Life keeps getting in the way

Do you ever feel like you are fighting a losing battle? I had the best of intentions to craft and blog this week. A long weekend should have made it easy right? Sadly no. We made the most of having Tet home and really got out and about with an excursion planned every day. I had allocated my evenings for crafting but sadly Scarlett had other ideas. We are spending up to two hours from putting her into bed to getting her to sleep every night. By the time she goes down it is my bed time too. 

A friend recently reminded me that this too shall pass and that I will probably miss this in a few years but at the moment it is very hard and unrewarding work. Tet and I always do bedtime together if he is in town but Scarlett has taken to saying "Go away Daddy!'" leaving me in there alone!

So anyhoo I thought I might share a few photos of the first half of our weekend. I fully intend to add some of them to my Project Life spread that I will be working on on Sunday no matter what!

I guess since my blog is called Adventures in Singapore I really should show some evidence that we have some.

Saturday was a mixture of routine (Scarlett's gym class) and the excitement of our friends' son's first birthday party. We had a lovely time and Scarlett really enjoyed the cupcakes we ate in place of birthday cake. They were actually every bit as delicious as they looked.

Sunday we started the day going out for breakfast at one of our absolute faves - Brunettis. It was a total disaster. Monkey was in a very playful mood and sitting down for breakfast was not in her plans for the day. Tet managed to eat all his breakfast but I gave up and Miss S was frog marched to the car. Typically she fell asleep within five minutes of hopping in so we decided to go out to Pasir Ris Park for a look.

Singapore is a very small island and although I have lived there for 12 years of my life I have never been to Pasir Ris before. We had been told great things about the park and we were not disappointed. It took us about thirty minutes to get there and we spent another thirty waiting for Mischief to wake up. We decided to just have a wander round the park and see what we could find.

Our first stop was the boardwalk through the mangroves. It was fabulous. Lots of butterflies, crabs and fish to look at. The crabs were mainly sitting on these mud castle like structures that they occupy. A type of lobster builds the towers and then the crabs use them as homes and hideouts. The lobsters remain well underground and are rarely seen apparently.

I am not sure if you can spot the crab sitting atop the tower in this picture. They are really tough looking creatures and we saw a lot of them climbing the trunks of the mangroves. 

Our walk took us to the ocean. It is not safe for swimming there but it was still very pleasant with the palm trees and sea breezes.

There were people camping by the beach and it really was an idyllic spot.

We continued walking through the park and stumbled upon a mall - this is Singapore after all. It was nice to cool down and have a drink in the air conditioning. As we explored the mall Scarlett realised that there was an indoor playground there and was very keen to have a play. Tet does not usually get to go to these establishments as I tend to take her during the week so was keen to have a look. Scarlett had a lovely time and completely exhausted her father who had to accompany her on the main climbing apparatus. As always the ball pit was her favourite activity.

She really is in here somewhere!

And the clubber's version of the ball pit complete with constantly changing light colours.

We headed for home shortly after, retracing our steps through the park. We will definitely be returning there and next time we might hire some bikes and see more of the park. Scarlett fell asleep on the way home as well (2 naps in one day - unheard of!) and was ready for yet more action when we arrived home. Daddy was on pool duty while I cooked dinner. 

Singapore has some wonderful open spaces to explore. We really enjoy getting out in nature and showing Scarlett some of the amazing wildlife and flora that the tropics have to offer. And it is kinda nice to know that air conditioning and a cold drink is never too far away!