Halloween, Singapore Style

These pictures don't really do it justice, but Halloween here in Singapore can be a crazy event, depending where you go. We headed up to the Woodlands, where several Americans have made their home next to the American school. We were amazed how many people were packed into this small neighborhood, begging for treats. Our little princess/fairy loved it! So did her daddy, if you can't tell by the pictures. 

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating.

 Arriving at the party.

Assessing the loot. Think we did pretty good.

Birthday Girl

I know, I should probably be posting about Christmas, but need to play a lot of catch up. Here are some pictures from back in October when we celebrated Livvy's second birthday. It was a bit of a makeshift celebration. We had just moved into our permanent house and had yet to receive our shipment from the states, but we made-do. What do you think of the birthday "crown?"

Making a cake with Mom. 

A few tears when we had to eat dinner before the cake, but then, pure joy. Ask Olivia how old she is, and she'll tell you "three," and hold up five fingers. 

Not so pretty, but Livvy had fun helping frost and decorate it. 

Excited over her princess movie and book.

New babies to take care of. 

Trying on a brand new dress. The place is pretty bare in these pictures. All the furniture was rented for about two weeks. 

More presents the next morning from her grandparents. They got to participate over Skype.

Couldn't forget to show-off the awesome house Troy built for Olivia with our shipping boxes. Plus, our awesome Halloween decorations. 

Oh yes, can't forget the fish. We decided Olivia needed a pet for her birthday. Think we wanted one, too.

From Sandy to Singapore

We finally have our computer! We only had a limited amount of space on our air shipment here, and one of the most important things we chose to pack was our computer. Now I can finally download pictures. So, for your viewing pleasure, a few pictures that show what we did the past three weeks. 

 In her room before we packed it up. 

 "Don't worry, I got it." We didn't get a picture, but this mover actually picked up the mattress with one hand and carried it to the cargo crate. 

 12 pieces of luggage, plus a stroller and car seat. 

 The view out our window the first morning (4 am.)

 China Town. Taken the first week before we succumbed to jet lag and decided to spend the rest of our nights...sleeping. 

 Little turtles at the Botanic Gardens. Livvy loved them!

 Botanic Gardens. 

 Olivia's mad organizing skills. You'll notice if you look close how all the animals are categorized together by species. Troy and I are in a fight over who gave our girl the type-A, OCD genes. 

 Major shopping center across the street, Ion Orchard. 

 Swimming at the hotel. Sorry all you Utah folks with snow. 

 Our temporary housing. It's actually serviced, which means the cleaning fairly shows up once a day. I think Troy might be in for a shock when we move to our new place and realizes the cleaning fairy only lives in serviced apartments. 

 Olivia has a new-found love for escalators and elevators. She calls them both "alligators."

 Pig statues in the food court. Olivia likes to pet them. 

 The children's section of the Botanic Gardens. 

 More mad organizing skills. Same animals, different location. And no, I didn't help. 

 Our air shipment! And it has toys!

Not so organized now. But we're in heaven. 

Bomb Shelters & Yuan

How much would you pay for a bomb shelter in your house?

For Troy and I, we decided it was worth a little extra than what his company allocated to us for housing to have the added comfort of a bomb shelter in our Singaporian home.

Not only are they good in the case of say, a bomb, but they also double as a great storage place. Some people also use them as a bedroom for their live-in helper/maid. Can't tell you how many real estate agents we had point out the fact that these bomb shelters, despite being fully encased in metal, and quite tiny, have ventilation  so they'd be appropriate for someone to live in. Yikes is all I can say.

Also, not quite 100 percent sure on the background of these bomb shelters, but one person told us they began being required after 9-11 and are not required in new buildings anymore. But, you can find apartments older than 2001 with the shelters, too.

Either way, we love the idea of the added storage space. There's not much in the way of storage for odds and ends here. We still aren’t 100 percent final on our apartment, but we’ve signed a letter of intent. Now we’re just waiting for a check from Troy’s company to seal the deal. If we get the space, we plan to use our bomb shelter to store about a year’s worth of diapers I smuggled into the country (don’t tell). Diapers here retail for about $40 for a box of 80. Compare that the Sam’s Club special of about 300 diapers for about $36. Other boxes and odds and ends are going to be in it, too.

We’ve been adjusting well here. Some days are harder than others. We miss the comforts of home such as family and our cars. It takes a lot longer to do things here. But we think we’ll really enjoy our time here.

Right now, we’re staying along the main shopping district in Singapore. We’ve made it our goal to eat as much exotic food (well, as exotic as my pregnant stomach can manage) as we can while Troy’s company is helping foot the bill. There is a massive food court across the street from us, so we generally eat there. Inside, they have all these cool statues of random creatures, including one by the name of Yuan.

Livvy is in love with Yuan.  I think he does something for her. He's basically a modern-art sculpture of some kind of buffalo. She passes him and says “Yuan!” Too cute.

Hopefully we’ll get our computer on Thursday, so I’ll be able to post pictures then.