I am not talking Christmas shopping. I am all done with that already. Presents are wrapped and the tree will go up next weekend. I am talking a few days of shopping in Hong KongI I am going to meet up with Colin after one of his meetings there. I am soooo excited!
We celebrated Sinterklaas yesterday with some Dutch friends. It was great fun. We started with some craft activities while we waiting for him to arrive. All the kids got some time with the "Sint" before they received a gift. I am not sure if Natalie still believes this is for real, she had questions about his beard being a little "off" and his shoes were the same as Dad's, is he married, does he have his own kids...? I told her to ask but when it was her turn the pressure of being in front of him was too much and no questions were asked. Thijs wanted nothing to do with him and hid as far away as possible behind a table. When he realized there were toys involved he came close enough to get his toy and ran back to his hiding spot. It was a good time!
Well.. this was kind of a strange Thanksgiving day. Colin had a meeting all morning and did not get home until about 3pm. Thijs had his swimming lesson. Natalie was off school. It was the regular 33 degrees. Nothing different. We had ordered an imported Butterball Turkey with gravy. It just fit in the oven, since they are sooo small here (if you bake cookies, you can do 6 at a time). We had a nice swim with the kids in the afternoon. Ate the turkey, missed our family but are thankful for our experience here. Its also hard to get into the holiday spirit when the weather does not tell you its supposed to be the winter season. Oh, We totally forgot to take pictures of the turkey. We'll get them next time!
if we would wear all our favorite things, together. Thijs wore the rainboots all day today. He found them in the back of the closet and had to wear them (it was sunny out most of the day and that makes it even more hot). The Bob the Builder underwear was found in the back of a drawer (since he is so not ready for them yet) but I could not refuse. He was so proud with the look he created. Since I wear my sunglasses all the time, he had to wear his too. Needless to say, he got some great looks as we picked Natalie up at the bus stop. And he kept lifting up his shirt to show everybody Bob the Builder. Priceless!
Had some great parties today. At Natalie's school they did a parade with all the first grade classes and a class party afterwards. The picture above is Natalie and her best friend Maki. Thijs had a little party at his school too. I was not there to see it but I heard they had fun. Tonight at home we had a pizza pool party and a parade around the pool followed by trick-or-treating in the complex (about 175 apartments). As you can tell Natalie is a cat and Thijs is Superman. The two girls are Natalie's friends from school. All the kids had a lot of fun, except Thijs did not like the scary masks. It took him a while to warm up to the whole process. We gave out about 10 bags of candy in 1 hour!
I guess the book about the monkeys jumping on the bed was the inspiration for Thijs to do just that. We were having a nice relaxing morning at home and I heard this loud bang... followed by lots of crying and screaming (that in itself is not that unusual in our house) but when I looked at his little nose ..... not so good. Took him to the doctor just to have it checked out and were told it is probably broken. Since they don't do anything for broken noses.. an xray would just get him more upset and we decided not to do one. It will certainly add to his halloween costume. Poor guy!
Can you believe she is 7??
We had a great day. Colin flew in this morning from England and made it just in time for a birthday breakfast. This year we did a Pool Party with 12 of her friends. Ingredients: Sun, pool, cake, drinks, snacks, favor bags and about 30 ToysRUs pool toys. What else could you need?
We got all our Halloween decorations out this weekend. The kids had fun trying on the wigs. Good looking pair huh?
Went to the zoo again. This is such a great one. A lot of the animals are walking around free. They have shows, feeding time etc. This is a picture of the kids in front of the giant lily pads. They are huge. There is a garden with all kinds of tropical fruit and veggies. Always fun to go.
We went to a Deepavali Party last night in our complex. The kids had a great time. Natalie got her first henna tattoo. All the kids got sparklers and firecrackers. There was Indian music and indian dancers and great Indian food with lots of curry. Thijs loved dancing with the big kids. But he did not enjoy the loud firecrackers and was terrified of the dressed up dancers. Natalie loved everything!
Sounds like something out of a movie, right? Well, I was starting to think it was going to be on Thijs' resume. He has been having so much fun at pre-school, that he is not listening... at all! He goes with a smile on his face and waves a happy good-bye at drop off. At pick-up he does not want to come home.. he keeps screaming P..lay P..lay, very embarrassing when your own child would prefer to hang out at school. His teacher is telling me he is great at first, he participates in circle time, but after that... forget it. He is in his own little world. Checking everything out and not listening when he has to come back to his class. His teacher was getting a little irritated by his behavior and it sounded like he would rather not have him in his class... But at pick up today I got some good news... his attention span was much better and there is some improvement! YEAH! I won't have to go find another pre-school after all.
Fire walking Got up at 4 am this morning to witness a breathtaking fire-walking ceremony honouring Goddess Draupadi. According to the Indian epic poem Mahabharata, she proved her innocence by walking barefoot on burning coals. With intense concentration, barefooted devotees likewise brave a four-metre bed of red-hot embers - completing the challenge miraculously unscathed. The Festival celebrations began at about 1230am at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, but we did not get to the place of the actual firewalking, the Sri Mariamman Temple until about 445am. There were about 4000 devotees expected to participate. They were lined up outside, city blocks long, yellow cloth wrapped around their waist, waiting their turn to walk the coals.
Temple etiquette requires visitors to be dressed appropriately and shoes to be removed at the door. There must have been thousands of shoes (mostly sandals) along the outside wall of the Temple. We actually received a little plastic bag to put our shoes in. Inside the temple were tons of people (family members of all the "walkers") to support them. We were lead thru the temple, not allowed to stop or take more than 1 picture and witnessed this amazing ceremomy. Almost in a surreal way watching what was taking place, loud music, men lining up to walk (run) thru the coals. I felt so privileged to be there and to see this with my own eyes and not on a National Geographic film. Got home at 6am, showered, got the kids up and went on with our normal lives. What a way to start the day.
The first day of school went really well... after a little struggle getting him into my "mombus", he was very excited to go. At drop off he looked a little worried, but rallied and went with his teacher Mr. Bunny (his first name for real!) without any tears. He played well with all the kids, had great table manners at lunch and all in all had a great first day. He did have a little trouble staying with the group though, he wanted to explore all the corners of the classroom instead (he had to find out what kind of toys they have!). So, yet another milestone for our monkey!
Well, that is debatable... Seems like time flies when you go thru your daily motions of life. School, dance, soccer, swimming, running, working, meeting friends, making sure everybody eats their veggies, checking out all the restaurants in town, you name it... its the same wherever you live. We have gotten so used to being here that we don't even think about it anymore. I have to pinch myself every once in a while just to make sure I don't forget where we are.
Thijs is starting pre-school tomorrow. 2 mornings a week, for 3 hours. He has gotten so used to hanging out with me that its hard for him to be without me. It will be interesting to see how he will change. I am thinking he will thrive. He knows he is going to school, but I think he thinks he is going with Natalie on the bus. That will be a disappointment for him.
Natalie has is picking up yet another foreign language. She is learning little phrases in Mandarin, and loves to show them off. I think its so cool. I wish I could learn with her.
Oh yes, a few small milestones for Thijs this week:
1. Thijs has given up his pacifier!!
2. Thijs is swimming with floaties!!
So you see... normal is only as normal as you think it is.
Nothing like having a girlfriend who shares her snack with you. Thijs and his friend Julia at one of Natalie's soccer games. He truly can eat all day long. Good thing he never sits still or he would be HUGE!
Natalie started soccer this past Saturday. She had a lot of fun. It was really hot and sunny and the kids were practically cooking on the field. One picture is of Natalie with her friend Amber who is on her team. They are called the Royal Blue Jaguars. Unfortunately they lost their first game. Thijs had fun too! He ran around with his own soccer ball. He is totally into it now, he wants to play and wear his soccer uniform every day. It does look like he has some talent.. who knows, he could be the next Maradonna.
I checked my grocery receipts today to check the prices of things... WOW.... they are unreal. I paid 9,95 for a bag of lettuce, 4,40 for 4 mandarins, 19,95 for a small (really small) piece of Gouda Cheese, 5,45 for a jar of Prego Pasta Sauce, 4 Dannon yogurts for 12,00!!!!, 6,55 for a very small box of cereal Natalie can eat all by herself in one sitting.
Just wanted to share that. (prices are in Singapore dollar, but still)
Natalie started school yesterday and loves it. This picture was taken right before we left to go the bus stop and as you can tell Thijs was not thrilled with the fact that Natalie was going somewhere. He wanted to go on the bus too and he also needed his own backpack! All day long he told everybody that "Natalie, schoolbus, bye bye". Her first day was great and she told me she already has a new "best friend", she just doesn't know her name anymore because its hard to pronounce, and her eyes are different too, she is from China. We get up at 630am to get ready and leave the house at 705am for a quick walk to the bus stop right outside the complex. 
Big news! We sat and sat and finally... at 718am ...Today we had an orientation at SAS (Singapore American School). Natalie is very excited and we think it will be a great experience for her. We meet her teacher next week in a one-on-one meeting. That will make her even more at ease. So far she is doing great with all the changes.
We also unpacked more boxes and organized a lot. I re-did the kitchen as I basically just threw everything in cupboards as I unpacked. Its much better now. I did get a "great" scare.... a cute little lizzard came to welcome me... well, welcome right back at ya, but I would rather NOT have you in my kitchen...... I guess they are all over the place. Too bad Natalie was not around, she could have kept him as a pet.
Colin and I sat out on the balcony tonight with a glass of Cockburn 1994 Vintage Porto (yummie!) talking about how fortunate we are to have found this place. And how great it is to have this experience. It kind of feels like we are on vacation. It's great to be here. It's all good.
We received our sea shipment yesterday! Much faster than we originally anticipated. It took them about 5 hours to bring everything from the sea container on the street, into a little truck, than they drove that into the parking garage, unloaded it into the cargo elevator up to the 5th floor and into our apartment... talk about a long haul. Today we spent most of the day unpacking. It was like Christmas. Especially the boxes containing toys, every time a box was opened the kids screamed a loud "YEAH!" or "WOW". We brought way too many toys though... the kids rooms are packed. Its a lot of work and right now our place looks like a hurricane went thru it. I can't wait to get it organized. But... that will take some time.
We made it to Singapore!! Its so nice to be here. The flight was really good. It takes forever, but once you get here you forget how long it took. Not that I would want to do this every month! The kids did really well... I am so proud of them! They played and slept and hung out, just patiently waiting to get here. I don't think we have a big Jet Lag either. (It's a 6 hour difference with Holland, 13 hours with Hudson) We have been sleeping normal hours. Maybe its just the excitement of being here.
Its wonderful to be together again. It has been a long summer. The moving company is bringing our stuff on Wednesday! That is so much faster than we anticipated! It will be nice to be all moved in and organized.
Friday we are taking Natalie to school for an orientation with her new teacher and to see the school. I can't wait to see what she says. Its so much bigger than her last school. I will keep you posted on that.
Well..... I better get going, I promised to take the kids to the pool.
That would be Yaelle, Natalie, Rose and Thijs. They are so adorable together. Its weird how they just pick up where they left off last August. All a little older, wiser, smarter, taller and cuter. Thijs follows them around and wants to be involved in everything they do. He loves to tease them. Also, the way they communicate together is amazing.... they all speak Dutch with their individual accents. Its so fun to watch. When we go shopping they get a lot of looks. People can't quite figure out what the deal is... They play all day and would talk all night if we let them. We had to seperate them, so they would get some rest at night. It will be sad when they have to say goodbye. The good thing is we'll see them for Christmas as they are coming to visit us. Can't wait!!
No, not talking about me.. talking about the heat wave in Holland. It has been unreal...so hot. And imagine not having any airconditioning in the house. WOW. Natalie and Thijs are having a great time though... we fill up a little pool in the morning and they play all day long. Yesterday we drove to Bloemendaal aan Zee. It's a little town near the Northsea and we spend the whole day at the beach. I used to come here as a child and have really fond memories. Natalie and Thijs played in the water, build sandcastles and just had sooo much fun. It was great watching them. Not everybody in Holland has their summer vacation yet so it was not busy at all. A perfect day with a perfect breeze.
By the way.... did anyone hear that Holland has no government right now???? They quit! Imagine that in the States. Anything is possible here.
Its funny how I feel when I fly into Amsterdam. Like I have never left. It's so nice to be home! The kids did pretty good on the flight. Thijs cried the first 4 hours but eventually fell asleep. Natalie slept for 6 hours. She is great to travel with. Our jet lag is not too bad. I think it took 2 days to get used to the time difference. Natalie bikes all day, every day, rain or shine. She starts first thing in the morning with Opa, getting the newspaper in town. Every afternoon when Thijs naps we bike to the library to get some Dutch books or we bike to a farm nearby to feed the horses. I love being able to bike every where. Bummer that it rains so much here. Thijs plays in the yard and when it rains he wears his favorite rainboots. I will have to take a picture and post it next time.
Colin went home this past Saturday. Singapore that it. It feels weird to think that will be our home.. it does not feel like that yet. He is trying to get over his jet lag, especially since he just got back from China before we flew to Amsterdam. His body clock is totally off!
Anyway... That's it for now...
We are sitting here at the Caribou coffee... Our last morning in Hudson. It feels nice to have the packing and loading behind us. Colin and I cleaned the house yesterday and it looks great. It is so sad to leave it, but we know we will be back. We have said all our goodbye's and we are ready to get on that plane tomorrow. Besides a visit to Palm Springs or Seattle the kids and I won't be back here. Strange to think we are just picking up and moving to the other side of the world. The kids are doing really good considering the changes. Thijs was very confused by all his toys in boxes, but loved to run around the empty house. Natalie understands what is going on and is excited about a summer in Europe with opa and oma and her cousins. You can tell they are both getting tired from the long playdates and daycare this week and it will be nice when they get their 12 hours of sleep on the plane to Amsterdam tomorrow!!! At least, that is what we are praying for. Anyway... that was it from Hudson.. more next time from Europe. So long.......
All right.... I think I am all set up now. I hope you guys will enjoy reading about our lives. I will send pics too so you can see the kids grow up!
Don't be a stranger!
Here we go..... I have never done anything like this before but one of my friends in Arkansas does this and I love reading about her life. I hope that this will make it easier for all my friends to keep track of what we are doing. Kind of like the gossip column in the paper. What are the Sultan's up to now?
