A Singapore Christmas Story - Day 2

Our Sunday was the busiest day in Singapore. We had quite a few things planned but started the day with some playing together at the apartment:



A most important stop, IKEA, was first on the agenda! The kids love it too as they get an hour in 'Småland', the play land. So I very efficiently ticked off everything on my list, then we picked up the kids and went upstairs for some lunch - Swedish meatballs of course!
Entertaining Luca while waiting for the food:





They really sell everything at IKEA!



After lunch we decided to splash out on a $0.50 soft ice each..! It was huge entertainment watching the machine make the ice creams!







Ice cream party!





After dropping the IKEA shopping off back home and having a bit of a siesta, we took on Orchard Road. The kids were little stars, the big ones were driving the little ones in the prams and we walked all over ION Orchard, and up and down Orchard and did some shopping.





We had lunch at this cool restaurant called 'Marché'. I'd never been before but I'll definitely go back!
It's an underground Swiss market, where you get your food cooked fresh for you from scratch. They offered all sorts of amazing food in different stalls, and the setting was all Swiss alp chalet style! We spent quite a long time there, eating and drinking, and there was also a play area for the kids so everybody was very happy!



When dinner was done it was dark outside, so it was time to take in all the Christmas lights... Beautiful!














We just couldn't get enough of all the lights, so we got home very, very late that day, with very, very tired children..! :) And that was our Day 2.

A Singapore Christmas Story - Day 1

Well, it was supposed to be four days in Singapore for me and the kids, but unfortunately we couldn't get on either of the flights last Friday - they were full, full, full... Boo. So we had to turn back home and regroup, and try again Saturday morning.
This is how happy some got when we finally got seats to get over on Saturday:



We then had to hit the ground running as we had planned to go to a Christmas show at the Marina Bay Sands Theater, "Santa Claus", and it started only a couple of hours after we landed. Quick bite to eat at the airport and zoom into a taxi straight to Marina Bay Sands.



I had never been to Marina Bay Sands before, and the hotel and it's surroundings are pretty amazing. The theater itself is located together with the casino in the middle of a big shopping mall. We weren't allowed to use cameras inside the theater, but I took some shots before the show started at least. It was dark, so they are blurry:





Downstairs, in the intermission. All the kids had been dressed up in their best Christmas red clothes!



Silly faces:



It was a great show, spectacular special effects, a huge set and very talented actors. The kids liked it, and it had a happy ending, what more could we ask for!



We then went for a little stroll around the beautiful shopping area, and looked at all the amazing Christmas decorations:





Then we took the MRT to VivoCity, time for sushi dinner and a spot of shopping!



And that was our Day 1.

Xmas Party in Year 2

Last day of term today and yesterday we were invited to Year 2 to take part in their Christmas Party. They had decorated the tables very nicely with lots of Christmas decorations and also all the kids in Junior School were celebrating Christmas with a "colour day" yesterday, so they were all dressed in red, white or green.
We had sent in Swedish Meatballs and Chokladbollar and there was as always a huge buffet of food. It was lovely to enjoy lunch together, at school, for a change!













































(Lucas' year group had a party too, but without parents this time.)

Festive High Tea

It has been over a year since we last went to the Empire for some High Tea. This weekend they put on a 'Festive High Tea' which sounded really nice, so when Kim suggested we'd try that one I thought it was a good idea. Both the donut, the macaroon and the sandwich ones were huge successes, so my expectations were high.



We did had a lovely time, although we were both a bit disappointed with the "festive", or should I say, not-so-festive setting. Not only did it seem like there was a much smaller selection of food than usual, but there was nothing specifically festive with it unfortunately. Just the normal finger food, sandwiches and mini pies etc.

Not even the decorations were as impressive and pompous as they usually are, these gingerbread houses were about all there was? Quite unusual for being the Empire where everything is usually so grand and nearly over-the-top.






We still managed to enjoy several plates of food though! Here's an adult plate:



And a kid plate..! (Well, the kids did it backwards, and actually had some savoury food after this as well, and some extra chocolate fondue again of course...)

Grease is the word

School has been buzzing lately as this weekend has drawn closer and closer. Even the children in Junior School have felt the excitement, even though none of them have been directly involved. Of course I had to buy tickets too, for the kids and myself (Nathan says, these things are not quite "his style"...). Tickets for what?
For GREASE!

As for anybody else around my age who was around when the movie came out, or anybody a generation older who were young themselves in the 50s - Grease brings back memories.
I sure wasn't the only one singing along with all the familiar songs!



It truly was a fantastic production! The over 100 performers were all fantastic, there is so much talent at our school! They were accompanied by a great live band, and the set and costumes were extraordinary too. Well done to all involved!

The kids had watched the movie in preparation so they knew the storyline, unfortunately Linnea didn't last all the way (it didn't finish until 10.10pm) and fell asleep halfway through the second act, but they both woke up this morning - humming the songs!
"Grease is the word, is the word, is the word..."

Runs in the family

Nathan sure can be a little bit of a shopaholic too, if you just bring him to the right shop!
I think the guys in the bike shop were very happy to see us this year, Nathan and Will were in there every day up to the race, sometimes a couple of times a day!

He waited to pay his bill until the last day though. Maybe a bad idea?

Dear Santa

In a search for Christmas activities for the kids while we were in NZ, to keep them occupied for a bit, I found these kits with ready-made letters for Santa. All they had to do was to fill in their wish list, something that proved rather difficult for our two! Oh my, they are such spoiled little children!
They had such a hard time thinking of anything they actually wished for!

After quite a lot of thinking, they came up with the following. Here is Lucas':





(And no, there will not be any drum kit coming his way...)
And Linnea's:





The dog bones are not for her, she's kindly thinking of Jay and Mocha too; and she wants more "love in the world"! Bless!

The 2012 Advent Calendar

As per tradition (see here for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011), I spent the last days of November wrapping up 48 little presents for the kids' Package Advent Calendars. 24 each, as a countdown until Christmas Eve.

The kids got to put out their own Christmas decorations when we got back from NZ, and whereas Linnea decided to spread them out around her room...





... Lucas placed them all around his little tree. Both ways very nice!





At least there has been no problems getting the kids out of bed for these last days of school, since they have presents to open each morning! I filled it with, amongst other things, a lot of little things from their favourite stationary shop 'Smiggle', that I got last time I was in Singapore. So far they've been very pleased with their loot, I hope it continues.

Our lapdog

Or at least, so he thinks! Loving the cuddles.

A trip to the market

Linnea and her class went to the fish and vegetable market just before we left for NZ. Here's her group, and her story about it:

Life on autopilot

Time is a strange thing.
In one way it feels like we were gone forever when we were in NZ, even though the holidays were far too short. Two weeks is not enough at all down there, especially now when there's no direct flights so the trip itself takes two days each way.
In another way it feels like we've already been back forever too. I guess it's because we tend to fall back into the normal routines so easily?

We came back late Saturday night, Sunday was spent taking it easy, unpacking, grocery shopping and just enjoying being home. Monday morning we were on autopilot already, breakfast, school, CrossFit etc. Back to normal.

Not only has internet then been down at home for a few days, but nothing out of the ordinary has really happened since we've been back. All just normal.
Last after-school-activities for the kids this week, last Zumbatomic for me yesterday - so my kids each got a Zumba cookie and a Zumba balloon. First Hash for me as a JM on Tuesday, it went alright I guess. Always room for improvement! I was surprisingly nervous actually, I hope it'll calm down a bit with time.
Otherwise it's the usual things of the season coming up, Christmas Luncheons and parties, a goodbye party, Festive High Tea etc. Glad I bought four new dresses in NZ, I'm ready for party season!

Homeward bound

I hate traveling. I love holidays, but I hate the traveling. It's not the actual plane ride, I don't usually mind if it's 3, 6, 9 or even 12 hours long - it's the getting to the airports, general transport, the queues, the transits and all the waiting around. Hate it.

We left Taupo Thursday lunch time to get up to Auckland in decent time to be able to have dinner and go early to bed. Our flight over to Melbourne had a 7am departure time, so our alarm went off at 4am...
Unfortunately we then got stuck here in Melbourne as our onwards flight was overbooked. We checked in to one of the airport hotels, had a bit of a snooze and then - spent the rest of the day hanging around the airport..! There was no more point going in to town by the time we got organized.

Today we were in better luck, got seats and are now waiting for the flight to leave. I'm really looking forward to getting home and having the day tomorrow to unpack and get organized for the last really busy weeks of school etc. Plus, it's nearly Christmas so we need to get all our decorations out!
Yes, it's time to go home.

The first catch

Since we were not there Tuesday night we had to save cooking up Lucas' big catch until Wednesday night, our last meal. For different reasons we totally forgot about it, and Yvonne made Sheperd's Pie instead. We didn't remember until Lucas got called to the table and he sat down with a confused look saying:
-"Where's my fish?!"
Bummer!
Well, what to do? We had to have the fish for our last breakfast.
Mmm, egg and trout, not your average everyday breakfast!