At the rate we are visiting the sunny island in the south, I told TT we should try to get a unit at Sentosa Cove.
My SIL offered to take my mum and the kids to see the Sentosa Flowers Exhibition around 4pm today. The adults were excited about seeing flowers, the kids just perk up when they hear the word "Sentosa"!
Presumption #1: My SIL presumed that the Flowers exhibition would be held at the garden and fountain area near the former ferry terminal as in previous years. But... this year it shifted to Imbiah. With plans of the IR (Integrated Resort) on the way, the ferry terminal area is now like a ghost town.
Presumption #2: We presumed my SIL knew where to go and what to do when she offered to take them to Sentosa. She sounded so confident over the phone, so we didn't ask. We didn't know that SIL was under Presumption #1.
It was a case of the blind leading the blind. My SIL drove into Sentosa with my MIL, my Mum, the maid and 2 kids. My SIL didn't even know that the Sentosa Express was up and running! And all the while my two kids were saying "Wanna take Express, wanna take Express..." My SIL parked near the ferry terminal and the entourage trudged all the way up to Imbiah.
In the evening TT picked me up from work and we were wondering where to settle our dinner. We thought why not meet my SIL and gang at VivoCity, so we called them and that's when Presumptions #1 and #2 became apparent. With the old folks tired and kids hungry (it was about 7pm), we decided to drive into Sentosa to pick them up. Darn, I had passed our Islander card to my Mum earlier so that Cheryl could enter free. So now we had to pay $6 to enter Sentosa.
Trying to find the entourage in Sentosa was a saga in itself. It was looking a lot like an episode in The Amazing Race or something. TT told them to wait at the musical fountain. But when we got there, they were nowhere to be seen. They had moved somewhere else. I called my mum on her handphone.
Presumption #3: I presumed my mum's definition of "near" was within 10m. She said, "We are near the Waterfront Station, you know the station that is still not yet opened." Got it. I know where that was. So TT drove illegally into this deserted pavement that got us at Waterfront Station. Where were they?? I walked around the Station which was currently being cordoned off. I called my mum again. She said, "We are at the clock tower lah! Very near the station what!" That was like 50 to 100m away! Anyway, we were finally reunited, and we headed to VivoCity for dinner. After dinner, we brought the kids for a round trip on the Sentosa Express (yes again) before heading back home.
Sunday - The Sentosa Flowers Saga Part 2
We took Cheryl for a badly-needed haircut this morning while Isaac played at the nearby playground at the market. Before lunch I managed to convert one of our off-white IKEA rugs into a hop-scotch rug. We had bought three of these rugs when we first shifted into our current home, but eventually we rolled them up because the kids kept spilling food and staining the rugs. Now we only unroll one rug as and when needed (esp. on chilly days). So the other two were left to collect dust. At least now we've found some use for it. The expensive permanent coloured markers I bought for Cheryl's art class also came to good use for me to draw the numerals on the hop-scotch rug. Will take a pic of the rug if I can remember.
We had TT's colleagues over for lunch today. Mum had cooked my favourite Buah Keluak and Kiam Chye Ark soup. Because we were having guests, we decided to let Cheryl "ponteng" (skip) her art class in the afternoon.
When Isaac woke up from his nap, I suggested going to Sentosa because it was the last day of the Flowers exhibition. My mum wanted to tag along too because there wasn't enough time to see everything when she went with my SIL on Friday.
Our original plan was to park at VivoCity and take the Express to Sentosa. But the queue at the counter was so bloody long we decided to drive in instead. The Flowers exhibition certainly did not disappoint. The flowers were beautiful and extremely colourful. A photographer's paradise indeed. The theme was "Rhymes in Bloom", and so they installed large displays of characters from nursery rhymes such as a shoehouse, animals, etc. As expected, the kids did not really appreciate the flowers. They were quite bored and kept hounding us to take the Sentosa Express again.
We took many, many pictures of flowers, setting our camera mostly to macro. Didn't bother to take many shots with the kids because they were so uncooperative. We let Cheryl use our old digital camera to take some photos. I took a shot of her using the camera here. The whole place was fairly crowded, enough to irritate me. Everyone was snapping away, posing here and there, blocking the way (ourselves included!). Luckily the weather was relatively cool, and it even rained for a short while. Here are some shots I took. Click the thumbnails to get a better look. 
To end off the outing, we had to board the Sentosa Express at Imbiah Station just to satisfy the kids. Previously when we took the Express, the staff did not allow us to do a round trip at VivoCity without exiting.
Presumption #4: I presumed that this policy had not changed since the last time we took the Express... and that was just 4 weeks ago?
But my mum insisted that we could, because they just did it on Friday. Frankly I didn't believe they could change their policy so quickly, so I thought they only allowed this on weekdays. My mum was adamant that she was right, and so was I. I decided not to push it further since we had the Islander card anyway. In the worst case, we could just get tickets again at VivoCity. I just feared that we needed to queue.
Lo and behold, the policy had indeed changed! Now passengers were allowed to take "joy rides" up to VivoCity and return to Sentosa without needing to exit at VivoCity. We had to disembark the train at VivoCity, make a U-turn round and enter the train again. Silly, but it was allowed (they should just allow us to remain in the train). We disembarked at Imbiah Station where our car was parked and we drove home for dinner.
Thus ended our Islander weekend. You can't believe the number of Express tickets I have amassed...
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