32

I turned 32 today. It was special in many ways. Firstly, having mama here is just wonderful. Sera kept singing 'Happy Birthday' to me, throughout the day. She and grandma spent the whole afternoon baking a lemon birthday cake, and cooked my favourite vegetarian dish ('chap chye' that consists of 10 different vegetables cooked in a kind of stew). And after the girls were tucked into bed, Johan and I went out with our friends from Old Town to have a small celebration just across the road.

Thank you dear family and friends for sending me all your lovely wishes from all over ...

She was very enthusiastic about her little project for the afternoon

Working those arms with the electric whisk

And finally spreading the lemon icing

Sera wanted to cut the cake after the icing was done but had to wait four hours later until Johan came back from work. The minute he walked in, she screamed "Let's cut the cake!" ...

Another surprise when out with friends at The Address

The mothers whose kids were all fast asleep ... phew!

The fathers who also had a break tonight

Sera and Yas in Singapore

The few weeks in Singapore were great. It was just enough time to meet up with good friends and family. Sera and Yasmin were easy travellers and both were just so happy hanging out with us everyday. Yas started to stand early into the trip and now, back in Dubai, she tries reach out for anything that gives her leverage to stand. Sera discovered a few things about herself when in Singapore. One was that she simply adored croissants, which she called 'little moons' and that she could 'scooter' pretty well.

So anyway, here are just some random photos that I didn't post, but thought to share with you guys. Enjoy!

A typical parent thing to do ... "It's a neck support pillow not a headset"

Sera discovered her love for croissants during this trip back

A typical Yas look

Our flower girl

Little poser on the streets of Chinatown, Singapore

Yas chilling out on a dim sum trolley

Surprisingly, she took to the scooter so easily ...

Hey guys, I'm standing now!

Cousins

Sera simply adores her two cousins, Isaac and Aaron, but sadly they don't get to spend much time together since we're lliving continents apart. However, the little time that they do spend together is always precious and funnily, they seem to easily re-ignite their chemistry once together. Yesterday, we had dinner together at Yum Cha, a dim sum restaurant in Chinatown, and the three of them were just outrageous together. Yasmin was highly entertained by them and was practically jumping out of her high chair to join in the fun. Here are some photos of the three of them. As usual, it is nearly impossible to get a proper photo of them together ... but then again, what's the fun in proper right?

We finally got them to sit down for 5 minutes while they devoured their dessert, mango pudding. Zoom in on the photo and you'll see that Aaron added chili sauce into his pudding thus the biggest grin from Isaac and the 'is he for real?' expression from Sera.

Must have been all that sugar in the pudding!

They inch closer together

Not sure what Isaac and Sera are up to but Aaron seems to be saluting someone?

A lovely photo, don't you think?

Moms and bubs hang out

This afternoon, the girls and I visited with auntie Evan, Chloe and Raphael. Sera and Chloe were busy playing while the little ones, Yasmin and Raphael tried to join in by crawling all over them. It was a chaotic but in a way, blissful afternoon. We even got Sera and Chloe to give us an impromptu performance!


Rocker chicks from Que Sera Sera on Vimeo.

By the beach

Today was a free and easy day. We spent the whole afternoon at the East Coast Park, after a long lunch at Sushi Tei. After lunch, we sat down at Carl's Junior for a milk shake fix (Johan always say that dessert goes into a different tummy!) while Sera busied herself with blowing bubbles.

The weather was almost perfect, a little on the sticky side but we decided it was time to move over to the beach. We asked Sera if she wanted to ride on her 'like-a-bike' and as usual, she said 'NO'. Hmm, this little rental was not kicking off with Sera. Anyway, we ignored her refusal and got the bike out from the car. Sera, we've learned, needs encouragement on certain things. And we, always need more patience. She refused to go on the bike so Johan went on it and that got us all laughing, of course. Sera finally went on it, for about 7 minutes, but at least she tried it and we hope she enjoyed it a little. We spent the rest of the afternoon quietly enjoying each other's company, watching Sera collecting casuarinas and Yas, chewing on twigs. We definitely need more days like these!

So we finally got her on the like-a-bike but it's definitely not a hit with her ...

A perfectly lazy day

Rapper chick

This trip to Singapore, Johan and I decided not to bring any toys, just a few books for Sera. So she had to really just amuse herself with little in our little room. Yesterday, she surprised us when she jumped unto the luggage that has been lying on the floor, grabbed Yasmin's hair brush and asked us animatedly, "Are you readyyyyyyyyyyy?"

Before we could even reply or recover from our surprise, she started belting out her nursery rhymes, giving them a hip hop approach, one after another. And she would wait for us to applaud before she sang yet another one and another one. Oh Sera ... you sure can entertain us.



Rapper chick from Que Sera Sera on Vimeo.

The horn of a rhino is made up of hair ... bet you didn't know that!

A visit to Singapore is only complete if we visit the zoo. And we did just that today. It was a perfect day because the rain only came down after we left the zoo! So we were very blessed with the best kind of 'zoo visit' weather - slightly overcast so that mean it wasn't too hot, with a little breeze. It's always nice to go to the zoo with Sera but now with Yasmin, it's really double the thrill for us. She was so tired since she missed her morning power nap, but she just could not resist the new green lush environment she found herself in. She got so excited whenever she saw the animals, especially the ones that actively moved. So the otters, the desert squirrels and the swinging orang utans were among her favourites. Sera always enjoys the zoo and this time round, she was just beside herself when she entered the newly revamped Kidz World, which had a really cool water park. Guess who the biggest kid was? Yup, that would be Johan. He was, I daresay, the happiest kid in the water park!

So it was a very full day and a thoroughly enjoyable one for all of us.

All set for the zoo ...

Come on guys ... even I know these ain't real!

A happy zoo-er

Kanga's open enclosure

Sera never fails to find her sticks

Desert squirrels

Check out that croc

Grandma and Yas along the zoo trail

Sera didn't know what she was getting into ... the zookeeper grabbed hold of her arm and the giraffe swooped down to lick off the carrot from her fingers! Wide eyed and about to scream, she dashed away from the giraffe after that.

Yas on the other hand was all calm and oblivious to his giraffe (check out that tongue!). She dipped her fingers into the bowl of carrots and wanted her share of the carrots!

Hey beautiful!

The kids come out to play!

There was no stopping ...

these two kids ...

who hogged the slides ...

Just look at them chilling out in the shallow pool

A tired and satisfied customer

Changi Village ... our little getaway

We've been staying at a cosy chalet in Changi Village, along the far east coast of Singapore. It's nice that we're actually tucked away in what seems like a rustic 'fishing village' part of Singapore. So here are some photos of us taking a stroll along the boardwalk as the sun sets on the island.

Not sure what's with the three of them, all giving me 'attitude'

I love many things about Sera and the one thing I really love is how she always find joy in the simplest things, like this stick. "Look mama, I found a very long stick!" And then she decided to go 'leaf fishing', imitating the guys that were fishing at the jetty.

Yas is always ready with a smile

Sera decided to make 'sand cakes' for all three of us

Tossed the camera to Johan and finally got a photo with Yas

Rain-ed in days

Good weather hasn't been on our side since we arrived. We were planning to spend it outdoors, in Singapore's hot and humid weather, all day but we've been given heavy showers for a good part of every day. But we'll rush out whenever there is a pocket of sunshine.

Yasmin has been a good traveller, not difficult at all. She went straight into a routine that she found and decided for herself. We just happily went along with her. Sera had a little more difficulty adjusting to the time difference and the change in weather. For the past few days, she's been fighting a cold and a cough.

Johan and I managed to catch one movie, so far, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I liked it, I think Johan liked it too, though he may have thought it was a little bit too curious? This movie made me think of the cycle of life and death, from young to old and in the case of this curious movie, from old to young. I though the script was quite witty and art direction was interesting too. So I guess the next movie we'll catch would be Slumdog Millionaire, just to see if it's really worth the awarded Best Picture.

Getting Sera to try anything new can be a challenge sometimes. She didn't want to step on Marc and Joseph's trampoline last August but this time round, she decided it was time. She couldn't stop jumping after that!



Hanging out with their Joseph, Marc and Rachel

I'm REALLY not one of 'those parents' that trumpet their children's talents but come on, this abstract drawing of a sealion by Sera ... hah, just blew me away. ha ha ha

Her version of a ray fish

And finally, a spider

That's Yas admiring her sister's work ... grin

She slept a lot during the days we were indoors ... in the end, she adjusted to the time difference with ease

What's with these hats grandma?