The end of the holidays

The holidays are over and we've had lots of fun times. We visited parks, had lunch with Matt, swam lots, did some cooking, way too many crafts (the evidence is all over our place), had a few friends over and played lots of games (including Project Runway where Alice designs clothes for Felicity -photo to the left). The game that gets my vote for the best game ever is when the kids set up a massage shop and I get to be the customer. (I often suggest this one) The worst game would have to be "shops" where they just collect a whole lot of "merchandise" from every room of the house and display it on the table for me to purchase. (this game gets started while I am trying to have a sleep in) Not only does this game cost me money as I try to buy back my belongings, the putting away of all the goods after the game is over is not done very well, even to my rather relaxed standards.

We also enjoyed quite a few animal encounters over the holidays. We revisited Sentosa where the girls caught up with a snake charmer and his snake, we took the lift up the middle of the merlion for a view out of his mouth and we encountered a hungry peacock. We returned to the zoo for the fourth time and spent over six hours there (two hours in the middle is at the waterpark which gives a burst of energy for the latter part of the day). And we did another fish spa!

The kids went back to school happily and now I feel I need a little bit of therapy to recover. I might just have to play my own game of "massage" and "shops" over at the mall across the road.

our singapore home

After a few requests, I've decided to upload a short tour of our place. Here's our front door (which currently includes hand-drawn poster of jungle with an anti-hunting-tigers message) and the living/dining room/my office, the balcony off the hallway and the kitchen.

Below are our bedrooms and the balcony off the our bedroom. The balcony is supposed to be a mother's retreat but every time I find myself out there with a book and a cup of tea I discover I am being followed by a dog and two kids.

This is the office that converts to a guest room. Can be described as "cosy" but great value for money!

A few other pictures - bathrooms and the laundry area or "yard" which has a storage room and extra toilet attached. Can also be the maid's quarters.

Away with the birds

After weeks of requests from Felicity we finally went to Bedok Reservoir for a Forest Adventure. This is where Felicity went to school camp and she loved the high ropes course. There is one course for kids and one for adults. The kids were able to do their course twice. The first time they were slowed down by a nervous girl in front. The second time they literally ran around the course at an alarming rate (well it was for their mother on the ground).

Matt had great fun on the adults course which had the added terrifying factor of you being responsible for clipping yourself on and checking your own safety. After inital instructions you are left to your own devices. The adults course included massive tarzan swings into rope nets and four flying foxes across the lake. Super fun for all!

Singapore stopover

We enjoyed having Dean and Caz Purkis stop by for 24 hours on their way home after a six week holiday in Canada and Europe. Our gorgeous girls loved looking after their gorgeous girls, Chloe (3) and Katie (1), who rival ours for cuteness. Yes, they took two young kids on an overseas holiday and had an incredible time - and apparently in a really good way!

In such a short stopover it is very difficult to fit too much in, but we had a good go. We went to Clarke Quay for a play in the water feature and a drink at The Clinic where we sat on stretchers and watched tenacious young Katie slip over about ten time in the fountains. The Purkis girls attracted a lot of attention from the Asian Tourist Paparazzi who photographed their every move. Newton Hawker Centre was next on our list for some local cuisine and an impromptu tropical downpour. In the morning we headed to our favourite Macritchie Reservoir for some monkey spotting, home for naps then over to United Square for some last minute shopping and gelati.

Back to "normal"

So the Bearsley's left yesterday. Our final night together we enjoyed a little party for Seb and then went to the Night Safari which met our high expectations. The only problem being is that in order to see the show, do the tram ride and take a night stroll it becomes a very late night. Sebby, Anna and Felicity began to flake half way through. Tam and Andy managed to keep them a wake by promising a 5 minute fish spa at the end of the tram ride. It proved sufficient motivation, although the taxi ride home meant they had three sleeping children they then had to manoeuvre out of the taxi, up the lift and into bed.

Matt, Alice, Terri (a colleague from Matt's work) and I continued our exploration. Our highlights were discovering the Binturong (which is a cross between a bear and a cat) and smelled like buttered popcorn, watching the giant flying squirrels glide across their enclusure above our heads and seeing real R.O.U.S. (Rodents of unusual size). We arrived back home at 11.30pm. We then all got up again at 4.30am to wave Tamsin, Andy, Anna and Seb off. We shed our tears, climbed into a bed and an unusual lull fell over the house. Not for long - the girls were up at 7am.
Now life is back to normal - Alice is at a friend's today and we have one of Felicity's friends over for a play. I'll be organising a few more playdates too and plenty of day excursions because we have a month off school! Yes that's right - we get four weeks in "summer" which at the moment doesn't feel any different to spring and I hear not a real lot different to autumn or winter either.

Highlights of the Bearsleys

We're now almost at the end of the Bearsley's family visit. It's been two great weeks and we've loved it all. The Bearsleys highly recommend the Bertram's residence as a great holiday destination.

Sebastian's highlights have been the rainbow pool at Newton Gems, playing games with big cousin Alice and trying out lots of water slides at different parks and gardens.

Anna loved the Bird Park, doing a tea ceremony at Chinatown and getting decked out at Little India with a new outfit, bangles, bindis and a henna tattoo.

Andrew loved having a fish spa where the fish nibble all the dry skin off your feet - weird sensation! (pictured above). Andrew's fish spa had fiestier fish than the ones the rest of us experienced. His fish looked decidedly bloated at the end of the treatment. Andrew also enjoyed being chosen at the zoo to take part in the "Animals Fight Back Rainforest Show". Andy was a good sport about it (stole the show) and Tamsin and I and the kids found it hilarious. Andy also has a soft spot for Haw Par Villa which is an outdoor museum with a whole lot of statues depicting stories from Chinese mythology. He describes it as "craptastic".

Tamsin enjoyed everything from relaxing at the pool to rainforest walks through Macritchie Reservoir, from dining in classy restaurants to hawker centre dinners, from Singapore Slings to refreshing lime juice, from cable car rides to biking around Pulau Ubin, from chatting with me to well chatting with me again!

Todays' it's Sebastian's Birthday and we are enjoying being a part of the celebrations. Happy Birthday to him (and also to everyone else we know who's birthday is today - Jazz, Gabriella, Sarah and Henry)

Rustic Singapore

Pulau Ubin is a short 15 minute trip by bumboat from the mainland. A beautiful island that hasn't changed much since the 1960's, it is considered to be one of Singapore's last true kampongs (villages). Stray dogs roam, fishing huts line the water and open-air restaurants and drink stalls are dotted about the island. The main industry appears to be bike hire as this is the best way to see the island. We were all charmed and definitely want to return to do some more exploring of the jungle. It's been such fun having Tam and Andy and the kids come on our adventures with us and we are going to so miss them when they head home.

Tropical Holidays

We've been greatly enjoying having Andrew, Tamsin, Anna and Sebastian stay with us. It's been a busy time doing lots of things, including a number of "first times" for us as well. I've unfortunately been working, but highlights for me so far have included:

• Monkey spotting at Macritchie Resevoir
• A relaxed dinner while watching the sport of kings at the Singapore Polo Club
• Getting very burnt at Wild Wild Wet water park
• Great dinners at very different locations: Halia (in the botanic gardens, looking out at floodlit jungle) and No Signboard (in the very urban Geylang, looking out at a busy road)

On Tuesday afternoon we took the glass-bottom cable cars across to Sentosa island. Great views over jungle, water, shopping malls and across to the docks. Sentosa island is actually a really nice spot with walks, beaches and attractions guaranteed to drain one's wallet (and they haven't even finished building the casino and theme park!). We've decided to do only one attraction per visit, in order to avoid a cash flow crisis!

Tuesday's activity was the butterfly and insect park, then we wandered down the colourful Merlion Walk to one of the beaches. It felt like a tropical holiday - sitting at a beach bar, drinking margaritas and pizza and watching the kids swim. If you looked in the right direction you could even ignore the ships parked outside the swimming area and the oil refineries a little further across in the distance.

In the evening we saw the sound and light spectacular "Songs of the Sea" which we can highly recommend. Lasers making images on waterspray, fire, fountains and fireworks made for enjoyable viewing, even if the story was slightly cheesy.