And Then There Were Four...

Swimming at the Unruhs

2012-02-12T15:03:00.000+08:00

A couple of weeks ago the Unruhs invited us over to their house for swimming and dinner. We had a great time and being in an actual house with a patio and some land was wonderful. It felt like we weren't living in the middle of a city and reminded me of how we lived in the States. ( I know most of the pictures are turned, but I cannot get them the right way so just turn your head.)

Elyse and Violet

Violet hanging onto her dad- she had a great grip.

Anastasia liked the hanging on to the water squirter

Blake playing catch with Anastasia

Elyse and Violet taking a break from the water to play with princesses

Gotta love being able to have a beer while hanging out in the pool.


Anastasia's first time in a swim vest. She wasn't really a fan.

After swimming we ordered pizza and sent the kids into the house to play and watch a movie. Gillian and Jamey have a helper so she watched the kids while the adults were able to have uninterrupted conversation. It was a fun night.

Catch Up

2012-01-29T16:15:00.000+08:00

In attempt to catch up on some of the things that have been happening, here are some random pictures from the past few weeks.

The girls love to dress up. It's not uncommon for them to be draped with jewelry or layered in multiple outfits.

Elyse and I had a movie night after Anastasia went to sleep. I'm not sure why Elyse was making this face, but this is the best picture I got from her.

I would like to start a once a month tradition of doing something special at night with Elyse and then when Anastasia is older, both girls. This month we watched Winnie the Pooh the movie and then next time we might have a game night or swim at night.

Anastasia copies a lot of what Elyse does. In this picture Elyse is showing me her painted nails, so Anastasia had to show me her nails too. (I'm not sure why this photo is turned- I can't get it the other way)

When Toby is away we try and Skype with him as often as possible. Sometimes the girls sit for less than a minute and then go off and do their own thing and other times they are more engaged. This time they were in rare form and were running around putting on a show for their dad.

Hopefully I'll get totally caught up with the blog soon :)

A Walk With Anastasia Joy

2012-01-27T21:46:00.000+08:00

About a week ago Anastasia and I went on a walk around Jurong Lake and into the Chinese Gardens. It was fun to spend some time with my youngest daughter.

In the middle of our walk Anastasia stopped and posed like this "asking" me to take her picture. This is her smile- you will see it in other pictures as well.

Anastasia likes carrying around umbrellas. If she isn't walking with it she likes to hold it on her lap in the stroller.

Look at the fountain Mommy!

I asked Anastasia to smile and this is what I got:

Mommy and daughter:

When we arrived at the Chinese Garden they were setting up for Chinese New Year. Anastasia loved all of the decorations going up.

Year of the Dragon

This is a random photo I know, but this is the first time I noticed that the bathrooms at the CHinese Gardens are decorated with toilet seats.

Sky Gym

2012-01-12T20:30:00.001+08:00

Elyse has been taking gymnastics at Sky Gym for about 4 months now and she loves it. I get to watch her (until I have to take Anastasia out for a walk) and she always has a smile on her face. The last time she went I attempted to get pictures. Let me rephrase that...I got pictures, but I had to take them through a glass window or in poor lighting or at the same time a 19 month old was hanging on me.

Here are some them. Although they aren't the best, you can get a general idea of what she does (and by the way... she picked out her outfit that day).

Dancing Girls

2012-01-10T20:26:00.001+08:00

I have been meaning to post these clips for awhile. I love how my girls dance. I also think it's funny how in one video Elyse gets up to turn off the music because she couldn't hear the TV. I LOVE watching my girls dance (did I say that already). It always brings a smile to my face. I hope it brings one to your too.

Homework

2012-01-06T14:02:00.000+08:00

Elyse had her first homework assignment- Chinese numbers 1-10.

She is at the stage where homework is fun. We'll see how long that lasts.

Her school uniform for gym Fridays.

She is not a fan of shorts and so this morning it took a bit of coaxing (to put it mildly) to get her to put them on. I hope that after she saw everyone else at school wearing them she won't put up a fight next Friday.

Anastasia wanted her picture taken too.

The New and Improved Bird Park

2012-01-03T22:05:00.001+08:00

We headed out to the Bird Park with our friends to check out the new water play area. We only saw a few birds before we spent the rest of the morning playing on the playground and water.

Does the Christmas Tree next to the water park seems a little out of place?

We started at the play ground...

SWINGS!

And then switched to the water...

Elyse and Sofia loved running and then throwing themselves down into the water.

Not sure what Elyse was saying, but I liked how she was positioned in the water.

Elyse and Sofia. They were going so fast down this slide it was hard to capture them both in the picture.

We went early enough that we had the place to ourselves for a little while. I liked the water park- it's a smaller version of the one at the zoo- and would come back just to play here again. We had a great day rediscovering the Bird Park.

Good Bye Song

2012-01-03T19:58:00.000+08:00

This is the song they sing at the end of each day at Elyse's school. She started before I turned on the camera, but you get the idea. Also check out her back up dancer :)

K1

2012-01-03T09:31:00.001+08:00

First Day of K1 at JCCK

I took Elyse to school today. She was up early and ready to go.

We took the "big bus" (#240) to her school and waited in line to get checked in. Behind us in line was a boy from her class last year which happens to be in her class this year too.

Elyse knew exactly what to do and where to go. We were met at her classroom (Patience) by her teacher Mrs. Tham. She went right in and hardly looked back.

After school she rode the bus home where I had a celebratory McDonalds lunch waiting for her. She was so happy and energized and can't wait to go back tomorrow :)

Adventures with Our Guests

2012-01-01T14:04:00.000+08:00

Despite traveling for a day and arriving early in the morning, Claire and Jeff were ready to explore Singapore. (I think I would have been ready to sleep) We decided to take them to the Singapore Flyer to get an overview of the city. After the Flyer we walked down by the floating platform and to the Esplanade. I wanted to take them to a hawker centre there, but it was closed so we settled on some gold ole western food. I didn't get any pictures, but Claire blogged about it here.

After we got back it was time for naps and some fingernail painting:

Jeff and Claire left the next day but came back with Jack and Jan for Christmas. On one of the days we headed out to Chinatown and then another day we went to the Botanic Gardens. We had a great time wandering around and seeing the beautiful flowers.

I challenged ELyse to find the orchid that she would like to have named after her (becasue they do have famous orchids like- the Laura Bush and the Nelson Mandela). She chose a purple one (some how I didn't get a picture). This is the one I would call the Jennifer Marie:

This one is the Claire Louisa:

Here are some other pictures for our time among the flowers:

Elyse took this picture:

Anastasia liked pulling the hood of the stroller down:

After the Orchid Garden we parted ways. Toby and Jack took the girls home while the rest of us continued to Little India. We had some great food and then wandered around.

At the restraunt I ask for the bathrrom and they pointed me toward the kitchen. I had to walk though the kitchen to the bathroom. As I waited to use it, I took some pictures of the alleyway outside:

I think this is someone's house. Notice the man in the top right window.

That night Claire and Jeff headed back to CO, but Jack and Jan were able to stay another day. We took them to the Logos Hope docked at VivoCity and then hung out before heading back home.

We love visitors and are always sad to see them go. I am so thankful for email and skype so we can keep in touch with our family all over the world.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T19:12:00.001+08:00

For Christmas this year we had a full house. Claire, Jeff, Jan and Jack Came to visit over the holiday.

On Christmas Eve, Elyse and Anastasia got to open one present each from Aunt Claire and Uncle Jeff. They got Christmas t-shirts that they decided to wear to church.

The church service was great. it had a wonderful message about hope and how we should put our hope in Jesus. Without Jesus we don't have any hope for our future. With Jesus we can look to our future knowing that he has saved us from our sins.

In addition to this wonderful message we were entertained by a skit that included some Singaporean humor- it was great. I bet no one else's Christmas service had a song about the delays in the MRT system :)

After the service we had dinner at the church and then headed home to put the girls to bed and get presents out.

In the morning the girls began opening their stockings about 6:30 am and then played with what they got until the rest of the family got up. They were very patient.

Once the rest of the family was up the present opening was in full force.

Elyse and Anastasia gave this to Toby:

Grandma and Grandpa gave Elyse these ballerina slippers- she worn them most of the morning.

Anastasia got this blanket and loved to be wrapped up in it and then tickled with this bird with silly hair.

Perhaps you can see the progression of the morning in these pictures:

After the present opening we got to Skype with our loved ones half way around the world.

We finally got dressed and had Christmas dinner.

We were going to have another family over for dinner but half of us were sick and my friend was also sick.It was kind of a bummer, but over all the day was great. Very laid back and filled with family. Merry Christmas!

SingKids

2011-12-21T15:22:00.000+08:00

Today we met the Unruhs at a play area called SingKids. It is relatively new and is housed in VivoCity. It was pretty cool. It had blow-up jumping things, a giant teddy bear that went around in a circle that you could jump on, rooms filled with floating balloons, little carosels, slides, and jungle gyms to climb on.

Can you sense the anticipation?

When we first got there we had the place to ourselves which was awesome. Anastasia was a bit overwhelmed and held my hand tightly, but finley found her stride.

This boat was a big hit. It moved up and down as if you were in the ocean.

This is the bear that went in circles. You could run, jump, or just sit and take a ride.

This carosel was just Anastasia's size.

There was a room that blew small balloons around and another that had much bigger balloons.

This tree rotated, so you had to jump (or hang) on to these balls.

They also had fun on this bouncy slide.

We had a great time but it was expensive, so we might not be heading back anytime soon, but for today it was great.

After SingKids, we walked around outside and notice the Logos Hope (a ship) was docked outside. It is a floating bookstore backed by a Christian ministry. I don't know much about it, but we did have fun wandering around the book store- I could have stayed in there A LOT longer, but it was lunch time :)

Whenever we get together with the Unruhs we have a great time, today was no exception.

Here are a couple pictures Elyse took on the way home in the taxi:

Rewind to Thanksgiving

2011-12-13T14:18:00.001+08:00

I thought I should do a post on Thanksgiving before Christmas is here :)

This Thanksgiving Toby's parents were able to come up from Indonesia to join us for a few days. The girls had a great time hanging out with them.

Elyse made peanutbutter fudge with Grammy:

And both girls had fun swinging with Gramps:

As for Thanksgiving dinner, we headed to a friend of Jennifer Willerton's named Andrea. Andrea was nice enough to open up her home to us and put out a beautiful spread. The only pictures I got were of the kids table, but you can take a peak at Andrea's blog for a few more.

Silly faces!

I love the look going on between Levi and Elyse. They know something and aren't telling anyone else. If they were older I think I would be a bit worried.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We did!

Christmas Traditions

2011-12-11T14:58:00.001+08:00

I like traditions and getting a real Christmas tree is an important tradition to me. I am so glad Singapore ships trees from the States for us to buy.

When we go to look for our tree and decorate it I also like the family to be dressed in red or green- I just think it's fun the everyone goes along with it. Here are the girls enjoying a snack on the way to the nursery.

We wandered up and down the aisles and settled on a tree:

On the way home we listened to Christmas music and sang "O Christmas Tree" in our traditional way- only singing the first part and humming the rest because we don't know the words :) Check out last year's rendition.

Once home we unwrapped our tree and set out our tree decorating treats: cookies and egg nog (another tradition). I am so glad I was able to find egg nog again this year- thanks to my FB friends.

Anastasia's first taste of egg nog- I think she liked it.

When it came to decorating the tree, Anastasia was a little confused. "You want me to stop eating and put this where? Here. You do it."

In the end, Anastasia spent most of her time running around and eating:

Elyse had so much fun this year decorating the tree. She kept asking for more ornaments. She was also being her great goofy self in the process. I think the sugar from the cookies added to the goofiness.

At the end we placed the star on the top and then got ready for family pictures.

More goofiness

In the end here is our tree (next to our fire).

Yippee for family traditions at Christmas time!

Memories

2011-12-10T21:54:00.001+08:00

Today we got our Christmas Tree.

I love making memories with these girls :)

(details to come tomorrow)

Jack and the Beanstalk

2011-12-09T15:20:00.001+08:00

Today I took Elyse to see the play Jack and the Beanstalk. She has been so excited since we bought the tickets months ago. She even got dressed up in her Christmas dress for the show.We took the train and the bus to the theatre to meet up with the Willertons and Jelberts.

The whole gang: Elyse, Caleb, Levi, Sophie and Miriam

We got into our seats and were waiting for the show to start when something switched in Elyse's brain and she got really scared. She began crying and wanting to go home. She cried and cried and since she hadn't calmed down when the play was about to start we went out to the lobby.

They had a tv feed of the play in the lobby so we watched a bit of the show on that.

There was a lady who worked there that tried to convince Elyse to go in, telling her that we could stand by the door and come out at any time, etc. but for most of the first part of the play she DID NOT want to go in, With about 5 minutes to go, finally she changed her mind.

We watched inside for a little bit and then the giant came....

We went back out until intermission and she didn't want to go back in. After the intermission the tv was convieniently not working (wink, wink) and the lady was trying really hard to get it to work (wink, wink), but it wasn't go on. This convince Elyse to go back inside (YIPPEEE!)

We stood by the door for awhile, but then she finally decided to go back to her seat. At that point she really enjoyed the show. She laughed and clapped with the people on stage.

After the play we headed to Chris's (Jelbert) place for lunch.

It did turn out to be a good experience, but it took a bit to get there. I'm not sure if we will be going back to a play anytime soon though.

Anastasia is 18 Months!

2011-12-04T19:09:00.001+08:00

On Friday we went to Anastasia's 18 month appointment. She is in the 75 percentile on the Asian charts, but according to the doctor, she would be average in the US. She weighs 11.2 KG (24 lbs 11 oz) and is 82 cm (32 in) tall. To compare, Elyse was 11 KG (24 lbs 4 oz) and 79 cm (31 in) at the same age.

Here is a look back at how Anastasia has grown up over the past year and a half:

Newborn:

6 Months:

One year:

Gingerbread Men

2011-11-29T13:38:00.001+08:00

Today Anastasia is A YEAR AND A HALF! Crazy! Her doctor's appointment is later this week, so I'll get all her stats then. To "celebrate" we went to the MOPS Gingerbread Decorating Party.

I think this is the first time Elyse has decorated a gingerbread man. She did a great job.

Anastasia didn't do any decorating but she did eat and play a lot. Her favorite thing was the play slide they had inside the house.

Hanoi- The Beginning

2011-11-28T13:48:00.001+08:00

I was very fortunate to be able to go on a "Girl's Trip" to Hanoi, Vietnam. No kids, no husband- just two good friends. It was new experience to be able to wander around the airport bookstore and grab a cup of tea without having to worry about entertaining children. On the plane I was thankful that the girls weren't with me because we had to sit on the runway for quite awhile. Instead of playing I-Spy or telling stories or hold a screaming toddler, all I had to do was read my book and wait. :)

We arrived at night and were welcomed by our driver who took us to The Hanoi Elegance Ruby Hotel. It was this wonderful hotel tucked into an alleyway in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. We went out to dinner down the street at The Green Mango (?). I had spring rolls- yum- and then we walked down to Hoan Kiem Lake.

Around the lake people had their "shops" set up- a basket filled with nuts or seeds or fruit, etc and little stools. They were everywhere. This seems to be part of "normal life" in Hanoi. People would circle up the stools and use one as a table as they hung out.

I'm not sure if you can see the ground, but there are shells all over the place. I think people were eating sunflower seeds and then just drop the shells on the ground. They were everywhere. In the morning, most of the seeds were gone- swept away.

Scooters, scooters everywhere. This picture is only a glimpse of how many scooters/motorcycles there were on the road at one time.

People carried so much around with them on their scooters. This lady was selling balloons.

The following morning after being able to get up at a leisurely pace, we headed down to breakfast. We were about to push the button the the elevator when the power went out! We were so close to being trapped in a tiny (did I say tiny?) elevator! We walked down the dark staircase by the light of Gillian's phone and found out we could still have breakfast since they were cooking with gas :)The electricity turned back on after a little while but in the mean time we had breakfast by candlelight:

After a great breakfast we were off to explore the Old Quarter...

Random Pictures

2011-11-21T14:13:00.001+08:00

For some reason Anastasia LOVES my pajama bottoms and wears them around the apartment whenever she can find them.She wears them over her shoulders like this:

I got Anastasia's hair into her first ponytail today:

Just a cute sister moment. The girls are watching themselves in a video they made:

Way back in January Elyse and I started to make the letters of the alphabet. We have now completed it- both upper and lowercase letters- 11 months later. I am now in the process of making her an alphabet book (using her letters) on Shutterfly and will give it to her for Christmas.

Dance, Laugh, Fall Down

2011-11-07T21:03:00.001+08:00

The Army Museum

2011-11-05T13:51:00.000+08:00

Today I took Elyse and Anastasia to the Singapore Army Museum . A couple of our friends have gone and I thought we ought to try it, plus it is literally right down the road from us.

When we got there we bought our tickets and then I opened the door to the museum. That's as far as we got. Elyse saw something on the other side that scared her. The lights were low and I didn't even get a good look at what was on the other side because I shut the door and that was that.

Camille had mentioned that there were army vehicles outside to see so I thought maybe Elyse would like that, so we headed outside and saw the vehicles. There was also a recreation of an obstacle course cadets train on. Elyse and Anastasia played on that for quite awhile.

After the obsitcal course we took a van ride into the neighboring army training institute. Elyse kept saying "when are we going to see armies?" meaning soldiers, and I thought we might see some soldiers training, but I was wrong. We got to see buildings. "This is the library." "This is the mess hall." I think it was the most boring tour ever, but when I asked Elyse what her favorite part of the Army Museum was she said riding in the van. Go figure.

Although I didn't get to see the museum, I did get to spend some time with my girls at a new place in Singapore. Morning well spent.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T13:52:00.002+08:00

This Halloween we were invited over to the Reeves' house up in the Woodlands- the center of Trick-or-Treating in Singapore. Here are the girls (aka ballerina and Sleeping Beauty) before we headed off for the party:

At the party there were about 50 people- half of those were kids. Here are some eating and watching The Great Pumpkin:

After dinner, the trick-or-treating began. In this neighborhood, they closed off the street and hoards of kids came to gather candy.

This box was full of candy to give out to trick-or-treaters. I'm not sure if all of it was given out, but it was almost empty by the time we left.

Elyse with the Mario Brothers:

and Spider-Girl

Toby was able to get off work early to join the festivities

Anastasia had fun going up to people and holding out her pumpkin,

After the trick-or-treating we headed back to the party for some dessert and more Charlie Brown.

Look who we picked up while trick-or-treating:

Happy Halloween!!!!

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-01T14:02:00.000+08:00

Although we got our pumpkins awhile ago, we waited for Toby to get back to carve them.
We tried to get the girls involved in the actual cleaning out process, but this is about as involved as they got:

Elyse scooped things out for a few seconds with a spoon and Anastasia touched the insides once, made a face, and went to read books.

Elyse did do some supervising and described how she wanted the pumpkins to look (scary like this:)

She also said she wanted Anastasia's pumpkin to look scary too because she wanted them to look like them (Anastasia and herself) when they are fighting over the same toy.

Silly faces:

The finished product :)

Dear Houston

2011-10-30T13:42:00.001+08:00

Dear Houston,

As you might have heard, we are planning on moving back to your area next spring. I was hoping you could make the following improvements to make our transition easier.

Please have...
*a mass transit subway system in place
*affordable taxis
*tree lined highways
*on call affordable maids that will also babysit at a moments notice
*a grocery delivery system
*safe streets to walk on at any time of day
* doctors offices that have little to no wait

Thank you,

Jenn Harkless

Toby's Home

2011-10-28T15:09:00.000+08:00

Toby's home!

Cozy

2011-10-28T15:06:00.001+08:00

The other day all Anastasia wanted to do was get cover by a blanket. Over and over and over again. She looks so cozy :)

Random Pictures

2011-10-24T21:47:00.000+08:00

Here are some random pictures I have been meaning to post.

Look at Anastasia's new kicks- I got them at the exchange table at MOPS about a year ago and she can now wear them!

Daddy and his girls. Safety Starts with Me!

Elyse doing a painting project.

One day Elyse asked me to turn on the aircon so she could get under the blanket and be cozy. Anastasia decided to join her.

Playing dress up

The girls reading together

Like I said...random but worth sharing :)

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-22T15:07:00.000+08:00

Today the girls and I went to the SAS (Singapore American School) Pumpkin Patch. I wanted to get the typical pumpkin patch pictures, but Anastasia was not liking the hay at all. So, we tried some other things. Although I'm not really liking these pictures, this is what I got:

The Singapore "pumpkin patch" has basketball hoops and palm trees. What does yours have?

Elyse picked out a little pumpkin to paint. It wasn't until after she was done I began to wonder how I was going to get in home (in a taxi with 2 kids) without getting paint everywhere. What I wound up doing was getting a plastic bag form the bake sale and wrapping it in that. I think Elyse has forgotten about it and I'm glad because it is really ugly now :( That's ok. I wasn't really about the pumpkin, but the experience.

Although A wasn't a fan of hay, she did like the cookie we bought :)

At home the girls changed outfits and I got some more shots that I like a little more :)

For reference I included pictures from the past 2 years. The girls have changed so much!

Uncle Charlie and Aunt Janice

2011-10-21T14:01:00.000+08:00

Uncle Charlie and Aunt Janice came to visit for a couple days on their way to Vietnam and Cambodia.We packed a lot into the 2 1/2 days they were here. On the day they arrived we walked around the neighborhood in the morning and then went out to dinner for some dumplings.

Then on day 2 we went to the Singapore Flyer in the morning with the girls and then we headed out for some adventures just the adults in the afternoon/evening. First we went to Little India and explored Tekka Market and walked around the main street to the temple.

Pictures from Tekka Market:

Little India all decked out for Deepavali:

The door to the temple:

One of the many gods all dressed up:

These men were making offerings for the gods.

For some reason I didn't take any other pictures of the evening, but after Little India we headed to Chinatown. Uncle Charlie and Aunt Janice went to the Chintatown Heritage Centre while I walked around. We then went to a temple and headed the Boat Quay for some dinner. It was a full day for sure!

This morning we hung around in the morning as they got ready for the next stop on their trip. I am glad that we got to see them! We love visitors!

Jenn Time

2011-10-11T14:57:00.000+08:00

Over the weekend I had Mary come and watch the girls for a few hours so I could go out, explore and have some time for myself. I didn't have a clear plan of what I wanted to do with my time but I wound up going to SKS (a Christian book store), Lau Pa Sat, and Marina Bay.

My first stop at SKS proved to be very fruitful. I got a couple of gifts, a study on prayer, a book on prayer, and a new bible with study questions in the margins for Toby and I to study together. New books make me happy :)

I was getting hungry so I figured I would go to somewhere I had never been before: Lau Pa Sat. According to my Eyewitness Travel book, Lau Pa Sat is ....

Singapore's first municipal market {and} an architecturally impressive food court

offering an extensive variety of Asian cusines...Originally comissioned by

Raffles in 1822 on reclaimed land, the elegant octangonal cast-iron structure was designed

by James MacRitchie and shipped over from Glasgow foundry in 1894. The market

was dismantled during MRT tunnel construction and was later painstackingly reassembled.

I was there pretty early for dinner, but here are some of my pictures:

To drink I had sugarcane juice. Yum!

For whatever reason I was fascinated by how they juiced the sugarcane. They just stuck it into this machine and out came the juice, but just seemed amazing how something that looks like a stick can produce such a great drink :)

Outside the main market, they closed off a street and hawker stalls were set up. Most of them were selling satay.

After dinner I was thought I might head to Little India to see all of the Deepavali decorations, but I was a little tired (from carrying all my books) and a little lost after exiting the market. I wandered around awhile and eventually found myself at Marina Bay, way on the east side which I had never been to before. I wandered around for awhile more and then found myself at the Merlion where I took pictures and people watched for awhile. I have decided that the Marina Bay/Singapore River area at night is my favorite place to go to in Singapore.

As I was walking I noticed this being built.

From the pictures by it, it seems likes a place to walk up and observe the bay. Not sure what's going to be inside it.

Can you guess what this is?

I decided then to call it a night and head home. It was a great evening. I love exploring Singapore.

3 Years and Lessons Learned

2011-10-07T20:33:00.000+08:00

As of October 1, we have been in Singapore 3 years! A lot has changed in the past three years. We have moved apartments, Elyse has started school, we have traveled to new countries, made new friends, said good bye to others and of course we added Anastasia to our family.

I remember coming here three years being pretty clueless and confused about basic stuff. In light of that I am going to try and compile some of the things I have learned since then. In doing so I hope to help newbies out and also preserve some of the things that I take for granted as daily life now a days.

Grocery Shopping (in a store-not a market):

Go early in the morning. If you can't go early, go during the week. If you can't go during the week brace yourself for craziness on the weekend. (early in the morning on the weekend is probably ok)

Bring a dollar coin to "rent" a cart

Make sure you don't go into a line that is cash only, if you don't have cash (we did this). Most places take credit cards or NETS (like a debit card- we got ours at the bank).

Local small grocery stores in HDBs (public housing in SG), tend to have tiny aisles, so either bring a skinny stroller or put your kid in a carrier and hold your breathe.

Often times grocery stores are in malls and can be called hypermarts

Speaking from an American stand point you can get most things you want to buy from the States if you go to the right store. Market Place in Tanglin Mall is one of the most "ex-patty" places that I am aware of and has a lot of things, but it is expensive.

If you don't want to go into the grocery store you can go online and order from Cold Storage. You can also call Kenny the Grocer who can find anything on the island. After 3 years I have started to call Kenny on a regular basis.

Grocery Shopping (in a neighborhood market)

If you live by HDBs (as you will) you will have a local market that sells fruit, veggies, meat, fish, noodles, eggs, and some other fresh food.

The markets (at least by my house) close around 3 pm and are not open on Mondays. Sometimes the fruit and veggie stalls sell longer in the day, but the wet market is usually closed.

When you by veggies or fruit, bring it to the person in the middle of the produce and they will weigh it for you.

When you pay they will get your change from a bucket- no cash register needed.

You will need to pay in cash.

Often times if there are fruit, etc in baskets, they are older and discounted.

There are also large markets in places like Little India (Tekka Market) but I'm not very familiar with them. I guess I still have places to explore.

These are a few of the things I've learned about grocery shopping in Singapore.

Birthday Surprise

2011-09-30T14:43:00.000+08:00

As many of you know Toby is in Korea :(, but he is a wonderful husband and remembered my birthday. This came in mail for me...

What do you think it is?

Surfboard........

Woodcarving..........

Nope.......

It is this wonderful screen. (Elyse calls it a wall)

Thanks Toby!

Dress Up

2011-09-19T19:54:00.000+08:00

Both of my girls love to play dress up. Daily Anastasia will ask to dress up in my shirts and try on Elyse's headbands. Now she can even wear some of the stuff in the dress up box, just like her big sister.

Anastasia looks huge in this picture for some reason, perhaps the angle of the camera...

I really like this picture of Elyse. I can kind of see what she might look like when she is 12 by looking at this picture. And, FYI, that's a dinosaur tattoo on her arm.

Chinese Garden Lantern Festival

2011-09-07T14:27:00.000+08:00

Over the weekend we went out with some new friends to The Lantern Festival at the Chinese Gardens . As you know, we live right across the street from the Gardens, but this is the first time since we have been here that they actually did something for the festival (although they did things before we came). We walked around Jurong Lake to the entrance of the Chinese Gardens and were met by beautiful decorations.

Each display was accompanied by a legand like this one:

and then at night they were all lit up. (I'll have to go back to get better night time pictures.)

My zodiac sign the snake (I think she is very cute snake):

Besides the displays they also had an "Adventure Funland" for the kids. Sofia and Elyse chose to ride on the swings, play in the bounce houses, and go on the train.

After the rides, it was time to eat. They had a food court where we had chicken nuggets, laksa, bee hoon, and a cheese hotdog. Can you guess which family member ate what?

Close to where we were eating, there were rocks to play on and bamboo gardens to explore.

As it got dark and things began to light up, the girls got out the lanterns. They got the simple pink ones from the festival and we brought the other ones. The ones we brought had light bulbs in them, the ones the festival supplied had candles. We did not light the candles. Something about 4 years with paper lanterns and fire just didn't seem safe...

At about 7:30 I took Anastasia back home while Elyse and Toby hung out at the Gardens for awhile more. They got to see a show with a magician, a contortionist and some scary lady with masks. Not sure what that was about... Anyway we had a great time and I would recommend going. It's only on until the 18th.

Kickin It Singapore Style

2011-09-06T21:22:00.000+08:00

On Saturday night we met up with some friends from church who took us out to a Hawker Centre (Whampoa Market) and exposed us to some typical Singaporean dishes that we hadn't tried before. Both Ruth and Bim grew up here eating hawker food plus Ruth even wrote a book about it so they know what they were talking about.

Here are some of the dishes we tried. I linked the names of the food to a description instead of rewriting everything.

Hokkien Mee:

This is the stale we got the Hokkien Mee from. It has a long queue, so it must be good.

Ngoh Hiang Stall:

This place basically sells fried things. It's fried and then when you order it it's fried again.

The food we got from the stall.

Rojak:

There were a few other dishes we tried that I didn't gt a picture of: an Oaster omlette and chicken wings. Needless to say we had a lot of food.

After our main dishes we had a few things for dessert.

I don't remember what these are called. The brown was like a peanut soup, made from roasted peanuts. It was like eating liquid peanut butter. The other was a sweet soup with boiled(?) peanuts and glutenous rice balls floating in it.

Chendol: (scroll down on this link to see a desciption Ice Kacang)

Here we are will out desserts and sugar cane juice:

Ruth and Bim:

After our desserts Bim convinced Toby to try some durian. I had tried durian when we first moved here and did not like it at all. Bim loves durian (Ruth not so much) and has fond memories of gathering with friends and family over a fresh cut durian; a very social fruit apparently.

Bim talked to this guy and got to taste the fruit before purchasing it- durian is like a fine wine or cheese. The guy said he would give us a mild one since Toby hadn't tried it before.

Here Bim is explaining how to eat it. You pick up a seed and suck it. He was so excited! Toby- not so much.

Once Toby tried it and said it wasn't that bad Ruth and I decided to taste it as well. It wasn't that bad. Bim explained that you need to get you durian fresh and if it's in a packet, it's probably old and won't taste good. That's what happened to me. I wouldn't go out and buy my own, but if someone offered it to me again I would eat it. Ruth, who hadn't tried durian since her collage days said it wasn't that bad either. I guess Bim picked a good fruit for us to try.

Overall, I liked most everything I tried. I would order most again. The different combinations of tastes and textures is great and truly unique to Singapore.

After the Hawker Centre we went to Mustafa which is a HUGE mall(like Super Walmart on Steroids times 2.) It has everything it it that you would want and never thought you needed. We walked on one floor and it just went on and on and on. It's like a casino in Vegas: no window, no clocks - no sense of time.

Here are a few things I saw walking through. We wound up getting bindis for our Singapore box and some Dr. Pepper.

I had so much fun and I can't wait to go out with Bim and Ruth again.

Check ups

2011-09-02T13:50:00.001+08:00

Today I took both girls for check ups at the doctor. Anastasia had her 15 month check up and Elyse had her 4 year old one. Both girls had to get shots :(

Elyse got checked out first and then the doctor (who hates giving shots and causing pain), put some numbing cream where Elyse was going to get her shots. Then it was Anastasia's turn. This was the point that I told Elyse that she was going to have to get a shot. All she said was she didn't want to, but then was fine.

Anastasia got her shot and didn't cry at all. It was kind of weird.

When the reality of the shot began setting in, Elyse started to cry, but she sat on my lap and didn't fight it. I had these images of her running away and hiding in a corner, but that didn't happen. That is an answer to prayer!

After the doctor we played on the nearby play ground for a bit and then went out to lunch :) I was so dreading this appointment, but it turned out just fine.

Elyse weighs 16.9 KG (37 lbs 4 oz.) and is 101 cm (39.8 in) tall.

Anastasia weighs 10.68 KG ( 23 lbs 8 oz) is 79 cm (31 in ) tall and her head is 47 (18.5 in ) around. The Dr. said her head might be bigger than Elyse's.

Little Gym

2011-08-31T13:48:00.003+08:00

For Anastasia's 1st birthday my parents, Aunt Pat and Uncle Don got Anastasia some sessions at Little Gym. At first she wasn't so sure about it, but now she loves it. At Little Gym they learn basic gymnastic moves: rolls, hanging on the bars, balancing, etc.

Here she is with her teacher learning the basics of a back-handspring:

Although the teacher looks concerned in the picture, she was actually very impressed with how Anastasia looked for the ground and flipped her legs over all on her own.

Bubble time.
This is a random picture. After Little Gym I had to use the bathroom (TMI I know) and I was wondering how I was going to keep Anastasia from touching everything- this was the solution:

In the family bathroom they had this little chair just for toddlers. I had seen them before, but never had A with me. I worked like a charm! I think they should have these everywhere!

Castle

2011-08-30T19:14:00.002+08:00

Guess what wonderful thing we got today! I'm not sure who's more excited, me or the girls. I picutre the girls hanging out in there, playing, and reading books. Doesn't it look like fun!?

Elyse asked to sleep in the tent, so we said she could as long as she actually slept in there and didn't play. It's all quiet in her room now, I hope she is enjoying a good night's sleep.

Rawa, Malaysia

2011-08-29T20:16:00.013+08:00

Thanks to a polling day public holiday (Singapore elected a new president), Toby had a 4 day weekend. We took advantage of it at went to Rawa Island, Malaysia. It took less than 4 hours total travel time to go from our door to this wonderful little island.

From our house we were in Malaysia in about 20 minutes and then continued for another 2+ hours to the city of Mersing. From there we took a 30 minute ferry to Rawa. The only "hiccup" we had was that Anastasia threw up (yuck). She might have gotten a little carsick, but she was fine after we stopped and got her cleaned up.

Elyse waiting for the boat:

Our boat getting loaded with the luggage:

Toby ready for vacation:

RAWA! (I took this on the way home so that's why it's out the back of the boat.)

We were in a waterfront room. This is our neighbor's room, but ours looked very similar:

View of our deck:

View to the other side:
If you look at this picture of the island, the white spots are waterfront chalets. Our's was the second from the left,

Our shower opened up to the outside:

After we settled in, Anastasia went down for a nap and Elyse and I went out to the beach.

Toby and Anastasia joined us a little later:

We were on the beach most of the time, but we did take a break from time to time.

Guess what Elyse had for snack:

Elyse met a friend while jumping on the trampoline. They kept finding each other (which wasn't hard since we all ate at the same place and played on the same beach). She is from Singapore too. (didn't get a good shot of her friend's face- oops, her back will have to do.)

Anastasia wasn't a huge fan of the sand on her feet. She did like the waves washing away the sand as she sat in someones lap though.

At the very end of our trip Toby tried out the slide. I should have too. Next time...

The beach had soft sand and gentle waves. We got to float in the South China Sea while seeing fish and baby sharks. We got to visit another country and got to spend time as a family. We had a great time.

Social Painting

2011-08-25T14:04:00.005+08:00

Last night a group of us met up at Arteatiq to do some painting. When we arrived they had paint, brushes, a canvas and "inspirational" artwork for us to look at. The rest was up to us. I had never painted like this so I had a lot of questions, but in the end I think I did all right (for my first time).

We were set up right by the window, so we had a lot people stop and check out how we were doing. Here is Gillian and Camile sketching out their artwork.

Jennifer and Carrie getting started on their masterpieces:

Gillian's painting (she went to art school, can you tell?)

My finished work. I picked this kid in the rain because it reminded me of Elyse when she holds an umbrella.
Gillian and Camille didn't get done so they are going to go back to finish.

Me, Jennifer and Carrie with our finished work.

I had a great time. It's always fun to go out with friends and try something new.

My Girls

2011-08-19T21:22:00.002+08:00

Elyse and Anastasia love hanging out on this chair:

Getting ready for the Lantern festival:

Hanging out at Jurong Lake:

Creating an airplane in our apartment:

I love them so!

Last Day with Eric and Kristen

2011-08-19T14:45:00.004+08:00

On Eric and Kristen's last day in Singapore we had planned to go to the zoo. As we got closer and closer to the zoo, the clouds got darker and darker so we decided to go to the Science Centre instead. We were all a bit disappointed (Elyse did very well though and didn't throw a fit), but it turned into a fun day.

We had such a good time with Eric and Kristen while they were here. I am so glad they were able to come and visit. Thanks to the Grandparents in CO who watched Cate and Ashton so they could make the trip. Can't wait to see you again- we love you and miss you!

A Night Out with E and K

2011-08-17T14:02:00.003+08:00

After we got home from the Southern Ridges walk, the girls had naps and Eric and Kristen headed out to explore another area of Singapore (Raffles?).

Toby was nice enough to get home early and watch the girls while I went out at met up with Eric and Kristen for dinner.

We wandered through the few stores at Chijimes and then picked a place to eat. It was fun to hang out with my brother and sister-in-law without the kids for awhile.

I love the atmosphere at Chijimes at night.

It was a fun night.

Southern Ridges Walk

2011-08-16T19:39:00.004+08:00

For some more outdoor fun and a different perspective on Singapore, I took Eric and Kristen along the Southern Ridges walk to Henderson Waves. We started at Hort Park and then after Henderson Waves we took a taxi to VivoCity for some lunch. It was a HOT, HOT day, but a good one :)

A friend we met on the way. He grabbed at Anastasia in the carrier which was a bit scary, but didn't get her thank God.

Henderson Waves

The view from the street as we waited for our taxi.

Chinatown with E and K

2011-08-13T14:10:00.004+08:00

I wanted to show Eric and Kristen one of the ethnic neighborhoods in Singapore so I chose Chinatown since you could see a Hindu temple, a mosque, and a Buddhist temple all in one go.

Here we are on the MRT:

Hindu temple:
The Oldest Buddhist temple in Singapore:

Kristen and Elyse joining in the parade :)

We ended the trip by going out for some dim sum. (This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea).

Sentosa with the Schmidts

2011-08-12T14:57:00.007+08:00

On the Monday of Eric and Kristen's visit Toby had the day off and the sun was shining so we headed off to Sentosa.

Everyone had a great time playing in the sand and water. it was a beautiful day.

We then headed to Coasties (?) for some lunch to refuel for some luge rides.

Can you tell it was hot? Anastasia got super sweaty as she cheered us on.

After the luge, Eric and Toby went to the ropes course while the girls had some ice cream and waited for them back at Vivo City. SO MUCH FUN!

Way Back in May...

2011-08-12T13:45:00.005+08:00

Way back in May Eric and Kristen came out to visit. I documented their first day here, but then got a bit behind...

So, on their second day we got Mary to watch the girls and headed out to the Singapore River area. We started out walking along Boat Quay (trying to avoid all the aggressive restaurant owners) and went to the Merlion.

The Merlion was turned into a hotel room for a few months and we were able to make the last tour to check out the room. During the day it was open to the public, but at night people actually got to spend the night. Although we didn't stay the night, we were able to get up close and personal with the Symbol of Singapore.

The view next to the Merlion:

After the Merlion, we went back to Boat Quay for dinner along the river and then went for a boat ride to Clarke Quay.

We walked around Clarke Quay and found the Turkish Ice Cream Man. I had seen him when he was in Chinatown but never got any ice cream. Now he is in Clarke Quay and entertaining all his patrons. Once the ice cream is in the cup he does tricks and things. Eric enjoyed it...

Toby just wanted his dessert.
It was fun showing my brother and sister-in-law around one of my favorite areas in Singapore.

Stamps

2011-08-11T19:19:00.001+08:00

Enough said.

Anastasia at IMM

2011-08-11T13:17:00.003+08:00

Today I took Anastasia to the water area at IMM for the first time. She had a great time. She played in the fountains and wasn't afraid to follow me through the water.

When we first got there she was fascinated with water flowing through a pinwheel:

Her favorite part way have been touching the lights that looked like buttons:
After the water area we played for a bit on the playground.
Good times!

National Day Celebration

2011-08-08T19:18:00.005+08:00

Tomorrow is Singapore's 46th Birthday. To celebrate National Day Elyse's school had a party that parents could attend. I thought this would be great and decided to go.

I left Anastasia at home with Mary and took Elyse to school on the bus. Unfortunately the day did not start well. Once Elyse realized that she had to be with her class first instead of me, the tears flowed. I guess she calmed down in her class, but once she saw me again, she cried. I was able to stand by her for a little while, but then she had to go one way and I the other so she started crying again.

Her class was playing games, but she was still crying. I was beginning to think this was a bad idea and contemplated leaving. The teachers would come up to me and assure me that she is fine at school normally.

Would I ever be able to watch Elyse do anything?!!!?

After a little while Elyse calmed down and decided it was ok that I wasn't by her the entire time. See her read puffy eyes:

After games, the kids went back to their classrooms for a snack and then it was time to sing. Here is Elyse's class being led back into the main hall:

Teacher Sarah singing:
In the hall it was a bit chaotic, but a controlled chaos. There were so many kids since the AM and PM sessions were there together. It was easy to spot Elyse in the crowd though.

She sang and danced through all the the songs celebrating Singapore.

During the pledge the kids stood perfectly still with their hands at their sides:

More songs and then flags were passed out. I really though someone was going to get an eye poked out with all of the crazy preschoolers waving flags, but everyone seemed ok.

After school I decided to take Elyse out for lunch. We rode on a double-decker bus to the mall. She was super excited about it.

Overall it was a good day (I wasn't so sure it was going to be at the beginning...) and it gives me hope that I can watch Elyse participate in activities- although at dinner Elyse told me she likes playing games when we aren't watching. Oh Well... HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!

Date Night at the ArtScience Museum

2011-08-07T19:29:00.006+08:00

Toby and I had a date night last Saturday. We decided to go check out the relatively new ArtScience Museum by the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

Before we headed to the museum we stopped by the camera shop and bought another lens for my camera. I bought a lens that complements my kit lens. This one lets me zoom in extra close. Here I am testing it out. Isn't he dreamy...

So after the lens shop we headed to the museum. They had a exhibit on Dali and Van Gogh. In the Van Gogh exhibit you couldn't take pictures but here are some from the Dali exhibit.

I never really knew what surrealism was. Here is the museum's description:
Basically it's nonsense turned into art.

Dali is one strange character, but we got a little bit of insight into his creations with this guide:
I'm not so sure why he was obsessed with the "hard outside, soft inside" concept, but it was everywhere and in very weird situations.

To enter the exhibit you went through this mist with a projection of Dali on it. It was a weird feeling walking through it. I guess it just set the stage for what we were about to see.

Here are just a few art pieces we saw:

At the end, the museum had all these clocks on a wall across from mirror that made them look like this:

I am glad we saw the exhibit and it confirmed that Dali was crazy.

Elyse's Build-a-Bear Party

2011-08-02T14:47:00.001+08:00

For Elyse's birthday we decided to have a Build-a-Bear Party. We thought this would be easy- no decorations to buy, function room to book, and only a cake to bake. It did turn out to be very easy and fun, but the one thing I had to do, bake the cake, did not turn out so well. I wasn't thinking and put the cake on the car hood and went to buckle A in her car seat when there was a huge crash. This is what happened to the cake:

Luckily the mall we were going to had a bakery open and Toby went to get another cake.

When the guests arrived the "party host" got them in a circle to play a game.

The game was rock/paper/scissors. In the picture the kids are doing "scissors." They were divided into 2 teams and then played against each other. They had fun. Look at Elyse's face in this picture.

After the game, they formed a train and "chugged" around the store to the different stations.

After they picked out their bear, or cat, or monkey, or dog (Elyse picked a bear)... the "chugged" to the next station.

They got to pick out the animal's heart. With the hearts they made wishes on it and put it in their animal. each kid also got a second heart that they put birthday wishes on to give to Elyse. Elyse's bear has 10 hearts inside it. At this point they also named their animal. Elyse called hers Snow and gave the name Toto to Anastasia's bear.

After the naming and the placing of the heart, it was time to stuff...

Stitch...

and "wash"...

Finally it was time to pick out the outfit. Don't they all look great!? (Anastasia and Miriam wouldn't stay still long enough to be in the picture)

Cake time!

After cake, Elyse gave out all the animals and in return she got hugs and kisses.

This is what Anastasia was doing while this was going on (she loved hanging out with Justin and Glenton):

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELYSE!

2011-07-31T14:46:00.000+08:00

At 4 here are a few of her favorite things (according to her):

Drink: Milo

Movie: Cars

Book: Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy

Activity: Play with books and Anastasia's truck

Doll: Annie and Rapunzel

Colors: Purple and Red

Activity at School: Writing

Food: Macaroni and Cheese

14 Months and some random stuff

2011-07-29T14:43:00.000+08:00

Today Anastasia is 14 months. She is such a delightful girl. She smiles and waves as people pass by, she laughs at her big sister, she tickles others and herself and she loves to dance to music- hands in the air and stomping her feet.

We don't need this car seat anymore so it's found a place in our apartment. Elyse decided she was going to build a car around it. In her car she likes to read.

Her car then needed a roof :)

I love how my girls are starting to play and hang out together. Her they are reading together:

For Elyse's birthday Grammy and Gramps gave her this ladybug costume. It is so darn cute. And, coincidentally, we had just checked out a Ladybug Girl book from the library which Elyse loves.

School Bus

2011-07-21T14:41:00.000+08:00

Elyse is such a big girl! At age 3 (almost 4) she rode her first school bus all by herself. It picks her up and drops her off right in front of the condo. Today she went right on without any hesitation. So fast I couldn't get a picture.

Here she is on the bus. It's hard to see her with all of the glare.

I planned to get pictures when she was dropped off, but she got off the bus with all this stuff (work she did, birthday favors, etc) that I didn't have the time again. Oh well.

Back to Blogger?

2011-07-17T19:24:00.003+08:00

So, I got this suggestion to change Internet browsers so I could continue to blog with blogger and... it seems to be working. I have been on WordPress but it takes multiple steps to input pictures and it was just a pain, so I'm going to try this again. Thanks for sticking with me.

Here are a couple pictures of the girls playing together:

First Day at JCCK

2011-07-15T15:53:00.002+08:00

I have about a billion things to blog about from the past month (not to mention by brother's trip her back in May), but before I do that I wanted to add this post. Today was Elyse's first day at her new school: Jurong Christian Church Kindergarten.

School starts at 8:30, so we didn't have much time to get ready in the morning before catching the bus. Here Elyse is running by me while I tried to get some first day of school pictures.

I got Auntie Mary to watch Anastsaia while I took Elyse to the bus. She will be taking a school bus that will come right to our condo when she gets used to the procedures at school.

We arrived a bit early at school so we hung out until they opened the gates. Elyse was ok at first, but then I think nerves got to her. She began to cry :( We said a prayer and then I passed her on to her teacher (Teacher Sarah) and then I left.

When I picked her up she was all smiles (yippee!) Elyse said she sang songs and had macaroni and hot dogs for snack. She then asked to go to Subway for lunch and I said yes since it was her first day. Toby happened to be going there for lunch to so we got to hang out as a whole family for a bit- what a treat.

Doesn't she look "old" with her uniform, backpack and bus pass?

The first day is over and I hope the rest of the days goes smoothly.

First Sleepover

2011-06-05T20:35:00.002+08:00

Elyse was invited over to her friend Violet's house for her first sleep over. Thanks to Gillian (Violet's mom) I have some pictures from the night/morning.

Movie time!
Story before bed. Although they were in bed, I was told they were whispering until 10. A true slumber party.

Movie time in a tent!

Play time!

It was a success! Next time we will have Violet at our house.

Anastasia's Party

2011-06-03T21:19:00.006+08:00

We had a swimming/pizza party to celebrate Anastasia's first year. Elyse was so excited and was waiting and watching for everyone to arrive.

Anastasia was having a great time in the water. She is such a waterbug.

Friends began to arrive...

After a little while it began to rain so we went up to the apartment. The kids played and played and played.

Then it was time for cake. Here are the kids singing to the birthday girl:

She was a little overwhelmed.

but the cake was good :)

Marek agreed

Happy Birthday Anastasia!

Stats

2011-05-31T14:47:00.002+08:00

Today was Anastasia's 1 year check up. She is 9.41 kg (20 lbs 12 oz) and 74 cm (29 in) tall. She is healthy and all set to travel to the US next week. Just for comparison's sake Elyse was 19 lbs and is 28 1/2 in tall.

On another note, Elyse's last day at Twinkle Minds (her school) was today. It was a little sad for me and the teachers, but Elyse was just happy to get some stickers and candy as a going away gift. In July Elyse will be starting a new school just down the road Jurong Christian Church Kindergarten.

Anastasia Joy is 1

2011-05-29T12:56:00.004+08:00

This time last year I had just finished a pedicure and was about to have lunch at Carl's Junior hoping and praying you would arrive. My prayer was answered later that night. (more details)You have been such a blessing to this family ever since.

Over the passed year you have grown so much. You are now walking around, babbling, and playing with things. You love to flip through books, swim, and play with anything that lights up and makes noise. You are full of smiles and so friendly to people who pass by.

You are our Singapore baby and have already traveled to China, Indonesia and Australia. That is more traveling than some people do in a life time. I hope when you are older you will continue to travel and perhaps even make it back to where you were born.

I love you so much. Happy Birthday baby girl!

Happy Birthday Anastasia!

2011-05-28T19:40:00.006+08:00

Toby's parents were able to come out this weekend to celebrate Anastasia's first birthday with us. Since they are actually leaving on the 29th, we had the celebration a day early.

We started with some presents. Anastasia didn't quite know how to open the gifts, but she got some help from her big sister.

Since Toby is in Korea and wasn't able to to join in the celebration in person, we skyped him and he was able to join in the fun. Anastasia kept showing her daddy what she got and just enjoyed "hanging out with him."

Here is the "help" I was talking about. Anastasia wasn't really interested in this next present. She was still thinking of the last one she opened. Elyse had other ideas.

Anastasia with Daddy.

Next was cake. Elyse helped make and decorate the cake.

Toby got to sing with us, but unfortunately couldn't enjoy the cake ;)

Anastasia ate some of the cake but in the end preferred a rice cracker.

In the afternoon Grammy and Gramps took the girls swimming. It was a great day. Happy Birthday Anastasia!

Thanks Grammy and Gramps for coming!

Random

2011-05-25T19:41:00.002+08:00

Here are some of the Random thoughts going through my brain tonight (don't worry I'll get back to Eric and Kristen's visit soon, it's just I don't have an adult to tell all these random things too since Toby's in Korea.)

1. At dinner Elyse said her vegetables were delectable (thanks Fancy Nancy). This made me smile.

2. I think Anastansia ate more at dinner than I did. We had Polish Sausages and she ate an entire sausage plus a veggie packet and some raisins! She must be growing.

3. I have 2 pairs of shorts that I can currently wear and they don't even fit right. I can't wait until we go to the States so I can go on a shopping spree!

4. Thanks to Sid the Science Kid we made apple juice Popsicles and blue ice cubes today.

5. I can't wait for my dryer to be fixed, I hate hanging clothes to dry. Plus they are all crunchy even with fabric softener.

6. I wouldn't mind answering all of Elyse's questions if she actually listened to the answer I give instead of asking "what?"right afterward or arguing that she doesn't like my answer. It's a bit draining.

To end things here is a picture of the girls playing together:

Thank God

2011-05-21T14:48:00.003+08:00

My morning was a series of ups and down today, but in each down, God provided an up.

My plan today was to go to a nearby playground with SWINGS (a rarity in Singapore). I was even going to face facts that A is down to one nap so I hurried everyone up to get out of the house before it started to rain. Elyse wasn't really wanting to go, but she got ready anyway. Then as we were about to leave big dark clouds appeared and I decided it wasn't worth the risk. Elyse cried.

Thank God we have skype.

I looked at the clock and realized Elyse's cousins would still be up so we gave them a call. Elyse cheered up when she saw Uncle Eric, Aunt Kristen, Cate and Ashton. I can't wait until Cate and Elyse can be together in person. They already have so much fun on skype. After this call I saw Jan and Jack were on so I called them up and they might be coming for Anastasia's birthday!

Thank God for relatives so close.

After our skype session. Anastasia had her nap and Elyse and I got to have some fun time together. When A got up I decided I needed to get out of the house. Toby had left the car so it didn't matter if it was raining. I convince E that going out to lunch was a good idea and we packed up and headed for the car.

Thank God for the car.

Unfortunately the car would not start. So I called the rent a car company and they said they would send someone over later in the day. So now I have a girl I had convinced going out was a good idea although she really didn't think so and a car that wouldn't start.

Thank God for umbrellas and the train.

I saw that it wasn't raining to hard so we started out toward the train. As we were halfway there I got a call from the car place and they were basically on their way. Although I was happy that they responded so quickly, I had to explain to Elyse that we couldn't go out to eat.

Thank God for McDonald's Delivery.

So we headed back home and Elyse decided she didn't want her umbrella. So she walked in the rain and splashed in puddles :) I think this was the highlight of the morning. At the end of the morning we had a fixed car, full bellies and I have some time to blog.

Thank God for nap time :)

They Made It!

2011-05-20T15:13:00.002+08:00

My brother and Sister-in-Law were able to come and visit us (thanks to the grandparents on both sides watching their kids). They were in country for about 7 days and we packed in a lot in those 7 days.

On the first day I took them around our neighborhood, went the Singapore Flyer, swam and went out for dumplings.

This is part of our neighborhood market area:

Eric, Kristen and Elyse on the flyer:

Kristen did Elyse's hair. Isn't it cute:

On the flyer with Marina Bay Sands in the background:

Off the flyer with the Marina Bay skyline in the background.

a 3 and a 5

2011-05-18T14:21:00.003+08:00

Yesterday was Toby's 35th birthday. We had such a fun filled day. Toby opened presents, we went swimming, went out to lunch, and then Toby and I went out to eat at a BBQ place for dinner. Oh and don't forget the birthday ice cream:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOBY!

More Walking

2011-05-15T19:50:00.003+08:00

Here is a better video of Anastasia walking.

And just for interest, here is a picture of Elyse in the same dress when she was about 18 months.

Mexican to Moroccan

2011-05-06T14:40:00.004+08:00

Toby and I had a date night last week and planned to go to a new Mexican Restaurant that I had heard of. On the way we were talking and we decided to make a trip down Arab Street since Toby had never been there in his 2 1/2 years in Singapore. (I know I couldn't believe it either.) So we walked down Arab Street and I suggested we look for a moment in a carpet store since we had been talking about getting a new carpet.

Well our "moment" in the carpet store turned into about an hour. We were educated on the different types of rugs- hand made vs machine made- the thicknesses, the knots, etc., etc. Did you know that rugs can have 2 totally different colors if you look at it from the smooth side versus the rough side- neither did I.

The guy kept showing us more and more rugs and we were getting more and more interested. I had my eye on one that was hanging from the wall and kept going back to it. After an hour or so we said we would have to think about it- I mean this was the first time we looked at rugs... So we took the man's card and took a walk.

We walked by the mosque (which I still want to go into, but it was not visiting hours)...

...and found a place to eat. This little restaurant had great Moroccan food. I had lamb kabob while Toby had some sort of tomato based lamb dish. We both had Moroccan Apple juice which seemed to have milk in it and some cinnamon- very good. The only problem was that they were short staffed so the service was really slow. We took it stride.We were on a date and the whole point of that is to be together so why not hang out while waiting on an apple juice you ordered 15 minutes ago? Anyway, I would recommend it if they were fully staffed.

After dinner we decided to go back and look at the rug I had my eye on. So they took it off the wall and we got to look at it a bit closer. We decided to take it. So some how our Mexican food turned into Moroccan food and an area rug. It was a great night with a great man :)

Walking!

2011-05-04T20:33:00.002+08:00

Anastasia decided she was going to walk all over the place today. Sometimes she took up to 5 steps! Most of the time I couldn't get out the camera fast enough, but I did get this one video. Go Anastasia!

Royal Wedding

2011-05-04T10:12:00.002+08:00

Toby thought it would be fun for Elyse to stay up and watch the Royal Wedding with us. He even had the idea of having her dress up for the event. What a great Dad.

More Easter Fun

2011-05-03T19:48:00.005+08:00

On Good Friday we dyed Easter Eggs. Elyse had a fun time stirring the eggs in the different dyes. By the end she was putting the eggs in and taking them out all on her own.

She was pretty proud of how they turned out.

As you saw in an earlier post Anastasia got her hair done while we were dying eggs. This is the pig tail look. She wasn't so excited about it.

On Easter Day Elyse woke up to a filled basket and eggs hidden around. We forgot to tell her about waiting to open her basket and finding eggs until we were all up, so by the time she came to wake us up, her basket (and Anastasia's) was looked through and a lot of the eggs were found. I think the only reason she came to get us was that she couldn't get an egg open.

Anyway, we did get up in time to see her find most of the eggs. Some were easy to spot...

And others were harder...

but in the end she found them all. We unfortunately couldn't go to church since 3/4 of the family was sick, but we did have a great time celebrating Jesus' Resurrection with a retelling of his story admits the eggs and candy. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-02T14:22:00.002+08:00

Thanks to the Willertons we had an Easter Egg hunt to go to the week before Easter. Elyse had a lot of fun at last year's and couldn't wait for the festivities to begin.

Unfortunately when it was time to go she freaked out and started crying. Is it terrible I sneaked a picture of this? I think she all of a sudden got overwhelmed. :(

She did recover before all of the Easter eggs were gone and ended up with about 12. I think that's a good number.

After the egg hunt, some crafts and food, Elyse went swimming until it was time to leave. What was Anastasia doing during all of this? She was involved in a game of "pass the baby." All of our friends wanted to hold her so she went from one friend to another soaking everything in and loving the attention. Me? I was loving the free hands :)

Thanks Willerton family for another fun East Egg Hunt.

Random Pictures From Australia

2011-04-30T14:24:00.007+08:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip I thought you might find interesting.

These are Port Jackson shark eggs. They are in a corkscrew shape. Imagine laying that type of egg- ouch.

I like these frogface/frogmouth birds. I'm not sure why, but I do. One way they protect themselves is to blend into the tree branch. They do look like they could be part of the tree.

Again, I don't know why I got a kick out of this, but I did. This is the Australian crosswalk sign.

Cute Elyse :)

Elyse standing on Sydney.

As we were waiting for our ferry to Manly Beach Toby got the girls to sit by these Aborigines selling their CD of techno didgeridoo music and posing for tourists.

One more picture of Manly Beach. I just think the clouds are cool.

Our trip to Sydney was wonderful. I am so glad we took this opportunity to visit another country/continent while we are in this part of the world.

Manly Beach

2011-04-29T14:33:00.004+08:00

On our last day in Australia we went to Manly Beach. Although we weren't planning on swimming, we thought we'd have lunch and play in the sand. To get there we took a ferry from Circular Quay. it was a bit bigger than the other ferries we had ridden on and it was pact with people who had the same idea as us.

We had lunch at a beachfront restaurant. Here is Anastasia looking cute as always. (actually her eyes look a bit crazy in this picture...)

After lunch it was Anastasia's nap time so I strapped her into the carrier and walked up and down the beach while Toby and Elyse played in the sand.

I got a lot of opportunities to take pictures since Anastasia wasn't wanting to sleep; I was walking the entire time we were there. I took a lot of pictures of the beach and the clouds turning darker as a storm was rolling in. I will spare you from seeing all of them. Here are just a couple. Can you spot Toby and Elyse?

After the first few drops of rain fell we headed back to the ferry. Right by the ferry terminal there were some rides for kids. Elyse got the last ride before the rain POURED down. (Actually it began to pour while she was on the ride, but they kept it going). After the ride we got on the packed ferry and headed back to the hotel. Although it rained, it was a good way to end our trip.

Just for Fun

2011-04-29T14:03:00.004+08:00

While in Sydney Elyse and Anastasia had a blast playing on the coach. We pretended it was a boat or a car or an airplane. It was one of their favorite things to do inside the hotel room.

Anastasia's other favorite thing was climbing into our suitcases. I had been using them to block Anastasia from outlets, etc. But that didn't last long when she figured out how to climb on them.

For whatever reason Darling Harbour was shooting off fireworks from the center of the harbour every Saturday in April. The first time caught us by surprise, but the second Saturday we were there I asked Elyse if she wanted to see them and she said yes, so we had a Mommy Daughter date.

We had a couple hours after dinner to wait for the fireworks so we wandered around the harbour. People had carts set up selling flashing things in anticipation for the fireworks. We stopped by one of the carts and Elyse picked out a flashing tiara. These pictures don't do it justices. It's pretty darn cool.

From our walk to the Powerhouse Museum I had remembered there was a playground within walking distance of the harbour so we headed that way. Elyse had so much fun on the swings. This is a treat since not many playgrounds in Singapore have proper swings.

About 15 minutes before the fireworks began we headed back to the harbour and ran into a busker. He had potential- fire, good music, etc. but he had some crude humor (which off course went over Elyse's head, but I didn't appreciate it) so we left before his big finale and got a seat on the water's edge for the fireworks.

Right when the first firework went off Elyse was in my lap crying :( After a little while she calmed down and I think she enjoyed herself. We were very close making the fireworks very loud, but it was an amazing show. Although she cried I do think Elyse had a good time. I know I did.

Taronga Zoo

2011-04-28T10:00:00.007+08:00

When we returned to Sydney we were at the same hotel, but just a different view. This time we looked out onto the harbour.

On our first day back to Sydney we decided to head to the zoo. To get there we took another ferry and got to see another side of the Opera House. I will spare you from looking at all the pictures I took, but here is one of them:

The zoo is on a big hill so to save our legs we took a cable car to the top and worked our way down.

The zoo had some great exhibits, but we concentrated on the Australian ones. We did get to see a platypus which I guess is a big deal; usually the hide. I tried to get a picture, but it was dark and they said not to use a flash so the picture did not turn out so well, but trust me the platypus is so cute and fun to watch swim around. Among the other animals we saw, we saw a wombat:

and a Tasmanian Devil:

Within the zoo they had a kids area which had farm animals in it and a playground. Elyse and Anastasia had a great time exploring the area. Elyse even made a friend.

For lunch we had a great view of the harbour and had a few visitors join us.

Elyse had a good lunch so she was able to pick out a dessert. She picked this huge cupcake.

After lunch we saw some more animals and then headed back to the hotel. It was a great day.

Wentforth Falls

2011-04-27T10:03:00.005+08:00

On our way back to Sydney we decided to stop at a town called Wentworth Falls named after a large waterfall. We located the falls and decided we would be able to hike down to it. It was a great day for a hike and Elyse did very well.

Enjoying nature:

I don't know if you can see it in the picture, put at the top of the falls there are some stepping stones to walk across the top- you'll see them in another picture.

The path was wide and walkable. There were a lot of steps, but we made it.

This was part of the falls that lead to the big drop off (see above).

A small waterfall next to the big one.

I kept saying we should go a little more, a little more before turning back (If we conintued it would have taking us all day, plus the hiking -"bush walking as it's called in Australia- got harder past this point.) We stopped at the last bend around this cliff in this picture.

It was worth it to get this shot.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T18:59:00.003+08:00

Some how I didn't get a picture of the girls together on Easter, but here are some individual shots from some Easter festivities. (more to come)

Not sure about this smile...
First time with her hair done. You can also see her one and only tooth:

He is not here; He is risen!! HAPPY EASTER!

Scenic World and Echo Point

2011-04-22T13:59:00.009+08:00

After Featherdale we continued into the Blue Mountains and found our way to the town of Katoomba. We got a service apartment again which was wonderful! I had picked the town of Katoomba because Scenic World and The Three Sisters were there.

We had arrived in the evening and decided to stay in for dinner so we ordered a pizza and had a low key evening. In the morning we woke up to rain and mist (boo!). We decided to wait until after Anastasia took her nap to explore as a family, so i decided to take a walk down the road to Echo Point to see what I could see, if anything.

At Echo Point (5 minutes walking from our townhome) was the look out point to see the Thee Sisters, 3 massive rock formations overlooking a beautiful valley, but all I saw was this:

I was so bummed since the whole reason that we came to the Blue Mountains was to SEE the Blue Mountains and we couldn't. Ugh. On a happy note I did see wild cockatoos flying all around.

On my way back from my walk I was met by the rest of the family. Anastasia looked so cute all bundled up:

Although we couldn't see anything, we decided to go to Scenic World and go into the valley on the worlds steepest incline railway. If we couldn't see it from afar, we could at least venture into the mist and see 5 feet into front of us.

This railway is 415 metres long and has a vertical drop of 206 metres at 52 degrees. Here we are getting ready to descend.

Here is the view from the bottom looking up.

At the bottom I was sooo happy to see this...

The mist cleared and we were able to see! At the bottom of the valley there were walkways through the forest. It used to be a mine so they had interesting facts about the old mine and some statues of mine horses, coal cars, a real miner's house etc.

To get back up to the top we road a cable car:

Here are the Three Sisters from where we ate lunch.

After lunch we headed back to our townhome for naps and then we walked down to Echo Point to see the sights.

We admired the view and then walked a bit into the valley. It was beautiful. I am so happy the mist decided to lift. It turned out to be a beautiful day :)

Featherdale Wildlife Park

2011-04-21T10:38:00.011+08:00

We decided to take a short trip out of the city and head to the Blue Mountains. We rented a car and headed off to Katoomba (the city we would be staying in). On the way we stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park. This park wasn't that big, but it was worth stopping for. Animals were roaming around out of their pens so you could interact and feed them.

When first entering we were met by a little kangaroo (or a wallaby - I'm always mixing them up).

This bird reminded me of an old man. I can't remember the name of it- something like Frog face. Elyse seemed intrigued. (*I just found out the name: Frogmouth)

A Kookaburra: Whenever I say this name I start singing the kookaburra song. Cool bird, annoying song (once you have it stuck in your head.)

Although most of the time koalas are sleeping, this placed always had a koala that was awake that people could pet all day long. Very cool.

I got to pet the koala too.

After the koala we bought some food and fed the animals that were wandering around.

I felt like Anastasia wasn't getting enough "airtime" so in this picture you can see she was there too:)

Did you know there are penguins in Australia? Well there are! Isn't he cute?

Next stop- Katoomba!

The Powerhouse Museum

2011-04-20T09:52:00.005+08:00

On one of the days we had planned to go to the Zoo but the weather wasn't looking great so we headed off the the Powerhouse Museum which happened to be walking distance from our hotel. We had read that this museum was great for kids and it did not disappoint. When we got there there was a long line with local kids and their parents (moms) so that was my first clue that this was going to be a good museum.

When we first walked in there was a huge steam engine complete with passenger cars. then in another room there was a small engine that you could go inside.

This area was all about transportation from bikes to carriages and cars to airplanes.
There were exhibits on space, robots and much more, but we spent most of our time in "Zoe's Garden" where kids learned about eating healthy though interactive games and "Zoe's House" where kids participated in the construction of a house.

Zoe's house:

After Zoe's House we had lunch and played on a playground. The playground was built for bigger kids, but Elyse still had fun on the see-saw attempting to climb some of the equipment. There were a bunch of school groups at the museum (older kids) and they all decided to go to the playground at once so it was crowded. Elyse was very good about waiting her turn and the kids were good about giving her a turn.

This is one of Anastasia's excited faces:

The museum was fun and I would recommend it to anyone with kids visiting the Sydney area.

More Opera House Anyone?

2011-04-19T09:50:00.005+08:00

After the aquarium and some naps we headed to Circular Quay to look around and see the Opera House, etc. all lit up. That was our plan anyway. We did go to Circular Quay and walk around the area called The Rocks- a historic part of Sydney- but before long it began to rain :(

We stopped at a German place to have a pretzel (yum) and then went to dinner after the rain stopped. I'm not sure what happened (maybe just being out with two kids) but our evening became a little stressful and I didn't really have time to get pictures of the area at night. I was bummed, but I did get some pictures on the way to Circular Quay which I liked. So if you're not tired of looking at the Opera House enjoy the following pictures:

I wanted to make sure I was in at least one picture with the Opera House in the background- See I was on this vacation too!

See the clouds rolling in-

What our Ferry looked like:

Sunset reflecting on the Opera House

This cruise ship was the same one Toby and I were on for our honeymoon- crazy!

Sydney Tower and the Aquarium

2011-04-18T14:27:00.006+08:00

We decided that we were going to visit the Sydney Tower and the Maritime Museum the next day. The Sydney Tower is supposedly the highest tower in the Southern Hemisphere, but it really isn't that tall although it is the tallest building in this picture. The tower was walking distance from our hotel so we packed up everyone and headed out. It was a beautiful, clear day so we were able to see a lot. The picture of our hotel in the previous post was taken from the top of the tower. Here, Elyse is a bit confused about which way to look out the binoculars.

I took this picture because there was a butterfly outside the window. You can sort of see it by the lower part of the E. I was just thinking how far up the butterfly had flown.

After the tower we explored more of Darling Harbour and had lunch. I wasn't feeling well so I went back to the hotel with Anastasia and had naps while Elyse and Toby went to the Maritime Museum. They got to go on boats and into a submarine.

The following day we took it easy and headed to the Aquarium which was right next door to our hotel.

It was very well done they had little tank with little sea creatures such as fish, seahorses and these moon jellyfish

and large tanks where you could walk underneath the tank to see sea creatures swimming above you. There were huge stingrays, sharks, turtles, and manatees.

Throughout the aquarium they had these sculptures made out of legos. they were huge as you can tell by its size compared to Elyse. The entire whale and the background were made of legos.

My favorite part was were they recreated a part of the great barrier reef. There were beautiful fish swim among some sharks. Did you know that brightly colored fish were poisonous to sharks? Well they are and that's why the sharks don't eat them, that and the fact that they over feed their sharks so they wouldn't be tempted to snack on anything.

This was a great aquarium. (Much better than the one on Sentosa- sorry Singapore.)