Birthday girl (with her purple cast)
Ella turned 12 this weekend and it just seems amazing that she is already that old. The first year of her life seems like a lifetime ago but at the same time, to think that she's already 12 and only has another 6 years in our house (in theory) seems amazing and impossible.
We let Ella pick where she wanted to go out to dinner Saturday night and she chose Jumbo, a famous seafood restaurant here with five or six different locations. When my brother and his family visited us a few weeks ago, we took them to the Jumbo in Dempsey Hil - a shopping area that we love with lots of fun restaurants - and all our kids loved it. Singapore is famous for its "Chili Crab" and Jumbo is one of the go-to places for this crab. There are also less spicy variations and all three of our kids love crab so that was what they had the first time we went.
Unfortunately, the Dempsey Hill location didn't have any reservations available so we ended up going to the Jumbo on the East Coast on the water. Thought it would be a nice fun and still be the good food. Would definitely say that the service, food and overall restaurant definitely falls down several notches once you leave Dempsey Hill although the view was still interesting. Food was ok - not great - and Drayton and I tried some new things that we definitely wouldn't try again. Sort of a bust but at least we can say we now have eaten on the East Coast. What we learned is we would rather go there to go roller blading (you rent them there) or waterskiing (there's a cable-ski park there that the boys loved watching) or biking (again, can rent them there). Will skip eating!!
Despite the lackluster food, here are some fun pics from dinner ....
On Ella's official birthday on Sunday we had cake for breakfast - a family tradition we have - and we were lucky to find a Ben & Jerry's so Ella could have an ice cream cake like she loves. After breakfast we told the kids we were going to bring them to Universal Studios on Sentosa, a small island directly below the city of Singapore connected to it with a bridge (or also a cable car). Amid much excited we left for Universal, arriving at 10am when it opened. At 12:45 we were still waiting in lines to get our annual pass since this was a much less expensive option even if we only went twice during the year.
"Queueing" as it's called here is a national past time I think! And there is an art to it! I think the objective seems to be to get ahead in the line at all costs - people are constantly cutting in front of you when they think you aren't looking or paying attention. In one line today we had this 90 year old matriarch of a family come pushing through the line past us as if to join someone - people let her through assuming so I guess. She got to the front of the line and then her family scampered up to join her and they were the next to be served! The amazing thing is that no one gets mad at each other for doing it - it's just an accepted practice and not something to fight about. Leaves me steaming mad since I'm not one to push my way ahead - but after a couple hours in lines, I basically stood with my elbows out to the side and constantly swayed making it much harder for someone to push past me. Definitely requires a lot of paying attention!
The good news is that we now have Resort World Sentosa Annual Passes - not something that I would have ever said we were dying to have but it should eliminate all the queueing on future visits which in my opinion was worth every penny! Universal Studios was a small park but the kids loved it and that's why we were there. The Mummy was a favorite ride for everyone - except Henry was screamed with his eyes closed and his fingers in his ears from the moment we got on the ride until probably five minutes after we got off the ride! You need to appreciate that before we had even gotten on the ride he was already freaking out.....
We put Ella in a wheelchair since getting around on her crutches everywhere would have been a slow process and we have now learned that we really need someone in a wheelchair every time we go - major advantage in every area! Not sure we can manage that for future visits - at least I hope not since I would really like to avoid the ER for a while!
A fun weekend celebrating Ella's birthday. What a difference a month makes in our Birthday Celebration planning. One month ago today we arrived and celebrated Sumner's birthday - which consisted of unpacking boxes and getting lost and eating dinner at 10pm at a grocery store. We've promised Sumner a redo on his 1/2 birthday since his real one was a big bust!
What you need to appreciate is that this is the beach but as you look out onto the water, all you see are tons and tons of container ships - Singapore is definitely not someplace you would go sit on the beach and enjoy the view!
Fun with toothpicks...
On Ella's official birthday on Sunday we had cake for breakfast - a family tradition we have - and we were lucky to find a Ben & Jerry's so Ella could have an ice cream cake like she loves. After breakfast we told the kids we were going to bring them to Universal Studios on Sentosa, a small island directly below the city of Singapore connected to it with a bridge (or also a cable car). Amid much excited we left for Universal, arriving at 10am when it opened. At 12:45 we were still waiting in lines to get our annual pass since this was a much less expensive option even if we only went twice during the year.
"Queueing" as it's called here is a national past time I think! And there is an art to it! I think the objective seems to be to get ahead in the line at all costs - people are constantly cutting in front of you when they think you aren't looking or paying attention. In one line today we had this 90 year old matriarch of a family come pushing through the line past us as if to join someone - people let her through assuming so I guess. She got to the front of the line and then her family scampered up to join her and they were the next to be served! The amazing thing is that no one gets mad at each other for doing it - it's just an accepted practice and not something to fight about. Leaves me steaming mad since I'm not one to push my way ahead - but after a couple hours in lines, I basically stood with my elbows out to the side and constantly swayed making it much harder for someone to push past me. Definitely requires a lot of paying attention!
The good news is that we now have Resort World Sentosa Annual Passes - not something that I would have ever said we were dying to have but it should eliminate all the queueing on future visits which in my opinion was worth every penny! Universal Studios was a small park but the kids loved it and that's why we were there. The Mummy was a favorite ride for everyone - except Henry was screamed with his eyes closed and his fingers in his ears from the moment we got on the ride until probably five minutes after we got off the ride! You need to appreciate that before we had even gotten on the ride he was already freaking out.....
We put Ella in a wheelchair since getting around on her crutches everywhere would have been a slow process and we have now learned that we really need someone in a wheelchair every time we go - major advantage in every area! Not sure we can manage that for future visits - at least I hope not since I would really like to avoid the ER for a while!
More Universal Studios pics....
Remember Beetlejuice? Henry did NOT like him either!
A fun weekend celebrating Ella's birthday. What a difference a month makes in our Birthday Celebration planning. One month ago today we arrived and celebrated Sumner's birthday - which consisted of unpacking boxes and getting lost and eating dinner at 10pm at a grocery store. We've promised Sumner a redo on his 1/2 birthday since his real one was a big bust!
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