Fishing or feeding?

At the local store, on Tioman Island, Thomas was very eager to get a fishing pole, and at the end we gave in! Phillip on the other hand, didn't want the pole, he went for some chocolate instead! Maybe he is becoming more like his mom.....
Daddy is trying to make the hook a bit more child friendly for a first time fisher! And i guess its also quite good for the other people around....
Daddy is giving instruction. Thomas is very concentrated, but i don't know how much his listened..... Daddy had to untangle the tread (?) quite a few times, to his big frustration!
The water was just filled with fish....... and they really loved the loaf we got from the restaurant! Phillip was generously throwing out bread! The fishing trip became more of a feeding trip.....which everybody were quite happy with!
The catch of the day!Beautiful sunset while we were feeding....

Snorkeling at Tioman Island

Around Tioman there are quite a bit of corals. So everybody rented some snorkeling outfit.....except mom. I am happy staying on the beach and the more shallow water!
Thomas and daddy went quite fare out to snorkel. Thomas was pushed around by daddy, and he was so proud of all he had seen. He even visited Nemo and is dad! That topped everything!
A tired boy, which did very well!
Phillip were not to happy wearing the mask, but the life jacket was perfect. Finally some freedom for this boy also!
Trond ready to show were he and Anne Siri saw all the Nemos.
The rock were Nemo and his father lives!

Tioman Island, Malaysia

We decided that we needed a trip to a tropical island this time too, and landed on the island Tioman. This time we booked through an agency, to make it easier. The bus went from Fare East Plaza at 06.30 in the morning, and jetty from Mersing at noon (which was delayed) and I think we arrived the island around 2 o'clock - a looong trip! Anne-Siri had a upset stomach, so the trip was even worse for her..... (No toilet on the bus!)
This was the rooms we had the first day. In the back you can see Thomas and Phillip feeding the fish. Because the low fences and lack of fences around the 2 m. deep pond, dad and mom was not relaxing at all......... Got to switch room the next day!
The gang is already on the beach. The water was really nice, but with the tide all the dead corrals made it difficult to swim.
Phillip enjoys the sand. He ended up burring moms sandals......
The boys are looking for fish. They were not easy to catch, just ask daddy, but hi manage to get one. There was a lot of "life" in the sand on the beach - the kids really enjoyed that!
Here one can see the dead corals.... We didn't bring proper shoes for the kids (stone fish around), so there was no playing in between the rock.

Link to the place we stayed:
http://www.payabeach.com/index.html

River Cruise

We tried something new with Anne-Siri and Trond - boat trip from Clarke Quay and down the river. Clarke Quay is Singapore's Aker brygge in Oslo.
The bumboat that we went on.
The Cavenagh Bridge. This was the last big project undertaken by convicts here in Singapore. It was finished in 1869. When they built the bridge they did it without a great deal of thoughts to the tides (tongkangs), so the lighters that transferred cargo from the ships to the warehouses at Boat Quay, and back, could not pass under the bridge at high tide. It became a footbridge in 1909, but it still bears its old sign that forbids bullock carts, horses and heavy vehicles from crossing.
Juhu Thomas!!
The Merlion - which is half lion and half fish, is standing at the mouth of the river, and was where the bumboat turned around and went back to Clarke Quay. In the back one can also see som F1 cars from the big night race that had been the weekend before. The Merlion is inspired by the two ancient (Sanskrit) names for the island: Singa Pura (lion city) and Temasek (sea-town).
After a wet run from the bumboat, we all needed some food - of course! Luckily Clarke Quay is covered by big umbrellas - for rain and sun!

Anne-Siri and Trond

On Sunday the 28th of September Anne-Siri and Trond finally arrived Singapore. We had all been looking forward to see them. They were just gonna stay for 12 days......which we all thought was to short! So we tried to enjoy every minute!

Science Centre Singapore

We felt it was about time to explore something new, so we landed on the science centre. This is a very big complex, with a lot to do for kids. We didn't mangage to see that much, because we sort of dumped into a science day - where Thomas wanted to try everything. Its defiantly a place we go back too!
The main entrance. They had a special exhibition on dinosaurs now.

Where did the rest of Thomas and Phillip go........
From the dionsaur exhibition. Skeleton of a.........dinosaur!
A picture of the children's Discovery Centre, where the kids ran around and tried everything. They also had hatching chicken eggs here. After this picture the battery on the camera went flat......not very well prepared for this trip, but we will be back!

Brunch at "Bali"

This is a very nice place to have brunch on a Sunday (I don't remember the name of the place...). We read about it in a magazine, and on our Sunday hunt for a bed we decided to try it.
Here we are sitting in our own "room" waiting for the food.
While waiting for the food the kids played a lot with the sitting "beds". They really had a great time at this place. There were also a little pond with some goldfish and turtles in it.
Enjoying our delicious brunch!

Bird Park again...

On the 15th of August we went back to the Bird Park. We have now bought a year pass, this way we can go when ever, and weekdays are the best! First we went to a show with a lot of different bird, and then we walked around a bit until Thomas remembered the feeding station....
Thomas was so proud to feed the parrots!
Phillip was a bit more scared, so Thomas and mom helped him. He also had a bit of problems holding the weight.
Phillip and Rachel.

Daddy's birthday!

Than it was finally dads big day. I don't think we should say anything about age..... But his still thinks his around late 20's!! Tjihihi!
In the morning the kids and mom got up and decorated the living room and made nice breakfast for daddy.
The kids decided that also Daddy needed party hats for his birthday. Later on that day we went out and got Daddy a birthday present - a Kenwood kitchen machine - Hurra!! I don't think it was the thing that daddy wanted the most, but it was something we needed (just like the vacuum cleaner i got for Christmas! Tjihihi)
We didn't have enough candles, so decided that one would be the symbol of all of them. The day after Daddy got a wonderful cake made with his new Kenwood!!

Nationalday of Singapore

On the 9th of August it was Singapore's 43rd birthday. Every year they have some entertainment down on the stage in Marina Bay, and at the end theres a big firework. We packed a picnic bag to go down and have a look, but because of moms bad back (NO, i am not getting old!) and some heavy clouds we decided to have the picnic on our balcony.
On the menu we had ham and cheese, crackers and bread, Rabina and vin...... Really nice! We all tried to be patriots by wearing Singapore's colours - red and white!! After a while the rain came, easy to escape by being at home.... so the end of the picnic we did at the dining table!

Linda and Marius leaving

After three weeks in Singapore, Linda and Mauris went back home to Norway (7th of August 2008). We all squeezed into the car - and had a proper goodbye at the airport. We are looking forward seeing you again!!!

Thomas celebrating his birthday in kindergarden

Thomas was so excited having is birthday party in kinder garden - finally it was his turn. Linda, Rachel and mum stressed quite a bit to get it all fix, but was only 30 minutes late...thjhihi! Everybody in Thomas group - the kookaburras - were ready for cake.
First we all sang Happy Birthday, and then Linda and I did the Norwegian birthday song - Hurra for deg! Than the chines teacher and some of the chines kids sang the chines birthday song.....and finally Thomas could blow out the four candles!
The birthday kid is concentrating very hard om cutting the cake. Because of the birthday crown, the kids in his class started calling him the King!
Everybody got some cake and juice. A very happy, but very loud gang!!
At the end the King handed out a candybag for everyone - which is very popular!