Bukit Batok Nature Reserve

 We have been on a nature kick lately. I mentioned in my last post that my mom and I had gone on a hike one morning to MacRitchie Reservoir and since then we have been wanting to do more. I have researched and Singapore has a lot of nature parks. We actually live close to several and go pretty frequently. We mostly go the Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park because it is the closest to our place that is stroller friendly. 
We went to Bukit Batok Nature Reserve one morning last week because it has a World War II memorial that I thought my Mom would enjoy seeing. The day started out like it was going to be a disaster of an outing. The kids were crazy and needed to get out of the house.




 Henry was a champ on the hike. He hiked most of the way which was pretty much up hill. He really liked seeing the monitor lizard. We saw butterflies, squirrels, and lots of beautiful flowers. 




 The monitor lizard. This bad boy totally freaked me out. I was throwing something away and I heard this loud noise next to the trash can and it turned out to be him. We really enjoyed getting an up close look at this guy. 
 Once we got there Cosette decided that she did not want to hike. Before we even were on the trail she was complaining about how she hates being outside, her legs hurt to much to hike, and you can imagine what else. Parenting really helps your patience grow and trains you for moments like this. Patiently we walked with her and tried to get her to enjoy the hike (because there are somethings you have to do weather you like it or not) and then we saw a monitor lizard and she was happy. She even wanted to climb all 125 at the monument which just sounded ridiculous after all the whining she had done, haha. 

The memorial is dedicated to the Japanese and Allied soldiers who died during the Battle of Singapore during WWII.


 As we were hiking we saw signs for the pond and we had plenty of time after we saw the memorial to go back and check it out. What we hiked into was incredible. The pond was basically a small lake up against the back drop of this beautiful mountain. It was stunning. Never in my dreams could I have imagined that something like this would exist in Singapore. It felt like we had stumbled upon a treasure and it was our secret, even though there were people around. It is a place you do not hear much about and we discovered this beautiful gem of place in Singapore. Even though we didn't and plenty of people I am sure know about it, it felt like we had discovered something new. 


 Baby turtle sunning itself on the log.

And then the outing got even better because there was a playground right next to the pond. The kids were happy and there were smiles all around.


Cosette making a birthday cake. She is getting excited for her birthday on Friday. She will be five!




 With her finished master piece. She was very proud of it. 
This guy, love of my life. I cannot believe he will be one year old this week!

 And once they were done playing in the sand there was a guy who was cleaning the bathrooms who hosed the sand off the kids. No sand down my bra that day. It basically was the best outing and I cannot wait to go back and explore some more. 

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