For ex's holiday with the kids, we went to Universal Studios in Singapore. It's only opened recently so everything is still new and some of it is still under construction. I'd planned the day meticulously, finding out where we could eat, what we needed to bring, packed the two backpacks up with all our stuff and we set off.
In Singapore, we were staying with some relatives of ex's and his cousin was kind and generous and escorted us around. We got to Universal Studios on Sentosa Island via the MRT and the monorail. I love visiting Singapore. Everything is organised, signed correctly, it's CLEAN, it DOESN'T smell, and everyone follows the rules (or they get fined which makes it a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there). This time around, I insisted that ex navigate and I drive. I know what works and I can't see the point in him asking me to navigate when I'm so hopeless at it. Last time I did that, I got us lost within 5 minutes of starting the drive, so this time I insisted. And it works. We got to our destination without any wrong turns, getting lost or missing whatever. We got there with pinpoint accuracy, thanks to ex's navigational skills. I do not need a gps when I drive with him.
So, because we'd worked together and planned and put our emotional shit aside, it was a great day. Ex called it good, I called it amazing, which shows the different emotional emphasis we put on things. When we got there, I was overwhelmed by the size of it - everything is so big, it takes up all your vision-space. Now when I'm faced with something like that, I need some time to look at it and work out what things are where. 5 or so minutes just to focus on stuff and get my bearings. Apparently men don't need this because ex and his cousin worked it all out in about 2 seconds. After a 20 minute wait in line to get in, we found the toilets, and set off according to the PLAN. We rode the rides, took the kids on the junior rollercoaster - which my daughter loved but my son did not. I held his hand during the ride and it was like holding on to a statue - he was that tense. We went for lunch after the 4D Shrek movie which was quite good and then split up so that I could take son, who was still rattled and whinging from the rollercoaster ride, on some of the tamer rides while ex took daughter for the Jurassic Rapids ride.
After a very slow jeep ride, I let him get wet playing in one of those ground level fountains that spurt up water when you least expect it. It was so nice to see him free and happy and feeling better. He tends to be a bit of a kill-joy on these kinds of days. After the rollercoaster ride, he told me he didn't really want to be here and he wished that he didn't exist! That's why I took him off by himself because I didn't want him to spoil his sister's day and I know how to manage his 'moods'.
We met up later at the Waterworld show which, incidentally is much better than the movie it's based on. It was funny and wet and daughter loved it. After that, we meandered through the park down to 'New York' and 'Hollywood' where we ate hot dogs, fries and milkshakes and saw the Steven Spielberg 'Behind the Scenes' of a disaster movie show. Quite good but really, but they mentioned the fact that it was 'hosted' by Steven Spielberg TOO MANY TIMES.
And that was our day. We got through it. No fights, tension or otherwise bothersome behaviour. We came home the next day and because ex seemed to be plagued by allergies and I was high on having got through the whole thing without melting down and had my sights set on packing for home, I drove most of the way home, got the unpacking done, organised the kids to go out for dinner, had a nice time with ex's sister who is here from the US (nice woman, nothing like her brothers) and then got us home again for bed. Finally went to bed at 2 after taking some xanax because I realised I was not going to get to sleep otherwise.
See you all soon.
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