Brennan took the day off on Tuesday so we could check another item off of our Singapore bucket list- the aquarium. Aquariums seem a bit repetitive to me, I guess I don't truly appreciate the variation in different species of fish. But the kids didn't get bored at all and it's inside which means aircon so I won't complain. :)
Outside the aquarium they have the maritime museum where they have part of huge boat and Declan basically thought he was at the zoo when he saw the fake rhinos and giraffes. He was pretty excited.
What is it about looking at his little face down there, all in awe and wonder that just gets me? I love watching my kids learn and discover.
Check out that hammerhead shark right behind them. That was Tatum's favorite, well besides Dory anyway.
Having daddy around makes everything more of an adventure.
Check out Dory right above Declan's head. There were lots of Dory fish in lots of different tanks and it was Tatum's favorite activity to try and spot them.
He was pretty sure there was a mama fish in this tank and he was telling me all about it.
Love Declan's little face in this one.
This was their biggest aquatic window (I think that's what the guy called it). It was HUGE. And pretty awesome. We even came back through the aquarium to this point to eat our lunch after we had seen everything, because it was so neat.
Making a jellyfish craft.
This bad boy swam right above us in this quiet little atrium we found. Impressive capture, Brennan. :)
Tatum has decided this is the best way to pose for almost every picture. Awesome...
Octopus!! We had to fight quite a crowd to get a look at this guy.
Sea snakes. I have never heard of such a think but they freaked me out at least as much as land snakes. Snakes are just gross. And creepy.
We got to touch some starfish. Tatum loved it, Declan was done after one touch.
They had this section where the floor was see through so you were walking right above sting rays. The kids were slightly terrified and it was hilarious. I kept making them walk on it just for my own entertainment. :) They would both do this little shuffle step the whole way like they had to make sure there was still glass there before every step. I tried to catch it on video but it was so dark in there it didn't turn out.
Enjoying their lunch in front of the giant aquarium. They could have sat there forever I think. They never got bored.
This guy did a little presentation while we were there and that was kind of fun. Tatum got a little sting ray toy for answering a question and it was funny to watch Declan ask the guy for one the rest of the time. He never heard or saw him but it was pretty cute to see him hold his hand out and say "want some, please? want some?"
The manta ray. Apparently in the wild they can measure up to about 7 meters from wing tip to wing tip. So huge!
Our failed attempt at capturing ourselves standing above the stingrays.
It's probably a sign that you take too many pictures when your two year old starts to stop in front of things and say "take a picture please?". haha. That's what he did with this dinosaur.
We told them to make a face like they were scared...
The front side of the big ship.
The aquarium was definitely worth the visit. We did choose to go on Tuesday when they do 2 for 1 entries but there were a crazy number of school groups there. It kind of made me wonder if Tuesday is field trip day and that's why they do 2 for 1 for everyone else. It also bugged me that we couldn't very easily start at the end of the aquarium and do it backwards. It made it really difficult to try to keep either ahead or behind the school groups. We thought we were clever to go first thing but really I bet it's much less crowded in the late afternoon/evening. Also they have a tank for dolphins but you can never see them because they are a paid attraction at other parts of Resort World Sentosa. You can see that they are at the very top swimming around with people and trainers but that's it. I think it's sort of silly to have them as part of the aquarium at all. But really we had a great time and loved the aquarium!
Since we went all the way down to Sentosa for the aquarium we decided to spend some time on the beach before going home. We have to soak in as much sun and heat as we can to get us through an Iowa winter.
The castle builders.
The castle.
We finally convinced Declan he could play in the sand and the water wouldn't get him. But it still didn't last for long, he just wanted to be in the splash pad.
As we left the beach we saw that their animal encounters show was going on across the road. We decided to stop since we were right there and there was only about 15 minutes left of it anyway. The crowd wasn't huge and when the lady asked for a volunteer Tatum raised her hand! If you know Tatum very well, you know she is very shy and never raises her hand for things. Surprisingly she got picked. I don't think they realized just how young she was. Anyway, she got to hold a bird on her head! The only question she ever answered up there was "what is your name?" The rest of the time she was silent and never even nodded her head to answer a question. But the fact that she stayed up there the whole time and never ran back to her seat OR started crying is a BIG DEAL! It was a crazy proud moment for me. There is still hope that she won't turn out like me! Hallelujah!
We were talking to her about it as we walked to the train and Brennan asked her what she was thinking about while she was up there and if she was nervous to hold a bird on her head. Tatum said, "I couldn't understand what that lady was saying. I didn't know what was on my head and then they took it off and it was a bird!" So hilarious. It was a pretty fantastic way to end a great day.
Well the countdown is on. Our time in Singapore is just about over. There are a few things we are knocking of our list and a few others that we are trying to do again because they are our favorites.
We have heard good things about the Noodle Man but have never made it there. So last week we headed down to Chinatown after Brennan got off work. Unfortunately we didn't realize that the man of noodles himself is only there during the day making the noodles, letting you hold it up with him and watch him work, etc. So we didn't come away with the classic noodle man picture, but we still got to eat some yummy food. And it really was, SO yummy!
Tatum, slurping up some of the noodles.
Stuffing my face with the steamed dumplings. I seriously love these things.
Not really on any list, but it rained while we were at a park with Annabelle and Catherine the other day and we just let the kids play. They loved it. It was pretty funny when they were worried about going down the wet slides after the rain stopped since they were already completely soaked!
A little ring around the rosies going on in the distance. I wasn't about to step into the rain for a better photo. :)
Gardens by the Bay is probably one of our favorite things here in Singapore. Tatum absolutely loves it and her excitement just makes us love it. We headed down there last Saturday after naps.
Declan loves playing in sand. And he loves water as long as it's a pool or splash pad. But he hates beaches and ocean.
We met our friends the Chipmans down there and Anna and Tatum had a blast in the splash pad. These two girls have got to be kindred spirits or something. I have never seen two kids become best friends so easily and play so well together. It's a fun thing to watch.
The splash pad at Gardens by the Bay is a little intense but Brennan was nice enough to change into his suit and play with the kids so they weren't nervous about it at all. He chased those girls around for ages, usually with Declan in his arms. And all three of them loved it.
Tatum and Anna like to hold hands. A lot.
A nice mid-dump shot. :)
Best buds. They ran and screamed to their hearts content for probably at least 40 minutes straight. Where do they get that energy?!
Hiding from Brennan. :)
After the splash pad we got some dinner and then we headed to the light show, Tatum's absolute favorite thing.
Laying down to watch the lights.
Somewhere around three weeks left on this island. I can hardly believe it. I hope we can continue to fill our days with sweet memories to take home with us.
