Sentosa with meera

Meera was back for the summer holidays and we got to spend an afternoon with her... we went to the wave pool, where nate now gets up on his knees, apparently he is not allowed to stand up yet... he said he tried the segway in China and wanted to do it again... I really wanted to try it too but Ike didn't want to so I was with him.... one day! I will get to ride the segway...

Digging for worms

So there are alot of worms in the plot of land at the kids school, we put in a few worms and now every where I dig up we can find at least 4.... nice! So I got the boys to dig up some worms for me after a rainy night for my new garden patch. The new worms must be extremely happy as they have alot of horse manure to curl around.

I took this large pandan plant from the new home to my friend's place.... for the singaporean readers... the taxi men were very envious of my large bunch of pandan! :)

Drawing by nate

A teacher that was looking for a child's drawing had one submitted by nate and the title was "My glass house". She shared nate's drawing with me and says he is starting to think in three dimension as well as figuring out how to put himself in the middle of this three dimensional space.

Swimming at Marina Bay Sands

Aunty Shook Fun was in town with Uncle Terry and they stayed at the Sand's Casino hotel, the boys finally got to experience swimming at the top of the "ship" like structure, the view from here is rather magnificent. On a clear day like the day we were there, we could see into the indonesian islands... The government is building alot at the water catchment area and that is what that wave like building is...

Ike's activities in class

We just got back from another evening at Jack-Jack's. The boys were really playing rough with Uncle Aidan and they are passed out now, flat out passed out. Its nice that they get some rough tumble time and also some male influence, like Uncle Aidan teaches nate that he is not to hit someone unannounced from behind, that is not fair play.

I managed to put in some seeds into the garden before ike started whining... and Jakes was in heaven as well playing catch ball.

Aileen was so kind to figure out the color thing for me, like what colors look better on me and I have part of my wardrobe right and the colors for me though are not colors I am naturally drawn to.

They movers have brought boxes over and we will be starting to pack, pack, pack.

Talk at Nate's class

I made these bookmark invites for the kids and my nephews to hand out to their friends, they can be used as a bookmark (recycle-able) and gives the information for the exhibition. Since we don't have a title for the exhibition, I managed to kind of "get away with it" on this format.

I thought I might as well speak to Nate's class about Niubizi the character since we are handing out these cards... it was a big hit, I started by explaining and drawing the different generations from Nate up to Huang Yao... and then writing our names (one kid asked how come you are all Huang's), then I tried explaining how long ago the 1930s was and what China was like then and why NBZ was created... (almost lost my audience) and then I said here is the way to draw it and said in Chinese, one big circle for the head and if a kid raised their hand they could tell me what that meant, two for eyebrows, 3 dots, 4 hairs and 5 small circles.

Then we had the kids come up to dot the eyes and mouth and one child said the birthday boy should do it, so we had many funny faces and I then showed how to draw one's emotions and we did a sad face, an angry face, a happy face and a googly face... to big laughter....

The name since involved the military strategy from the romance of the three kingdoms captivated them for a while... and we ended with Nate handing out a bookmark to each of his friends and his teachers.

Now the kindergarden wants me to do not only Ike's class but the whole kindergarden! which means I need to print more of these bookmarks! by the way the design of the bookmark is made to look crumply... otherwise it was too "boring" said the designer... and the teacher when she saw the cartoon and the caption, roared out laughing.

Gardening....

Here is a new vege garden I am building for a friend that stays close to us, they have a little boy, jack jack that loves following nate and ike around, when nate and ike ate apple with skin on, so did he... which he apparently never does.

JJ's dad is a large irish person who likes boxing so when we go there... nate and ike don on boxing gloves and have a go at each other and JJ's dad. Then they go to the trampoline and box each other, then they take these large foam sticks and hit each other and then this large tractor tyre that is meant for hitting... am not sure what it is about testosterone but they like doing this and want to go back for more.

I also take Jake and Pistol and they have a good time running through the large yard that JJ has. Me? I get served a glass of wine and garden away! :)

Have been thinking about what smallish trees to put in our new place... at this point in time I am thinking of pomegranate for its symbolism and the area is shaded and I do want a tree that is fruiting... and a lemon tree.... I plan to have lime shrubs and lots of herbs.

Ike's year end performance

The DVD will soon be out.... so grandparents will all get a copy sent to them. Today Ike performed a mexican dance. Quite cute... he seems to be less shy on stage and seems to always be paired with this Italian girl, Vittoria! He reminded us often to pack his white shirt and jeans a few days earlier...

Nate comes home today on the 10:15pm flight, they should be boarding their flight from BJ now-ish....