The Adventures of a Twin Mom – Page 24 – Motherhood and Travel Blog

Singapore

Well, I am about 4 months late in posting this but I have a very good reason… Our greatest adventure is about to begin…we are pregnant with twins after years of struggling with infertility! We are absolutely thrilled but I will talk more about that in the future! This post is about the beautiful and unique country of Singapore!

I’m not even sure how to describe Singapore… The newer section reminds me of Dubai with the over the top architecture, how clean it was, and the prices were astronomical. However, when you leave the newer parts of Singapore, it becomes pretty seedy.

Once our plane landed, we went through customs (fastest customs experience ever), and then grabbed a taxi to take us to the Ferris Wheel. I know all the big cities are building these now but I hate it because it’s taking away from the London Eye.

We then headed towards Helix Bridge.

We had fun taking pictures on the bridge. We made some friends from China while taking a picture and they even asked to get a picture taken with us, they kept calling us “honeymooners”.

Our next stop was the Marina Bay Sands or often called the “The Boat Hotel”. Marina Bay Sands contains a hotel, a huge mall, restaurants, and a boardwalk with gorgeous views.

Walking around the mall! We didn’t buy anything because we found out they don’t take Visa and we didn’t bring enough foreign currency. Plus, everything was VERY expensive.

Enjoying the breathtaking views from the boardwalk!

This was one of my favorite meals in Thailand and Singapore. It was just chicken and vegetables with rice but it was delicious!

Our next stop was my favorite in Singapore… Garden by the Bay.

This attraction is 2 huge glass domes filled with plants, waterfalls, and bridges! It is truly breathtaking.

We paid a little extra to go up in the Cloud Forest in the Gardens. This is exactly what it’s called, we felt like we were in clouds in the middle of a forest. It was incredibly beautiful! It just happened to start pouring while we were up there and since the dome is all glass, it got really foggy. It was such a unique experience.

Afterwards, we walked around the outside of the gardens.

We then headed out of the newer part of Singapore and into Chinatown.

Chinatown is exactly what you’d expect it to be… tons of restaurants and shops. It was fun to walk around but I prefer San Francisco and London’s Chinatown the best ! 🙂

Our final stop was the Hindu Temple. It was pouring down rain at this point so we only stopped for a few minutes. It was a very unique building with a lot of color and things to look at.

I realized Judd must not have been in a photogenic mood, he took most of the pictures!!

If you go to Singapore, I don’t think you need to stay more than a day or two! The metro (and city) is very clean and really easy to navigate. If you haven’t been, definitely add this country to your list!

I have two more trips to write about and then my blog might be turning into mostly a mom blog!

Thailand

We recently returned home from an AMAZING two weeks in Thailand and Singapore to celebrate our 4^th anniversary. Seriously, this was one of our favorite trips ever! I could write 10 posts just about Thailand but I will instead write one about Thailand and one about Singapore. This long post (sorry) will be about Thailand.

Can you tell that I love Thailand? I love, love, love it! We had the best time.

We first arrived to our hotel in Bangkok, Amari Watergate. I loved this hotel, it’s a 4 star hotel located in the heart of Bangkok. The hotel is very modern and luxurious, the employees are wonderful, AND they have the best breakfast I’ve ever had.

We did all the touristy things in Bangkok….

We visited the Grand Palace; this is the biggest tourist attraction in Bangkok. This was the residence of the Kings of Siam and Thailand. Now, it is being used for official events.

The Grand Palace is beautiful and there is so much to look at, here are a few more pictures:

We then walked a few blocks to see the Reclining Buddha.

How cool is this? It was huge, this is only half of it!

I placed money in 108 bronze bowls which represents the 108 characters of Buddha. This is supposed to bring good luck and the money also helps Thai monks.

The final temple that we visited had the Golden Buddha. I expected this to be bigger because it’s worth $250 million but it was still pretty!

You probably noticed in a few pictures that I had interesting clothes on, if you don’t have long enough clothes to go in the temples then you have to rent clothes. It was 100 degrees there so I did not pack long clothes so we paid to rent clothes.

We then rode in a tuk-tuk!

This was a must- do in Thailand!!

My favorite day in Bangkok was a day tour that we took! Honestly, not only was this one of my favorite days of this trip but this was one of my favorite days ever!

We first went to the Floating Market Dumnoen Saduak!

We hopped into a long-tailed speed boat and off we went to explore the canals.

It was quite amazing, there are hundreds of people selling things from canoes: fruits, clothing, and artifacts.

Once you get to the end of the market, you can get out and do more shopping on foot.

I got to hold the cutest lemur.

How adorable is he?

And Judd held this scary guy!!! Ick!

While we were there it was over 100 degrees!

While shopping, I heard a noise and looked down and saw this dog hanging out in this fridge! He obviously wasn’t a fan of the heat and decided to cool off! It was adorable! I couldn’t blame him, it was HOT!

After the market, we headed to lunch. We ate lunch at a floating restaurant that happened to be right next to the Bridge over River Kwai.

This is the railway that Japan’s POW in WWII built from Thailand to Burma. It is known as the Death Railway because thousands of people died while building this.

Next, was our favorite part of the entire trip! We rode elephants! I did a ton of research before this excursion because I did not want to ride elephants or give money to a place that abused elephants. I learned that it is actually illegal to mistreat elephants in Thailand, they will be thrown in jail if caught. 99% of Thai citizens worship elephants and would never harm them.

When we first arrived to the elephant camp they put on a little show for us.

I got an elephant massage.

We both got kisses <3

Then it was time to ride elephants!

We took turns riding on her back.

It was an exhilarating experience and at times scary!

BEST DAY EVER!

We ended the day and our time in Bangkok by going bamboo rafting down the Kwai River.

It was really fun!

At first I wasn’t going to get in the water because I was worried about how clean it would be. I realized after a couple of minutes that it was clean and since it was 100 degrees I wanted to cool off!

After 5 days in Bangkok, we took a flight to Phuket. Phuket is considered the “pearl of Thailand”. It has the worlds most beautiful beaches!

We stayed at the Novotel Phuket Kamala Beach. This hotel was very modern, the staff was wonderful, and it was right on the beach!

This part of our trip was very relaxing!

We spent most of the week relaxing by the pool and beach! I read a lot of good books , took some long naps, and soaked up some Vitamin D! The sun was very intense but luckily neither of us got sun-burnt!

One day, we took a boat tour to Phi Phi with Phuket Sail Tours. This was an incredible day! The company picked us right up from the hotel and took us to the pier for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed out on the speedboat.

Our first stop was Maya Beach in Phi Phi. How beautiful is this?

This is where they filmed the movie “The Beach”

We then headed to Monkey Beach where we got to feed the monkeys from the boat.

Next, was a snorkeling stop at Phi Phi Le and then Phi Phi Don. I love the water and snorkeling, I was the first one off the boat each time!

We then ate a delicious lunch on Pi Phi Don Island and then went swimming and relaxed on Bamboo Island. I was very impressed with this company, they went out of their way to make sure the guests were having fun! They had tons of food and drinks and even had extra things to make our trip enjoyable, such as mats to lay on at the beach. I highly recommend Phuket Sail Tours!

What a fun day with my favorite person!

On one of our last days of vacation we went to Tiger Kingdom in Phuket.

I got to play with two tiger cubs!

They were so cute!

Judd and I then took a few pictures with 4 big tigers. This was really fun and scary!

Cheers to an AMAZING time in Thailand!

Also, during this trip we went to Singapore. I will write about Singapore in my next entry! I hope you enjoyed reading about our Thailand adventure! It is an adventure that we will never forget! 🙂

Costa Rica

We just recently got back from an incredible week in the gorgeous Costa Rica! We travel frequently but this is the first truly relaxing trip we’ve had since our honeymoon, our trips are usually nonstop adventures.

We flew into Liberia and spent half the week in the rain forest in Bagaces and the other half at the beach in Tamarindo.

We drove all around Costa Rica, it was safe and fairly easy to navigate! First up, the rain forest in Bagaces!

If you want an experience like no other, I highly recommend staying at Rio Perdido. This resort is in the middle of the rain forest and guests stay in luxurious tree bungalows. The staff goes over and beyond to ensure you have a great vacation!

There are only 20 bungalows so it’s very private and quiet!

Here are a couple of pictures of the inside of the bungalows.

The pictures don’t portray how nice the bungalows really are! The linens, toiletries, and amenities are pure luxury! We even liked their toiletries so much that I ordered some to be sent home!

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful resort:

This is where we ate all of our meals and the food is all organic and delicious!

There are tons of activities to do here: white water tubing, hiking, zip lining, relaxing in hot thermal springs, relaxing at the spa, biking, and swimming in one of three pools.

We were really tired our first day so we relaxed in our bungalow, watched the monkeys from our porch, ate an early dinner, and slept for 12 hours!

If you look closely at the three pictures above you can see the monkey’s hanging out in the trees!

The next day we felt completely refreshed so we decided we should do something adventurous! We went white water tubing and it was an absolute blast!!! We actually considered doing this twice! Here are a few pictures:

Later that day, we took a short hike to the hot thermal springs/mud bath. This was very fun and peaceful!

DCIM100GOPRO — Not the best picture of us! The water was really hot!

The next morning we went on a hike. The landscape was beautiful but but we ended the hike early because it was 100 degrees!

We saw an anteater!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out by the pool.

My redheaded husband hiding from the intense sun!

Half way through the week, it was time to check out of Rio Perdido. 🙁 We headed towards Tamarindo Beach. On the way we stopped at the Llano de Cortes Waterfall!

This is a must see if you’re ever in Costa Rica! It took my breath away.

We spent the afternoon at the falls: swimming, relaxing, and climbing behind the falls.

We then headed towards Tamarindo Beach. Tamarindo did not disappoint, it’s one of the nicest (if not the nicest) beach towns I’ve ever been too. It’s an upscale surf town completely filled with Americans.

The main street has tons of restaurants and shopping.

The rest of the week was spent relaxing by the pool and beach.

Views from the infinity pool at our hotel

We even attempted to surf!

All guests at our hotel had access to a private beach club. We spent one afternoon here!

Taking a walk on the beach before dinner. We had the best dinner that night! Seafood and steak right on the beach!

The sunsets here were incredible!

If you ever travel to Costa Rica, I highly recommend renting a car and spending half the week in the rain forest and half the week at the beach!

We are already talking about our next trip to this beautiful country! Until next time Costa Rica… PURA VIDA!

Guide to NYE in Times Square

I’m very late in posting this but better late than never, right? For New Year’s Eve we went to NYC to see the ball drop in Times Square! This has always been on my bucket list and we decided this year was the perfect time because it was record high temperatures (almost 50 degrees in NY!) and we both had the day off! We had a great time and it was an unforgettable experience!

While I was planning this trip I noticed there wasn’t much information out there on NYE in Times Square. I decided to put some tips together (see below) about our experience, hopefully this helps someone!

How Times Square is organized
Part of the fun of NYC is the chaos…at times you will think the whole thing is very unorganized but it is part of the experience. That being said, on NYE Times Square is divided into sections with barricades. Each section is first come, first served. They allow only so many people into each section and then they start filling the next section. Obviously, the first few sections are the best because you’re close to the concerts and closer to the ball! They do this to keep the area safe and controlled, there are a few cops watching over each section.

When to Arrive
This all depends on how close to the ball you want to be! If you want to be in the first few sections, you will need to arrive very early! I was told some people camped out for days (no thanks). We arrived at noon to Times Square and we were a few blocks back from the ball. We had great views of the ball! However, we couldn’t see the celebrities on the stage but that was ok with me. If you want to see the ball but don’t care about anything else, I highly recommend arriving between 11am-2pm.

Where to Stay
I strongly recommend staying in Manhattan because it will be chaotic trying to get out of the city after the ball drops! Just a warning, prices are sky-high on NYE and you need to book early! We stayed at The Lexington which is about a 15 minute walk to Times Square; it was the cutest boutique hotel! We absolutely loved it!

In August when I went to NYC (you can read about this here), we stayed at the Hampton Inn Times Square West, this is about a 5 minute walk to Times Square. If you want to pay a fortune, you can stay in the few blocks of Times Square and you won’t have to stay outside for 12 hours because you can see the ball from your hotel room. A few of those hotels with views are: Renaissance New York, Double Tree Guest Suites, Marriott Marquis, Knickerbocker, and the Novotel New York Times Square.

How to Survive All Day
I am going to be honest, this experience isn’t for everyone! If you have to use the bathroom a lot, if you can’t stand for long periods of time, if you don’t like being around a ton of people (roughly 1 million), or if you despise cold weather…this isn’t for you! We got really lucky to have nice NYC police officers guarding our section and they let both Judd and I out of our section once to use the restroom. We had to go in a restaurant and buy something to be able to use the restroom. We also brought a few snacks and a couple of drinks so we didn’t get dehydrated or hungry. For entertainment we brought our phones, talked a lot, and people watched. Lastly, we wore lots of layers and comfortable shoes because you are outside standing for 12+ hours.

Safety
I was initially nervous about being in Times Square on NYE because there is so much going on in the world right now. However, we felt completely safe the entire time! Everyone goes through security to get into Times Square and then through security again to get into each section. There are police in uniform everywhere and we were told there were also undercover police all throughout Times Square.

Extra Tips/Interesting Things We Learned
1. Dress warm and in layers
2. Bring snacks
3. Don’t drink a lot of liquid because you might not be able to use the restrooms at all! But bring some water so you do not get dehydrated.
4. Wear comfortable shoes
5. Get a place next to a barricade so you can lean on it. Sitting in the back of each section is ideal because you have more room because everyone is trying to get close to the front of the section.
6. Don’t bring a book bag or a large bag because police will confiscate it.
7. Make sure your phone is fully charged and bring a portable charger!
8. It’s not as big of a party as it looks like on TV. There is a lot of waiting!
9. Alcohol is not allowed

I used the Times Square Alliance website to plan our day. They post a lot of important information and they also post the event schedule.

Don’t forget to take a stroll through the city! The Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center is still up and there are decorations all throughout the city!

There is no place like NYC during the holidays!

Wishing everyone a very happy New Year!

Texas and New Orleans Road Trip

Judd spent a month this summer in Oklahoma City for work. Once he was done, I flew out there to drive home with him (it’s a long drive home)! We decided to go a tad out of the way and take a road trip to places we’ve never been. We spent 5 days exploring Texas (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston) and Louisiana (Baton Rouge and New Orleans). We had a blast!

This is the route we took.

Our first stop was Dallas! The city was nice and the people were very friendly!

JFK Memorial

6th Street Museum

Where JFK was shot

Our next stop was Austin. The city of Austin and the suburbs are GORGEOUS!!!!

State Capital

We then went to Lake Travis to eat lunch at the Oasis.

If you’re ever in Austin, I highly recommend this place! The views are incredible.

Then we went to San Antonio.

The Alamo

We strolled along the River Walk which is beautiful.

Gorgeous area!

We spent the next day in Houston. This was definitely our least favorite city. The city itself is confusing to navigate and traffic is horrendous! On top of that we got a flat tire.

I will say we were amazed by the hospitality we received while on the side of the road. Someone brought us water bottles, several people asked if we were alright, someone offered to let us sit in their a/c for a little bit (it was 100 degrees), and someone even helped me find a tire place.

The next morning we were very ready to be out of Texas! We woke up early to start our journey to Louisiana.

Our first stop was Baton Rouge and visiting LSU.

After spending a few hours in Baton Rouge we headed to New Orleans! People warned us that we probably wouldn’t like New Orleans because it was dirty and smelled. Turns out, we <3 New Orleans!

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in the French Quarter right on Bourbon Street. If you go to New Orleans, I highly recommend this place! It isn’t cheap but it has the perfect location and it’s beautiful!

We had just checked into the hotel and were very excited to explore!

Our first stop was to check out Café Du Monde. All I have to say is yum, yum, yum!

Delicious beignets!

You could walk for hours in New Orleans, there is so much to look at.

We each had a strawberry daiquiri and explored the French Quarter.

We hung out by the pool on the roof of the hotel before heading to bed.

We had a great trip but after 5 days of driving and the hot temperatures in Texas, we ready to be home! 🙂

All of NYC in 3 Days

Today I’m going to share how to see everything in New York City in 3 days and not feel overwhelmed! The first time I went to NYC was with my husband when he proposed.

It was a great trip but I was also distracted with being newly engaged and my new ring. 😉

This time I went with my mom and we had a great time!

Day 1

We landed at LaGuardia really early and then took a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at Hampton Inn in Times Square.

The location of this hotel is perfect, I highly recommend this hotel!

After dropping off our bags we went to pick up our tickets for the hop-on-hop-off bus tour.

If you have read my past travel entries you know how much I love and recommend these tours! They are the best way to see big cities at your own pace! You can get on and off at all the big stops while enjoying the views from an open double decker bus. I bought the 3 day pass that included: Uptown Route, Downtown Route, Night Tour, ferry ride around the city, ferry ride to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and tickets to Top of the Rock. This also included the Brooklyn Route and Harlem route, we didn’t do these two because the night tour covers Brooklyn and the Uptown Route covers Harlem.

This is what the routes look like! It covers everything!

The first day we did the Uptown Route.

We love sitting on top of the double decker bus. You can see things from here that you can’t from a car let alone the subway.

The first stop was Strawberry Fields in Central Park. This section of the park was named in memory of John Lennon.

Imagine circle

The bus then drove through Harlem. We didn’t get off anywhere but we did see a few cool things such as the Apollo Theater. This is the famous theater where the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and many others started their careers.

Then we went inside the Plaza Hotel.

They had an Eloise store! I was so excited because I LOVED these books/movies as a child.

We then got tickets to go inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). We saw a lot of famous pieces.

Self Portrait by Vincent van Gogh

Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies by Claude Monet

Our next adventure was a subway ride to the Brooklyn Bridge. You have to ride the subway at least once while in NYC.

It was a long walk but the views are breathtaking.

The final stop of the day was Times Square. Day 1 ended earlier than Day 2 and 3 because we were exhausted from waking up at 3 am!

Day 2

On Day 2 we did the Downtown Tour, took a ferry around the city, and the Night Tour.

The first thing stop on the Downtown Tour was the Freedom Tower (the new 9/11 building).

This is now the tallest building in NYC and it is beautiful!

The two 9/11 memorials are right next to the Freedom Tower.

They did a great job designing the memorial fountains.

Then we took a ferry ride around the city.

Such a big city!

We took a little stroll through the Waldorf Astoria. What a gorgeous hotel!

I have to admit I got lost once during this trip and it was trying to get to Grand Central Terminal. We made it though!

We finished the day by taking the Night Tour. Isn’t Times Square beautiful at night?

The views were fabulous and we had a great tour guide!

We loved this part of our trip!

Day 3

Our final day consisted of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Top of the Rock.

Trying to take a selfie at the Statue of Liberty.

The views of Manhattan from Liberty Island were gorgeous!

We were a little disappointed in Ellis Island. They need to make this place a lot more interesting and bring back artifacts that are currently in storage.

Our final stop of the day was the Rockefeller Center. We had tickets to the top which is called the Top of the Rock. This is my favorite place in NYC (and one of my favorite places in the world) for two different reasons: my husband proposed here and the views are to die for!

These views really show you how big NYC is.

This blog post just gives you a snapshot of our trip. Until next time NYC…

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