January Update

It's hard to believe the month of January is coming to a close!  We've had a great month in Singapore.  We are getting in a groove and really starting to love it here :) Nate left yesterday for India, his only trip this month!

We are so enjoying the cooler temps and amazing breeze.  Supposedly this has been the coldest January in Sing in many years, with high in mid-80's and lows dipping into the mid-70's.  Now that is COLD for here!   I know you midwesterners don't want to hear that!!  We are also getting the monsoonal winds which make the city not so stuffy and humid. And even though it is still technically monsoon season,  I can't even remember the last time it rained.  I'm a huge fan of winter in Singapore!!  The locals are all bundled up, but I'm loving it!!  I've even busted out my jeans (still can only bear them  during the evening), but this is a treat!

My parents rebooked their tickets to come visit us in early April!  We are so excited for our first visitors!!  They will be here for 10 days.  We can't wait to show them the city and how we live here.

I am volunteering in Mia's classroom on a regular basis.  Helping her classmates with reading.  Mia is doing great with her reading and it is so fun to watch her progress!

With all my extra free time now, not having to cook, clean or do laundry :), I have started working out regularly and am feeling great!  We have an efficient small gym near the pool, so there is no excuse for not going.  Can't complain about it being too cold to go out or having to mess with checking the kids into child watch!!  No excuses here!

I still thinking getting our helper was the best decision I have made in a long time!  Nate and I are enjoying the freedom of having a live-in babysitter, so we're having fun going out and enjoying great restaurants and neighborhoods that we never knew existed before!  It's like a whole new world!  Having ironed sheets is a real treat too!!  We're also having her cook Asian food for us at least once a week, so far she's made some killer sweet and sour pork and chicken curry.  She also makes amazing vegetables that even my kids eat.  She needs to teach me her secrets because they are so good and cooked to perfection!

I boasted about my great driving skills a bit too early, as I got into my first little fender bender last week!  UGH!!  Damage was minimal, so not a big deal, but still annoying.  Seriously, you look in your rear view mirror and there is no one there and 1 second later there is like a hundred cars on your tail.  It is like sport driving at 30 mph.  I have 2 hands on the wheel, no radio on, etc.  Driving opposite has become second hand, it's just the crazy driving that is the problem!

We booked our flights home for the summer already!  It's a mass exodus here in June, as all of the expats head home for the summer months.  Apparently it is too hot here to do anything, so everyone bails!  We leave here on June 12, flying West this time and doing 3 nights in London before flying onto Chicago.  Nate has meetings, so he'll be with us for a few weeks, then back to Sing, then back to US.  We are home until the end of July!!  We'll spend time in Chicago, Quad Cities, Des Moines and Kansas City.  Hope to see all of you then!!

Chinese New Year starts later this week, so the city is in full holiday swing!  The locals and most schools have off Thursday and Friday.  It's apparently CRAZY around here towards the end of the week and weekend, as this is the biggest holiday here.  That is why we hit Chinatown last weekend and are heading out of town for the actual holiday.

We leave for Bali, Indonesia on Thursday morning, for a 4 night getaway.  It's only a 2 hour flight from here, so it's an easy, quick trip.  Spending 2 days in Ubud, central Bali, so we can enjoy the rice fields and temples.  The last 2 nights will be spent on the beach in Nusa Dua.  We are excited too because our friends Jeff, Jena & Kai Benge, who live in Bejing, are meeting us there!

That's all for now!  Will post about Chinese New Year later this week!  xoxo

Loving our helper!  Look at Sam's shirts organized by collar/no-collar and by color/pattern!
Crazy, but love it!

 Big girl!

Why not, gondola rides at Marina Bay Sands Mall

Tossing coins out on the promenade

 Still shocking for a pint of Korean strawberries, $15 USD!!  Sam can eat all of them in one sitting, so I have to ration them out!  Crazy!

Cutest breakfast date at our favorite french cafe, Artisan Boulangerie

Another birthday party for Mia, on the 44th floor of her friends condo

Nice views!!!

Night out with friends for Indonesian food at Blue Bali

Date night with Nate, eating octopus again.  Are we turning Asian??!!  So good though!!

 City kids!  Hanging on Orchard after their bus drop off

Sam going for his daily afternoon swim

 Kids started swim lessons at our condo this month.  Sam can already swim the width of the pool.  Coach Ning is amazing with them.  Just don't ask how much a lesson costs!

 Fun times at Robertson Quay

Wine & tapas with some JD friends

Sam is loving his new Air Jordan's!  Dad just couldn't pass them up while back in Chicago :)

 A going away bbq for a colleague of Nate's.  They are moving to KC next month.

  

Awesome condo on the sea, with canal and harbor views!  They have to be sad to leave it!

Keppel Bay Marina

Learning to brush paint!

 

Sunday lunch with a family from our condo.  He's dutch, she's from Peru, kids were born in Brunei.  Typical expat family!  Isabel made a fantastic peruvian lunch!