Ode to Singapore

 Singapore has been and will be a great part of our lives. Here are just a few things I will miss about Singapore:

• The public transportation
• The people
• Having a maid/babysitter come every week
• The variety of food and restaurants
• The zoo
• The Singapore River
• Feeling safe walking around at night
• Being able to have one wardrobe they entire year
• Meeting people from all over the world
• MOPS
• My book club
• Having an "Ex-Pat" package
• Having a great pool just downstairs
• McDonald's delivery for those crazy days
• All the fun things to do
• Being able to walk to the store, the park, anywhere...
• No natural disasters
• Not having to listen to political campaigns for a year before an election
• Exploring a new country
• Being able to travel around Asia easily
• The great doctors we had
• All the places to take the kids
• The red and green lights in the parking garages
• The red and green indicators on bathroom doors (no having to look under the stall for feet :) )
• The different Ethnic areas 
• No gum to step in on the street

Thank you Singapore for a great 3 1/2 years! We will miss you!

Bye Singapore

After our day at Universal Studios we put the girls to bed, packed and then tried to get some sleep before our 2 am flight.

We woke the girls up around 11:30 (Anastasia was still asleep as we picked her up from her crib and set her on our bed) and headed off to the airport.

Breakfast at 1 am?

We boarded and left Singapore bound for Houston with a layover in Moscow.  The girls did pretty well for the flight especially since it was in the middle of the night. The flight was packed but luckily Anastasia fell asleep on Toby so there was an extra seat for Elyse to lie down and sleep. Toby and I slept a bit ourselves.

In Moscow we had just enough time to go through security grab a snack and then get back on the plane.

On the Moscow-Houston flight there was a lot of room on the plane so got to stretch out a bit. This again helped with the sleeping. Elyse watched movies and then slept about 6 hours and then Anastasia was as good as a 2 year old could be on a 12 hour flight. We crashed that night. Elyse was up on and off throughout the night and so was Anastasia, but after that night they both did well sleeping.

The next day (Mother's Day) We found a playground and then got me a phone. A good start to our life in Texas.

The girls crashed for afternoon naps.

The "backyard" of our temporary apartment.

Anastasia is TWO!

Our dear Anastasia Joy is two! Since we just moved, we had a small celebration with the family.

We began a couple of days ago trying to get her to eat peanut butter, but each time she saw it her response was "no, no, no, no!"

Yesterday I saw some peanut butter chips and thought we could ease her into peanut butter.

The chips are good:

No, No, NO, NOOO!

We then put a chip on the peanut butter and she ate some off the spoon, we then just gave her peanut butter and she finally liked it. As for peanut butter sandwiches, she still won't eat them.

This morning we began the birthday celebration with balloons and presents

First present... "BABY!"

Second present... "BABY!" accessories

Anastasia then opened up the present Elyse picked out for her: little princess figures. Elyse has played with these more today than Anastasia

Next Anastasia opened Grandma and Grandpa's present to her... "DORA" tent and tunnel

After presents we baked a cake to enjoy after lunch.

Time to sing (in 2 languages)

At the end of the day we wanted to take Anastasia to a place were she would eat the food (she is being pretty picky) and when we asked her what she wanted to eat she said "MILK," so we went to Los Cucos and got her some milk

and chips :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANASTASIA!

Last Days in Singapore

In our last few days we met up some new friends and some friends we have know for awhile. The family that will be "replacing us" in Singapore was in temp housing just down the street from our hotel so we met up and had some fun.

Here Anastasia is hanging out with one of the girls.  They are going to have so much fun in Singapore.

Elyse had met a girl her age and was running around all over the place. This is the best shot I got of her.

Another day we had our good friends Gaby, Sofia and Adrien over for a movie day in our hotel room. We met on the MRT one day and found out we lived in the same condo. It was great to have a neighbor to go hang out with on those lazy days when you didn't want to really go anywhere or when I was feeling like I just needed to be with a friend.

I am going to miss them so much. I hope our path cross in the future.

We were also able to hangout with some other great friends during this last week, but some how I didn't get pictures. The Unruhs and Dentons have been great friends during our stay in Singapore. The only thing that kept me from crying was the thought that we will all end up in Texas one day.

On our last day in Singapore we decided to go to Universal Studies. This was a gamble since Elyse has been touch and go with rides. The first ride we went on was the Madagascar ride. We though for such Elyse would ride this nice tame boat ride since Madagascar has become one of her favorite movies (or as she puts it "I like to move it, move it.") Alas, she did not ride it, but Anastasia did.  Anastasia was fine until she had to sit next to me instead of on my lap. After a minute or so she was ok again and seemed to enjoy herself.

We did get Elyse to ride the carousel and a few other rides.

Pictures with the cast :)

On this ride Elyse got to drive a truck. She liked the ride until suspenseful music came on.

Elyse said she wanted to ride this roller coaster so we said ok before she changed her mind. When I asked her how it was she said, "It's not for me."

I think Elyse's favorite part was dancing along with these singers.

Check out the video:

After we were all tuckered out, we headed back to the hotel to relax and then pack up for our night flight back to the States. It was a great last day.