Noah Vacation: Making Snow (March 2 2014)

The kids received an amazing package from GG, Grandpa and Suza with some presents for Maya's first birthday but also some cool presents for Noah. Below Noah with his snow making powder. He was very excited.

Pouring in "the snow"

Yay - it's working

Snow

Maman and Maya checking it out

Noah Vacation: Haw Par Villa (March 2 2014)

Haw Par Villa is a funky theme park which was built in 1937 by the Burmese-Chinese Aw brothers, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching children traditional Chinese values. The best known attraction in Haw Par Villa is the Ten Courts of Hell, which features gruesome depictions of Hell in Chinese mythology and Buddhism (we did not take any pics in there). The place is a definitely a throw-back to earlier years. It was slated to be destroyed but it seems it will instead be renovated as it is a staple of old Singapore. 

Noah with the big mask

Noah with the monkeys

Maya traipsing about

Noah after visiting hell

Noah Vacation: Gardens by the Bay

Another morning, we took the kids to the new Gardens by the Bay playgrounds (two water playgrounds one for older kids and one for younger kids and two "dry" playgrounds)

Seth, Noah and Maya in the big kids' playground with the Cloud dome in the back 

and a piece of the Marina Bay Sands hotel

Noah at the little kids' water playground

Maya playing in the sand in the big kids' playground

Noah in the "nest" in one of the biggest tree houses

These new playgrounds are amazing. Looking forward to taking the kids there again soon.

Noah Vacation: Cooking Classes

During his vacation, Noah went to two "bake and plays" at Fidgets. He played for a while in the indoor gym and then had a 1.5 hour cooking class.

Here, Noah making mini-quiches

He also made some chocolate chip cupcakes. He had a great time and we got to eat some yummy food.

Noah Vacation: Winter Day Part 2

After the ice skating, we headed to the nearby "2 degrees ice sculpture" exhibit - where (contrary to the title) it was supposedly -15 degrees. Seth, Maya (we had winter gear for Maya from a friend) and I put on all our gear and we rented an oversized coat for Noah. 

Noah in his big pink coat in front of the ice merlion

Noah, Maya and I in front of the Eiffel tower

Noah's favorite part of the exhibit: the ice slide

Maya and I loved it too

 Ice stalactites 

Maya wearing her winter gear for the first (and probably the last) time

Noah in front of Big Ben

She was a bit confused when we dressed her up with piles and piles of layers in the heat of Singapore

But seemed to enjoy it all when we stepped into the cold

Making silly faces...

Noah sliding again...

Maya and I sliding again

 And again

And again

Noah by the dinosaurs guarding the exit 

At the beginning, we were all excited for the cold but after almost two hours, we were all (except maybe for Seth who likes cold weather) very happy to shed the layers and return to the tropics.

Noah with the rows of coats taken with the now foggy camera

 (it took a while to adjust to the heat and humidity after the cold)

Before heading to the heat for good, we made a stop at the "ice bar" where Noah and I drank lime juices from ice glasses...

Noah drinking from his ice glass

Noah and I throwing our glasses away

Maya happy to be back in the heat and shedding her layers 

Four more layers to go!

Noah Vacation: Winter Day Part 1

The morning started with some pancakes

Maya loves pancakes

Then we headed out to Marina Bay Sands for Noah's first time ice skating (well, plastic ice skating).

At first, he was very tentative

Holding on to the side

Look, no hands!

Oops - holding on

During that time, Maya was making friends...

Skating to mom

Getting there 

Almost there...

Flying solo

Off he goes

Dancing?

By the end, he was in the middle of the rink, with a big smile on his face

School Excursion to Horsecity

On the 21st of February, just before Noah's school vacation, I accompanied him and his classmates to a trip to the nearby Horsecity.

The kids meeting "Baby" the poney and Bel the instructor

 (Noah with the jeans and grey T-shirt on the left)

Noah brushing Baby

And petting her

Noah very much enjoyed meeting baby and later riding around the ring a few times. Though it was not as fun or exciting as riding with GG in the US according to him.