Lunch at the Office

Once a week Paige and I try to visit Mark at work to have lunch with him. She really enjoys going to the office, but I'm not 100% sure it's to see Mark. Usually when I tell her where we are going the first thing out of her mouth is, "boxing?" You see, they have Nintendo's Wii at the office and she loves the boxing game. For those of you not familiar with the game, it has two wireless controllers that you hold while you use your arms to punch your opponent. It's actually quite amusisng to watch her. Plus it's a great way for her to release some energy :)

After Paige's boxing match last week, we went for lunch. Along the way Mark took us on a little detour to a Buddhist Temple, not too far from his office. It was quite elaborate with red and gold interior especially at the alter. It's a bit nuts to find this right near the financial district amongst all the tall modern buildings.

Small World

Usually after Paige gets up from her nap we head for the pool. Most days it's just her and I down there, but today it was crowded. While Paige was playing in the kiddie pool, I got to talking to some women. One was a mother of twin boys who had just moved here from New Jersey and the other was a nanny from New Zealand. After talking for about an hour, I found out that the woman from New Zealand use to nanny for a family in Brush Prairie, WA, where Mark and I grew up! Although I didn't know the family she worked for, she did mention a few names that I recognized. It's crazy what a small world we really do live in :)

Say Cheese!

While walking around on Sunday, Mark turned to take my picture. At the same time these tourists started posing with Paige. I thought it was so funny I had to snap a few shots myself. I'm not too sure how Paige felt about it?

Underwater Disappointment

As we are finding out, living abroad with kids is much different than without. When in London Mark and I would pick up and go out at anytime of the day with very little planning. Now that we have Paige, our adventures are a bit more planned and "child friendly". Saturday we decided to go to Underwater World, which is supposed to be one of Singapore's famed attractions. It is located on Sentosa Island, right off the mainland coast. We began our day early, since Paige is usually ready for a nap by mid-day. After a 15 minute cab ride, we arrived at the aquarium. Mark was a bit bummed to have paid full price for our tickets, seeing that there was a discount for work permit holders (unfortunately he didn't have his with him). As we walked into Underwater World it looked promising. Paige and Mark headed right to the hands on tanks. There they were able to touch the fish, rays and baby sharks as they swam past. I on the other hand prefer to look at the fish rather than touch them, so I designated myself the photographer :) We continued on through the aquarium looking at all the bright colored fish and listening to Paige say "Hi fishes" . After 15 minutes of walking around, we decided to continue on to other parts of the aquarium, however there were no other parts. Much to our surprise that was the extent of Underwater World. One room full of fish tanks and the other with a hands on pond. Needless to say, we were very disappointed. Mark was especially ticked, since he just paid full price for our tickets. After speaking with one of the employees (I just wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything) I found out that a dolphin show was also included in our ticket price. We road a bus to the other side of the island, where the dolphin show was held. I think Paige was more excited to ride the bus than she was looking at the fish. While on the bus she sang "The Wheels on the Bus" with hand motions and all. The dolphin show was pretty entertaining. It's not everyday you can see pink dolphins. After the show, we took a tram back to the mainland, ate lunch and then headed home.

Slacker

I have been reminded by several people (you know who you are) that I haven't updated the blog in awhile.....my apologies. I will try to be less of a slacker.

Paige and I have been trying to keep busy during the week. I've signed her up for a gym class at My Gym (the same place she went in Chicago) and attend class Tuesday mornings. We also have a temporary membership to the American Club, where she participates in a swim class on Wednesdays. We try to visit Mark for lunch once a week at the office and arrange play dates with our friends from Chicago. The rest of the time we are either swimming or going for walks.

Saturday the three of us ventured out to Chinatown (we forgot our camera so no pictures this time). As expected, the streets were lined with vendors and little shops selling anything from Chinese herbs, clothes, electronics and silks. I had lots of fun as the prices were reasonable compared to the rest of Singapore and bargining was welcomed. Mark and Paige headed home early, as Paige wasn't in a shopping mood. I came home with several household trinkets including a pair of Hello Kitty chops sticks and a pair of slippers for Paige, which she so proudly modeled.

Saturday night, Mark and I decided to have a date night. We arranged for a babysitter through the place we are staying. It turns out the housekeepers moonlight as sitters. I was a bit skeptical at first, but everything was fine. We put Paige to bed at 7pm and the sitter came at 7:30pm. I'm sure we will do this again. Unfortunately our dinner was cut short (no dessert) because Mark suddenly had stomach issues. We hurried home and needless to say, he spent the rest of the night not feeling too great. We think it might have been food poisoning, but not sure where he got it from.

Father's Day we ate lunch by the pool at the American Club and then went swimming. Later in the day, we met some friends from Chicago for dinner at Brewerkz Brewery.

After all the recapping of our week, I think I've learned my lesson and will post more often.

Our Weekend

We began our weekend with a celebration at the new Getco office Friday evening. It is a Chinese tradition that when you open a new place of business the lion dance is performed to bring luck and happiness to the new establishment. Joining in the festivities were representatives

from various vendors, exchanges and brokerage firms who work with Getco. At first Paige wasn't too sure about the performance. The lion dance was accompanied by very loud drums, which I think scared her. Once up on Mark's shoulders, she felt better and actually really enjoyed it. The rest of the night she couldn't stop talking about the dragons (I told her they were dragons by mistake and just went with it-oops :)

Saturday we woke up to heavy rains. We wanted to venture out to China town, but the weather just wasn't cooperating. Instead, we decided to stay close to home and wandered around Orchard Road. It's amazing to me how many shopping malls this city-state has. As you walk down Orchard Road, you go from one mall to another. I guess shopping is a good way to stay cool in such a hot and humid climate.

The weather was a bit better on Sunday, so we decided to go to the Botanic Garden. It is a short walk from our place and we thought it would be a good place for Paige to run around.

We weren't there as long as I would have liked, since the mosquitos were doing a number on me. Next time I will be more prepared with bug spray in hand. Although our time spent there was cut short, Paige had fun chasing the birds. After leaving the Gardens, we stopped for lunch where Paige had her first bowl of Ramon. We spent the rest of our afternoon relaxing by the pool.

Big Bed

Before leaving Chicago, I was debating on what to do with regards to Paige's sleeping arrangements. I knew that our second bedroom had two twin beds and thought that this might be a good time to transition her to her regular bed. On the other hand, I was a bit skeptical about making too many changes for her all once. In the end, I decided to keep her in a crib (pack-and-play) until she became more adjusted to her new surroundings.

We had squeezed the pack and play between the two beds in her room (since this is the only place it would fit). It was evident that this arrangement wouldn't last long, as she easily escaped out of the pack and play using the two beds as support. I decided to move one of the beds close to the wall and placed pillows in all the gaps. I thought the best way to transition her would be to have her sleep in the bed at nap time. That way I would be awake if she decides to sneak out. So far she's been adapting well to the bed, don't you think? Hopefully she'll get the hang of it soon!

The Luggage Has Arrived!

I am happy to report that our luggage has arrived. It got here yesterday afternoon....all 5 pieces including the stroller. We are much happier (and cleaner) people now. It was easy to settle into the place we will be calling home for the next couple of months. We are staying at a place called Treetops, which is considered a serviced apartment. Meaning we have housekeeping daily, continental breakfast M-F, free shuttle service to various parts of the city, gym, pool, etc. Basically I feel like I'm on vacation :) We have two bedrooms, two bath, kitchen and living area. The kitchen is equipped with a stove (no oven) and enough dishes and cutlery to get by.

Treetops is located on a quiet street right off of Orchard Road. The location is very convinent, as there are several grocery stores very close by. Many of the grocers are stocked with familiar products from the US and UK, however they don't share the same price tag. A container of cottage cheese $6, Newman's salad dressing $7 and a half gallon of organic whole milk $14 bucks. Wonder if they have coupons? :)

We are still working on our jet lag. Mark seems to be adjusting the best, thanks to his working the Asian shift in Chicago. Paige and I are hanging in there. We both took short naps the last few days and have been going to bed around 7pm. However, we've been waking up at 3am. Hopefully will be adjusted soon.

I haven't taken many pictures yet, but will post them when I do.

We made it......barely

We made it, but what a journey it’s been. We began our 24 hour trip with a 90 minute delay on an O’Hare runway, due to severe weather in New York. This gave us about 30 minutes to transfer to our Singapore Air flight in Newark. Upon our arrival in Newark, we were greeted by a Singapore Air agent who was there to escort us quickly to our next flight. What a mess this turned out to be. At first we were told that we were heading straight for the gate and we would receive out tickets there. (Do to some crazy ticketing rule, we were unable get our Singapore Air tickets in Chicago). They agent then rerouted us to the ticket counter. It seemed as if everyone was in a panic at the ticket desk. Five or so people were wildly punching in our information. Once we got our tickets, we were told to run as quickly as possible, as the gate was about to close. At this point, we were trying to keep up with the two sprinting ticket agents who continued to escort us to the gate. Mind you, we were carrying a duffle bag, backpack and car seat and pushing Paige in her stroller. Oh and to top it off, we had to go through the TSA security process……again!

We get to the gate with about 4 agents motioning us to hurry onto the plane. As soon as we walked onto the plane the serenity that existed before us is now gone. We were completely soaked in sweat and got a good stare down from many of our fellow passengers. As soon as we were finally seated, we’re informed that there was no room for our stroller on the plane and that it would be on the next flight out. This was a little hard to believe, as this was one of the most spacious airplane cabins I have seen. I’m sure they could have found room for a compact umbrella stroller. By this point, we knew there was very little chance that our luggage had made it on the plane (which it didn’t). The stroller and luggage should be here tomorrow. In the meantime, we were given some cash and two overnight bags filled with stuff to get us through the night……including two white XXL t-shirts.

The flight itself wasn’t exactly what I hoping for. Paige slept for maybe 4 hours total. Meaning that I was entertaining her for 14 hours. Unfortunately, she wanted nothing to do with dad on the flight. This made it even more difficult on me. Needless to say, I’m zonked and am heading to bed.