Friends of the Zoo

Even when we were in US, we already knew one of the 1st few things we would do as a family was to sign up for FOZ (Friends of the Zoo). What we did not expect was the amount of fun we would eventually get to enjoy.

For a $180 family membership for a year, we had already "broke even" today when we made our 3rd trip in 6 weeks (since we came home). Yipee! The boys love the Water Play area so much. Each trip was to go & have a splashing good time.

There's also a Playground to cool off.

The 1st time we went, we only managed to look at the exhibits. There was no time or energy for Water Play. The 2nd time we went, it was in the evening. The water features had already been turned off. The boys still had a good time though.

The 3rd time we went (Today, give me some time to download the pictures) was absolutely the best. The weather was cloudy so there were probably less people than usual. The boys really had a lot of fun. Going up & down the slides, splashing in the shallow water, shooting huge water jets, listening out for the bell - afterwhich a HUGE bucket of water would tip over from above & get us all wet.

Hmm, what are we going to do with our SAFRA membership since the boys are probably going to ask to go to the Zoo every Sat morning now? The plan then was to enjoy the SAFRA Yishun water slides. Sigh, looks like we really have to go check out the SAFRA Jurong to make our membership worth.

Adele? As usual, our little dear nursed & slept while her boys played. Our little pink angel.

summer fun @ sentosa

Our fun day @ Sentosa starts with the Luge. A thrilling (scary) Skylift ride up the hill with legs dangling in the air. Followed by a fun ride down winding slopes. Whee...

A short walk over to Palawan beach. With the June holidays, there were tons of activities for families. Foam party!

The day ended with a loooong dip in the shallow pools

What does our pretty one do the whole day? Look pretty in her car seat & pink Pooh bear outfit. Perfect life - nurse & sleep. What a co-operative darling she is.

playdates

There are fun playgrounds in SG too. Just that we enjoy them in shorts & sunscreen at 32 degrees & above, not winter jackets & pants at 5 degrees.

jacuzzi @ Kin & Tommy's. 6 boys & 1 girl. The gender of our kids is so "yang".

All smiles @ home. Tea party with toys. Note his animal bowling pin seated on his green stool.

When we first arrived home from US, the boys would slip & fall on the wood laminate & tiled flooring of our parents.

Jerome : Why is the floor in SG so hard?

M: The weather in SG is very hot. It is very cold in US, so we need carpets on the floor.

J : We can do puzzles on the floor.

The floor in US is fully carpeted except for the kitchen & bathrooms. The only place they could do puzzles was on tables. For huge floor puzzles like the one shown above, the only place was in the kitchen. Now they are spolit for choice where they want to do puzzles.

happy daddy's day!

Happy Daddy's Day!

To the one who gave them life (the other half of the puzzle to their creation), their Driver (to all fun places), Bob (the Builder who build robots from cardboard boxes) , Handy Manny (they break it, he fixes it), Piggy Backer (from the Elephant on land to the Alligator in the water)...

To their Heavenly Father who gave us the wonderful job of parenting them...

animal bowling pins

What better way to reuse Chicken Essence paper boxes than make craft out of them?

Decorated bowking pins soon evolved into Animal Bowling Pins. Yipee! A time to name & paste animal parts. Stack them up & bowl them over. A timeless source of entertainment.

lessons from diapers

Call it a teacher thing.

Everything around us can be a lesson in itself?

Adele's infant diapers from US comes in the cutest designs. These are from Pampers, with adorable Sesame Street characters.

Lessons?

1)Identify the characters & corresponding animals

2) Count them - 1, 2, 3, ... ( I can't think of a faster way to get them to clear up the mess of diapers strewn around than getting them to count the diapers as they put them one by one back into the plastic. Am I smart or what? :)

3) Match them - Cookie Monster & Cookie Monster!

4) Do patterns - Grover, Big Bird, Grover, What comes next?

Once while I was nursing Adele and the boys came over & start playing these "games". As usual, it would start with either one or both of them taking ALL the diapers out to look at the pictures. Jerald started counting them as he puts them back. Jerome starts his matching game" & Jerald rewards him with sincere "Good job! kor kor". They then progressed to Jerome quizzing Jerald with "patterns". WOW! I told them I was SO impressed...

A is for apples

A is for Apples, B is for Bear, C is for Cat

After a crazy week of jetlag & adjusting to the heat, we've finally got a chance to settle down to a sort of routine again ... to establish some form of homeschooling till the boys get to a proper sort of school.

For them, it will exist in the form of PCF - more commonly known in our era as PAP. Jerome will start on July 1st while Jerald will do so in Jan next year. Till then, they'll continue on their ABCs with Teacher Mummy. :)

I try to vary the activities with matching the colours, practising writing the letters & joining the numbered dots for now.

On my mind is also learning how to use a pencil correctly, phonics & the latest... Mandarin - the speaking & reading of it. What a task in this bilingual nation of ours. Sigh...

long time or short time

Each night, Jerome would tell us...

J : Tonight is my last night here. Tomorrow I'm packing my things into the luggage. I am going home.

Me : Home? This IS your home.

J : No, my home is 1047. (Our apartment number in America.)

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J : When are we going back to America?

M : Not for a long time. (Not until Adele is old enough to ask to see the place she was born.)

J : I've been waiting a long time. Can we go now?

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J : Why are we not going back to America?

M : It is too far away.

J : It is not very far. You just have to take 2 airplanes.

M : It took us 20 hours to get home!

J : This is not my home.

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J and I figured he thought we were "going" to SG for a short time, like a holiday & then "returning" home to USA.

sweet pea

The boys have discovered of photo albums of their baby photos. As Jerome happily flips through one of his many albums, Jerald started asking... Where are my baby photos?

I am thankful we have albums of our second born's birth as well. We try our best to take as many pictures of Jerald & Adele.

Here! The many faces of my sweet pea. She turned 3 months last Sat.

water, water, everywhere

SG is so hot, other than blasting the air conditioning at home, there are only some ways to cool off.

1) in a mall (shopping centre)
2) go swimming!

Yikes! Have we not been swimming!

Last Sat, we went to the Sembawang Shopping Centre's (SSC) Splash Park.
Today, we went to the Anchorvale Swimming Pool's Water Park.
On Sat, we are going to the Zoo. (There's a splash pad too.)
On Sun, we are going to a friend's condo pool.
Next Mon, we are going to SSC with some friends & their kids.
Next Sat, we are going to another friend's condo pool.

There's definitely SAFRA Yishun's pool with its 2 kiddy slides in our plans too. We paid for the membership just for this you know.

The boys are gradually getting used to the heat. Their heat rashes are no longer red & fierce. Jerald declined an invitation for bath no.3 yesterday. Looks like there's some hope for our water bill for the month. :)

I'm getting too lazy to take photos anymore since there's no way to post them. arrrgh

little quotes

Before I forget, I would like to record some quotes of the kids.



In US...

Jerome saw J's dad on his way out of the house.

J : Where are you going?

G : To Rainbow (grocery store)

J : I can help.

(He loves to help put groceries in the shopping cart & then trasnfer them to the counter for the cashier. He loves even more to scan groceries on the self check-out counters, put in the money & collect the receipt. It makes him feel so grown up.)

G : I am riding the bicycle. There's no space for you on it.

Jerome goes into his room & wheels out his tricycle.

J : I can ride my own bicycle there.

In SG...

1st morning after we touched down & went home to our SG home.
After J's mum & sister left our house & we finished bidding our farewells & "see you later"s,
Jerome : I want to go home.
J & I : Home? This is your home.
J : No, I want to go home to 1047. (Our US apartment)

Jerald's daily morning request.
"I need a bath. I am hot & spicy. I am hot & chilli."
His idea of spicy is hot & so is chilli.
Now he learnt from J's brother. "I am hot & smelly."