Pony Tail

I tried putting Elyse's hair in a pony tail today. With the help of her existing pig tails, it stayed in for about 30 minutes, then she had three pig tails.

Grammy and Gramps

Toby's parents came for a visit on there way to the States for Christmas. We had a lot of fun while they were here. Elyse even got an early Christmas gift: a rocking chair. She loves it!

Here we are at the IMM playground:
Elyse in her rocking chair:

Grammy and Gramps reading one of Elyse's favorite books, What's up Duck?:

Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving didn't turn out like we had planned. We were invited to a friend's house to have the traditional dinner, but unfortunately Elyse and I got sick. Instead of turkey I had toast, Elyse had rice, and Toby ate the spinach cheese thing we were going to bring over to our friends. Oh, well. Even if the dinner wasn't traditional, we were still able to realize how thankful we are for the blessings in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!

White Christmas?

I just saw chestnuts roasting out buy the MRT. Does that mean there will be a White Christmas here in Singapore? Perhaps not. Maybe it means there will be butter on the loose.

Dragon boats and a Merlion

This past weekend we wanted to explore Singapore a bit more. We decided to visit a place called Chijmes (pronounced 'chimes') which was once a church but now houses restaurants and shops that sell things from around Asia. We saw that it didn't open until 11, so we decided to go to the Boat Quay and see the Merlion which is the symbol of Singapore before Chijmes opened.

When we got off the MRT we noticed a big crowd by the river. It turned out that they were having dragon boat races. Dragon boats are these skinny boats that hold maybe 20 people seated with an oar each, a person standing in the back to steer, and a person in the front, seated, beating a drum. (You can look at the picture and see it better than I am explaining it).

These races were sprints. It was crazy. When we first watched it, we were by the finish line. As the boats approached you could here the drums and shouting getting louder and louder as the people rowed frantically. It was pretty cool. I guess in June (?) there is a dragon boat festival.

After watching the races we headed to the mouth of the Singapore River and saw the Merlion. Definitely the place to go for tourists. After we took part of the photo taking, we headed for Chijmes. When we got there it was 11:30 and only 2 restaurants were open. We ate and walked around a few shops until Elyse needed to go home for here nap. We only saw a part of Chijmes and hope to go back soon.

This is a video of the part of the race. It's not the best quality since I was zoomed in so close, but you can see how fast they were going and you can sort of here the drums. Also, look at how the drummers (on the front of the boat) are being jerked around as the the boat moves forward.

Showering Before Work

Today I joined the rest of the working world (or at least most of it), I had to shower and get dressed before I went to work. I was used to being in my PJs until about 9:00 and then I would shower and get dressed. What has changed you might ask? Well, Elyse has given up her first nap. When she napped, I would shower. Now if I want a shower I have to get up before her. Not that I stop being a mom during the night, but I still feel like I start "work" when Elyse gets up. Although I have to get up a bit earlier, I do think this new schedule will work well; we have the whole morning to go off and explore Singapore and visit friends.

Elyse, by the way, still doesn't have to get ready first thing in the morning.

E-I-E-I-O

Elyse has started lining up her farm animals around the apartment. I think it's cute.