A Visit From my Dad

We were lucky enough to have a visit from my Dad for the last two days. He was in the region on a Recruiting Trip and arranged to spend to days with us on his way home. We had such a fun time. Sunday afternoon we took him the Botanic Gardens. We saw the fishies, which Grace loves.

They also have a Bonsai Tree collection. These are Ben's favorites. (We've had 2 but killed them both) Here's Ben in front of his favorite at the Gardens.
We also saw a few really huge Spiders. Gross!!!! Ben's finger is pointing up to the spider in the corner of the picture. I know it's hard to see, but look in the empty space with lots of sky around it. That's a big spider hanging between the leaves. I was a little creeped out after that.
Here's the four of us behind this pretty waterfall. We had a great time walking around. We saw a Ginger Garden and learned that the Banana Tree is part of the Ginger family. And we saw an outdoor stage with a Youth Symphony performing. At about that point we got rained on and ran to the visitors center and headed home.On Monday Ben went off to work and Dad, Grace and I went to Sentosa. This was so fun! We decided to go to the Aquarium first. Grace just loves fishies and she has been especially obsessed with Nemo lately. So as we're walking through the aquarium we come up tons of different fish tanks. Grace looks through each of them and says, "No Nemo, No Nemo". After about 5 or 6 tanks she was getting pretty upset. "Nemo, Nemo, Nemo" she kept saying. We were getting worried that we wouldn't find a Nemo. Here she is, I can't decide if she's excited about seeing the fish, or mad that they're not Nemo.
Well, we FINALLY found Nemo! Grace was so excited. Grace is pointing to Nemo in this picture, but you can't really see him. We also saw Dori. She loved them so much we spent 5 minutes at this tank and when we tried to move on she got mad.After we found Nemo we went through and Aquarium Tunnel. This was my favorite part. You were surrounded by fish and could watch the sharks and sting rays swim over you. Here's one of the sharks I saw above my head.

After the tunnel we made another visit to Nemo and then headed out through the gift shop. Well, what does Grace find? A stuffed Nemo. So my Dad, being the great Grandpa he is had to buy it for her. She loves that thing and give it kisses! (she's clutching it in her little hands here)
After the Aquarium we went to the Beach. Unfortunately it wasn't very sunny so we just changed Grace into her swimsuit and my Dad and I just waded in the water. Grace mostly enjoyed playing in the sand and squishing any tower my Dad built with the bucket or other sand toy.
After we got rained on at the beach we decided to have some lunch and then went to the Dolphin show. This was really fun for me as I have never been to Sea World. They have "pink Dolphins" here you can see it in the water. I loved watching them do their tricks and Grace was so fun to watch and got surprised everytime they jumped out of the water.
About this time Grace was ready to have a break down so we headed home for naptime. After she woke up we went to China Town to see the Temples they have and do a little souvenier shopping. Both the Indian Temple and the Bhuddist Temple had ceremonies in process while we were there and is was really neat to see. Here' Dad inside the Bhuddist Temple
After Chinatown Ben came home from work and we went to dinner at Clark Quay. Dad chose a mexican restaurant, Cafe Iguana which was yummy! We had a wonderful time talking that night and then he left bright and early at 3:00 this morning.

Though his visit was short I am glad he came! It has been a long time since we've had a chance to talk this much and spend so much time together. Thanks for the wonderful visit Dad!