Book Week

This week is book week for Lily at school.  She's been having a lot of fun.  It is the book fair, so of course we got a little magazine of books that we can purchase.  I was very amused because I didn't recognize a single book in the little magazine.  I consider myself fairly well educated on the matter of children's books.  At least the ones for little kids, up to age 5 or 6.  But, I have never heard of "The Wombat and the Grand Poohjam" or "Horrid Henry" or "The Little Girl and the Tiny Doll".  I had to stop myself from buying all of the award winning books.  I'm really excited about the introduction to Australian and British children's books.

So, in addition to the new books available for purchase, there is also a used book table set up.  All the proceeds from the used books will go to charity.  Also, every day, the teachers are visiting other classrooms and reading their favorite books to the children.  So, Lily's class has been visited by new teachers every day and getting to hear lots of different books.  Tomorrow (Friday) the children are invited to dress up as their favorite book character and to bring that book to school to share.

I'm not sure what Lily is going to dress up as...  We did bring some dress up clothes.  I thought it would be fun to dress up in her Ballet Folklorico dress because it is culturally something very different here.  But, I don't have a book to go with it.  Lily wants to dress up as Fancy Nancy.  I know I have a fancy Christmas dress here, so I thought maybe she could take the Fancy Nancy Christmas book to school and wear the fancy Christmas dress.  We'll make the final decision when Lily gets home from school.  I'll be sure to post pictures...

Today, I'm heading out with the little ones to join the local library.  There is a children's series that I want to find.  The moms at school have recommended a series called The Faraway Trees.  The kids are all reading it at home, so I want to read it to Lily too.  It's a classic British series for children.  The author is Enid Blyton.  I'd never heard of her before, but apparently she is very well known.  The books were written between 1939 and 1951.  Let me know if any of you decide to read these books with your kids too!  I'd love to hear what you think!

I've been reading "The Year of the Flood" by Margret Atwood.  I finished it a couple of days ago.  I really enjoyed it.  I just picked up "Eat, Pray, Love".  I don't know why I haven't already read it.  Many friends have told me that I would love the book and it's true.  I love it!  I can really identify with the author in her love for traveling.  I've always loved traveling.  I've only just started it, so I'll write more about it once I've finished reading it.

I love reading.  Sometimes, I have to force myself to put my book down, so that my children can eat and so that we don't all drown in the mess that happens when I stop paying attention.  Sigh...

I took some pictures of the pool and playground from our condo.  We've been spending a lot of time out there and thought you would like to see this piece of our life:

This is what we see once we step out of the door to our elevator room.  It is a Koi pond at the base of the pillars and then the swimming pool is out to the left.

Our friend the turtle.  We should name him.  There's big turtle (this one) and a smaller turtle that live in the koi pond.  We have to find the turtles every time we either leave or return to our home.  I think the children think of them as their pets.

A view across the large pool.  There are 3 pools in all.  This one is the largest and deepest.  I think it's 1.7 meters deep (we're all metric now...).

Some of the fish.  So pretty!

My bread machine.

The large pool again.

This is the medium pool.  This is the one that we swim in mostly.  It is 1 meter deep.  It's deep enough that the kids can swim in it, but shallow enough that Lily can touch the bottom.  Madeline can touch too, but only on her tippy toes with her head looking up.

The steps into the medium pool.

I have visions of lounging here with my book while the children play....

Looking back at the building from across the large pool.

The small pool.  On the right side, there is a waterfall from the large pool into this one.

The shower.  We mostly use it to wash the sand off of our feet after playing on the playground.

This is the bench next to the playground.  I sit here to watch the kids play.  The building on the other side of the bushes is Lily's school.  We're so close!

The grassy area between the pools and the playground. 

The playground!

This circle spins!  The kids love to lay on it and have an adult spin them around.  I can do it pretty fast with just my kids, but when there are a bunch of kids, it takes the dads and maybe even 2 of them.

A basketball court.

Madeline is a monkey!  She loves to climb to the very top!

Our building as seen from the playground.

Not pictured...  tennis courts, outside grills available for reservation, party room available for reservation, exercise room, guards gate (24 hour guards posted at the street).  I read in our book there is also a steam room, but I haven't found it yet.  The building is 23 stories tall with an average of 6 units per floor.  We are on the second floor and there are only 3 units on our floor.  The top floor has only 1 unit.  Our complex is only this 1 building.  There are 2 floors of parking underground.

We are heading into a 4 day weekend!  Monday is a holiday because of the Singapore voting day and Tuesday (my birthday) is a holiday because it is Hari Raya Puasa.  I don't know what that is, but I'm going to learn about it before Tuesday!