[Bird Park cousins outing]

We too rarely do outings with cousins, something that is quite unfortunate given everybody's busy schedules. There is something about growing up with a whole circle of instant friends - lots of cousins playing together almost every other weekend, like what we used to do while growing up. It wasn't even anything fancy, mostly just a picnic (with lots of yummy food) on the beach, or a mahjong session (for the adults) at grandma's. Plus we spent all our 'after school' hours at the same place for most of our growing years together. It's a pity the girls do not have the same experience, as the nuclear family gets smaller and smaller (blame it on the 2-child govt policies of the 70s), and most of our cousins are scattered all over the island.
So, when we had a chance to go out together with little R and her parents, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Even V who had a childhood phobia of feathered creatures managed to quell his fear to let his girls enjoy the day out. Yup, we went to the Bird Park at Jurong!
G loves being the big sister to R
A cranky K being all hot and sweaty!
Striking a pose
This was quite a nice one.... G making a silly face as usual, and K's just warm!A nice one of the girls
Taxidermied birds
Many eggs
Birds of a feather....More pics of the girls....


The Jurong Bird Park wasn't such a great outing place - the weather was pretty unforgiving, and for some reason, the Sunday that we were there, it was FULL of tourists. The girls enjoyed the show, but the penguin enclosure was closed that day, so there is only so much one can enjoy about looking at bird after bird.... Plus the park was small - only about a quarter the size of the zoo. Luckily we had complimentary entry (thanks to uncle R), otherwise i will not recommend going there if you had to pay the full entry price.

R also suggested a wonderful place for lunch. It is right at the top of Jurong Hill. It has been there forever, according to my parents. A great spot for date nights!
The look-out tower with the restaurant at the base.
Inside the lookout tower
K walking up the ramp with her treat of the day - a mango slushie tower!
Girls playing at the top of the lookout tower.

Thanks Uncle R for the free tickets to the park, we really should make an effort with all those cousin outings! :)

[Arts Weekend]

We caught the last day of the Art Biennale last weekend. It was a scorching hot day, and it didn't help that the venue did not have a single air-conditioned room! It was an eye-opener though for us, to visit the defunct Kallang Airport. (it really should be re-purposed, the venue will be great for architectural studios / art workshops)

Here are the pix:
The Old Kallang Airport
The nice grey walls are great for taking pictures
Sisters posing (or attempting to!)
Favorite exhibition in the Arts Bienalle has to be this one by Micheal Lee
Collection of simple forms
He has A LOT of assistants to help do all the cutting!!!
Another exhibit - we were more interested in the table structure + form than the exhibits!

The girls loved this interactive artpiece - the radiowaves react to the movements of the shadows, they had a fun time jumping about and prancing.
They were pretty intrigued by the metronomes as well.
Footwear!
We like this art piece as well - something about the simplicity of forms....
and this one for it's repetition and sense of scale.After awhile, the exhibits (and the heat!) wore them out!Remember the milo truck!? We were telling the girls how this truck used to be the highlight of every primary school sports day. :)
Ice cold milo... great for a really hot day!
There was also the crafting - we made a kite each and also a badgePosing with K just before leaving - I also thrifted a $2 gucci vintage sunglasses and a nice necklace :)Posing with all the balloons before we left. A fun day out.
Next weekend, we're going HERE. Can't wait!!!

[Mother's Day 2011]

Wow, time really flies by. I'm often reminded about updating this blog, whenever G or K does something interesting, or we discovered something interesting, or I just made or cooked something. It is always at the back of my mind to update and pen down some thoughts, but of course, the days are often too short and the nights are usually spent winding down with some TV or catching up on my crafting / reading.
So, since I'm now comforably ensconce in my armchair, the day's meeting notes and other miscellaneous niggling stuff (almost!) out of the way, this will be my now 'once in a month' blog post. Hah!
The other reason the blog has been suffering is also because V had to be tied down with work and his studies, often I'm out solo with the girls, or we choose not to go out at all, so being a mummy and a mummy-razi at the same time is super tiring! Hence no decent pictures, which means no blog posts. :)
So much has happened since my last post - the trip which is quickly fading into memory!

Mothers' Day with my girls:
We attended the SSO concert at the Botanical Gardens on Mother's day for a chill out session. The weather luckily cooled down from the scorching heat that was around the whole morning and afternoon. It was nice to be enjoying something in the tropical surrounds, and to see that so many people actually bother to venture out for an early evening picnic on the grounds. The girls liked the adventure of doing something different, but as usual, were bugging me to allow them to scooter instead of watching the performance.
K with the backdrop of the crowds behind her. Parking was a nightmare, point to note in future - definitely arrive there earlier!
We continued our Mother's day celebrations onto Monday, as it was a school holiday due to the polls on Saturday. (more on the election fever later)
G looking forward to the promised treat of ice cream at Ben & Jerry's :)We visited the girls' favorite indoor playground - Jurong Safra as well in the previous long weekend. They absolutely LOVED playing in the padded zone. It was up and down, and up and down for a full 2 hours!!

Cheeky cheeky little grins from the 2 little monkeys :)

K's been drawing a lot more now as well. Lately, she's rather conscious of her drawing ability (i guess having an older sister who keeps pointing out that her drawings are not pretty does not help!) and have asked me to teach her how to draw the "eyes" properly. The above picture of G and V, the 2 of them being the only ones in our family who have to wear glasses. :)
G has also been very conscious of her penmanship. Her class in Kindergarten have been doing a once a week "write and tell", and for that, she has to pen 5 lines of any subject. It is really interesting to see how conscientious she is with school work. She will write and re-write her 5 lines, until she has them absolutely word perfect and properly written. I only hope this attitude of perfectionism will last all the way into primary schooling and beyond!
My girls, how much you have grown. This Mother's day, I thank you for being so genuine, your personalities are totally a mixture of me and V. I see myself in you all the time, and as every day goes by, I hope to learn the bad of myself in you, so that I can change to be a better role model. I hope to also celebrate the good of me and V in you two. The ability to retain that enthusiasm in life, that evergreen joyfulness in the little little things that you do. You 2 have thought me so much, not only the indescribable pain and joy of mothering, but also the truly magical warmth of unconditional loving. You often asks me which I love more, and I always answer, I love the 2 of you with all of my heart and more, it is impossible to know who I love more, as we love you both for different reasons, and at different stages of your lives. Of course, not forgetting Happy Mommy Day to my dearest mommy as well, who has only 1 of me to love, but who has also managed to give up all of her time and love to these 2 little girls of mine in the most precious and unconditional way only a grandma can.

Reminiscing as well on how time really flies - go Here (2007) and Here (2008) and Here (2009) and Here (2010) for past Mother's Day posts on this blog :)