Love for Basketball

Hubby is a fan of the NBA Games. He will faithfully follow the games every season. So what is staying in the woods without a visit to the game centre to catch at least one NBA game? For this season, we could either catch the New York Knicks in Chicago (against the Chicago Bulls), or in Milwaukee, against the Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee is definitely nearer for us than Chicago. The thought of getting through the traffic mess in Chicago is enough to put us off, not to mention having to pay more for the tickets.

So off we went, on a Friday afternoon, immediately after picking the kids up from school. The kids were excited about going to watch a NBA LIVE game. The little one even said "I'm going to make a poster for the Milwaukee Bucks! I'm supporting the Bucks since Pa is supporting Knicks!".

Getting to Bradley Centre was not as bad as we thought, although there was a long line of cars trying to get into the car parks. I was very glad that Hubby had the foresight to purchase a parking coupon in advance. Even though we were there on time, the car park was almost filled. We had to go all the way to the topmost floor to park.

Hubby bought tickets for seats at the section behind the Knicks. Fans of Knicks were cheering loudly for their team throughout the game. It was a treat to be able to see the players and game up close! I had a great time watching the game, although a little disappointed with the way Knicks played. At half time,  we were all wowed by the cyclists and their amazing stunts. Very impressive. And my little boy was happily holding onto the free gift he received at the entrance throughout the game ... a Brandon Jennings Bobblehead.

A little fan of Bucks cheering for his team! We left a couple of seconds before the game ended. Knicks was playing so badly, that we knew there was no chance for extra time. In a way, it was good, as it was almost 10pm, and the kids were tired and sleepy. It was almost midnight when we arrived home. A tiring but memorial day for me and the kids, as this was our very first attendance at a NBA game =D

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Although we have been in the woods for three years, this is the first time the boys put on a halloween outfit and go "Trick or Treat" with their friends! We started early at 5pm, thinking that we could end by 630pm. The boys were so happy that they wanted to go to another part of the neighbourhood. And so, we extended the fun by another hour. They sure were happy and tired the next day, since they went to bed later than usual.

While the boys and their friend were busy knocking on doors, I was busy admiring the Halloween decorations put up by the residents in our neighbourhood! I was glad to have my camera with me =D

Pumpkins! It's fun carving pumpkins! We were happy to see these pumpkins sitting on the lawn. Love the expressions on them!

Here's another cutie! Isn't it creative?
I have a friend living in another state who painted all her pumpkins ... Red, black, and yellow. Ok, rather, she got her boys to paint the pumpkins, since she's heavily pregnant. She turned the orange pumpkins into Angry Birds! And there were logs of wood for her "pumpkin" birds to sit on!

Apart from pumpkins, there were the tombstones .... here's a cute setup ...

Tombstones and pumpkins ....

We found this at the front door of an apartment ... Erh, I loved the spiderweb, but the white cloth stained with handprints was a little too much for me ... even the inside of the apartment was dimly lit ... spooky!

Facing the same apartment sat a tombstone with skulls and bones scattered around, against a backdrop of trees and sandy ground.

The boys found it thrilling and fun. And they were happy with their little pumpkin "buddies".

And they loved having their "buddies" filled with candies!

That's a almost bucket full of candies! The boys had been warned about the frequency and number of candies they can eat. Candies are not a regular item in our pantry.

School's Out!

School has ended, and Summer is here! Summer camp, swimming, tennis, soccer ... you name it, they've got it in the programme at the local sports and recreation club.

My boys' swimming class will only start in two weeks' time, while my friend's kids will only be going for their Summer Camp next week. We decided to bring our kids to the Olbrich Garden, for a day of fun and play, since the sun's out! A day of fun awaiting ... for two moms, four active boys, and a very sweet girl ...

We love the flowers in the Garden! Take a look at these beauties!

The kids were tired after the walking, and we took a short break under the shade of this huge tree.

Love the green, love the colors, love the space and the clear blue sky!

The boys were happy to be running up and down the slope ... but we had to be careful not to disturb the birds ....

We had fun, and the afternoon passed by quickly. The boys were exhausted by the time we got home. They really dislike walking in the heat, but with good company, they have no complaints =)

Nikon D7000

Our new camera has finally arrived! Nikon D7000! Our old D70 has mold inside the lens, as well as inside the camera. Photographs taken had white spots on them, and the card slot seemed to be faulty as well. Photographs uploaded onto my laptop could not be read, and "disappeared" completed. Lost and gone forever. This had happened quite a few times. It was very frustrating, especially when they were photographs taken during trips. So we decided to invest in another DSLR, since the old was almost seven years old. We bought it when my little boy was born =)

Our first shot. No flash used, taken at night under orange light. What do you think? What you see is what we captured. I did not photoshop the picture. In my opinion, the lens and the focus are pretty sharp. I foresee lots of usage out of this camera, both indoors and out, day and night.

How about this one? I did up the contrast and a little of the color.

The picture was taken from inside the apartment with the zoom (18-200mm) lens. The flowers were just outside my living room window. There was the window pane, followed by the window mesh, then the flowers. The new camera definitely did a great job in capturing the flowers, as compared to when using a point and shoot.

I'm happy with our purchase, and looking forward to purchasing the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8 lens. It is suppose to be good for portraits and low-light photography. And not to mention, it produces sharp images and is reasonably affordable.

It has been raining and I cannot bring the camera out for outdoor shots.

Looking forward to better weather!

Mitsuwa Marketplace

Do you like the ANPANman? Do you like eating bread?

I love bread, and I miss all kinds of bread and buns back home.

The above bun was not made by me, but bought from Mitsuwa Marketplace, a 2-hour drive from where we stay.

We heard about the Mitsuwa Marketplace through our friend.

Thanks, Cindy, for informing us of such a wonderful place!

As I walked through the bakery inside the marketplace, I thought of Four Leaves and BreadTalk. We had to get a bun each, and the boys chose buns which were bigger than mine!

There was a food fair going on, and we spotted these Takoyaki! There was a long queue for this, but hubby dear patiently stood in the queue while I shopped around the supermarket. The takoyaki looked promising, until I saw them poured the sauce in =( They were so heavy handed with the sauce! So instead of eating it when we got home, we decided to eat it before our drive home. The takoyaki had gotten soggy, even though it was in the box for about five minutes, and the sauce was tasty but salty. I still prefer those back home, with just a dash of mayo and lots of bonito flakes.

And this was one yummy pie made from apple and sweet potato! A nice crust at the bottom, topped with some mashed and cooked sweet potato, layered on with slices of apples, and topped the pie with some criss-cross crust .... We should have bought more of this pie! I have to look for the recipe when I am less busy and try to make!

We bought some Japanese snacks, but the above was the family's favorite ... Daifuku! We were fighting to have the last piece, LOL. The boys wanted more and more after eating their first. I had to limit to two per person. Hubby dear kindly rejected his share, so the boys got three each. It is soft, chewy but doesn't stick to your teeth, and the filling inside is light and refreshing.

Right now, I am eagerly awaiting our next trip to the marketplace. And we will definitely be having our lunch there! And the boys will surely remind me to get more packets of their favorite Daifuku and buns.

Horrible Science

I got to know about this series of books from a friend's blog. She blogged about how much her son T loved these books, and how he learnt something from reading them. I did a search on Amazon, read a couple of pages, and placed order for "Bulging Box of Books - Horrible Science".

These books were shipped from UK, and I was impressed by the prompt shipping by this external company, pbshopus. The books were shipped from their UK warehouse a day after I placed my order. And it came wrapped securely in many layers. The box was in very good condition when I received it! I will definitely order UK published books from this company again!

These books would be good for summer reading. Darling son KW was eager to start reading, and loving to do things systematically, he opted to start reading from Book A - Angry Animals. He even brought the book to school to read. I could hear him laughing out laugh as he read. Definitely a boy's kind of book =) And seeing his big brother reading and laughing away, the little one also started reading the first book, after his elder brother finished reading it.

And I'm happy to see them read! It seems kind of crazy to order a box of 20 books. But if the boys enjoy the books, and each book (including the shipping fee) cost less than S$4, why not? I would say that it is money well spent =)

Our First BBQ at Home

The weather has finally warmed up! The last two weeks had been freezing, as the central heating in the apartments had been switched off. After being in the icy cold for six months, I welcome any warmth with open arms!

Since the weather is finally turning warmer, and for the better, we bought a BBQ grill from Walmart at $25. Now that we have a backyard, we can have a BBQ for lunch!

The Grill Master at work =) We didn't have any starter cubes, only the liquid fire lighter. So each time hubby dear poured the liquid fire starter onto the charcoal, flames sprung upwards. We had to shoo our little boy away, although he was out and wanted to help.

We wrapped the grid with aluminum foil. It made cleaning up easier after the BBQ.

After getting the fire started, we could finally put the meat on to grill!!

Yummy soy-marinated chicken wings and drumlets! Love that BBQ taste! So different from when you bake them.

Prawns, marinated with a little sea salt and mirin. Added some sweet mini peppers. Wrapped them up in aluminum foil and leave the packet on the grill to cook!

Some baby corn .. seasoned with a little butter and sea salt.

Wrapped in aluminum foil and leave on grill to cook too!

Deboned chicken thigh fillets, marinated with garlic powder, ginger powder, soy sauce and honey! Yummy!

Do you like grape or cherry tomatoes? Put them on a skewer and BBQ! They taste so good!

We will be BBQ again on Monday, Memorial Day, since the weather is supposed to be good! And I do foresee using the BBQ grill very often in summer =)

Weekend Activity - Making Bookmarks

Darling son YW has been bringing home chapter books to read as homework. He is in Grade 1, the equivalent of Primary 1 in Singapore. He is currently reading the book on Stuart Little. He brings the book for two days, and will be asked to finish three chapters or so during these two days. Sometimes, in between chapters, he will be given a sheet that says "Draw and retell the story from Chapters 1 - 3". It is very much like summarizing the chapters, with your own illustrations. Sometimes, he will have to do a story flag, or complete some comprehension questions after finishing the book.

Very often, he will come to me and say "I don't remember where I stop reading" when I ask him to do his reading homework. Since their swimming and chinese lessons have ended, they now have more free time to do their own things. I asked him if he would like a bookmark, since he kept forgetting where he stopped for his reading. He readily agreed, and I asked him to help me with it. Under my supervision, he was allowed to punch out the various parts of the owl, and put them together. He was happy putting together the bookmark, and used it for his reading homework thereafter. No protest about having to read. Phew!

And I made a bookmark for myself too, from the scraps I have =)

I love the glitter on the blue dots, and I love the bling on the circle!

The above owl card was made when I first received my owl punch from Stampin' Up. Darling son YW liked it so much, I gave it to him and called it an "Owl Badge". Now the little owl bookmark and his owl badge sits side by side on his table, awaiting their next assignment =)

Day Trip to Chicago

Finally, a day of sunshine! It's a good day to drive to Chicago, for some Chinese food, and to buy some egg tarts and 老婆饼.

It started to get cloudy on our way there, and the wind was blowing strongly. Though I was happy to see the yellow school bus, I was not too eager to be driving past big trucks.

It was almost 11am when we reached Chinatown, Chicago. Yes, time for some yummy Chinese food before the crowd comes in! Since Darling son KW wanted to have noodles, we settled for this restaurant selling roast duck and pork.

Darling son KW had CharSiew Noodles Soup, while Darling son YW and I shared a plate of CharSiew rice. The rice was a little too dry and hard, but the CharSiew was good. We also ordered a bowl of porridge to share.

Hubby dear ordered a plate of seafood HorFun. It was a huge! He couldn't finish the horfun, but he ate all the ingredients =)

We saw many people forming a queue in the shop. They all bought either the roast pork (CharSiew) or roast duck. Since I won't have time to cook when we reach home, hubby dear thought we could do with a roast duck, take-out, for dinner. We were glad we bought one duck, instead of half. It was better than the roast duck sold at the asian mart near our apartment!

Next, we were off the bakery nearby, to get our favorite egg tarts! How many did we buy? 20! We had one each when we got home, so the boxes of egg tarts didn't last very long through the weekend.

Next on our list ... 老婆饼! We bought 12! It's a huge "cookie" and the boys can eat one all by themselves! I have two fast-growing boys at home!

The weather was beautiful on our way home. We made a detour to Ikea. The boys had fun exploring the building, after sat through a 2+hr journey to Chicago. Kids are kids, you just have to let them release their energy. After the good food, fun at Ikea, they fell asleep on the way back home =)

Quinzee

After the snowstorm last night, we woke up to see big piles of snow by the walkway. The snow plow had come to clear the snow on the road early in the morning. What shall we do with so much snow? For the last two winters, we had built snowmen, created snow angels on the ground, and had snowball fights. This year, we are going to build a quinzee!

What is a quinzee?

It's a "snow cave" made from piles of settled snow. Somewhat like an igloo, just that igloo is made from piles of hard snow. The man and the boys spent quite some time gathering and compressing the snow into a pile. Finally, they tried digging a hole. I had to constantly remind the boys not to lie on the ground, or to put their head into the hole while digging. I was afraid that the pile of snow might collapse and suffocate them, should they get trapped under. So they went on their knees while digging. Phew.

For the time being, the quinzee is a nice size for the squirrels to hide. We will wait for more snow, and then try to pile more snow to expand the entrance and the inside of the quinzee. Meanwhile, the boys continued to have fun brushing the sides of the quinzee, digging deeper, and piling more snow. I am fine as long as they don't try to get into the little "cave".

Spring Break - DASHing Around!

Darling son KW had been taking rollerblading lessons for P.E in school during the last few weeks of the term. When asked if he would like a pair to practice during the Spring Break, he eagerly said "YES!".

Since I do not wish to invest in an expensive pair of blades, I opted for the cheaper ones. I thought it would be easy for me to buy these blades, but NO! There was no sale, and yet, at the stores, there was no stock available. The boy was very disappointed when we went shopping that day. Luckily, hubby dear's sharp eyes caught sight of a sign that read "Sale, 30% off Rollerblades" at a sports store on our way home. Phew! It was a little more than what we would like to pay for, but the discount given definitely made a significant difference. It was a deal!

What do I like about these skates, even though it was more than what I would like to pay? Well, it would get many, many years of use, as there are 4 adjustable sizes! YES!

Size 1 - 4! Both darling sons can use for the next two to three years. Kids grow fast, and so do their feet! No point getting a pair of skates when they can only use it for one summer? And these skates are really cool!

The boy was really happy that day, and he went round and round the apartment compound!

Spring Break - Learn to Bike!

For two weeks, darling son YW had been biking to school, as the weather had turned warmer. He had four wheels, not two. However, the two little training wheels were raised, and as a result, he was leaning onto either training wheels for support while biking. It was strange seeing him "tilt" to one side.

During the last week of the school term, which was the second week since he started biking to school, we noticed that he was, for quite a distance, balancing and cycling on two wheels! He was no longer tilting to one side. We told him we would remove the training wheels, and he could practice during the Spring Break ... which he did! Just one day, and he was biking on two wheels! Yeah!

He sure had practiced hard during the Spring Break!

When school starts next week, he will be biking to school, along side with his GorGor, on two wheels, not four! I will have to walk fast, really fast, to catch up with them!

Spring Break - Play Time!

The one week Spring Break had finally arrived!
Lovely weather .... beautiful blue sky, and sunny!

We walked to the school playground, to spend the afternoon there.

"Monkey" Time!

"Monkey" up the bars, instead of sliding down.

Ending the climb with a "Monkey" face =p

"Monkey" swing across the bars! WOW!

"Monkey" dance ... whose the "Monkey" and whose the "Tree"?

What's with that unhappy "Monkey" face? Thumbs down indeed =(

Hungry monkeys are angry monkeys ... Ok, Snack Time!

Two happy smiley faces after snacking =)

Time for some soccer!

Taking turns to be the goal keeper!

I guess this is what school holiday is about ... to be out of the house and to run about, having loads of fun, and free from school work!