Walk along the KTM tracks

~~30 June 2010, the last KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu) train left Tanjong Pagar Railway to Malaysia.~~

The Tanjong Pagar Railway Station will now be part of Singapore's history where KTM trains used to depart from and to Malaysia. Most of the 26km link from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands were still accessible to people till 17 July. From 18 July, only the 3km stretch of tracks between Rifle Range Road and The Rail Mall will be open till the end of the month.

We brought the boys to the tracks near King Albert Park for a Sunday morning walk. There were already many people by the time we arrived at 9:30am. We spent about an hour walking the stretch of tracks.

Hordes of people walking and snapping pictures

Ready, set, go!

Taking a break to take pics

Walking on the bridge
(across Bukit Timah and Dunearn Road)

The Other Side

Taking a picture of a rock on the track


Poor guy lost his phone


Heading back


Justin taking a shot of the bridge

Whoopie! Crossing it the 2nd time!

Bukit Timah Railway Station

(Station Master Office)

Station was closed and fenced up

Bukit Timah Railway Station - Signalling Room

And us!

Mommy's Chillout at Level33 MBFC

It's been a long time since my last entry. 5 months, in fact. Many things have happened since the Japan earthquake on 11th March, decisions and events that ocurred thereafter. For the safety of the kids, we decided to bring them back to Singapore while Papa continues to work in Tokyo.

For my friends and families who have been asking me for updates, thank you for reading my blog. You've been 'kicking my butt', so here goes my first entry after a long hiatus. I will be updating my blog from today. Will try to write the previous ones when I have the time.

I have been really tied up with the three kids without Papa. Thankfully, I have my mom and mother-in-law to watch over them when I need to run errands. Also, thanks to my sis-in-law for bringing the boys out during weekends.

Papa was in town this week so we decided to make a little escapade after the kids slept. We went to a micro-brewery, Level33, at the top of the Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1. Nice ambience with a slight breeze at the outdoor terrace. The view was beautiful. We could see the full view of Marina Bay area from level 33, from the Fullerton Hotel, Padang, Esplanade, floating platform, Singapore Flyer to Marina Bay Sands Hotel standing at 57 storeys high.

View from Level33 (double click for larger image)

It was a relaxing evening. Just what I needed for a mid-week break.

Making Shortbread

Justin's school assignment this week was to bake shortbread. To reinforce Math concept of estimating and measuring weight, he had to measure the ingredients used for making shortbread. He went about excitedly measuring the flour, sugar, butter accurately using the weighing scale. Jonathan was also curious and watched his brother prepare the ingredients. Once done, the ingredients were mixed together and the boys had a chance to roll the dough and cut it into different shapes. The school recipe was fantastic. The cookies smelt so heavenly in the oven and tasted really good, literally melted in the mouth. Yummy!!

Brothers' Love to baby Sister

I do remember writing a post on how Justin loves his little brother when he was born. Here is the link . It is very heartwarming to see that he loves his sister too. He says that she is very sweet and cute. Of course, Jonathan loves Cheryl as well. Both of them will come into the room, touch and plant kisses on her cheeks.

A picture paints a thousand words.

Loving the baby smell

Playing on the mat

Tiny fingers

Jonathan and Cheryl

Jonathan's Weekend with Gaspard

Gaspard has been spending his weekends with the children in Jonathan's class. It's finally Jonathan's turn to bring Gaspard home. When I went to pick them up from school, Jonathan excitedly held Gaspard up and waved at me when he saw my car. "This is Gaspard. He is staying with us until Tuesday. It's a long weekend..." He had to take pictures with Gaspard and paste it on the "Gaspard Adventures" book. So, here goes. His adventures with his new friend.

Day 1: First stop, to the department store to buy his school indoor shoes. We spotted a huge daikon and decided to take a picture with Gaspard. We had lunch before heading home.

The Enormous Turnip

Jon sharing his lunch with Gaspard

Day 2: We went to Shinjuku for lunch and they saw their favourite train at the level crossing.

Excited boys

Hope Gaspard isn't afraid of heights!

At night, Jonathan read his favourite "I Spy" books to Gaspard.

Before bedtime

Can you spy Gaspard?

Happy 2nd Month Celebration!

Cheryl's officially two months old!! She has received her passport to go out shopping with mummy! We organised a mini two month lunch celebration for her. It was an enjoyable day and by the time the guests left, it was 5pm. BUT, we were so busy that we forgot to take photos!

Anyway, the enjoyable part was also in the preparation. It started two weeks before with the making of invitation cards, planning and sourcing out materials for the party favours.

Party favour candy

"Jar of Everything" and "Lemon Rock"

Done!

One more thing to do on that day. Traditional red eggs for the guests to bring home. I got the recipe from the internet but seriously it's not that easy. The tricky part was getting an even colour on the eggs and boiling the eggs at low heat so that it would not crack.

Dyed red eggs

Menu for the party: Carrot, celery, cucumber with dip, corn on the cob, green salad, apple yoghurt fruit salad, mini sausages on sticks, seafood & margharita pizza, shepherd's pie, fusilli pasta, jello, cheese cake, chocolate pie and fruits.

Cheryl's first medical checkup

Cheryl is almost two months old. This represents a significant milestone for her. Being born premature with birth weight of 1782g, she has grown very well for the past two months. Her weight is now 3.9kg. She is getting chubbier!

Dressed and ready to go

At the doctor's waiting for jab

Grasping a teether

After the Synagis jab, we had lunch at the cafe downstairs and waited for our next 1pm appointment for the routine checkup. Cheryl slept during our lunch and only woke up just in time for her feed.

Cheryl with Popo


Pizza lunch set

Sleeping during lunch

The nurses didn't believe Cheryl's weight gain and asked me to re-weigh her again. She had gained an average of 46g each day. I was very pleased to hear that. After her checkup, we headed straight to fetch the boys before returning home.

Visit to Tokyo Towers

It has been awhile since I have gone out with the boys. Thanks to Popo, we were able to spend some time with the two boys while Cheryl stayed at home. We headed to Tokyo Towers on a beautiful sunny day.

The boys in the car

In their cheeky mode

We stopped by a park near Tokyo Towers. What a lovely surprise when we saw red autumn leaves on some trees! With winter temperatures of 4 degrees, I am surprised that the leaves have not fallen yet.

Park in red

The queue up the Tokyo Tower was exceptionally long on a public holiday so we decided to visit the Tokyo Tower aquarium of freshwater fish instead.

Favourite picture of the day:

Strawberry Cake

Fresh strawberries ... Yummy!

Strawberries are in season now. It's just so hard to resist the temptation of buying beautifully red and fresh strawberries from the supermarket every time. Everyone loves them especially the kids and they are happy with just strawberries on top of the cake. You can guess which part of the cake disappears first. The 'not so sweet' version as I do not put too much sugar into the whipped cream.

Running a Cafe Business

It is a busy time for me with three children but I am enjoying every moment (minus the occasional stress). The two boys are usually left to their own devices while I take care of the baby. However, I woke up one morning and had a pleasant surprise when I saw the signage just outside the kitchen.

As soon as Justin heard my footsteps, he walked to me with an excited cheeky smile. With a note pad in his hands, he said "Welcome to my Cafe Shop. What do you want to eat?" This 'business' idea was inspired after a motivational talk with Irene GuGu the night before. He was to be the boss while Jonathan was the manager of the cafe. A GREAT idea because it made them eat faster on the pretext that the boss and manager had to finish up all their food before they could serve the customers. There were less reminders to tell them to finish their food. To entice customers to come again, our young boss set the cost of each meal to 100 yen or one dollar, gave complimentary drinking water and sometimes desserts.

After a few days, there was yet another perk for the customers. Can you spot it below?

Free performance by the boss and manager of the cafe!! *Faint!* Justin blasted music and the both of them danced to the beat of Black Eye Pea's song! Ahem! Time for papa to keep his CDs away from their reach.

Taking a breather after their dance item