Of Beaches, Bugs and Buildings

I have been very busy at work over the last week because of a major restructuring and reorganisation exercise our company is currently undergoing. I've been spared the axe, but some of my colleagues were not so fortunate... It'll be a couple more months of this madness before everyone settles in properly into these changes... bosses, processes, seating location, roles and functions, ...all affected. Changes are always hard to swallow once you're in your comfort zone for far too long, but I think it's a step in the right direction. We'll have to rethink how we can work more efficiently.

Because of the things happening at work, I couldn't take leave during the March school break to bring the kids out or something. Cheryl did mention that she had wanted to have a picnic at the beach, so this morning, the whole lot of us (our family, my sis and kids, neighbour Sean & family) trouped our way to (where else?) Tanjong Beach at Sentosa. Unfortunately for us, there was some company family function being held there that day, so we had to "share" the beach with a whole lot of other people... But we managed to find a nice cool spot near the sea. The kids had fun playing in the sea water, and with the sand. Isaac's wearing Cheryl's previous swimming costume, that's why it's pink! I'm trying to get him to wear another one but he insisted on wearing this one...

We adults just sat back, watched the kids and enjoyed the sea breeze. We stuffed our faces with snacks. The weather was perfect. In fact it threatened to rain, but finally it just remained cloudy. We had sandwiches for lunch.

Soon after lunch, Sean had to go back for his swmimming lessons, so the rest of us remained in Sentosa and we decided to visit the Butterfly Park. With the Islander card, we got a 20% discount from the usual $10 entrance fee. It's interesting but I think it's not something we or the kids would want to visit again anytime soon. We're generally not insect lovers! TT & I literally went on a photo-taking frenzy. Many of the preserved (dead) butterflies and insects on display were extremely beautiful. The live fluttering ones, on the other hand, were quite a let-down. I managed to take this closeup pic of a live black butterfly.

This is a picture of rows and rows of live dangling butterfly pupae housed in a viewing cage. Several new-born butterflies had already broken out of their pupae and simply waiting for life to flow into their wings.

Got the kids to take this pic in the butterfly enclosure. Notice the interesting bug stools they were sitting on. The look on all their faces were pretty candid as well. Lauren was being spooked by a nearby fluttering butterfly while the rest looked on! I think the offending butterfly is that blurry brown thing at the bottom of the photo.

The park also houses many species of bugs and beetles. If you're squeamish about creepy crawlies, avoid this park. My sis and I were like going "Eeeeeewww..." at practically every live bug/worm exhibit. Look, this beetle's actually enjoying fresh orange juice, using his proboscis as a straw!

This live exhibit of some massive green stick insect thingy scored one of the highest points in our Eeeewwww-o-meter. Just compare it with TT's finger.

A preserved exhibit of some horny stag beetles! Let's give them some privacy... Hey, wait a minute, they're dead! Can almost hear the male beetle protest, "I swear I didn't do it!!"

A preserved exhibit of some not-so-lucky "fatt-fatt" (88) butterflies!

It was around 4pm when we decided to head back home... Isaac was too tired and fell asleep in the car. However on the way back, Sean's dad called us and said they were heading to the Singapore City Gallery at URA Centre at Maxwell Road. Sean had found out about this place from the book "Fun Singapore!" my sister had given him for his birthday. It's really quite an interesting place to visit. Lots of models of the city and urban landscape in Singapore, as well as other exhibits on Singapore's city and buildings. Here are the kids looking at the map of Singapore. We even managed to find the buildings we lived in! And below is the model of the IR and Singapore Flyer (Ferris Wheel) at Marina. Cool stuff! Unfortunately Isaac slept through the whole thing and we left him in the pram. Definitely will be bringing him here again some other day. I'm sure he'd love the place.
The Gallery closed at 5pm and we proceeded to the nearby Maxwell market for an early dinner. Isaac was rudely awakened by a lion dance troupe that was trawling every stall in the market. Hey, isn't it way past the Chinese New Year already? What's more I think the whole troupe consisted of non-Chinese members! Anyway, we had to tolerate the noise for a good 30min or so while we ate. Would have enjoyed the food more if not for the migraine-inducing din. Well at least Isaac finally got to watch a lion dance (or what he terms a "tong-tong-cheang") really up close. Here is the lion near a goreng pisang stall (btw, the pisang was good!).