Thursday, November 3, 2011

Wine Fiesta

 October 30th, 2011 Wine Fiesta at Customs House

My sorority sister Arlene and her husband were in town from Texas this weekend (so glad we got to hang out and meet Derrell).  They found this cool little wine festival near Marina Bay at the Customs House, Fullerton Bay Hotel.  It was $45 SGD a person and you could taste hundreds of different wines.  If you know Singapore, you know this is a GREAT deal!  You could also purchase wine for a really discounted price.  AND of coarse we couldn't pass that up.... Dirk and I might be drinking wine for a long long time now :)

The helper was off on Sunday so Dylan came with us and was a champ.  He was the hit of the festival, women were all over him taking his picture and talking to his papa.

Baby stroller, 5 bottles of wine, and two happy parents... CHECK!

Arlene & Derrell with Dylan
After the wine fiesta we headed to Little India to see the Deepavali lights and get some good Indian food at the Banana Leaf.  Deepavali is the festival of lights and Little India was all lit up and packed with people.

Kappa Delta Sisters

We should have thrown up the K and D.

The street lights


And yes, we were pushing a stroller down the street with all these people!

Western Australia

October 19th-26th

Dirk had some meetings in Perth for work so we made it into a family holiday and went with him.  We stayed two days in Fremantle which is just outside of Perth and also the location of Dirk's favorite brewery, Little Creatures.  I caught up with Sarah Vaughan, one of our friends from Houston whose husband also works for the same company.  It was so great seeing friends in another country that are on the same mission as us.  Sarah let me tag along with her to play dates, meet all her friends, and we made a trip to the aquarium as well with three kids!!  Go us!

After two days in Fremantle we headed four hours south to Denmark to experience some beautiful scenery and amazing wine country.  It was Dylan's first road trip and he did great, slept the whole time, only waking up every 4 hours to eat.

We stayed right on the coast in the sleepy little town of Denmark.  The weather unfortunately was only  beautiful one day, the other days were cold and rainy.  We, however didn't mind at all.  The cold was a welcome to us and a break from hot hot humid Singapore.

We headed to Green's Pool which is a sheltered natural swimming pool of clear emerald green water.  It was pretty amazing but still too cold to swim in.

Green's Pool
Green's Pool Beach
Taking turns with the baby!
AH Mazing!
The Dunlap's
On top of the World, more like the bottom...


Elephant Rock
Suppose to look like Elephants


Wild Flowers in Bloom


Albany, Western Australia

We headed to Albany during the days to shop and eat lunch.  After living in Asia for so long, eating in Australia was delicious, expensive but delicious.  Albany was an old fishing town situated right on the sea.  You could just picture the fishermen coming home from a long haul as you walked down the cobble roads.

Albany
The sea from the main street
Kanga ROOS!


We stayed in Denmark right off of Lights Beach.  It was too cold to swim but if it had been summer, we stayed in the perfect spot.  A walk away from the beach and a popular surfing and fishing spot.

Dirk & Dylan
Albany, Western Australia

Back to Albany on a cold and rainy day.  We quickly saw the Natural Bridge and The Gap, it was really cold.  Managed to grab some lunch at Dylan's Cafe and then head back to Denmark for some wine tasting and chocolate.  The region was known for its white wines which turned out great because Singapore is too hot to drink red wine all the time.  We got some great wines, hot chocolate, and made some good memories. 


The Gap
It was windy and cold
Dirk calls this "Where's Tina?"
Natural Bridge

Where Dylan stayed most of the time, in his carseat all bundled up.
Loved all the flowers in bloom, it was their wild flower season.

Denmark

Lights Beach
Valley of the Giants, Tree Top Walk

The Tingle trees are the 3rd tallest trees in the world.  We made a quick stop before heading back to Perth to take in the tree top walk and these huge trees.


Tingle Tree

View from the top


Fremantle, Western Australia

The last couple of days, Dirk had more meetings so we headed back to Fremantle.  It has to be one of my favorite places... I got up early and had breakfast at the Bake House around the corner.  OMG, to die for pancakes and waffles.  I don't know what they do to the food but it is SO SO good!

Marina in Fremantle near Little Creatures Brewery

Sarah & I at Little Creatures
Dirk & Justin hanging out at Little Creatures with their own little creatures.

Justin & Baby James

Family Photo
Had to have the famous fish and chips on the last day before we headed to the airport.  So good!