I grew up away from my extended family and in the 1980s and 1990s the distance between New England and California might as well have been New England to Singapore. I didn’t know any different. My Christmases always felt abundant in love from our “friends who were family” in California and for everything we did leading up to and surrounding the holidays. 

I now understand and appreciate that my Christmases were special because my parents created traditions. Our family traditions have changed over the years as our location, age and circumstances have changed but the magic has remained year after year. 

Singapore is a little island in Southeast Asia, known as the Little Red Dot. It is a bit of a utopia - it is super clean, super safe, covered in palm trees and sunny most days. There are definitely times when I have to pinch myself that this is real life. Singapore is mostly jungle and is home to some crazy wildlife, including about 5.5 million people. We have everything here - beaches, urban hiking, jungle, city center, restaurants, playground, theater, museums and so much more. During normal times, Singapore's Changi airport is a bustling hub offering amazing amenities for people visiting or just transiting through.

I could write a novel about our one-week staycation in Singapore last week. But in the interest of my sanity and you not losing interest, I’m going to try to pack a lot of info into a shortish (but not really at all…) post.

We zipped all over Singapore this past weekend and filled our days with nature walks, playdates, playgrounds, the beach and lots of yummy food! My hope is that this recap answers all your questions for how to do these things and make it easy with kids!

We’re not going to the US next month as planned so we decided to rent a car in Singapore and explore this little island instead! We’ve had the car for one week now and we’ve already discovered new places. This past weekend we hiked around Coney Island and did our second visit to the Singapore Zoo!