Singapore

Our family was so blessed to go to Singapore for David's 2-week break. Can you believe it? Singapore?? Yeah, me neither! It was the trip of a lifetime and we made the best of everyday!

The trip kicked off with Zack waking up every. single. hour. the night before we left....awesome. We got to the airport around 5:30am and after 27 hours of total travel time....we landed in Singapore! We flew to Seattle, then Japan, where we met up with my Dad, and we all got immediately on a new airplane bound for Singapore. It was great to have Dad on the plane with us that last 7 hours! He was even nice enough to send back some ice cream for Tyson from Business class and give me some Japanese candy that he bought while waiting for us in the Narita airport!

Zack actually slept the ENTIRE way to Singapore...I'm not joking. Woke up only during plane changes. Hallelujah! Tyson was great too considering the confinement! He only slept 4 hours out of that 27 hours and his eyes were all bloodshot and puffy when we landed, but what a trooper! And thanks to Dave for keeping him entertained the entire way there and back. I was a little tied up with Zack on the boob all day and night...what a great sedative, huh?!

We landed in Singapore a little after midnight and were amazed just at their airport! It was the most beautiful airport I had ever been in and apparently it's ranked #2 in the world! Spotless, sparkling, amazing architecture, and beautiful, live plants, flowers, and full-grown trees! Got into bed around 3am and we all woke up at 7:30am ready to rock -n-roll!

Day 1:

Recover from the trip, lounge around the house and pool, unpack, visit, send Dave off to the American Club for a much-needed 90 minute massage. He came home smelling like a eucalyptus tree and was very, very relaxed. He just finished a week of finals, then three days of national boards, and then a loooong plane ride. He deserved it!

Day 2: Chinatown.

David and I put the kids down for a nap and then we took the MRT (subway) to Chinatown for a fun, little date. The train system was very easy and reminded me a lot of Japan, except the trains were waaay cleaner. There's a $600 fine for eating or drinking on the trains. I guess that's why they're so clean! We popped right up into Chinatown and headed down the street looking in various booths and perusing the merchandise. David had the great idea to get a souvenir of chopsticks. So we went into a specialty store and picked out a set made of 300-year old ebony wood that had chinese characters etched in African silver. GORGEOUS! I'm excited to work on my Asian cooking skills so I can use these when we have friends over for dinner! The store owner then recommended a local chinese restaurant for us to have lunch at. We were excited to try authentic chinese food so we ordered all new dishes and to be honest, we didn't like any of them! We were thankful, however, that our dessert turned out delicious...deep-fried custard rolls! YUM! So atleast we ended our meal on a high note!

Day 3: Botanical Gardens.

We took the kids with us on what turned out to be the hottest day we had while on our vacation. Babies and extreme heat with over 100% humidity = extreme crankiness and a very quick trip! We were there for 2 hours, but definitely could have stayed longer, as there was so much that we didn't get to see. But here our some highlights:

Tyson loved feeding these little guys! Who knew that turtles ate bread??

I just loved these trees!

A beautiful waterfall with my beautiful little boy

Kissing Daddy

This was my favorite part of the Gardens. Orchids are my favorite flowers and they had a special section filled with hundreds of different orchids! I loved it! And the orchid is the national flower of Singapore! Beautiful, huh?

After the Gardens, David and I put the kids down for naps and went on a lunch date. We walked into Downtown Singapore (only about 7 minutes from my parents house) and first said "Hello" to a chiropractor to find out some information and then chose a restaurant called Modesto, specializing in stone grilled pizzas. We got one covered in sun-dried tomatoes, onions, cheese, artichokes and mushrooms. Very delicious! It was fun just to be out with my hubby exploring Singapore and going to lunch! We decided to take a "shortcut" home, as I was SURE of the way back. We started off great, turning on all the right streets, and then I got completely turned around and we ended up walking through the most affluent neighborhood in Singapore! I thought my parents' house was huge, but it didn't even compare to those we saw! They were beautiful while mansions set up against lush greenery and flowers. Each home had at least 2 cars where one of them was always a Mercedes and the other either a Lexus, Jag, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Bentley...you name the luxury car someone there had it! It was a long, but really fun shortcut!

If I had to get lost with someone, I'm glad it was with you, Babe!

(On our date at Modesto)