Siloso Beach, Sentosa

My parents, Elyse and I went to Siloso Beach on Sentosa a few days ago. For those who don't know, Sentosa is a tiny island south of the main island of Singapore. Once at Vivo City (a mall), it takes just a few minutes by train to reach the island.

Although Elyse does like the sand now, she is not too sure about water with any sort of waves. If you recall our trip to Thailand, Elyse did not go in the ocean. Today I thought she might since the waves were pretty tiny on the beach. To get her in the water, we took one step at a time.

First she played in the sand.

Then she was able to get her toes and then ankles in the water.

Then she could reach down and touch it, and eventually sit in it.

Then she just decided it was ok. She walked into the water and we played where she could stand and then she said "I want to go by Grandma" who was farther in. She was ready to walk there on her own, but I helped her out a bit.

Once she decided the water was ok, she got very brave and was in and out of water all over the place. There were some sudden drop offs which were deep to a 2 1/2 year old, so I wound up running all over trying to keep up with her. We had a great time. We will have to go back with Toby some time soon.

26 weeks

I am a little over 26 weeks along in my pregnancy. (Sorry about the picture- I blend into the wall a bit) I am feeling pretty good overall. I do feel short of breathe every once and awhile and I may need to sit down a little more often, but other than that I am feeling ok.

Toby and I have been discussing potential names for our baby girl and I think we have a name (I'm having a hard time committing), but as of now we are going to keep that ourselves (sorry) so you can all be surprised (he, he).

In two days Elyse and I will be flying back to the States with my parents. Toby will join us in a couple weeks. I am excited to see friends and family, but I'm not looking forward to the plane ride to get there. Please pray that everyone is happy on the plane and able to sleep.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

We celebrated my dad's birthday on Sunday (a bit early- his real birthday is on the 24th) by making a cake and then going out to dinner. I am glad we were able to celebrate with him.

We gave him a Singapore Zoo hat:

Elyse and Grandma made the cake:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Chingay Parade

Since my parents have been back from Indonesia, we have continued to explore the island. One night the 4 adults went to the Chingay Parade which is a pretty big deal in Singapore. Kind of a celebration of Spring combined with a celebration of unity and an ushering in the new year with good fortune. That description doesn't do it justice. Click the link if you want the real explanation.

We started the night out by taking the MRT to City Hall and had dinner. We then walked to the beginning of the parade site. There was a "festive walk," but we somehow didn't get on that walking route. Anyway, we arrived and found our seats in time for the pre-parade show.

THE highlight of the pre-parade show was being able to see Gurmit Singh (JK) who was there to host the parade on TV. For those people who don't live in Singapore Gurmit is THE celebrity of the country. His main role is in a Singapore Sit-Com, but if you want a host for a TV show, a person to endorse saving the world, a person to encourage people to be courteous to others, a person to do a goofy video or anything else... Gurmit is your man. He seems to be everywhere. I know who he is if that tell you anything.
After Gurmit (and the other lady) opened the parade we began to see that wonderful sights of the parade.

This picture is of stilt walkers with fireworks shooting off their backs:


Men lighting firecrackers and parading around dragons (gotta keep those evil spirits away...)

Look at this amazing costume:

These costumes are made from balloons:

Some of the floats:

Crazy confetti at the end of the parade:

Fireworks ended the parade:

The whole thing was pretty amazing and the small sampling of pictures doesn't do it justice. It was very well done and as an added bonus the MRT wasn't crowded on the way home- gotta love that!

Happy Valentine's Day (Socks)

Although Valentine's Day is overshadowed by New Years, we still had some Valentine's day fun (all courtesy of my parents who brought stuff from the States). Yesterday we made Valentine's Day cupcakes and today Elyse wore her new Valentine's Day clothes.


Part of the outfit was heart socks. Elyse doesn't normally wear socks because of the heat, so this seemed like a treat for her. I put on some of my festive socks to join in the fun. They lasted about 30 minutes until my feet began to sweat.

Elyse had fun sliding around on our marble floors in her socks. She had a bit too much fun because a moment after the following video was taken, I was reminded why socks and marble floors don't mix: Elyse fell and hurt her hand (nothing a kiss couldn't fix, but she had a hard time staying on her feet.) HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Happy New Year!

We haven't done much to celebrate the New Year, but it is fun to see our friends celebrating around us. People have been generous to us and given Elyse hong bao, also called red packets. From Wikapedia here is a description:

Traditionally, Red envelopes or red packets (Cantonese: lai sze or lai see) (利是, 利市 or 利事); (Mandarin: 'hóng bāo' (红包); Hokkien: 'ang pow' (POJ: âng-pau); Hakka: 'fung bao'; are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors. It is also common for adults or young couples to give red packets to children. Red packets are also known as 壓歲錢/压岁钱 (Ya Sui Qian, which was evolved from 壓祟錢/压祟钱, literally, the money used to suppress or put down the evil spirit ) during this period.[5]

Red packets almost always contain money, usually varying from a couple of dollars to several hundred. Per custom, the amount of money in the red packets should be of even numbers, as odd numbers are associated with cash given during funerals (帛金 : Bai Jin). The number 8 is considered lucky (for its homophone for "wealth"), and $8 is commonly found in the red envelopes in the US. The number six is also very lucky due to the reason, in Chinese six[六,liu] can mean smooth, as in having a smooth year. Sometimes chocolate coins are found in the red packets.

We have also gotten to eat some great New Year's treats such as pineapple tarts, chocolate coins and mandarin oranges yum!

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

Since my parents took a short trip to Indonesia, I decided to get together with some friends. We met at the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden and had a great morning.

This is a sculpture at the entrance of the garden. It is made up of outlines of people.


Elyse playing in the sand:

Here is this great tree that kids can climb in and out of:

Here is the new water area. They had one before, but it was pretty weak. This one is much nicer.

Making mud:

Football and Chinatown

Yesterday started out bright and early with the Superbowl. I think it was fun to watch it first thing in the morning.
The rest of the day was pretty laid back until late afternoon when Auntie Mary came to watch Elyse and the three adults headed to Chinatown for the evening.

We began at the oldest Chinese Temple in Singapore, Thian Hock Keng, and then went back through Pagoda Street.

On Pagoda Street there are tons of things to buy. We stopped by a local artist to pick up some cards and then went to this guy who takes a name and makes it beautiful with birds, trees, etc seeped in symbolism. It's pretty cool to watch. I have been to him a few times.

We then went to the Chinese Heritage Centre to learn about the history of Chinatown, went out to dinner and then explored the streets. As Chinese New Year approaches, Chinatown is all decked out in lights and lanterns. Hawkers set up their shops at the Night Market and sell food and decorations for the festivities.

We went on a Monday night and it was still very crowded. I'm glad we switched it from going on a Saturday Night. It would have been insane.

Bubbles, A Flyer, and Some Waves

My mom and dad got here a few days ago and we have been having a great time. On the first day we went outside to blow some bubbles and then we were chased inside by the "Foggers."


After the fog (the stuff that kills the mosquitoes) cleared up, we headed to a local market where we bought some tiny bananas and pineapple tarts, viewed the Chinese New year stuff for sale, and had lunch at the hawker center.

Of course Elyse loves having her grandparents here and has been enjoying hanging out with them: reading stories, singing songs, and playing with all of her toys.

The following day we headed to the Singapore Flyer. Here is Elyse hanging out in the back seat with Grandma.

When we got to the Flyer we were lucky enough to have a pod all to ourselves so we could roam around freely. We had great weather so we were able to see everything without rain clouds getting in our way.

Today we headed to the Southern Ridges walk. We drove to the middle (the Henderson Waves) and walked to the the lookout on top of Mt. Faber. Again we were lucky enough to have clear skies (it was a bit hot, but we had great views.)

Now we are home and half of us are taking naps. It's been a great visit so far. We have dumplings, the Superbowl, and Chinatown coming up in the next few days.

Photo Safari

The other day I got Elyse a toy camera. I thought she would like one since she had be going around with Toby's clock saying "click" and "cheese." Today we went on a "photo safari" around our apartment. I took my camera and she took hers and we went around taking pictures. We took pictures of toy animals, lamps, the cars on the street and other thing we found. It was a fun activity :)