8 Nov 2020 - Lunch at Tsui Wah (翠华) @ Clarke Quay

We had our lunch at Tsui Wah (翠华) - Clarke Quay today.  It has been quite a while since we last ate here.  Jerlene and Javier have been asking about this place recently and so here we were.

Jerlene and Javier enjoying their favourite savoury French Toast Bites served with Vanilla Ice Cream after our main meals.

After lunch, we decided to stroll along Singapore River to enjoy the outdoor atmosphere.  However, the sky suddenly turned dark and we quickly return to our car before it started raining.

30 Oct 2020 - Jerlene's Secondary 1 Results

Jerlene went back to school today to collect her report book.  Overall, her results were pretty ok except for her Higher Chinese which she just managed to get a pass as expected.  Considering that she did not put in much effort in preparing for this exam, I think she had done quite well.  If she is willing to put in more effort, I am very sure she can achieve much better results.

For now, just enjoy your school holiday, Jerlene!  :-)

25 Oct 2020 - Hampstead Wetlands Park

Hampstead Wetlands Park is Singapore's first wetlands sanctuary in an industrial park.  Tracy and I decided to explore this park which is a pretty short drive from our place early this morning while Jerlene and Javier were still sleeping.  We parked our car around The Oval and took a short stroll to the park entrance.

Key features of the Hampstead Wetlands Park include nature trails, boardwalks, and view decks for park visitors to enjoy the treasure trove of biodiversity.

At the main viewing deck along the boardwalk, there were many photography hobbyists standing by and waiting for the right moment to snap some amazing photos.

This 3.23 hectare park provides a conducive environment for plants, birds and other wildlife that inhabit freshwater ecosystems.

We saw many catfishes in the main pond and some of them were really huge.

As we strolled along the scenic boardwalk, we got to enjoy nature up close at the viewing decks and look out for a variety of interesting flora and fauna.

After exploring Hampstead Wetlands Park, we strolled back to The Oval and on our way, we saw hundreds, if not thousands, of small little centipedes and millipedes all over the pavement.  It's really a LOT and we found it extremely difficult to navigate through the path without accidentally stepping on one or two......  :-P

The Oval, a lifestyle destination housed in 32 colonial black-and-white bungalows that were former residences of British officers and their families, is just next to Hampstead Wetlands Park.  There is actually another boardwalk at The Oval that is set against a backdrop of Seletar Airport runways and aircraft hangars, providing views of jets landing and taking off.  We only saw a few private jets taking off as not many commercial flights are operating now during the ongoing pandemic.

It was a nice morning exploration to one of the newest park around.

18 Oct 2020 - Free Lobster at The Boiler....Again!

We were back at The Boiler again.  It's a yearly affair for us to come here during Tracy's birthday month where we will order a Boiler’s Bombdiggity Bag that comes with a free lobster for the birthday celebrant.

As Javier does not like seafood, we ordered other meals for him.

The Bombdiggity Bag comes with a huge Dungeness Crab, lots of prawns, mussels, clams, smoked

sausages, sweet pearl corns & buns.

And of course, below is the free lobster for our birthday girl!  :-)

14 Oct 2020 - A full day of Celebration!

Today is Tracy's birthday and I had planned a whole day full of food and activities.  First, we went to Suntec City for a Soufflé Pancakes brunch.  The cafe is called Fluff Stack, located at basement 1 of Suntec City Mall.

The texture of the soufflé pancakes was extremely soft, fluffy and airy.  The presentation was nice as well.

We ordered a Classic Soufflé Pancake (above) and a Mango Passion Fruit Soufflé Pancake (below).  They were really good!

After we were done with the amazing Soufflé Pancake, we proceeded to the cinema to watch a movie "Vanguard" starring Jackie Chan.  This movie was supposed to release early this year but due to the ongoing pandemic, it only starts screening now.

Our next program was to have a game of "Escape Room".  I had booked a game room "Azkaban (Season 3)" which requires a minimum of 3 players.  As such, we invited a friend of ours to join in the fun.  The game duration is 75 mins.  You may think it's too long but once you are in the game, you will start thinking why time passes by so fast.  Though we did not manage to escape the room in time, we had lots of fun trying to solve all the challenging puzzles.  A must try to all Harry Potter's fan.

By the time we finished the game, it was about dinner time.  We went to a restaurant called Ma Maison at Bugis Junction to have our dinner.  Initially we thought it's a weekday night so the restaurant should not be too crowded.  However, we were wrong as the restaurant was full when we reached.  Fortunately we did not have to wait for too long before getting a seat.

I like the cozy home-like ambience inside the restaurant.

The Baked Escargot with Garlic Butter was superb.  It was so good that after we finished one plate, we immediately ordered another one.  :-)

And we both shared a Seafood Paella (below).

Happy Birthday, Dear!  Hope you had an enjoyable day!  :-)

24 Sep 2020 - Javier's Scratch Entry for Roszania! Imagine Cup

The Roszania! Imagine Cup is an annual hackathon competition for students to express their creativity and demonstrate their knowledge and skills in Computational Thinking to create meaningful artefacts.  Below is Javier's submission to this competition.  Personally I feel that Javier had done well for this project.  The animation is so detailed, down to the facial expression of the avatar.  Click here to see his project.

Do give him some encouragement by giving him a "Like" or leave a comment on his project.  :-)

20 Sep 2020 - More baking of cookies and oreo cake

Jerlene and Javier decided to bake some cookies and oreo cakes this afternoon.  After our lunch, we went to NTUC to get all the necessary ingredients before returning home.  Our very own "MasterChef" then started working on it.

Below was Javier's Oreo cake.  Though the presentation wasn't that great, the taste was good.  Javier actually found the recipe from the internet.

Jerlene on the other hand decided to bake more cookies.  Glad that the kids were able to get some time off from their screen and work on something more meaningful.  :-)

18 Sep 2020 - Loss of Eye Brow

This morning when I looked at Javier, he looks a bit different to me.  Then I took a closer look and realized that a portion of his eye brows actually went "missing".......

I quickly did some research on the internet and found that there are many causes for such eye brow hair loss.  Some of the possible causes are infection, skin conditions, hormonal changes, an overactive immune system, nutritional deficiencies, physical trauma, or emotional stress.  As we were a bit worried, we brought him to a clinic for further assessment by the doctor.  However, the doctor said it's difficult to tell what the cause is, unless he goes for further checks such as a blood test.  The doctor advised to monitor a while more to see whether the hair will grow back.  Anyway school exams are coming soon so probably we will monitor till the exam is over before deciding what to do.

14 Sep 2020 - Baking Cookies

Jerlene has learnt how to bake cookies from her Food and Consumer Education (FCE) lessons.  She decided to try it out at home today.

Though the edges of the cookies were a bit "burnt", I must say the cookies taste quite good.  Even Javier said it's NICE!  :-) 

18 Aug 2020 - Education Merit Award

Due to Covid-19 pandemic, most events cannot be held now and it includes most of the award ceremony.  As such, for this year's CDC-CCC Education Merit Award, we can only collect the certificate and prize vouchers from PA office at Ci Yuan Community Club.  

It's 4 years in a row for Javier, so Well Done, and Keep It Up!  :-)

9 Aug 2020 - National Day Fireworks

At 8:20pm, the NDP fireworks can be seen at 10 different locations in the heartlands.

HAPPY NATIONAL DAY to ALL!

9 Aug 2020 - RSAF Fly-Past on National Day

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this year's National Day programme had been brought to the heartland as most of us are staying at home.  Below is a schedule of what was installed for the day.

At about 10:30am, the State Flag was being flown throughout the island by our RSAF helicopters.

It was then followed by the Aerial Display by our RSAF F15-SG fighter jets.

Below is the a short video of the Flag Flypast and Fighter Jets Formation.

4 Aug 2020 - Nice Morning Sky

It's always nice to wake up with a beautiful morning sky.  Good morning, everyone!  :-)

1 Aug 2020 - Fighter Jets Formation

As I was walking along the road this morning, I saw our RSAF fighter jets flew past the sky in a nice formation.  They were probably rehearsing for the National Day flypast which is in about a week's time.