Sun, 10 Sept - Horses at Pasir Ris Park

We decided to go to Pasir Ris Park today as we were going to Tampines later to visit my in-laws. We wanted to go to the playground area but I remembered reading about the other adjoining park having some stables where we could see and ride horses, so we decided to make a slight detour to have a look at the place.

It's called Gallop Stable and they have a number well-kept horses. The area looked clean and there was hardly any stench. We were too late to book a pony ride for kids so we'll try again another day though Cheryl said she was not that keen to ride a pony. We did, however, manage to touch the horses and Cheryl got one to eat hay from her hand.

After that we proceeded to the part of park where they had the really large playground and all kinds of apparatus.The weather was cloudy, so even though it was past noon, it wasn't too hot. The kids had fun climbing, swinging and playing around with some new apparatus which we didn't see the last time. One of them was this revolving cup which got Cheryl rather dizzy (see pic below).

After lunch at TT's sis place, we went back home as our maid was taking half the day off. In the evening we went to Suntec City for dinner. At the last minute, Cheryl got "kidnapped" by our neighbour Sean and she decided to have dinner at Sean's place instead of following us! On the way there we saw the really beautiful flowers planted along the roads for the IMF meetings. The workers were still doing some last minute planting. The food court at Suntec City was suprisingly not that crowded and we managed to find a parking lot with little problems. We figured most people stayed away from the area because they thought it was closed for the IMF-WB meetings. But road closures would only start from 10pm later that night and we figured we should be heading home before that. Also school would be restarting tomorrow, so families with school-going children may not find it a good idea to go out tonight...

We arranged to meet my sis' family at the food court. After dinner we headed to Toys R' Us where we got Isaac a train set for his birthday, and also a Mr. Potato head toy for Olivia whose birthday was also approaching. My sis bought her a Polly Pocket toy. I think she was the happiest girl today. Isaac also had a mighty fine time without his sister. He was riding on all the kiddy rides along the way, climbing up and down staircases, running around the store with a toy pram (!!) He must have been so tired he slept in the car on the way back.

Personal Favourites

PLACES TO GO
Pasir Ris Park
One section of this park has a very good playground area, not as big as West Coast park, but with equally engaging playground apparatus. The other section is where Gallop Stable is. It's more serene in this part and more suited for cycling. You can also do bird watching, walk through the mangrove, play in the garden maze, or just sit beside the beach to enjoy the breeze. This was one of our favourite parks before Isaac came along.

Sat, 9 Sept - Singapore Discovery Centre

Yet another excursion suggestion from Sean, our neighbour. We decided to bring Isaac along even though it coincided with his naptime. After lunch, we picked my sis' kids up from Clementi and headed to the place at Jurong. Cheryl followed Sean and his parents. TT and I found the whole place rather boring, but the kids seemed to enjoy it, especially the talking robot (called Little George), building of a cardboard city and also an exhibit where you can see yourself dance on the screen. Isaac managed to take a short nap there. The viking show was rather interesting, but I don't think the kids could really appreciate it at their age.

(Photo source: Singapore Discovery Centre Website)

I'm also convinced that there is someone manning Little George the robot in the little room behind him. Some of his responses were way too intelligent. I'm quite sure it's a one way mirror behind the robot...

Anyway, my first and last time there I'm sure, if I can help it.

Fri, 8 Sept - MC

The cold and cough finally got the better of me. Was feeling really bad the night before with a bad headache. This morning I felt slightly better but the headache was still there. Went to the doc's in the morning and after that "escaped" to my mum's place nearby to rest. Once in a while we take refuge at my mum's place when we do not wish to be disturbed by the kids. I know I wouldn't be able to get any respite from the kids if I had gone back home. I even managed to do a little bit of packing while I was there. Threw out some stuff (some of my ex-boyfriend's love letters! haha). I left quite a bit of stuff (including toys) behind at my mum's place when I moved out about 3 years ago. I brought the whole lot of plastic animals back home. Gave them a good wash in soapy water and left them near the window to dry. Isaac and Cheryl would have some fun playing zoo, safari or farm.

By 1pm, I was feeling much better even though I didn't take any medication given by the doc, so I decided to go home and have lunch since I was also hungry. So I managed to spend some time with the kids after all in the afternoon.

Wed, 6 Sept - Books warehouse sale at Expo

Took leave today especially for this event. I already have so many books at home but cannot resist! Must buy more books! Finally caught the runny nose and cough from the kids but don't care, still must go!

Spent the morning doing stuff with the kids. It's so rare for me to be present during the daytime on weekdays. Cheryl's so happy mummy is at home to play with her. My partner in crime (for the book sale) was my sister. She and her kids came over to my place around noon. The kids had their lunch of porridge first before we set off. We had to sneak off quietly or Isaac will cry if he sees us all leaving. Unfortunately we won't be bringing him to the Expo as he's still too small to endure the warehouse sale. We stopped by at IKEA first as the sale doesn't start till 3pm. The kids played in the ball room while my sis and I had lunch at Subway at Anchorpoint. The IKEA cafe was just too crowded with the lunchtime crowd.

After that it was off to the Expo. There were 2 other major events there and we knew it would be thronging with people, even on a weekday. I shudder at the thought of the crowd during the weekend. One was the John Little warehouse sale and the other was World Food Fair. Food and Shopping! Things that attract Singaporeans like ants to sugar (besides the latest gadgets). The Expo carpark was quite full, but we managed to find a lot a little farther off. Already there was a queue forming outside the hall for the book sale. It's still about 10 min before 3pm. This was a preview sale for members. The actual official sale starts the next day. It's great to be the first to browse as everything was so neatly arranged when we first entered the hall. I headed straight to the children's books while my sis headed to the magazines section. The kids were more interested in playing with the plastic baskets, so we chucked them at a corner with popcorn and other snacks while we did the serious job of gathering the books. Once in a while we returned to this corner to let them read the books we had got.

Generally the book sale did not disappoint. There were mostly good quality books going at really low prices. I got many children books suitable for Cheryl to read, some easy books and a train book for Isaac, and 3 web design books for myself. These were glossy coloured books going at $6 each! They were shrink wrapped, so I opened one to examine the contents. I liked it and got the other 2 without even checking what was inside. Should be equally good. Was quite pleased with the books I got, and spent $101 for everything. My sister spent just under $100 for her books and magazines, mostly on cooking, home design and also some children books. After about 3 hours, the kids sections were already quite messy, with people dumping their unwanted books back. Had to sadly put back some books too. If given a choice, my sis and I wouldn't mind going back again during the weekend, but we're quite scared of the crowds, and also of being tempted to spend more money, so I think we won't come back. Must control...control...

My sister's hubby joined us for dinner at Burger King and after that we popped by at the John Little sale. My sis hubby got some long sleeved shirts. I didn't want to get seriously started on looking at the kids' clothes and other stuff, so I simply walked quickly along the aisles. It's mostly the same as previous sales, so it wasn't too difficult to control myself. Moreover the kids were tired, and I was keen to go back. I only bought a little round pink cushion for Cheryl to be put in the car, so that the 3 girls wouldn't fight over the existing 2 cushions. We didn't even have time to look at the Food fair. Cheryl slept on her new cushion on the way back home. By the time we reached home, it was almost 9pm. I ate some more dinner because Mum cooked kiam chye arhk soup (salted vege soup with duck), my favourite! She said she managed to cook it in peace because the kids were not around to bother her! Felt a little guilty for leaving Isaac at home for most of the day but it's for his own good.

Ahh... a tiring but satisfying day. Wish I could shop longer (without the kids)!...

Friday, 1 September - Mars Spectacular, My Foot

Wrote to both newspapers again regarding teachers giving wrong information to students. Also appeared in the online forum of the Straits Times.

I know being a teacher is a really tough job. But they should be responsible for verifying the correctness of the information, especially if they choose to tell the students about it. Anyway, Happy Teachers' Day to all you teachers out there! Your words are gospel!

Here is the TODAY link.

Isaac, our IMF Embassador

The fever's gone and Isaac's back to his cheeky self. Here are some pics of him... From left:
1) Isaac escorting IMF guests in his car decorated with state flags.
2) Everything's taken care of at the IMF, thanks to Police Chief Isaac (Daddy's currently on police reservist, hence the police hat).
3) Isaac promoting Singapore as The shoppers' paradise!

Sunday, 28 August - Botanic Gardens Again

Isaac's cough which I thought was getting better came back again, or maybe he's got the flu since there was fever as well. Generally not eating well, so we're not forcing him, just trying to get him to take in more liquids. Cheryl has runny nose and cough too which have been going on for ages. Just hate it when the kids are sick.

Cheryl wanted to join my neighbour's son, Sean, to church, so we let her. We brought Isaac to Botanic Gardens. Felt quite strange to be only having one child to look after for the day... We went to the newly renovated part of the park. The place is quite nicely done and now they have a really big basement carpark. The fishes at the main pond are much larger but less hungry. We saw a really large turtle lurking around in the pond, it came up to eat some of the bread bits I threw to the water. Judging by the size of its head, it probably was about 1m long. TT and I managed to take lots of pictures of flowers, our favourite subject. Here are just 2 of the macro shots I took. There were also the 2 regular white swans which swam out occasionally to make guest appearances.

After the park we went to TT's sis' place for lunch at Tampines. Had to give Isaac his paracetamol again as his fever seemed to be creeping back again. We didn't stay too long as Isaac wasn't feeling well.

By the time we reached home, Isaac was asleep. Cheryl was having fun at my neighbour's place baking chocolate chip cookies. They were going to give them as Teachers' Day gifts. Cheryl didn't seem to have missed us one bit. From the looks of it, Cheryl already seems to be married to their family, haha.