The Olympic Torch

A couple of days ago I checked on the "Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame" and realized that it would be very close to us today. Close enough to drag two kids out by myself and try to get some pictures. I had to do quite a bit of "prep" with the kids yesterday explaining that the torch would not hurt us, we would not be going into it (Levi's question), and we were just going to watch from the sidelines.

The journey was starting at 9:00 several miles away at Hwa Chong Institution on Bukit Timah Road, so we headed to Holland Village at 9 and went to Starbucks, expecting the torch to pass our way around 9:30. We got some fruit and apple juice for the boys (who refused my offer to buy them muffins...who are these kids?) and a chai tea latte for me. I decided we could go sit at the bus stop and enjoy our snacks while we waited for the torch.

When we got close to the bus stop, I saw the buses full of "crowd warmers" already headed our way! I told the boys we needed to hurry because we were on the wrong side of the street. We climbed the 40ish stairs to the pedestrian walkover crossing and were able to get pictures of the crowd warmer buses.

They were getting everyone excited about the torch carrier who was behind them. There was a fair amount of cheering and screaming. They were waving at the kids since we were one of the few people out there (most of the others were just waiting for the bus). The excitement was a little much for the kids (Levi looked just like this, too):

We quickly headed down the other side of the crossing in time to witness the torch bearer. So cool!

"Lyo" the Lion and "Merly" the Mermaid are Singapore's official mascots for the Youth Olympic Games. The kids are always excited to see Lyo and Merly around town.


It was a fun experience, even if my kids cried through the whole thing. This is the Inaugural year for the Youth Olympic Games, and we're excited it's in Singapore!