Small World at Treetops

 Last Friday, we got together with one of my colleagues and his family for swimming over at their place (Treetops, one of the other housing options for UB folks). They have a really neat pool there -- it has a waterfall, which Matthew loved, and a slightly larger play area than Fraser (our place), which James loved!

Even though we hadn't met, the first thing that Lyn (my colleague's wife) said was, "We know each other already!  I mean, I know your kids!"  It turns out that she works at Rolly Pollies and knew Matthew and James from Ninja Camp there. Very small world!  (It was also a small world since they were both at Ohio State around the same time as we were, although we didn't know each other at the time -- in fact, I only met Peter this summer.)

We at lunch at Jamie's Italian restaurant nearby the apartment complex (and in the same mall as Minecraft camp), which was very good. Observant person that I am, I didn't realize that the "Jamie" was celebrity chef Jamie Oliver until after we were done. :)

Minecraft Camp

Last week the boys went to afternoon Minecraft Camp.  The program was described as helping learn programming skills through Minecraft, but I'm not sure that's actually true. :)  They did have a good time there, though!

(Matthew was also thrilled the other day because he was on some Minecraft server and got to say hello to "Jen" -- Jen and Pat do Minecraft YouTube videos that James and Matthew love. So, a virtual brush with fame!)

Second Night Out

 Mike and the boys made it back to Buffalo at about 4 AM (originally scheduled at midnight, but they got delayed in Chicago).  Their flight left at 8:45 AM Singapore time -- I saw them off to the airport, went to work for the whole day, had drinks with colleagues afterwards, and they were still in the air on the first leg when I got back!  (Sixteen hour flight from Singapore to San Francisco -- whew!)

Last Thursday, Mike and I got a babysitter again, and we went downtown.  We walked around the Central Business District and Boat Quay, and then had dinner at one of the popular seafood places (Jumbo Seafood).  We had their famous chili crab, which was delicious!  (And messy!)  We had fried rice with it, which turned out not to be necessary -- we should have had more of the buns they recommended instead. :)

Reflections near the Asian Civilizations Museum

Fancy Italian Green Apple soda

Chili Crab!

Evening by the Bay

 Saturday was another practice for the National Day Parade, so we got to see the fighter jets fly over, as well as the helicopters carrying the giant Singapore flag.  After a snack (that turned out to be dinner), the boys played again on the Adventure Trail and Treehouse.  We were heading over to the SuperTree light show, and we saw that the waterpark was all lit up with neon lights. I told Mattie he could run through it once, even though he was back in his regular clothes -- judging from last year, I figured it would be hot at the light show.  So one time turned into several times, and James wanted to go too, and he got soaked (he stood under one of the water buckets and let it dump out on him!)

We headed over to the light show after that, and ended up finding a nice place to sit despite the crowds. The theme this time was Broadway songs, which actually worked really well.  (Last time I think it was classic rock.)

After the show we decided to try to take the MRT (the train) home.  I thought it was right by the gardens, but it wasn't!  We kept following the signs and following the signs.  But we did get to see the fireworks going off behind the Marina Bay Sands hotel, and then we went through the mall at the Convention Center -- which actually has a (fake) river in in where people were riding on rowboats, and all kinds of fancy stores including a Ferrari store.

We never did make it to the MRT station -- we just took a cab instead. :)  (We thought it would be hard to get one with the rehearsal going on, but it turned out that we got one quickly when we called.)