Playing the tourist...

With the Bearsley and then the Ivanoff families visiting it gave a good reason to get out lots in Singapore and play the tourist.  The Ivanoff family - George, Kerri, Nykita (9) & Lexi (3) stayed over Easter and left last Saturday. Kerri and I have been friends from back in Korowa days when she designed the magazines I edited. She has since designed many other things for me but now has priced her designed work out my reach:) She is married to famous author George Ivanoff  (This week Alice has been showing her class the books signed by the famous author) We visited old favourites like Pulau Ubin, the Bird Park and MacRitchie Reservoir. We also did some new things like the light show at Marina Bay Sands and a visit to satay street at La Pau Sat. Alice went to Universal three times these school holidays and Felicity twice. The Ivanoff family were chosen to open Universal for the day so Alice and Felicity happily masqueraded as their daughters to get all the VIP treatment. Our visitors were foodies and enjoyed experimenting and we became regulars at the hawker centres. It was great to remember the amazing food that exists at our door step. Now the house is back to just our family and everyone's back to school. Thanks for coming everyone - we had loads of fun. School holidays - just flew past. 

A break from travels

Sunday morning - Matt leaves for Sydney.
Sunday evening - Alice leaves for Darwin (school camp).
Sunday evening - Matt gets food poisoning and has a very unpleasant night.
Monday evening - Matt (feeling somewhat better) flies to Melbourne.
Tuesday morning - Felicity leaves for Sibu Island in Malaysia (school camp).
Tuesday evening - Matt has a great dinner with his family in Port Melbourne.
Tuesday evening - Lucinda has a rare night alone.  Netball gets cancelled due to a thunderstorm.
Tuesday night - Matt surprises the Bearsleys at Melbourne airport.  Selecting the same return flight as them was deliberate.  Getting assigned the seat next to Anna was destiny.
Wednesday morning - Bearsleys and Matt arrive in Singapore at 5:30am, welcomed to The Regency by Lucinda before she heads to work.
Thursday night - Alice arrives home from Darwin and Kakadu.  Has had an amazing camp and seems to have done so much we don't know when they ate or slept.
Friday early - no sign of the bus that is due to pick us up at 6:15am.  Luckily is waiting around the corner when we call - driver hadn't been told of change from original time of 7:30am.
Friday morning - smooth trip through checkpoints and into Malaysia, get to the Felicity meeting point in plenty of time.  Felicity is handed over on her way back from Sea Gypsy on Sibu Island.  Has also had a great time at camp.
Friday 11:30am - are five iPads for eight people too many?  Or too few?
Friday noon - we board the speedboat for transfer to Rawa Island.

We relax.

Order cocktails, mocktails (Shirley Temples are the girls' favourite) and hot milos (Seb's favourite).

Read.  Relax.  Eat.

Go snorkeling.  Kayak around the island.  Jump of the jetty.  Find our one hundredth geocache.

Eat. Read. Relax. Drink. Play cards for the first time in years.  Go snorkeling again.  Play Mafia.

Get to sit on the beach in the warm tropical night, pretending the kids are asleep in the hut behind us and watching an awesome lightning storm in the distance.

Days pass.

And finally we have to leave.  A great long weekend on a tropical island.