Day Two

We started off Day Two at the Jurong Bird Park. Ben had the day off so we all went to see the thousands of Bird. We were amazed at how many colorful beautiful birds there were. Because Singapore is more of a tropical area there were many unique birds from the local region that we have never seen before. One of our favorite things to do was Feed the Lories. These guys were aggressive, but it was fun to see them up close.

Ben found this old phone booth so he and Grace had to have a little looksy.

They had a really fun bird show that we saw and then we went on a tram ride around the park so we could have a better idea of which areas to visit. We went on a boardwalk and saw these pelicans swim right up to us. We tried to feed them Goldfish but they weren't interested. Then Ben discovered that he could just act like he was throwing something at them and they would lean forward to catch. He was entertained by that for a while.
This is the world tallest man-made waterfall. It was inside a huge indoor aviary.
"The World's Most Dangerous Creature: Homoerectus"
Me and the Stork
The Penguins! This was one of the favorite things. It was at the very end and so cool inside. We sat and rested in here while Grace took a little nap in the stroller. What a great way to end the trip to the Bird Park.
After the Bird Park we went to a local Mall to grab some lunch. Wayne opted for some local cuisine while KaLee and I got some KFC, and Ben got Subway. We weren't feeling quite as adventurous as Wayne. We then headed to the Pottery Jungle. They seriously had thousands of different Pots there. We walked around for a long time trying to decide on what to get. Ben's parents watched Grace most of the time and they found the Dragon Kiln where they fire the pots made there. Grace and Wayne had to go exploring.
One of the funnest parts of the Pottery Jungle were the Monkeys that played on the roof. The shop owners say that they come at night and break their pots, but they still give them food. It's a love hate relationship. There were two baby monkeys there. They were so cute! The one in the Monkey Mom's arms was not quite a week old when we were there.
This is our huge vase we bought. It was Ben's one request and we both fell in love with this one. It's 3 feet tall and very unique.
We then came home and sent the Men out to find us dinner. After we put Grace to bed we taught Ben's parents how to play Mah Jong, a really fun Chinese tile game.

A week with the In-Laws

We were lucky enough to have Ben's parents come and visit us for a week, the 10th through the 17th. It was sooo fun to have them here! We fit more into one week than in almost all our time here. So I'm going to try to take it a day at a time and record it.

DAY ONE:

Ben's parents arrived at 2:00 AM. We brought them up to the apartment and chatted for a while and then all went back to bed. Well, at least we tried, I didn't sleep much. Grace woke up at her usual time and as soon as Grandma and Grandpa came out of their room she was so excited. She ran right to Grandma and sat on her lap. About 15 minutes later she warmed up to Grandpa. Ben had to work this day so we all got ready and met him for an early lunch. We had some very traditional food at the Boon Tong Kee (a chicken rice restaurant). As we were finishing our lunch a bunch of his coworkers came in. Here he is showing off our Princess.

Ben took a longer lunch so he could do a little window shopping with us. We walked around the Wet Market by his work and then headed towards Little India. Then he ran back to work. The rest of us kept on walking and after a while ended up at Mustafa's. A huge department store in Little India. Grace had a little nap in the stroller and then we took the MRT down to.....
Chinatown! (this is one of my favorite places to shop- always something new to see) We just browsed so we could get an idea of what souveniers we wanted to get.
I had to show them the Bhuddist Temple. That's KaLee (Ben's Mom), Grace and Me standing in front of it.After Ben got off work we headed over to Clarke Quay for dinner. We ate at El Iguana and had some yummy Chimichangas!
Grace loves to play at Clarke Quay and stops at every single light that is in the ground like this one. There is also a huge fountain that we always have to avoid. She's been close to running right through it a few times.
So day 1 was so fun. We all ended up going to bed a little early because of the Jet lag and long day.

Our "Tats"

We spent the day yesterday finishing all of our souvenier shopping and we got some great stuff! While we were at Chinatown we found a little shop that did temporary tattoos. Since Ben has always joked about getting one we decided to do it. I got a henna tattoo. This is really popular with Indian women who wear it as decoration. This is a really simple design, some of the designs cover the entire hand!

Ben of course went for a very manly design on his calf.
Grace thought she needed one too, but we didn't want to pay 5 bucks and feel like we were bad parents for giving our baby a tattoo. She was pretty upset with us. And no worries, these will probably be worn off by the time we get home. They're only supposed to last up to 2 weeks. It was a fun one time thing to do.

Playing at the Park

We went to this really fun park last week. There were 5 cars on the train all tipped opposite directions with 4 or 5 slides coming down off the platforms. Grace had a blast! Singapore has all sorts of fun different parks like this. The hard part is finding them in the middle of all the really tall buildings.

DADDY!!!

This is Grace a few days ago. It was the middle of the afternoon and apparantly I wasn't exciting enough for her. So she decided to look under the door to see if she could find Daddy. She laid there for like 10 minutes, and everytime she heard the elevator ding she would get excited. She had to wait a few more hours for him to come, but she was so excited to see him that day!

Grace's Fun Birthday

We had such a fun time on Grace's Birthday. We started out the morning like Christmas. We had all her presents layed out so when she came out of her room she saw them and was so excited! She wasted no time ripping her presents right open. It was so fun and she is so excited about her new table and chairs! After presents we had a yummy breakfast of waffles and then we headed off to the Water Park.

This place was awesome! It was such a fun, kid friendly water park. We invited our friends Mike and Tania to come since they are surrogate grandparents for Grace. She really couldn't have been more loved on her birthday. Grace loved the water slides and the lazy river. A funny thing is I was praying all week for sunny weather and we woke up that morning and the sun was up. I was so happy. But not and hour into the fun it started raining! We actually enjoyed floating around with the rain falling on us. Since we were already wet and it was warm it didn't matter that it rained. Grace is fearless and climed all the way up to the top and went down this slide by herself.
She loved the waterfall
This is our little family with the fun kids play area behind us.
By the end of the day Grace was completely wiped out. We played for almost 5 hours without realizing what time it was.
(this is Mike. She loves Mike and calls him by name and cries everytime he leaves)
After we got home we had some yummy birthday cake made by the amazing Tania. Cake decorating is just one of her many talents. I requested an Elmo cake and she spent 2 weeks trying to track down an Elmo cake pan for Grace. I think it turned out awesome and it tasted delicious! Thanks Tania!
Our day ended with Pizza Hut! Not only is it my favorite, but Grace's also. She was so tired she barely ate one piece and she was asleep by 7. What a fun day and she was definately Princess for a day. Now when you ask her how old she is she will say "two". I love it.

I need a Doctor

Since I got some good response to my dress problem I thought I'd throw another one out there.

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I need a new OBGYN. Anyone have any good suggestions? I was thinking about it today and thought I should probably make an appointment soon since I'll need one shortly after I get home. I delivered Grace up in West Jordan, but was hoping for something a lot closer this time. Like American Fork close. Anyone have a Dr over there? I really don't have a preference on male or female, I just want a Dr that doesn't seem like they're too in a hurry to talk to me and give me some good info. I'm not that great at asking questions, so a proactive Dr that explains a lot would be good. So tell me who you like...and who you don't like. Thanks for your help!