Singapore Weekend

Matt just wrapped up a long business trip that included a week in Singapore.  Naturally, I was a little envious of a trip to one of my favorite cities in the world, so with the help of wonderful grandparents that were willing to keep the kids and some Singapore airlines miles that were going to expire, I was able to drop into the Lion City for 3 days.  Add in two more days for travel (22-23 hours of flying each way - not for the fainthearted!) and it was a nice, long weekend.  I've made some long trips for the weekend before but this one definitely gets the trophy!  Unfortunately, as it always seems to happen, I don't have any pictures of us with our friends but I have several to share of the weekend.

I couldn't believe how much parts of the city had changed in the three years since I was last there!  Marina Bay was gorgeous, the casino is finished and the Gardens by the Bay have opened.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner at a restaurant and brewery overlooking the bay with our friends Dirk and Christina.  I also got to spend some time catching up with my sweet friends Julia and Suasti, but nearly everyone else from our days there has moved on by now.

 

Another change I couldn't believe  - the Holland Village MRT stop is open and running!  It was under construction the entire time we lived there.  I would have used this so much.

Naturally, I had to stop at breadtalk for a cheese bun before I wandered around shopping while Matt went back to his favorite place for a haircut.

The botanic gardens hadn't changed a bit and still remain one of my favorite places in town.  I enjoyed a stroll through the grounds and was reminded of just how much I can sweat there.

I was also happy to see that people still do tai chi here in the same place.  It felt like I was just there yesterday.

The food was just as wonderful as I remembered.  I ate and drank as much as possible in the short time I had there!  After all that sweating, 100 plus and some calamansi juice were greatly appreciated.

 

Newton Hawker didn't disappoint, although I should have taken the picture before we devoured the barbequed squid.  We also had baby kai lan and roti prata.

A little pepper crab (below - and a little gross looking in the camera flash but oh so good), chili crab, and cereal prawn from Long Beach seafood fit the bill one night, too!  I also had some mee goreng and kway teow but didn't get my beloved bowl of laksa because there was no time to squeeze in another meal.

 Our hotel was on a quiet street off Orchard Road so we were able to walk a lot.

The view towards Orchard was lovely.

We caught the tail end of the Mid-Autumn festival, when lanterns and mooncakes are everywhere.  I brought some back for the kids, although the lanterns were definitely more appreciated than the lotus paste mooncakes.

It was fun taking a spin through Chinatown to see all the decorations and do a little shopping.

 

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to enjoy Singapore again.  It was a treat to fly that far and change timezones without the kids!  Although they were never far from my mind because Singapore will forever be the place where we enjoyed our babies.  I passed few places that didn't have some memory associated with one of the boys when he was small, especially when I walked past Gleneagles and remembered the joy of Alex joining our family and the American embassy across the street where we took our newborn to get his passport.  Singapore is also the place that gave me a lot more confidence as a woman and a mother because leaving my comfort zone to live in a foreign country forced me to get over a lot of my fears and insecurities if I wanted to enjoy the experience.  And I did.  I loved my time on that little island and will always treasure the memories made there.  

We also brought home one last souvenir to remember Singapore and complete our new dining room.

 

I flew back several days before Matt and I was pretty wrecked from all the travel and crossing 26 time zones in a few short days.  Luckily, there were lots of hugs and kisses waiting for me on this end, as well as a free pizza party at the park two houses down to celebrate National Night Out.  Guess who enjoyed the cupcakes?

Ben's Bible

We love our church, Houston's First Baptist, and were so excited to find out that they have a Bible ceremony for the first graders each year.  All the kids get their own Bible to bring to Sunday school so they can read it and study together.  I love that Ben will be learning about the Bible and that he'll be excited to read something, especially since I told him he could use a highlighter on his memory verses.  That certainly appeals to my little office supply junkie.  Here is Ben getting his Bible from our pastor Gregg Matte.

 

Last week we heard a very loud airplane overhead early in the morning and I was shocked when I looked out the window and saw the space shuttle Endeavor flying right over our neighborhood!  Ben and I ran outside to watch it fly off (unfortunately, Alex chose the wrong day to sleep late) and I was thrilled about the once-in-a-lifetime view.  Ben was a bit unimpressed because he couldn't understand the rarity of such a sighting but hopefully he'll remember it forever.

 We finally got the rest of our long-awaited furniture delivered yesterday and I'm pretty thrilled about the new dining room.  We'll have some work to do to get everything looking nice and decorated but I love what we chose...I was a bit nervous about most of this because we picked it out of a catalog and had only seen the chairs in person!  I asked Alex to stand in the picture for some perspective on the size of the cabinet.  It's huge!

While the delivery guys were working hard to get everything set up, Ben and Presley were having a ball outside playing with the boxes and styrofoam.  They were disappointed we didn't get to keep that stuff as well.

 

It ended up being just Ben and I at dinner so we had an impromptu date on the new table.  A great start to making memories around a new gathering place at home!

Train Day

We just found out about the Houston Area Live Steamers and their monthly train rides so we had to check it out on Saturday.  These guys in Cypress have an amazing setup with 1/8 scale model trains and acres of tracks and they happily give free rides to kids one Saturday each month.  It was really neat and we all enjoyed our visit.

Two excited boys waiting for their turn on a train.  There were 4 or 5 diesel passenger trains so the wait was a lot shorter than I expected, judging from the crowd.

Check out the guy on his tiny steam engine!

Ready for our first ride!

 We passed Mr. Steam Engine again and he was really moving this time.

 

The track wound through the woods, over bridges, and past several scaled down stations and buildings.  It was really impressive, even for adults.  These guys work really hard at their hobby.

The entire event was free but our donation got us a few souvenir hats for two even happier boys, who begged to get back in line for another ride.

Second time around...

 This time Alex had the waving part down and bid farewell to everyone at the station...

 

...and he waved at every building we passed.

There was a second track with 1/22 models that the kids can watch and chase.

These were butane powered and really fun to watch.

 It was a really great experience.  We'll go back for sure! 

Back home, it was business as usual this week.   Anytime the sprinkler is on in the back, it means trampoline splash pad time!  And now that we have neighbors behind us, I should probably make the kids wear more than undies but they're stripped down and playing in no time flat.

 

 

 

And after a long day, what's better than relaxing in front of Mariokart?

We are back into the rhythm of school now and both boys are enjoying their classes.  I'm so happy to see them liking school, making friends, and learning lots of new things.

The School Report

I get such different information from each of my kids after school.  

Me:  Ben, how was your day?

Ben:  Good.

Me:  Who did you sit with at lunch?

Ben:  A kid.

Me:  What's his name?

Ben:  I don't remember.

Me:  Who did you play with at recess?

Ben:  Oh, the usual.

(repeat daily and add a few more questions to painfully drag out any details from his school day.  Ironic, really, because he loves to talk and has been getting a little notice from the teacher for talking TOO much in class)

Me:  Alex, tell me about your day.

Alex:  Well, one kid got a warning but he didn't do anything wrong.  I wonder if Miss Heather will give me a warning even though I've been doing every really, really good?  I don't like to do bad things at school.  Mom, I didn't finish my lunch but do I still get my treat?  I learned how to say hello in spanish today...it's hola.  I even got a star while I was there.  Wait, I'm getting a phone call from Blankie...

(repeat daily with new and interesting chatter all the way home)

Today, Alex apparently learned about Jack and Jill, too.  Gotta love the pause for nourishment (so yes, Alex did finally get his treat at home after he finished his lunch)

First Day of Pre-K

Alex was all smiles today because it was his turn to head back to school and he was really excited.  We met his teacher last week and saw his new classroom (on the "big kid" side of school) and he has been dying to go back every since.  Today the countdown finally ended and my big 4-year old had lots of faces to celebrate the big day.

 

At school he walked me straight to his new class and he jumped right into things.  We were both happy to see his little friend Brody from last year is in his class again this year.  After a "Hi Alex" and "Hi Brody" they picked up right where they left off 3 months ago.

 

After school, he is still all smiles and so happy about a great day.  (but also happy to be home and catch up on his Busytown Mysteries, the boys' newest favorite show)

 

I also had a great day and really enjoyed some time to myself!  It wasn't hard to drop him off this morning because Alex was so happy to be at school, but a little part of me panicked when I realized this is the last year of preschool in this family.  Next year I'll be walking two into elementary school...yikes!  I'm not going to think about that yet.  Here's to a great year in the 4-year old class!

A Little Upgrade

When we moved into this lovely new house last year, it was hard to see some of our old furniture in such pretty rooms.  Matt and I had each had our desks since our school days and they were beat up and mismatched when we got married a decade ago.  I counted 11 moves for my desk, which was probably at least 8 more than it was designed to handle.  But we were patient and held out for the great shopping opportunity that rolls around every May and waited even more patiently for some of the furniture to arrive this week.  In preparation, I got the study cleaned out and ready.

 

Naturally, the kids took advantage of random furniture sitting around to play, in this case they made a pretend Bass Pro Shop which oddly enough sold folders and paper.  I may have to coach Ben on his marketing strategies.

 

 After the big delivery day, it took some time to unpack but I'm pretty happy with the results!  Love these new bookshelves, especially the doors on the bottom to hide the junk :)

Matt's desk is beautiful but unfortunately this room is not big enough for it to stand free in the middle of the room.

I'm so happy with my new desk and all its storage space, also with doors to hide the things I don't need to show the world.  Now we can hanging things on the walls in here, too.  Better late than never!

 

We needed a new mattress and really wanted to upgrade the guest bed, so we moved our queen bed into the guest room and got a king for our room.  This is before...

 

...and after.  The king bed feels so roomy!  But it fits our big bedroom a lot better.  We have laughed that it's a good thing we waited so long to get a king because this bed would have never fit in any of our houses overseas.

 

And now the queen looks very nice in the guest room.  Maybe now we'll get motivated to decorate these walls a little, too.

The last room waiting to get help is the dining room.  Not that there is anything wrong with a kiddie kitchen and two-seater table for people under 48" tall, but we're still anxiously awaiting a grown-up table and cabinet in another month or so.