Past few weeks

 The Joys of a Cardboard Box

Within a couple days of our arrival, our air shipment was delivered in cardboard boxes and since then, the boys have adopted one of the boxes for their own.  This box remains in their bedroom and they are constantly playing inside it.  Their room is not very big and this silly box takes up most of the walking space but they love it!

The only toys we brought for the boys were their mini hockey sticks and net and a box full of stuffies.  They spend hours playing with their stuffies and have convinced themselves that they are actually alive.  It has gotten to the point where we have to sneak into the apartment in hopes that we catch them in their alive state.  Josh even made a magic potion to rub on them, hoping that this would help them to come alive.  Got to love their childhood innocence!

Field Trip to the Library

We took a field trip to "My Tree House", the first green library for kids.  The boys learnt how to use the catalogue to find books and had a lot of fun being 'the librarians'.  I would secretly find a book in the library then I would ask 'the librarians' if they had it.  The two little librarians would eagerly search for the title using the catalogue then would set off to find it.  They had so much fun playing this game - "Mom, can we play it one more time?"

The entrance to the library (the kids library is found within the central public library) 

The Librarians - Jacob & Joshua

 House Hunting is Over!

After viewing between 30-40 properties, we finally found our home!  This picture makes the house look very grand, and although it is big, it isn't as grand as it appears :)  We move in August 1st so we have a little more time in the serviced apartment.  We are eagerly anticipating when we can truly get settled and make Singapore our home.

Our home will have plenty of space to welcome our visitors!

 NHL Play-Offs

We didn't let the time difference stop us from staying connected to hockey.  We listened to all the Bruin games via the NHL app.  We are 12 hours ahead of Boston, so no beer and popcorn for us; just muesli and yogurt with a glass of mango juice.  Because of our location, the app wouldn't allow us to watch the games, so it felt like a throw-back to 'the good ol' days' when programmes were broadcasted through radio waves.

The Haze

As Jacob & Joshua reported last week, the haze here was terrible!  This was taken when the PSI levels were over 400 (anything over 300 is considered hazardous).  The haze kept us indoors for most of the week.  The boys weren't bothered by this and Bear & Bunny enjoyed the extra playtime with them.

To help with the cabin fever, I took the boys across the street to Starbucks for a drink and to play games.  I was secretly hoping that no one was looking too closely at our Scrabble board because one of the first words Jacob used was sex. Mr. Competitive wanted to find a way to use his top scoring letter but he quickly clarified that he was referring to the definition of Male/Female as he did not want to be inappropriate.  Geeze!

Although these masks really don't offer any protection, I made the boys wear them when we did venture outdoors, mainly to blend in and not appear to be an incompetent Mom.  When the front desk offered us the masks for 'our protection', what other choice did I have?  Anyways, the kids loved it!

 Meal of the Week
The inspiration for their meal came from the grocery store we visited. At this particular shop, there are many people offering samples of their products in hopes that you will buy them.  They are all of the Asian flare and the boys love taste tasting everything (to the point where it gets embarrassing!).

On the way out of the store, a gentleman offered us a sample of his dish, rice with octopus, and another lady sprinkled dried seaweed that had been cooked with sesame seeds on top.  The kids loved it so much that afterwards, Jacob declared that this is the dish he wants to make this week.  I explained that I have not cooked octopus before and don't know how to prepare it and his solution was to look it up on the Internet.  After admitting that my comfort level with octopus isn't there, I managed to convince them to re-create the dish with a different meat.  Here is a picture of their meal - Beef & Rice (with sprinkled seaweed) and Stir Fry Cabbage and Sprouts.

Field Trip To Jurong Bird Park

This week we took two field trips since the haze didn't allow us to take one the previous week.  Jacob had asked it we could go to the Jurong Bird Park so we spent all day there on Wednesday.  The boys loved it.  We learnt about so many different types of birds and the park itself was set up like the zoo.  It also had a splash park and the boys played there for 1 1/2 hours.  I really need to remember to bring a book!

Josh is being an archeologist and digging up some bird bones

I took this picture in front of the orchids for my Mom.  :)

 Field Trip to Singapore Art Museum

Josh chose the location of today's field trip.   We spent a few hours at the museum, most of it at the children's interactive exhibit.  Jacob was not too keen about going to the art museum but ended up having a lot of fun, except when we visited the main gallery that was filled with a lot of abstract art of different mediums.  He didn't seem to appreciate the art of a metal chair surrounded by lamps blinking at different intervals and couldn't understand the metaphor to reliance of technology.  Go figure!

Love to all,

Lisa