The Great Escape...

What a gift to meet up with two of my dear friends.

The husband's coined it the Great Escape right from the start.

and it was exactly that.

 We had endless time to ask all those questions 

we never get around to asking 

AND the time to answer them! 

We had leisure meals with no worries 

about getting back to babysitters or kid responsibilities.

 We ventured out most days and 

had fun exploring the local views.

and then back to swim, chat and relax some more!

The men all did amazing holding down the fort.

And the plans are already being made for the Great Escape II

for the HUSBANDS this time!!

Ruined by Paradise....

The Maldives

We did so much of this....

Enjoying the beauty of the sand and ocean.

Walking out straight to our little section of beach 

and swimming in to snorkel.

We saw everything.  Even sharks!

Oscar wasn't a huge fan of the ocean...

or of Mama being out in it without him!

Daily beach exploring

It felt like we owned this entire beach it was so deserted.

Thankfully they had fun kid activities.

Cooking class making sushi & chocolate cake.

Tennis

Kids Club

The older kids activities allowed us to have 

some relaxation time with THIS LITTLE ONE.

so cute but oh so busy.

Enjoying the sunset just Oscar & I.

Even sharing my sunset drink...

Not really of course it was Jeff's:)

Cheers!

We did venture off the beach every so often.

Max's favorite activity was trying to catch the sand crabs.

Oscar loved the washing up bucket!

The big boys went fishing with Daddy and caught tons of fish!

And then we had a nice family dinner
eating the freshly caught fish that night!

We went from beach to pool

to beach to pool.

It was a tough choice.

 

We played and played.

And had some quite moments together too.

And then before we knew it

we were saying goodbye to Paradise.

Back to reality.

Reality hits so so quickly!!

This post was a tough one to write.
I want to be honest in how our life is portrayed.
But honestly who wants to see photos 
of angry ugly moments in a family?
Tantrums, melt downs & struggles.  
We don't want to remember them either.

This trip was a once in a lifetime trip 
and it had some amazing moments.
This post is about the good moments captured.
Be assured that travel for us is NOT easy, 
not calm and not usually even very happy.
We capture the good moments to hold on to
in the midst of tears (the boys AND mine)
 battling angry brothers and 
toddlers that wake up at 4am ready for the day.

This is not the season of life I would have chosen 
to be doing this kind of travel with our boys.  
But we've been given this time and adventure NOW 
so we're making the most of the wonderful moments along the way.

At least it comes with a cute bag....

I had so hoped with the year round warm weather here in Singapore 

that the Merkel boys would skip their annual weekly winterly visits to the Doctors.  

NOT to be so....

one of these cute cheery carry bags 

has been on my kitchen counter 

for about 2 months now. 

We get a new bag about every 10 days or so it seems.

 

Each time one of the boys gets an ear infection, 

tonsil infection, SE Asian bug 

we tromp down the street to our very convenient 

and trendy medical clinic.  

It's the best medical clinic I have ever been 

in all my years of pregnancies, 

7 years of little boy ear infections, several different countries and states.  

It's cheerful, clean, convenient, QUICK, 

and you leave with your meds in hand 

all wrapped up in this cute little bag.

A little bit of "HOME" personally delivered....

My parents arrived for a wonderfully long 18 day visit.

They immediately brought home, hugs and smiles to our lives.

Here's Mimi & Pop Pop surprising Charlie at school.

Such Joy!

I think both Mimi & Charlie couldn't smile much bigger in this photo!

We had so many great moments like this...hanging out, 

playing games and just spending time together.

And of course SO much eating.  It's what you do in Singapore....

eat and shop:)

Here's our first dumpling meal.  

Jeff & Charlie were the pros at dumplings 

as this is one of their favorite spots to hit on the weekends.

Marina Bay Sands with the view of Singapore harbor.

Such a treat to have some time sans boys.

Great fun to welcome in two holidays while Mom & Dad were here.

Celebrating Thanksgiving together was such a special time.

and also such a treat to begin the Christmas season together.

And Oscar appears in the photos!!  

Beach Bum....

Oscar is the first Merkel boy to NOT have an immediate love for sand.  

Which doesn't bode well for our lifestyle of beach vacations right now.  

The one advantage to the dislike of sand on Oscar's feet 

was it SLOWED him down.  

And on some occasions 

even made him stay on the blanket to play.

But overall he wasn't happy not moving 

and running like his brothers.

And he was also getting to heavy and big 

to carry for very long on a sandy beach.

On our most recent Thanksgiving beach trip 

Oscar tipped the scale on his dislike of the scratchy sand.  

The fun of the waves and getting 

wet & messy convinced him 

to just go for it! 

And he joined the ranks of 

total Beach Bum

 like his big brothers!

Thanksgiving Indonesian Style...

We headed to Bintan, Indonesia for our Thanksgiving weekend.

Jeff arranged for a full turkey with all the trimmings.  

Mom brought the fun Thanksgiving decorations, plates and napkins.

We were so very thankful to have family with us on Thanksgiving.

So very blessed by these three little monkeys.

Also blessed to see that in the craziness of being brothers, 

there is such love & affection there too.

Charlie's Thanksgiving feast at school.
One of the many advantages of an American school:)

Max's first visit to Charlie's school & classroom.

The silly picture of pilgrim boys & girls :)

One of two....

We have two spots that we want to see 

(without the boys) 

before we leave Singapore.  

Vietnam and Cambodia  

It was a thrill to check off one

The first night when we headed out to see the town

 we crossed the busy street of taxis & scooters

I was literally shaking when we arrived 

at the other side of the road 

it was so terrifying to cross thru the traffic.

I was beyond relieved to be in Vietnam 

with just our 2 lives at stake...

and not 3 little monkeys' too:) 

And can I brag to say 

that by day 2 we were such pros 

at crossing those crazy streets.  

The trick?  You walk SLOW.  Can you imagine?  

Slowly walking thru the beeping craziness 

of hundreds of scooters zooming around you...

you simply have to watch out for the taxis 

and the scooters will watch out for you. 

Crazy but it works.

So....Jeff & I snuck away to Hanoi,Vietnam 

when my parents came for a visit.

It was amazing.

The country, the city, the people, the history.

I learned a lot about what being an American

 means to the Vietnamese.

It felt strange and heavy at times to think of the history 

& hear first hand about the collision of our countries.

We shopped in a Fair Trade shop for souvenirs.  

We ate at a restaurant that invests in street kids 

and gives them training in the restaurant profession.

It felt necessary to be careful about what we bought 

and where our money was spent.  

Jeff was able to relished in one of his favorite pet peeves....

POWER LINES!

Their enormous bundles are everywhere...

and are truly something to be seen.  

ALL of our housing decisions have been affected 

by the presence and needed absence of power lines:)

We didn't take very many photos in Hanoi.  We mainly soaked up the culture and actually relaxed quite a bit in our lovely hotel.  It was the best of both worlds for a quick get away.

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!