Adventure Trail

 On Saturday, we went to Gardens by the Bay, but this time we got to explore the Adventure Trail -- the part that was more like a playground -- which we had missed last time.  The boys loved it, especially James.  Of course, it was another hot day, so they also spent a lot of time in the water park!  (Matthew didn't want to leave that section!)

Tour de Playgrounds

 The boys got to go back to their favorite playground from last time (Tiong Bahru), although it was a pretty hot afternoon!  They still liked the shorter zipline, but the longer zipline seemed a lot slower than last time -- too bad!  (James also made a friend with a shared love of the monkey bars!)

After dinner, we also went to the playground at Vivocity, a part we hadn't been to before.  The boys liked all the creatures to climb on.

Matthew enjoyed his prawn (shrimp) noodles!

Edamame for dessert :)

Night Out

Our apartment has a babysitting service (basically, members of the housekeeping staff who do it to make extra money), so we hired a babysitter Saturday night. (She was a very nice woman named Jennifer -- not, I'm sure, the name she usually goes by -- who didn't speak very clear English, but who made sure the apartment didn't burn down while the boys played their iPads.)  The boys allegedly went to bed before we got home, but popped out to see us as soon as we arrived back!  (That worked out okay, though, as they got to Facetime with the cousins and grandparents in Eden.)

Mike really wanted to go the Raffles Hotel to have an Original Singapore Sling, so that's what we did. It's a very beautiful hotel in British Colonial style -- it felt like we should have been talking in a British accent about our days stationed in India with the raj. :)  The drinks were ridiculously overpriced (but we knew that going in), but they actually were very tasty. And hey, free peanuts, too!  The original Long Bar is closed for renovation (a 16 month renovation, apparently!), so the Slings are served in the Bar & Billiards room (but the decor is not too different from the Long Bar, if memory serves.)

Then we went to the observation deck at the top of Marina Bay Sands, the iconic hotel that looks like a boat on a platform.  (I think it looks like a plane on a platform, but Mike argues correctly that it doesn't have wings.)  This was another of the things that Mike really wanted to do while we were here.  As we were walking over, we noticed an unusual number of police on the streets. Then when we got a cab, the driver told us that it was crowded in the area because they were having a National Day rehearsal, complete with fireworks (and they also had some of the streets blocked off).  National Day is somewhat similar to our Independence Day (it's August 9, the day Singapore became independent from Malaysia).  Apparently they do these rehearsals every Saturday for a month or so leading up to National Day (in part because they can't fit everyone downtown for real National Day, so some people get to see the rehearsals instead).

So, it was pretty cool to get to see the fireworks (and the rest of the nighttime views) from 56 stories up!

(Marina Bay Sands also has an infinity pool on the top level, but alas, that is only for hotel guests -- and as you might imagine, a night there costs the big bucks.)

Merlions, Tigers, and Beaches, Oh My!

 On Saturday we went over to Sentosa Island, the most touristy area of Singapore. We saw one of the Merlions (the symbol of Singapore, think mermaid-lion, a lion with a fish tail).  Then we took a ride on the Tiger Sky Tower (a sort of rotating elevator room), which had some great views.

We were going to do the luge ride down to the beach, but the lines were really long (much to James's disappointment).  But the beach itself (Siloso Beach) was nice, and the water was super-refreshing on a very hot and humid day!  It is funny because you can see all the huge ships and tankers just a little way off in the distance, so it's perhaps best not to think too much about what's in the water. :)  Of course, I suspect that's true for most beaches these days!

We didn't ride the cable cars

Tiger Sky Tower from the ground