Like George and Weezy

Well, it's official.  We are moving from our current flat into a new town house.  Our lease is up at the end of the month, and after going round and round, we decided to look at other housing options.  A friend of mine lives in the Ang Mo Kio neighborhood, and mentioned there was an opening at her complex.  After much wrasaling (yes, I said wrasaling....) with our leasing agent (she didn't want us to move, she would lose money), we were finally able to convince her we know what we are doing by moving to a more "local" area, and out of the safety net of the expat neighborhood we live in now. Our new place is a lot more roomy, has two patios (yes!!  TWO!!!).  We are getting packed up, and will be in our new place by the end of the week.  I will post pictures soon!  And I will send out a change of address email in the next day or so.  

Not wanting to dull the still shimmering memory of the Motley Crue concert, here is a short video for the Indigo Girls concert last week.  Larry and I can now say we've been to one concert from the other's musical taste.  Overall, he enjoyed the girls very much....and oh my....their lush harmonies and intricate vocals....mmmm, mmmm, mmmm....hard to shake, even a week later.

More From Shea

I was having blogger glitches when Shea sent me her last blog entries, so they were on hold. Here are her thoughts on her last few days.  Thanks for writing about your experiences Shea, everyone loved reading them!

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Hey all you bog readers out there! I just noticed something, I never said happy Valentines Day on Valentines Day! So happy belated Valentines Day! Now, about today.

Today we didn’t have Alice with us again. We had things to do before we leave. We spent almost the whole day at the Yashow Market! We had bought gifts for our friends. We got scarves, purses, shoes, and clothing. We had gotten glamorous wallets for my cousins, Molly and Emma, a purse for their mom, Laura Varon Brown, you might recognize that name from the paper, shoes for my cousin who is just 5 years old and her mom is about to have a baby girl! So we got the newborn and the 5 year old, Sloane, some shoes, and we bought more wacko stuff! I, surprisingly, didn’t get anything for me until later! Usually I would find something I like instantly and I would be the first one to buy something, before we even found something for anyone else!

I’ve been reading your comments lately and a lot say things about pictures. No worries, they’ll be up in a short while! They might not be posted with their correct blog, but they’ll be up and you’ll be able to tell which one goes with which.

We went to see the Acrobats tonight! They were absolutely AMAZING!!! ASTONISHING!!! Some of them did mess up a little bit, but when they did, it wasn’t so bad. There were 3 kids doing some seriously cool things! They were doing funny but cool looking handstands on 1 pogo stick with 1 arm! Sometimes, they would do some real kid stuff like bouncing on pogo sticks (with 2 pogo sticks with both arms) while their legs were going crazy, like a young child would do! These kids looked like they were younger than me! Younger than 10! Absolutely ASTONISHING!!! There was this thing called the Slack Wire. It was kind of like a tight rope, but I guess they don’t call it that here. So, this guy, who looked extremely young, like another kid, and he was walking and doing tricks on it! He did handstands, headstands, (without hands. Just head) and he took a ladder and put it on the wire, then did a handstand on it! It was SUPER COOL!! Then, he took a unicycle and rode around on it on the wire! That is called EXTREME BALLENCE!!!

So, sorry there wasn’t much to tell, and sorry this one doesn’t have a picture, they wouldn’t let us video tape or take pictures. L But, there’ll be more tomorrow! So stay tuned!

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I guess for the rest of the time here, we are not going to have Alice with us.  Mom and I got around just fine today. We went to the Temple of Heaven. When we got there, there wasn’t much, but there were people dancing, singing, and there was an exercise park with all these exercise machines! But they were much different from what we have in Michigan, but they are so much more fun than what there is in Michigan! So, mom and I hung out over there for about 20 minutes and then we went to the Temple. At the Temple, there wasn’t much to see. There were a lot of stairs and single stairs in the middle for the Emperor to walk on. When you got to the Temple part, you could only look from the outside looking in. There wasn’t much inside, just a throne and some desks.

After the Temple of Heaven, we went back to the hotel room and watched movies and read our books. It took us a while before we started gussying up for tonight, that night we were going to get the famous (in China) Peking Duck! I was so tired during dinner! I slept through it! I’ve been sleeping through every dinner I’ve been on this vacation! I was up for the duck, it tasted like chicken! It was good, but I still didn’t eat it. I won’t eat anything that looks like what it is, like duck. If it looks like a duck, I’m not eating it! They chopped off the head! It even had the beak and everything! GROSS!!!!!

I am SOOO sorry I don’t have more to tell! I’ll try to tell more tomorrow!

******************************************************************************************************Today is my last day, and I really didn’t do anything. I got a manicure, and we went to the Water Cube again. Mom went out to dinner with one of my dad’s co-workers while my dad and I got room service.

Today wasn’t much of a blog, but this is what happened today! Catch ya l8er! 

Some More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from Tim and Kae's visit...it was a blast! Come visit us!

Um, Yeah.

Tim Hits The Island Of Batam

We headed to the indonesian Island of Batam on Friday morning.  We took the ferry from Singapore, and arrived at around eleven island time.  We stayed at the Turi Beach resort in the balinese huts.  It was a great little getaway.  Tim and I really enjoyed swimming up to the pool bar.  Lar had a few naps, and Kae liked strolling along the beach.  Tim and Kae also found a monkey hideout, and caught them doing all kinds of funny stuff.  We had 2 great dinners at the tapenaki restaurant, and even went into Batam center for a little shopping.

We came back on Sunday afternoon, and Larry and I had to attend a funeral wake for a co-worker's father.  It was a Chinese wake, and it was truly fascinating.  Larry and both felt honored to have been able to experience it.  We were both a little nervous, but we were warmly welcomed, and shown how to participate.  They mourn for five days, for 24 hours.  Larry's co-worker looked worn out and exhausted, but seemed to be holding up okay.  There was traditional music, food, and chanting going on....as sad as it was, it was also joyful.  Again, Larry and I were humbled to be allowed into a very intimate aspect of the Singaporean culture.

Tim and Kae are off to Chinatown today for their last day in Sing.  They are going for souvenirs and stuff.  They are getting good at riding the mrt themselves, and like exploring on their own.  We are going to the East Coast Hawker stand tonight for their last dinner in Sing. (Tim's request...he loves having so many choices!)

Here are a few photos from our batam trip.

More Video Fun

Here is a quick video from this past weekend when we finished Macritchie trail (and I almost bit the dust).  We loved seeing the monkeys, and even if it was a looooong walk, it was still really fun, and nice to be out in nature.

In other news, today is our second anniversary (and they said it wouldn't last....) Here's to another fab year...it only gets sweeter!

And Tim had his first experience at a hawker stand.  He ran from stall to stall, exclaiming "ooooohhhh!   I'm eating here NEXT!!!"   He finally settled on roasted duck and rice, with a nice frosty lime juice.  He said he only wants to eat at hawker stands for the remainder of his trip.  I apologize to the vendors in advance.

here he is eating an oatmeal cookie with chopsticks (reminds me of my sister, when she was eight years old and she used chopsticks exclusively for a year)

Days Two, Three and Four

We've been having a great time with Tim and Kae this weekend.  Thursday, we just hung out at home, and  then we went for Chilli crab at the east coast parkway seafood center.  It was all kinds of yummy.  We went to Chinatown on friday, and we rode the mrt, had Dim Sum at Dimjoy, and then came back for  a little rest.  When Larry got home, we went for indonesian food then to the fish spa...here is a video of Tim and Larry enjoying the experience. 

On Saturday, we went to Macritchie park to do the tree top walk.  We took the long trail thinking it would be no big deal...we were WRONG!! It turned out to be around 6.5 miles (it felt like 2000) and well...me being in my best physical shape...I was a whiney mess by the end.  Thankfully we missed the rain though, and came back for a nice healthy meal of stirfry veggies, a little beef, and some rice.  Tim as been trying to master chopsticks, and is really coming along at it.  Kae taught me how to make her famous potato pancakes this morning, and after Tim ate 40 of them, we spent the afternoon at the pool.  We went for pho for dinner, then rode the Singapore Flier....it was a hoot...I wasn't expecting much, but I loved it!

We've been having a blast...more soon!