Singapore! Part 2

Fun Jerry living in the State of Fun!

After the long previous days, we decided to take day 4 a little lighter.  We had a later morning and went to Sentosa Island.  This place could be a vacation in itself.  It is home to Universal Studios, Water World  Park, and lots of beaches and resorts.  After doing some research, we focused on two different activities: the luge and the zip-line.

Our trusty taxi driver, Mark, dropped us off at a perfect spot and we walked on over to the luge.  This was a fun, relatively inexpensive activity that all of us could do.  The only change I would have made is had Abby go with an adult.  But she was a trooper, nonetheless.  For the luge, you get helmets and some instructions on how to break and guide your car.  These were very simple...to break you pull back hard on the handlebars, and to glide, you don't:) After the instructions, you simply glide down the hill, past a couple obstacles, around some sharp turns, until you get to the bottom.  Somehow, I got to go with the older kids.  I let them start off strong before I showed them who was the king (or queen) of the luge:)  Poor Abby's arms and hands were very tired, pulling and pushing, so Andy and Sarah, Jerry and Abby were a bit behind us.  After our first trial downhill, we got on a ski lift to the top and went down again.  This time, I took Sarah and stayed in the back with Abby:)

Ready to luge

One luge ride down, one more to go

After the luge, we walked a bit to find the zip-line through the trees. This was what I was most excited to do...maybe in all of Singapore.  As we were walking up, Andy, Jerry and I were concocting a plan that made the most sense for all adults to go and for someone to stay with Sarah...since we assumed she was too little (she is two...easy assumption!)  It would take a lot more time, but they did have little golf carts to take people back up to the top of the zip-line (for a small fee).  So Andy, Jerry and the other kids would go down first, while I waited with Sarah.  Then Andy would come up in a golf cart while Jerry stayed with the other kids, and when Andy arrived at the top, I would go down...whew...a lot of thought into that plan.  So...when we got up to buy the tickets for the zip-line, and it was suggested that we measure Sarah to see if she was tall enough to go...I had an inner conflict in my head. It went something like, "She is only TWO! Am I really thinking about taking her on a zip-line?" "But this would save us time and  money.  And we are not in China...Singapore is safe...isn't it?" "Besides, I'm sending the rest of my family down...and she is going in tandem with me...so I will hold her tight!" "But she is only TWO!!!"  Well, you know which side won... And, she didn't cry the whole way down.  I'm not really sure what her face looked like since I couldn't see it...but there was no crying...maybe shock, but no crying!

She was more bothered by the new paper bracelet than the ropes

All geared up!

Getting ready to fly

Grace and Emma

Sarah and Beth

Josh and Jerry

Andy and Abby

The rest of us had a blast! The hardest part was waiting and anticipating, as we watched others go before us.  But the kids did great...and Jerry, Andy and I had fun, too.

When we had gotten our equipment turned in, we were headed to lunch. To our great surprise, we found a Chili's!!!  This was SO exciting...we were all so hungry, it was well air-conditioned (it was in the 90's with high humidity) and we could eat Western food!!!  We enjoyed lunch, played in some fun water display to cool off, then got back to our hotel in plenty of time...gearing up for the Night Safari!

Yes, Chocolate World in Singapore...who knew?

Such fun in the water

Attached to the Singapore Zoo is a Night Safari.  It's a separate zoo specifically open at night and shows the animals after dusk.  There were many feedings, a show, a tram ride, and lots of walking to see animals you couldn't see from the tram.  We ended up watching the first show because the tram had an hour and a half wait. Then we walked around the safari, checking out lions and tigers and bears (oh, my!) Finally, when we had walked as much as we could, the tram line had shrunk to a five minute wait, so we ended our evening with a nice ride, which we all appreciated. Although we got back late, the kids were troopers and really had a good time.

Getting ready for the show

Our last full day was in Singapore.  This seemed like the longest day because of weather changes and lots of running around. We started with the Botanical Gardens, but by the time we reached it, it was pouring down rain.  After perusing the gift shop trying to wait it out, we drove back to the Flyer (large ferris wheel) and enjoyed a 4D movie that Andy had gotten tickets before we left (a good rainy day activity). We then decided that we would go to the top of the Marina Sands Hotel to see the view.  But when we got there, it was much more expensive than anticipated, so we decided to go back to the Gardens.  That's when Mark, our awesome driver, told us he could get a large discount on Flyer tickets.  By then it had cleared up enough to make a Flyer ride worth it, so we went to pick up tix, and went on the Flyer...SO FUN! And there was no line...BONUS!  After going on the Flyer, we went back to the Botanical Gardens where there was so much green and lots of space...it was gorgeous and reminded us a bit of our Longwood Gardens that we miss! We also went to the Orchid Garden within the Gardens, which was breathtaking. From there, we traveled closer to our hotel where we enjoyed a dinner by the sea and ate Singapore's famous chili crab.  THEN, we went back into the city to do some shopping and watch the light show.  Finally, we decided to take a closer look at one of the famous lions.  Unfotunately for me and Sarah, she got sick ALL OVER ME just before getting out of the van,  so everyone else walked to the Lion, and I cleaned myself, Sarah and as much of the van as I could.  Again, our driver, Mark, was a champ.  He kept saying, "Being a parent is so hard," and told me not to worry about the cleanup...so gracious.

Fish spa, anyone? We did not participate...just watched

The Singapore Flyer

Loved the Botanical Gardens...the second time we visited:)

Love the silliness

Run and be free!!!!

We woke poor Sarah up from her nap for this picture

Beautiful orchids...beautiful children

Yum yum...chili crab, pepper crab and lobster

Some serious picking going on

We finally got back to the hotel around 10...and were up and out by 4am to catch our 6am flight. We had packed it in and saw as much of Singapore as we possibly could (as a party of 8).  Although we were tired, we really had a great time!!!