Tis' the season!

Season's Greetings from Singapore! December 1st and the boys woke up excitedly...hoping for an Advents Calendar. Thank you, Gramma and Grampa for our beautiful, Lindt chocolate calendar! They were sleepy but very happy as they woke up early to see if they had any surprises!! When it comes to eating the chocolates, Frunty and Pit alternate days. They agreed to share the 1st day and the 24th as well. Good team spirit, boys and I am happy you came up with this plan on your own!

The Mommy and Daddy gave the boys each a Tim Horton's Christmas tree ornament. This year the boys became part-owners of Timmy's when the Daddy bought some shares on their behalf with their own savings! Congratulations!

On the 1st day of Christmas, we went to see a lovely movie called Frozen at the Tampines cinema with a friend from Shanghai, China, named Amy. Afterwards, we all met up for dinner with Papa and Amy's husband, Andrew from Scotland at Din Tai Fung, a famous dumpling restaurant where you can watch them make these delicious, little, soft parcels through a window.

 This photo of Frunty, in front of the ad for Frozen, was taken a few days later. It covered the wall at the Tampines MRT.

They have broth inside. So first, you pick them up with your chopstick, poke a little hole in it carefully with your front teeth, suck out the broth and then pop the whole thing in your mouth. Delicious!

My little elves were so excited to find a tree all decorated on the 1st. Even though we are packing to move in just two weeks, our boy's smiles are worth the effort. I placed all the Christmas books underneath the tree.

On the second day of Christmas, we met our American friends at Katong I12 mall for a lunch together and a gift exchange. The next day they flew off to Phoenix. We will see them again at the end of February but just briefly before our move. We hope to visit them in Phoenix one day!

On the third day of Christmas, we met our friends at IKEA for a turkey shank dinner with red cabbage. Well, Frunty opted for the Swedish meatballs! I brought these lovely serviettes to jazz up our table!

 "We like Lingonberry juice!" the boys exclaimed.

Anthony and Papa enjoyed a good chat and their shanks!

 Afterwards we posed with our friends in some lovely decorated living rooms...for fun. It was pretty silly!

 Frunty made a fun accessory with a measuring tape and some pencils!

  

Cassandra, Sharon and the Mommy by a Charlie Brown type tree!! After IKEA, we all parted ways but our fun did not stop chez nous! We had Pit's favourite...stollen! And Frunty's favourite Panettone! German and Italian traditions come together in our home, especially on the holidays!

A few weeks earlier, Pit asked me if we could please have Gramma's special cake...the one with powdered sugar on top. Luckily Singapore has just about everything! I found it at Jason's Gourmet market at Orchard Road. The Panettone is easy to find and this one is from the Market Gourmet supermarket at Katong I12.

The holiday season is in full swing with lots of good cheer, good friends and fun activities. Our Advent wreath this year is made from things we already had at home. The wreath normally hangs on our front door but here it is, jammed with candles. These white candles are from a service at our church a few years ago. The candle in the middle is made from Beeswax and was a gift from the Beaches, Toronto. Although we cannot take all these items to Koh Lipe, Thailand for Christmas Eve and Day, at least we can enjoy them now here in Singapore.

'Tis the season...to be jolly! What's next!? Stay tuned!

Halloween in Woodlands, Singapore

With all the excitement about Raja Ampat, I almost forgot to post Halloween photos. We did it! This year we finally went to Woodlands aka Little America to go trick or treating! Our Hong Kong-American friends, Jessie, Charlotte and Christian picked us up at 4:45pm sharp so we could drive the hour to get to Woodlands before the crowds. And boy oh boy, were there ever crowds! I think most of Singapore showed up for Halloween!

 

Lucky for us the maids were already home to greet the early birds! Frunty was dressed as a zombie baseball player, Pit as a dracula and I think you can guess the Mommy's costume!

Looking at the candy was very exciting! They did not want to take their eyes off it for a photo! Some homes used the FedEx box that their candies were sent over to them from the States in as shell-out containers. In other words, the candy/chocolate were really great North American classics!

We ran into Frankenstein and some other friends from the States. We met up with Quinn, a welder. Charlotte borrowed my cat costume and Christian was a Kung Fu Ninja. Their mother, Jessie, was a zombie witch.

Good on the adults who dressed up too and enjoyed walking around and posing with the kids. The spirit of Halloween...just some good fun together being silly. We took a lot of our candy to Raja Ampat to share with the children there. Great generosity, Frunty and Pit!

We ran into two lovely witches, friendly ones. Jennifer, Quinn and Logan's mom, and her sister, Julie, visiting from Prince Edward Island. We met Julie last October when we went for Sapphire and Ryan's wedding in PEI!

This picture of the kids crossing the street is out of order and should be at the beginning when we first started trick or treating!

 Logan was dressed as the goddess, Athena.

I was thrilled and surprised to see my very good friend from New York, Kirstie. Because all the kids were running around so much as kids tend to do on Halloween in particular, I did not catch sight of any of her four boys. Luckily we had time for this photo before running after them!

Quiet time back at home with our pumpkins. Happy Halloween everyone! Papa missed it this year while on business in the States. We have had some pretty interesting Halloweens over the years in Belgium, Scotland, our condo at D'Manor and now Woodlands. We all agreed that the Beach is definitely where it is at and can't wait for Halloween 2014 in Toronto! That will be scary for more reasons than one!

Raja Ampat: West Papua, Indonesia

Very worth the very long trip from Singapore to Raja Ampat. Three bungalows, one family made up our one week homestay on Pulau Kri. Pulau means "island" in bahasa.

 I barely made it from the boat to the village to deliver gifts of clothes and books that we brought from Singapore before a stampede of kids blocked our way on the dock. Luckily there was a covered place where I could entertain with a light English lesson by reading some bits and bobs from the children's books we donated. When it came time to hand out the clothes, Frunty suggested I throw them one at a time. I enjoyed the giggles when I would throw a skirt to a boy! One shirt flew into the sea! It was a fun and silly time with the children of Yenbuba!

 On the boat from Sorong to our island. We are sleepy but enjoy a snuggle.

A beautiful bay, sheltered, warm waters and a gorgeous house reef where we snorkeled and saw a black tip reef shark among other aquatic gems. We lived simply in Robinson Crusoe type bamboo bungalows over the sea, when the tide came in. Otherwise it was white, white, soft floury sand. Heaven!

One fishing trip, five delicious fresh fish! Our homestay cook, Ate, prepared the fish for us and we enjoyed quite a feast. No fishy fish here....just fresh and delectable! Frunty and Pit both took turns catching them.

 Papa got some very good dives in at this top ten dive location.

We had a nocturnal marsupial visit us most nights. The super soft cuscus was named Manis and loved banans. Very shy little guy but let us pet him.

Endless fun with the village kids in a hollowed out canoe. They were always finding stuff to do and interesting things on the beach to put on their heads or kick around.

Time to say good bye to Ate and her son, Nando. Thanks for a wonderful homestay and all your delicious cooking that was "safe" for us to eat. With very little English or Indonesian between us, we were able to communicate nicely anyway.

The first day, the boys kept their distance. From the second day onwards, these three musketeers were almost inseparable! Having fun together in simple ways. What a great holiday! Thanks, Papa, for challenging us on this one!