Ready to be Back

It is the last day of the June school holidays. The girls are ready to be back in school tomorrow on 1 July 2013. They had their hair cut on Wednesday 26 June, and packed their school bags yesterday 29 June. They tried out their uniforms today and they can still fit into them. Thank goodness! They both put on weight after our Taipei trip. I totally forgot about the possibility of them not fitting into their uniforms. :P By 9.30pm, both Marieann and Juliane were fast asleep which was a surprise to me as they were still chatting away at 11pm last night. 
All the Best for the new semester, Marieann and Juliane. Pay attention in class, do your work attentively and enjoy learning. :)

New Neighbours

Looks like we are going to have new neighbours soon. They are currently in the midst of building their home on the 10th floor. Not much noise from them, except the occasional soft coo-ing. They also like to live on the edge. Can't wait to see them move in. :) 

Busy building their new home, at the edge of the aircon unit on 10th floor

Mr Dove is going off to get more building materials while Mrs Dove is busy weaving their nest

Caught me catching it on camera. Smile! :)

I Am Meticulous

I have been told that I can be obsessed with details that I border on the verge of being OCD lol. This could be due to my psychology training. :)

You Are Meticulous

You are a very detailed oriented person - both in the work you do and your observations. Nothing goes unnoticed. You love knowing everything about something or someone. It's hard for you to make a decision if you don't have all the facts.  Definitely the psy training lol.   You are polite because you attend to every little thing. You are never accidentally coarse or rude. In fact, you make every interaction and generosity look effortless, even though you are putting in a lot of effort behind the scenes. Ok, the truth is out. If I am rude, it is intentional. :P You are old-fashioned in that you appreciate a job well done. You have an eye for well crafted things and artisan goods. You can be a bit of a picky shopper, but only because you appreciate quality. You want to hold on the things you buy for a long time.  Yes, this is true. My older girl is now wearing some of my clothes which I was wearing in my 20s. They are still in excellent quality. :)

The Vintage Card Test

Finding My Feet

I am still finding my feet but with "roadblocks", it can get frustrating and tiring. There are restrictions being placed on me just because of my job title. "Only a research fellow" they would tell me. They failed to consider that I have had 9 years of research experience in education, even more than some of the other researchers who are hired and who are not even trained in the field of education. Sigh.     

Visit to the S.E.A. Aquarium

We finally visited the S.E.A. Aquarium six months later after it opened last December.
We arrived just after 10:15am and it was already crowded. Well, one reason is because it is still the school holidays so there were plenty of families and the other reason is there were plenty of tour groups. Thank goodness, the tour groups "disappeared" after 11am, maybe they were on a tight tour itinerary. :P
First, we went through The Maritime Experiential Museum which showcases The Souk (recreation of ports along the Maritime Silk Route), Omani Dhow (recreation of a 9th century Omani Dhow), Bao Chuan cutaway (cross section of full-size replica of Admiral Zheng He's 15th century ship with its precious cargoes acquired during Zheng He's voyages), Zheng He exhibits, and others. We didn't stay long here nor took many photos because it was really crowded with tourists and locals alike. We quickly moved on the main attraction, S.E.A. Aquarium which is situated in Basement 1.

Bao Chuan cutaway

There are several S.E.A. Aquarium attraction highlights interspersed among the different zones of seas/ oceans from the different parts of the world in the following order: Shipwreck Habitat, Strait of Karimata and Java Sea, Discovery Touch Pool, Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea, Bay of Bengal and Laccadive Sea, Ocean Journey (dolphins and jelly fish), Open Ocean (the world's largest viewing panel), Ocean Dome, Arabian Gulf and Arabian Sea, Red Sea, East Africa, South China Sea, and Shark Seas. 
We first walked through the Shipwreck Habitat but we couldn't really linger or see much because of the huge crowd of people again. We again enjoyed the Discovery Touch Pool as we did in Sea Life Sydney Aquarium but it was a nicer experience in Sydney as there was less crowd and we could take our time to look, see and touch. Here, it was very rushed and we had to keep moving along. :(

Entrance to S.E.A. Aquarium through Shipwreck Habitat

Discovery Touch Pool

Starfish! Can you see one starfish trying to move? It looks as if it is rubbing its "tummy". :P

Egg case (empty) of a Shark

We managed to take some photos (had to take turns with others) as we made our through the various seas, oceans, gulfs and straits. I really enjoyed watching the jelly fish at the Open Journey. Their movement are so mesmerising. :) It is also a treat to see the dolphins so close up (through the window panels) although there are some controversies over the dolphins' presence at the aquarium. I was wowed by the Open Ocean, looking at a small slice of the ocean. But somehow at the back of my mind, I kept thinking what if the viewing panel breaks?! Lol.

Egg cases of sharks (can see the embryos in them)

Looks like alien spaceship :P

Can you spot the red shrimp?

Dolphin!

So many dolphins! :)

Looks like alien spaceship too :P

Jelly fish. So mesmerising :)

World's largest viewing panel

Sharks! :)

By 12 noon, we were done with S.E.A. Aquarium. We concurred (the girls and I) that we liked the Sydney Aquarium better lol. Maybe because Sydney Aquarium was the first time we visited an aquarium so first impressions last! :) As the girls were hungry, we settled our lunch at Imperial Treasure La Main Xiao Long Bao. It was raining heavily when we finished our lunch. Finally, some rain to reduce the haze! :)

Surprised that the girls didn't want to go into candylicious!

Universal Studio Singapore in the heavy rain

Sentosa Express

We took the Senotsa Express to Vivocity because the girls wanted to buy some things from Daiso. This is the first time my mother ever stepped into Daiso. She never knew of its existence because she is NOT a shopper. For the first time in her life, she shopped without aim or purpose and spent over an hour and a half and bought things that she may need haha. She said she could bring some of the stuff over to my brother in UK, they may have use of them lol. YM, make space in your house. You have been warned. :) 
We left around 2.30pm and went to our hairdresser in Chinatown. School is reopening soon so the girls need their back-to-school haircut. Both of them had their hair cut short. :) My mother and I also had our hair trimmed, due to equal "misery" policy lol. By the time all four of us were done, it was close to 6pm. We had a simple dinner at the food court before going home. We were home in time to catch Smile Again (笑吧！東海) at 7pm. 

Ready for school! :)

We really enjoyed ourselves today as we seldom go out and do so many things together in one day in Singapore as three-generation of women/ girls. :)