our favourite places in Singapore.

I love the walkway and greenery but the beach part is just beautiful.



At the beach we were going to do a short walk and possibly make sandcastles but of course someone ended up in the water...





We didn't have to make an effort to make a sandcastle this time, someone left one for Oliver to complete. He picked up the nicest looking leaf and put it on the top. It was a bit tricky - it didn't want to stay up so took a while but he thought it was very funny and was giggling away so much.





Had more fun picking up leaves:





And watching the planes come in:



Lots of people were exercising, jogging, biking, naked walking with leaves?





On the other side of the walkway there are a few places to grab an awesome dinner. We have been there during the day so I knew they were there but didn't know it was this popular!



We could see some places were more popular than others from the number of people queuing up, such as prawn laksa, BBQ pork noodles, duck rice and beef noodles. Matthew tried the laksa and it was soooo yummy! We are definitely going back!

Oliver loved fresh sugar cane juice.



Yummy!

Rhi-no-ce-ros

The highlight of the trip for Oliver was of course - "daddy and me time" at the Singapore Zoo. Last time we were lazy and just got a taxi there but this time they used public transport to get there, which meant Oliver got to get on both a bus and a train!

When they got to the zoo, Oliver was extra excited as his memory of being there from last time was so vivid, he knew where to go and what to do as well!

He made Matthew take some of the photos of animals he chose:

Here are some



So so tall giraffes (he is into saying so..something):



Big turtles:



And this was his favourite animal of the visit - Rhinoceros:

It was their feeding time when they when to see them, Oliver was brave enough to want to feed them but the zoo keeper told him he was too little - damn :(





He must have been so excited he is still telling me about those rhinos at bedtime after a week, he says "Mummy, zoo Singapore I see rhi-no-ce-ros (very slowly so he can pronounce the big word without making mistakes) eating, people feeding!"
I am just amazed at how how much his language has developed!

It will be great, this will be our monthly activity once we move to Singapore :)

Matching

Took our boys for a dip in the condo pool before dinner. They were very happy they looked so much like each other!

Baby friendly

I am impressed lots of restaurants are now very kiddy friendly and has these IKEA high chairs.



But this Japanese restaurant I went to with my boys while Isabel was getting her eyes checked had this!



Bumbo baby chair, very baby friendly - I was truly impressed!!

Great shopping day out

This trip to Singapore was extra special as a very good friend of mine Isabel, came along with us. She had her own agenda which was to get "Lasik" - laser eye surgery done on her eyes. As I have a bad eye condition it was very interesting to check out the whole process with her.

It took her 3-4 hours to get her eyes checked in the clinic to determine if she is qualified for the surgery. They gave her the green light so she was asked to come back the next day for 15mins of laser surgery, yes only 15min!

After her surgery to make sure she could get back to the apartment we were staying at, I went to pick her up in town. Straight away she could see so well without her contact lenses and glasses, how amazing!

After a nights rest we were back in town to get her eyes checked after the surgery. Everything was good with her eyes so we went for a big shopping excursion! To start off we had a very yummy breakfast in Paragon Shopping Center.

Isabel with her new eyes:



Eggs benedict:



She introduced me to these finger licking good caramel macaroons - I am so going back to get some more once we live in Singapore!



Oliver was with Matthew to spend "daddy and son time" at the zoo so only Luca came along with us. He really loved getting so much attention from us!





We sort of went WILD in the shopping center. There wasn't any room for Luca to sit in his buggy in the end...



Shopping is always extra special and becomes dangerous when you are with your girlfriend!

Cheap entertainment

Every shopping mall we went to Oliver managed to find the ride ons you put money in and plays funny music and moves. He is still at a good age he is just happy sitting in them without putting the money in. He introduced this free-ride-fun to his little brother.

They both loved it!



This one was actually very cool. Kiddy roller coaster with a screen playing preview images:



Weeeee!!!

One happy boy

We hopped on a public bus to a nearby shopping mall.  The last time we took the boys on the bus in Singapore was their "melt down time" - It was during rush hour and almost their bed time. Oliver was so uncomfortable that he wanted to get off the bus and begged me to go on a taxi. This time, bright and early in the morning, not too many people, he was happy as!

Bedtime fun

Just before we went to Singapore Linnea came to our place for a sleepover. It's so nice they can just walk over with a bag. Very simple. Oliver was very excited having her over and loved the bedtime story time with his big sister : )





Can you see how many books Linnea picked for Oliver?



They just kept reading...



and reading...



Eventually they fell asleep and this time Oliver stayed asleep until the morning. Success!

Lots to catch up

We were in Singapore visiting Matthew for the last week. I didn't take my computer with me so couldn't do any blogging over there (or too busy shopping / out and about!). I will try catch up while our boys are asleep.

BYO DVD

After a playdate in the indoor playground I took Oliver to a DVD shop (he has been asking for it for such a long time!) to get him the Cars 2 movie. He was so so happy and was willing to have his hair cut at his hairdresser (also in the Mall).

It's starting! Very serious business to him:









His hair was so thick he needed a clip to hold some excess hair. Of course he didn't mind at all, he was enjoying his own DVD!

New indoor playground

As Oliver doesn't go to nursery in the morning anymore I have tried to fill up his mornings with some playdates. On Monday we were at a playdough playdate, on Tuesday I had the Craft Crew at my place so he played with some of his friends while us mummies got creative, and yesterday we went to this new (maybe not  so new anymore) indoor playground in the Mall for the first time.

It was much bigger and so much cleaner the one we used to go to:







Oliver was very impressed and straight away ran around and explored with a big big smile.



There was a wall climbing room, trampolines, lots of slides, a ball pool, swings etc etc.

Luca also had lots of fun with this disco-slide:







The kids had some chips for a treat :)



The place was pretty empty as it was a weekday morning which was fantastic for the little ones to run around. And for us mummies nice and quiet to have proper conversations.
Oliver is already asking me if he can go back to the "new jungle gym" I can see us going there every week!

Family photo shoot

While Matthew was back in Brunei last week, we managed to squeeze in a quick family photo session with Tamsin - a very talented photographer. She has a studio in her house with professional equipment.

I have been wanting to do this since Luca was born and after almost 8 months we finally did it! She took plenty of photos for us and we got to keep all the data on a CD. I cannot show you all of them but here are some:

The Brunei Roses:



Oliver:





Luca:



Brother shot:



Didn't forget to take "just the two of us" photo...



Unfortunately it was almost Luca's bed time and Oliver didn't get enough sleep in the afternoon so it was a bit hectic in the studio (sorry for the extra work Tamsin...) But I love the end result - super happy with them!

Caramel is the best

We don't have any more direct NZ flights but we still get some goodies from NZ!



These chocolates were one of the things we ask our family to bring over from New Zealand when they visit us. Now we can buy them in Supasave. Whittaker's chocolates!!