part 2: lots of walking

I'm sure mom would think 'lots of walking' would be a fitting title for the entire trip. :) But I would say that is especially so over these few days.

Friday was a public holiday so Brennan had the day off. Since last time we went to MacRitchie we didn't end up making it to the tree top walk he didn't want to miss this excursion. So without thinking about the fact that everyone else also had the day off, we headed out. The parking lot was entirely full and cars were lining the street. I felt a little discouraged by that but it ended up being okay.

The start of the hike.

Tatum took her job as the leader quite seriously.

Monkeys! It's always kind of cool to see wild monkeys...at first. Then they start to get creepy.

Part of the hike was on a road and part of that road had no shade. It was no bueno.

We made it! It was hot. And there was a line to get onto the bridge. Luckily we had good company, so the wait didn't seem so horrible. Honestly though, if Brennan and I had taken our kids alone and come upon this line, it would not have been a happy wait. I know I keep saying it, but everything is better with Papa and Grandma.

Part of the line.

More monkeys. This guy in the tree came down as soon as he saw a woman get out a package of Oreos for her kid. They can spot food a mile away. He even showed his teeth a few times. So creepy.

Declan loves the monkeys. Which is cute, but also scary. He has no fear of them and will walk right up to them. It always makes me nervous. My mom just thought it was all hilarious, especially my nervousness.

Passing the time.

Almost our turn, finally!

We made it! Doesn't Declan look thrilled? The bridge was not his favorite part. He decided to be completely grumpy for the best part of the whole thing.

I read a blog about this hike and the writer said you should do a Titanic pose on the bridge to feel the wind and the swaying. Brennan made me be do it, not that I needed to to feel the swaying. I'd say the swaying is quite obvious the whole time.

Lots of stairs to climb up after the bridge and Declan was feeling like a pretty cool kid climbing them.

Check out the tongue of concentration. Did he get that from you, Mara?

A giant leaf Papa found. It kept this hiker distracted for a little while anyway.

We took a much needed break at the ranger station on our way out. Time for a potty break, fill up the water bottles, and almost get attacked by a monkey for our apple.

There's the would-be apple thief.

More monkeys we met. Sometimes they seem to be on all sides of you and I seriously get freaked out. I had Declan on my back and told my dad not to walk through them without me. He decided to show me that they weren't that scary by baring his teeth and hissing at one. Well, the monkey proceeded to just hiss and show his teeth right back and sort of reach/lean toward us. And he was like a foot away from us! Way to go dad. Yeah, not scary at all. It scared me to death! That's the last time I rely on my dad for protection! :)

Climbing with Papa.

We let Declan walk some at the end. He sure is lucky to have such a great grandpa. Infinite patience with slow walking kids, I tell ya. Declan gets distracted by anything and everything and my dad just keeps letting him walk. I suppose I should try and learn a thing or two from him.

We did it! It was HOT and so sweaty.

What can you do after a day like that besides get in the pool? And that's exactly what we did.

And then wrestled Papa.

Apparently we didn't get enough walking at MacRitchie, and we decided to head to the Southern Ridges on Saturday. 

An uncharacteristic picture of my dad. On the Alexandria bridge.

A weird tree. :)

The walk wasn't bad, I think we would all agree on that, until about this point. One final hill up to the Henderson Waves bridge.

Cute.

Foggy lens.

We found more of the eggs from our egg hunt back in March!

Finished.

From there we got ripped off and then got to Sentosa. Brennan buried Tatum and tried to make her look like a mermaid.

Declan just loves the sand. He could have stayed there for hours. We really went to Sentosa for my mom. She loves beaches and has often been known to say her ideal vacation involves "planting herself on a beach". Well she never even changed into her swimsuit! Not sure it was really worth the effort since there's a "beach" a mile from our house, but the kids had fun.

Heck, so did I since we got to bury my dad in the sand.

I was like a 6 year old again, I thought this was hilarious.

Once Tatum saw Papa buried to his neck she didn't think it seemed so bad so she had us bury her as well.

We got home and headed to a nearby hawker for dinner. Declan thought he was pretty cool in Papa's sunglasses.

And a whole lot cooler when he got his hat too.

Sunday we strictly observed as a day of rest. :) Although, I was in charge of primary at church and we didn't have anyone for singing time. So my mom got to fill in. She loves doing it so much it can hardly be considered work though. :)

Monday we decided to stick closer to home and we headed to Pasir Ris Park. I go here quite often with the kids, but this time we explored a whole part of the park I've never been to before and it was really neat!

First we walked through the mangroves and we saw tons of little crabs. Look just left of that tennis ball. 

This one is going down in his hold right in the center of the picture.

Tatum, dad and I climbed the lookout tower. There's grandma and Declan down below.

The maze (behind my dad and the kids) was probably the best part. They could have spent hours in there with my dad.

Checking out some weird flowers from a tree.

Beach combing. Another highlight.

We also checked out the kitchen garden, which was mostly disappointing. And the butterfly garden which was fine, but quite small. After that we went to the part of the park we are familiar with, the playground. Declan successfully swung in a big kid swing for pretty much the first time.

And Tatum convinced Grandma to ride on this with her. Hilarious.

You must watch this video.

Tatum climbed these ropes to a pretty tall slide all by herself and was quite proud. She wanted me to come closer and watch her do it again. Unfortunately, she struggled a bit more the second time and got very frustrated. I don't have a lot of patience in those moments so I just told her to give up and climb down. Well that girl's stubbornness sometimes works to her advantage I guess. There was no way she was climbing down. She kept trying until she figured it out. It was pretty amusing.

We headed home after that for some lunch and relaxation.  Anything that didn't involve more walking!