Sydney, Australia - Day 3

This morning, we walked back down to Darling Harbour. Ryan and Brittney spent some time with Brandon so Steven and I could see the Hubble 3D Imax. It was great! The screen we saw it on is supposedly the largest Imax screen in the world. After we saw the movie, Ryan and Brittney went to see it. Really nice to have the company and help of two extra people!



In the early afternoon, Steven went to the Sydney National Maritime Museum. I was in huge need of a nap!


































A picture of the Sydney Tower. Steven took this through a ship's telescope. Awesome!

In the evening, we did a walking tour around some of Sydney.

We walked by St. Mary's Cathedral.

We walked through the botanic gardens.

Brandon stopped to smell the roses.

I think that Brandon loved being outdoors in the nice weather! He ran wild!

For dinner, we walked to the area of Sydney knows as The Rocks. We stopped at an Italian restaurant for some pizza. Unfortunately, Brandon had a high chair accident... The high chair fell forward, and Brandon busted his lip on the table. Very bloody. Very scary. And, it could have been so much worse. Steven and I got our pizza to go and walked home. Ryan and Brittney finished at the restaurant and spent some more time out before heading in for the night.

Sydney, Australia - Day 2

Georgeous day in Sydney! I needed this cooler weather!

We all took a walk down to Darling Harbour.

We took a boat cruise from Darling Harbour.

Of course, Brandon loved Uncle Ryan's hat. :)

The boat passed Fort Denison, just for us. Only kidding. :)

We rode down the Sydney Harbour to Watson's Bay, an old fishing village. We got off of the boat for a while there. We walked on the beach and around a park there. We also enjoyed a nice fish and chips lunch at a picnic table. Glorious to be able to sit outside without sweating!!!

In the evening, Steven and Ryan volunteered to have some guy time with Brandon while me and Brittney went to the opera. She and I couldn't decide whether or not to go at first. The tickets were expensive... In the end, we pulled the trigger. Soooooo glad we did! Amazing experience. We saw The Marriage of Figaro. No regrets and one of my favorite things we did in Sydney. Well worth the money.

View from our seats.

Sydney, Australia - Day 1

At the Singapore airport, we checked in right away. We wanted to get a bassinet on the flight to Singapore so that maybe Brandon would sleep without us having to hold him.

We also stored a few suitcases at the airport so we wouldn't have to ship them back to the US or take them with us to Sydney.

We hoped that Brandon would sleep most/all of the 8 hour, overnight, flight to Sydney. When we got on the plane, though, Brandon was wound up. They also didn't turn off the overhead lights in the airplane for almost the first three hours. Steven was then finally able to rock and sing Brandon to sleep. He slept for about an hour in the bassinet, but then he woke up and wouldn't sleep unless we held him. While Brandon slept most of the rest of the flight, we sure didn't get much sleep.

We arrived in Sydney very early in the morning. We walked outside to get a cab to our hotel, and wow! It was so chilly outside (60's), and it felt GREAT! It had been months since I had felt cool, outside air. Sooooo refreshing! I had forgotten what cool natural air felt like!

We arrived at our hotel way before check-in. We also had a few hours before Ryan and Brittney arrived from New Zealand.

Since our hotel was in the Darling Harbour area of Sydney, we were able to walk to the aquarium. What a great way to start our vacation! Fishies!

Brandon was a little hesitant to "walk on water".

Ryan and Brittney arrived at the hotel right after we returned from the aquarium. Soooooo great to see Ryan! It had been eight months since we last saw him, although it didn't feel like that long. Very surreal, though, to meet up with Ryan on the other side of the world. Really neat that we were able to make timing and the meetup work.

We were all so exhausted from traveling, so we napped off and on during the day.

In the early evening, we all had enough energy to take a bus down to the Circular Quay area of Sydney. There, we got our first breathtaking look at the Sydney Opera House. Beautiful city. Beautiful icon.

It felt so nice to be on a vacation and on another adventure, especially with Ryan!

Goodbye, SG

Last three days in Singapore...

On Sunday, Steven took Brandon back to the zoo. One last trip to one of our favorite places in the city. I was so tempted to go with them, but I was exhausted. We still had quite a bit of packing to be done. Plus, it was good for the two guys to have some quality time together without Mommy.

Even though we were flying out of SG on Tuesday night, I still wanted to have my normal routine on Monday and Tuesday. Monday's playgroup this week met at Kristie's apartment. And, it was soooo nice. They had a goodbye cake for both me and Trang. (Trang is another friend who is leaving SG in the next week.) So thoughtful.

It was one small relief when FedEx came to pick up our boxes on Monday afternoon. Now to just finish packing all of the suitcases...

On Tuesday, Brandon and I went to the Hollandse Club. More goodbyes. We even had to say the hardest goodbye.

It was such a busy day that there wasn't much time to think about the actuality of our time ending in Singapore.

Jo was a huge help with the final packing, and she and the kids stopped by on Tuesday afternoon to help us on our way out. (Oh, and Jo brought me this empty pack of her husband's cigarettes. I've been meaning to take a picture of this for a while. Gross!)

As I zipped the final suitcase, I had flashbacks of the first night we arrived in Singapore. A new city... A new apartment... No memories attached...

Now, we as we left the apartment bare, it didn't feel empty. It felt full of our lives. Full of memories. Full of experiences that brought us closer as a family and made us stronger. Full of a large part of Brandon's life.

The van to the airport picked me and Brandon up. Hard to look back at Jo, Jessie, Jake, and Leonie View as we pulled out of the drive. When will we meet again?

Our last drive down River Valley road and past Clarke Quay.

We picked Steven up from work and headed to the airport for the 8 hour flight to Sydney, Australia.

Goodbye, Singapore. Such a huge impact in such a short time. You will be greatly missed.

Last Full Week in SG

Here we go... Our last full week in Singapore. Hard to believe that this moment has arrived.

On Monday, we ran some errands. Later in the day, Jo, Jessie, and Jake stopped by with a gift for the new baby. So thoughtful! The very first gift for Baby Bierly #2! What would I have done these past few months without Jo's help and generosity? Our experience in SG would not have been the same.

On Tuesday, we went to the Holland Club again. Brandon loves the Holland Club. At the end of the playgroup, we all get in a circle and sing songs. This week before we even formed the circle, Brandon came up to me and said "la la la". He was ready for song time! Not only really neat that he loves music time, but I also love that he remembered that song time comes after toy cleanup. Love to see his mind and memory working!

Tuesday afternoon, Brandon and I went to visit our friends Laura and Tabitha for the last time. So strange to say good-bye. We hope to meet again someday, but you just never know if, when, and/or where. Brandon and Tabitha kissed. They also gave Brandon a small magna doodle for the plane flights home. Thoughtful and useful!!! Laura is expecting her second baby in three weeks.

On Wednesday, we made a trip to Vivo City with Christine and Lily. Brandon and Lily had a blast together.

We were all about making the most of our last week. On Thursday morning, we made a trip to the zoo with Christine, Roxie, and another friend. Then, in the afternoon, we went for a playdate at Arch and Arya's. I met Arch at the Forum only a couple of weeks after we arrived in SG. She has been a great support for me, and I am going to miss seeing her every week or two.

The week ended with a trip to Royce and a visit to the food court for some Japanese curry. In the afternoon, we ordered pizza with Jo, Jessie, and Jake, and then the kids ran some energy off at the tennis courts.

Busy, busy. Do we really have packing to do? :)

And, so here we go with our last weekend in Singapore. What have we not done that is on our checklist?

Steven, Brandon, and I took a cab to the National Museum. It was just okay. Really, not the best thing to do with Brandon. After a short visit at the museum, we took a stroll through some of Fort Canning Park. Beautiful. Green. On a hill. Quiet.

We then took a cab to Chinatown for one last visit. We also had to make sure that Steven tried the chicken rice at Tian Tian in the Maxwell food court. He loved it! Brandon loved it this time too. He ate his own chicken rice with a spoon. Yummy!

Updates on Brandon -

He has been all about kissing the baby in Mommy's belly lately. So sweet!

He loves the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". He says, "Row, row, boat" and rocks back and forth.

Brandon has been sleeping better for his naps. I can now lay him down before he is all the way asleep. Yay! Too bad all of our upcoming travel will probably throw that right out of the window!