A Week of Celebrating!!

We have spent the last week celebrating!! One week ago today was Wes's birthday! And today is our 7 year anniversary.  Last year was a complete fail in the celebrating department (my mindset at the time was that everything is too difficult in China (and I couldn't make any celebrations special), we did nothing for our anniversary and for Wes's birthday we made banana muffins and called it a day - lame, I know. Well I am happy to say that I no longer think this way - everything is still a little more difficult in China, but with some planning it is completely possible to make celebrations special by just putting in a little extra effort.

Last Saturday we had a small party (two other families) over for bar-b-que and drinks.  There were six adults and six kids and it was the perfect size.  We made it easy on ourselves and ordered out most of the food and it was the perfect, low key, low stress event celebrating Wes! I made his favorite cake (texas sheet cake if you are wondering) and the girls helped him blow out his candles and we all just had so much fun!

 ^ in case you are wondering why Emma is sitting inside her pillow case - she fashioned a mermaid tail out of it and spent at least half an hour trying to convince Wes to sew it onto her costume permanently.  she loved hopping everywhere (just like a real mermaid ;)).

^ love this guy!! ^

On Monday, I took the day off and we celebrated our anniversary.  Since we don't have any babysitters in China, we decided to make use of school as our babysitter and spend the day together.  I got to walk the girls to the bus stop which is always a highlight for them and me :)! After we said goodbye, Wes and I had a day date going to Starbucks, running a few errands, eating at a Japanese restaurant for lunch followed by a massage for me and a pedicure for Wes.  It was really the best day celebrating us and just hanging out! I truly cannot believe it has already been seven years! We feel so blessed to have each other :).

Last, but not least, we are also celebrating that a Starbucks is coming to our neighborhood! This is truly one of the things I had wished and hoped for and we are so so excited about this :).

Today, we will have a family day doing what we do best - going on an adventure of sorts. Can't wait to share more :).

Singapore| The Singapore Zoo

On Monday afternoon, we were headed to Melaka (I had to work at some point ;)) but before we left Singapore, we wanted to spend one more morning exploring so we decided to go to the Singapore Zoo.  We ended up buying the four in one pass (that included the River Safari, Night Safari and Bird Park) since we would be back in Singapore just four days later for the weekend and it ended up working out perfectly.  Also, let me just rave about the Singapore Zoo for a minute - you hear a lot about the Night Safari, but the Singapore Zoo is hands down the best/most beautiful zoo we have been too (and we have been to a lot of zoos!).  I am not sure these pictures capture it, but it was just like walking through a rainforest with the tropical climate, the roaming animals - monkey's everywhere and the view (it is right on the water).  All of that to say - we loved loved loved this zoo! Here are a few pictures if you would like to see.

^ even the entrance is gorgeous! ^

^ they were having a special dinosaur exhibit and it was right up Emma's alley - she was asking to go through it again on our way out that's how much she enjoyed it. ^

^ she loved for Wes to tell her each type of dinosaur and then she would study them for awhile.  some kids were scared, not our Emma. ^

^ discussing something about the baby dinosaur situation with sis looking on.^

^ maybe Emma gets her love of dinosaurs from Wes? ^

^ Mingo's are much more up Everly's alley. ^

^ Singapore Zoo had the most active polar bear - and I love that it looks like Everly and the polar bear are saying hello. ^

^ I am a rhino lover and these guys were especially pretty. ^

^ the girls thought the same thing ;). ^

^ pointing at something?? ^ 

^ they loved the little mercats. ^

^ the animals here are said to have some of the best views of any other animals - I have to say these giraffes have quite the view. ^

^ I didn't capture much, but the girls (especially Emma) loved the reptile house - snakes, frogs and creatures galore! they especially loved when it was on their level. ^

^ which one is real, which one is fake ;). ^

^ my girls! ^

^ the have the same expression here! ^

^ hard to see, but I loved this little sun bear (the smallest of all the bears). ^

^ also a little hard to see, but this zoo has three white tigers! we love the white tiger at the fort worth zoo, but I have to say these ones were impressive too. ^

^ a little peak into what I hope Australia is like :). ^

^ we worked up quite a sweat walking around the zoo - the girls were so excited to go to the splash pad for a bit (with goggles this time ;)). ^

^ it really was more like a small waterpark than a splash pad and it comes free with the price of the zoo admission ticket. ^

^ the girls splashed and splashed and we finally got them out of the water to eat lunch and then they just went right back in again. ^

^ the tickets that we bought also included a carrousel ride which the girls were pretty please about so before we headed out, the girls took it for a whirl.  they were the only ones and had a blast! we had such a great morning at the Singapore Zoo! ^