Random Samplings

Crazy hair day! Ashlyn braided Breann's hair the night before and then added some touches in the morning. It's nice to have big sisters willing to help out with these kinds of things.

Dallin went on a campout two weekends ago a came back with over 70 mosquito bites. Craig was with him and apparently Dallin's not used to sharing a tent - Craig said the tent was so messy, Dallin didn't think there was enough room to sleep amongst all his stuff so he slept outside. That will teach him!
Everyone thinks he has the chicken pox.
Ashlyn and Breann just finished up a great session of basketball. Ashlyn played for the school team and then again in a league.
Breann played in her age division the end of last year and then they asked her to come back and play again with the older girls (5th & 6th graders). They're both great ball players - it's been fun to spend Saturday mornings watching them.

Hong Kong

I was privilege to spend a few days in Hong Kong last weekend. Each year our ward has two temple trips. Ashlyn and Craig went to Cebu, Philippines in November and so it was my turn to go this time. We are officially in the Hong Kong temple district- although sometimes they go to other temples around us, usually in the Philippines or Australia. I was lucky to go with a friend, Monica, and spend a few days touring as well.

Hong Kong is an amazing city. It's a HUGE city - like 10 New York's put together. The view from the top of Victoria Peak shows buildings and skyscrapers as far as the eye can see - in both directions.

Yes, that old woman is me! I celebrated my birthday while in Hong Kong - a fabulous birthday weekend! (Luckily, you can't see the gray hairs!)

One thing I noticed is the stark contrast all around of the mixture of old and new. There were tons of old, run down buildings mixed with huge, new skyscrapers. This is very different from Singapore which knocks down all old buildings and constantly rebuilds.
The highlight, or course, was attending the temple on Saturday. I haven't been to the temple since last summer so this was such a treat.
I also attended an English branch on Sunday. It was fun to see another expat ward in another country. The building was also unique - 7 stories (ours is only 4).
We did lots of shopping. There were lots of street markets throughout the city.
A 'wet market'.
The Flower Market - streets and streets of flower shops.
The Jade Market - my favorite. Heaven for me - rows and rows or jewelry. So nice to shop without kids (my kids complain so much about my always stopping at jewelry shops when we travel). Lucky for me it was my birthday!
We did lots of eating! I'm so lucky to live in a place where people all around me have traveled extensively or lived in other countries so I get lots of recommendations for food/restaurants. I have two friends that lived many years in Hong Kong so I only ate at recommended places. It was all so good!
I'm such a food person - it's all about the food!

Saturday, for my birthday, we ate at the beautiful Peninsula Hotel. A birthday dinner I will always remember.

My birthday 'cake'.
On Monday, I was on my own (my friend left Sunday evening). I took a bus (thanks again to helpful info. from friends) and headed to the south part of Hong Kong island - to Stanely. It was nice to get out of the city and see another part of the island - where there is mountains and greenery. It was really beautiful down by the water.
Stanely Market is a famous 'knock-off' market. It was alley ways, and alley ways of shopping - I got lost in the maze of it.
I capped the trip off at Lucy's - a little restaurant tucked in the middle of busy Stanely Market. I would have never found the place if I hadn't been told about it. Truly a jewel and a fabulous ending to a wonderful weekend in Hong Kong.

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!