A Fun and Surprising Day

I had nothing scheduled for Thursday.  If the weather was good, I would take a walk and go exploring. If it was rainy, I would stay home and frame my pictures that I had brought with me.  After fighting with my blog and taking my shower, I got a call from Michelle, our real estate agent, saying that she was in the neighborhood, and could be at my apartment in 5 minutes with the paperwork for our lease. Perfect!  When she arrived, she had her 4-year-old son, Ollie, with her.  She asked if I wanted to hang out with them that day.  She would show me some more places to shop, we would pick up her second son from school, have some lunch, and go watch her oldest at his track event.  How Fun!!!

Our first stop was the ION mall.  We went down to the 4th basement level, where the food court was housed.  Ollie wanted meatballs and ice cream.  However, we were on a bit of a schedule so we could meet her son, Max, after school.  She pacified Ollie with popcorn, because we could take that into the $2 store, and he could eat it while we shopped.  There is a picture of Ollie with the giant popcorn kernel statue.

The $2 store was huge and amazing.  I found all the little cleaning things I needed for our apartment, as well as some other things like scotch tape, etc.  I'm sure that if I looked harder, I could have found more things I needed, but I know where the store is now, so I will be back.  We stopped to get Ollie's meatballs before we left, and we ate them in the car on our way to meet Max after school.  There were 3 meatballs with a kind of barbecue sauce on a stick.  They were yummy.  Good choice, Ollie.  I would have eaten more, but we were on our way to lunch.

After intercepting Max on his way home from school, we headed to the Botanic Gardens.  We ate at a cute little cafe.  Max and I had pizzas, and Michelle and Ollie had beef and noodles.  It was very good, and the setting was beautiful.  After lunch we had just enough time to take pictures of Michelle, Max and Ollie, and have Michelle show me where the Symphony Stage is located.  Concerts are frequently held there, and people bring picnic dinners to enjoy concerts in the park.  I had just found my Pritzker Pavilion in Singapore.  Plus, there were frequent giveaways, wherein the first 500 people would get a picnic hamper filled with food.  Listening to a concert, dining al fresco, and giveaways!  Sign me up!!!

Michelle's oldest son, Alex, was trying to qualify for a track meet in long jump.  The site had quite a few events being staged.  After struggling to find parking, we arrived just in time to see Alex jump.  Unfortunately, shortly after his jump, lightening was seen, so events had to be called for an hour.  Since Alex had already qualified, we were able to take him home.  We arrived at Michelle's lovely home just as the skies opened up.

Ben and Michelle had recently moved to a new home with Michelle's parents.  Her father had some recent health issues that had made the move a prudent one for all involved.  Michelle's house holds her and her husband, Ben, their 3 boys, Alex, Max, and Ollie, and her parents, George and Bertha.  In addition, many Singaporean families have live-in helpers.  Michelle has 2; Lollie and Maya.  It is a very busy place, and everyone is getting ready for Chinese New Year, so I felt doubly privileged to be there, and hope that I was not too much of a burden.  I've taken pictures of the boys in their environment.  Alex, Max, and a neighbor are playing video games, and Ollie is being silly - as a 4-year-old should!

Ollie, Max, and Michelle at the Botanic Gardens

Ollie and the Popcorn Kernel

Ollie, being silly in his living room

Alex, their neighbor, Adam, and Max playing video games in their living room.

After relaxing for about an hour, and eating special yummy Chinese New Year's treats, we left to take Max and Alex to their music lessons.  Alex is an avid pianist.  Max takes drums, but can't practice like Alex, because the drum set isn't at his house.  We dropped the boys at music lessons, and Michelle showed me some other points of interest.  We passed the Ritz Carlton, the hotel at which we stayed 15 years ago, and if Michelle hadn't told me it was there, I wouldn't have recognized it.  Things had really gotten built up in the last 15 years!  She then dropped me at my apartment after a wonderful day spent with normal (and very kind and generous) Singaporeans!!