Summer Vacation 2016

Aidan, Lydia, and I are walking towards a Singapore hawker center (local food stalls) when Aidan says to me “you know that sound in Beijing..the ones cars make?”. It takes me a beat and then I realize he doesn’t know the word “honking” so I tell him, yea, what about it. Aidan says the cars don’t do that here.

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The kids and I spend a week in Singapore and Bali. A bit of a rushed trip as we could have spend a week in either place. The kids particularly liked Singapore and our all day tour there. Sea Aquarium strangely reminding me of IKEA with it’s massive size and never ending switchbacks. The cart racing. The tram to and from Sentosa island. The night safari.

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The carts were a particularly pleasant surprise. We were walking around looking for something to do when the kids noticed the carts. Aidan and Lydia wanted to do it. Elisa at first balked but then agreed as long I was the one driving her cart. So I asked for three tickets and they gave us three sets of three tickets. A bit torqued at first, I slide with it. Took a life ride up to the top of the hill and rolled down in the carts. Lydia, by normal means should have finished about 10 seconds behind me and Lydia but she was a good two minutes behind us. I thought that would translate to never wanted to ride again, but no, she just wanted a tip on how to drive and off we went for the next two rounds.

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The next day in Singapore was visiting the famous shopping street and the before mentioned hawker station. Hawker streets are really best enjoyed at night but we didn’t have a night so we rolled with it. Our last night in Singapore was after we returned from Bali and before we returned to Beijing (Beijing -> Singapore -> Bali -> Singapore -> Beijing). For that night we sat eating on the street near our hotel in the section of the city called “little arab town”. Food was delicious.

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For Bali, the kids were not as impressed at first. We had a long tour day there too -- traditional dance, volcano view, rice patties, water temple, and monkey forest. I liked the water temple and mountain view the most; wanting to spend more time in the highlands.

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Otherwise our time in Bali was spent at the beach, at the hotel, and eating out. On our first night there I noticed Elisa sleeping with her androgynous mickey mouse. She had been dragging around a little suitcase of travelling companions including basketball cards she and Aidan are collecting.

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The thing I really value about these vacations is we do everything together. I guess that will change as the kids get older and they will want to venture out on their own but for now it’s great. And it’s great because we get along so well with each other. The kids are happy and laughing together a lot of the time and good sports the rest of the time. I hope these experiences with each other will lead to a lifetime of great experiences with whomever crosses their paths.