Playing Hookey

Even in our third trip to Singpore we continue to have unique experiences almost every day. Our new years celebration was relaxing and quiet (Chad even slept through the fireworks) and we’re enjoying an extra week off while our friends return to work. Chad’s added a few new foods to his diet. Check out his banana video.

Fireworks from the Johnson’s balcony. This is also the same view we get everynight, minus the fireworks. Watching fireworks from such a high elevation is pretty cool.

Here is a view of the Marina Bay Sands hotel from a bumboat tour on the Singapore River. This picture is taken from the Merlion’s location.

Here’s the Merlion from the Sky Park on the Marina Bay Sands.

Here’s a view from the infinity pool on top of the 57 story Marina Bay Sands.

Thanks to some cheap babysitting Molly and I were able to stay on the 49th floor of the hotel Monday night. It sure beat returning to work. There’s video here too.

Chad stayed with us Monday night and was able to come swimming with us in the morning. Grandpa was also able to come over early on his birthday for a swim.

Mom and Chad playing on the edge.

Chad loves his red boat in the pool. He won’t let it go.

It’s really not that far!

Happy Birthday Grandpa.

Chad enjoying his first boat ride.

Mom and Chad on the bumboat tour.

Sweet Potatoes

We’ve been busy after the holiday. New experiences for Chad include Chinatown, wild monkeys, and sweet potatoes. He liked one, hated one, and was neutral on the other. As always Chinatown had some good shopping and the cheapest Tiger in town. We also took some time to visit the Merlion to take some pictures. Molly and I were able to enjoy a night out together, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa J who babysat Chad. Oh, and Chad had his first taste a real food, sweet potatoes, check out the video to see how it went!

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  Although we are separated from most of our family by thousands of miles, we are thinking of everyone on this special day. We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and can take time to relax and celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. After church Chad spent the day opening his presents from Santa (more then a couple as you could imagine), relaxing, and taking a swim. 

 

Babies do get jet lag

Orlando-Houston-Hong Kong-Singapore. Chad did great for the first 31 hours and 3 airports. The last 5 hours could have been better. He’s adjusted suprisingly well to the 13 hour time difference. Chad enjoyed an open house with grandma and grandpa’s friends, took his first swim, and drove around the parking lot with Dad until falling asleep.

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Friday, July 31 – Ugggh August!

Our last full week in Singapore has been pretty relaxing. After three straight weeks of travel it’s nice to be some where familiar. We spent most of the week trying some new Sinapore activities like visiting the Peranakan Museaum and biking on the East Coast Park. We also went back to Hard Rock for an “American” mean and Sentosa Island, which is a major tourist destination with beaches, shops, and will have a Universal hopefully by next year.

Happy 4th of July!

As our July 4th comes to a close we want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday as your just begins. We hope everyone is proud and thankful for the U.S.A. as we are. Hopefully you will take a moment to appreciate and give thanks to the men and women who serve our nation and protect our freedoms. That being said, we celebrated in the usual fashion, relaxing by the pool with some drinks and a grill. The folks in S’pore were nice enough to give us a jet flyover and some fireworks. (National Day practice, but we think it was for the USA too).

Playing fooball at the pool

Jet flyover

Happy 4th! God bless the USA!

Singapore Flyer

The last few days have been pretty relaxing. Yesterday the boys went to Transformers and a WWII exhibit while the girls went to the women’s group at church. Transformers was great! The WWII exhibit was in an old bunker, called the Battle Box, at Fort Canning Park and recalled the events that led up to the British forces surrendering in Singapore to the Japanese. I have been to a lot of different exhibits and museums here and so I am familiar with Singapore’s history but it was unique to see an exhibit on location.

Today was more shopping, one of the national sports of Singapore, and then one of our all-time favorite Singapore experiences, the Singapore Flyer. The flyer is the world’s largest observation wheel, peaking at 165m (540ish ft.) and offers amazing views of Malaysia, Indonesia, and of course Singapore. Check out the link for more info. Way cool views of everything. We can see the flyer from our bedroom and have been eyeing it since our first trip. Again, one of our favorite experiences in Singapore.

Flyer from below

View from our bedroom, you can see the flyer in the distance

Our ride

View of the straits & some islands of Indonesian

Goofing off in the Flyer.

Looking down from on top of the flyer

Skyline and Merlion from the flyer

It’s kind of hard to see in this picture but you can see the Merlion at the entrance to the Sing River. It was in my post the other day from our bumboat tour and from last year as well. It’s just beneath the tallest building to the right. All of the construction at the left is going to be the new business district. Below you can see a model of about what it will look like once construction is completed.

This is kind of what the skyline will look like when all the construction is done.

Some old friends…were really excited to see us!

The last few days have been pretty relaxed. After the wet market on Saturday we spent some time shopping in Chinatown. Well, mainly the girls shop while Gene, Casey, and I enjoy extra large Tigers. On Saturday night we held a birthday party for everyone, since we are not together for each others birthdays. We also watched the armed forces practice for the upcoming National Day. Singapore’s National Day is on August 9 and is similar to our July 4. They practice every Saturday with helicopters, jets, and fireworks. The 27th story is a great place to see them practice. Today we went to MacRitchie Reservoir where we again saw monkeys in the same area as last year. Monkeys are very common to Singaporeans and even considered a nuisance, but we can’t get enough. We spent over an hour observing and photographing so many different monkeys. They are not intimidated by us and it is easy to get within feet. Check out the pictures with Molly to see just how comfortable they are around us. We planned to hold the 1st annual Johnson v. Fox pool jarts competition, to cool off from the heat, but we are currently on rain delay.

National Day practice

Some of our old friends

The approach, wait for it...

The landing...look at Molly's face...priceless!

Orchid from the National Orchid Gardens

Here today, gone tomorrow!

Our 7 night Caribbean cruise was amazing! There were so many great experiences that it would take me a week write about them. Here’s a quick recap of where we were and a few of the highlights. Our cruise left Sunday, June 14 from San Juan, Puerto Rico and made stops in Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, and St. Thomas before returning to San Juan. Highlights were amazing beaches in Aruba, exploring caves in Curacao, swimming in waterfall pools in Dominica, and parasailing in St. Thomas. Each island offered something different and the views were amazing. The best part was being able to share these experiences with our family. We returned home last night (Sunday) and leave for Singapore Tuesday evening. We are really excited to return to Singapore, this time with Casey, Molly’s brother. Here’s a few pictures of our cruise.

Snorkeling in Aruba

Palm Beach in Aruba

Hato Caves in Curacao

Shopping District in Curacao

Megan and Molly going for a swim in Dominica

Fox Family at Magen's Bay in St. ThomasBoat view from St. Thomas

 **Thanks to Angela Necastro for sponsoring the internet service to support this post**