To the ZOO

School holidays... we brought the kids along with their cousin, to the zoo. All kids love the zoo.





















Reaching there at 10am, the kids were excited except for Ally... she has never been to the zoo, she has no idea what to expect.
















Isabel watches enough "Dora the Explora" to know how to use a map. With her careful navigation, we entered into the world-class man-made nature, spotting monkeys and monkeys and more monkeys. I think there are more monkeys in there than other animals added together. But one thing I must say... the animals are very well fed and well taken care of. I have a couple of friends working there, very impressed and fasinated with their work. All of them are very dedicated to the animals.

















This is not a family of monkeys. I don't believe we are descendants of our furry friend, I believe we are creatures created by God... anyway, that's another subject we'll discuss another time.


In the zoo, there is a kids playground and a shallow pool next to the restaurant where we had lunch.

















Armed with my new waterproof Olympus camera, I dared into the pool with the children kicking and splashing. The camera is fast and accurate, able to capture the joy of kids playing in the pool.

Ally was sleeping in the wagon.



















































Ally woken up by the sound of the children playing, wanted to join in too. But 30 seconds in the water proved too much for her, she quickly got out and ran to mommy where its nice and warm.

















After the kids are dried and changed, we continued the journey.

See the Zebra? Are they black with white stripes, or white with black stripes?






















Nothing beats a nice cold ice-cream on a hot afternoon. But to the kids, anytime is a good time for ice-cream. I was sharing the ice-cream with Ally when she suddenly need to pass motion. Mommy pulled her along to the toilet, but she refused because she knows that once she comes back from the toilet... her precious ice-cream will be GONE...
















Down to the last stretch of the journey, the kids were tired... so they ALL squeezed into the wagoon. At that point, the wagon was pulling more than 50kg of weight.

We went to almost all the feeding shows and performance in the zoo. By the time we left the place it was already 4pm. The kids were exhausted and were fast asleep in the car.

I'm sure they'll say they had a great time... I know I did.

I'm planning to go to the Bird Park next time... no monkeys there.

New maid coming

Times flies...

Just when my maid has received much "training" and gotten much used to our routine, she is now preparing to leave her Singapore and go back to Indonesia.

She has been taking care of my 2 daughters for the past 2 years. I wouldn't say she did a fantastic job, but she does genuinely cares about them, especially Ally my younger one whom she's been handling since 6 months old.

I know Ally will cry for her when she's gone... she's very attached to the maid. Besides mommy, she's the next person Ally will find for comfort.

When she leaves, we'll properly never see her again, few more years, the children will not even remember her. All she will be is a bunch of memories.

Not long ago, realising that we will be needing a replacement soon, we engaged the service of a maid agency to help source for a suitable maid. We brought back copies of the bio-data and got our maid to choose her successor. She picked out one that she thinks is best for us, which is also our first choice.

When we showed Ally her new "auntie", she firmly shook her head and said "no", then pointed to Yani.

I'm sure its not going to be easy, if anyone has any experience or advice to share, it will help.

Cracked eyes

I was lying on my bed when Isabel walked to my side and said: "Daddy... why your eyes cracked?"
Me: "What? You mean my spectacles?"

Isabel: "No... Your eyes..."

Me: "Where?" Trying to deny that she's referring to the wrinkles or the "fish tail lines" thats started to form at the corner of my eyes in recent months.

Isabel: "There!" Pointing at the target.

Me: "Well... Its because my face is not as tight as it used to be... You'll get them too when you are much older."

Isabel: "Huh? Do I have it now?"

Me: "No lah... No way lah."

Isabel: "Pheew!"

I thought to myself, "its not that bad to get a couple of lines. Makes me more charming..."

But the truth is, I rather not have any.

Pony Ride

I've been to Pasir Ris Park umphteen times but I've never knew that right at the end of it, there is a place called "Gallop Stable"

Its a stable keeping ponies, and offers lessons on pony riding, riding thru obstacles... etc

Once there, we were greeted warmly by 2 little caucasian girls no more than 10 years old. They showed us around and introduced us to the ponies by names, told us which won't bite and which is more naughty.
















When we were there, the ponies were having lunch, all of them had their heads dunked into the buckets chewing the hay ignoring us totally. You'll notice that every photo taken, their heads are in the buckets.
















Its the first time the girls ever seen a pony, other animals they ever came into contact with are the dogs my parents and my sister keep and the cats on the street. Ally is scared, but not as scared as Isabel.
















It took a while for them to warm up to the animals, but after 15mins, the ponies are still munching their lunch ignoring us, letting us pat them and stroke their fur.
















By the end if the visit, we said good bye to the ponies but Isabel refused to leave. She fell in love with them, keep saying: "I want pony, I want pony"

If only we are staying in Australia and have our own land, I would have bought a pony for them.