Oscar

Oscar recently celebrated his 7th birthday.  It sounds way too old for my first little baby; he is so tall and lean sometimes he looks about 12, but then on other days he will be watching the Wiggles with Frankie and dancing and singing along, and I remember how young he still is.

Oscar loves his boy toys like Transformers and Lego, but picked ceramics as his extra curricular activity at school, and loves to play kitchen with his baby sister.  He can remember a thousand boring bloody facts about the Titanic (one of his current obsessions), yet cannot ever remember to close the kitchen door because we have the air-conditioning on in the other room.  He loves reading to his baby sister and snuggling in her bed with her during stories, but she is not EVER allowed to go into his room and touch his stuff.  He is bright, loving, grumpy and funny (the other day we commented how he could possibly fit so much food in his tummy, and his reply was that he DID just do a big poo you know!).  He is our perfect little boy who didn't speak until he was over 2 and now never shuts up.  Happy Birthday Oscar!

 

Happy 7th Birthday Oscar.

Lovely Langkawi!

While my parents were here visiting we took a mini-break with them for 4 nights to the island of Langkawi in Malaysia.  Oscar has been keen on snorkeling ever since we went to Borneo, and we'd heard there were some nice spots here... and it was only an hour flight from Singapore - THE perfect length when traveling with a two year old!  Unfortunately the snorkeling trip was about 10 hours in total - which we thought might be a bit long for Oscar, but we did get some spectacular sunsets, monkeys, swimming, some not-so-good snorkeling, eagle feeding, parasailing, a lovely swim in a waterfall and cheap cheap food!  And by some amazeballs lucky break, I managed to not get food poisoning - that is a first for me when traveling!  Everything there apart from the accommodation is dirt cheap - cocktails were about SG$6 in the resort, a boat trip around the islands about SG$10, and you could probably find cheaper if you went looking.  An easy holiday - we hired a car as there isn't much traffic, there was plenty to do, and amazing views - perfect for our last trip before baby.  P.S. The lovely sunset shots below was the ACTUAL view from our villa on the beach - so you should be feeling very jealous looking at them ; )  And thanks to dad for some of the photos!

x Amelia

 

Satay Street and iLight Marina Bay

This weekend Frankie had a good sleep during the day on Saturday, so we decided to head out that night and keep the kids up a bit later.  I'm not so scared of doing this - they'll be a bit tired the next day, but so? Andy on the other hand is terrified and spends every ten minutes we are out past 7.30pm asking if we should take them home yet.  The plan was to eat early and check out some of iLight Marina Bay, as it is only on for another week, and I'd seen a heap of gorgeous photos floating around the web (not like my crappy iphone ones below!).

Andy had told me about Satay Street (on Boon Tat St, near Lau Pa Sat) - during the day it is a street in the financial district, by night the road is closed, the satay stalls come out and you're in an open-area food court.  There is a line of satay stalls, each with rows of tables in front.  You pick your stall by picking your table; once seated they come to take your order, along with other vendors selling the standard wok cooked dishes and Tiger beer.

Satay being cooked!

The best part is that it as it is the financial district, there was a big footpath behind us with no one walking around; the kids could run free (and did).  I've found it works best to dress Frankie in a cute outfit such as her fairy wing top when eating out - she gets a lot of 'my how adorable' comments when she is running around being a little brat/maniac/2 year old up late, whereas if she was looking less cute, she'd be a whoooole lot more annoying.  Oscar on the other hand, who looks about 10, gets a lot of  'Why on earth are you running around like a crazy 6 year old?? You should know better!' looks- the bane of being very tall for your age - luckily he ignores everyone anyway (often to the extent he will run into them - he is off in his own world.  I had always hoped my kids would be restaurant trained, but alas, it was not to be).

Oscar, during the 5 seconds he stayed seated at the table.

Frankie and Andy sharing a Rose flavoured milk drink.

The food comes quick, the kids loved the skewers (sans satay sauce), and it was great to be out in the city somewhere low-key and priced for taking the kids.  40 skewers (they're tiny, trust me!), and two little rice cake things set us back $26.

20 Chicken Skewers - $12 - tasty and cheap!

Boon Tat Street is close to Marina Bay, so after eating we wandered over to see the lights.  We saw very little, but what we saw was very cool.  After an hour or so I got soooo sick of Andy whining about how it was probably time to take the kids home that I caved and we headed home.  But it was lovely to be out on a Saturday night... I can see the attraction of having a live-in maid - we could go out every Saturday!  Or maybe I should leave Andy at home with the kids given he can be so whiny and just head out by myself ; )

Family portrait - I took about 5 shots, but Andy was giving me bunny ears in most of them....!

Laser like lights turned Oscar into a light covered robot.

Community drumming - Frankie in the foreground - the kids loved being able to join in.

A deckchair that lights up when sat on.

Paper covered water bottles that light up when spun.

iLight is only on for another 6 days!  So if you are in Singapore and haven't been yet, do go check it out - lights turn on at 7.30pm, and it covers quite a distance, so leave the kids at home if you can ; )

x Amelia