Don't Blink

I was just looking at posts from the past and realized I never added Amelia's "3 sec" of fame.

Right before we were getting ready to leave Thailand, Amelia got a call to try out for a commercial. She had gotten these calls a couple times before, but they never turned into the real thing.  Leave it to timing, that when it finally did, we left a couple weeks later and never knew if it aired.

The day of shooting we were on set for about 5 hours.   This created 3 secs of airtime.  Amelia loved it all, but I was surprised how much ($$$ and time) goes into so little.

Over the summer we found the commercial.   As life moved on, I actually forgot about it.  This blog is meant to be a way to look back, so now I post it for property and to have something to show to future boyfriends.   With the experience, "Token" added a little money to her college account.  However, she has since been in retirement.

Here you go...just don't blink at the very beginning.  

Long Weekend

I didn't know we had Monday off until the week before.  A pleasant surprise and needed.   We had no big plans and spent the days at kid friendly places around Singapore.  

Jurong East Water Park: Singapore is $$$, but this place cheap.  $4 for all of us.  Liam LOVED the lazy river and after the 20th time in it, I started to hate it.   We will be back. 

Poor Amelia was too short for the slides.   

The highlight of the weekend was Amelia lost her first tooth.  She was SUPER excited.  Pulled it out all on her own (she wouldn't let me near it).   The tooth fairy also made a visit. 

Liam, Cecile, and I went to the zoo.   For some reason he insisted he had to get a picture (again) with the polar bear.   We didn't last more than a couple hours.  Due to it being a public holiday the place was packed. 

Amelia said that after each weekend, Mr. Lewis asks what they did.  She was VERY excited to share about loosing a tooth and I had to take another picture to show her new smile. 

Beach Day

Not sure what happened to what I wrote before...it is now gone.  No energy to do it again.   

We went to East Coast Park in Singapore looking for a play area.   No play structure found, but we did find a nice beach.  Spent the day relaxing and playing in the sand.  Great location for a beach fix, but I don't know if I will ever get use to the BIG boats in the seascape.

Boats in the background.

Sandcastle

Liam's castle.

I discovered that Singapore had wild monkeys.  I hate moneys. 

Asia Light

Crazy! We have now been in Singapore for over a month now.  Routines have started and all of us are starting to figure out the ins and outs of at least the area we live in.  I have found where to get good meat, baking items, the closest mall, how to get around (fast vs. cheap), and a lot of other little things that making living easier.

This past month has also shown to be true when they call Singapore "Asia Light".  For Asia, it is the closet place I can find to a Western civilization without having a Target or Costco.  Where Thailand is the "Wild West" of Asia and anything goes, Singapore is orderly and predictable.   At times I may say boring, but it is also comforting.  Having young children, I can definitely say why it is one of the best places to be an expat family.   It is safe....just follow their laws.

I find it ironic that the initials and what most people refer to the Ministry of Manpower is MOM.  Singapore government is a MOM.  It is always watching and making sure you do it right and it's in the system.  The first couple of weeks the hoop jumping was driving me crazy, but like child birth, now that it is over, we are enjoying just being here.

The one thing I am struggling the most with is how expensive it is here.  Being someone who is cheap, I struggle rationalizing paying big bucks for things I know shouldn't cost much.  Singapore is living up to its title as most expensive city in the world.  The perk?  Everything is imported and I can find most anything I want or miss.  I just have to find it for the right price.

I have struggled to find things to post about that are interesting while we are here.  I promise to search, but you may have to be a little bored as I figure it out.

BKK weekend

It was less then 48 hrs, but the tiredness I feel today was worth it.   The kids and I boarded a plane late Friday night for a quick two days in Bangkok to see old friends and meet a new one.

We spent the whole time in our old neighborhood.   It made me miss what I once knew and the best relationships we have there.  I also filled my suitcase full of stuff from a morning of shopping.   I have enough chili powder for a year.

The whole reason for the trip was to get some baby snuggles from Sidney, who arrived three weeks earlier.   Liam also got to hang with his BFF and Sid's older brother Ryley.   Amelia also scheduled in a bday party and a sleepover.  Food a major area in my life,  I ate as much Thai as I could.   But don't worry, I also brought seasoning packets back to get that fix when needed at home.

They partied hard....then crashed.

TROUBLE

It was hard not getting a picture of Rye not naked.   Natural born nudist. 

Baby Sidney.  What a cuddle bug.

First Days of School

On Thursday, Amelia started her first day of kindergarten.  After she got over the initial shock that her teacher was a Mr., she was super excited to get started.   She came home from school that day on cloud nine.  She was very disappointed Saturday came so fast.  Amelia also said she now can write and her BFF is a boy named Alex.

Liam started preschool on Friday.   He was such a big boy when he loaded the bus in the morning and didn't even look back to say goodbye.    His teacher said he talked a lot....especially about Thailand.   When he had lunch with me after his day, I asked him what he liked the most.   Like a typical boy he replied "the bus and the playground". 

This will be a great year.  I am just a little nostalgic about how fast life has gone to get to this point.  Slow down time!!!

Singapore Zoo

Today was National Day and to celebrate we bought an annual pass to the Singapore Zoo.   We only have to go 2-3 times for it to pay its self off and knowing that we are only 2.5 km away, that should be easy.

Leave it to Singapore to have the cleanest, nicest smelling zoos I have ever been to.  Unlike the zoo in Bangkok, it wasn't full of animal shows where you second guess safety and how the animals were being treated.   The Singapore Zoo is a good balance of seeing the animals, education,  and natural habitats.  It's probably the nicest zoo I have ever seen.

The zoo also has a splash park and playground.   We spent a good amount of time there and didn't make it to all the exhibits.    That's alright because we have a year to do so.

The kids love their animal statues. 

Kis Play Zone: water area.  The pass will be used mostly for this area.

What is so cool about this zoo is not all the animals are in cages.  Some are free roaming. 

Feeding time.

The lemurs FREAKED Liam out. 

The cutest baby orangutans.  I wish the picture was better.