Up early-ish – a rather strange Mexican themed breakfast, a quick change and off to the pool. Well one of the pools. This ine is a cool one as not too deep, it has slides, spas and a pool-bar. Oh yeah and some shadey areas to boot. Here is home for the next day.

Here is Amy locked and loaded in the slide.

And she’s off.

Jude Jude now in the firing cylinder and ready to go.

Hold on a minute he’s gone down the wrong way. Hmmm.

Yes I was there, see. Feeling 51 today? Nah not at all. You can’t with these two hanging off you 24×7. Happy holidays. This is yet another of those lagoons that the chalet/houses surround. All colonial like, in fact I think almost Disney like. I’m waiting for a paddle boat to go cruising past to Davey Crocket Island.

Man overboard, man overboard…

Next up is glass bottom kayak time. Jude and I up first. I nearly got beheaded about 10 times but the lunatic boating buddy as he tried to row row row his boat not so gently down the stream. Bloody good fun through.

See what I mean. We’re both like a lump of bacon – yes folks lean back. ha Ha

Jude and I even found a Pirate island and cave that we landed as so he could explore it.

And we are back on the water. What an amazing father and son combo. It was like a bloody speedboat going across the lagoon. We were so cool together. Olympic grade I reckon. Look at that synchronised action. WOW!

A quick change and it is daughter and Daddy time. See what I mean. I thought you were supposed to relax on your birthday ha ha! Out we go to navigate the lagoons. I might have an easier ride here if Amy can get the paddling technique down…

Taking a much earned 51 year-old rest finally….

And then it went gang-busters with the two of them together. This could get messy. Security is in the water on standby just in case though.

Throwing time for the smaller of the munchkins. The only one I can still pick up these days.

This cracked me up. Wifey goes I want a picture of me on the rock. OK babes up you go then. And then the 15-minute ordeal started. It was like watching someone trying to get to Everest base-camp. Come on you can do it, babes. Nearly there…

So close now. Do you need oxygen for the altitude hun?

Completely non-phased and Facebook ready after the climbing ordeal. My beautiful wifey. Rock conquered.

In fact, she is our rock. Love wifey!!! Clearly, Jude Jude does too.

“For he’s the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look a star…” Who remembers that TV series? Fall Guy. Well here is my brave little Fall Guy.

We should have all had scorecards and stood in the water for him after his dismount. So graceful and so brave.

He’s on his way down and down…

A perfect landing executed. Point those toes Jude Jude…

SPLOSH!!!

Up next is Amy. Taking it up a level literally. 12′ up in fact. She was panicking a tad for this one, but once she got this one under her belt she was back for more and more. It’s a daunting one this.

And the launch sequence has taken place already. I only got to 10, 9, 8, 7 ….

So graceful like a swan taking off. OK a swan with a broken wing and one leg maybe, but still a swan… ha ha!!!

Wow she is really going for it.

Too much under arm deodorant put on this morning clearly.

Not quite there yet, but so close.

Nearly there Amy-Boo. First bath this holiday!

The Eagle has landed!!!

KER-SPLOSH. They felt that landing in Singapore… WOW!!!

I will hand out some compliments here. This place was cool. Just a shame regards to all the refurbishments and cleaning that they kept secret until you have landed, arrived and checked-in. Pretty shit that. But what was still open was pretty cool. It’s surely different here. Golf buggy drives around the campus and all that. Just missing the Pope.

Awwwww so cute. 5 minutes later we all had these flowers above our ears. Yeap family Kennett went very local.

Nice!!! Funny thing though is that it is all fake, and all man-made. The real stuff, as in the sea, is just beyond those trees on the left.

Lucky Daddy was treated to a Japanese massage at the spa. Very nice indeed – despite feeling like I had been beaten up. And check out the Zen garden outside. Now that is enough to make anyone chill out. Calming indeed.

And one has chosen one’s dinner location for this evening. One shall be having one’s 51st birthday dinner with the family at Palermo’s. A real ball-ache this as we literally had to walk across the path to this place. How inconsiderate. Have to say though this was a quality little gaff. Food was bloody good, with some really nice stand-outs. Read on.

Back-lit menus. Ideal for the ageing consumer with more cataract than an eye. I love shit like this. You open the menu and the lights pop on. Bloody genius!

Yeah, I have a good feeling about this place. As do us all I think. It’s feeling good. And fark me check out that handsome bloke on the right with that amazing pink shirt. Wow, that looks like a shirt that perhaps his wife bought him for their anniversary present. She must love him so much. He is a lucky bugger and carries it so well. Seriously he must be like 40 or something…?

Here we go – the food is now coming fast. A snack 1st up. Herby and salty crusty bread with Olive oil and Olives. Classy!

Devilled eggs. We did not go hard on these. Not my favourite of the night. It was OK. That’s that! And if we had eaten the lot I don’t think the room would have survived later…

Carpaccio. OK. A wee drizzle of something on there, I think Balsamic oriented. I also think this may have come out from the freezer as quite ‘wet’. Guys it also needed some seasoning. A little sea salt and pepper on this would have pushed it up a few levels believe me. Because that is exactly what we added ourselves.

Now, this was bonkers good. I would never have thought to pair these but holy cow, a match made in heaven. This is Foie Gras terrine with orange marmalade. Fark me. Just brilliant. Seriously good food this dish! WOW!

Supposed to be fried Chorizo. Guys, I think you need to turn your flame up a little bit. In fact, did you turn it on? Char this puppy up and you have a quality dish. 

Nice enough croquettes with minced meat. Not bad at all. Would have loved some dippy mayo with garlic with this. 

Cheese sampler was quality. Some punchy little fuckers in the mix here – quality cheeses. But crackers needed for the cheese. Very weird not to have that for them. Hey ho. 

Garlic fried rice. Yeah boring. Hold on a minute though. Garlic fried rice, that is fried in beef fat… Now we are talking – and yes my lovelies this was bonkers good. BOOM!!!

Can you sense we may be ordered too much? We kept punching through it though. The food was really good. And this 51-year-old was farking hungry and needed variety. So. Next up was chicken livers, breaded and deep-fried with a Balsamic Glaze. Absolutely stellar. Crunchy, savoury, sweet, metallic, soft – my favourite hit of flavour and texture explosions. Mega dish!

And then this bugger rocks up. Yes, there is the Tapas menu. There is also a steak menu. Steaks from Japan and Australia. Wagyu became a top priority for me and our gang. This fatty, marbled, char-grilled slab of unctuous meaty goodness rocked up and we were in heaven. Yes, this is some of the best steak ever. It was perfectly cooked, seasoned and my God the flavour. A defining moment for the meal was this. Palermo – great meal and your Wagyu ROCKS!!! It’s up there as one of the best consumed by The Beard. Amaze-balls…

Of course, we had to have cured ham. Jude would never have spoken to me again if I did not order this. It was a belter. Stunning in fact. And this platter disappeared in the blink of an eye. Jude was covered in it. He looked like he had had skin grafts. But no he was just saving it for later. Quality ham!