Macau Skyline

Kyle and I are casual photographers taking more pictures in the last year than ever before to document and share our Asian adventures.  We don't have a super, snazzy, high tech camera so many of our pictures are not always the best quality or very clear but they do help us capture and tell our Macau story.

On an unusually clear night, Kyle had an urge to capture the Macau skyline.  He took the camera to the top of Taipa Grande and Taipa Pequena, experimented with different settings and speeds, and got a collection of different skyline shots.  

This picture, looking across the bridge to the Macau peninsula, is the MGM on the right with the Wynn mostly hidden behind it, to the left of the MGM is One Central (high-end residential and luxury shopping), at the end of the bridge is the Grand Lisboa with the original Lisboa (the small pink cupcake looking building to the right built in 1970), to the left of the Grand Lisboa is the Bank of China, and the bright building in the back ground on the far left is the Emperor Palace.  

The next 2 pictures show the skyline along the Cotai Strip which is located on the island side of Macau.

Here is the Galaxy (which we can see from our bedroom window),

City of Dreams is on the far left, Sands Cotai Central is the 3 buildings just left of center, a clock tower is in the middle, and the largest casino in the world to date is the Venetian on the right.

School Play

The School of the Nations performed
Pinocchio

the classic story with a few modern twists.

The 4th-6th graders acted, danced, and sang while the high school students did the behind the scene jobs, including making costumes and doing the lights and sounds.  All the students did a fantastic job and seemed to really enjoy participating in the play.  Even Cade, who would rather have his nose in a book or be playing on a soccer field, had a fun time in his theatrical debut.  He even hinted he might like to be in another play someday.

The play began in Gepetto's workshop where he wishes his special wooden puppet, Pinocchio, would be a real boy.  Mother Fairy appears with 2 in-training fairies to grant Gepetto's wish.  Pinocchio awakes and is granted a trial period to show he can be a "real boy".  The Mother Fairy puts Jiminy Cricket in charge of helping Pinocchio learn to make good choices. 

On the way to school the next day, Pinocchio gets distracted by Honest John and joins Stromboli's Circus. He performs a puppet dance and is then forced into a cage.  One of the in-training fairies appears to help but curses him with a nose-growing spell when he lies to her.

Pinnochio escapes from the circus, but while racing Jiminy home, gets caught by Honest John and joins  rival gangs on their way to Pleasure Island.  Excited to go, the 2 gangs stop fighting and dance "Go to Pleasure Isle" to the tune of Gangnam Style.

Pleasure Island is the laboratory of a mad scientist trying to transform bad kids into "good children".  After being hypnotized by video games, the kids one by one walk into Dr. Gazza's invention and get zapped into donkeys.  Fortunately, the machine overheats when Pinocchio enters so he doesn't turn into a donkey and is able to escape.

After searching for Gepetto, Pinocchio and Jiminy discover he's been swallowed by a whale and go to rescue him.  Inside the whale's belly, glow-in-the-dark sea creatures, including fish, seahorses, jellyfish, a starfish, and a mermaid, dance to Moves Like Fishes (tune of Moves Like Jagger).  Pinocchio and Gepetto start a fire, make the whale sneeze, and are thrown out of the whale's belly.

Once on land, Mother Fairy and her 2 apprentices try to turn Pinocchio into a real boy.  Having some trouble, they search an electronic device which tells them the youngest fairy has the knowledge and power.  She struggles with the powerful wand for a time but eventually calls on the help of everyone.

All the actors return to stage singing "A Real Boy".  Pinocchio awakens and is a real boy!

The play was awesome!  We were so impressed with the entire production!  Big cheers to all who participated and helped make it such great production.

And cheers to the lead seahorse!

A re-al boy,

a li-ving boy...

Pinocchio!!!!

Singapore Vacation

A few of our favorite things from our 4-day Singapore vacation.

THE MERLION

The merlion is the mascot of Singapore - it has the head of a lion and a body of a fish.

This giant merlion statue located on Sentosa Island

has a viewing deck in his mouth and on top of his head.

THE BEACH

 Lots and lots of beautiful beaches

During an evening walk along the beaches, 

we discovered a cool looking suspension bridge leading to a small islet. 

Crossing the suspension bridge in the dark was a little scary for Leah and Ian
but we made it across safely and found we were at

the "southernmost point of continental Asia", a claim made because the small islet is connected to Sentosa Island by bridge, which is connected to Singapore by a causeway, which is connected to Malaysia by causeway. 

THE SINGAPORE ZOO

"Known for having the most beautiful wildlife park settings in the world, 

where animals roam freely in open and naturalistic habitats".

The best zoo we've ever been to!

The orang utans (2 words in Singapore and pronounced orang OOtans) were entertaining to watch, especially the group in the branches above the kids.  A baby was clinging to the mother as another young one run ahead up the branch - super cute!  Many of the monkeys species roam freely in and around the park.  We saw many in the branches above us as we walked around the zoo and even saw one crossing the road as we drove to the zoo (yes - there are many monkey crossing signs).

The white tigers were very active and playful and lots of fun to watch.  We learned one reason why the tiger is so important in Asian culture - the Chinese symbol for "king" is on the tiger's forehead.

My kids are fans of the naked mole rat character on "Kim Possible"and 

were excited to see the real life animal, which are "sooo tiny and cute".

It was a hot and humid day, but we loved walking around the zoo,

seeing the different animals, 

playing on the rides,

and enjoying the beautiful, rainforest atmosphere.

But, the most memorable moments at the zoo were...

Leah riding a pony (she'll talk about this for years)

and all of us riding an elephant.

THE POOL

With an 18m (59 ft) waterfall,

2 slides,

and lush foliage all around,

the 95m (311 ft) long pool was THE FAVORITE hangout both day and night.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

The monsoon season is here and it's been raining every day for more than a month - and it's only just begun!  On a good day, light rain showers are short lived and come and go throughout the day.  With only an umbrella, we get a little wet but our walk to and from school is still rather pleasant.  On a bad day, however, the rains are more intense, the sky grows very dark, the winds blow, and we get soaking wet even with an umbrella.  This kind of rain requires ponchos and rain boots, flip flops, or crocs.  Ponchos are needed not only to help keep our clothes dry but especially to protect homework and papers inside the kids' backpacks.  Even with all the proper rain gear, there's days we still come home soggy and wet.  One day, Leah and I came home 3 different times absolutely drenched.  Nothing we could do could keep us dry.  Fortunately, the rain is not cold so if you don't mind getting wet it can be pretty fun.  During one particularly big downpour, Kyle, Cade and Leah even put on their bathing suits to go out and play in the rain.

Personally, I'm tired of carrying umbrellas, getting splashed, and coming home with wet shoes, feet, and clothes.  Plus, it's harder to do our "get-out-of-the-apartment" activities and I tend to get a little more stir-crazy.  So, when a beautiful, clear, sunny, Saturday arrives, we make sure to get outside and enjoy the nice, non-rainy weather.

One Saturday we hiked to the Hac Sa Reservoir to ride the paddle boats.

Another Saturday, we went back to Guia Hill and found lots of new, cool things to see and do.

And we also visited the Kun Iam Statue, the Buddhist goddess of mercy.

I love our family outings and am so grateful for a few dry days during this incredibly, wet, rainy season.  Rain, rain go away!