Trapeze! Cooking! Luge!

After a day of relaxation on Tuesday, it was time to hit the ground running again on Wednesday. We got up early and made our way over to Sentosa for a day of fun!

A stop in Clarke Quay on our way to Sentosa

Images of Singapore museum

After the museum we checked out a of couple 4D shows. I had quite the laugh during one of the shows, but that's a story for another day.

Next up was the luge. I may or may not have smoked these two...just sayin'.

So I'd say the best part of the day came after the luge. See, when I was telling Jason and Janelle about all the things we could do at Sentosa, I mentioned the flying trapeze. To my great surprise and delight, Jason was all about giving it a try! I thought about joining him, but I was wearing a skirt...and well, skirts and hanging upside down on a trapeze in public just don't go together.

This was Jason's practice round before going up to the actual platform. I think he looks ready!

He's up on the platform and ready to make his jump!

And away he goes!

Oooh, he's getting fancy with his moves...

OK, now he's just showing off! But look at that form...he should get a 10 out of 10 :)

Perfect dismount!

I will brag on Jason's behalf for just a second because he really did do a GREAT job up there. There was another guy who did the trapeze after Jason did and the guy did nothing but dangle in the air like a limp fish. Go Jason!

Me and Jason at Siloso Beach

After a fun day in Sentosa we finished the day with dinner in Boat Quay.

Thursday was Jason and Janelle's final day in Singapore. We didn't want to put too much on our agenda because all 4 of us needed to pack for our big trip to Vietnam the next day. So we kept things simple: cooking class. Yes, that's right. My very brave brother agreed to come along to my monthly all-women cooking class. Points for J-Man!

Jason and Chris volunteered to make the Makni Dahl and Indian stir-fried vegetables.

Jason made a mean stir fry!

And that was the end of J & J's first leg of their big tour of Asia. They still had Vietnam and Korea to come! We had so much fun with them, and as usual, having them around made us all wish we lived closer together. I guess we just need to charm them into moving down to TX when we get back to the states :) Thanks for coming all the way to Singapore Jason and Janelle. We miss you guys!

Excited for Vietnam!!!

J & J Take Singapore

With 6 full days in Singapore, I had plenty of time to show Jason and Janelle everything they wanted to see. In fact, we even had a little bit of time to relax which came as a surprise to all of us...relaxation has never been a part of the plan for our previous visitors :) We started day 3 with breakfast along the river in Robertson Quay followed by a walk down to Clarke Quay. From there we took the MRT over to Little India and checked out one of the Hindu temples, shopped and ate samosas. After Little India it was on to Chinatown for lunch and...yep, that's right, more shopping! When our shopping itches were satisfied, we made our way back to the apartment to rest and get ready for dinner.

J & J in Robertson Quay

J & J in Clarke Quay

J & J in Lttle India (showing off a newly aquired samosa and pashmina)

J & J in Chinatown

J & J enjoying Singapore's famous chicken rice for lunch at a hawker center.

Jason in the heart of Chinatown after lunch

For dinner we had the opportunity to attend a traditional Passover Seder dinner hosted by our friends Chris and David. Though none of us had ever been to a Seder, we were really excited about going and experiencing it together. We really enjoyed it! David read from the Haggadah as the rest of us followed along and read different parts. I didn't bring a camera because I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate for me to photograph the meal...but then Chris and Cara later told me that they had hoped to make it onto the blog b/c of the Seder dinner....so darn it, I should have taken pictures after all! :)

Day 4 was TOTALLY about relaxation. Because we knew we had a VERY busy week in Vietnam ahead of us, we decided to take it easy for at least one of the days in Singapore. My sweet, little friend Maddie had a 10th birthday coming up so I decided to make her a batch of decorated sugar cookies...and bonus, I got to teach Janelle how to do it! She was a great help to me and made things go by much faster. Once the cookies were done, Jason, Janelle and I went to Din Tai Fung for some dumplings and then went all around Singapore to track down a pair of BRIGHT colored tennis shoes for Jason. We finished the day with dinner in Clarke Quay. The Castellos were kind enough to join us and right before eating, Matt, Jason and Jason decided to do the extreme bungee that Keith and Matt did back in February. I don't think my brother liked it all that much, but at least he gave it a try which is more than Janelle and I can say for ourselves :)

Working on cupcake cookies for Maddie

The finished product!

Jason C., Jason P. and Matt ready to be launched!

A peek at the monitor shows them looking just a teeny bit nervous :)

...and it's over! Jason, is that a thumbs up b/c you liked it or b/c you hated it and you're glad it's over???

On to family visit #2!

As I said in the previous post, last month was a busy one for us. Just one short week after my dad left Singapore it was time to pick up Jason and Janelle at the airport for their visit. From the very day we found out we were moving to Singapore, J & J committed themselves to visiting us out here...so as the 4 of us patiently waited for 10 months to pass, the big day finally arrived and we couldn't wait to see each other!

Our past visitors got welcome signs at the airport. I would have made one for J & J, but I ran out of time making these welcome cookies for them instead...

OK, so the cookies aren't exactly PC, but I'm half-Asian so I had every right to make them ;)

We didn't let too many moments pass before photographing our matching shoes! The bond between these siblings and in-laws run deep ;) Thanks to J&J for bringing my shoes all the way from the states!

After lunch at home and a swim in the pool, it was off to Little India to eat some authentic Indian food at Khansama. These two managed to stay awake for most of the meal :) They did have to draw the line at going to karaoke after dinner though...

...and just like we've done every time they've visited us in TX, we made them meet all of our friends in Singapore.

Well here's a little bit of handy information: 2 day old donuts flown across the world don't taste good. See, I have this thing for chocolate donuts. Fresh chocolate donuts, that is. When Jason and Janelle walked past a Dunkin Donuts in the Dulles Airport in VA, they decided to buy me a chocolate donut. So after 24 hours of transit, a stop in Vietnam for the night and travel to Singapore, they presented me with it after dinner on Saturday night. With a LOT of pressure from Matt and Jason, I took one bite...it was AWFUL! I may have been turned off of chocolate donuts for life.

Before they came, J & J read through the blog and decided on the things that they wanted to do while they were here. For day #2, they chose breakfast with the orangutans at the zoo. Just like last time, we had lots of fun being up close to the orangutans!

Hooray for siblings in Asia!

After breakfast, we saw this show called "The Rainforest Fights Back" and the BEST part of the day came when Matt was chosen from the audience to dance with the tribal men. Not only did they make him dance...they made him take off his shirt! I wouldn't want to embarrass him by posting pictures of him sans-shirt...but I can't promise that I won't come back to this post later and post a video ;) He was a GREAT sport about it and J, J and I got plenty of laughs from the whole thing!

One of the things that I love the most about the Singapore Zoo is that the animals are usually all visible and you can see them fairly close up. However, in past trips to the zoo, the polar bear has almost always been lounging in a far away corner or completely out of my line of sight. So I was simply thrilled when I approached the tank and saw him swimming like a little fish! Round and round he went!

He was smiling too!

After the zoo we took them to the famous Raffles Hotel's Long Bar for a classic Singapore Sling. Yum!

The zoo and Long Bar were followed by dinner...chili and black pepper crabs! You can't come to Singapore without trying at least one!

And finally, dinner was followed by a ride on the Singapore Flyer...that some (cough, cough, Janelle, cough, cough) would say was scary ;)  Sorry about the blurry shot...

That ended a very full first 2 days in Singapore!

Our first family visit :)

I finally have some time to sit down and catch up on the blog. The past few weeks have been crazy, but in a good way. A visit from Dad and Vivi, a visit from Jason and Janelle (my brother and sister-in-law) and a whirlwind trip to Vietnam that I'm very excited to blog about in the next few days. So let's get caught up!

As I just mentioned, my Dad and his wife, Vivi, along with their good friend, Amy, visited us for 3 days in mid-March. Of course, I took them to see all the usuals...the Merlion, the Esplanade, Orchard Road and Sentosa among other places. We spent much of their time here eating all of the yummy deliciousness that Singapore has to offer including the ever famous black pepper and chili crab. I did manage to squeeze in something that was new even to me...the Orchid Garden at the Botanic Gardens. Seriously, how could I have missed it in the past few times I've been to the gardens? It is so pretty in there! It's the perfect place for a photo shoot if you can manage to avoid sweating your buns off before you arrive...I, however, can't do that so it will never be an option for me ;)

Here are some of my favorite pictures from their time here. Thanks for coming to visit us, Dad, Vivi and Amy!

Red Bean ice pops!

Shopping along Orchard Road

Dinner at No Signboard Seafood for chili crab

Outside the CBD at night

New on the blog...the Esplanade shot at night.

Vivi writing her and my dad's names on a tree in the orchid garden

Showing my dad her work!

He likes it!

Lunch at La Pau Sat

Photo shoot on our balcony :)