A Night at the Sands!!

This weekend was extra special.  The girls and I had a spectacular experience that I have to document. During the weekend, I had several surreal moments.  You know, those moments where you stop for a moment and think, "Wow, is this really happening?", "Am I really here?", "How, in the world, did I get so lucky as to have this experience in my life?".  Yeah, it was a weekend like that.

We spent the night at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel!  Marina Bay Sands is a Singapore icon.  It opened in June of 2010 and has quickly become the prominent feature of Singapore's skyline.  The girls and I were invited to spend the night at this grand and luxurious hotel to celebrate a birthday.  We got to swim in the sky pool and enjoy the amazing views.  Our weekend was filled with memories we will treasure!  Please enjoy my special photos!

The party!

The girls loved these loungers.  They slid on them as if they were slides.

What do you do with a window that reaches from the floor to the ceiling?  Draw on it of course!  The party girls filled the windows with their art, using chalk pens (that wipe off very easy!).

We are checking out the view!  

We watched the sun go down from the roof top pool.  Spectacular!

This was the first time I used my camera to take night photos.  I was pretty pleased!!

Thanks Marina Bay Sands!  You were awesome!!

Busy Bees

We've been having a lot of fun lately.  I think the kids are all at really fun ages.  I've been enjoying them.  This past week, Wyatt had a pic-nic at school.  All of the parents were invited.  I spent my time with Wyatt in the building corner.  Wyatt LOVES to build with blocks.  He builds all kids of things.  His teacher said that Wyatt never voluntarily leaves the building corner.  Silly little boy!

This photo cracks me up!  I'm still learning how to use my camera, but also really enjoying it.

We took a trip through the sensory walk.  There was a tin with crunchy leaves, one with sand and this one with water and flowers.  Wyatt and I both enjoyed it!

Silly girls!

Madeline, Lily and I went to a fun birthday party over the weekend.  I'll post separately about that, but here are a couple of snaps that I took at the party.

Love this one!!

We've only one more day of school and then we have our term break.  We're excited!  The kids are exhausted and we are all looking forward to a couple of weeks break from the school routine.  We are ready to play!  

   

Picture Study 4: Tiong Bahru

Life has been pretty busy but pretty normal the last few weeks.  We've been spending our time doing homework, attending birthday parties and playing at home.  I haven't updated my blog in a while...  I've got more pictures to share and I'll do that soon!  

Today, I visited a unique and interesting part of Singapore called Tiong Bahru.  Tiong Bahru is a neighborhood to the west of ChinaTown.  I found it interesting because the architecture of the area is a little different than what you see in most of Singapore.   There are also some lovely shops and restaurants.  It makes for a lovely day out!  The following pictures are a collection of what I saw.   

This one is a large HDB (government housing) building.  It is not typical of Tiong Bahru.  It's new and tall and is striking.  This is the sort of building that most Singaporeans live in.  According to the HDB government website, over 80% of Singaporeans live in government assisted housing called HDBs (Housing Development Board).

I liked the look of this HDB, with the red brick and green grass.  The number 123 is the block number.

This is one of the older block houses in Tiong Bahru.  These older units are HDB blocks, but they are short, only 4 stories tall, unique in Singapore.

This modern one is huge.  There are several buildings and they are quite tall.  

The older units have curved walls and balconies. 

The front doors are found at the top of these narrow stairs.  The doors were very narrow too.

A beautiful book shop on a hip street in Tiong Bahru.  

This is the back side of the housing units.  I love the stairs!

An alley that I walked up.  It's fun to look down the street and not see any tall buildings!

Many of the doors opening to the alley were ornate and also quite narrow.

A typical hawker stand.  These plastic chairs are all over Singapore.

The short, old Tiong Bahru HDBs in front of the more modern tall ones behind.