Tyler's first few days...

Well, I don't think Tyler is buying the whole "Singapore is sooo humid thing." We have been out and about the last few days, enjoyed some pool time, and walked along the waterfront last night with a cool breeze. Like almost needed a light jacket cool.

We have had the past two days off for Chinese New Year. On Thursday we headed out to Sentosa with the boys, Tyler & Tanya. We did the luge three times and learned how to ride a Segway. Maricel made curry for dinner and we were all asleep on the couches by 9:30pm!

Riding this gives you beautiful views of Singapore and the water. By ride #3, I was done with heights. 

Tanya & Luke cruising down the luge

He's getting TOO BIG

This one wasn't big enough to ride the Segways, so he stayed back with Tanya & had
ice cream :)

Yesterday we had a pool day with several families from work. The weather was gorgeous and it was nice to be lazy. The boys went outside to play with their friends at 10am and Luke didn't come home until 5:30pm. Rough life.

Last night we took Tyler to our favorite restaurant in Singapore, Din Tai Fung. Dinner was followed up by our favorite bar, The Lantern, which has great views of the Marina Bay Sands and skyline. Not a drop of sweat hit our faces as we walked along the water. Nights like those make me loooove living in Singapore.

This picture makes me laugh. What you can't see is the MANY male workers around us that are posing for pictures just like this....but a little more ridiculous. 

Love this! 

Today we are off for a new adventure in Singapore...Pulau Ubin! If you've ever wanted to visit Singapore, come now while the weather is this amazing! :)

Chinese New Year

Gong Xi Fa Cai! It's the year of the Horse and today we celebrated in true Chinese fashion. The lion dance and dragon dance are both important parts of their New Year rituals and celebrations. The dragon symbolizes wealth, power and good luck. The Chinese culture is very superstitious. They clean their homes from top to bottom in the days leading up to the new year. This is to rid their house of any bad luck that has come in over the year. In the days after the New Year, they are not supposed to sweep their floors, as doing so could sweep out any good luck the New Year brought in. They are to pay off debits, resolve any conflicts and basically start fresh. My students and I had fun learning about their beliefs and celebrations and discussing how their New Year celebrations are similar and different to those in our home countries. You may remember my CNY post from last year - this year's school celebration was very similar. The boys loved having Uncle Ty Ty there to watch! 

Dragon Dance

Some of my sweet girls dressed in Chinese attire

Chinese Dancers

Martial Arts 

Lion Dance - my favorite!

God of Wealth - creepy

God of Health - not as creepy

And finally we end with our own version of the Lion Dance, brought to you by Luke, Drew & Ella... 

The cutest Lion Dancers I've ever seen :)

What's that you say?

This lady is one of my faves... and while we have improved in our understanding of one another, there are still moments that catch us off guard. And make us laugh - a lot.

Here is a snippet of our conversation when her grandmother was in the hospital a few weeks ago.

Tanya: She went into the theatre at 10:30.
Me: Oh.... Wait. The where?
Tanya: The operation room. Isn't that what you call it?
Me: No. We call it the operating room. A theatre is where you watch movies.
Tanya: No, that's the cinema.

Adam & I thought we'd have 'language difficulties' upon moving here. Not the case. It's more of trying to understand the slang other countries use in comparison to ours. Wouldn't trade it for anything though...it's provided a ton of laughs!

Our Days...

Life seems so fast & busy here. The days and weeks fly by. I have the "Sunday night sadness" every Sunday night, then before I know it, it's Friday night and our weekend is just beginning. We officially resigned from Stamford before winter holiday. It feels good to have it out in the open and to be able to talk about it with staff and families. While it's no secret that Adam is counting down the minutes until we return home, I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. I can't wait to return to the states and build our lives there. We have much of our family in Oregon (who we miss terribly), we have wonderful friends (also missed terribly!) and we work in great schools. Most importantly, we'll get ELLA BACK. Given all of that, there's still a lot of sadness (mostly for me) in knowing that we only have 4 1/2 months left of our lives in Singapore. I think mostly because of leaving the friends I have here. In a perfect world, I'd take them back to Portland and we would all live in one big happy FRIEND LIFE together. People who know me well, know how much I loooooove my girlfriends. Every last one of them. That will definitely be the hardest part about leaving Singapore, no question.

BUT - we're still livin' life here on the little red dot, enjoying the heck out of this amazing weather. It hasn't changed since our return from Australia. As I walked home tonight I realized how much more comfortable life has been since we haven't been sweating all the time. I'm much less cranky too.

A week ago Luke had Sports Day. The gym was set up with about 8 games for the kids to rotate through with their classes. The coolest part was that the games were streamed live. That meant that Grandparents, friends and Aunties back in the states could watch as Luke played. The camera man helped us out and gave Luke lots of air time. So cool!

Drew is back at school and healthy again. We were supposed to keep him out this week too, but he was miserable staying at home all day while we all went off to school. Every night this week they have enjoyed time outdoors, playing with friends and riding their scooters around the complex. Sometimes they ride as Luke & Drew, other times they ride as Superheroes.

Looking forward to the weekend and the week ahead. Tyler arrives Wednesday and Chinese New Year celebrations begin. Yay for a 4-day weekend coming up!

Movie Star

Well, not really.

Here is the latest and greatest (okay, I'm a little biased) marketing commercial from Stamford!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6AM49fYvPE

On a totally separate note, the weather here has been AMAZING! I don't even feel like I'm in Singapore. We were at a rooftop party last night and I could have been wearing a little sweater. It felt like an Oregon summer evening. As I type this on Saturday morning, I'm on the couch with a blanket. There's a great breeze coming in and I don't feel an ounce of sweat on me. Ahhhhh.

Happy it's the weekend and we can spend time with our two HEALTHY boys. :)

xo

And the Award Goes to...

You know, I wouldn't say that our family would win many awards, accept for one: Number of times we get sick in a year. For us, illness ALWAYS seems to revolve around trips.

Poor Drew bug has been in the hospital for two days. What appeared to be a "severe allergic reaction" now appears to be pneumonia. As I write this, we are awaiting test results. At the time he was admitted, he had head to toe hives, including swollen lips. He was also wheezing, which is why he's been kept in the hospital.

After two nights, his IV is out and his oxygen machine/mask have been removed. Adam is hoping they will be released this evening.

This would be an award I would happily give back!

**Since writing this, Drew is home and doc said no school until Jan 25th. We currently have NO idea what caused this, as his test results for pneumonia came back negative. He has a host of meds to take and when his body recovers, he'll go in for the full allergy testing.

In just 48 hours I had forgotten who ran the house. Within minutes of his return, I was reminded. Drew runs the show.

We are happy to have his sassy self back home!

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Christmas Part 2

Upon returning from our trip, we were able to spend 4 days back at home before starting work again. Those 4 days were wonderful. The weather was Singapore cool, we had Maricel to help out with the boys and we were able to celebrate Christmas morning the way we know and love!

The boys had no idea that we had more presents for them, until Adam walked out with a handfull. They tore through them within 10 minutes and then played happily the rest of the day. That was something I had missed while away in a hotel room.

Batman & Drew waiting for what they think is mom & dad opening presents 

Luke watching Drew open his present from him - so sweet 

Wolverine! 

It's so much fun to watch kids on "Christmas morning!" It was the year for Superheroes that's for sure.

Going back to work after holiday is never a slow transition at our school. It was full-on as we started out the week with semester reports. They are a crazy amount of work and I will be thankful when they are done!

I had forgotten how enjoyable January is in Singapore. The weather is cooler, there seems to be a steady breeze and we're not sweaty ALL THE TIME. We are looking forward to a visit from Adam's brother in 2 1/2 short weeks. His visit starts a round of visitors that we'll have through March. So excited!

Here's hoping 2014 is off to a wonderful start for our family & friends back home.

xo

Goodbye Australia!

Our trip has come to an end. We leave Australia with happy hearts, lots of new memories made and a strong desire for our own beds. We have seen new places, explored a lot of sights and walked like crazy. We spent Christmas Eve in New Zealand and Christmas Day in Australia. Never would I have thought that would happen. While our trip didn't go as planned, it didn't stop us from having fun.

To kick off 2014, we played with some kangaroos and held a koala.
























Drew was in love with these guys!


Before Tanya left, we went on a Duck Boat tour to see a little more of the Gold Coast. Nothing too exciting, but the boys loved getting to drive the boat! The ultimate tourists...












What a trip! And the perfect way to end 2013!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone