Swimming with Dolphins

 Without a doubt one of my children's favorite activities so far has been swimming with the pink dolphins at Underwater World in Sentosa. A dream of theirs came true that morning. After a brief introduction to the dolphins they were allowed into the lagoon to swim around with the dolphins. Seeing them splash around made me kind of wish that I had signed up too, but then again I have visions of myself hanging on to Flipper and swimming way out into the ocean. One day... 

http://www.underwaterworld.com.sg/adventures_swimdolphin.htm

Christmas Countdown

This pocketed-numbered (does that make sense?) piece of fabric is the reason that my children for the past 2 weeks have not complained once about waking up. These days they run down the stairs excitedly to see what the "Christmas Angels" have brought them during the night, so far they have received lots of silly bandz, chocolate santas and candy canes. Need to thank www.kikki-k.com for this year's advent calendar. Kikki K's creator is  from Sweden, hence the little Nordic flair to her stationery, but the company is based in Australia, hence the snowfree Christmas catalog. Check out her website - my current favorite is the "3am" notebook. Store locations in Singapore: Ion, Tampines Mall and Changi Airport - in case you have not finished your Christmas shopping head to one of these locations and you'll wrap up your list in no time.

My little elf this morning before he went off to his Christmas concert

"Petit Papa Noël..."

Ah! la belle Escalade

"Qu'ainsi périssent les ennemis de la République"

that's what we screamed tonight for desert before our chocolate orgy began.

Great friends from Geneva sent us a chocolate "marmite", so that we too could celebrate the Escalade here in Singapore. Breaking the traditional marmite is the Genevan way of celebrating their December, 1602 victory over the Savoyards when they tried to take hold of Geneva. Belief is that the Mère Royaume threw her cauldron of boiling soup on the head of a Savoyard soldier. 

So much for the little Geneva history lesson I'm going back to the chocolate before the kids eat it all.

Fresh cuts at the mall

With this kind of heat there was no choice, but to head to the mall and give Oscar a trim to keep him cool and at Junction 8 we found if not the coolest hairdresser for kids the funnest one. 

 Oscar first off got to choose a movie, stickers, and a balloon. Then followed a no wash haircut, so no shampoo in the eyes and at the end of it all he got to choose which color streaks he wanted to add to his new "do." He was feeling green after all this choosing. Needless to say his sisters want to go back to the same place and get a combo of pink & purple highlights, should be interesting. 

Mangroves of Sungei Buloh

Another one of our favorite recent discoveries - the wetland reserve of of Sungei Buloh. Initially, we were looking for a bird farm in the northern part of Singapore, animal related activities are the way we lure our children out of the house...Anyway never found the farm, and instead walked around the mangroves and ponds of Sungei Buloh. We loved it, beats walking around the malls any day. Kids wanted to spot crocodiles and instead spotted countless Komodo dragons as well as colorful hummingbirds. Definitely want to head back there for one of their guided tours.

I'm repeating myself, but if in Singapore you need to visit this nature reserve. 

www.sbwr.org.sg

MacRitchie Must Go

 

As of this weekend, we have favorite new hang out that I want to share it with you and if in Singapore or if ever here you need to go there: the MacRitchie Reservoir. It's simply beautiful. Different trails take you into the jungle or you can just stay around the reservoir and observe the monkeys which Oscar loved. Zoe loved chasing fish in the pond and even catching some. JD dreamed of kayaking and Rose was content to cool off her feet in the water. As for me, I managed to run/jog the "yellow" trail this morning with a little help from french sporty ladies. 
See you there.

http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=naturereserves&id=49&Itemid=75

Letter to Santa

After the trimmings came the letter to Santa. Oscar has decided (with lots of convincing on our part) that for every pacifier sent to Santa he would receive a present of his choice. We managed to find 7 pacifiers, so if he sticks to his part of the deal (no more "nonos" as he calls them) he'll be getting a lot of presents this year. 

Decking the Halls

...in my dreams. This is what happens when you decide to move to the other side of the world with only your carry on suitcase you start from absolute scratch and in our case start by buying an itsy size Christmas tree at our favorite everything for $2 japanese store Daiso. However later today, I was feeling sorry for the kids for the lack of Christmas spirit at home, so went out to get the wreath and big Z thought it was completely dull. Guess we'll be counting on the grandparents for decorations or then again there's always Orchard Road which in terms of trimmings beats it all.

The kids just off Orchard Road

Mango monster

Ripe mangoes every day of the year - another one of our perks of living in the tropics.

Oscar is a huge fan..."a mango a day keeps the"...wonder if that applies

Speaking of doctors, we took a trip to the dentist the other afternoon. Kids were definitely not happy, but that was before they knew that this dentist had a TV playing "Kung Fu Panda" just above the patient's chair. One movie later, clean teeth & no cavities,  and never once did they complain. Ahh, technology. 

Crocodiles in the garden

No, not in my garden, but just a 2 minute drive away from my house is a crocodile farm housed in someone's backyard, formerly Mr. Tan's house to be precise. Unusual to see these crocodiles in this residential area lying around in half filled pools of water with brand new condos overlooking the garden. Not sure I would feel very reassured. Inside the farm is a gift store selling their handmade crocodile purses & belts should you be looking for the very odd Christmas present. 
http://www.singaporecrocfarm.com/

Happy Thanksgiving

Usually around this time of the day, Bonbon & I would be basting our turkey, baking apple pies, washing salads, screaming at the kids and not agreeing on turkey cooking time & oven temperature...well none of all that this year and I'm missing it this afternoon on Thanksgiving. I know that we have to create new traditions here in Singapore, but today all I long for is the familiar.

Happy Turkey to all of you. Gobble, gobble 

Rainy Season is here

These days it rains at least once a day, never the entire day, but when the rain arrives it's impressive & somewhat scary. My favorite part of these storms are the black skies just before the torrential downfalls. Took this photo this afternoon as I was picking up Zoe from her piano lesson and needless to say I was happy to be heading home.   

Meet Kiwi and Magic

We had promised the kids that upon moving to Singapore they would finally receive rabbits that they had wanted for so long. However, that promise was made way before we realized that it's always so hot here and that the rabbits would have to live within the comforts of our air-contioned house, so after much discussion the children settled for a pair of hanging parrots. 

Kiwi and Magic in their new home and my children, for now, are completely in awe of these birds that sleep hanging upside down. Thus after barely 3 months here, we house 2 turtles, countless fish, Zoe's geckos and 2 parrots...if we keep it up we could soon open our very own zoo.

Moma & Appa in Singapore

Moma and Appa came to visit and check up on us on their way back from their cruise. The kids love showing off their new favorite Singapore destinations and it was Zoe that wanted them to try our hawker center in Serangoon Garden. She had them taste her favorite fried dumplings and since Moma was sitting under a fan she didn't even complain too much about the heat!
Later on the same day, Oscar had his grandparents running all around the zoo to check out his favorite animals. Appa even had to go on an elephant ride. Then, our artist Rosie took them the next day to the Affordable Art Fair. No purchases were made, but did manage to get a couple of galleries contact details and hopefully soon we'll have something hanging on our bare walls. Anyway, we loved having Moma & Appa visit and hope they rest up before we all head out together on the ski slopes this Christmas.
www.affordableartfair.sg

After school hangout

My kids love to cool off after school with a frozen yogurt from Frolick. Oscar's favorite flavor is passion fruit topped with gummy bears. I think it gives him his share of sugar to keep on going strong for the rest of the afternoon - not sure that's a good thing. 

www.frolick.com.sg

Need a day off

Sometimes all this running around, sightseeing, discovering is just too much for my Oscar.

Enjoy your day off and take it easy.

Happy Hari Raya...does one say that?

Let the sun shine

 ...So I may have complained a little about the constant heat & humidity and envied my friends back home shopping new fall wardrobes, eating chanterelles, apple picking and talking of first snow falls, 

but then again it's pretty sweet to be able to cool down with a swim on Nov. 15th and not worry about catching the flu because of walking home with wet hair.
www.sgcc.com.sg

Aïe

My poor little Rosie broke her wrist last night, result of a bad fall whilst playing with her sister, and now 6 weeks of an inflatable cast. I was sure she was just being her usual drama queen and that it was nothing more than a bruise. I actually tried to talk her out of going to the ER, seems that we drive there once every 10 days, but she was adamant about wanting to see a doctor. She was right. The good thing is that her wrist should be healed in time for skiing at Christmas. However, no swimming for a couple of weeks, big handicap here, as well as the fact that she has trouble holding a pen. As for me, I guess I have to learn to listen to my children, they know.

Interesting Warning Sign

JD found this notice in the men's locker room at our club :))

Soya Madness

Just back from a trip to my local supermarket

and who would knew that buying soya sauce could be so complicated?

Choices were endless, couldn't even get all the brands in one photo frame, so did as always and  asked someone for help. Singaporeans, I find, are super helpful. Yesterday, a lady spent 5 minutes explaining to me how to choose the perfect mango. I'm a mango expert now, as for the soya sauce on verra...

Fall Colors

Finally found a way of wearing fashion's fall colors 
in my never ending summer wardrobe
Essie's new fall nail colors
Available at my favorite store
www.noa-shop.com

More Bali

Drinks at Kudeta, 

then went on for a swim. 

Kids loved jumping in the waves,

but Bali Sea currents are definitely not a myth.

At the market in Ubud. 

Already regretting not having brought back more of the pretty silk batik dresses and silver bracelets that I bought for the girls and me.

Next time...

And finally, because nothing makes my kids more happy than visiting animal parks everywhere we go, we went to Ubud's reptile park and sure enough it was their favorite part of their trip to hold and touch lizards, iguanas, turtles, snakes and more...