Happy New Year!

It's 9:53pm on New Year's Eve. Instead of being out doing something fabulous, I'm on the computer while my three boys sleep. And I must admit, there is absolutely no place I'd rather be. As we continue our journey in 2013, I wish you all JOY in every single day.

JOY is that moment (sometimes fleeting, sometimes everlasting) that makes you feel all is right in your world. Content, happy, satisfied, thankful. For me today, that moment is now.

I certainly feel, at times, that we're missing out on a lot of JOY by not being with our families and friends back home. But, just when it's too hard, I receive a text, a phone call, a message, an email...something from someone back home reminding me that we're never really that far away. And besides, if we weren't here, I would be missing out on all sorts of crazy JOY in Asia.

So...Happy New Year, family and friends, from our corner of the world to yours.

xo

Chinatown with the boys

We needed to get out of  the house yesterday evening, so we made our way to Chinatown...one of my favorite places, and totally over-stimulating and exciting for the boys. We have been wanting to try the famous Chicken Rice place (Tian Tian Hainanese) at Maxwell's Hawker Center and it finally re-opened after renovations. Anthony Bourdain raved about this place on his show, No Reservations, so we wanted to try it out for ourselves. It was definitely the best chicken rice I've had in Singapore - but it's hard to count my vote when I've only had it at 4 places. Chicken Rice is EVERYWHERE here. Tian Tian definitely does it well though!

Quite possibly my favorite MRT exit - Chinatown! 

Front of the Food Center

Line at Tian Tian - it was the ONLY food stall with a line. Make that the only stall with more than 2 people.  Some have said they wait for over an hour there. Hard to believe something like that only costs S$3.50! 

Chicken rice doesn't excite Luke so he ordered up some noodles :)

Drew loves noodles too...our entire family ate for S$10...can't beat that! (Many stall doors were closed because it was Sunday)

After dinner I wanted to visit the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. It was established in 2005 (I thought it was way older) and is such a remarkable place. It cost S$62 million dollars to build...wow! After wrapping a shawl around my shoulders (bare arms/shoulders are not allowed), Luke and I entered the temple. There were many Buddhists there praying to the Buddha, incense being waved around for the spirits and people lighting candles for loved ones who have passed. Very cool to experience a place like that with Luke. He was in awe. Right up until I was asked to leave for having bare legs. Oops. Forgot the sarong! At least we got some pictures before then. :)

It's hard to see but in the front and center is what Buddhist leaders regard  as the "Sacred  Buddha Tooth Relic" created with 320kg of donated gold. It's so bright - you can see it from the outside. We watched as many people walked by. In mid-conversation they would stop in front of the doors, say a quick prayer with clasped hands, and continue on. 

Had I not been asked to leave, Luke would have just kept staring. So much to take in. 

I have a larger panoramic picture of this and the modern background buildings framed in our house. 

Looking in from the sidewalk. There's a large courtyard area, then the incense area, and the main doors. 

Didn't do much else down there, but it was fun to do a few new things with the boys. Of course they came home with a list of junk, I mean toys, they want from Chinatown. If ever in need of $2 items...Chinatown is your place! Among some other very cool and worthy items I might add. :)

We've unleashed the dragon...

Drew has been a nightmare since we got home. Poor guy. Those that know him, know that he's ADDICTED to his "Baba milk" at all times of the day. Call it an excuse, but given our move across the entire flippin' world, we decided to just let him have his "Baba milk" when he wants it. Somedays he'll have it a few times, others he will have it ALL day. I notice that he wants it more in situations or places that are new to him. Understandable.

Given that we are staying put in Singapore until March, we decided that it's time to scale back to having "Baba milk" around naptime and bedtime. We have routines around these times, so it felt appropriate. Dragon unleashed. He is miserable which means everyone is miserable. To add to it, he's still catching up on sleep from our vacation AND he's two. That's a lethal combination if you ask me.

On a MUCH brighter note, we booked our hotel in Hong Kong for Spring Break (Disneyland!) and our condo in Hawaii is reserved for July.

I'm pretty sure if anyone felt sorry for us in paragraphs 1 and 2, you no longer do after reading paragraph 3. Crap.

Here's to another week of holiday!

Cheers - xo

You know you're back in Singapore when...

You walk outside and you're sweating within minutes! It is definitely a "cooler" time of year here, but man you get used to less humidity quite quickly. Phuket was more like Singapore than Bali was, but not still not quite as humid.

Other than being tired, the boys are healthier than they were a few days ago. We had Christmas in Singapore this morning when the boys woke up. They were SO excited. We turned on Christmas music and watched as they opened their gifts. Their new toys kept them entertained for a few hours, then it was back to the pool. I must be getting used to this place because as we flew home last night, I found myself happy to be back here. I cried on the way back from Bali when coming home didn't mean to Portland, but this time was different. That's a good thing.

We certainly missed all of our family gatherings on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We are used to seeing grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...everyone. It was quite different, but because we were on vacation, we had our own sort of Christmas fun. It helped a lot that we were with friends.

Looking forward to catching up on pictures, exploring more of Singapore, Skyping with friends and family whenever we want, playing in the pool, watching movies, taking naps, you name it - for the next 9 days of vacation! And thanks to Michelle, doing laundry, cooking and cleaning is NOT on my list to do. (Sorry, had to mention it).

I will upload more pictures from our vacation this weekend. In the meantime, we'll keep sweating!

Christmas in Singapore!

Nanny & Grandpa - These are super cool, but might be the LOUDEST gift ever. We have ordered a drum set to be delivered to your house for the summer.

LEGOS! But only ones they can put together themselves...no help needed. That's my kind of Lego gift. 

Since traveling, Luke has loved everything airport related

Their big gift from mom & dad was SCOOTERS! We've circled our complex a few times today :)

Bummer way to spend the day...

At Christmas dinner last night Luke threw up and he's been throwing up since- 20 hours later. Poor guy. Drew has a fever and cold. Adam and I are taking turns at the pool. Having sick kids is never easy, especially away from home. We head back to Singapore tomorrow afternoon. Here's hoping Luke is done throwing up by then!


They haven't left the bed other than a quick 20 minute trip to the pool. That idea backfired as Luke got sick there too :(

We're making the most out of free Wifi, room service and of course, snuggling with the boys when they'll let us. At least the view from our hotel room is nice.

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Merry Christmas from Thailand!

We wish everyone back home the happiest of holidays. It was wonderful to Skype with family today and feel the love from back home.

We had a nice Christmas here...Luke & Drew were thrilled that Santa found us in Phuket. :) Thinking of you all as we fall asleep, your Christmas is just beginning.












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Christmas Eve

"Their stockings were hung on the hotel balcony with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there..."

Luke thought the balcony was a much better spot to leave Santa's cookies, because he was afraid someone walking down the hall might eat them. In case Santa didn't see the cookies, we left him a note on the front door...









We forgot carrots for the reindeer, but I'm now noticing an ash tray in case Santa needs a smoke break. The boys are snuggled in their bunk beds, SO excited for Christmas morning!

We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Eve dinner tonight, a little shopping (Happy we found I love Phuket shirts!) and dessert.












Merry Christmas to all of our family & friends back home. May your holiday be filled with love, laughter, and hope.

xo


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Island hopping...

What a wonderful day! We left our hotel at 7:30am to start our snorkeling and island hopping trip. We took a speedboat about 15 minutes away, were on the beaches at two of the islands and snorkeled/swam around the third. The waters were beautiful! I finally saw all those shades of blue you see in magazines. Love!






















A storm rolled in for about 10 minutes...a local lady held onto Drew so "Momma can eat her corn." Good thing cause Momma was hungry!





I have many more taken with our nicer camera, but my phone managed to capture some good ones. The boys LOVED swimming with the fish and feeding them. Luke even gave snorkeling a try. We loved experiencing it all with them. Pretty cool that our little 2 & 5 year olds were swimming in the island waters of Thailand today!

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The fun continues

We moved over to the south part of the island today. The Marriott was beautiful, but we were ready to see what Phuket had to offer. We met up with our friends from Singapore who are also on holiday here. I loved having such wonderful people gathered around the dinner table...especially this time of year. If we can't be in the states with our families for Christmas, I'm thankful we have such kind and fun people to celebrate with. Tomorrow we are leaving early for a speed boat trip to three different islands for snorkeling and playing on the beach. Can't wait!















Had our first banana pancakes, with Nutella on top...YUM!

It's hard to believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve Day. I have to admit, it really doesn't feel like it. It seems like we're just having the longest summer ever!



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Location:กะตะ,Karon,Thailand

Phuket!

After an easy 90 minute flight, we arrived in Phuket, Thailand on Thursday. The boys were perfect on the flight- I think they're getting used to this travel thing. We are currently in a large villa at the north part of the island that we're sharing with the Hevland's. Tomorrow we're moving to the southern part where we'll be until the 27th.

We are loving pool time and complete relaxation. The weather is a bit cloudier than I had hoped...but if that's my biggest complaint, I'd say things are pretty good! :)























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