Suza in Singapore: Gardens by the Bay

On Monday afternoon, we headed to the Gardens by the Bay. Below the "trees".

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Our meeting place for playdates, the bull. Behind, you can see the Rain-forest dome.

The rain-forest dome from outside.

More trees... (thanks by the way to Suza for all or almost all the Suza in Singapore pics :) ).

Noah petting the crocodile.

And riding the crocodile. Unfortunately, it must have been an old or not very cooperative crocodile because he did not get very far. 

Our first time inside the flower dome - quite a huge and impressive structure with plants from around the world.

Like cacti...

And pine trees...

and roses and geraniums and fushias - the plants I grew up with and have not seen in quite a while.  Noah and his friend Kathryn ran around the dome but were not overly impressed with the flowers. 

A cool structure...

You can see the Singapore flyer from inside the dome.

We next went to the rain-forest dome which has a giant waterfall and flying walkways down from the top of the waterfall. 

Close-up view of the waterfall...

Find the flyer...

The three of us at the top.

And again...

A view of the walkways...  Noah thought they looked a little like train tracks which of course was very exciting.

Last view of the waterfall as we head down.

We then climbed the skywalk....

View from the skywalk as the sun sets.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel (aka the boat) from the skywalk. A beautiful sight.

Suza in Singapore: Pulau Ubin

On Sunday, we took a boat like this one out to Pulau Ubin - a Singaporean island about 10mn away from the mainland. 

Arrival at the dock straight ahead.

The three of us getting ready to head out and explore the island.

We took a car out to the reserve  part of the island - here Seth and Noah walking along the viewing dock.

The Singapore port was not too far away.... a reminder that this beautiful tropical island is very very near civilization.

Mangrove swamps... (but luckily not too many mosquitoes).

More walking on the docks - Seth was pointing out the little crabs to Noah who was more interested in his water bottle at this point.

Pretty view from the island.

Seth Suza and Noah at the top of the observation deck.

Noah and Suza up there... Noah was quite a trooper and walked all around without complaining.

Funny?

It's tropical all right - sometimes I have to remind myself that I actually live on a tropical island - pretty much my childhood dream come true.

On our way back we saw some baby wild boars...

and some monkeys.

A nice escape from urban life. After our little trek, we had lunch in Pulau Ubin and after watching the water skiers in the cable-ski park for a long long time, we had dinner outside by the beach at East Coast Park... mmm white pepper crab. 

Suza in Singapore: Bird Park

On Saturday, after a yummy dim sum brunch, the four of us headed out to the bird park (Noah's choice).  

Some flamingos... which, by the way, I have learned are only pink because of their diets - if you shift their diets so that they are no longer eating pink shells and the like, they turn white - a white flamingo... 

Funky ducks.

These guys were just cute...

And of course, we went to the bird show where Noah got to see his friend "amigo" who sang happy birthday to some lucky people and... to the lorie feeding station. Above Noah feeding the lories.

With Suza who also enjoyed feeding the lories.

Suza in Singapore: Botanical Gardens

For days before Suza even arrived, we had started a count-down calendar on Noah's wall.

Noah was very very excited...  Finally, Suza arrived late Thursday night/early Friday morning (the 9th of August). The reunion between the two was very sweet - Noah only wanted to give his hand to Suza -  maybe Suza and mommy/daddy but definitely not just one of us! That Friday, after Noah came back from school, we went to the Orchid Garden in the Botanical Gardens. 

Here Noah near the entrance.

Find the bird....

Find the pineapple - we almost never see pineapples on the pineapple bushes here but that day, we spotted one little one. 

My favorite part of the botanical gardens - the flowers are just amazing and some even smell so deliciously good.

Suza showing Noah the light shining through the thin flower petals - magical.

...

Noah - by then he had run around quite a bit in the hot humid weather and was all wet - but still happy.

Bye bye orchid garden. 

After a colorful adventure in the orchid garden we picnicked in the botanical gardens. It is so pleasant out in the evening - slightly cooler but still warm with a beautiful pink sky.

July Iphone Photo Backlog

I am very wary of plugging in my Iphone to a computer because I no longer have the original computer I set it up with and I am not synched up. I finally braved the connection a little while ago and uploaded some pictures from July 2012 which I had not posted. So, before moving on to August... a few remaining July pictures. 

Above, Noah in his new overalls (they are a bit big since they are size 4...) playing in one of the local playgrounds nearby.

I took Noah to the Arts Science museum a while ago to see the Harry Potter exhibit and the Andy Warhol exhibit. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, he liked the Warhol exhibit better. I had showed him some Warhol paintings on the web and explained some of the ideas behind the soup cans and the repetitions but hey - bright colors and soup cans and shoes and beautiful women... Harry Potter on the other hand, although intriguing, was a bit scary for him and he knows nothing of the Harry Potter world or movies and there is a lot of background to explain to make golden snitches exciting or gowns from the movie interesting... 

Noah at the top of the Pinnacle again...

And Noah in the new "Gardens by the bay" on the tree walkway - you can see the Singapore Flyer in the background and some more of the "trees". It's a fun new garden by the Marina Bay Sands hotel.

Diaper Update: No More Diapers

It has been a while since we last posted and pics are piling up in my folders. I will get to them but for now, I just wanted to post a quick diaper update. Noah has been out of day diapers for almost a year now (his first day without diapers at school was September 15 2011). As some of you may remember, at first he still asked for a diaper to poop once a day or did so in his night diaper but he soon learned to use the toilet for that too. 

Now, he is officially diaper free. Since August 20th, he has been without diapers at night and so far, it is doing great. Only two accidents in 20 days and both towards the beginning.  Yay to a diaperfree life!