Tree time

It's Christmas time in Singapore, again! Hard to believe we passed the one-year mark earlier last week.

Our little Singaporean girls could be on a postcard for the botanical gardens:







These are pictures from our photo shoot a while back, we promised to put more up, so here they are!



So, Christmas in Singapore. The weather has been really nice lately, a bit cooler and breezier (so, high 80s instead of low 90s, and yes, you can tell). Perfect weather to get our tree up.



Yes, Harper, it will "grow."







Harper provided a tour of the work:



While it has been a year, we didn't have this stuff last year, as it was sitting on a container in the South Pacific. The girls are enjoying their stockings and decorations. "Deck them halls" and all that stuff!

Halloween Fun

We had a fun Halloween here in Singapore! The girls had a party at school and one at home.
It all started with a fun sticker activity sent by Aunt Barb and Uncle Jim.
Next Ida Jane and Harper got to show off their costumes on the walk to school.
Jessie the Cowgirl:

Cinderella:

Ida and her best friend Charli:
Trick-or-treating isn't really done in Singapore so we held a Halloween party for the girls and their friends. The whole family dressed up for the fun.

Most of the kids had never celebrated Halloween before. Everyone had a blast as you can see from the pile of bodies in the playroom.
We even had trick-or-treating from door to door within the house, which was a huge hit with all of the kids.
Halloween was followed by Diwali. Ida Jane got a henna tattoo at school.

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween! We will be missing family at Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for pictures from the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Mid-Autumn Festival

The girls took part in celebrating mid-Autumn festival last month. First, there was a celebration at their pre-school. Here they are, ready to go with their lanterns.



Both of their classes did a little performance.



Harper was relieved when that was over with.


The girls played with their classmates, feasted on mooncakes, and then got to light their lanterns when it got dark.


A few days later, there was another celebration at our condominium complex. The girls waited excitedly for balloons.


The flower and butterfly were worth the wait.






The girls enjoyed the puppet show. Ida Jane sat with her buddy Charles and paid close attention to the story.


Harper thought the show was hilarious.


The pre-school recently held a "funfair" where Ida Jane was quite pleased to become her favorite superhero.



Ida Jane and Harper are looking forward to the next celebration: Halloween!

Four!

Ida Jane turned four on Sunday! She had a really fun party on Saturday and Sunday was spent playing with her new toys. The whole family really enjoyed all of the festivities.




Ida Jane proved that she was more mature this year when her cake came out. Last year she screamed and cried when we sang happy birthday. This year she was very serious, but kept her composure.


It has been quite a while since we have posted so here are a few other things that have been going on here in Singapore. We had a really fun excursion to the Singapore Botanical Gardens. The girls loved the flowers and trees.




Ida Jane has really been into legos lately.


Harper likes to pretend to be an animal doctor.


Ida prefers to be a baby doctor.


Finally, Ida Jane has started taking taekwondo classes. She really loves it!

Hong Kong and U.S.

We recently returned from a busy trip back to the United States. It was really wonderful to see so many family members and friends.
We started our journey in Hong Kong, where we got to see cousin Sonya. Ida Jane and Sonya became good friends, especially after Sonya introduced Ida to the chocolate fountain.

We all enjoyed the Hong Kong skyline and light show.


The highlight for the girls was Hong Kong Disneyland, where they got to meet some of their favorite characters. Harper lit up when she met the princesses and Ida Jane was thrilled to meet Buzz Lightyear.



Mickey and Minnie were also favorites, along with the Small World ride. Harper sings "It's a Small World" all the time now. We all had a blast.



After Hong Kong fun we headed to the U.S. First stop, the lake with the Zolls, where the girls and their cousins Evan and Hayley were treated to a boat ride to the donut shop.



We enjoyed seeing all of the Gerbers at Kevin and Sadie's wedding. What a beautiful day it was.


The Zoll crew came for a fourth of July celebration.



Then we were off on a road trip to see friends and some of Amy's family. We stopped by Lora, Tim, and Alexandra's house first, where the 3 girls dressed like fairies and had lots of fun playing together.


Ida Jane and Harper loved seeing Daddy's alma mater and visiting with his professors.



The rest of our road trip took us to see Howard and then Christene and Ben. We then spent some time at Aunt Kris and Uncle Jeff's house. Meme was there too! We were so busy socializing with everyone that the only picture we took is of Ida Jane enjoying the lobster feast we had our first night there.


Ida Jane and Harper spent another fun night there while Ben and Amy enjoyed a quick getaway to Block Island for Sean and Emily's wedding. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast.
Next we headed back toward the midwest, stopping first to see Jason and Jess and their lovely girls.
Finally, we were back in Indiana for a couple of days of relaxation before the long journey home to Singapore.
The girls went for a swim with Nana.


We were all happy to arrive back in Singapore. Ida Jane and Harper were particularly pleased to see their animal friends.