February 2010

Is it bad that I couldn't remember what we did in February before I looked at the photos? Well as always there was Chinese New Year events to attend. The triplets dressed up for kindy ...

The kids all enjoyed watching the lion dancers up close at a friend's party...

we also watched a pretty amazing aerial Lion Dance Troupe perform,

Those poles were pretty high, like an average person's height and the performers did a great job, providing some heart-stopping moments with their leaps from post to post.

February was also the month Elisha made her second stage debut (who can forget CentreStage, age 4 ,when she had both the leading role, Goldilocks, and a bad case of stage-fright and no-one could hear a word she said?) Here she is in her current school's performance of Cinderella. She's the third mouse across, bottom left.

Alex's class teacher this year makes all the backdrops and stage props, Alex is really so into art this year. He drew this picture of Santa in his sleigh for the triplets to colour in. So cute!

Elisha also took up sailing - which lasted for only one lesson. She didn't feel safe and as it happened, the incident with the jellyfish and the drifting too far out that happened just a few weeks later showed she kinda had a point. Still everyone but Elisha enjoyed her first and only lesson, on Singapore's East Coast beach. She looks happy to be back on dry land!

The kids also had the opportunity to visit the Singapore Airshow, which in true Singapore style was both packed and absolutely steaming hot. I heard on the TV yesterday that Singapore is now the second most densely populated country in the world - gotta believe that. I went through a period when the triplets were smaller of experiencing real anxiety in public just about anywhere with them. The crowds have become so large I really struggled keeping them all together. Anyway at the airshow the kids had to pick one actual plane out of the 15 or so on the tarmac to explore for maximum 5 minutes. It was minimum 45 minutes wait to get in a plane, I wasn't going to do it more than once, the kids weren't really up for it either, it really was sweltering hot with no cloud cover. We met two different families we knew both with the same strategy - so it wasn't just me wimping out . I think the kids enjoyed being in the cockpit in the indoor area more, again a 45 minute queue. We also got to enjoy a fantastic airshow, albeit from the last available, vastly overpriced, buffet table for 4 when 9 of us were paying to eat. The triplets were a bit unsure about the noise, so I was glad we had the option to watch from the outdoor terrace or the indoor restaurant, everyone was happy that way. The day was complete when the kids got some temporary tatoos and then it was back home to recover. Can you say aircon? And hallelujah?

Rhianna looks really tired and I think they all look happy to be back home, we really did have a good time though and you can't beat being home in thirty minutes.

During February we also went to Pulau Sibu, Malaysia for a short break. We went to Sibu Island Resort, which is fine for a short break. Quite a nice beach for the kids to play at. I tried to get a nice photo of all of them individually.

There's a small pool with a slide, free roaming deer which are tame enough to feed from your hand, and the chalet type rooms are basic but clean and the aircon works :) There are also various activities on offer, including an assault course and a zip ride thingy. We did go on a half-day excursion 'snorkeling', our first attempt of 2010 to find Nemo. The 'snorkeling' was a bust, the sea was too choppy and there was hardly a fish to be seen. The kids did enjoy the ride on the speedboat though. (Don't worry, we did eventually find Nemo somewhere near Langawi, though I don't remember which month we did that in! It's been a busy year).  I think we went at the tail end of one of the monsoon seasons, snorkeling is supposed to be pretty okay around Sibu generally. We were lucky with the weather and didn't have rain during the days, only overnight. This mix of photos shows some of what we did in our few days there.

A few days ago a small fishing type boat traveling between a kelong near Sibu and mainland Malaysia capsized, 3 are confrimed dead and 2 missing as I write this. All from Singapore. It is unclear at the moment what happenned but the boat was overcrowded, no-one was wearing life jackets (though there were enough for everyone on the boat) and the monsoon season has started so strong currents/ choppy waters have been suggested. It's very sad news regardless of why it happened.

And of course, Valentine's Day... and yes, the boys are missing their T-shirts again ...

And not forgetting Coco the cat who lived with us for 6 short months,during which he was very loved, before he met his maker, ran off with his girlfriend to make his own family.

I tried to blur the background so you could spot Bellamore easily, do you see her bottom right? Yes, Coco is in her bed. I don't think Belle misses him as much as the rest of us.

And so that was February. I have googled (google is my friend, with five kids forever asking questions to remind me how little I really know) and will finally provide the answer to the question of which is bigger: Anglesey or Singapore, we all know which is better :)

In the red and white corner:

Singapore              624 sq km                 4,767,974 pop. est. 2004             7,641 people per sq. km

In the red and green corner:

Anglesey                720 sq km                  69,000 pop. est. 2007                   97 people per sq.km    

Yay, we're bigger!

Singapore has now definately has crossed 5 million (5.08 million in 2010 from http://www.singstat.gov.sg/) and there are plans to increase it to 6.5 million. There have been some convtroversial ideas about how to increase the number of citizens versus just the population numbers - maybe I will get to that another day. What is for sure is that the population is growing fast - when I arrived in 1994 the population was 2,826,330 according to http://www.theodora.com/. Or 2,826,330 +1 I suppose :) (No wonder house prices are going through the roof). Can you even  imagine Anglesey with that many people? I know we joke, but we surely haven't got anywhere near that amount of sheep even.

I did google number of sheep in Anglesey just for laughs. I found the Shaggy Sheep Outdoor Centre of Anglesey and this image: not sure which castle is in the background? Caernarfon is my first thought? Not Anglesey at any rate.

Tut Tut, Anglesey Shaggy Sheep. Like the costumes though.

I wonder will they do the annual swimming race across the Menai Straits from Foel, Anglesey to Caernarfon Castle this/next year? I did see it reported last year,despite the unusually chilly weather. I think it happens the first weekend of the year, keep an eye out for me. I'm sure it's cold every year but this year is surely going to be worse than usual, or do you think it's "warming up" enough?

Wel, dyma Chwefror i'ch di, gwelwch chi eto, (yes you may correct that nain)

January 2010

So let's start where we were this time last year. We were staying at Red Wharf Bay, waking up to some beautiful dawns. Sometimes jet-lag is not so bad :) especially when you wake before the kids to views like this.

We drove up into the mountains looking for the perfect place for the kids to experience snow for the first time. Some of us loved the snow....

some of us ... not so much...

In fact, four of the five were crying in under ten minutes. I suppose when it looks so nice out of the window, you don't realise that it really is cold. People were smiling as they passed us. 'Aw, poor little things' kind of smiles. And chuckles. We were really, really lucky in our timing though. We didn't stay there long, but it snowed on us. That lifted the kids' spirits for a bit, trying to catch the snowflakes on their tongues like mummy. They were even more happy to be back in the car, having changed their soggy cold socks for new ones. Because I'm prepared like that. We may not have had all the proper gear, what with actually living in the tropics, but we were as prepared as possible.

We all loved the New Year fireworks, including the Canadian cousins, with the possible exception of Daddy who burned a hole through his shoe right down to his big toe, with that deadliest of fireworks ... the Sparkler.

Then all too soon, which comes even when we stay for months, back to Singapore for us. And for the triplets first day at school.

The kids settled back into school ... we grew peanuts ...

(I don't like to leave you in suspense, but when I get to December 2010 you'll see amazingly exciting photos of the bananas we grew this year too :) But first ... the peanuts -

Elisha was posing with them because her Unit Of Inquiry (UOI) at school, was something like 'from the farm to the table' - or from our garden, to the bin, sad looking peanuts, we'll have to try again. I guess at least they did grow.

And to round off January - here's a photo of making friends - triplet style.

The little girl is actually Alex's friend - you'd never guess would you? The triplets well and truly adopted her. (I blurred out her face on purpose for anonymity - what do you think? Blurred enough?). This lovely little girl and her family have now moved on from Singapore and we all miss them all. And yes, Matthew is only in underwear, a recurring theme here, still! At least he's at the back of the photo or I wouldn't be able to share it. So that was January - hope you liked the photos and enjoyed the memories.

New Year's Coming

At times I feel really sad not to be back in Wales this year for Christmas and the New Year. It wasn't how it was supposed to be. But we have made the best of it and the kids enjoyed their Christmas. I had told myself that I would go through all the year's photos and put the nicest up here for you all to see, instead of bringing them all back with me as I did last year. So here we go, the highlights of our 2010.