Fun biking at ECP

We hired some bikes at the East Coast Park in the morning. Hinata and Yuzuki wanted to ride themselves which made it perfect for the rest of us to hire a family one.

Both boys were pretty happy getting their own seats:



Hinata and Yuzuki were leading us:



Going faster!!



Yuzuki:

Poor Matthew had to do most of the pedaling. It was getting very hot so we stopped for a little break:

After the break the heat must have kicked in. Oliver got very annoyed he couldn't pedal himself and screamed all the way back... 

We stopped at the food court to get some coconut and sugar cane drinks. It was very refreshing - boy! we needed that drink!

Pool and Zoo

There was no way we would do anything else before the kids could jump into our condo swimming pool. Japanese pools are always full of people (you can sort of float but you can hardly swim...) so it was quite a treat for them to have the big pool almost to themselves.

It was a super hot day so certainly helped them cool right down :)





My sister Mako:



Hinata:





Oliver just wants to do wall-walking at the moment:



We had a lovely Italian lunch and then took a taxi to the zoo. The kids wanted to go on a bus but we needed to save time...

We made good time but by the time we got there it was the hottest time of the day and lots of the animals were resting or hiding from the sun :( But the kids were so happy seeing the animals very close. Oliver was super happy showing off his zoo to his cousins.







We encountered a big monitor lizard which was just wandering around the walkway:



We spent quite a while looking at the orangutans:



The baby ones were so cute!





Lovely to see the feeding, plus got great family photos with them :)



Break from walking....



Oliver was so busy showing off his zoo:



Giant Rabbit and Hinata:





We just couldn't miss visiting the water play area. I didn't realise it closes at 5pm. So they only got to play 45min or so... still such a great way to spend a hot hot afternoon.





I just love the Singapore Zoo, they have everything for the kids. There is a little playground and also an athletic area. It was fun trying this raft.



All of us were so exhausted but we had to get some dinner before we could go to bed. I already had somewhere in mind so we took a taxi straight there.

This is an old Hong Kong style 24 hour Dim Sum restaurant we found in the Katong area (about 10min on the bus from our condo).



Hinata looooooves shau lon pau so I knew even tho they were tired they would eat without whinging!





And I was right!!





Everyone was exhausted from swimming and walking plus the heat. We all went to bed quite early so that we could recharge ourselves for another busy day.

Cockpit photo

Hinata and Yuzuki were lucky to have a peek in the cockpit - where their uncle works!

Awesome holiday

We had such a full-on week with Mako's (my older sister) family. Their days off are limited so we had to squeeze in whatever we could. We had so much fun in Singapore as well as in Penang, Malaysia!

It's been a long time since I last sat in front of my computer... I will try to update as quickly as possible so you can see how wonderful our holiday was and what we have been up to :)

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!!