Christmas Newsletter 2011

Singapore Tales – 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

Well, where did that year go? I find myself at December 31st, looking back on the year that was and wondering about how quickly each year now passes by. And having just re-read my 2010 newsletter (sent on Christmas Eve – I’m slipping), I commented on the same thing! Here in Singapore we have had a good year and we are very thankful for a number of things, mostly our health and for the love and support of our family and friends.

We have had a number of fun family holidays this year. We dubbed 2011, “The Year of Club Med”. It wasn’t intended that way, but it started out heading to Bintan (Indonesian Island 45 minutes ferry ride from Singapore) in Feb 2011 for a long weekend. A few people from work had mentioned they enjoyed Club Med so I checked on the internet, found a deal and booked our weekend. What a weekend we had. The kids both went for mornings to “Petit Club” where they do all sorts of activities, drawing, swimming, nature walks etc. Gary and I enjoyed our mornings “off” with yoga, Thai boxing, lazing on the beach etc. It was a brilliant 4 days so when it came time to book our next holiday, we decided to try Club Med Phuket, (again – got a great deal – I am an accountant after all). We went to Phuket for a week in May and again, a fabulous time had by all. We then managed to dash back to Bintan for another long weekend in September and then had a week in Cherating Beach Malaysia in November. It was a year of holidays that were about rest and relaxing – not something we’ve focused on much before, but having 2 active toddlers makes this much more of a focus!

I also had a long weekend visit to Adelaide in August to help my siblings clear our Mum’s place (Mum has now moved to assisted accommodation). Thanks to Gary for taking all of the childcare (and to Anelen!!) I also managed to sneak away in late October for a ‘girl’s weekend’ in Phuket with Karen & Rachel. What a fun time and yes, I know how lucky I am to have an understanding husband (who is looking forward to a couple of trips away by himself next year - edited by Gary) as well as a great helper! Our latest holiday was our Christmas trip to Siem Reap. A Cambodian Christmas was different, but we all had a great time. It is the most underdeveloped place we have visited (as a family) but still quite touristy and this obviously makes it easier to travel around. We spent Christmas Day visiting Angkor Thom and then had a traditional Cambodian Christmas lunch (fried rice, satay and ginger pork) which was enjoyed by all. It was a really lovely family Christmas.

The kids were rather captivated by Siem Reap, so many things to see that they have never seen before. They loved the tuk-tuks but felt Mummy and Daddy should not off been holding on to them quite as much as they were! (Alex’s comment “It’s not so much fun when you put your arm around me”).

In 2012 we are looking forward to a return to England (first time since 2008) in March. We will be in the UK for a week, before heading to Tignes for a ski holiday (I hope the kids like the cold!) and then back to London for a couple of nights before our return to Singapore.

Both of the kids are doing really well and enjoying their life here in Singapore. They are attending a kindergarten / nursery school called “Alphabet Playhouse” which is a couple of hundred metres walk from our condo. Tara began the year going 3 mornings a week and then went to 5 mornings when I returned to full time work (in June). She loves her teacher and seems to be learning a lot, they both pop out with Chinese numbers and songs on occasion. Alex has made a number of new friends in his class and seems to be really enjoying his time at nursery. He had homework every weekend (something Tara was a little upset to miss out on) and has made great progress in writing and colouring this year. Alex turned 4 in late July and till the day of his birthday declared he was “3 and a half”. Tara is much the same, I told her this morning that today is the last day she can say “I’m only 2 Mummy”. Tara is turning 3 tomorrow and very excited about her birthday.

Work wise, we have had a year of stability with our jobs – Gary having just started his new job at Credit Suisse in November last year has now been in the role for over a year and feels part of the furniture. Gary travelled with work to Pune, India a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed his time there. My job at Diageo has been the same this year, but I’m very happy to say that as of Jan 16th, I am moving to a new role that will hopefully be a lot more interesting than my current role. After two and half years here we feel like we are finally on the right ground work wise, up until now either one or both of us have been at least unhappy and at times furious with our employers. We are looking forward to what will certainly be a challenging but hopefully also rewarding 2012, both of us doing things we are interested in.

We are now truly settled into our home, we moved 14 months ago and are still happy and enjoying our home on River Valley Road. We just discovered a few new bars on the river a short easy walk from home. We spent a rather relieved lunch there a few weeks back, one of the few times when I’ve sunk a couple of pints at a lunch in the last few years! (Gary)

We have had a few visitors this year. Gary’s Mum was with us for the start of the year and then just after Ann left, Roger came over from KL in February. Allisa came for a week in March, shortly after Roger’s departure. We caught up with Paula who was visiting Singapore in June where we discovered a fabulous Japanese restaurant (must go back). My brother John, his wife Jenny and their 3 girls were in Singapore in July. It was fantastic to spend time with them and for all of the cousins to be reacquainted. Gary’s Mum was back in July for Alex’s birthday and Gary’s birthday in August. We also had fleeting visits from my nephew Daniel (actually this was late 2010), Tricia, Jim & Tegan, Ann-Marie & Ross and my cousin David. We love seeing people here and being able to show off some of what Singapore has to offer so if you are calling through, do let us know!

All in all it’s been a good year where we have found some stability to see us through the next few years here, although a few unexpected challenges came our way in the closing months just to keep us on our toes.

I hope that this finds you all well and happy and hope that 2012 is a great year for you all.

A few pictures of our year (not in chronological order!!)

With cousins from Adelaide - July 2011

Swimming in pool at Cherating Beach Malaysia - November 2011

On the beach at Bintan - Indonesia - September 2011

Christmas lunch - Siem Reap - Cambodia - December 25, 2011

Elephant Parade - Singapore Zoo - November 2011

With Granny Ann at Jurong Bird Park - Singapore - August 2011

With Captain Mark - Phuket - Thailand - May 2011

With great friend Lilah on Alex's 4th birthday - July 2011

Watching a monitor lizard at Cherating Beach - Malaysia - November 2011

Christmas Newsletter 2010

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all of our friends and family.

Here, I find myself at Christmas Eve already. How did that happen? Where has the time gone? My goodness, what a year 2010 has been.

We began the year with Alex starting at the local kindergarten across the road from home 5 mornings per week for 3 hours. This was great for Alex who enjoyed the stimulation and going to ‘school’ with other kids from our condo. He had a lovely teacher Miss Leong and enjoyed learning Mandarin and lots of other bits and pieces. He went to True Way for the whole year and in 2011 will be attending a new pre-school close to our new place called Alphabet Playhouse. He is looking forward to starting again in the new year and hopefully it will be a good environment for him. Tara will also begin in 2011, 3 mornings per week. Hopefully she will enjoy this too.

A month ago, we moved house. We are reasonably settled into our new place now and have met a few other families living in the condo. Our new place seems very family friendly. They actually put on a Christmas party for the condo kids a couple of weeks ago and it was manic!! There were so many kids there.

In February of 2010, we had our first visitor for the year when Roger came over from Malaysia for a few days visit. It was fun to have him stay with us and we enjoyed catching up after many years.

In late February, I decided to dip a toe in the water so to speak and look into the possibility of going back to work. My ideal was to get part time work – but I soon found out this is not very common at all in Singapore. I ended up taking a 6 month contract role that was full time with Diageo. I began work in March and it was a bit of an adjustment (I think more so for me than for the children!) It was great to get back to work, I realized I missed the mental stimulation, but I also missed the kids a lot.

We had a short trip to Bangkok in late March and visited Gary’s uncle & aunt. It was fun taking the kids to visit relatives they hadn’t met yet. It was lovely to catch up with Neville & Ann again too.

In April, we had our first family holiday and went to Bali for 10 days. It’s always insightful travelling with kids and hindsight is a wonderful thing. We had a lovely time, but would probably do things a bit differently next time. However, it was a relaxing break and time away. When we got back to Singapore, we caught up with Nat, Colm and their 2 girls Orla and Niamh who were on their way to Ireland. It was lovely to catch up with friends from Adelaide.

In June, we had our first trip to the emergency room with Alex – he freakishly broke his arm whilst running down the corridor at home on a Friday morning. It was very traumatic, but as nearly 3 year olds do, he really took it in his stride and adjusted to his cast in no time (which was only on for 3 ½ weeks!)

In September, we had a holiday back to Adelaide. Again, a learning experience travelling with children (always pack spare clothes not just for the kids was a big lesson after Tara vomited over me as the plane was landing in Adelaide). It was nice to be home and to be able to catch up with friends and family. It was also nice to cool off a bit and experience some cooler weather!

After we returned from Australia, I started working 4 days per week as my 6 month contract had finished and I managed to negotiate 1 day off per week. It’s really nice having that balance. I don’t know how long it will last, but I am enjoying it while I have it!

In November, we caught up with our friends from London / Australia Karen & Tom and their boys Thomas and James. They are moving to Singapore in the new year and were here taking a look around. It was great to catch up and will be very nice to have some old friends moving over here too.

Gary got a new job at Credit Suisse and started at the beginning of November. He is enjoying being back in the banking world. Aside from work, Gary has been quite active with dragon boating in 2010. He took part in a couple of races and we are both training (me on a much lower scale), but it’s great fun and a good team environment. We are paddling with the Singapore British Dragons – a great bunch of people.

Alex and Tara are doing really well. Tara will be 2 on New Year’s Eve and is talking a lot now. Communication is a great thing and I think she enjoys making herself understood with words! Alex is such a chatterbox and amazes us with some of the stuff he comes out with. He is excited about Christmas this year, much more so than in the past.

This year for Christmas we are joined by both of our mothers. Ann (Gary’s Mum) has been with us for a few weeks now and in January will go to Thailand to visit her brother & sister in law. My Mum arrived yesterday from Adelaide and will be with us till Tara’s birthday.

Sorry this is a short, very abridged version of our 2010. Time has just got away from me completely. I wish you all a safe and peaceful Christmas and New Year.

At the Monkey Temple - Ubud - Bali

Feeling the cold on Glenelg Jetty - Adelaide - September 2010

Why let a broken arm stop you from having fun?

Tara & Alex at Hort Park

Gary performing for Divas Dragonboating comp.

Theo, Alex & Tara at Hazelwood Park - September 2010

Tara waiting for cake on Daddy's Birthday - August 2010

Wow - I've been so lax.....

Well, I just looked and it's been 3 months since I posted on here. How slack of me. What can I say - we've been busy!! Life is good, can't complain. I won't try to go in to all we've been up to over the past 3 months as that would send everyone to sleep.

Our life in general. My babies are growing up so quickly. Alex will be 3 in 6 weeks time and Tara is 17 months now. They are generally getting on pretty well together with the normal sibling stuff. It's lovely to see them playing and laughing together. They both light up my life. If I call Alex my baby, he says "I'm not a baby, I'm a boy". And to "Little Alex" he says, "no Mummy, I'm big Alex".

We have had some fun outings of late. Tomorrow we are going to see the Wiggles in concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. That should be great fun - Alex has been a fan of the Wiggles for a while now and Tara loves to dance around to the music.

Gary and I are both dragon boating now. We joined the British team and it's a lot of fun. Gary has done a couple of races. Tomorrow (after the Wiggles), Gary is participating in the Queens Commonwealth Games Baton run or something like that where the British team accompany the Singapore national team in taking the baton between the Merlion and the Singapore Flyer. I hope they don't drop it!!

We had a great family holiday in Bali in April. 10 days of relaxation. Learnt a few more things about travelling with kids too. It's always a learning experience.

We spent a weekend in Bangkok with Neville & Ann in late March. It was lovely to see them again. We also had friends from Adelaide (Nat, Colm, Orla and Niamh) come to visit for a weekend in April. Fun times and a lovely dinner out at the Fullerton hotel.

I have been working for a couple of months now and love some parts of it, others aren't so great. I wish I could find more of a balance with time in the office vs time with the kids, but hopefully that will come. The good thing is that the kids seem to be coping really well with everything. Our weekends were always family time and fun time with the kids but now they are even more so!

I went to the cinema on Monday night to see "Sex and the City 2". Lame movie, but the cinema was great - we went to Gold Class which is lounge seats and waiter service. Awesome!!! I will take Gary to experience this sometime soon too.

Where did the last month go?

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted here. So much seems to have happened - life is busy but good fun.



Today, I did my first ever 'fun run' in Singapore. It was only 5km but wow, it felt like longer. I have been running at the gym generally 3 times a week for the last few months and I am feeling relatively fit, but the thing that I didn't take into consideration was how much the elements when running outside affect you. However, I managed to do it in around 29 minutes, I was hoping to be under 30 so felt good about the achievement. I have signed up to do a 10km run in May - but it is at 4pm on a Saturday!! Not sure if this is a sensible time to run in May. Oh well, I think I will concede that if I am tired, it's ok to stop for a bit and walk.



Alex has finished his first term at nursery and is on 'school' holidays this coming week. We have planned a few fun things - catching up with friends, going to the zoo and maybe the science centre too. He seems to be really enjoying his time at nursery and I am very grateful for that. It is incredibly handy as it is just across the road from us.



My big news is that this coming week, I will return to work after a nearly 15 month break. I had started to look for some part time work at the beginning of the year. Part time work is very hard to come by in Singapore - it's not really something that people do in my field anyway. I had talked to a few people and 2 weeks ago, a recruitment agent called me to talk about a contract role for maternity leave cover. It is however full time (but for a 6 month period). I had a phone interview the following day and this seemed to go pretty well. The next day they arranged to have a face to face interview last Monday. This also went well and on Tuesday morning I was offered the contract. I am excited and nervous about it. I will miss the kids loads, but they are both in great routines at the moment. Tara has good morning and afternoon sleeps and Alex has 3 hours at nursery in the morning followed by an afternoon sleep when he comes home. I suspect the person who will have the most adjustment is me - the kids will probably take it in their stride as they do most things. I have explained to Alex about Mummy going back to work and he seems fine with this - although he did suggest that Daddy could then stay home with him. Did Gary put him up to this?



I think (just depending on the paperwork) that I will start work on Thursday. It will be a relatively soft start as we have a long weekend in Bangkok next weekend (pending the protests being safe!) and then from Easter, I am off for 3 weeks due to Anelen going on home leave and our family holiday in Bali. So, it should hopefully be an easy transition. I am really looking forward to going back to work - I hope it lives up to my expectations!



I am trying to think of what else we have been up to over the past few weeks. 2 weeks ago, we had our friend Roger (from London) come to visit from Malaysia. Roger was spending some time in KL and decided to pop over to Singapore for a couple of nights. It was lovely to catch up - the last time we all saw each other was around 6.5 years ago at a bbq we had at our house in Walton on Thames!



We have moved Alex into Tara's bedroom at night. This seems to work really well - Tara loves the company and Alex loves the audience. Alex still naps during the day in his own bedroom (in the big bed) and this setup seems to be working.



We went to the zoo a few weeks ago. This was the first time we have been in a while and we ended up at Kidzworld (as we inevitably do). Normally Gary will go in the water with Alex and Tara and I will play a little on the side. I decided I should probably get wet and let Tara embrace it a little more. She loved it. She was so excited going down the slide, she was racing around all over the place. Alex now loves the big bucket of water that dumps down on top every few minutes - he used to be quite scared by it. How things move on! We think for Gary's next family day, we will go to have breakfast with the Orangutans again - we did this for Alex's birthday last year and it was fabulous, but I suspect both the kids will get a lot out of it now.



Last weekend, we re-visited Queenstown fire station with our friends Francesca, Lilah & Isaac (from our condo) and Rachel & Sennen. It was a great time. Alex loves the fire station - they have open house on a Saturday morning and it is such an adventure with the kids. Alex and I got to drive around the yard in the fire truck and Alex got to hold the fireman's hose. He was also delighted with the coming down the pole! A fun time!

So, our last month has been full of more Singapore adventures. The kids are both growing up quickly - but at wonderful stages. They make me smile every day (which helps to make up for the other times when they make me crazy!!)

I will definitely try to keep up my blog with my return to work - just need to make time for it like everything else. Just to finish, a short video showing our baby girl in her glory - she loves meal time and was rather cross when I told her it wasn't dinner time yet......

Chinese New Year

This past weekend, we have celebrated our first Chinese New Year in Asia. The best thing about it has been a 4 day weekend, it has been great having 4 days of family time. Alex had a celebration of Chinese New Year at kindy on Friday. Instead of his normal sports uniform they all dressed up in special clothes which were either their countries National dress or Chinese outfits. We decided against the National outfit and went for the simple red outfit that had a Chinese flavour thanks to our friend Mona. Actually the photo above of Tara is not in CNY dress - just a fun outfit we picked up for Tara.


These are some of the other kids in Alex's class. Ji Wong is in traditional Korean dress.



On Sunday we went to Sentosa for the first time. I can't believe we haven't been there before now. Actually we did attempt to go there one weekend, but the queue was ridiculous so we canned that idea then. We went with Alex's friend Lilah and her family. Alex was very excited to be spending the day with Lilah and they had a fun time together. We went to Underwater World which is the Singapore Aquarium. Firstly we went to see the Dolphin Show and then went around looking at various fish etc. You know the day's a hit when your 2 year old walks around saying "WOW". He had a fun time.




Yesterday we went to discover a new playground just down the road for us. It is an 'adventure' playground, probably better for older kids, but Alex had a ball exploring and running around. Tara enjoyed it too - she flaked out on our journey home.

Alex has decided - with no parental consultation :) that he is giving up his afternoon nap. For the past week, he hasn't napped at all, except for when he is taken out in his stroller after nap time. I don't know if this is a conscious decision on his part but it does seem to be. I am not ready for him to give this up so we are persevering with it a little longer. If he does give it up, we will have quiet time every day. Tara on the other hand seems to have turned a corner with her daytime sleeps. We can now put her in her cot and close the door and she takes herself off to sleep. What a result. Hard to believe that a few weeks ago, Gary and I were taking it in turns to walk her around the carpark here to get her to sleep.

Alex is doing pretty well with his potty training. Accidents are reasonably few now and he seems to have embraced this new phase which I am grateful for! He does like being a 'big boy' and I wonder if this has something to do with the refusal to nap.

We have booked a long weekend to Bangkok to go to visit Gary's uncle and aunt who live there. We are excited about going to see Neville & Ann as we haven't seem them for 3 years - I was 15 weeks pregnant with Alex last time we were there. It seems like an eternity ago! We will just have 2 nights in Bangkok so a short visit but hopefully the kids will do well with this.

Now, the ironic thing about this is that as I've been writing this, Alex has been in his bedroom and for the first time in more than a week, has actually gone to sleep in his bed in the afternoon. That is good news!! Tara woke after 45 minutes, cried a little, didn't get any attention so gave up and went back to sleep. Ah, loving the serenity.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone - here's to the year of the Tiger.....

January

I am sitting here in a very peaceful apartment. It's 10 to 11 on Sunday morning. Tara has gone for her morning nap. Alex and Gary have gone to the airport to take Ann to her flight home to the UK. I feel I should be tidying up a bit, but that will wait!! We have had a really nice January. When I last wrote, Ann was just coming back from Bangkok. She arrived back in Singapore on Saturday Jan 16th, 2 days after her birthday. For Ann's birthday, we bought her tickets to the musical "Merchants of Bollywood". It was a fabulous show - we went on the Saturday night and we all loved it.



This is Alex helping to blow out the candle on Ann's birthday cake (icing was melting a bit!!)

A couple of nights prior to that, Gary and I went to the Indoor Stadium to see Green Day. It was an excellent concert - we weren't the oldest ones in the crowd and the stadium was a fabulous venue. I have just subscribed to Time Out and look forward to knowing what else is on in town so we can go along!

In the past 2 weeks, Alex has been enjoying his school days. His potty training has come along very well (thank goodness) and we even venture out in taxis now. Yesterday, we went to the zoo. On the way home, around 10 minutes from home, he announced he needed to go to the potty. Aaagggghhhh, Gary and I kept him occupied, and also used bribery (if you do hold on, you'll get a treat when you get home). Thankfully, we made it!! I'm sure the day will come when there will be an accident in a taxi - I hope we have an understanding driver.

Tara is doing really well - developing so quickly. She understands so much, she is very co-operative and will try to get me a tissue or something off the bookshelf when asked. It's lovely to see her understanding as well.



One of Tara's favorite things to do is to climb in the stroller when it's not in use!

Our house has had a little sickness over the last couple of weeks. Gary caught a very bad cold and hasn't yet recovered 100%. Alex is also coughing and sneezing and I have had a sore throat that I can't seem to shake over the last couple of weeks. Fingers crossed, we will all feel much better soon.

We have had a lovely time with Ann whilst she's been here. The kids have loved having their Granny here - Alex has been sharing his room with Ann and has jumped into her bed on most mornings before coming to visit Mummy & Daddy.





Ann and I went to Johor Bahru - just across the water to Malaysia last week for a morning's shopping. Fabulous shopping over there, I managed to get a pair of shoes, a handbag, shorts and a dress! It is a fun day out - especially as this time we didn't take either of the children with us.



We had a lovely dinner at home last night for Ann's last night. Anelen cooked a rack of lamb and we had a 1998 Mildara Cab Sauv. Then I cooked a lemon delicious pudding and we had a glass of sticky with this. Yummm!!

I have managed to fit in 2 climbing courses in the past few weeks. I did the Level 1 toprope system course, and also a course on basic climbing techniques. Loads of fun -I'm really looking forward to going climbing with Gary now. Gary has started to go dragon boat racing with the British team. He has enjoyed it, but says it's pretty physical. I'm looking forward to going out too, but not too sure whether I might be a better spectator rather than participant! I have gradually got back into jogging. I need to find a 10km run to do now so that I have something to work towards. So far, I have run 8km and that felt pretty good - it's great to finally have a base back as I used to love jogging but then didn't do a lot of it in the past 3 years with pregnancy etc. It's great to get back into it.

School Days

We are only 2 weeks into the new year, but it feels like ages. We have had a really good 2 weeks and been very busy! 'School' started on January 4th here in Singapore. We were trying to get Alex enrolled into the local nursery which is just across the road from our condo as a friend of his from the building was going to be attending there. On day 1, they told me they were full but that we could probably get a space, they just needed to wait to see if they had any places that weren't taken by people who enrolled but then decided for one reason or another not to send their kids there. On Thursday I went over to enquire again and found out that Alex could get in, so that was very exciting as he really wanted to go to school with Lilah - his little friend from the condo. So, on Friday, he got dressed in his brand new sports uniform (which is for Fridays and excursion days) and Gary and I took him across to school. As Gary and I were checking to see he was ok, he was firmly engrossed in a project with ice cream sticks, so I'm sure he was fine. He seemed to have a lot of
fun.



This week has been his first full week there. He goes at 8:30 in the morning for 3 hours. Every day when I pick Alex up, he is very happy and seems to really like it. I say, "What did you do today Alex?" "I played". "Good, did you learn Chinese?" "Yes" "What did you learn?" "Chinese". OK - he is having fun and likes his class and his teacher - he informed me on Monday that he needed to go to school to see 'all of my friends' so it is really nice that he seems to enjoy it. They do learn Chinese every day as well as English. There is a mix of nationalities in his class, a few of them also live in our building so that is really nice for him.



Tara has gone from crawling a lot of the time and walking some of the time to walking pretty much all of the time. I am still surprised to see her walking - she however is delighted with herself and is learning to move quite quickly. She delights in her brother and yesterday when Alex was asleep and Tara should have been asleep, she went and banged on his door. She has taken to nodding and shaking her head, in answer to all sorts of questions. She has an opinion on everything. I was having a joke with Alex telling him he had to eat vegemite as he's Australian. Now if we ask Tara if she's British - she will shake her head and nod vigourously when asked is she's Australian.



Ann is due back from Bangkok tomorrow - she will be back with us for 2 weeks before heading back to England. Alex and Tara are looking forward to seeing Granny Ann and especially to helping her eat her birthday cake.