Exercise pit

Our condominium's land area is quite large and some parts we haven't been to before. So we decided to do a good walk around to see what we can find.



There are five great big towers and the farthest from our one had this exercise equipment. There were a few like rowing, biking, etc.





Oliver was very happy he found something new :)

On their way!

How many more sleeps?

Oliver has been counting down his sleeps till his cousins, Yuzuki and Hinata arrive from Japan. He has been asking 3 more sleeps? 2 more sleeps? It is just too exciting for him.

He gets a bit confused after his nap though, he thinks he had a sleep but the number of sleeps doesn't go down!

Well it will be only 2 more naps and 1 good nights sleep and they will be here. Matthew has left to Kansai to get them especially to operate their flight over. How special!

They will be here for 8 days. We are planning a zoo visit, a trip to Penang, and a boat trip to Pulau Payar and more. It will be so much fun!!!!  

Meaty BBQ

We were invited to another great BBQ last night. About 20 of us were there who live in the same condo. Whenever we have been invited to these yummy BBQs, one of us (ie Matthew or me) was away. But finally we managed to join in together for the first time!!

Somehow we ended up with so much meat last night. James (the organiser of last night's BBQ) and Shem (who always puts on a wonderful BBQ) and Stefan all brought down so much meat!

BBQ pit:



We started off with some Aussie sausages, then very tender Aussie beef, NZ beef, and even some kangaroo fillet.

Here is Sue trying some of the kangaroo fillet - we thought it had a very distinctive smell...



Luca and Stefan:



We thought it was getting close to the end of the BBQ then these appeared!!



My favourite! Ribs!!! I couldn't say no, they were finger licking delicious :) :) :)

I now stock up on my iron levels when we have a BBQ. I am not a big meat eater but beautifully cooked sizzling meat and fresh air makes me into a carnivore Grraaaahhhh!!!

As usual the kids had a ball riding their scooters, playing touch, jumping in the pool or just chilling out on the beach chair.



It went on till quite late... I think by the time we came back upstairs it was almost 11:00. Believe it or not Luca didn't fall asleep at all. We had two exhausted boys and parents so we all went straight to bed.

Being there with Matthew was a lot more fun. I could actually enjoy chatting to my friends. I hope he will be off next time too :)

More words from Luca

More words from our little man this week:
Dada - for daddy
Nana - for Banana
Baaa for bye is now properly "Bye"
Fav - for High Five

"Oliver" might be little tricky to teach but he won't be far off!

Little Masterchef

This morning we had some nice oatmeal and pear pancakes thanks to our little masterchef. Oliver is always so happy to be involved in cooking :) and the best part? He eats so well what he cooks :) :) :)

Luca and I were behind the counter to watch the show!



Instead of popcorn we had some grapes:



Pouring in some milk:



Mixing the egg into the mixture:



I am still scared of Oliver standing in front of the gas grill, so our big masterchef did the frying for us:



Looking very good!! Garnished with some beautiful raspberries and honey:



Muuuummmmm Yummy!



We followed this recipe we found online. It was so yummy! A little heavier than your normal flour-only-pancakes which was perfect for our hungry boys :)

11/2 cup milk
1 cup rolled oatmeal
1 tbsp oil (we used butter instead of oil)
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

You just need to soak the oatmeal in the milk before mixing with the other ingredients. We added half a grated pear and it was perfect but you can adjust the amount as you want.

Highly recommended!!

Rugby and curry

On the weekend we enjoyed some rugby viewing and Indian curry on our balcony.

The curries were good but my favourite is still our local when we were in Brunei -"Maharani's" 

There will be lots of these rugby+ weekends for the next couple of months.  

Rainy clouds

Singapore weather changes so much. The beautiful blue sky has gone and I could see this in the distance. Well at least we are not getting rained on...

Hello Blue Sky!!

After a week of gray weather, finally the sun and nice blue sky is back!!



Makes me :) :) :)

Beach fun

We took the boys over to the ECP this afternoon. It was cloudy but I thought better than too sunny.

Matthew had a busy week of flying so we haven't done many outdoor activities other than going into town and shops. So both boys were very very excited when we got there.

My gorgeous beach boy - ready to hit the beach!



I can feel the waves!



Deos he look happy or what?



So relieved Luca no longer eats sand... (and the hat stays on!!)



They found some coconuts:



We had some drama over the coconuts. According to Oliver they were all his acorns and he just wouldn't share them. Can you imagine this little guy was guarding all of them by himself!?



Luca practiced more walking with daddy and big brother:



Digging a hole to find what lives there?



The tide was quite high so they didn't get into the water much but I am sure they enjoyed it 100%!

We continued on to our dinner at the Dinosaur Italian restaurant. Oliver enjoyed running around in the indoor playground and we had delicious meals.

Luca was well entertained by the dinosaurs! Raaahhhhhh



By the time we finished our meal it was getting dark. We had a little walk down to the waterfront.



While we were dining we kept seeing big groups of people walking past to go to this famous seafood restaurant. The place was packed!!! Maybe within 30min it was full!!



And another 10min... people were everywhere waiting for the next empty table.



I know it is quite a pricy place but we must try it out!

The problem is...

Those who have shared rides with Luca in a vehicle can understand what I mean. He is just too loud!!!

Getting used to

Luca has almost given up on taking his hat off all the time. Finally it is staying on!



Also he is not bad with shoes either, thanks to his little friend Mina who we saw at the airport the other day. Luca was very shocked when he saw his friend wearing shoes and walking. I wish I had my camera out then, his face was so funny, his mouth was wide open!

Now he wears shoes and is back on his feet, he walked 6 steps by himself!!

Coffee break

Luca has never been a long napper since he was born. If I am lucky I get an hour in the morning and afternoon each day.

I discovered he loves sleeping in the buggy and this will last much longer as a nap - 2 hours or more sometimes. So this afternoon when I had enough of chasing both boys I put Oliver down to nap and strapped Luca in his buggy.

10 min later...



Time for me to have some coffee and some NZ magazines delivered personally by Merryn!! Ta!!

Kinetic Rain

The other day when we went to meet Matthew at the arrival and see Merryn and Dennis off, we found this fantastic art at Terminal 1. According to the airport guide it is part of upgrading Terminal 1. I looked it up online and found out more about it.

It is the world's largest kinetic art sculpture. The droplets are made of lightweight aluminum and coated with polished copper. They are apparently linked to motors in the ceiling and controlled by a computer program.

We stood there looking at these lights going up and down for a long time. It was just fascinating to watch.

Here you can see the wave but there are 16 shapes including a plane, a hot air balloon, kite, dragon, fish and a flock of birds.  We didn't see all of the shapes so maybe next time we need to spend more time!

They are on the departure level at Terminal 1. If you happen to be there it is worth a look.

Quick catch up

Tonight our great friends were going through Singapore on the way to their summer holiday in Germany. Oliver has been so excited since he got up this morning to see his friends. It was rather late for the little ones to meet up and get excited but they were in full swing!

Holding hands and zooming around together:

We sat in one of the coffee shops at the terminal to do a quick catch up, well we thought we sat down...

They were too excited to see each other and exchange presents. In the end they got all the toy cars Emil had in his suitcase and raced them everywhere :)

Oliver and Luca both got a nice book each:



And even I got something special!!! - My favourite - fresh orchids :) :) :) thank you Katja!!! You made me smile even more!



Of course it was very difficult for Oliver to understand why he was not going through the departure security with them... tears and tears... poor little man :(

But we really enjoyed seeing you all, and are looking forward to the next catch up.



Have a great holiday Maike & Katja!