Bum boats

Time to be tourists in Singapore again so we took a bum boat ride alone the river. It is Chinese Lantern festival time so there were some pretty sights to see.

The bum boats chug chug along and you get an interesting view of the city. A relaxing afternoon outing was had by all.

Extra curricular activities

Josh has started playing soccer and is in the ANZA Bombers under 8 team. Check out his cool playing kit. His games are at 8am on Saturday morning, thankfully before it gets too hot but but no Saturday sleep in for us.

Tessa has started ballet and tap dancing. She is very proud of her costume and shoes.

Louise and Josh are having tennis lessons together. Both are improving. Louise also plays ANZA social tennis weekly.

To finish a Unit of Enquiry on Majulah Singapura (looking at where people in Singapore come from) Joshua dressed as a Maori warrior to represent New Zealand.

Gary comes to stay

Gary stopped over for a couple of nights on his way to London. Charlotte attached herself to Gary the entire time. We visited the zoo, Sentosa Island, shops and enjoyed chilli and black pepper crab at East Coast Seafood Centre.

Wayne's travels

I spent some time in InterGen's Brisbane office followed by a weekend in Auckland in late September. Whilst in Auckland I met up with family and friends (and froze!). Thanks to all who looked after me and provided me with warm clothing. It was wonderful to see all the kids, who have grown up some more. Saw Helen and Ken's orchard for one last time prior to it being sold and the new rural block of land where their new house will be built. We're all looking forward to coming to stay!

Pets

The children each have a terrapin and enjoy feeding and picking them up. They are growing very quickly, which could become a problem in their tank as their life expectancy is 30 years! There names are Tero the Hero (Josh's), Magenta (Tessa's) and Tuck (Charlotte's). They enjoy making playgrounds for them and getting them out to give them a runaround. Not looking forward to when one gets stuck under the TV cabinet. They are ideal for condo living (sorry Molly the cat).

Charlotte's Pre-School

Charlotte is loving pre-school. She particularly likes excursions. Her first was to a fish farm (the pet kind, not the eating kind) and the second to Bishan Firestation.

Firestations here are open to the public every Saturday and the patient men at Bishan didn't seem to mind the whole pre-school turning up (with siblings). The children sat in/on most the vehicles, including ambulance, fire motorbike, "red rhino" and normal firetrucks. They got to squirt the fire hose and watch the firemen come down the pole.

At pre-school Charlotte is learning Chinese. Her teachers say she is doing really well.