June 17 - Back to Bangkok

So it's another happy pancake morning at the hotel's breakfast buffet :o)

We check out of the hotel and head over to Raffles Plaza where we'll be picked up to join a boat tour. We've got time to kill before we get picked up so we search the hotel shopping mall looking for a uniquely Singapore souvenir... oh well. For lunch Geoff picks out a very wonderful dim sum restaurant, Din Tai Fung. I unsuccessfully lead the kids in a rendition of "Happy Father's Day to you". It turned out to be more of a pathetic duet between me and Felicia.



Then, it's off to the boat for a 3 hour tour... or maybe it was 4-ish? We cruise by several islands and disembark to explore some of Kusu Island. We all enjoy.





Next, it's dinner back at the Quayside Seafood Restaurant. We can't leave without trying the pepper crab.

The pepper crab is TONS more delicious!

We make our way, via Maxi-Cab, to our first and final Singapore destination, the airport. Before we board the taxi I notice that Cam has... smell. Whatever... I'd feel better if we were at the airport, we'll change him there. Not even a MINUTE into the ride Cam investigates the squish in his diaper with his fingers. DANGIT! I get to spend the next 25 car nauseous minutes with a smelly, squishy bottomed boy in my lap while I firmly hang on to his left hand to account for the movement and contact of every poopy digit. At the airport I fish out fresh clothes for Cam and take him to the nearest ladies room. I get poop on my t-shirt during the clean-up process. BACK to the suitcase to get a fresh shirt for me. We FINALLY get checked in. Next, I make an unsuccessful attempt to find a uniquely Singapore souvenir for the house and we go wait at the gate. After an uneventful(yippee!) flight on Thai Air Asia, we make it home... it was a good trip. I hope our next trip will be just as good :o)

June 16 - Note to self: When gut says to let kids skip the 4d movie... LISTEN!

First it's the breakfast buffet. The kids are sooooo happy to have pancakes and other western breakfast food. We're also entertained by one very indiscreet woman who's packing her bag, or maybe it's better descibed as a sack, with fruit and other breakfast items.

Today we take a totally see-through(like see below our feet) cable car from Mount Faber to Sentosa Island.




First, an ice cream and beer break.

Second, we indulge the kids in a ride up the Sky Tower.

Next we try the 4D movie... I'd been to the one in Disneyworld so I wasn't sure if it might be too much for the kids. But, I figure if it gets too intense we'll just take the 3-D glasses off them. BOY! was I waaaay off. In addition to the seat bumping, wind effects and 3-D visuals there was a "foot-whip" for when the crabs ran across the screen. That's what got Felicia and Turner (the longer legged ones) screaming. So, Cam starts screaming because the first two are screaming. Finally, when the 3-D swarm of bees come at Ronan he throws the glasses on the floor and starts screaming. By this point, I've got Felicia and Cam in the back of the theater while I'm feeling through the dark for an exit door. Geoff's got Ronan screaming and Turner screaming in panic, "I have to go to the bathroom!". Turner was figuring it was the quickest way to get out. We eventually all escape out a back exit. This was all withing 5 minutes of the movie. Comes out to about $10/minute.
It's raining, so we hop back onto the cable car and review the day's horror with the kids.

At Mt Faber we park ourselves at the restaurant with the killer view and have a food and drink break. Geoff watches the kids while I escape to the gift shop for a few minutes.
Then back to the hotel for a break.

After dinner at a disappointing Tapas restaurant we take a beautiful evening boat tour. But, before we hopped on the boat tour we needed to head back to the hotel and clean up Ronan's poop ooze coming out up the back of his shorts... We're pretty confident that he left a souvenier at the bad tapas restaurant.
Next, back to the hotel for the night and Geoff's conference call. OOps, we realize that Geoff didn't power-save his laptop and we have no adapter for the power supply. BLAST! So Geoff gets to wing-it on the call a bit. Of course this is the ONE TRIP that I didn't pack the outlet adapters because we never needed them before.... until now. AND we've got 2 suitcases this time! Oh well...

June 15 - We're off to Singapore

First, it's getting it together and getting to Singapore. This time we're bringing TWO suitcases with extra clothes for everyone. So I stay up way too late packing as usual and Khun Rin picks us up at 5am for our 7am flight on Air Asia. It's an Asian equivalent to Southwest where everyone stampedes to the door at boarding. Food, drink and merchandise are available for purchase and there are no pillows or blankets. We did depart on time. I was still trying to get kids buckled while we were on our way... and we were one of the FIRST ones on the plane :o)

So we're in Singapore!

After a less than smooth check-in at the Novotel Clarke Quay we hit the McDonalds to feed the starving kiddies and explore the neighboring Fort Canning National Park. Second photo is a view from our hotel room.


Then we recharge at a restaurant on the river and explored the city on foot. The exploration, however, was more of an accident. We got turned around a little trying to get from Fort Canning Park to the hotel.



Eventually, we get into our hotel room for a break and some work for Geoff. I take the kids to the pool while Geoff gets on a conference call. At the pool Turner has a breakthrough! He holds his breath with his head UNDER water. One more step away from high-intensity-death-watch for me. One step closer to being able to ENJOY the pool with the kids :o)

Finally, we have a wonderful dinner at Quayside Seafood and Grill across the street from the hotel. Among other delicious goodies we enjoy the fabulous curry crab! We intend on taking the "must do" night cruise on the river... but Turner and Ronan don't make it through dinner.