29 May 2010 - Jacob Ballas Children Gardens

Since Jacob Ballas Children Garden is just round the corner, we decided to hop over and walk one round, provided both Jerlene and Javier were still awake after the short car ride.

The moment we reached, Jerlene got excited and led the way since she had been here for quite a few times already. She was too anxious to show her 弟弟 around and accidentally fell into a sand pool. Fortunately, it's soft sand but Jerlene still cried due to shock. I quickly consoled and assured her everything was fine. She finally got distracted by the surrounding and back to her active self.

Around the small hut-like shelter is little pebbles ground and Jerlene had fun kicking the small pebbles around. When Javier saw it, he too wanted to join in. Then we came upon a suspension bridge and I held both Jerlene and Javier across it successfully. Next we walked over to a small waterfall and behind it is a cave.

Not far from the cave is a treehouse. There were two tube slides from the top of the treehouse but Jerlene did not dare to slide through them. All she did is climbing up and down the steps while Javier walked around the log table.

On our way back to the garden entrance, we passed by a small educational corner whereby there is mist spraying out from the artificial flowers when someone turns the axle. Javier kept wanting to go into the mist while Jerlene was busy turning on the axle. What a perfect combination. Both had thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we were all totally exhausted. Great outing though on a hot day.

29 May 2010 - Singapore Botanical Gardens

Today, we decided to make a trip to Singapore Botanical Gardens (SBG). This is only my 2nd time to SBG and the last time was about 20 years ago. For Jerlene and Javier, this is of course their first. We reached there about noon, so we had our lunch at the cafeteria before visiting the gardens.

The first spot from the garden entrance is a Koi pond. It's always a great feeling watching fishes swimming freely in the water. Jerlene and Javier were very focused on the fishes.

From the Koi pond, we walked deeper into the gardens and saw all sorts of different plants. Whenever I found a great spot for photo taking, I would request Jerlene to be my model. Think she got potential...... :P

Next we came by a sculpture of a woman holding a baby in the air. Jerlene tried to imitate me and started shooting using her own camera.

Next we came by a small wooden bridge over a small stream. I'm surprised to see lots of catfish swimming around the "muddy" stream. Never seen that before.

There is a huge pond, or rather lake, round the corner. At the center, there is a small island of coconut trees. Next to it is a stone sculpture of swans. And there were a few swans (real ones) drifting by the side of the lake.

I thought by now Jerlene would be so tired that she will request me to push her in her stroller. However instead, she still got energy to push the stroller herself with her baby in it. Kids really have unlimited energy.......

I believe we have only covered a small part of the entire gardens. However, we were all very tired and decided to turn back. The weather is extremely hot.

22 May 2010 - Just some random shots

20 May 2010 - Is that fashion?

Don't know from where, Jerlene found her swimming cap today. She insisted that I put it on for her. She wore it and refused to take it out. When we were about to leave home, she still insisted on wearing it. And in addition, she wore another hat (the one that she's holding above) on top of it. As the swimming cap was quite tight, I wanted to take it out but she refused. This is what we called "Ai Sui Mai Mia" (like to be pretty over anything else). To her, it may be fashion.......... :-)

When we reached the car, I finally persuaded her to remove the cap.

15 May 2010 - Jerlene and her "children"

Jerlene recently started "adopting" quite a number of "children". She even gave each of them a name. There are Chloe, Rachel, Baby, Mousey etc...... Tracy and I are ok on her adoption but what we cannot stand is that she and her children now occupy our entire bed. Every night before sleep, she will arrange all her "children" in a particular order (see the photo below).

We cannot mess it up. If we do, she will do it all over again. With that, it leaves us absolutely no place to lie down at all. As such, we have to wait till she's asleep before we can re-arrange her "children" in order to make space for ourselves.......

9 May 2010 - First visit to Marina Bay Sands IR

After spending close to an hour at Cafe Cartel having our cakes and ice cream, we started our slow walk towards Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort (IR). Before we walked over, I took some nice shots of the IR from Marina. My pretty Jerlene also posed a nice shot for me. :-)



First we crossed the road and walked over to the Marina floating platform. This is our first time coming up close to the platform, which had held our National Day parade for the past few years.

From here we can have a very clear view of the IR. Actually, there are still a lot of constructions going on in the IR.

Next we walked to the newly opened Helix Bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge linking Marina Centre with Marina South in the Marina Bay area. The bridge is expected to be a focal point for the community, linking cultural, recreational and entertainment facilities in the area and complements the overall pedestrian scheme of Marina Bay. The bridge also functions as a gallery where children's paintings and drawings are exhibited for public viewing.

It was a hot day and after walking for quite a distance, Jerlene was so tired and we took a rest at an extended platform along the bridge. It's actually time for her afternoon nap. I persuaded her to go into her stroller instead of carrying her. We continued our "journey" to the IR, which took us quite a while as the pathway was congested with people.

By the time we reached the shopping mall of the IR, we were super tired. At this moment, there are still a lot of shops not open yet.

At the end of the mall is a big open promenade. There is an artistic big bowl structure, which I heard is a Rain Oculus. But it’s far from being complete. It’s supposed to, when they actually pump water in it, will create a whirlpool-like effect that people below can see.

From the promenade, we had a nice view of the Central Business District (CBD) skyline. Btw, what do you think the following shot looks like? Amazing architectural combination......isn't it? :P

There was nothing much to do at this moment so my advice for those who had not been there, wait till it's fully completed....unless you are going to try your luck at........

9 May 2010 - Mother's Day Outing

After lunch, we planned to bring my little angels to Go Go Bambini at Dempsey for some fun. However, when we reached there, it was super crowded as there were a few birthday parties going on. We were told that every weekend will be this crowded. As Javier is still small and Jerlene will definitely be "bullied" in the crowd, we decided to go somewhere else. Then we went to another indoor playground at Delta Sports Complex but somehow I could not find it. In the end, we decided to go to town and probably walk over to Sands Integrated Resort (IR) which has just been opened.

I parked my car in Marina Square and before walking over to Sands IR, we had some coffee, cakes and ice cream at Cafe Cartel. All of us enjoyed the chocolate cake and ice cream very much. Javier was pretty excited and made lots of funny sound which attracted attention from people around us. Never had I expected that we actually spent about an hour in Cafe Cartel just to have some cakes and drinks...... Happy moments always pass very fast......so do treasure it whenever possible...... :-)