Science

With nothing to do until 3:30 this afternoon, we got off to a slow start this morning and eventually made it to the Science Center.

The Singapore Science Center is much like any other science center. There's a section on chemistry, others on the human body and nanotechnology, a portion on dinosaurs, and plenty of hands-on activities in between. By far the best part was watching baby chicks hatch. Sure, schools in the U.S. get to do it all the time with classroom incubators (Rebecca did in 1st grade in Virginia) but it was still way cool. The bad part of the trip involved Jonathon. Notice a trend? He and Nicholas wanted to hang out in the dinosaur section with a game while the rest of us walked next door to the Discovery Zone (with the chicks). Nicholas came over, alone. We didn't see Jonathon for the next 15 minutes and finally found him, miserable, at the entrance where I was headed to the reception desk to have him paged.
He lost 5 stars for that trick. Nicholas lost 4 for losing his brother.
The other day we realized we'd had enough of the boys acting out. Those things that are annoying in small amounts but have gotten just nuts after being here a week. Running to the elevator to see who can pound the buttons first. Pushing each other out of the way to open a door, any door. Behaving unsafely on the escalators. Requiring a half dozen warnings. You get the idea. So we instituted Stars, a process by which the boys each start with 10 stars a day and lose stars for acting out. At the end of the day we determine what the result is. This is a new process for us, so we haven't worked out the kinks yet, like how to earn back stars or if each lost star means a different penalty or should a range of stars determine the end result. What we have seen is that for Jonathon the star system works pretty well. He doesn't like losing stars, and getting lost aside, he's trying really hard to hang on to them. It's not as much of a slamdunk for Nicholas, and there's the issue of the girls thinking they get to decide what is lost-star worthy, but like I said, it's a work in progress.
We had lunch at McDs, and I've learned yet again how much I dislike McD food. The fries are OK. They're pretty good, considering, but the rest is just lousy. Jonathon got another "Kung Foo Panda" toy so he's happy again.
After Katherine's session from 3:30-5:30 (where the rest of us indulged in yet more gelato, bagels and hot cocoa, along with some Go Fish and War), we had dinner at the Jumbo Seafood restaurant at Riverside. A little too much food today, you think? Someone had recommended the black pepper crab so Ian went for it. Spicy, even for us. The stir fried rice noodles with seafood was excellent. The fried prawns with cereal (not quite what you think, but close) was quite good. The yam wrapped scallops were quite tasty though a little too sweet. Don't order the pitcher soft drinks, they're watered down. And make sure you can see the water, because unfortunately I got stuck facing the beer stand and the drink trolleys while the short people in our famille who couldn't see over the hedge were facing the river. Yeesh. Nah, I'm not really annoyed, I'm just stuffed and needing some sleep after my very relaxing and indulgent bath.