Halloween....High Rise Style....

We weren't sure how Trick or Treating would go down this year 

living in a high rise apartment building. 

Like most things in our life right now, 

Halloween looks, feels & smells quite different 

than what we are used to... 

Jeff brought us back some Trader Joe's pumpkin bread mix 

from his last trip to CA. 

Such a treat to have this yummy familiar scent filling up our home.  

The boys got to take the cherished bread 

to both their class Halloween parties.  

So funny as people just raved and raved 

about the yummy 'spice bread' they all called it:)

I have to admit that I had planned on our boys NOT 

doing the trick or treating this year.  

It entails all the elevators being jam packed with hot excited kids.  

Elevators getting stuck on floors, long waits for the next elevator, etc.  

One of our biggest challenges behavior wise for Charlie & Max 

is the tight confinement of the elevator and controlling their bodies, hands and voices.  

It's a constant daily battle for us all.  SOOO I had vetoed the idea of elevator trick or treating.  

But literally 15 minutes before the parade and trick or treating began 

I caved.  

And I have to admit they did just fine...

maybe because they were joined at last with other kiddos 

who were loud and excited in the elevators too!!  

For the American holidays, its fun to have 

so many other American Expats as neighbors.  

There was quite the turn out for the kids parade around the pool.

  

Jeff then took the boys, floor to floor via elevator to get their treats.  

There is a strategy to the elevator trick or treating 

so Jeff & a couple other groups teamed up to 

'hold the elevator' at each floor.  

It was a fun experience for this year!  

Oscar's adorable Halloween dancing steps.  

It was too hot for him to wear any of his costumes this year 

so he just opted to look festive and be cute!!

Our slightly decorated front door.

Max's school Halloween party was hosted by Jeff & I.  

One of the only American families in Max's class.

Jeff carved a pumpkin...which for most of these kiddos,  

this was their first time seeing a jack-o-lantern 

and peeking inside to see all the messy seeds. 

We had fun showing the class 

photos of Max & his brothers trick or treating for past Halloweens.  

They were fascinated with the costumes, houses, streets, etc.  

An American cultural experience for the kids...and the teachers too:)

Our Pinterest preschool craft....

decorating little mandarin oranges like jack-o-lanterns.  

See Max thru the window with his hat on ready for outside play time.

Charlie's Halloween party at the American school was 

of course a totally different affair.  

Everyone knew this holiday and of course loves it!!  

It was a fun day for Charlie & his classmates.

Batman is quite intent on his cookie decorating!

One feeling was the same for me this year here in Singapore....

I'm always ready for Halloween to be over.  

Pack up the spiders, cob webs & jack-o-lanterns.  

HIDE the candy or give it away.  

And move onto one of my favorite autumn holidays Thanksgiving!

The Great Wall....

Our Great Wall trip came with much anticipation, 

some anxiety about traveling in China with 3 little boys 

and some pretty high expectations.  

It was the trip that was tops on our list of must do's 

when we moved to Singapore.

Jeff had visited the wall on a couple of previous occasions 

He had dreamed and planned of the day 

when we could all visit together.

We arrived to Beijing on a Sunday afternoon 

after traveling for 6 plus hours via bullet train from Shanghai.  

Beijing was dreary, dark and raining hard.  

We immediately got in a car and drove the couple hours 

out to the wall to stay for the night.   

We stayed at a charming cottage 

which is one of a collection of cottages 

that have been rehabbed and reinvested 

back into the community.  

Sunday night we braved the rain 

and walked up to the base of the wall.  

With the storm, rain and darkness we couldn't see anything.  

We just hoped and prayed for a sunny day 

to greet us on Monday.

Here are the boys ...after our cold and rainy walk

warming up...on the heated tile floor of the bathroom 

We woke up to the most beautiful of fall days.  

It was a special treat to be at the wall 

with the fall leaves changing, the pumpkins & crisp cool weather.  

It did my heart good to wear a fleece and jeans!!

We also woke up literally at the crack of dawn

(thanks to Oscar!) 

and so we were the very first visitors on the cable car 

and on the wall that morning.

We were on the wall before the local venders 

were even there setting up their tables.

Our first climbing steps onto the wall!

Very exciting!

Charlie reading us the signs about No Running on the wall.

And then we let the boys run...just a little:)  

It was vacation after all!

Oscar had started taking his first real steps

just prior to our China trip

 He was still in that cute stage 

of being faster crawling than walking.  

and would revert to the crawling 

when it was most important to move fast and keep up!

And the big brothers loved helping Oscar 

along the way with his new little steps!

A little running and freedom
makes for a very happy & sweet Max.  

Although Oscar had a new found love of walking, 

he spent more moments riding along on Jeff's back 

than any other place.  

And of all our boys, he enjoyed it the most.

Thank goodness.

But Oscar still had sad moments 

of not liking the confinement.

Poor boy...and poor Jeff:(

We had a lot of moments like this.

Readjusting the back pack, wiping a runny nose, 

finding a snack, changing a diaper...

all the real life stuff that still comes along on 

once in a lifetime trips on the wall.

Our ride down the wall at the end was on the toboggan ride.

Charlie got to ride down with our guide Tana 

who was a post grad student from Mongolia.  

Fun to hear about her life in Mongolia

Max was again completely thrilled 

and happy with the toboggan adventure.

Love that smile!

Back at our little cottage where we attempted some photos.
I fell in love with this chippy blue Chinese door.
Charlie was my best model for the photo shoot:)

A late breakfast after our early visit to the wall.

Max is happy to have his bacon & sausage:)

Back at the cottage playing in the garden.

So nice to enjoy the fall sun and let the boys run around for a bit!

Some great memories...some great moments...

and a great 'check' to our list of travel 

for this year of adventure.

You know you are in China when....

You try to post a photo to Facebook and realize that Facebook is NOT allowed in China.  (I later discovered you can access FB via mobile phone.  just not computer)

You lock up your computers when you leave the hotel room since one of you is employed by Google.  And China is not a huge fan of Google.

We feel like the paparazzi are always with us when we are walking the streets with our 3 BOYS who are blue eyed, blond & fair skinned.  (We have had dozens of people ask us over and over....3 boys?  3 boys?  We forgot how prized boys are in Chinese culture.)

Cokes are $.25, Boxes of cereal are $1.50 and an entire dinner was $3!!!

There is no 'easy anything' (except for Starbucks & McDonald's)....like finding diapers.  You must have the concierge translate 'diaper' into Chinese and then call around to department stores to find which one carries diapers.  And then walk 15 minutes to get them.

We marvel at the activity and camaraderie we saw in the 'over 60 plus' generation.  The parks we visited were full of ballroom dancing, tai chi, playing jianzi (kicking a little weighted ball between players), badminton, organized exercise on park equipment, and on & on.....And all being done by the over 60 generation!!!  I loved this part of the Chinese culture more than anything else. 

I was moved while hearing stories of the continuing support of the 'one child family' policy.  One guide explained that 95% of Beijing population was subject to this law, while a mere 5% were allowed a second child.  Termination and death at birth are still very much accepted and understood.  (The conversation with the guide was prompted again by the fact that I have THREE SONS.  completely unheard of in Chinese culture) 

We finally had some true Autumn weather....crisp blue skies, changing leaves, pumpkins...It was such a treat to this fall loving gal.  And my favorite spot to experience the fall weather was the Great Wall.  So beautiful.  I can't wait to go back someday....preferably without preschool and toddler aged children:)

We walk into a restaurant and are handed a laminated card with photos of the food selections.  Works for me.

People giggle when Charlie & Max practice their Mandarin.  Not very encouraging for the boys who are being brave to try out a new language.  But I'm sure it sounds very foreign and cute on the other end.

Jeff describes our China trip, and more importantly our Great Wall visit, as 1/4 of the motivation for us moving to Singapore.  Imagine the pressure on this trip!  (I think it was successful.  It was one of the hardest weeks of our life...culture wise, parenting and marriage wise...and yet we all left with some great memories.)  And the box was ticked.

Some things do start to come full circle

(or 1/4 of the circle I guess)

I am beginning to find things to love about Asia and its rich culture.

That was MY 1/4's of motivation for moving to Singapore.

The three little monkey's below are the final 3/4's motivation.

Happy Fall??

I am missing this.....

Both the gorgeous fall tree 

seen outside my kitchen window in Palo Alto...

AND the sweet cuddly little baby boy in the stroller.

Instead... 

(and yes... you can slap my wrist for complaining) 

I have constant summer weather in October.

90 degree 'swim at the pool' weather....EVERY DAY.  

And a still sweet but not cuddly toddler boy...

Who is desperately sad when he doesn't get his way....

 I'll just pretend he's crying because 

there are NO pumpkins or fall leaves in Singapore.

He feels his Mama's pain.

No Words...

Life is getting ahead of me these days.  

The 'adventure' of it all is clashing with the daily life of 3 boys, a traveling dad and a mom who isn't sure yet 'what' she's all about here in Singapore.  It makes for some unsettling days.  

We took advantage of one of Charlie's school breaks
to head to Bali for a long weekend.
Bali is usually a destination spot of at least a week to ten days.
We were there and back in four.
Although we wished for 'one more day'...
the 5:30am wake up calls by our littlest Oscar
wore us all out.
A little vacation goes a long way with a toddler in tow.

Jeff showed his true colors
by taking Oscar on two different
mornings for sunrise walks.  

And Jeff even came back with photos and stories 

about how special the time was for he and Oscar.
Can I just brag on Jeff for a second about that?:)
Makes all the difference in all of us
feeling ready for the day to
get an extra hour of sleep each morning.
Up at 6:30am...not 5:30am:)

So aside from the Bali get away....

I've been trying to find the words to say

 what is our daily life like?
I've felt pretty quiet about it all

 But here's an attempt at what's been going on....

Charlie is loving school, struggling and succeeding at the same time...making horrendous choices and amazing choices all in the same week. And how is it that 7 year olds need to have man to man talks with Daddy every night?!  How did we get to this stage so quickly???   So very thankful that Daddy is tender at heart and ready for these talks....good thing as a Dad of 3 boys...

Max is finding his way at school.  Coming home with more stories of adventures and 'missions' on the playground.  Makes my heart happy to hear.  He's finally shared his goodbye song in Mandarin with me...and is more willing to share the Mandarin words he's learning every day.  Max is a slow one to change....hanging on to what he loves (still asking about his blue house and Bing school) but trying to move ahead with the changes in life of rice & veggies for dinner and school that has so many limits. 

Oscar just wants to be doing what the big boys are doing.  One of the biggest challenges I'm finding with this new lifestyle is to slow down and spend time with Oscar.  So many demands from every direction. Its hard to slow down and just let Oscar stack the blocks over and over for 20 minutes without handing him over to someone else who's ready and waiting to help.     

We're two months in and that feels really great ( and feels much longer than 2 months!)
The routines are established and the first & second stage of settling in is finished.
We can start to live real life here in Singapore.  

Playing Tourist....

6 weeks in and we are somewhat settled....

We're finally starting to hit the tourist spots of Singapore. 

 The Singapore Flyer was one of our first choices 

for a Sat afternoon...sans Oscar.  

We are finding this city, although completely baby friendly in spirit

(as in they can't get enough of talking to and entertaining Oscar), 

it is NOT stroller friendly at all.  

(or handicapped accessible for that matter....

but that's a whole post or private conversation for another time)

The big boys enjoyed the panoramic views of the city.

You can see below they are already setting up for the Grand Prix.

I think I have some map lovers on my hands!

And we enjoyed one of our new found favorites....

ice cream between toasted bread!

Shaken....

It only takes a second to remember
how little control we have over life.  

Our reality check came crashing down on us
(literally) at lunch this past Sunday.  

We were eating at an out door restaurant...under a tin roof awning...
a huge storm was brewing and with it
a nice cool breeze was developing.
Jeff & I were commenting on how great it felt to be cool for once.
I was busy navigating the boys with their menu selections
when Jeff screamed..."watch out...here it comes!"
Jeff had heard the crack of a tree breaking....
and he dove to cover up Charlie.
My reaction was too slow and just as I reached over to grab Oscar
the huge tree crashed to the ground.
Inches away from Charlie and Oscar.
We were crying and screaming.
Picking tree parts out of our hair and faces.
Shaking.
Amazed at the closeness we'd just had
to our life changing drastically forever.

Jeff and I went back today to the restaurant.
(Oscar & I stayed in the car)
Jeff went in to take a picture of the tree.
I'm not sure when I'll be able to eat there again.
But we'll have to go soon so its not a big deal for the boys.
Today while furniture shopping with Jeff
some metal table legs came crashing to the floor behind me.
My heart started racing and tears immediately came to my eyes.

I haven't been able to look at Oscar yet
without thanking God for protecting him.
Protecting his sweet adorable face from scars
and his little body from harm.
I'm thankful that Charlie never even saw the tree fall
and doesn't have the picture locked in his mind.
Thankful that Max was completely out of harms way
and actually doesn't seem to even remember much of what happened.
Other than checking on me to see if I'm still crying.

I'm incredibly thankful for the Protection granted to us on Sunday.

and to end on a high note....Here's Oscar.
Proof he did actually accompany us to Singapore
since we never take photos of him.
He is getting BUSY...
quite the climbing monkey and
he loves to move his little dancin' legs:)

4th of July....or Christmas...take your pick!!

It's our first time doing the 'school uniform thing' around our house.  

I have to say we all love it.  They are adorable in them.

Charlie sports the red, white & blue every day.

Max on the other hand looks like an English boy 

ready for Christmas tea in his hunter green hat 

with red & green plaid shirt. So cute both of them!!  

Charlie in his patriotic colors looks like 

a happy American kid off to 2nd grade every day!  

Charlie is loving the independence of riding the bus every day 

and even has a new swagger to his steps.  He's off to a good start.  

Max on the other hand has had a bumpy first week.  

It's an adjustment for him in so many ways.  

And I've mentioned here and there that Max deals with change 

and his emotions in ways that are very unexpected.  

Sweet boy is missing California, his blue house, his Bing school 

and his list of toys that were left behind.  

We're trying to just take things a step at a time with him...

give him extra hugs, book reading time, 

game playing time and lots of sleep.  

Surprisingly Max completely embraced his 'costume' 

as he called it...by day one of school.  

I think he looks absolutely adorable...Jeff is still warming up to it:)

I haven't mentioned Oscar for a bit here and don't have a photo.  

But he's definitely coming into his own..

keeping up as boy #3 around here!  

He's desperately sad when his brothers leave (or Mom for that matter)...

crawling frantically to the front door where he hangs his head and just wails when they (or I) leave.  He's already ready to be out there with the big boys and does NOT want to be left behind.

I'm very much looking forward to spending some more one on one time with this last baby of mine.  This new lifestyle of lots of help around the house and the big boys in school will provide amble amounts of time for Oscar and I to be together...and I'm thrilled about that part of it!

and maybe I'll even find extra time to take a PHOTO of this cute boy #3 sometime!!

a post in bullets...

It's the best I can do.  I've started about 3 posts...they are in my drafts bucket...but life keeps getting in the way.  And just in case we do have a 'following' I'd like to keep you updated.

*We drove about 30 minutes out of the city to visit Charlie's American school earlier this week.  It's a bit of a 'campus' of a school.   300 2nd graders, 12 2nd grades....that's a whole Palo Alto school!!  I'm excited for Charlie but wishing he was going to school a little bit closer to home.  I loved walking him to and from school each day in Palo Alto and picking him up to find out immediately how his day went.  He'll be riding one of three full buses from our complex for about 40 minutes each way...(bus leaves at 6:58am....yikes!)

*Max loves peaches.  I've been buying them without really checking the price...since he loves them so much.  I realized today that his four peaches were $15.  too bad for Max...he'll have to find a new love:)

*To celebrate Singapore's National Holiday/Indpendence Day yesterday...like our 4th of July...we attended a bbq at our complex. Complete with rice crispy treats and hot dogs....and even red solo cup wine glasses (all the rage on pinterest this summer!)  Not sure that was quite the Singaporean celebration we should have had....but it was nice to meet some more of our neighbors. And Max hasn't stopped talking about those 'square things that have glue in them' (rice crispy treats...Max's first taste of them)

*Max goes to school about a 10 minute walk...door to door....  perfect:)  We did our visit today with his teachers.  I'm not sure they knew what to do with our Max.  They were a bit taken back by his exuberance for life!!  Hopefully he and they will settle down a bit when Mom & Dad aren't in tow.

*Tango is the new method of keeping the extended families in touch.  It's working pretty well...and yet the families feel so so far away.  I try to keep that idea and emotion in check more than any other.  But its probably the biggest sacrifice of them all in this adventure of ours.  We need our families and they need us.  So thankful for the support and positive encouragement that is always ready for us in each 'Tango' call.

*We are loving our temporary helper..Edilyn. She's like a second set of my hands.  Seriously...she magically appears when Oscar is fighting me with diaper changes, swoopes in when the phone rings and makes sure the boys are occupied....Supplies the boys with their never ending request for snacks (I want cut up apples, sliced peaches, a hot dog!  I feel like we have suddenly hit the teenage years of eating around here!!)  She's cleaning, mopping, doing laundry, putting away groceries, prepping dinner....it's amazing.  And yet I'm happy when she leaves at 5 and we have the house to ourselves.  Not sure I'm going to be able to embrace the 'live in maid' when she comes.     I'm sure I'll adjust:)

*The woman and families we are meeting in our complex are so nice, really friendly.  And I'm a social one by nature....and yet at this late age of mine (almost 40) I'm craving more than anything all my wonderful and loving friends around the globe:).  I already have the most wonderful friends and neighbors.  It's been an emotional thing each day to wake up and gear up for being part of this new expat community.  I do know that friendships don't always come with rules about how long you will be there or where you are from or how many kids you have, etc.  I AM looking forward to being surprised by these new friendships in my life here.  But I miss my well seasoned friends so so much. xoxo

*Charlie & I have discovered a new love for carmel popcorn...when we are out and about together it's been our treat of choice...and today we found a Garrettt's popcorn stand.  Charlie couldn't quite believe that in downtown Chicago you wait for over an hour for a bag of popcorn when today we walked right up and had a taste of the best popcorn ever!!  Charlie kept saying...'and I was born in Chicago..this popcorn is perfect for me!"...so cute!  who would have thought we'd discover it together in Singapore!!

Next post...first day of school photos...costume and all!!!

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!!