Gardens by the Bay with Daniel and Gabriel

The other day, we went to the new Gardens by the Bay which recently opened behind the Marina Bay Sands hotel. They are amazing - lots of green space and walkways on four different levels which make you feel like you are in a jungle with different habitats on the ground and on lower and higher limbs.

Here Noah, Daniel and Gabriel playing on the sculpted lion. Noah was holding Gabriel tightly so he would not fall off the lion...

Petting the lioness...Noah is so gentle with younger kids he takes a liking to... and with wooden lions it seems - he was gently petting the lioness - it was very sweet (for those of you who were wondering how he treats younger kids he does not take a liking to - he basically ignores them - and who knows why he likes some  little kids and is uninterested by others - he tends to make this decision quickly and not to waiver much - I wonder what characteristics sway him one way or the other).

The kids having a fun ride on the lioness.

Museums, Fountains and Friends

After the successful trip to the Singapore Art Museum, we went to the National Museum where the Noah and Kathryn went fishing and played with shapes and colors and learned about life on a boat. We also went to the Asian Civilizations Museum where we hunted for and learned about 10 different objects. Again, Noah really enjoyed the various activities. Below left, Noah with his rod and fish at the National Museum and Right with Kathryn preparing a meal at the ACM. 

When Daniel and his brother got back from Russia, we went to Sentosa to play with the fountains. Noah and Daniel happily perched on the top of a mound.

Good friends....

Noah and Gabriel.

Trying to predict when the water will spout out and ...

Batting at it.

At the Pinnacle

A few weeks ago, we went with Matthias and Jeanne for a playdate at the top of the Pinnacle buildings. A friend took this picture which I absolutely love. Noah looks like he is flying! 

It turns out that the top of a building with gardens and a "cabane" (wooden house structure) is a perfect place for a playdate. There were protective bars all around the (huge) perimeter of the roof so the kids could run anywhere they wanted without bumping into a car or motorcycle or bike or getting lost!

Fountain Play with Daniel

Yesterday, we went to Sentosa with Daniel (and his mom and brother Gabriel). After a very pleasant walk and as we were thinking of heading home, the boys spotted their favorite fountain and just had to go in ...

                       

Look a bit smaller than you expected? That might be because this is not a pic from yesterday, but from almost exactly a year ago in the same fountains... They were so tiny and so adorable (in my very unbiased opinion!).

Back to yesterday's fun, as it was warm out and we had a change of clothes for the kids, we let them go in and play around all dressed up... They had a blast. Such pure excitement and joy running and jumping in the fountains...

                     

As it started getting a bit darker, they turned on lights which rapidly changed from color to color. The kids were very intrigued. 

Reading with Audrey

A few days ago, Audrey came over for a playdate. Noah and she huddled under a cover and read together. I found them so cute together, I could not resist taking a few pics.

Playdates

Noah goes to pre-school every morning but in the afternoons, he gets to hang out with his maman and often some friends. Here he is with his school friend Jelia showing off his Magna Tiles. She was not as entirely enthralled as Noah was.

Noah's playdates tend to be the same every week. On Monday afternoons, he usually sees his friend Kathryn (see Noah's 4th Birthday Celebration for a pic of Kathryn), on Tuesdays his friends Jeanne and Matthias, on Wednesdays, his friend Audrey and on Thursdays his friend Daniel. (Friday he gets maman all to himself.) As Daniel's mom and grandmother (who was in town for the birth of Daniel's little brother) took a lot of pictures, we have a disproportionate amount of pics of fun playdates with Daniel over the course of the month of August.

Here are Daniel and Noah and the live turtle museum feeding the turtles.

The next week, they went to the aquarium on Sentosa island. This turned out to be the last playdate before the birth of little Gabriel (Daniel's brother). 

Noah was very excited about the fish and wanted to take many many pictures. Below is Noah's iphone pic of one of the aquariums. 

Although feeding the fish and watching the jellyfish float about was fun, the highlight of the afternoon was probably the pink dolphin show with the dancing sea lions.

The week after that, we went to the Singapore zoo. Noah and Daniel spent some time plotting one scheme...

after another...

Here they tried to break into the kangaroo complex

 

 It's not working. Can you guys help us?

Such good friends.

The week after that we went to the bird park. The boys walked, well ran, hand-in-hand from bird cage to bird cage.

The birds were fun but the drum platform...now that was exciting.

What great times with Daniel. Here is Noah with Audrey at her place. I think Noah was supposed to be a baby in a little cot...

And...  the pair at the playground in our complex.

Noah's "big sister" Stella

During our stay in Switzerland, we spent half of our time in Ferney and the other half in our old apartment building with our neighbors from olden times Myriam, Marco and Stella. We did not expect Noah to remember anything from that time period. In fact, he identified our old entrance and explained that he lived there as a baby. He also pointed to the place where our shoe rack used to be and explained to us that that's where we put the shoes (he also noted the next day upon seeing the boat to Yvoire that he had had his milk on the boat... he was 1.5 months old when we went to Yvoire!). We were floored.  Here is Noah at the entrance of our old building.

Noah and Stella go way back. When Noah was still a Mr Coconut in his mommy's tummy. Stella would come around and touch the tummy and say "Coconuuuut" with an adorable French accent (she was almost three when Noah was born). Then Mr Coconut became Noah and here was Stella meeting little Noah. 

The pair saw each other A LOT during the year Noah lived in Switzerland - so much so that Stella started calling Noah her "little brother". Here they were the last time they saw each other before we left for Singapore (though as those who followed twitter know, they came to see us out in Singapore a few months later).

The first morning we arrived in Nyon, the kids walked around the market - hand-in-hand.

Although there is quite an age difference between the two (almost three years), they played extremely well together - cooking up a storm in the kitchenette, morphing into wild animals... Stella took her big sister role very seriously and helped Noah and tried to care of him.

It's aperitif time! Mmmmm

Noah, Stella and Myriam at Croix Verte - one of our old haunts - so much fun and love and complicity. 

After dinner, the kids ran around outside...

And smelled the proverbial roses...

The night before we left, Stella realized that this was our last night staying in Nyon and she started crying. Noah went over to comfort her. 

A few shots of Noah and his big sis playing together just before we headed out.