Field Trip

This week the kid's montessori school took a field trip to Chinatown.  This was supposed to happen before Chinese New Year, but because of an outbreak of HFMD, it was postponed.  So, this past Thursday the school spent the morning touring the National Heritage Museum, eating lunch, and playing around.

Jack playing in the museum...

Jack with his friend, Daniel...

Ainsley looking at one of the exhibits...

Kara inside the museum, proud that she is standing on the bench...

Jack with two kids from Ainsley's class...

Ainsley and her friends...

Ainsley's hair was growing uneven, long in the back but short on the sides, so she got a hair cut this week.  It is more even now with the back matching the length on the sides.  I couldn't get a great picture, but the next two give you an idea with a front and side shot...

More CNY, MacRitchie, and the Winter Garden

Chinese New Year is still going on!  A lot of people take the entire week off for CNY and business definitely slows down.  During Christmas time here none of the stores or businesses close and life goes on pretty much as usual, but during CNY things definitely close and slow down.  We caught a lion dance this weekend -- random lion dances or dragon dances take place throughout the week.  Jack loved it and wasn't scared at all.  Ainsley enjoyed it but the loud drums scared her a little bit.  Kara was totally freaked out and didn't like it at all.  Kara had to be held the entire time and even then was on edge.

This weekend we tried a new park, MacRitchie Reservoir.  It is a really nice trail along the water (~10k) but we barely made it 1/2 a kilometer.  The kids enjoyed running around and then we ate a picnic lunch.

We got to see some monkeys!

Some pictures we took one night last week in the winter garden (at our apartment complex)...

Orange trees are everywhere right now for CNY.  Below is what the decorative orange trees look like that are all around our apartment complex (even in the "winter garden").  Traditional gift during CNY is two oranges and a red envelope with money, called Hong Bao.  

Jack playing with rocks...

Kara smelling the flowers...

No idea what the next two flowers are, but they are pretty...

I am not sure if I was photographing the ants or the flower, but it looks cool...

And of course, this week's best pic is Kara's pose when I asked her to smile for the camera...

Good News and Deep Thoughts

Jack had his follow up appointment today (surgery follow up) and all is good!  The doctor said it was a success and all should be good :-)

Ainsley's vocabulary has been increasing at a rapid rate lately and some of the things she is saying cracks us up so I wanted to share a few of them...

While reading a farm animal book we see a cow with a large udder.
Ainsley: "Mommy, why is there a pig in that cow's stomach?"
Mommy: "That is the cow's tummy, not a pig"
Ainsley: "Why does it look like a pig?"
Mommy: "Well, the cow has a lot of milk in her tummy and it makes it big, and since it is pink it looks like a pig"
Ainsley: "Oh, it has a full tummy of milk so the milk is coming out of it's butt!"

While Ainsley is pooping.
Ainsley: "Mommy, the poop is looking at me"
Mommy: "Poop can't see you, it doesn't have eyes"
Ainsley: "The poop can see me with its nose!"
Mommy: "Poop doesn't have a nose either"
Ainsley: "My poop has arms"
Mommy: "Okay"

While looking over a railing and telling Matt she didn't want to fall over and die.
Ainsley: "I don't want to die"
Matt (surprised to hear her use the word die for the first time): "Do you know what happens when you die?"
Ainsley: "Yes, bugs eat you"

My personal favorite... :-)
Ainsley: "Mommy, I like you"

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy New Year!  Today (14 February) is Chinese new year, closing the year of the Ox and starting the year of the Tiger.  Chinese New Year is a massive holiday for China and countries with Chinese influence.  Monday and Tuesday of this week are public holidays, so we are enjoying a long weekend.

Saturday afternoon we took the kids to Chinatown.  We took the subway, which the kids loved.  Last year we made the mistake of going to Chinatown on the actual CNY day and it was dead -- everything was closed.  So this year we went on the eve of CNY and there was lots going on!  We enjoyed dinner at a hawker stand and then walked around looking at all the decorations.  We tried to hang out long enough to see the CNY parade but there was a delay and it wasn't going to start until too late so we didn't get to see it.

Lined up waiting for the parade that we never got to see...

Kara was being cute so I got a lot of shots of her.  Below she is standing in front of a vendor selling Chinese New Year decorations.  Matt went over to buy something for our front door.  As you can see there is a big sign that says "$1" and that is how much he was supposed to spend.  However, Clark Griswald Diamond made the purchase ($12, not $1) which you will see below.

Kara trying to escape...

Putting on a show for some locals standing behind me...

Jack doing the kind of stuff he likes to do...

And, Matt's decoration...

Yep, it even lights up!

Check it out below, Jack can reach the door handles now.  He can't quite push them open, but I am afraid it won't be long!!!!

Tonight we enjoyed a bbq with some friends of ours and the kids had a blast running around the grounds.  Tomorrow we will continue to enjoy the holiday!

Man of the House!

Kim had to go back to Austin to get us a new house and have her quarterly offisite for business. I stayed in Singapore and held down the fort with the three amigos (Ainsley, Jack, and Kara).  The week was actually very good and we really got to know each other better. Tears were plentiful (missing Mommy and not liking the Dad's way of running the house) but a ton of fun.  I took several photos this week with my phone (as there was not time to use the normal camera).  Please don't hold my update to Kim's standard as it won't muster...

The first one is of my mother Barb as a 1.5 year old (well Kara but i really see barb in her :)  Especially with the bare feet and attitude.  Kara was sick the entire week, except for the weekend kim was gone.  We went to the hostpital on Thurs and had to get her some antibiotics to correct some blood she had in her "motion" as they call it here.  She is all good now.

I had a long conversation with Ainsley about "helping daddy" when we were going out.  We went to the Zoo on Sat and took a couple outings and she rode her buggy board and helped tremendously all weekend.    She was a GREAT big sister.  Kara said "me" for the first time this weekend (that i have heard) and it seemed significant although i don't really know what it means.  I think it indicates some self awareness that she didn't have before.

Ainsley really like the cat (leopard) for some reason when we went to the Zoo on Saturday.  Jack and Kara weren't allowed to get out of the stroller much but they also enjoyed the sights and sounds.  All were VERY distressed that the baboons weren't sighted :)

Ainsley "rescuing" Jack after a tumble in the stones.

The kids eating grapes after they woke up from nap on Sunday.  The calm before the storm.

We played in the stones for an hour one day.  Was the weirdest thing.  Jack wandered over there and we chased him then all three of them threw stones around for an hour and dug holes. 

Overall the week was the good, but we missed Kim tremendously and there were many tear filled sessions asking for Mommy when Dad was laying down the law.  Kim will get home in a couple hours and we will start a new week :)