Trip to the zoo

One of the highlights of our Singapore trip was a trip to the Singapore Zoo. Jon loves to watch his two videos of animals and we thought it would be great for him to see them up close.

But when we turned into Mandai road, the not so little one promptly fell asleep in the car. So we let him nap for about 45minutes before deciding we ought to get in the queue for tickets, so we loaded him into the pram. The nice cool air woke him up, and we found ourselves at a very long queue. Thank goodness we took only 20minutes to reach the ticket counter.

It's Jon's first trip to the zoo, and he was dwarfed by the greenery that brought the temperature down a couple of degrees. First animals he saw were the otters. As he had just woken up, he couldn't recognise this was the same animal that loves to swim in the video. Next were the primate world. Two of the monkeys were high up in the trees, but they were so loud in their calls, that Jon was wondering where the sounds came from.

We came to the enclosure where the oldest Orang Utan of the zoo, Charlie, was. He had his back facing us. Then he turned around for a few seconds, which we managed to capture on camera. But Jon didn't notice coz Charlie was too big, so Jon did not get to see the huge primate. Think he would be scared to see such a huge "monkey"!We saw the elephants, the reptile world, tortises...but not Jon, or maybe he didn't react to them coz they didn't move much. When we got to the Children's part of the zoo, that's when Jon could see animals at his eye level. He was curious about the goats, horses and rabbits. But I think the heat got to him, and he was sleepy. The new water park was wonderful. People could let kids play to their hearts' content and take a rest. There's Kentucky Fried Chicken and Ben & Jerry's too! But Jon was a wee bit afraid of the large crowds and older kids running around. So I carried him and brought him nearer the water sprays. Maybe he will enjoy them when he's older. There was a carousel outside the water park, but when we gained speed after a couple of rounds, Jon didn't like the feeling and started to cry. My goodness, he inherited my dislike for rides! I could take this one coz it's a kiddy ride. But to tell the truth, I didn't feel too good towards the last part of the ride too.....sigh.We lasted about 3hours at the zoo, which was just about right for a toddler Jon's age. I think all of us were tired, plus the weather was quite hot too. Will be back in a couple of years' time.

Jon's first dip in the pool

Yeah, Jonathan was introduced to the pool quite late at age of 16months. There's only one public swimming pool in Miri and you would most prob have to be a member of a club to get access to one.

Anyways, whilst we were back in Singapore for Christmas and New Year, we brought Jon to my cousin's place at Changi Rise. The pool was cold and Jon didn't like his first dip in the huge "bath tub". So we brought him out and let him dip his toes first.

Then Simon had to carry Jon for a while in his arms as he walked the pool. It was a nice pool with sand at the bottom (less injuries for kids compared with a tiled pool), a pirate ship with slides and canons that spouted water. After a couple of minutes, we put Jon into his float again, and Simon swam with him and introduced him to the nice pirate ship.

After half an hour, it was out of the pool and wrapped by a warm towel that we left in the sun. As he enjoyed the short dip in the pool, we'll try to bring him to the pool more when we get back to Miri.

Back in Miri

We're back in Miri....never thought I would say this, but Yay, home sweet home!

Jonathan had fallen sick promptly on 1 Jan, all the way till we departed on 5 Jan. He had a fever, cold and cough. All the running around, not napping, stimulus overload had taken a toll on him. Poor little man...we stayed home to nurse him, and there went my shopping plans, and I also didn't meet some friends.

I was afraid that Jon would have a terrible time on the return flight. But he was quite well behaved and with 45mins remaining on the flight, he climbed into my lap and fell asleep. But it was me who was suffering, my ears were so blocked, I was really afraid that they would burst! Said a silent prayer to God to protect all of us.

Jon was happy to see Uncle Stanley and Aunty Grace picking us up at the airport. When we got home, Jon was so happy to see his fav people - grandpa, grandma. And I was happy to be catching up on sleep to try to recover from the cold that Jon passed to me. But as he's used to being in air-conditioned rooms, it was difficult to recover and I am still sniffing away. So I will post photos of our trip sometime next week.

Here's wishing you all a Happy New Year. The year 2008 may not have ended on a very good note, with bombings in Mumbai and the Middle East, and we don't know what to expect in 2009 with the financial crisis looming over us, but I know that God is ultimate in control of our lives. He has been in control of history and He is in control of what's to come. So, I give thanks for the many little things that dot my life:

• A roof over our heads, and meals on our tables
• Family members - some we love, some we argue with, some we wish to see more of
• Friends - who really are there for us through it all
• For Simon - my man who's there for me, and so level headed
• Jonathan - who snuggles up to me in bed despite my breathing so hard the last week (doesn't matter what experts say about not letting your kid sleep with you), his smiles, and him reaching out to be carried