New Fun

The owners of our new apartment were kind enough to leave toys for Aaron. Here is one of them!

Settling In

Moving day on Saturday went very smoothly. 13 friends came to help us with the move. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with such kind friends.

The last three days have been crazy with unpacking and setting up the home. Things are going well, and we think maybe they will slow down in a couple of weeks! (In time for Danny to go back to work.)

Here is a look at our apartment from the outside. One of the common features of HDB housing is the laundry sticking out from the windows. As you see we have joined that crowd. Those are our sheets hanging out from the 10th story window.
Even Aaron has been helping with the unpacking.

Though not everything makes it exactly where it is supposed to go! He tries.

Moving

We are in the process of moving into our new apartment over the course of the week. We plan to move our furniture and things on Saturday, then to spend a couple days next week doing a thorough clean in this place. Part of the moving process will include transferring our phone and internet service to the new place. As a result we will be without internet for 10-15 days. This will be our last post until early August. Please continue to pray for us!

I've tried to fill your picture desires for a couple of weeks. There are 20 new pictures from two different parks, fourth of july photos, and eight pictures of our new home.

Enjoy!

BottleTree Park

These first pics are from June 23rd. We went with our small group to a little park that had facilities for fishing.

Here is the fishing pond for the youngsters. This little pool was stocked with thousands of little feeder fish. Kids could spend $10 for 30 minutes of fishing and the ability to take home the fish they caught!Next to the fishing pool was this pool for prawn fishing. This is not for the kids as it requires quite a bit of patience. This time I think it was $15 for an hour. The boys at the end are from our church, they tried hard but didn't catch anything, though some of the adults that were there caught quite a few.
While the fishing was going on, Betsy, Aaron, & I went for a walk around the "lake".
Aaron enjoyed his first time in the sand. Behind us you see the lake where people can pay to fish.

Fourth of July

We spent the Fourth of July at Clementi Woods Park eating a McDonald's picnic and playing with frisbees.

Here is Aaron in the car on the way there. Aaron pointing out where his favorite disc is. Danny had a lot of fun throwing discs and Aaron enjoyed watching Daddy.
And following Daddy.
And throwing them himself! Nice Putt!
Then Aaron decided it was time to go home, so he got the stroller!

Moving in

A couple weeks ago Aaron saw Daddy working on lesson plans, he wanted that BIG book!We watched a cat for some friends. It was a lot of fun having a cat in the house. Aaron enjoyed this close encounter with the animal kingdom. But we were glad to return her to her owner yesterday. Cats can also be a big mess!
OK, here is your first look at our apartment. We are on the 10th floor of this building.
This is a nice little storage room just off the main entrance.
Yes, the apartment it two stories! The bedrooms are upstairs with the living space downstairs.

We have a tub!!!The owners left a little tent and some balls. Aaron has been enjoying them while we have been unpacking.
The apartment is partially furnished and come with this nice couch.
Here is the view out our living room apartment. Lots of housing in all directions, but some trees too which is nice.
Aaron helping Daddy push the dolly back to the lift.

Talk to you again soon! Pray for us during the craziness of the next two weeks!

The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Now that we have a car, we have been exploring all over Singapore. Some friends recommended this wetlands reserve in the far north of the country, so off we went! This was a beautiful jungle area right off the Straits of Johor, the waterways that separate Malaysia from Singapore. There are boardwalks that allow access to all the tidal mudflats which are home to much marine life and the unique mangrove trees. We learned that mangroves are mostly used for wood, but some species also have medicinal value.

The picture below is of Danny and Aaron near the entrance to the park. We are constantly amazed at the gigantic size of tree ferns!


We let Aaron wander along the boardwalks during the day. He was fascinated with the dead leaves scattered about. It seems he is a "neat freak", at least at this age. His favorite pastime was taking every leaf he could and pushing it through the cracks between the planks. He was headed to a leaf in this picture.

The Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve (continued)

Here you see one of the many mangrove trees. The root system is under the sea when the tide is in; it is exposed and muddy when the tide is out. We joked that the trees were confusing us. We couldn't tell if the branches were going up or down!


The trees grew right up around the boardwalk. We enjoyed the lush green jungle and relative quiet. This park is far away from city noises (if you can believe it in this packed place).


The buildings across the water are all located in Malaysia. It is hard to believe we were so close!


Monitor lizards like to lounge in the murky water. I don't know if it is cool, but at least he's in the shade.


We surprised this fellow while he was sunning himself on the trail. Danny whipped out the video camera and we did the tourist thing! We filmed him as he ambled off the trail into the brush.

Singapore History 101 - Part 8

This is the final installment of our history lessons. Hope you have enjoyed them!


The East:

The first two pictures were taken at the Johore Battery. The British built this gun site in 1939. There are three monster guns capable of firing 15-inch rounds. To store ammunition and get gunners to their posts, they dug a maze of tunnels. This site was completely secret and left undiscovered until 1991 when the Singapore Prisons Department found the guns.


Here we learned that the Johore Battery is the only site of its kind left in Singapore.



Below is the Changi Chapel and Museum. It is a memorial to the 50,000 civilians and soldiers who were detained during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore during WWII. There is a replica of one of the many chapels that POW's built at the various camps.

There are also replicas of murals painted by Stanley Warren, a British POW, in St. Luke's Chapel. He painted five scenes from the New Testament to thank God for keeping him alive during the occupation. No paint supplies were available, so Mr. Warren used whatever he could, including human hair for brushes and pool chalk for blue colors. The first painting he did was of the ascension of Christ. He chose this scene because he was so ill with dysentery that he was afraid he might die before completing his work. He felt that this was the most important event in Christian history and wanted to be sure it was done.

We were not allowed to take photographs inside the building, so you can see us standing right outside the exit.