Happy Birthday Alexa!

Today we celebrated Alexa's 7th birthday. Not easy having a birthday on Sunday (and fast Sunday at that) but hopefully she had a nice day. She requested homemade pizza and caesar salad for dinner - and for the cake, chocolate (good taste!).

At her back to school night this past week I had to share three words that described Alexa and I said - Energetic, Bright, Determined. Alexa knows how to have fun, she loves to learn, and when she wants to do something she'll figure out a way to do it - no matter what (sometimes much to our dismay). This summer her Grandpa Larsen labeled her 'Singapore monkey, computer junky'. She is a monkey - always climbing on everything in sight (no wonder she loves gymnastics so much) and she's a magnet to all technology (hide the ipod touches and iphone!). We sure love this girl!

Mid-Autumn Festival

August and September bring many religious holidays and festivals to Singapore. For a few weeks during this month, the Chinese celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival. Stemming from Chinese mythology, it's celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month when the moon is the fullest. It's celebrated with lanterns and mooncakes (made with lotus paste). Saturday night we visited the Chinese Garden to see a large lantern display and take part in some of the festivities.

We met my sister and her family there. There were lots of lit displays depicting Chinese mythology.

The kids each got a lantern of their own to bring home and light. I enjoy learning about the cultures that surround us here and taking part in the various celebrations.

Where's that kitchen fairy??

This is when you wish you had a magic wand! Or in Singapore, this is the time when I wish I had a domestic helper (very common here). I love to cook but I HATE cleaning it up! If you could believe it, the kitchen was clean yesterday afternoon - and this is what it looked like by 9:00 a.m. This would be a build-up of last nights dinner (Breann rinsed the dishes but didn't load them them as the dishwasher hadn't been emptied), this mornings breakfast, and cookies to take to Alexa's class today (her birthday is Sunday). It doesn't help that my kitchen is so tiny! Unfortunately, this seems to be a daily occurrence.

So, instead of cleaning it up - I guess I'll just blog about it!

Saturday at East Coast Park

We decided to take advantage of having a free Saturday before soccer season starts. We packed up our scooters, roller blades, skateboard, and rip stick and headed to East Coast Park on the east side of the island. There is a great trail that runs for miles and miles along the coast. Bryant scootered, Alexa and Ashlyn roller bladed, Breann skateboarded (and rip sticked) and Dallin did rip stick and some roller blading. The kids thought it particularly fun when dad showed them he could skateboard - had to remind them that he was a kids once!

Luckily it was a beautiful day - a little breezy which helps keep the humidity down. We took a break for a while and found a nice spot for some sand playing time.
On the way back down the trail, the kids found some fun trees perfect for climbing.
We ended our Saturday excursion with some dinner at Carl's Jr - a definite treat (at least for mom and dad - the kids wanted KFC next door). So nice to have some 'family time' - something that's hard to come by as the kids get older - and enjoy some outdoor activity.

First week of school

We've survived our first week of school! Ashlyn, Dallin and Breann started on Monday. A big year for Ashlyn as she enters High School. She's very excited but also already began to feel the stress of it in just one week. She had volleyball tryouts everyday after school this first week so it's been particularly crazy. She did make the team (yeah!) but hopefully she'll be able to balance it all as she has a hard schedule. It's going to be a tough, fun year.

She met up with many of the other high school students (freshman and sophomores) from our ward that live in the neighborhood to walk together the first day. What a fun group of kids. They all start early morning seminary next week - then they'll walk together everyday.
Dallin headed out on Monday only to come home a few hours later with a fever - what a way to start a new school year! He battled a fever for a few days before returning to school Thursday. He's looking forward to his 7th grade year - although already intimidated by his high school Algebra class (we'll see if that one lasts!).
Breann's ready to go, violin in hand. She seems to have another wonderful teacher and is looking forward to being in student council and king of the campus as a 5th grader - last year of Elementary School.
Alexa started school Wednesday. She has a male teacher for the first time and he seems SUPER fun so she is excited. Life's good as a 2nd grader - king of her Primary School campus.
And then there's Bryant. School started for him...well, back in early July - he goes to a local preschool which follows a different school calender. He started back last week - we gave him one week to recover from jet lag before returning. He's actually starting to enjoy his time at school and looks forward to going for a few hours each afternoon.
Mom's happy to be back to schedules and routines - although we did have an incredible summer, it's good to be back to 'normal' life. It should be a fun, crazy year with one kid in high school, one in middle school, one in intermediate school, one in primary school (our elementary school here is divided into two separate schools) and one in preschool. I can't believe how quickly these kids are growing up - it's scary!

Summer 2011 - Adventures

We've finally arrived back in Singapore after spending 7 wonderful weeks in the US. We packed it in and had an incredible, fun-filled summer. I wasn't sure the best way to post this but I did it in order - which actually appears in reverse order. So, to start at the beginning you have to scroll down to the post titled 'Chicago'. After Lake Powell, Craig returned to Singapore, and the kids and I stayed an additional 3 weeks enjoying beautiful southern California. Unfortunately, I didn't take too many picture during this time but here were a few highlights.

We spent lots of quality time with cousins - Bruschke and Larsen.

Spent many hours playing on Grandma and Grandpa's hill and swimming in the jacuzzi.
My dear friends, Kristi and Sarah, came for a few days to visit.
We spent a few days at the beach. We now have the opportunity to visit beaches all over the world but we still love our good old southern California beaches! We spent our last day in the US at the beach - one of our favorite things before boarding the plane to return home to Singapore. What a fabulous summer! It's now back to our normal routines as the kids get ready to go back to school next week.

Lake Powell

After Northern California, we were off to Lake Powell for our annual week on the lake with the Bruschke's. My kids were so excited about this part of the summer - especially since we missed last summer due to our move. We made a few stops on our way there. We spent a night in Las Vegas. Haven't been there in a while so thought it would be fun to take the kids downtown and show them some of the strip. Not sure that was such a good idea - talk about sin city. There is no where to look - between all the billboards, advertisements, flyers, and frankly -people. Not a good place for kids - or adults really. We did enjoy the water show at the Bellagio - always a favorite.

We also stopped in St. George for church on Sunday. We were able to squeeze in a quick visit to another beautiful temple.
We also visited my grandmother and her husband, Joseph, who live in St. George.
We had another fabulous week on the lake. The kids couldn't get enough tubing, skiing, boating, and swimming. (Bryant is really enjoying the ride - it's hard to tell if he is smiling or crying).





As always, a very relaxing week. We enjoyed spending time with Craig's parents and some of our Bruschke cousins.

Even though we've been to Lake Powell almost every summer since we have been married (and once while in high school), I was stilled awed by the beauty of this incredible place. I feel blessed to be able to spend summers enjoying the majestic surroundings and watching the kids enjoy the water recreation - finishing a few books is always a bonus.