Chingay, Parade Of Dreams

We went to a great parade last night. Asia's grandest Street and Floats Parade. This was the 35th year of having the parade. Its like the Macy's Thanksgiving's Day Parade in the States.
The President was the grand marshall, countries from all over Asia were represented, there were fire-eaters, girls dancing in balls, amazing costumes. They finished the parade with fireworks set off on top of a hotel roof. The kids had so much fun watching them go by, they stayed up during the whole parade.

Big Boy Bed

Thumb's up!

Oeps!

Thijs got his big boy bed tonight. He has been climbing out of his crib in the morning. He thinks he is sooo cool... He is 3! He is a big boy...! Hopefully he will get potty trained sometime soon. He is thinking about it for sure. He took his diaper off while we were getting his big bed organized and he went to the freezer to get the M&M's out (a prize for going on the potty) and while he was getting them out he pee'd in the freezer door... Poor guy, he had all the right intentions and still did not get a prize.

The Istana

That means "Palace" in Malay. Its the official residence of the President of the Republic of Singapore. It sits on over 100 acres of land along the famous shopping street "Orchard Road". On 5 public holidays it is opened to the public. Chinese New Year is one of those days. We took the kids this morning. Major security to get in. First thing we see is a 9-hole golf course, very nice. The grounds used to house a nutmeg plantation. The palace itself was build in 1869 by the British Colonial Government. It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed walking around the gardens. We were allowed to tour some of the rooms on the first floor, the Reception Hall, the State room and the Victoria Room. It was neat to see how they had it decorated.

Happy Birthday Thijs!!

Thijs turns 3 today. All week he has been telling anybody who wants to listen that is going to have a birthday. He woke up early this morning (maybe excited about his party?) and tried climbing into my bed at 545am, somehow missed getting up the bed properly and fell back (in the dark) hitting his head on the floor. So I woke up this morning.. hearing a tumble followed by screaming and crying.. it all turned out to be OK, but what a way to wake up. He sings "Happy Birthday to YOU!" as loud as he can, pointing at himself. If you ask him how old he is, he answers: "two, oh no three". We had a pool party this morning. Thijs had invited 5 little girls and 1 little boy. It started raining at 10am but the kids did not care. They just played in the water and ate under the big umbrella. It seems like such a short time ago that he was born. Time really does go fast. I love the stage he is in now, he can be so serious, so naughty and so sweet and helpful. He is trying to talk and explain and when he can communicate to me that he walked to the park with his class and he held hands with a girl named Kate and on the way over to the park Kate fell and hurt her nose and she cried really hard... I find that amazing. It seems like only a few weeks ago he was this little person who could do nothing. Now we can almost have conversations. Sweet.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

All the kids on the side walk waiting for the dance to start

Natalie and her class up close and personal with the Lion

That means Happy New Year in Chinese. There was a Lion Dance at Natalie's school today for Chinese New Year. I thought it would be fun for Thijs to go see it. It was about 35 degrees and really humid. The kids were all dressed in either Chinese outfits or anything red. It was a great sight.

A Beautiful Day

We had a beautiful day here in Singapore. It has been so nice for about 2 weeks now. I think the rainy season is over. Blue skies, sun and heat is all we are getting now. Colin left at 4 am this morning for yet another 10 day trip. (Only good thing about this trip is all the stuff he will bring back... He is in States and will be making a Target run for me!) It makes for long days on the weekend when he is gone. The kids spend the morning playing with water on the balcony, having a tea party, washing the cups and watering the plants, while I pulled dead flowers and leaves. Then we went to the pool to cool off. The kids LOVE having lunch there, so we had lunch down at the pool and came back up around 1pm to shower and rest. Thijs actually wanted to take a nap (!) and Natalie and I did homework and finished making her Valentines for school this week. After Thijs woke up we went to a playground at one of the reservoirs nearby. We took Thijs' bike and Natalie's scooter to make it easier for them to get around. We watched the turtles in the reservoir and the monkey's in the trees. It was good to be us today!

Another morning at the Zoo

It is so nice to have a membership to the Zoo. We just walked around for a few hours last week. The Orangutang was roaming around (with his trainer of course), we were able to touch a HUGE Python (not our favorite!!), we went into an area where cute little monkeys and large lizzards were within reach. They have a lot of the animals just out and about between the visitors.

Photo taken by Natalie... she loves taking picutes!

Goofing off on the way back to the car.

Thaipusam

!!!! Proceed looking at the pictures at your own risk!!!!

Yesterday morning I went to see yet another religious and cultural event unlike any other!! The Thaipusam festival is a Hindu festival of thanksgiving celebrated in honour of Lord Subrahmanya who represents virtue, youth and power and is the destroyer of evil. A spectacular four-kilometer procession begins at Serangoon Road in Little India and goes on to the Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple. The first devotees set off in the early hours of the morning carrying milk pots as offerings to Lord Subrahmanya. Following them are some devotees for whom the festival is a display of faith and mind over matter as they pierce their tongues and cheeks with metal skewers. This is so they cannot speak during their procession. Others attach large metal frames called kavadis to their bodies using an horrific array of hooks and spikes. During the procession these highly dedicated participants are joined by friends and family who drum and chant to keep up their morale. Some of the more hardy devotees also hang weights from their kavadis. In the build up to the festival these devotees must live a life of abstinence while maintaining a strict vegetarian diet sometimes for up to 48 days. It is believed that only when the mind is free of material wants and the body free from physical pleasures that a devotee can undertake this sacred task without feeling any pain and shedding blood. The festival occurs during the full moon day in the month of Thai (during January or February). It is a unique spectacle, but definitely not one for the faint-hearted. The sort of thing you would expect to see on a National Geographic Special.

Women carry milk pots as offerings to Lord Subrahmanya.

A participant walking the whole way on shoes made with nails sticking up.

A participant with a kavadis attached to his body using an horrific array of hooks and spikes. In addition he has the spikes thru his tongue and cheeks.

This participant is actually pulling his altar by hooks thru his back.

This is the altar his is going to pull.

This participant is joined by friends and family who drum and chant to keep up his morale. Each orange is hanging off his body on a hook. He is also pulling his own altar.