Bradshaw's Shadows

I took Gerald to a Children's Festival Performance. It is a shadow show and it was really good. Gerald enjoyed himself and so did I.

Started the day by taking photos with daddy.

Take photo with mummy too as we arrived too early.

The shadows were very life-like and the whole performance was filled with songs, stories and was very interactive. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. =)

Visit to Bottle Tree Park

Our cell group organised a trip to the Bottle Tree Park. It was in a rather ulu park of Singapore but the trip was quite educational (at least for me). The boys had fun fishing for prawns.


The boys are all ready to set off on their adventure.

The park was named after the bottle trees in it.


Gareth and Gerald excited at the outing. The place is so near JB that my phone kept picking up the Malaysia signal. Sure kenna charged for overseas call!


Only Gerald was old enough to try fishing for prawns.

Why so long still nothing, mummy?

After the fishing session, the prawns we caught were BBQ-ed for us on the spot. Gerald happily ate 2 prawns.

Little boy in uniform

It has been 1 and a half months since Gerald started in his new school. He is adapting well and can tell me the names of his new friends. The new school has a indoor gym and he looks forward to the twice weekly sessions. Most days, he will say YES when we ask him if he wants to go to school. But he has to wake up really early now to catch the school bus and he will always whine in the morning and complain for headaches and tummyaches. But once he has woken up fully and gotten up the bus, he really seems to enjoy school.

At the void deck waiting for the school bus. See... everything is still dark.

I will usually take him downstairs and see him up the bus before going to work. This pic is taken by Gerald. =)

Room Renovations

We have decided to get beds for the boys' room. They have been sleeping on mattresses on the floor so far but Gerald has proven that he can stay on a bed and not roll off anymore. So we went to Ikea and got them a bunk bed and 2 chests of drawers. Then we played carpenter for 2 nights in a row to assemble the furniture by ourselves. Also had to order mattresses and buy bedsheets. Did not think that getting new beds ready was so much work. Finally, the boys got to use their new beds before Chinese New Year.

The new bed after painstakingly matching and screwing pieces of wood together. It was like building a rocket.

One boy got a Dino Safari themed bedsheets.

The other boy got a Farm themed set.

Gerald, being the older and more agile one, naturally claimed the upper bunk for himself. He is still bouncing up and down with glee now.

Cell Group Retreat

We attended our cell group BBQ cum retreat (9-11 Jan) at the ultra "ulu" Home Team chalet in Sembawang. It is like a 1-star hotel. But cheap so what to do? Beggars cannot be choosers. The BBQ was fun and the food was yummy. We also had a lot of laughs playing Wii in the middle of the night. Overall, there was food, drinks, 'nuahing' and bonding among cell members and guests. We should do this more often.

Luke and I manning the BBQ.

Gerald and Gareth with one of their few female friends. Our church seriously lacks little girls.

Gareth fell asleep really early.

Gerald prefered the air-con comfort of the room.

At a "ulu" bus stop, waiting to take the bus to civilisation for some McDonald's breakfast.

First day in new school

This year we have switched Gerald to a new school and he has to take the school bus all by himself. At first we were worried that he will cry when he gets on the bus. I prepped him days in advance and told him that he has to take the bus by himself. Surprisingly, he happily went up the bus and didn't even whine. He also had no problems adapting to the new teachers and friends. My boy is all grown up.

Gerald has to wake up at 6.30am in the morning in order to catch the bus. Poor thing... he looked so blur in the morning... got bed hair some more.

Gerald getting off the bus. We drove to the school to wait for him after he got on the bus.

Gerald happily got off the bus and went into the school with the rest of the kids. Didn't even look at me much.

Assembly time. Let's play "Where's Gerald?". Look carefully, he is in the picture.

Gerald going to class with his new teacher. Didn't even look for us on the first day of school. Don't know if I should be glad or sad.

2009's first visit to the zoo

To take advantage of not having to start school on the 2nd of Jan this year, I decided to take the kids to the zoo. Gareth has not been to the zoo many times and we wanted to check out the new Rainforest play area for children. But unfortunately, I got a massive migraine not long after we entered the zoo and I was nursing such a severe headache that I didn't get any pictures at the play area. The weather was not very cooperative either and it poured just when the kids were going to enjoy themselves in the pools. We had to cut the trip short and went home quite early. Will get pictures another time.

Gareth is happy just to get KFC for lunch.

Daddy and Gerald likes KFC too!

Year of the ox... so must pose with the Ben and Jerry's cow.

Gerald captured a crocodile!