Singapore (1)

We made it! After 19 or so hours on a plane, we touched ground in Singapore a little over 24 hours ago. I just woke up sprawled on my in-laws couch at 1:21am after our first day here. I would have emailed sooner but before I knew it, we were out and about on our first day of events (our first meal, Greyson's first elevator/escalators in Singapore, swimming with his Gong Gong, a car tour of Orchard Road).

Greyson did amazingly on the flights. He is a new child in that the whole trip was an adventure (vs. our last trip here which was just one big bad dream for all of us). If we had foreseen how much he was going to be entertained by the plane itself, we would have packed 90% less activities for him. From the in-flight remote control (which he could turn on and off the overhead lights, detach from the seat in front of us with a click of a button) to all the fun snacks his mom lovingly packed for him (his first organic lollipop, gummi vitamins, and his favorite fruit bars) to watching videos on the iPod and dvd player ("funny birds" - aka. Pixar's "For the Birds", his favorite chinese dvd "Follow Jade") this was probably the most exciting day of his life. Greyson was charming as ever to those around us. Our best purchase was his Trunki suitcase which got so many ooohs and aaahs from everyone who saw him pulling it along over every noisy bump he could find ("Papa, LOUD..."). Within 20 minutes of our first takeoff, he was giving our seat neighbors hi-5s and saying "Happy New Year!". That all being said, he never wanted the most exciting day of his life to END. So total he slept about 4 hours (3 on the first leg, 1 on the second). Sonia and I slept about 1.5 - 2 hours each. This is not a far stretch from my every day (yay Ghostbot!), but for Sonia it was mind-numbing. Yet at the same time, you wouldn't have even known it because she was the ever supportive/encouraging mom to her son. He had a couple of ear-splitting tantrums during the day when we had to explain to him that we couldn't spend all day riding the travelators or else we'd miss our connecting flight, but that was definitely due to exhaustion and just being a 2.5 year old. Needless to say, we were completely spent when we arrived (hence passing out on the couch).

The best part of the whole trip was when we were coming down the ramp to the baggage claim area. Greyson was tugging along his Trunki and learning the new meaning of humidity when we told him "Look Grey, it's Ah Mah and Gong Gong...do you see them?" He paused for a second as his luggage pal came to a stop. Then all of a sudden he dropped the pull along rope and started running faster then I've ever seen him run before and SQUEALING. He ran all the way down to the locked glass doors and tried to physically pry them open. Ah Mah could barely stop laughing enough to try and tell him to move to the doors that were actually open for us to walk through. I wish I was fast enough to have video taped it. It represented the reason why put ourselves through the excruciatingly long journey all the way to the other side of the world (which Sonia's parents do on average TWICE a year). Greyson loves his family so much and already has them ingrained in his heart at such a young age. To him, his best day ever just got better. For us seeing his joy explode, it just got started.

Thanks, everyone, for the all the help and prayers as we took this trip. Every second from here on out is viewed through my son's eyes. And what an amazing time it has already been.

Ok, back to sleep. Jet lag is a doozie.
love,
roque, sonia + greyson.

(An email, sent by Roque when we first arrived, to friends and family in the States.)