Bryant's 1st day of School

Well, I started the year with two kids at home and I'm ending it with none. Bryant is officially enrolled in a local school here in Singapore. Preschool, K1 and K2 (Kindergarden) are run thru private preschools here and then they officially start in public school the year they turn 7. Bryant is in K1 (since he turns 5 this year). I began to look into Preschool for next year (when we return after summer) and found a wonderful little Montessori School right up the street from our house that I felt very good about. Because he is already behind (their school year begins in January), we decided to go ahead and start him now. He goes to school with local children (he is the only Caucasian in his class) and will be learning Chinese. He just goes in the afternoons from 1 to 4.

He's so cute in his uniform and with his little backpack. I have to admit that I got a little teary when I dropped him off the first day. It's very strange to have my baby go to school!

Ashlyn's Shiner

The other day I got a call from the nurse at the school letting me know that Ashlyn had been hit in the eye with a hockey stick during PE. When she arrived home she had an enormous lump on her eyebrow where she had been struck. Over time, the lump went down and the color appeared - now she has a pretty good shiner! She gets alot of attention - although even that is getting annoying I think.

She's been a good sport about it - luckily it doesn't hurt too much. She says where she got knocked in the leg hurts alot worse. Rough PE day!!

Easter in Singapore

Our Easter celebrations began Monday night when we dyed eggs for Family Home Evening. Craig returned from a trip to the states Sunday and brought back an egg dying kit - perfect timing.

The kids were a little miffed to have to dye brown eggs (what they have here) but soon realized that as long as you didn't do yellow or orange, they worked fine. It actually made the dye quite vibrant!
We had to do it in two rounds since Ashlyn and Breann had basketball practice. They came home and dyed eggs later.

The came up with some beautiful, creative eggs.
Oh - how did that get in there!! Dying eggs really wore Craig out! He has meetings most every night - I think he was still trying to get over jet lag. Hopefully it wasn't important!
Saturday evening we participated in a little neighborhood egg hunt. Some friends invited us to dinner and we ended up egg hunting with a whole crew. The kids had tons of fun running all over the street finding eggs. Felt a little strange not being in a grassy park or something, but it worked. The teenagers all hid the eggs for the younger kids.



Sunday morning the kids came down to find that the Easter bunny had indeed come. Nothing like a whole load of candy. It was a special treat though because it was real, US candy! (Ashlyn is still in bed - she'd rather sleep and doesn't eat candy anyway. I'm really bad at getting pictures of her). We have 9:00 church so we didn't have much time in the morning. We had my sister Anna and her family over for dinner that evening. It's so nice to have family around to share the holidays with.

Starlight Ball

Alexa's first grade class had their Starlight Ball last Friday night. Students and guest (family) dressed in 'formal attire' for the ball. The kids showed their dancing skills as they danced the cha-cha, waltz, east-coast swing and tango. It was so stinking cute!!

They each entered with their dance partner for the evening and posed for their pictures.

Alexa with her good friend Zhara.

After the kids demonstrated each dance, they came over and taught one of their family members how to do it.

Alexa with her wonderful teacher - Mrs. Woodfield (from New Zealand)

The supportive crew (Dad was gone on a business trip and Ashlyn had a birthday party). What a fun evening!

Rock Climbing

I've mentioned this before, but Dallin has gotten really into rock climbing since we have been here. He's in the Rock Climbing Club at school and climbs a couple days a week after school. It's been so wonderful for him to have this outlet and find something to get into that he really enjoys. This last weekend he participated in his second competition - representing SAS (his school). He did a wonderful job - making it into the finals and placing 4th overall.

It's actually very fun. I went with him one time and really enjoyed it - it's a great workout (takes alot of strength). I think I could really get into it!

Penang Malaysia

Sorry about all my travels blogging but since this is also our family journal, I want to record all our experiences here. This past weekend I went to Penang which is a small island in Malaysia. Craig travels there often for work and he was there last week. A coworker of his invited him to his wedding to take place on Saturday so I decided to fly up and meet him there and attend the wedding. Georgetown (city in Penang) is an UNESCO World Heritage Site due to the history and architecture. Penang, like Singapore, was once a British colony so this is a great deal of colonial architecture, which I love. I flew up early Friday morning and spent Friday touring Georgetown on my own (Craig was working). I took a few self guided walking tours around the city. I love history and I love architecture so I was in heaven.

Like Singapore, Malaysia has alot of diversity in terms of cultures and religions. Within about one square mile, I walked by an Anglican Church, a Mosque, a Hindu temple and a Buddist Temple. Temples and churches like these dotted the cities.

I toured a Chinese aristocratic mansion - beautiful and fascinating. When I got out of the tour it was raining so I ran over to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel - considered one of the most elegant in the orient - and had a chocolate croissant and some hot chocolate. They brought me a whole tea kettle full of the best hot chocolate so I sat at the table drinking hot chocolate for quite some time. Sometimes I feel guilty for loving solitude so much.

Friday night Craig and I met up and had dinner by the beach - in the resort area of the island. Saturday we visited a huge Buddhist Temple up in the hills of Penang before heading to the wedding and then the airport. It was a quick trip but such a nice one. Penang is a beautiful place - I especially loved all the rolling green hills (Sinapore is very flat). I was proud of myself for traveling all alone - that used to scare me but I'm getting more used to traveling in Asia and was comfortable. I also enjoyed being able to do things that my children would never have tolerated (all the walking tours). It was also wonderful to spend the weekend with Craig.

Bryant and Soccer

So, after years of watching siblings from the sidelines, Bryant finally got to enter the world of team sports. In January he began a season of soccer. It's funny to watch these little kids learn to play. Craig, with all his patience, coached his team. At first we were concerned that we started Bryant too young as he just couldn't seem to figure it out. However, with time, he finally got it - at least he touched the ball and kicked it the right way. I didn't get to see many of his games - Breann played basketball at the same time - but I went to his first game and his last. There was a HUGE difference. I guess that means that Craig did a good job. Most importantly, Bryant had fun - and got to wear his soccer cleats and shin guards for something other than riding his bike.

During the breaks, Bryant would kiss his muscles - such a goofy kid sometimes.