I got enough toast for everyone to try. It turned out to be too rich, even for me, but the kopi is a keeper.
Once we were all fueled up, we headed to our favorite place in Singapore, Gardens by the Bay. We wanted to go, just because we enjoy it, but we also wanted to see what they had done for Christmas. A lot of it was set up for the light show at night, but it was still cool to look at in the daytime.
We got on the tram again for the tour of the full grounds. It worked out well, because the skies got dark, and it sprinkled a little while we were riding around. Even with cloudy skies though, Gardens by the Bay is incredible.
The rain stopped shortly after it began, and we headed over to the domes. We had to give the girls time to play in the tree structures first though. Elena was quite impressed and had trouble focusing on us for a picture.
We started with the Cloud Dome, because it's ridiculously awesome.
After freezing on our first trip, I came prepared this time with long sleeves for me and the girls.
Elena was roaming free on this trip, and she got really excited about the flowers and trees, but she ran over to me in a panic when she spotted the "alligators" lurking in the water.
We reassured her that they weren't real, but she was skeptical. Despite the alligator scare, we all had fun in the Cloud Dome. Then, we made our way over to the Flower Dome. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that it smelled like Christmas trees, real Christmas trees. We haven't had a real tree since we've been here, so I just took some time to inhale. They turned the whole center area into a Christmas forest.
Elena was thrilled when she found a Christmas "tree" with "snow."
They had all different kinds of poinsettias with a sign explaining that the color depends on how much light/dark exposure they have.
They also had a beautiful display with blue flowers.
Even though I love the Christmas trees, I was also impressed by the everyday specimens they had, like this olive tree.
They even had some lovely carved trees.
I could spend all day in the domes, but children need to eat, so we found a restaurant. They had a kids menu, complete with smiley fries, which we all enjoyed.
Once we were fueled up, we made our way over to the Children's Garden, which we hadn't explored the last time. Only the domes cost money, all the rest of the gardens are free, which is really nice. On the way, we stopped by the desert display.
There were some cool, non-pokey seating options too.
The girls were a little sad that I hadn't brought their bathing suits to play in the splash area, but we promised them pool time back at the hotel, and pointed out that by their standards it was quite "chilly" outside. Vivian soon warmed up though, when she discovered that most of the children's garden was a giant playground obstacle course.
She did not approve of Jeff's interpretation of the net area.
She climbed and slid and climbed again.
The adults took turns watching Vivian and chasing Elena, who wanted to do everything Vivian was doing, but wasn't quite big enough for the play area yet. We found a smaller play area for her on the other side of the splash pad.
But by that point, she was so worn out, all she wanted to do was sit and eat ice cream.
We taxied back to the apartment and had some quiet time. Then, the girls were ready for their promised pool trip.
As predicted though, the water was "cold."
The girls still enjoyed themselves. We did have one minor tragedy. Elena bumped her inner tube on something, and it deflated. She was fine, but for the rest of pool time Jeff had to follow her around to make sure she didn't fall off the underwater bench into the deeper water. After about an hour, we got the girls out, cleaned them up, and left them eating pasta with Young. Jeff took me back to the mall for dinner and gallantly agreed to try a sushi place I had spotted the night before. There had been a line at prime dinner time, but since we were early, we got in without a wait. It was yummy.
An early dinner was part of our master plan, because we wanted to try out Singapore Zoo's Night Safari, which doesn't open until after 7:00pm. We knew Elena wouldn't make it, so she stayed with Young, but we figured that since Singapore is an hour ahead of Bangkok, Vivian could probably handle it, so long as we got there right when it opened. We had a rough time getting a ride there though. For some reason, Uber just didn't work with our building, and there were pretty much no free taxis. We finally managed to grab a taxi that was dropping a family off at our building, but I had a moment where I thought we'd have to scrap the whole thing.
Once we got there, we got right in line for the tram ride that takes you around the park. Viv was excited.
It was really interesting to ride around the zoo in the dark. It felt like a behind the scenes thing. It was also nice and cool, which is a nice change from what we're used to. There weren't any really unusual animals, but since the main route is on the tram, a lot of it was open, so that we were right next to the herbivores with no fence or anything. That was cool. Of course, for the part with the white lions, there was a bit ditch and no way they were getting to us.
Since we got there a little late, our timing was off, and we missed the creature show they do, which is too bad, but we had fun exploring one of the trails, complete with kangaroos and wallabies. You can't use flash to take pictures, so it's hard to get any that come out with the real animals. Vivian and Jeff found a partial solution.
It was definitely a unique and interesting experience, but by the end Vivian was DONE. Still, it was fun for Vivian to have some only child time with mommy and daddy. We got her home and put her to bed, so that she could rest up for the next adventure, Universal Studios.
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