Week 170 and Week 83.5 - We got our stuff!

Yeah!  We got our stuff on Tuesday and have spent the last few days unpacking.  Kudos to Imee who has worked really hard to get the stuff unpacked (did I mention I hate moving?  I have a mental block against it, it sort of puts me in a depressed tizzy, Imee can just plow through with no emotion - it is wonderful).  Our stuff is 99% unpacked - now we just have to put proper light fixtures up and our gazillion pictures. 

Sorry again for the super late post - I hope to be back on schedule next week as there really are no more excuses (well, except the kids are home all day and so are we and everything just seems a bit cosier even though we are in a bigger living space).  Charlotte and Sophia and now sharing a room and that is convenient for us but Charlotte is revolting a bit.  She ends up in our room almost every night - this is fine with me as I can sleep through most anything but Matt ends up with several sleepless nights.  Sophia is generally getting up once a night but I can just pick her up and feed her and then put her back.  It is tough when all four of us are sharing our queen bed.  Luckily I think we have been able to kick Charlotte out of our bed but onto our daybed (I will post pictures maybe next week of our new digs.  Our bedroom is quite spacious which is good as it will double as Matt's office).

The kids are playing in the nearby playgrounds but they are full of dog poo - gross!  Certainly not Singapore standards (and it is a private condo playground - which I think should be better maintained than a public one).  I told Matt we should just buy some playground equipment and make an indoor one in our apartment. 

The girls have gotten good at see-sawing.

Jen and Uncle Matthieu came for a dinner from Hong Kong and Saturday and it was so great to see them and catch up.

We went to Galaxy and had a dim sum lunch fail - but had lunch anyway and saw a Smurf exhibit.

Charlotte and I went to Hong Kong and IKEA to get curtains - she was mostly good but it was still super exhausting!  We were both out on our ferry ride back.

Matt has an office in Macau but it is not yet ready so he is working from home and is really not into it.  Whenever I try to get something done at home it is generally difficult too (I think Matt has some empathy now for my 'work-from-home' plight). 

Speaking of which - in comes Charlotte and now I have to cut the text short and get on with the pictures!

The girls nap together - never again!

Shaggy kitchen hair:

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse time in the kitchen:

Clean playgrounds:

Digging for gold:

A highlight of the week was watching this tree get planted:

Awesome shot of Jen and Matthieu and the girls!

Smurf exhibit:

Sophia brings corn in the shower!

Charlotte's first Hong Kong ice cream at IKEA:

The girls doing the dishes together:

Week 169 and Week 82.5- Thailand and Singapore picture catch up

We are here in Macau and it is hot!  I forgot just how hot an urban jungle feels (even though the temperature is the same as Singapore).

We are trying to find playgrounds and things - certainly not as available as Singapore but available nonetheless.

Sophia is talking a lot more - she says "Yes(h), Bus, Please..."

We haven't yet settled into a sleep routine - inevitably we get up twice a night (hard to enforce one while we are in limbo still).

I am writing this blog while sitting on our living room floor.  But hey!  At least we have internet...

Here is Sophia helping Aunty Jean and Yaya pack:

Our room at the Kantary:

On the way to the pool:

Post pool ice cream:

Beach view:

Field trip to (sleepy) Khao Lak town - looking at the feet biting fish!

Sharing a swing:

The girl's first tuk tuk ride - they were in the air conditioned cab of it though:

Another day.  Another ice cream break:

Daddy's here for breakfast!

Beach shots:

Kid's Club shots:

Swimming shots - we need these arm things now so that we can better watch Sophia:

I think this was a grumpy swimming moment:

Tiki Gods!

The guy who married us - Robert Frei graciously gave us a ride back from Khao Lak to Nai Yang (plus it was nice to catch up):

Dewa Phuket shots:

Sophia at breakfast:

Charlotte calls this her 'mad' face:

Waiting for our food at a Nai Yang beach shack restaurant:

Kitesurfing in Nai Yang:

Back in Singapore!  Last park days!

Eating at TT's:

At the Marriott in Singapore:

2 Matts, a Susie and a Ho have a nice Mexican meal at Senor Taco at Chjimes...:

...While the kids slept:

Sophia at the Grand Mercure Roxy Square:

Bus ride to the airport!  Bye Bye Singapore!

Week 168 and Week 81.5 - I am a delinquent blogger and we are in Macau!

Sorry this is the latest post EVER - but we have been without Imee (and Imee I now realize is critical to making this blog happen) and have been in Thailand, Singapore, and Macau over the last 4 days... and I am squatting in a coffee shop here in Macau as we still don't have internet yet (and Matt wonders how I stay living - I am such an internet junkie).

I am at this coffee shop, leaching wifi and hoping to upload pictures to the internet (there is a whole process to the blog - lots of uploading and linking for pictures - maybe overkill but I like my photos to be catalogued appropriately).  Needless to say the uploading is totally not happening right now (I have 76 photos to upload and it is still on #1).  So I will have to upload camera phone shots. 

I made such a BIG DEAL to Matt about how I HAD to blog - you know for my 3 fans - so I will try to give you an update.

Thailand was great - Khao Lak is my new favorite place.  Cheap but great hotels (we stayed at the Kantary - I am sad it will become an adults only hotel in November).  Beautiful beach.  It was great - expansive - great kids club and remarkably decent and reasonable food.  And thankfully blissfully warm weather. 

We then stayed at Dewa Phuket - near Indigo Pearl where we got married.  And the weather was pretty rainy and miserable.  The food was more expensive (and not really any better) and although I like the beach shack restaurants - eating at them for 4 days straight grew tiring.  Maybe I was just beached out at the end of eight days.  Not to sound like a snotty expat but I was tired watching the kids for so long.  I was alone watching the kids for 2 days - and it was a good experience but I was wiped by the time Matt walked in the door (he really was my night in shining armor!).  I also had the worst flight experience EVER when Sophia was basically inconsolable for an hour.  I felt Mom failure.  It was not pretty.

Then we arrived back in Singapore - and dealt with our rather pedantic agent and landlord for 2 days.  At one point later I will blog more about this - but it just left me feeling taken advantage of as we were leaving Singapore (that and the people you try to sell stuff to secondhand - I am over those people too).

We spent one night at the Marriott (on points) and our last night at the Grand Mercure in East Coast.  We took Matt and Susie to dinner at Matt's favorite Mexican while Charlotte had her first sleepover at Teo's.  So cute!  And Charlotte now has had an experience at age three that I never had in my first eighteen years.

Charlotte woke at three and asked where Sophia was.  When we took Sophia to our hotel at 10PM she asked where Charlotte (her A-tay) was.  It was very bonding and cute.

Matt and Susie dropped off Charlotte with Teo at our hotel by 8:30 on Saturday - and we were sad to leave Singapore and our wonderful neighbors. 

So - that is the short update - more on Macau and pictures on Wednesday (I hope).

Here is Char jumping on bean bags at the Kantary Kid's Club - Khao Lak:

And Teo and the kids eating dinner together the day before we leave:

And Char saying goodbye to Joo Chiat Walk on the way to our hotel: