Halloween Fun!

Halloween is actually bigger in Jakarta then we expected, but it's more of a weekend party time then the actual trick-or-treat day of adventure we are use to.  Costume hunting was fun!  We found that a lot of stores have costumes, but they all carry the same 3 plastic pirate/witch/princess costumes plus 2 big plush fur dog/lion costumes (these DO NOT sound like much fun when the weather is 90 degrees with 90% humidity all year round!). Because I wasn't sure what kind of costume selection we would have, I decided about a month ago that I would figure out a clever, make at home, costume for the kids to wear (Plus I love being a little crafty and haven't really gotten to do too many craft projects, that didn't include toilet paper rolls, since we got here). I was excited and immediately set out for materials needed to make something fun at home.  WOW!  This was the hardest think I have encountered in Jakarta.  Granted I left my sewing machine in Arizona, but I have yet to find...fabric, string, fabric glue, glitter, construction paper, white paper plates...the list can go on and on and on.  I finally talked Dustin into being a Ghost (such a cleverly, crafty costume choice I know!)...After a little bit of a search, I was able to find a white sheet and scissors! We found a little costume shop last weekend and Emilie was able to find a cute Minnie Mouse costume - so we were set!  

Face Painting!

The Results!

Whose idea was the face painting anyway?

We attended a costume party at our hotel last Saturday.  Emilie went in her costume and Dustin got to have his face painted (I was still searching for a white sheet at the time of the party).  They had a ton of Halloween decorations, a live band, jack o'lanterns, and a special Halloween themed menu!

We were also able to find pumpkins!  We found a couple the size of volleyballs for the bargain basement price of $65 each!!!!  I have been known to forgo the cheap grocery store pumpkins in favor of the "expensive" ones at a pumpkin patch, but even I wouldn't spend $65 on a pumpkin!  We opted for the much smaller Japanese pumpkins for about $3 each!  We even got to have a little pumpkin carving party with Debi and Andy and were honored (and a little horrified) to find out that this was the first time Andy has ever carved a pumpkin. 

Halloween night was a little tricky.  We have learned that most Halloween events happen before Halloween.  We were lucky enough to hook up with one of the families from Emilie's school who had trick or treating in their compound.  Dustin didn't last too long - Apparently, walking around in 90% humidity with a sheet over your head isn't really that much fun...even with the prospect of candy!  The D Man much preferred sitting on the curb, without his costume, watching the trick or treaters while enjoying a bit of the candy from his bag.  All in all, our first major holiday in Jakarta was a success and we have especially enjoyed trying all of the different candy we had never heard of before moving here!  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Singapore!

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we needed to take a little trip out of the country.  As a result, we were given airline tickets to Singapore and decided to take advantage of the trip by making a long weekend out of it!  It was a very spontaneous trip.  We took Emilie out of school early and gave her about 30 minutes to pack a bag.  The hour and a half flight felt like nothing compared to the days it took us to get to Indonesia from Phoenix!  Before we knew it, we had another stamp in our passports and were ready to explore a new country.

As luck would have it, we were there during F1 Race weekend and because our trip was so last minute, we were a little limited in where we could stay.  We ended up in a very touristy part of Singapore called Sentosa Island.  It worked out well for our first trip to Singapore, but next time we will try to stay closer to downtown in order to try some different things.

We started off the trip by taking the cable car off Sentosa Island.  What a view we had!  Singapore is BEAUTIFUL!  It is lush; green; clean; everyone speaks English and it is VERY expensive!

 
  

From the cable car we headed to a part of Singapore called Clarke Quay and took a boat tour along the river.  We had a great time on the boat tour and it was a great way to see some of the cool Singapore attractions from afar.

 

 
 

From the boat tour, we headed to the rooftop view at the Marina Bay Sands.  The view was beautiful, but one of my favorite things to see was the bird's eye view of the new Gardens by the Bay.  This is one attraction I can't wait to visit next time.

After the breath taking view at Marina Bay Sands, we took the subway back to the cable car to complete the round trip back to Sentosa Island.  While on the cable car, a nice thunder storm started!  There is nothing quite like dangling by a cable, a couple hundred feet in the air, while being surrounded by rain, lightning, and thunder.

By the time we made it back to the hotel, the storm subsided and we got to hang-out at the pool!

As some of you know, when Chris was first approached with this new job opportunity, we were told we would be living in Singapore (Not Indonesia).  The night we told Emilie we were moving to (what we thought at the time would be) Singapore, we ate at Chili's before telling her the big news.  We thought it was only appropriate that we eat at Chili's when we came across one in Singapore!  After dinner, we enjoyed a little dessert by the bay while watching a and song and light show.

The next morning, we started off at the Aquarium. We really enjoyed the dolphin show and the underwater shark tunnel.  We even found some interesting creatures in the shark tunnel!

We took the tram from the aquarium to the Hard Rock Cafe Singapore for lunch!  Then we took the monorail back to the hotel for a little beach time and a nap.  Chris had to head back to Indonesia to work Saturday evening so the kids and I were on our own for the rest of the trip.  We took a trip up the Tiger Sky Tower and got to see another great view of Singapore at night!

Sunday morning we spent more time at the beach.  It was a little different from the California beaches we are use to (for one thing there are no waves - plus the sand is much more coarse and the water is warm), but we had a great time!

Next we headed to another Sentosa Island attraction - the Skyline luge.  This was a cross between an alpine slide and go-karts.  Dustin and I raced Emilie down the track and FINALLY beat her on the last of our four races!

We were disappointed that our trip to Singapore had to come to an end, but Emilie was more then happy to grab some dinner at the airport on the way home.  Her biggest decision of the trip came when she had to decide between Quiznos and Subway...Two places that we do not have in Indonesia.

We really enjoyed exploring Singapore.  By the time we got home we had managed to take a car, bus, airplane, taxi, cable car, boat, subway, tram, and monorail all in the course of 4 days!  Dustin was thrilled with all of the different modes of transportation!  We can't wait for our next trip.  There is still so much to explore!!