orientations, mustafa, and pasir ris park

Our first night at the condo was spent unpacking and eating a McDonald's picnic on the floor (we didn't have a high chair and the table was covered in stuff we had unpacked but hadn't found a home for). And just for the record, Singapore McDonald's is not the same as American McDonald's. But oh well, we were hungry and it was there. 

The next two days we spent with Shamla, from a company called Orientations, who hired a driver and took us around the city. She took us to the bank to open an account and other various things. She was a little much at times but really very nice. I just got sick of her constantly telling me what to do with my jet lagged, hot, leery-of-strangers kids. We also seemed to waste quite a bit of time both days. Her driver, Alan, was very nice and helpful. He is a Singaporean and seemed to know our area of the island better than she did. The part of the two days we will probably never forget was our trip to Mustafa. We told Shamla we needed a high chair and a couple other larger things for our apartment and wanted to go to Ikea to get them. Ikea is really close to where we live but it would be helpful to get them while we had a car to get them home. Shamla insisted we would be better off going to Mustafa, where things were much cheaper. So that's where we went. And trust me, words are inadequate. If I didn't feel like it would be offensive to Shamla I would have taken some pictures. I think we might have to go back just to take some. Brennan described it as a giant, horrible Kmart. But it was worse than that. So many floors of utter chaos. Boxes stacked everywhere, things taking up the aisles so you could barely walk down them, let alone take your cart down them. When we got to the baby section the guy had to call someone on his cell phone for help in finding a high chair. He finally found one but it wasn't in a box, just a bag. He set it up for us and it seemed fine so we asked what the price was. $95!! High chairs at Ikea are like 30 bucks. The biggest waste of time. But at least Shamla got the fabric she needed. ;)

Saturday was our first full day of being able to just explore a little. We walked to Pasir Ris Park, which is by the ocean. The sandy part of the beach was fine, but the water was gross. There was no swimming allowed anyway so it didn't matter. There were several different playgrounds and the kids loved it. We also got to see some monkeys. Tatum thought it was the greatest thing until she realized they had stolen food from people. Suddenly she started running for her life and looked quite scared. I figured it was because they had sort of acted aggressive toward some people, but she explained to me that she was afraid they were going to take gold fish crackers. :) That girl has her priorities. 

 The monkey is just to left of the tree.

 Give this boy some sand and a shovel and he will be content for a long time.

 We figured out a shorter way to walk home but it was still a very hot walk. I decided at the last minute to bring this stroller and I am so glad I did. I'm not sure I will ever feel gutsy enough to try to take it as a bike trailer myself, but when we are only walking somewhere, not taking any sort of public transportation, it is a lifesaver. Even if people do seem to think we are crazy.

getting to Singapore

Well we made it. Somehow we survived 21 hours of flight time, 6 hours of layovers, three airplanes, and four airports. And somehow all 12 of our bags, 2 car seats and stroller all made it with us. It's a miracle!

I wouldn't say I was every really looking forward to moving to Singapore. But I certainly wasn't a nervous wreck about it until about the last 24 hours. I thought it would subside once we got through secruity in Cedar Rapids and were officially on our way, but it seemed to get worse at every juncture on our journey. Poor Brennan had to pull a lot of the weight when it came to taking care of the kids. I was pretty nervous and just generally didn't feel well. My dad was able to give us both blessings the night before we left which was so helpful. I'm so grateful for him and for the priesthood. 

I'll try to keep the synopsis of our trip relatively brief but I do want to document it a little. The first flight was only an hour, piece of cake right? Especially since Declan fell asleep in my arms before we even took off. Score! Then Brennan made the mistake of suggesting that I put him in his car seat which we had brought on the plane for just this reason and I made the mistake of listening to him. :) Declan woke up as soon as I tried and then proceeded to scream bloody murder for the rest of the flight. Oh boy. Then when we got to Minneapolis I'm pretty sure it was a couple of crooked miles to our next gate. We gate checked our double stroller and ended up just loading it up with the car seat and all of our carry one stuff and Tatum walked the crooked miles and I carried Declan. So fun. When it was time to board the plane Tatum suddenly had to go to the bathroom as we showed our passports, so Brennan handed ours off to us and I took her. Apparently she really had to go because she started before she was all the way on the toilet and peed all over her underwear and pants. Luckily I had an extra pair of underwear with me and I just had to make her put the slightly wet pants back on. Always an adventure.

The next leg of our journey was the longest. 12.5 hours on a plane. No bueno. I tend to get a little claustrophobic on planes if the flight is longer than 2 hours so I was at least as worried about how I would do as I was about the kids. :) There were three aisles of three seats across and we were in the middle. Not good for the claustrophobic among us. I sat in one row with the two kids and Brennan sat in the row in front of us. All in all the kids did well. There were unlimited movies to watch and Tatum had a hay day with that. She had a disgusting amount of screen time that day. You do what you have to, right? Declan slept off and on and seemed to sit better and be calmer when he was with Brennan but that's probably just my perspective. The flight attendants seemed to come around annoyingly often with nasty food and un-iced water and asking for trash. They also dim the lights and everyone closes their windows. So even though it's light outside it's dark on the plane the whole time. It messes with my mind! Declan had a blow out and Tatum went to the bathroom no less than fifty times. The rest is a blur. :)

We had another 3 hour layover in Tokyo. We unexpectedly had to go through security again, which was annoying. We had to throw away a bunch of liquids and our double stroller wouldn't fit through any of the lanes and it was stinkin' hot in the airport. It was stressful. We made it to our gate and I was feeling even more sick and nervous and useless, the kids were exhausted and grumpy and Brennan was complaining of motion sickness. We were quite a crew. The layover went quickly and it was time to board again for the last 7.5 hour flight. As we got on the plane Tatum cried and said, "Why are we getting on here again?" Poor girl. We got an outside aisle this time and I had Brennan sit with the kids and I was in the row behind them. I mostly tried to sleep for the entire flight. I turned down all the nasty food this time and tried to just calm myself down. I actually kept thinking about the talk my sister gave at church about a week before we left about the new year and looking forward instead of back. She talked about Lot's wife and how she didn't have enough faith that the Lord had something better in store for her. I kept thinking I don't want to be Lot's wife, but this is hard and scary! I reminded myself that there must be a reason for this, and I might not realize what that reason is today, or tomorrow, or next week or next month. I might not know until years down the road. But surely I have enough faith to do this. So between off and on sleep and thoughts like these swirling through my mind and occasionally helping with the kids, we made it.

Then it was time show our passports. Brennan accidentally didn't fill out the right paperwork so he had to do it in line and suddenly Tatum had to go to the bathroom. I ran off to find one with her but couldn't find one anywhere! When I finally did the women's side was closed for cleaning! When I read the sign out loud Tatum just broke down. She dropped to the floor sobbing and peed all over the floor. What on earth was I supposed to do? It was the middle of the night in Singapore and this area of the airport was virtually empty. I'm not proud of it, but we just walked away with a puddle of my daughter's pee on the floor. (I actually had a dream that night at the hotel that they caught us on video surveillance and Tatum had to get like 12 lashings on her heels. My brain is weird.) We went to join Brennan in line and Tatum was mortified by what just happened so she just kept crying and saying she peed her pants really loudly. It was quite a humbling experience.

We made it through and went to collect our bajillion bags. All they had were these tiny luggage carts and we had no idea how we were going to get it all to our hotel, which was in the aiport. Finally a worker told us to take just what we needed and leave the rest at baggage claim and come collect it the next day. Seemed a little dangerous but we couldn't see any other solution so thats what we did. Of course, what we needed was still an awful lot. We didn't really pack with this one night in the hotel in mind. Poor Declan was a basketcase at this point and it was hotter than blazes and he was still in his fleece pjs from the blowout. I'm pretty sure we woke up everyone at that hotel. Oops. We tried to bathe our peed on, pooped on, sweaty, travelled weary children but they screamed the whole time. Ooops again. Then we all managed to get a few hours of shut eye. We had breakfast at the hotel, repacked and then a coworker came to pick us up and show us our apartment.

The view from our hotel room.

 Tatum made herself right at home that first afternoon.

 And we all suffered from some serious jet lag. These kids would just pass out at the most random times and be completely out.

 We arrived to discover that our apartment had three showers but no bathtubs. Our kids are not too thrilled with the idea of showering. Luckily we packed some of our stuff in a rubbermaid which has served has our tub so far. The only downside is they can't both fit and back home they would play in the bath for a long time.

Christmas etc.

So we lived with my parents for two weeks. And it was a lot of fun. It was so great to soak up as much time with family as we possibly could before we moved halfway around the world where we know no one. Christmas was a blast!

On Christmas Eve we had our traditional soup for dinner, got new pajamas and read the scriptures and sang carols. Possibly my favorite part of the whole Christmas celebration. There is so much anticipation and excitement on Christmas Eve and at the same time it so wonderful to concentrate on the true meaning of Christmas that night.

A little glimpse of our Christmas Eve gathering:

 We tried to get a decent picture of the kids in their new pajamas in front of the tree. Pretty much an impossible task. And yes, Declan's pajamas are quite summery for Christmas in Iowa but we were moving to Singapore folks. :) Don't worry, I put a fleece sleeper over them. :)

Christmas Day did not disappoint. Tatum got the princesses she wished for and Declan got a little laptop. It's so fun to watch their excitement and see the magic in their eyes.

Declan's obsession with Papa was firmly established by Christmas. :)

Tatum loved her Anna dress and doll. Thanks Grandma Jennifer and Grandpa Rex!

The rest of the day we spent cooking yummy food, eating it, playing games and hanging out. It was a pretty good day. Grandma of course did a lot of cooking and baking but took a break to play some Frozen Spot It with Tatum.

                                       

Grandma and Papa gave Tatum Zingo! for Christmas and it was a huge hit. We play it nearly everyday and the lucky girl had a whole slew of people willing to entertain her on Christmas day.

                                      

It was strangely beautiful weather for Iowa so Brennan got to go try out his new frisbee set with Crystal and Rich.

We were supposed to do our final December project run in our prize tshirts, Brennan snapped this funny photo at the end of the day of me and my parents matching.

The rest of the pictures are random happenings from the rest of our stay with my parents.

Tatum was spoiled and Grandma let her ride this horse at the store.

 We went to the temple the Saturday after Christmas. It is always hard to dedicate an entire Saturday to going but I'm always so glad when we do. Now that we are so far from any temple I'm extra grateful that we took this time to go while we could. I captured this sweet photo of Tatum holding Declan's hand on the way back. If you look closely you can see mom and dad passed out in the back. :)

 We went bowling! Always fun!

 One final dinner with the Lights and Rices. We miss them so much!

 Tatum had her three year old check up. She was nervous but trying so hard to be brave and not cry. It was the cutest thing! The next day we had to go get our Typhoid vaccines and I sort of assumed she would freak out about it but she didn't even cry.

 We hung out at the Church to play some games and eat some yummy food on New Year's Eve. Tatum was excited to play with her friend Genevieve.

 My mom also works hard to make sure Brennan uses his artistic abilities. These canvases were a joint effort between the two of them. I thought they turned out really well.

 A bit blurry but I had to capture Declan sandwiched between his two favorites, Papa and Dukey.

 Another bowling picture.

 Declan loving on Duke and Duke loving on Rich.

 Making chocolate covered Ritz peanut butter sandwiches, a Christmas time favorite. The amount of food we consumed is somewhat alarming. It's probably a good thing we hardly know how to feed ourselves here.

 Playing with Macy. Tatum sure misses having cousins close by.

 My little model.

 We played lots of games. Some of which involved challenges like this:

 And this:

 Caden and Tatum. (or should I say Gannon? haha, that's sort of how Tatum says his name. It is kind of weird.) He is the sweetest cousin.

 Tatum convinced Papa to play red light green light one morning. It was hilarious. Her rules can be somewhat confusing.

 This is how Declan spent the majority of the two weeks. Begging Papa to pick him up.

 Tatum's turn to be the light.

 Declan really liked to mop at Grandma's house. Kind of annoying, kind of cute.

 Brennan and Caden did a lot of this.

 And we will end with this picture of the kids with Grandma the day before we left. Does it get any cuter than this? She is the greatest grandma.