GLEEful Weekend

Pictures -

Singapore Botanic Garden, Orchid National Garden


Water play at the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden



Brandon with Daddy's new stylish headphones

Today, Steven wanted to check out the Singapore Botanic Garden, and I wanted to check out the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden. The gardens are right next to each other, so we took a cab to the "adult" garden first. The garden is so fantastic, and there is so much to see. I enjoyed my second trip to the garden just as much, if not more, as my first trip there. We went through the bonzai garden and the cactus garden. We saw the National Flower of Singapore, a hybrid orchid called "Vanda Miss Joaquim". Unfortunately, there were currently no flowers in bloom. They do grow throughout the year, so hopefully we can see them on another trip to the garden. We also saw a "rubber tree". When this tree is cut, it exudes a sticky substance that is the raw material for natural rubber. There was a actually a sign next to the tree asking people not to take pieces of the tree for latex.

Since Steven was with us this time at the garden, we did pay to visit the National Orchid Garden. Wow. So many different orchids and so many different colors. Such a perfect flower.

I found out last week that Andrea Bocelli is performing at the ampitheater in the botanic garden in early May!!! It's a free concert. However, because it will be so popular, they opened up a lottery for tickets on the internet. You had to submit your name, and then in a week or so, they will let you know if you were chosen for tickets. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline for submitting my name... :( I wonder if there is a way to buy tickets from people who get them free? I am sooooo sad!!! I told Steven that if I could go to this concert, it would quite possibly be my most memorable moment during my stay here in Singpore. It's possible that it would be one of the most memorable events of my life too. :) I LOVE Andrea! I'll keep you posted on the tickets. I'm not holding my breath. Part of me even wishes I hadn't found out about the concert... :)

We walked from the botanic garden to the children's garden. We didn't plan to stay long at the children's garden, but we wanted to let Brandon run around and play for a while before heading home. I have heard so many great things about the children's garden. As soon as we walked into the garden, we saw a water play area for children with several fountains spraying water. Pot of gold!!! Brandon went wild! We spent enough time there that we didn't see any more of the garden. We'll be back there several more times!!!

Busy, busy, busy. We were really hoping to have a few down hours later in the afternoon. However, Brandon woke up pretty cranky from his nap. The only thing that he seemed to want was to go "bye bye". I guess we'd be walking some more!!!

We decided to take a different walking route to the Forum to let Brandon play. There is a street here called "One Tree Hill", so we took a short stroll on it. Couldn't pass it up. :)

At the Forum, I saw a woman that I've run into three times now at a couple of different play areas. Found out that she lives very close to the new apartment that we're looking at. I think that many people I am meeting live in the new area, so moving could cut down on some cabs and/or cab costs for me.

After dinner, I had to grab an ice cream sandwich from one of the hawkers on Orchard Road. We watched the Singapore episode of The Amazing Race, and I was curious about whether or not they actually put the ice cream on a slice of bread. So, they pull out a big block of ice cream, cut a slab of it off, and slap it either in a slice of bread or between two wafers. The one I got was in wafers. Pretty good!

Before heading home, we walked to the grocery. It was nice having Steven's help there! An extra set of hands for help with Brandon and for carrying the groceries.

I've noticed that the eggs in the grocery stores here are kept at room temperature. A little weird. I bought some eggs for the first time yesterday, so we'll see how it goes. :)

I was happy to find Brandon's favorite rice cracker at the grocery. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the crackers are called "Mum Mums" at home, but "Baby Bites" here. Same, same, but different!

On our way home from the grocery, it was just starting to get dark outside. It felt so nice to be out after dark. There a nice breeze, and the weather was very pleasant. I think that we need a date night soon! I've had several babysitter recommendations from people I've met. Maybe we'll try one of them.



A little behind on getting my blogs up this weekend. I was treasuring my time with Steven. Plus, we started to watch Glee from the very first episode. This weekend, we've been trying to catch up on the show while Brandon is napping and sleeping. We are addicted!!! Steven is up to episode 11, and I'm up to 8. He watches some while I'm sleeping, so I'll have to catch up while he's at work. Like I said, it was a very, very GLEEful weekend!!!