New Zealand

On December 11th we started our journey to New Zealand - a vacation we have planned for almost a year.  We flew direct from Singapore to Christchurch, ~9 1/2 hours flying time.  The flight there was an overnight flight, so we arrived very tired, but overall the kids did great on the trip.  Upon arriving in Christchurch we picked up our camper van, loaded up with some groceries, and checked into a camp site.  We stayed one night in Christchurch in a camper park, then headed out for a big drive the next day to Punakaiki on the West Coast.

Our Kea campervan (Matt did a fantastic job driving this massive vehicle, stick shift, on the left side of the road):

We cooked most meals inside the camper, except when we got to Lake Wanaka and I fell in love with the local cafe's and then we ate our lunches out, but still cooked dinner in...

The kid's seats:

Jack wanted to be the driver and spent every spare moment in the driver seat.  Within seconds of releasing him from his car seat he was in the driver's seat pretending to drive. 

We had bad weather in Punakaiki, cold rain and wind.  The kids loved playing on the beach though.  This beach was a one minute walk from our campgrounds:

The pancake rocks were cool to see, although my pictures didn't turn out so great because the mist made it hard to see the coast line:

Next we drove to Franz Josef.  We stayed in a nice campgrounds, the town had a ski-town feel to it.  Lots of backpackers and youngsters on holiday (summer in NZ).

We took a helicopter ride to the top of the glacier.  This was probably the highlight of our trip.  Very cool.  The kids absolutely loved the helicopter. 

Picture of the Franz Josef glacier from the helicopter:

From Franz Josef we drove to Queenstown.  The drive was filled with beautiful scenery -- lakes, mountains, fields, etc.  I am so bummed I didn't take more pictures while we were driving...but it turns out that driving with three small kids kept me too busy to keep my camera on the ready!  I have lots of bruises to show for my many trips taking the kids to the bathroom during the drive and because the drive was so hilly I must have picked up spilled milk, coloring books, games, crayons, snacks, dolls, and blankets a million times.  Between all of that, though, we saw some seriously amazing stuff.  Some of the most beautiful places on earth.

In Queenstown we stayed in a hotel for two nights.  It was a needed break from the camper to get our laundry clean and relax a bit.  We had a really nice spot with a beautiful view.  View from our hotel room on the balcony:

We drove to a very small town called Glenorchy for a day to let the kids ride a horse.  They loved it, of course, and talked about it for a week.  The horse farm:

Ainsley riding "Toby"

Kara riding "Toby"

Jack riding "Toby"

On our drive back to Queenstown we stopped at this beautiful lake, Lake Wakatipu.  The water is crystal clear and freezing cold.  The kids loved it and Jack loved playing in the rocks.

Next we were off to Lake Wanaka.  We ended up staying here for four days because Jack came down with a cold and we wanted to make sure he was getting good naps (rather than nodding off in his car seat) and to give the kids a break from long days in the campervan.  Turns out that two year olds don't like to be strapped down for several hours driving across a foreign country.  From their perspective they had no idea we were in New Zealand...they just kept asking if we could go swimming or to another playground!  Lake Wanaka was a good spot with a beautiful lake, a nice town with really great cafe's (I sampled every eggs benedict in town!) and lots of room for the kids to play.

Some friends of ours from Singapore were in New Zealand during the same time and we arranged to meet up with them in Wanaka.  We spent two nights lined up at the campsite together.  It was nice to see good friends during the holidays so far from home:

From there we drove to the East coast to the town of Oamaru.  This town is famous for its penguin colonies.  This shot is looking town on the town of Oamaru:

We don't have pictures of the very cool penguin exhibit because they don't allow cameras.  Over a hundred penguins swim out to see each morning and then return to their "home" at nightfall.  It was a really cool thing to see in their natural habitat.  The kids liked it, but they were not as impressed as Matt and I were.  I think they prefer to see penguins in the zoo because they are up close!

Our last night we spent in the town of Christchurch.  We visited the city center, took a trolley ride, and ate pizza.  I snapped this cute picture of the girls on the trolley.  They are so cute together:

From Christchurch we flew directly back to Singapore.  The flight back was a daytime flight, so it was a bit harder to entertain the kids for almost ten hours.  The iPad and iPhone apps saved us.  We landed back in Singapore on December 23rd, just in time to have Christmas eve and Christmas at home.  We brought two huge suitcases of dirty laundry back with us only to find our washing machine broken.  Haha!

The NZ trip was a huge success.  There were a few things we didn't end up seeing because the kids needed a break from driving and rushing around, but we saw the majority of everything we intended to see.  The south island is beautiful. Everything we had heard was true and I found myself in awe of how amazing some of the scenery was.  The kids enjoyed being together as a family for two weeks and doing special things like the helicopter, the horse riding, and swimming in the lakes.  We wanted to do this trip from Singapore because the flight is shorter and cheaper than from Texas.  It is a trip we will remember forever :-)

Happy 4th Birthday, Ainsley!

Ainsley turned four on December 4th...and she is so excited to be four!  She had a Tinkerbell party at our apartment complex and lots of friends celebrated with her. 

Coloring Tinkerbell pictures:

 The cake:

Singing happy birthday:

Eating the cake!

 

 After the cake the kids went outside to play and I didn't get anymore pictures :-(

School Days

Ainsley Jack and Kara started their new school last week, Cheerie Hearts.  MMI Claymore officially closed after school on Tuesday.  The kids were sad to leave their friends and teachers, but so far the new school is going well.  They go to school for a half a day and then they spend the afternoon at home with Ms. Lynn, their favorite teacher from MMI Claymore. Below is a picture I took just before we left for school on their first day at Cheerie Hearts.

Tis the Season

We put up the Christmas tree this weekend.  The kids helped decorate, which is obvious.  Jack even helped this year!

 

 

This weekend was Ainsley's school performance with MMI.  Ainsley did a great job on stage, she loves performing!  Here she is after the show with her friend, Kisa:

 

 This week is a busy week for us.  The kids are starting a new school and Ainsley turns 4 on Saturday :-)

What we will miss...

As our time in Singapore is nearing an end we have thought a lot about what we will miss about living here and what we look forward to back in Austin. 

Things we will miss about living in Singapore:

• Public transportation - we will probably miss this the most.  The public transportation is excellent.
• Travel - it is easy to travel to a lot of really great places from Singapore - flights are inexpensive and Singapore is a hub for all flights in Asia.  Also, the Singapore airport (Changi) is amazing.
• Airlines - we will miss Singapore Airlines (aka "SQ").  Best airline in the industry in our opinion.  Quite frankly we have enjoyed avoiding any American-based airline.
• Friends - we have made a lot of great friends that we will miss.  Some of the most interesting, worldly, and cool people we know.
• Our apartment complex - we live in an incredible apartment with beautiful grounds, friendly staff, and some great neighbors.  The pool is amazing and right at our doorstep, as well as tennis courts, playground, and a fish pond.
• Our maid/helper.
• 365 days of nice weather!
• Conveniences of living in a big city.
• The American Club - Dell offers a nice perk in paying for a membership to the American Club.  This has been a huge perk and one we were so grateful to have.  Lots of great stuff for the kids and a little piece of home for us.
• Doctor visits - the doctors here are great and getting appointments is easy.  After any doctor's visit rather than making an extra trip to the pharmacy, any drugs prescribed are dispensed right at the doctor's office.  Very convenient.
• 7am/7pm is sunrise/sunset 365 days a year - the sunrise and sunset is incredibly predictable, which makes it easy to explain to kids when it is time to go to bed and time to wake up.
• Singapore is incredibly safe and clean, which we appreciate as parents.
• The cultural mix - Singapore is 77% Chinese, 13% Malay, 9% Indian, (Eurasians Arabs and others make up the remainder).  It has been a good experience for us to live as a minority and to experience cultures that we were less familiar with before we came.
• Little India and the amazing Indian food it has to offer.
• American Politics (or lack thereof) - we get to avoid the endless political nonsense from "carnival barkers" on CNN and Fox News. 
• Free grocery delivery!

What we won't miss:

• Cost of living - price of alcohol, groceries, eating out, etc. is much higher than Austin.
• The humidity - while we enjoy the nice weather, the humidity is hard to handle sometimes and is often unbearable.
• No seasons - there is only one season: humid summer.  We miss fall and spring...and a day or two of winter :-)
• Language barrier - while English is an official language, often when we are speaking "English" with locals it sounds like a different language.  When we first arrived we understood a mere fraction of conversations, but now we can understand 95% - 100% of most conversations. We understand 0% of Singapore logic.
• Apartment living - even though our apartment complex is nice and our unit is nice, we are tired of living in an apartment!  We look forward to living in a house again.
• The construction noise!!!
• Taxi drivers. (I could write an entire blog post on this one)
• Marble floors + toddlers.
• Late night conference calls with the US and Europe.
• Aircon - the aircon system and aircon maintenance is suspect.  The simple fact that quarterly maintenance on aircon is required was the first red flag.
• Pushing strollers - for miles in the humidity.  Without a car we often use walking as our mode of transport...and pushing strollers can sometimes be a chore.
• "Service" in Singapore (an oxymoron)
• Banking - the multiple accounts in two countries, moving money between accounts, getting cash from the ATM once a day for weeks at a time, and the dreaded credit card decline because we can't switch money from accounts fast enough.
• The time zone difference with the US (14 hours in the fall) and the distance from family and friends.
• The ridiculously long flight back to the US and the US airlines we have to use to get there.
• Singaporeans who will not break the rules, no matter what.
• Football games on Sunday morning - it just isn't right.
• Clothing sizes - clothes are sized for smaller sizes (i.e. Asians are smaller).  Matt still hasn't been able to buy anything here that isn't custom tailored.
• The local "QUESO" just won't be missed at all.  Local versions of queso are best described as movie-theater cheese.

To The States and Back!

Whew!  What a trip!  Last night we got back to Singapore after two weeks in Austin.  It was Jack and Kara's first time to visit the US and our first time to travel as a family to Texas.  The flights were long, but overall not too bad.  The kids were great travelers!  We only had two vomit episodes in flight and even though we lost track of screaming and crying, our memories will only remember the good times so it is as if the crying never happened!

We had an amazing time in Texas!  The kids love our house in Austin, we got to spend some great time with family and friends, we ate our share of queso, Jack cleaned out the town of chips and salsa, and we wore out CC and Pa's "Shrek" collection.  Such great memories.  Only four more months until our move back to Austin!!

Some of our favorite pictures from the trip...

The girls ready for trick-or-treating with some friends:

Ainsley enjoying the playground near our house:

 Jack playing with worms in our backyard:

Kara showing off her face painting (Central Market):

Ainsley telling tall tales to Grandpa D while getting the fire started:

Eating smores:

 Kara being silly with Pa:

CC baking cake with the girls:

At Zilker Park with Aunt Heather and Grandma D:

Kara on the swings with Aunt Heather:

Ainsley and Kara playing with friends at Waterloo:

Kara being silly:

We owe huge thanks to CC and Pa for all they did to make our stay as good as it was, and also huge thanks to Grandma D, Grandpa D, Aunt Heather, Uncle Luke and Emma for flying to Austin to see us.  The kids are lucky to have such loving family :-)