A Last Minute Stay at the Capella Singapore

We went on a super last minute trip this weekend/week!  Because I had my first business trip in Singapore and the meetings fell on this Monday and Tuesday, and things weren't finalized until last Wednesday, Michael and I decided in the spur of the moment to make a family trip out of it.  Plus, if we hadn't done that, I would have had to leave for the airport alone on the evening of my first ever Mother's Day (much less spend the night without her), and I didn't think I could handled that heartbreak. 

This little one!!

Lola has now visited three countries and been on six flights.  Not too shabby!  Too bad she won't remember any of this when she's older.  But we will have lots of cute pictures of her, like this one, to show her how travel-ready she was:

On the flight, she was situated in a cushy bassinet with a little pillow in the bulkhead seat.  During landing, Lola got a special treat - screen time buckled in on my lap!  She was mesmerized by the TV.  We were watching Lady Bird, for the record.

 In retrospect, I have to say, there were times when organizing and packing for this trip that I thought we were absolutely nuts for trying to do this - and I think if I were in the middle of a deal, I wouldn't have brought everyone along.  We needed four (albeit not huge) checked in pieces of luggage, a stroller and four carry on bags and I was still certain we were forgetting something.  However, even though we barely left the resort (seriously) -  it was still really fun to hang out with Lola in a beautiful villa in such lush surroundings.

We stayed at the Capella on Sentosa, which is a popular staycation place for families in Singapore and now, having stayed there, I see why.  The grounds are very relaxing and beautiful and private, especially if you stay in one of their villas with plunge pool.  Plus they have peacocks on their grounds!  I mean, that's pretty amazing. 

 

  

There are actually three infinity pools built into the hillside, stacked on top of each other, with the beach and Singapore Strait beyond, but I couldn't be bothered to climb high up enough to get the full bird's eye shot.

 They had a nice library where snacks and drinks were served, and a business center where Michael did some work.

We didn't see the botanical gardens or zoo, or sample the hawker stalls out at the Golden Mile Food Center, or reach out to or get to see any of our friends - because we attempted an overambitious trip to the aquarium at Resort World and it was a bit of a disaster so we decided to take things more slowly after that.  We have to remind ourselves that Lola, for all that she is such a champion traveler, is still a really young baby who can't handle too much stimulation or a killer pace.

The villa was pretty much the size of our apartment in Hong Kong, so if you ignore the absurdity of that for a second, you can see why we really enjoyed it.  The staff are very attentive and kind, and the personal assistants there do everything they can.  They provided us with a beautiful brand new Stokke crib for Lola, a Tommee Tippee bottle sterilizer, a baby bathtub and, the best part, a little tent for her to play in!  In addition to an adult in room dining menu, the resort also prepares fresh baby food purees, so on the last day when we ran out of our own prepared food, Lola got to enjoy her first room service experience (pumpkin, just fyi).

The tent that won me over - the peacocks were such an adorable touch! 

The highlight of the trip was having our own little personal plunge pool, which allowed us to more easily acclimate Lola to the water.  By the end, she was pretty comfortable being in the water all the way up to her chest and she was splashing the water with her hand and letting the water run through her fingers.  Progress!

Michael and I did manage to get out for one date night, and we opted to spend it sampling a decadent 8-course dinner at Whitegrass.  I'll detail the food in the next post, since I diligently snapped pictures of every dish...