Weekend Walkabout

The last weekend was definitely one of the more fun ones in recent memory.

FRIDAY EVENING

It all started from Friday. NR (Shahirah), Benjol Boy (Ashraf) and I went to Harbour Front to get a new stroller. NR needed a light stroller which she can handle easily and carry around when she's out alone with Ashraf. The current stroller, the Esprit one, has been serving us well and is not too bad. But small things like the extra weight, the "not-as-friendly-as-MacLaren folding mechanism, the manual locking "thing", etc does make the stroller more of a PITA.

So we got ourselves the MacLaren Triumph. 2 kilos lighter, single button harness release, user-friendly folding and locking mechanism and a butt-ugly neon harness (which I have already gotten used to). Definitely not the best looking stroller, but it fits our brief.

So off we went to get ourselves (ie ME) some grub. I do get very cranky when I'm hungry/thirsty/sleepy/headache-ey. So we had to get some food.. fast. Along the way down we passed a Barney-themed ride. It's like Barney's van, with the purple dinosaur on the front passenger seat with Baby-Bop and BJ in tow at the back. I thought that maybe Ashraf would enjoy himself on this thing. This rides cost so much more now. A friggin dollar for a 2 minute ride. Whatever happened to all those 20 cents ones.



As expected Ashraf loved the whole two minutes on the Barney ride. He recognised the songs played as the ride swayed back and forth. And when the ride ended, he gave the hand gesture signalling that the ride was over. Awwwwwww. Cute. Also as expected by NR, Ashraf did not want to relinquish his spot on the driver's seat and we had to pry him out of the seat. Ashraf started bawling and out came the "puteng".

Finished off the rest of the evening with dinner, walking around Vivo City for a bit and headed home.

SATURDAY EVENING

The evening started off at around 6.30pm when NR, BB, Hiqma (NR's niece) and I left Chai Chee to go to Bedok North Ave 4 to send fabric, which we bought during the Chinese New Year weekend, to be tailored for Hari Raya. Picked up my nephew, and headed down to Bedok Reservoir for a free Arts Fest show. There, we rendezvous-ed with Shahirah's two sisters and bro-in-law. While waiting for pizza at Canadian Pizza, Mom and Ibra (my niece) also arrived at Bedok Reservoir

Hydro Sapiens, by award winning troupe Lunatics from Netherlands, started at 8.15pm sharp. As we devoured our pizzas, we watched the performers jump into the cold reservoir waters, pyro-technics going off here and there, and got to see a big dancing robot made of plastic water dispenser bottles. I thought the robot was the coolest part of the show. Amazingly Ashraf went through the whole show quietly. He wasn't cranky at all. He generally just concentrated on what the performers were doing. He seem unimpressed by the fireworks at the end of the show too. Overall, I think he behaved very well. So proud of him :)

SUNDAY NIGHT

Wicked Aura Batucada rocks!!! I was initially not really impressed by them before the show but the minute the drums started I could not help but jump to the beats.

It was amazing to see so many people clamouring and crowding at the front of the stage even before the performers started playing. I guess you would do that if the performers were really good. The performance was actually good enough to justify a ticket. People were cheering and jumping around. The energy was high and the beats; contagious.

But amidst all these moving bodies, Ashraf was a picture of composure and concentration. Just like the evening before, he was staring intently on the performers. He seemed throughly UNimpressed, and he even yawned a few times. Amazing. Ha ha.





The show at the Esplanade wrapped up a very eventful weekend. It's amazing how many really good shows around are free. We definitely had fun, gotta do this again... soon.

Signing off,
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