Mar 13 2015

Being tourists

With the local school holidays approaching, I thought we should do some touristy things before the attractions get too busy. Yesterday, we visited Adventure Cove Waterpark in Sentosa Island. We caught a cab from my brother’s place to the waterpark – cab fares are so cheap in Singapore – less than a dollar per kilometre and the meter starts at $3.90.

The waterpark was fun – despite not going on most of the rides. The highlight was feeding the sting rays – which is one of Marcus’s favourite sea creatures. Both Caroline and myself were screaming as we waded into the ray pool.. who wouldn’t when you have a group of rays swarming you.. It seems that the rays just suck the food right in..

rays2 rays

Today we went to Orchard Road.. Mommy’s got new designer shoes! OK, it was an impulse purchase, but dang, it looks good. The reason for going to Orchard Road was to let the kids try the Singapore ice cream sandwich.. but unfortunately we could not find the guy. We will try again.

Along Orchard Road, in front of Takashimaya / Ngee Ann City

Along Orchard Road, in front of Takashimaya / Ngee Ann City

I don’t know what we will be doing tomorrow.. I’ll think of something when I wake up at 2am..

 

Mar 09 2015

What day is it?

We (the kids and I) left Vancouver on Saturday and by the time I went to bed it was Monday at 2am Singapore time. Our flight leaving Canada for Hong Kong was late – and thus our tight connection to Singapore was made even tighter. The flight was uneventful, food was meh… We flew Premium Economy to HKG and Economy to SIN, I have to say, Premium Economy on Air Canada is quite pathetic. The only reason we flew PE was so that the washroom wouldn’t be an issue flying with kids that tend to hold their pee, but guess what, we had economy passengers walk through our cabin area to use our washrooms… so much for that. What a waste of money. Oh, and someone decided to smoke in the lavatory. The Captain made an announcement and I can hear through his voice that he was clearly annoyed. The next time the person smoked, we would have to make an unscheduled stop to throw that person in jail.. and then I would be truly annoyed to have a long journey delayed even further.

When we arrived at HKG, a ground crew met us at the gate and we walked super fast to the departing gate – no time to catch our breath! On the HKG to SIN sector, we flew Singapore Airlines, ah, my national carrier, you are still one of the best airline in the world. (Note to self, next trip to Asia, forget AC). When we arrived in Singapore, our bags did not. They took a later flight…

Somebody – very close to me had told me that he doesn’t want to see pictures of food. What? Singapore is all about food! So, all my friends, you won’t be seeing any food pics in this blog. Yesterday we had Bak Kut Teh for lunch which the kids really enjoyed and this morning my brother picked up Bak Chor Mee. Packing on the pounds, haven’t gone to the gym yet!!

Oh – while we were waiting at the airport, we came across a Coke vending machine that is also a electronic pinball machine, a memory game and something else… The kids were playing it until someone had to buy a coke. I don’t understand why someone thinks having games on a vending machine is a good idea

IMG_20150307_103515

We are all still pretty jet-lagged. Hoping for this to go away in a few days..

Feb 15 2015

First Camping Trip for 2015

It seemed that it wasn’t too long ago that we went away with the kids last Fall. During the Family Day weekend we camped at Gold Creek campground at Golden Ears Provincial Park. Despite the terrible weather on the first day, we had a lot of fun hiking in the rain and walking across puddles.

Gold Creek. It was a short hike from the campground to North Beach. Very wet but fun

Gold Creek. It was a short hike from the campground to North Beach. Very wet but fun

The rain did not bother us one bit. In fact it was good for us – we ran low on water and were able to collect rain water to supplement our supply.

We also discovered that we were not alone in the trailer – there is a stowaway! Something had nibbled on the new pound of butter that was left on the counter. That night as we were playing Monopoly, the stowaway aka mouse came scurrying into the main living area. Jeff got up immediately and tried to catch/kill it but it was too fast and disappeared – probably into the heater vent. Before we went to bed, we covered all the vents to make sure it does not come back up. Anyhoo, I drove to Rona in the morning and picked up a couple mouse traps. Jeff set the traps with cheese as bait and so the waiting game began.

The weather was better that day and we had a campfire. The kids enjoyed roasting marshmallows and we pigged out on chocolate and other snacks.

Happy campers... just waiting to roast their hotdogs

Happy campers… just waiting to roast their hotdogs

That night, Jeff and I were hoping that the mouse trap would work because we really don’t want to park the trailer with a mouse in it. Fortunately for us, I heard it snap in the middle of the night and Jeff removed it before the kids woke up. I asked him if the mouse was bug-eyed with its tongue sticking out… ya, too much cartoon watching 🙂

We set off in separate vehicles the next day – the girls in my mid-life crisis car and the boys in a Real Man’s truck to dropped off the trailer. The drop off took way longer than anticipated as the truck and trailer got stuck in mud at his parent’s place… that’s another story. The trailer is parked with a Tin Cat keeping it vermin free while it waits for our next trip…

Nov 09 2014

Backroad Adventure

Yesterday, we (just the adults) went on a long day trip – we left home at 6am and headed North on Hwy99 to Whistler, past Pemberton and Lillooet, entered the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Service Road that took us on some scenic and bumpy backroads and out onto Hwy 7 by Harrison Mills.

The drive was beautiful, especially with the Fall colours.
W_LilloetFSR

We drove past a few waterfalls along the way..
falls

The drive was quite uneventful until we approached this bridge around a corner and there were 3 animals ahead! And all I could say was “whoa whoa whoa”… because I have never encountered this animal in our many adventures. And lo and behold, they are cougars!!! To see a cougar is a rare sight, but to see 3 is just crazy.
cougars
I had my camera on my lap, always ready for moments just like this.. I was taking pictures in the safety of the truck and Jeff told me to get out to take pictures.. So, I was “forced” out of the truck – but I left the passenger door opened :). I took a couple of quick snaps and went right back in the truck. We sat in the truck and watched the cougar disappear ahead.. Wow, all we can say is wow.

Anyways, continuing our journey, the road got progressively bad.. real bumpy as we made our way to Sloquet hotsprings. There are signs telling visitors that it is a sacred place and that dogs, food, smoking and alcohol are not allowed at the hotsprings. Well, we saw one guy breaking all the rules.. Aside from that, it was very nice taking a dip in the hotsprings.

Sloquet

After the Hotsprings we continued our journey towards Harrison Mills. The road got progressively bad. It was really bumpy and I felt like tossed salad. In fact I could taste my lunch in my throat. Fortunately I was smart enough to take my gravel a couple times on this trip.

There were a few narly sections where we had to engage the 4X4 low gear.
downhill

And sometimes we may have a drive around boulders…
boulder

Besides the cougars, we also saw this beautiful deer.
deer

It was just before 5pm when we finally arrived at Harrison Mills. I was sure glad we’re on our way home as getting tossed around is tiring.. Jeff asked me what I wanted for dinner, I wanted nothing, I just want to go home, take a shower and go to bed… it was a long day. But it was fun.

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