Goodbye Singapore!

Our last couple days on holiday were lovely! On Wednesday we drove to Malaysia and went to Legoland!! 

It was SUCH a fun day in the theme park and water park! We practically had the place to ourselves! Eddie and Will were so brave, going on all the rides and slides, and Will kept telling us about how much courage he had. We went on one little roller coaster and afterwards he said "I didn't think I had the courage for that" and when we went on another, even scarier one, he squealed afterwards: "My courage could've popped out!" So cute!! 

We spent ages in the water park, went on slide after slide, stood under a huge bucket of water, and braved the wave pool with Nan! We dragged ourselves back to the car, exhausted, and headed home. Poor little Will got sick on the way back, he was very pathetic, but we don't think it ruined his day! We had udon noodles again for dinner and fell into bed for our last sleep in Singapore.

On Thursday we went out to see Frozen with Dad, Nan, and Eddie (Will was still feeling sick so he and Claire stayed home) and it was just as lovely seeing it the second time! Ahh absolutely love with the music and Eddie's reaction was adorable. We went out for dim sum/yum cha for lunch and ran home to get ready to go to the airport!

It was really tough to say goodbye. We had such a wonderful holiday and, excited as we are for our lives in LA, we weren't ready to go back to reality. Our flights home went by quickly, though, and before we knew it we were back in the States! Ready to rock 2014!!

"Clearly you've never been to Singapore" ;)

Yesterday was our first proper day in Singapore! We all got up early and went exploring.. We caught the MRT (coolest, fastest, and least smelly subway EVER) to these huge biodome gardens by the water and renewable energy mushroom looking things.

There were two garden domes: the Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome. They were pretty incredible, such beautiful nature in the middle of a city! Nan and Dad, gardener extraordinaires, were in their element - very fun day!

We went back to the apartment to rest for a bit before going out to the Night Safari at Singapore Zoo!! As a pre-show, two guys came out and did this intense fire breathing/eating (ahh!) show - very cool! 

Then we went into a little amphitheatre for a "creatures of the night" show. At one point they needed an audience volunteer and they chose Eddie!!

Then we met our personal tour guide, Nur, and hopped in a little buggie to traipse around the zoo! We saw heaps of animals!! A few experiences were particularly memorable though:

1) Bats - gahh!! Walking through an almost-pitch-black enclosure of free-flying bats was slightly terrifying! We could feel the wind rushing past our heads as they flew by!

2) Will can speak otter. Like, he was really talking to them!! He goes "ooh, they sound like me!" And starts making the most adorable, high-pitched squeaks and the otters squeaked back and started frantically looking around for him. Very Dory from Finding Nemo.

3) Daisy the Leopard. Our tour guide told us the most heartbreaking story - Daisy had a mate for 10 years and he just passed away. We asked what affect it had had and Nur said that she refused to eat for weeks and became wary of the keepers because she thought they'd killed her mate, so sad :( but she was absolutely beautiful, sleeping right up against the glass.

4) A hippo!! We saw this massive hippo, really close up, and he stared us right in the eye! 

5) Sick kid. Not memorable in the best way, Ed got really sick towards the end of the tour and we had to wind things up. It didn't spoil the night at all though, such a unique experience!!

Today we had a later start, recovering from the late night zoo adventure and sick child drama, and the two of us navigated our way to Orchard Road for a shopping extravaganza!! This street was unlike anything we've ever seen! A series of probably 20 huge, full-sized shopping centres! Gaahh!! So overwhelming and amazing, WOW! Everything from H&M and Cotton On to Cartier and Prada. Thanks to Nan, G'ma & G'pa, Uncle Matt, and Uncle Steve, we had Xmas money to spend guilt free, and we were outta cash before we knew it! We were stoked with our purchases though, nothin' like retail therapy..!

We came back and had a swim in the pool with Will. We were about to race and Will have us a stellar pep talk: "Do ya have your courage?" "Yes!" "Do ya have your kicking legs?" "Yes!" "Do ya have your umm.. paddling arms?" "Yes!" "Then leeeet's do this!!" Haha he's such a crack up!

Tonight we went out Octapas for paella, sangria, and churros, delish! 

The atmosphere in Clarke Quay at night is so buzzy, we felt great strutting down the main street in heels and new dresses! A wonderful and tiring day!

Somewhere, beyond the sea...

Saturday was absolutely beautiful!! We went on a boat tour around the islands near Koh Samui and luckily the sun was out and it was a picture perfect day! 

After about an hour we stopped at an island to kayak and snorkel. We were using "Triaks" so it was us with Will in one and Dad, Claire and Eddie in the other. Surprisingly enough, we held our own with the rowing (or is it paddling?) and kept towards the front of the group! We went under a ledge of a cliff and through an amazing grotto/cave that was like something out of a movie! So cool. After a little while we both started getting really tired so we asked Will if he could be our cheerleader and cheer us on.. He said sure and after taking a few seconds to think of something, he came up with a cheer for Hannah: "Come on Hannah, you can do it! You're the best and you know best!" We both had the biggest smiles on our faces and requested a new cheer for both of us! Will's second cheer was: "You have the strength, you have the courage, you can do it straight away!" So adorable! We paddled until we arrived at a little beach and then we all got out to snorkel for a while! The water and the fish were beautiful and we also swam through a little cave (and Lucy got really scared!) Once we'd had our fun it was back to the boat! We had an amazing lunch onboard and played some cards with the fam and then we stopped at another tiny beach where we could get off the boat. When we got to the beach it was completely packed with other tourists, so we decided to walk up to the lookout and lagoon on the island. The walk ended up being much more of a climb because the stairs were more like a ladder - so steep!! We went up and up and up and couldn't believe that the kids could climb so many steps! It was worth it though when we got to the top because the view was breathtaking :) 

We looked out and could see the most beautiful lagoon and decided that even though it was a bit of a detour, we really wanted to walk down to it and have a swim! 

But when we got there the walkway was completely fenced off and a bunch of signs said "No Swimming" NOOOOOO! Drenched in sweat, we climbed backwards down the stairs ladder-style and finally made it to the beach! Phewww! We swam and ate ice creams and waited for the little speedboat to go back to the big boat. Then it was straight back to Koh Samui and back to the house where we had yummy take-away and packed to leave on Sunday!

Sunday was a traveling day - back to Singapore! We woke up early and headed to the beautiful outdoor airport..! It was all very smooth traveling and before we knew it, we were in our hotel which is so lovely! It's in Clark Quay and all of the buildings are beautifully decorated with pastel colors and lights :) AND to make it even better, there's a shopping mall under the hotel... Dangerous! Haha, but it was great because we headed down to the mall for lunch and got some delicious Udon noodles for an early dinner. Later on Nanna arrived - so good to see her! And we all got early nights in preparation for some fun days in Singapore!

International Travelers!

Woah! So much traveling! Our long haul flight to Hong Kong (15 hours!) was surprisingly pleasant! Slept for about 8 hours, read, crocheted, watched movies and we were there! We had an easy transfer and layover, fairly short flight to Singapore, cleared customs, caught the AirTrain and before we knew it we we're checked into our hotel that was attached to the airport - barely feeling tired or shaggy at all! We've come to the conclusion that after so many flights back and forth to Aus our bodies must just be used to it, nice one!

The hotel in Singapore was SO COOL! Beautifully decorated, super modern, and distinctively different to any hotel we'd ever been in. We found our room and threw open the curtains to a view of the most incredible pool ever! 

We quickly got changed and ran downstairs to have a better look! Ahh it was just so exciting to be in a new country, even if we were still sort of in the airport haha. The pool was a bit chilly so we went back to the room and both had baths and lazed around in our fluffy bathrobes until Dad, Claire, Ed, and Will's flight got in!

Before long there was a knock on the door! One high pitched little voice claimed to be "room service" in a thick Aussie accent and another was "the pizza guy" - we opened the door and we're overwhelmed with wonderful hugs and kisses from our cute little siblings! Ahh it was so great to be reunited with them and Dad and Claire!! We all headed downstairs to get some cocktails and dinnery food and have a good catch up.

Our flight to Thailand left at 8:40 this morning and so far so good! We're on the plane now (although we can't post the blog until we land) and can't wait to finally reach Koh Samui!!