Chews @ Singapore's National Day Parade

The Chews were so lucky to get tickets to the National Day Parade! Ok, it was just the preview but apparently the preview is pretty much the real thing except that you don't get the real McCoy ministers, president etc and also get 80% of the fire works power, but it was pretty darn exciting anyway.

I had never really been all that interested in going for the National Day Parade and always figured that watching it on TV was far more comfortable with a much better view,.... This is the first year that the NDP was held at the Marina floating platform, so with the kids and all, I just thought it would be nice to go,....

Well, I am now a convert! I have never felt more proud to be a SINGAPOREAN!

I was curious how they were gonna top the previous year parades with such a small stage but they exceeded my expectations! They made use of all the different areas around! There were fireworks from the Shears Bridge, commandos absailing from the Shears Bridge into the water,... fireworks shooting from the Shenton way buildings,.... brilliant life-like jelly fish floating above the water,.... a water show of the different naval boats etc,.... They used the enitre area to their advantage....

My favourite was the remote control kites (?) flying about the area. Each was controlled by a person. There were something like 30-40 of them all around and they didn't collide with each other! That's what I call practice and coordination! Sorry no picture of it cos it was too dark.

The goodie bag was also quite exceptional. The bag was a courier style bag which you could actually use,... gone are the days of your goodie bag coming in a plastic bag!

Emma with Papa,... see the view of Shenton Way behind them. When the IR comes up, the view would be fantabulous!

Cate busy munching on the biscuits from the goodie bag. She had her eyes shut most of the other parts of the parade cos she was terrified of all the loud noises!

Emma with her NDP tattoos. One cheek is the Singapore flag, and the other says "Made in Singapore".... and so she is!

Choppers with the Singapore flag. I had seen them fly by quite low during my runs (probably the practices), and it was quite a welling feeling watching the huge Singapore flag fly by so low....

The Marina floating stage during the NDP.

Trecking back to the car with Cate in the carrier. This was on the same day as our OSIM tri, so Paul was really pooped carrying Cate!

We totally enjoyed the Parade and look forward to what else they could come up with next! Emma brought her goodie bag into school the following week and her teachers and friends loved it too!

Cate's honey stars hat

Chew & Daughter II

Papa and Cate at sunday school. La...la... Smile at the STORM! Smile at the STORM! La...la...la...

Chew & Daughter

Paul and Ems enjoying lunch at Corduroy & Finch.

Naked baby!

Don't you just want to blow into her fat tummy!

Our Surprise Visitor...

We had a wonderful surprise visitor from London! (via India) He was a tall man named Philip... This is how the story goes...

My dear dear dear old friend Hari from uni days text me one day to tell me that her boyfriend was making a trip to Jakarta via Singapore. Just an FYI,... I probably wouldn't hear from him....

Well, things went very wrong with visas for poor Philip and as a result, we got our very first overnight house guest! (Partly due to fact that we don't have a guest room) We were of course more than happy to have him stay with us a couple of days on our living room floor! I had only met him once about 3 years ago in my last visit to London,... but any friend of Hari's is a friend of mine ;).

Anyway, it was a really short visit but here are some moments....

Turns out, Phil was a music scholar at Eton :O and quite the musician, so we couldn't let him get away without a mini recital!..... but what,..... just the piano?.....

We are going to make this musician perform with every instrument we had in the house,.... even if it is Emma's miniature violin!

Emma wasn't going to let Phil take all the limelight though!...

I sense a little competition here...

(Emma can't read yet so I can safely say on this blog that Phil won since he can play more than 2 notes and he doesn't think the tuning pegs are the volume knobs!)

The musicians kick back and enjoy some wine together...

Followed by a game of cards...oooo... Emma is holding her cards close to her chest.... (Phil looks really stressed out! How much exactly has he wagered????)

All is well,... the evening ends with everyone still friends.

It was great having you here Phil, although we wish Hari had come with you as well,... Come back soon (with Hari)!