It's time to embrace the new....

I've spent the last 5 days trying to make life feel 'normal' for our whole family.   I think it has helped to have many of the familiar favorites from home...spiderman sheets, cuddly blankets, Peets coffee, & scrambled eggs in the morning.   We've had Prego pasta for lunch (Charlie's favorite) & Nando's for dinner (Jeff & my London fast food favorite).  We've shopped at Ikea & ToysRUs.  We've watched some of our favorite movies on our new tv & the iPad.  But after 5 days of trying to make this life feel like that life...I'm realizing it doesn't taste or feel the same.  And trying to make it feel familiar isn't working anymore (at least for the lone female in this story:)

It's time to embrace this new life.  We need to find our new favorite yogurt (Yakult drinks here we come!)...since yoplait costs $20...even Max laughed at that one in the grocery store!!  Sadly for me, a tiny container of hummus also costs about $10.  My daily staple just became a luxury for special occasions:(

So to embrace the new and good....here are a few of my very first favorite things about our Singapore life....

Our new travel game (or small space living game)...Rush Hour Jr...Charlie is my 'game lover' so it's been a fun past time for him...and me too:)

 Of course Oscar is one of my favorite things but this gorgeous 'Baby Einstein' view of the city is going to be such fun for this crawling, toddling little boy over the next year.

 Here's one view...of a quiet little neighborhood tucked amongst the high rises...so fun to see kids playing in their backyards, adults doing tai chi in the mornings, trucks, cars, bikes riding along...

 View outside Charlie's window...the building of a 33 story high rise.  (Although loud in Jeff & my opinion) the boys LOVE it.  What could be better than a real life construction site outside their window.

 This little silver beauty of a door is my absolute favorite thing so far.  

It's a trash chute for the building. 

LOVE being able to toss the trash (& smelly diapers)
 several times a day and only have to take a few steps to do it! 

 Our new 'backyard' is the swimming pool.  We've been there at least once a day...sometimes twice a day.  It's the social hub for our three high rise complex as we've already met several neighbors and new friends.  (even a family from Iowa!)

and to keep it real I should add our days have also been full of tantrums, hitting, kicking, fighting, screaming ( and that's just me:)  j/k....seriously we're a bit in the trenches right now but doing our best to adjust and find the positive at the end and beginning of each new day.  Thanks for coming along with us.  Love to hear from you if you're reading along:)

From California Pizza Kitchen to Little India's Wet Market...

Quite the contrast from our first lunch at CPK... salads, pizza and mac & cheese...to lunch at Little India's wet market...our meal consisted of interesting i.e yellow hot dogs for Max (its a slow transition to new foods for him), yummy chicken rice & several new fruits for us all to try.  

We have an orientation person who assists with bank accounts, transit cards, community info, and my favorite so far... intro to the best wet & dry markets around!   Max was hesitant (as we expected) to stay behind with an unfamiliar temporary babysitter.  Charlie & Oscar, on the other hand, had a fun day at home playing with their new friend while Max came along for opening our bank accounts (took 3 hours), some first grocery shopping & a visit to the wet market.  

It was fun to have some one on one time with Max.  He's our boy who needs that more than the others in transitions like this.  So I was glad this day outing provided some time for him to hang with Mom & Dad. 

23 hours door to door....

 We survived!! 

 Our last goodbye before we boarded the people mover.  

Can you say style or what???  

With 13 bags, boxes, stroller, pack-n-play to check plus 5 persons...

the people mover was the way to go!!

 Oscar tried out a new mode of transport.  

Wheels on the carseat... worked great and we loved it!!

 The travel 'bridge' between our two worlds took almost 24 hours total.  

Our last hours of packing up our CA home 

and the hours of checking in at the airport, etc 

were so tiring we were happy to be seated for our first 

connecting flight thru Seoul of 12 hours. 

Although Oscar was our toughest traveler, 

he was also the biggest charmer.  

Our most beautiful flight attendant Farah, 

(who warmly gave me her # and FB address 

to keep in touch in Singapore!), 

took Oscar around the plane for introductions.  

 Our first night and days have consisted of three simple things... unpacking & finding all the familiar things from home that we packed (like Max's Lakeside tshirt & Charlie's Zapped tshirt:), 

swimming and walks to get coffee & food!  First lunch CPK:)  

No worries we'll all be more adventurous in our eating soon enough!

We are taking things one day at a time....even a moment at a time.  

Overall we are all doing well and adjusting as best we can.  

Jeff compared this stage to having a newborn...

completely tiring emotionally & physically 

and completely worth the investment of both.

Just never thought we'd be having the 4th 'kid' quite like this!!

Singapore Fling....A last send off....

We are in that 'in between' living.  Those of you who move often know exactly what I mean.  It's a balance of emotions and lives.  Trying to savor each day of life we have here in CA...a life we love so very much, with people we love so very much.  And looking forward and preparing for a new life & adventure at the same time.  We started off our final week with a fun send off party (hosted by ourselves:) that was a ton of fun and great to have one last chance to see so many friends and neighbors all together at once.  It was a lovely al fresco evening with an Asian food truck and good company!

And we're off to pack and sort and organize....

we'll see you on the other side!

In less than two weeks we are leaping into a new adventure with our 3 boys....

We're heading to Singapore to live.

We'll do real life like school, church, time outs, potty training...

We'll do the surreal life like travel to Thailand & Japan, eating new foods, and maybe even learning some Mandarin.

We're nervous, excited, sad, thrilled, you name it...we feel it right now.

Most importantly we BELIEVE in what we are doing, love the adventure of it all and look forward to learning more about how our world 'ticks'.  

We'd love to have you follow us on our blog....and even come visit!!!  Here's to 12 days and counting....

Happy 4th of July!!

Love this day of red,white & blue,

fireworks & flags flying

and playing with my

own little Yankee Doodle Dandy's:)