Grattis kusin Minja 6 ar

When you are far far away from cousins and family, you simply have to make a pretend B-day party :-)

Mana Mana Beach Club

Sunday morning, kids are awake WAY to early with energy levels not of this world... off we go to Mana Mana Beach Club on the East Coast, perfect for a quick B-fast, loads of coffee and play at the beach. Compared to the beach clubs at Sentosa, Mana Mana is not as good, but a good and laid back alternative for the East Coast! The Gorman's met up and the girls played great together (well, at least what you can expect for 2-4 yrs old...). Guess it helps they are pretty much in the same age and go to the same school...

It was a triathon in East Coast this morning which was a very exciting experience for the girls, who looked with big eyes, and ran all the way to the car "just like the runners" :-) 

Sports Class - Cricket & Soccer

Exciting Saturday morning for Hannah with Sports!!

Hannah's cooking home work

Hannah's first 'home work' - cooking a dish with bell peppers. Good we have Nady at home, as my cooking skills are everything but acceptable.... :-) 

Hari Raya Weekend

Long weekend in Singapore, due to Hari Raya. This is celebrated by the Muslims signifies the end of the fasting season of Ramadan, and the celebration is determined by sighting of the new moon. 

We had no major plans but to enjoy a relaxing time with the family. I did have plans to get back into running again, but failed miserably by only getting 5 km under my feet.... Let's see if I can get back on track next weekend instead.... :-) 

Monday was spent BBQing and hanging by Kasper & Tine's pool, more relaxation :-) Until our oldest daughter had had enough of quiet activities and decided to have a "terrible-three's" melt-down.... I winder if there will be a "terrible-4, terrible-5, terrible-6..." or will the melt-downs simply stop at a certain age?!? Or maybe it is simply my daughter... Oh well, we all fell asleep as soon as we got home (5pm), which of course made the bedtime routine completely screwed... now finally winding down with Danish "Matador" and the blog.... and dinner? No, completely over-rated, chocolate and wine do the trick!!  :-)   

Reunion BBQ :-)

Wonderful when friends are returning from a LOOOONG summer holiday - BBQ by the poolside to celebrate :-)

Matilde & Nellie were super happy to be together again :-)

Matilde, Lea, Nellie & Hannah - lined up all nice and quiet.... reason: Dora on DVD ;-)

Ingrid joins the girls gang :-)

Shaws - new schools for the girls

Both girls in same school, wonderful!! It would have been a logistical nightmare to have them at two different schools, so very pleased it all worked out in the end...

So far, everything is going great. We are happy about the school, and most importantly, so are the kids. Matilde was fine for the first 3 days, but now, she is not over the moon when we drive up to the school realizing she will be dropped of without mummy... Hannah is trying her best to help out when little sister is crying but fortunately, Matilde is fine a few minutes after I have left... Oh well, she'll be fine in a few weeks :-)

Majulah Singapura

Singapore National Day and we celebrate by a day off from work :-)

Relaxing day with Starbucks B-fast, beach visit (unfortunately with two not so cooperative kiddos so very short...), 2 hr nap!, and pool-time. Aim to go for a run but doubt I can get enough motivated for that.... oh well :-)

Red-and-white clothes, to honor Singapore flag's colors. This was the best
picture I managed to get of the two of them....

The girls school celebrated SingaporeNational day yesterday, and started the day by singing the national anthem. The children also paid tribute to Singapore by clenching their right fists to the left side of their chests as a gesture to symbolise loyalty to the nation as we recited the pledge. As a tradition, to celebrate with the nation, the children wished Singapore a very Happy Birthday by singing the birthday song and helping to blow the candles off our National Flag jelly! The children were also very excited to receive their national flag tattoos!!

Hannah's class, N2

Matilde's class, PN

Very serious children when reciting the pledge, showing loyalty to Singapore :-)

Japan

I went to Japan (Tokyo and Yokohama) for a 2 day business trip, and managed to experience a little of the Japanese culture - thanks to very nice colleagues!! 

Seriously, ALL over Tokyo, there are vending machines....

Takeshita Street - what a crazy 'fashion' district, one outfit
more crazy than the other one.... but fun though :-)

Dinner with Chris, a former H&M colleague from Hong Kong :-)

View from my hotel

Major fireworks in Yokohama... me on the bus towards the airport going home :-) 

Stephane & Tristan - Tokyo colleagues who were the best of hosts!! 

Weekend fun in Singapore :-)

Hannah has started 'Shaws Little League' which is a bunch of different sport activities everyday Sat am for an hour. Didn't know if that was something for her but she loved it from the first second she got there, so that will be the fall weekend activity for her.

While Hannah & I go to the sports class, Matilde and Morten do something else, like biking or grocery shopping :-)

We spend a looooong day at the zoo today, and had a great time (i.e. the kids weren't fighting, no complaints re tired legs and hot weather, etc etc so good for us!) 

where to go.....

Sea Lion show

Kids show with dogs and cats and rats - and dancing with the kids who were up for it :-)

Jabadabadoooooo :-)

Some Kalle girls enjoyed feeding the giraffs more than others.... ;-)

The newly wed with kids visits :-)

Anders, Mette, Rio & Noah came by the summer house for a day/night. Great to have some more time with them, and the kids played really good together.

After bedtime, the game of the summer was taken out, and a fierce board game session started - and thank Godness we tied :-)

Noah in his 'eating-sand-age' :-) 

Smukke Mette :-)

Rio and Matilde are rocking :-)