Lots of fun playing with friends!

Thursday 26th November 2009

Well another week of catching up with people this week. It started with playgroup on Friday which was lots of fun, we made rich tea iced biscuits which were very yummy. Then on Tuesday we went round to visit Harriet and Cara who again we had not seen since before we went to the UK in the summer. We had lots of fun playing and some really yummy crackers and coconut cake!!

Wednesday we were once again rained off swimming, but today we managed to catch up with two sets of friends. In the morning we saw Mary, Michael and Dave which was great - we got to run around the coffee shop again as it was quite quiet and we had yummy babyccinos too. We always have fun when we catch up with them, running around and tiring ourselves out!! Then in the afternoon Daniel and Charlotte came to our house to play, which again was lots of fun and i am now much better at sharing my toys with them!! We had some yummy hummus and bread sticks and grapes as well - i love play dates as i get to eat and play with my friends - perfect!!!

Hope you like the pictures, they are of me "helping" mummy clean the bathroom!

Love as always

Eleanor xx

Flights = poorly!

Thursday 19th November 2009

Well as the title suggests as usual after a trip somewhere we have come back with a cold and quite a nasty cough. The combination of feeling a bit poorly and all the excitement of travelling means that I have slept a bit more this week - including one afternoon nap of 3 hours!!! Mummy was quite pleased.

In between sleeps we have been busy catching up with people and we had a lovely playdate with Isobel and Ava on Tuesday, which was really nice as we had not seen them in absolutely ages, so had lots of things to gossip about and of course mummy had some yummy biscuits on hand!!

We also made it to music class which was good fun as ever, especially as we did the boat trips again which is one of my favourite things. The teacher spoke to mummy at the end and said that although I look very girly, looks can clearly be deceptive as I like all the rough and tumble things!! Not sure what she was talking about!!

We also headed out to the Allard's new house for a barbeque which was really nice. They have moved just around the corner and we had lots of fun playing with all their toys and heading out into the garden. I even got to stay up really late, but I was on my best behaviour and obviously got to eat lots of yummy sausages - mmmm!!!

Well I am afraid that was it for this week, a nice quiet week after the chaos of China,

Speak soon

Eleanor x

Beijing, China

Thursday 12th November 2009

On Monday we arrived in Beijing and my first impression was that it was dark and cold. By the time we got to the hotel through rush hour it was time for a quick dinner and bed so we had to leave the exploring to the next day. I had a nice cot though with a lovely duvet and pillow - i felt very grown up!!

So Tuesday we woke up early ready for a day of exploring, drew back the curtains and everything was covered in white snow!! It was very exciting, but also very, very cold. So we put on all our layers and headed off to Tiannamen Square - which was a giant square of snow, slush and mush. I had to stay in the pushchair as mummy and daddy were getting wet feet walking around in the slush and they did not want my feet to get wet and cold as well. Eventually we bought some gloves (lovely orange stripy ones) and a Beijing woolly hat which i think i wore for all of about 5 minutes, despite daddy insisting I wear them for longer. I was allowed out to walk whilst we were in the subway but then it was back in the pushchair whilst we headed off to the shopping mall for a coffee and some warm milk. The only time we have been grateful for the fact there are some many malls in Asia. Then once we had warmed up, I promptly fell asleep and we headed off to the Forbidden City - we were so cold there and we could not move the pushchair through the snow, so after a quick look around we headed back to the warmth of the hotel, a bit earlier than expected. After checking that the pool in this hotel was indoors we decided to go for a swim. Oh my God - might be indoors, but definitely not heated and with no sun shining through the roof, it was absolutely freezing - needless to say it was another quick swim!!

We had a lovely dinner in the hotel that night though. We had chinese - i had loads of rice and mummy and daddy ordered the duck which cam with the skin on a plate piled up with loads of yummy prawn crackers inside it. The nice lady made up the rolls with the suck skin inside as mummy and daddy were a bit baffled - not like you get at home - although absolutely delicious!!!

Wednesday was another early start before we headed off to the Temple of Heaven. It was very pretty as most of the snow had melted but was still lining the tress and buildings. The park itself was just full of loads of Chinese people who came out put a tape on and did choreographed dancing - we joined in a few (well it would be rude not to!) Then we headed to the Temple, which was quite open and higher up and freezing in the wind, so we headed back to the hotel to warm up and have lunch. In the afternoon we headed off to the Birds Nest, which was in the middle of the Olympic Park and great fun for running around in. I also met my first snowman and touched the first bit of snow - it was very cold and i enjoyed kicking it more than picking it up. I also had my first trip to McDonald's as mummy and daddy were in need of coffee and it was the only place in the park to go - thankfully though we did not eat anything whilst we were there (well apart from the yoghurt mummy brought with her!)

Then on Thursday we woke to yet more snow and headed off in a car north of Beijing up to the Great Wall of China. We were hoping to walk along quite a bit of it, but the snow was so bad that the poor driver asked that we would be no longer than an hour, so we headed up on the cable car (which was quite scary) and walked along a some of the wall, before heading back down. It was very slippy and lots of people were sliding down parts of the wall on their bottoms!! We then headed to the Summer Palace, but again the desire for warmth cut short some of the visit as well - we did get coffee again here and mummy and daddy shared some of their Snicker's bar with me for added energy to keep me warm!!! We spent an awfully long time stuck in traffic whilst driving around in the car, but we managed to keep our spirits up with numerous renditions of old favourites, (with some newly added bizarre verses). Amongst others we had, The Wheels on the Bus, Baa Baa Black Sheep, If you're happy and you know it, Incy Wincy Spider, and i think a few chants from the terraces at Wycombe!!

Well that was pretty much our adventures in Beijing. We had a lovely trip and although the snow stopped some of our fun, it also made it a bit more exciting and daddy got some lovely pictures. The final bit of my Beijing experience was at the airport, where we managed to find a trolley for our bags that was a toy car for me as well - great fun!!!

Will have to say bye for now, but i will let you know all my Singapore news once we have thawed out a bit.

Love from

Eleanor xx

Hong Kong

Monday 9th November 2009

Well we had a very busy weekend in Hong Kong. We left Singapore Friday morning and got to our hotel in Hung Hom early afternoon, so we set off exploring the area around the hotel. This consisted of a shopping mall (surprise surprise) and we went into the supermarket to get some bits and pieces and then found a lovely wine shop where we tested wine (mine was technically grape juice, but it came in a wine bottle, so I pretended - I also downed 3 glasses, so it was just as well it was grape juice). Then we headed back to the room and decided to go for a swim. Now what we failed to tell daddy was that the pool was outdoors on the 9th floor and whilst it was heated and technically the outside temperature was in the 20's it was very very very cold. But tradition states that you must go in the pool whenever you are on holiday, so a very quick swim was in order followed by a big group hug once we were all wrapped up in the dressing gowns!! The fact that the man holding the door open for us was in a white bomber jacket did not go unnoticed!!!

We then headed off to Knutsford Terrace for our dinner. We found a nice tapas bar that had room for us as we were a bit earlier than most people and I ate lots and lots of spicy salami -yummy!! Then it was home to bed.

Saturday saw us heading across to the island for some shopping. We went to Bumps to Babes and picked up some advent calender and stocking fillers as well as mint toothpaste for me (you can only buy berry flavour in Singapore!), then we got daddy some new going out clothes and headed back for our lunch and nap. Then we headed out to Kings Park to watch the Revo football match. Luckily for me Ollie was at the game as well to watch his daddy play so we spent the whole game chasing each other round - this involved much laughter and screaming, but apparently Revo won with their biggest crowd of the season (8 people in total!!)

Then Saturday night was early to bed for me whilst mummy and daddy went out on the town - German style, with some of the RBS people. They seemed to have a good night and definitely needed to clear the cobwebs out on Sunday morning so we headed off to the avenue of stars for some fresh air and coffee. I managed to successfully pick up a protest march - although as the sign was in Cantonese I am unsure what we were protesting about. After a quick stop off at a hotel for

Tea, biscuits and toys

Thursday 5th November 2009

Well I have tried my hardest not to have any major injuries this week and I have been fairly successful you will be pleased to hear. The week started off well with a visit from Daniel and Charlotte and their mummies on Friday after playgroup, we had lots of fun playing with my toys and eating really yummy chocolate biscuits!

Then on Saturday we had to go shopping for some winter clothing ready for our holiday next week, we headed off to Vivocity and I got a lovely thick winter coat, although I wasn't sold on thte gloves and woolly hat. I also had lots of messy fun over the weekend with my paints (see photos).

I spent most of the weekend giving daddy big hugs as he was not feeling very well - poor daddy. Mummy and I headed off to music class, so that daddy could stay in bed and rest and then we had a yummy homemade soup for dinner to make us feel better. On Tuesday we went to see the dentist again and had our teeth cleaned - well mummy and daddy did, I gave him a quick flash of my teeth so that he knew that I had some!!

Wednesday we went swimming and we were very lucky as we managed to fit our lesson into the half an hour slot of the whole week where it was not raining! Then finally today we headed off to Charlotte's house for our playdate - which consisted as ever of lots of toys and some more yummy biscuits!!

I will update you all slightly late next week with all of our adventures in China - first stop Hong Kong and then up to Beijing!

lots of love from Singapore this week

Eleanor xx

PS the other photo is of me trying to check under the bathroom door to see if daddy was in there, after I had knocked and he did not answer. I am quite persistent when I want something!!