Friends and Orchids

Recently, my friend Leslie from college was in Singapore for work!  It was so great to get to see her.  This was Leslie's second trip to Singapore since we've moved here.  The first time, we were still living in our serviced apartment and I think we'd only been here a week.  It was really interesting to reflect on how things have changed since that time.  

Leslie had quite a bit of free time while she was here, so we got to see each other quite a bit.  We went to the Botanic Gardens and into the National Orchid Garden.  It was my first time to see the orchid garden.  Absolutely gorgeous!  It was a pretty hot day, so when we found the cold house (air conditioned green house for mountain orchids), we stayed long enough to cool off.  

After the Orchid Garden, the kids and Scott headed home.  They were getting pretty tired and ready to have some down time.  Leslie and I headed into town to Clarke Quay.  We met up with another friend of mine, Kimberly who had just arrived in Singapore.  She was on holiday and meeting a friend that lives here and the two of them were off to Bali the next day.  I got to see Kimberly for just the afternoon, but it was great to catch up!  Here's a picture of three girls in Singapore.  We all grew up in Mesa/Chandler, AZ and we are all 3 Wildcats.  How interesting to find ourselves literally half a world away in Singapore all for separate reasons.  Naturally, we had to have a couple sangria and appreciate the moment.

Because Wyatt

I have a funny story about my little man that I want to share and remember.  It makes me laugh every time...  

A few months ago, I read a funny comment that made me laugh.  It's here if you want to read it.  The basic idea is that it is written by a guy that is living in China.  He points out that there are all kinds of things happening around him that seem very ridiculous to his western eyes.  The only way to explain it, is Because China.

The example that is important to my story is one about elevators.  The author of the comment found that when he was in an elevator with the Chinese, it often happens that the elevator will stop on floors where nobody gets off or on.  Why?  Because China.  He reasons that when somebody in China wants to call an elevator they push both the up and down button, regardless of which way they want to go.  Silly.  This makes me laugh because it has happened to me here.

I was telling Scott about this story, and Wyatt over heard us.  However, in his little 3 year old head, he got the story a bit confused.  He understands stopping at unnecessary floors and he understands how to push the elevator buttons to make it stop on extra floors.  He didn't get the Because China part (thankfully!), but he knows that we know a lot of Australians...

Now, when we are in an elevator, I have to block the buttons quickly.  Wyatt pushes extra buttons and tells me it's because of Australians.          

Rawa Island

What an amazing holiday.  We just got back from Rawa and it was awesome.  I'm still tired from 5 days in the sun and sea, but I loved every minute.  It was a special trip because while we were there, Scott and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and it was also Easter.  

I think 10 years married is a really nice place to be.  We know each other really well.  We have our communication and our ups and downs figured out.  We appreciate each other.  We're finished having babies and we are in the golden years of parenting.  I think the next 10 years are going to be fun!  I'm so happy that I have Scott as my partner in life.  It's a crazy adventure.  Never in a million years did I imagine that we'd be celebrating our 10th anniversary on a tiny island on the South China Sea.  Awesome.

So, our journey starts with a car ride.  The resort, Rawa Island Resort, sent a car to our condo in Singapore.  We loaded in before the sun came up and drove to Mersing, Malaysia.  It was my first time in Malaysia.  The border was easy.  The drive was pretty.  Lots of trees and rolling hills.  I don't think the roads are as smooth in Malaysia as they are in Singapore.  Lily got car sick, but we were able to get her out of the car and it was handled with little mess.  We saw signs for elephant crossings and a pack of wild monkeys on the side of the road.

Once in Mersing, we headed over to the dock where we were boarding a ferry to take us to Rawa Island.  The drive was about 2 1/2 hours and the ferry about 30 minutes, or so.  

I loved all of the colorful boats in the harbor.  

We all wore our life vests on the boat and we enjoyed the fast ride.  Once on Rawa, we got our welcome drinks and got the keys to our room.  We stayed in the Hillside Family Deluxe, which means that it has 2 full size beds.  The rooms were fine.  Not sealed, so there were ants and nature that could come in and out.  The bathroom was old and a little dingy, but the room was clean and honestly, we didn't spend too much time inside.  To anybody thinking of going to Rawa or to myself, if we return, I think it's best to stay in the beachfront cabins.  

The view from our front porch.

Lily, all ready to head out to the beach.

They have a fun water slide off of the dock.  Madeline must have gone down that thing 50 times.  I tried it once, and screamed the entire way!  

Crystal clear water, soft sandy beaches.  Gorgeous!

So, Wyatt is still 3.  He would not let me take his photo!  I tried a million times and he was always too quick for me.  I have 100 pictures of the back of his head, but only a precious few of his sweet face.

Madeline, on the other hand, needs no encouragement.

The Malaysian flag, flying high over the dock at Rawa.

The view from the dock.

Scott caught a fish!  We had some spools of fishing line and there was a hook tied at the end and then just a bit of bread from breakfast.  So fun!

Madeline was not afraid to pick up the fish!!

I found some cascarones in Singapore!  I bought a box and brought them with us to Rawa.  I won't tell you how much I paid for them, far too much!  But, it was great to have a little piece of Austin with us on Easter.  I bought 2 dozen and we decorated them with stickers, markers and water paints.

Wyatt is so proud of his design.

Lily was learning to fish off of the dock.  I think she really enjoyed it!

I think Scott and Wyatt had a nice father and son moment with the fishing pole.

There was a beautiful wooden swing hung on a tree over the beach.  Madeline loved it!

A piece of driftwood that washed up on the shore.

Lily went out to this rock formation.  We decided to call it Mermaid Island.  

Wyatt was pleased to be showing me how he could shoot a bow and arrow.

We collected pieces of coral from the beach and then used the water paints to paint them.  I thought they turned out really lovely!

The provided ashtrays make great water dishes for water paints.  There's even a little place to rest your paint brush!

Something that I don't have any photos of is the snorkeling.  I didn't go myself, but Scott went with each of the kids.  The girls actually went out and snorkeled, but Wyatt thought the mask was too uncomfortable.  They saw so many different beautiful colored fish.  There were even little Nemo fish living in an anemone.  Scott saw a sea cucumber and sea urchin.  Amazing!

On Easter Sunday, I set up an egg (and sea shell!) hunt on Secret Beach.  There was a little beach area that was separated from the rest of the beach by some rocks.  The kids had to pass through the water to reach it, so it was a little adventurous!  Anyway, that morning, we decided to use the frangipani flowers as grass for our eggs.

Wyatt loved the hammocks!

Just a note...  we traveled to Rawa with another family from Singapore.  I've left out photos of them and information to protect their privacy.  However, I don't want to claim total responsibility for the amazing Easter morning egg hunt the kids had.  My friend is amazing and brilliant and it was mostly her planning and idea.

The egg hunt was nearly set up and ready for the hunters.

Secret Beach.

This is where the kids passed through the water to reach Secret Beach.  On the way in, the water was only up to about my calf or so.  However, the tide was coming in and Scott had to carry me out!  

Our Rawa holiday was amazing.  Beautiful.  Peaceful.  Adventurous.  Fun.  Good family fun!