Arab street and water fun

Another day, another new adventure!!! Today, Jacob decided to find Arab street, which is the center of the Muslim community.

The picture to the right was taken on our walk there in front of a beautiful building. Just felt like sharing it!

So, Arab street is lined with tons of bazaar-style shops where you can purchase silk fabrics, beads, baskets, household decorations, prayer mats, rugs, etc. It was overwhelming, because there was too much to see in one day. We enjoyed the "hole-in-the-wall" shops the most, because they had antiques and hidden gems...even got one of the owners to tell us a little about the history of some of his items. We ended up with a couple of good finds after some haggling over the prices.

Below is the Sultan Mosque, the main religious building for Muslims here in Singapore. We did not go inside since we had Juliana with us, but it turns out it was a good thing. Apparently, to enter the mosque, they prefer visitors to dress conservatively, meaning long pants and no sleeveless tops. I would like to go back and visit in the future though, after reading more about it online.

After Arab street, Juliana was drenched from the heat, so we headed over to Bugis Junction where there is a fountain for her to play in. Juliana had so much fun!!

She even had an audience of people watching her, taking pictures, and laughing along with her. She's quite the entertainer!!

It was another wonderful day of exploring. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, which we will be spending at Marina Bay, enjoying the fireworks and the unveiling of the wishing spheres in the water (Jacob and I had a chance to write our wishes on one of the spheres!). I can't wait to share the experience with you all!! Until 2009...

God bless and Happy New Year!

Sentosa was so much fun!

Since my mom has gotten here, we've been busy taking her to the sights and our favorite spots on the island. We even got some dinner from Botak Jones last night for her to try and the review was good! Today, we decided to go to Sentosa Island since the weather was nice and not too hot. We left from Vivo City and took the tram, which is a five minute ride over the water.

When we got there, my mom immediately fell in love with the beach, so we made that our first stop. Juliana was so happy to play in the sand and water...we weren't prepared for the beach, but fortunately had a change of clothes since she was covered in sand!!

After the beach, we headed to the Underwater World oceanarium. It's home to more than 2,500 fish from over 250 different species, including tanks where you can touch certain types of fish. The picture to the right is a sting ray tank where Jacob, Juliana and my mom decided do do some 'petting.' They also have an acrylic tunnel, 83 meters long, where you can see all of the different types of fish swimming all around you. Juliana particularly enjoyed being able to look at all of the fish from different angles and kept trying to touch them!! She even interacted with some divers that were in the tank. As you can see below, she was ecstatic...not only does she love water, but she loves all of the creatures that live in it.
Part of the Underwater World is being able to see the pink dolphins at the lagoon, so that was our next destination. We were all amazed at how pink their undersides were! Juliana was exhausted by this point, but she did enjoy the atmosphere and clapped along with the crowd as the dolphins performed all of their tricks.

This picture below was not taken by me, but I had to show you all their beautfiul color!

Overall, it was a wonderful day and I can't wait to return to Sentosa. We only saw a small part of the island and there are many more attractions, such as the butterfly park, Merlion park, and the luge. And...if I can get my brother out here, we can go diving with the sharks at Underwater World (got that Jus??).

At the end of the day, we are exhausted, but Jacob and I are grateful to be given this opportunity (once again). Being able to take in experiences like this, with our daughter is a blessing. I'm happy to be able to share a part of it with my mother and look forward to more visitors while we are living here (hint hint!!).

Sightseeing with my mom!

Christmas was good...but very different than what we're used to. Juliana wasn't feeling too good, which made it a little less enjoyable for her to open her gifts, but she did the best she could! She is very spoiled by Nana and her Great Nana, so she was buried in gifts to enjoy opening and got the hang of ripping away the paper pretty quickly. Having my mom here made it feel more like a holiday and we spent some time on skype with my family back in NH and FL. Christmas dinner was a turkey, which was rather interesting with a limited kitchen here, but it turned out to be delicious!!

So, today, we decided to head to Chinatown with my mom and then finish the day off in Clark Quay for some dinner. My mom enjoyed walking with Juliana for the first time! We had moved to Singapore before Juliana started walking, so my mom is the first family member to experience it in person, not just through a web cam. Juliana seemed to enjoy the fact that she could show off for her Nana!

We finally got a chance to see the side streets of Chinatown, which are crowded with one store after another of clothing, household decorations, Chinese New Year decorations, etc.
After a couple hours of walking around and shopping, we were all getting hungry, so we wanted to take my mom over to Clark Quay for dinner. There's a restaurant there that brews their own beer and has some really good food as well, reasonably priced.

Right after dinner, one of the water fountains came on and of course, Juliana had to run in!! Jacob decided to run in with her and they both got soaked!!!

For about another fifteen to twenty minutes or so after, Juliana ran around the fountain laughing and playing with the water. People kept walking by and stopping to watch. She was so happy!! And she kept trying to drag her Nana into the water with her. She's getting so much better at running and balancing her own weight, so it made the experience a lot easier for her.

So, after the water fountain, we just walking around a little bit more and then headed home after a long day! My mom loved Clark Quay, so we plan to return another time and take in some of the night life.

Christmas Eve in the tropics

I must say, I wasn't too sure how the international buffet would be at the Orchard Hotel, but it turned out to be a nice experience...a different experience for Christmas Eve. The hotel itself was completely decked out with Christmas decorations and the buffet was enormous!

Here is the buffet.....

Although you can't see it too well, it was overloaded with food! All different types of seafood, chicken, lamb, duck, soups, Chinese food, a spread of desserts including a chocolate fountain, a salad bar and a lot of other things I'm missing.

Here are a couple pictures of the life size gingerbread house and nut crackers in the hotel lobby.....

Juliana enjoyed the meal and tried some new foods as well!! I had to catch this picture with the fancy napkin on her head. The gorgeous dress and shoes were a gift from my mom for the holiday. Juliana looked absolutely adorable!

Like father, like daughter....they're going up for more food!!!

After she was done, Juliana was exhausted from all that eating, so she passed out for a little bit.....

When we were all done, we wanted to check out the hotel. Each floor had a different Christmas Eve buffet. This tree doesn't look like much in the picture, but it was absolutely gorgeous in person.

And Juliana with here Nana!!

So, it was quite a differently holiday experience than we're used to, but we all had a wonderful time. The food was good, the wine was phenomenal and Juliana enjoyed having her Nana around to spend the holiday with. We already came to the realization (years ago) that it's nearly impossible to try and keep up with all of the same traditions year after year, no matter how hard you try. This experience helped us realized that it's okay to try something new and break away from what you're used to. Of course, we miss our family and friends back home, but we had a wonderful time with just the four of us too. You have to make the most of what you have and that's what we did!!

God bless everyone on this very Merry Christmas!!!

Enjoying some time at home

With everything so busy around here and the holidays approaching, going out is such a huge ordeal. After an afternoon out on Saturday, we decided to spend a the rest of the weekend at home to relax. Juliana has started trying to escape to the terrace whenever she can, so we spent some time out there with her and I wanted to share some of the adorable pictures.

Chijmes & Raffles

Today was another wonderful day! This morning was the perfect weather...sunny, but a nice breeze to cool things down. After Juliana's nap, we decided to head downtown to walk around and take in some sights. I had been to Chijmes once before with some of the wives of Jacob's coworkers and I wanted him to see the area. Chijmes was once the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, established in 1854 and provided education for several generations of Singapore girls. It took over five years to restore Chijmes and turn it into a plaza of retail stores and unique restaurants with plenty of outdoor space to enjoy. The majority of the key features of the building were restored and the hall is used for special functions such as weddings and recitals.

After perusing Chijmes, which we plan to return to at night, since it starts getting lovely late with music, entertainment and bars, we headed towards Raffles. We had been around the hotel before, but never at the front entrance. It is quite sight to see, especially decorated for the holidays. This hotel is known throughout the world for its history and impeccable facilities and services. It has made it to the list of "The 100 Best Hotels in the World" for the past couple of years in Travel & Leisure magazine. Below, you can see that Juliana simply enjoyed the freedom to run around in the courtyard!

Finally, after a pretty long day, we stopped for dinner at a place we discovered a couple of weeks ago that is known for its mussels. They're called Oosters, in Suntec City and they also specialize in Belgium beers, which Jacob was thrilled about! Dinner was fantastic and Juliana even got to enjoy some quality time with waitress while we finished out meals. People continue to amaze me out here with their generosity and adoration for our daughter. People just seem to melt around her and she loves the attention.

The picture to the left was during our walk to Suntec City and I just love the smile she is giving her daddy. She's also learned how to give us kisses (below)! She's doing something new all the time now and growing so fast. We're looking forward to the holidays with my mom and lots of new experiences to share with her and for me to blog about, so stay posted!!

Kindermusik!

So, this morning was our trial class at Kindermusik in the Tanglin mall. Wasn't sure how this was going to go since Juliana has been teething her other molar this week and she had a couple rough nights. But we got there and she was itching to move around and play!


Overall, I would say it was a pretty good class for the cost. I have already tried another one that was similar, but much more expensive. Juliana was the oldest in this class (12-18 months old) and the only one that is fully walking. I could tell she was proud of that!! But she had a good time "talking" with some of the other kids and playing some music. The only problem is that she just wants to move, move, MOVE! It's tough, because a lot of the activities are centered around staying in one place and Juliana is not one to stay still. Other than that, she had a good time! We ended up signing up and taking advantage of the lower price. Finally, an activity for Juliana to play with a bunch of other kids her age and learn some music skills too!

More water play!!

Now that Juliana has been learning how to feed herself, I never know what to expect from one meal to the next! This morning, she decided to take on the yogurt herself (she usually wants this fed to her) and what a mess! It was fun though, watching her flick yogurt all over the place and covering her face in it. I happened to catch this picture just right...mouth full!

And below, mommy's girl!! She can't get enough of trying on those sunglasses. The new thing now is trying on my sandals and its rather amusing. She actually laughs at the size of my feet when I hold mine up to hers!!
The last couple of days have been cloudy and rainy, so as soon as I saw the sun come out this morning, I practically ran out the door with Juliana. Imagine that? With the heat here, I never thought I'd be so desperate to see the sun and it was only a couple days of clouds. Not that the heat went anywhere, just was a bit milder with the clouds and rain. Anyway, we headed to the water playground!!

Juliana is a lot more confident on her feet, so she seemed to enjoy it much more this time around. She was running around and checking out all the different spouts and fountains.

So cute!

Just had to share this...I ordered it from Shutterfly and it came out so nice! I wasn't sure how it would turn out with her face to fit into each animal, but I love it.

That was all. I should jsut do advertising for them!