Lil' Dean Fam

The boys were out of school on Thursday and Friday of this week.  Evan had a birthday party to attend and Ryan had a zoo date on Thursday.  I proposed that Colin take the day off Friday and we all go to Legoland.  It's a bit of a tricky situation getting to Malaysia without a car but we put on our adventurous hats and off we went.  If you're wondering how we went, I'm happy to share.  We took the SMRT (public Singapore bus) number 950 to the border.  We had to get off, go through customs, get back on, drive to the border, get off and enter Malaysia.  Once we were in Malaysia we took a taxi (Teksi) to Legoland.  We paid 35RM (Malaysian Ringet) to drive the 30 minutes to the amusement park. We arrived at the park right at opening and our kids were free with coupons off the Meji milk containers.  We purchased combo passes to the park and water park. The kids were given a passport book to collect stamps from all of the rides.  If they co...

It seems like every weekend Ryan is asking me to spend some time alone; just the two of us.  So last weekend we didn't have much going on and I suggested that we go do something together.  I've been thinking of taking him to a neat place that I walk to while he's at school.  It's not really a hike but it's more than a walk, and to a nine year old, maybe a mini hike. We've started giving the kids allowance and they've been saving up for a pet but there haven't been any at the pet store.  I knew Ryan wanted to spend some of his money so I suggested that we go to the mall and buy something.    As soon as we left our house it was a torrential downpour with the most lightning I'd ever seen.  I often tell people that I'm from the desert and I'm not used to this kind of rain.  After some posts on Social Media about the recent rain in my home town, I guess maybe I'm getting more used to the rain than I thought.  But the thunder and lightnin...

Perhaps this is a mundane thing to blog about but aren't you glad I'm blogging so much?  That's what I thought!   Whenever I have to make a trip to my doctor's office I go have lunch with Colin.  Hey, if I'm gonna go to a place that I can only reach by taxi, I may as well get my money's worth.   Side note: One time I tried to reach the medical complex by train... BIG mistake. I ended up walking a LONG ways and it was so not worth the five minutes I spent inside collecting my meds.  Man, do I miss mail-in pharmacies.   ANYWAY, Lunch.  So, I met Colin for lunch and we branched out a little bit and went to a new hawker center he had found at Tanjong Pagar Market.  I had this amazing Phad Thai and paid a whole 4 dollars.  Colin had some char siew pork.  It's always fun to see Colin in the middle of his enormously long work day.   Chinatown decorated for Mid-Autumn festival.  Colin and I downtown lunch ...

As promised, I'm writing about the food here in Singapore- as part of our 1 year mark reflections.  Perhaps this is a post I should have asked Colin to write about. He's much more into the food scene than I am.  I'm really not much of a foodie.  But Singapore could be considered a foodie's dream. There's some great food choices here and many people think that's one of the best things about Singapore! I guess one of those reasons could be because of all of the different cultures that call this country home- even if only for a little while.  Singapore is really a hub of all of South East Asia.  There are people here with backgrounds that include Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Thai, Filipino, Australian, and many more.   Here are some of the dishes we've tried and enjoyed.   Sweet & Sour Pork (from Noodle Man in Chinatown) Since I'm Celiac and can't eat any noodles, this is what I get when I go there.   I've always loved fruit, and ...