Happy Birthday Abigail!

Abigail turned 13 on January 18.  It wasn't nearly as eventful as she had hoped.  She was down with a terrible flu and was unable to enjoy her favorite dinner of Vietnamese Spring rolls and her birthday cake.  Poor girl.  She was very much looking forward to going to school and being with her friends, eating Subway for lunch, and having a great birthday dinner.  With a birthday in the winter during flu season, I don't think this will be a singular occurrence.  Notice Xander in the background.  He was right there, taking in a big breath and blowing our more than his share of birthday candles for Abigail.  

I think she looks like Abigail some but with blue eyes.

Ella happened to have Dog day at school on Friday.   It was probably the highlight of her entire school year thus far.  She named herself Conrad after our little dog.

Our Littlest Sunbeam

Juliet is looking so grown up today, her first Sunday as a Sunbeam in Primary.  She is officially the youngest Sunbeam in the class, having just turned 3 before the end of last year.  She is also in underwear!  So exciting to put away diapers (almost--we are still working on the night time) and see a little girl emerge from the baby of the family.  I am afraid she will always be my baby though . . . 

Legoland

 The kids are still on winter break and we are always looking for things to keep us busy during the three weeks away from school.  In September, a new Legoland opened right next door to us in Malaysia.  This was pretty exciting and we have been eager to go.  All my kids love Legos so it was an exciting excursion.  Legoland is about 15 minutes across the border into Malaysia, so not too far at all.  If we didn't have to go through customs and immigration twice to get there, it would feel a lot like driving down the highway in California to Legoland.  I ventured alone because Joseph had to work.  Unfortunately, he doesn't get a three week winter break.  It was a little hotter than California; smaller too as they have only completed the first part of the park; and empty because all the locals are in school.  Otherwise, it is exactly the same.  We haven't been to Legoland since Abigail and Maggie were 5 and 3 years old.

Ducking into the air-conditioned building lab was a refreshing necessity.  Abigail built a mini lego version of herself.

I think Miniland is the best place in the whole park.  Legoland Malaysia's Miniland is all Asian cities and monuments.  I've been to the real Taj Mahal and it was breathtaking.  I must admit that this Lego version was pretty impressive too.

Mimi Malaysia with the twin towers in Kuala Lampur in the background.  You can see with the few people in the background the scale of these buildings.

Ice Skating

Ice skating in Singapore?  You bet!  The hardest part is trying to find warm enough clothes to be around the ice.  It is a bit like coming up with Halloween costumes . . .

Juliet and Ella both had these little penguins to push around.  They were both fantastic on the ice.  Ella cruised around for two hours without stopping.  Juliet was also totally independent, quickly picking up the idea of pushing off of one foot at a time and keeping her feet close together.  She skated independently the whole time, albeit a little slowly.  I just stayed close by her and gave her pointers.

Gardens By the Bay

We spent a morning with mom and dad and the Bruschkes exploring a new park/garden here in Singapore by the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  The hotel itself has become a recognizable Singapore icon with its three towers topped by a boat architecture.  The gardens are also unique to Singapore with these "super trees."  They are made of metal and have foliage that  grows on them.  They look like futuristic trees.  We didn't get to enjoy them long before we got rained out by one of the heavy tropical storms that come though here daily during monsoon season.  

This is a gorilla. The garden was organized into smaller gardens with themes.  This particular garden had plants of different shaped animals and insects.

Xander thought these were dinosaur eggs.

There is a skywalk you can pay extra for to walk around the super trees.

You can see the first tower of the Marina Bay Sands hotel on the far left of this picture.

A photo I took from Joseph's office window of a Singapore storm rolling in.  These storms dump 6 inches of water easy in minutes.

 A couple days later, Mom, Dad, Cami, Craig, Joseph and I went to the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, 57 floors up, to the chocolate buffet.  The chocolate was good, albeit a bit too rich to feel good afterwards (for about 24 hours.)  There were 57 varieties of chocolate desserts.  The views of downtown Singapore and the bay were stunning from the roof.  We feel fortunate to live in such a beautiful, safe, clean city.

Happy Birthday Juliet

Juliet turned 3 on December 26.  She was so excited about her pink cupcakes and blowing out the candles.  Because we were in Bintan on her real birthday, we celebrated on December 29 with her cousin Bryant (who also had a birthday while were traveling) and the Bruschkes.  Grandma and Grandpa Larsen were there to celebrate with her and that made for a special day for our special girl.

Bintan

The day after Christmas we all got on a bus and headed to a boat which then took us to the Indonesian island of Bintan.  We stayed in a fun resort enjoying the pool, beach and other facilities.  

16 heads counted and we are ready to pull out.

Soda at the pool bar was a special treat.  Abigail, Breann, Dallin, Bryant and Xander with a little Ella in the pool.

Ella and Juliet: Best friends in the pool.

 Joseph wearing his new and only BYU t-shirt I gave him for Christmas.

A run game of football in the shallow pool.

Joseph took the kids riffle shooting at the resort activity center.

 Juliet and Ella got to ride a pony while we waited for the big kids.

Juliet and her cousin Alexa waiting in the boat terminal and sharing a tune.  Juliet is mighty attached to Alexa.

Christmas Eve and Day

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday with my parents celebrating with us from Africa, where they are currently serving a mission, and with my sister's family, the Bruschkes, whom live in Singapore too.  Just a few years ago, I never would have imagined such a family gathering in our neck of the woods, but life sends us little surprises all the time.

We merged the Bruschke's holiday traditions with ours this year, joining them on their "Joseph and Mary" hike.  I stayed behind with Juliet preparing the Bethlehem dinner.  But from the looks of it, they had a fun time hiking in the jungle, swinging from vines and playing by the stream.  

On Christmas Eve, the Bruschke's joined us for our traditional "Bethlehem Dinner" with lamb, goat's cheese, pomegranates, flatbread, grapes, olives and other sumptuous food from Biblical times.  Afterward, we enjoyed a Christmas Eve program.

 All the musically inclined kids performed for us, including Magdalene on the harp.

Grandma read everyone a special book she brought from Africa called Twas the Night Before Christmas in Africa, a fun, cultural spin on the traditional story/poem.

We started a new tradition with our children.  Each year on Christmas Eve they will all receive a new children's Christmas book to open and read that night.  Then they will sign it and date it and I, mom, will keep it stored safely for them until they have a home of their own to enjoy their collection each Christmas with their families.

Christmas Morning

Magdalene was sure excited to get an iTouch this year.   She is an electronics fan like her father.

There were lots of smiles and happiness to go around on Christmas morning.

I thought this was a sweet picture of Grandma and Abigail sharing a moment together while Abigail unwrapped a picture Ella drew for her.

Ella proudly holding up the picture.

Juliet and Ella both adore cats and dogs.  Ella prefers dogs while Juliet prefers cats.  They also fight like cats and dogs at times.

Magdalene wrote a note to Grandpa and Grandma for Christmas.  Grandpa is saying "thank you."

We had a traditional dinner at the Bruschkes' home followed by ice cream.

Italy

Joseph and I had the opportunity to go to Italy for a week.  Joseph needed to work in the office in Milan and I was invited by the company to attend the annual Christmas party.  We took the occasion to travel on the weekend to Venice and Verona.  It was cold, cold, cold, about 30 degrees at the warmest part of the day.  But after having experienced only summers for the last 6 years, it was a nice and refreshing experience to see snow, have a runny nose and numb legs, cold appendages, Christmas lights, and really enjoy hot chocolate with pastries.  This was my 3rd trip to Italy.  I have visited all three times in the winter and next time I vow will be the Spring or Summer.  Italy is a place that is never tiring though. 

The gondolas parked for the winter right off San Marco.  

 We enjoyed exploring the side streets and canals.  One nice thing about visiting Venice in the winter is that it is very quiet.  The quaint streets were only dotted with a few tourists here and there and mostly local Venetians.

View of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.  It was foggy and drizzling the whole time we were there.

After spending two days in Venice, we left on Sunday morning to attend church services in Verona and spend a night there.  I have never been to Verona and I fell in love with it.  It is the home of the fabled Romeo and Juliet, but also a city rich in history as a port in the Roman empire.  Here is Joseph in front of the Castello, complete with drawbridge and a moat.

Me inside the Castello on a bridge covering the moat.

A rare picture of Joseph outside the Castello... he had the camera and I the map for the most part.

A statue that dates back to the Romans In the main piazza.  The frescos on the side building are also original.  It was all just so incredibly charming.

The Colosseum in Verona.

 View on the bridge that links the two sides of "old Verona."  On this side, there are the ruins of a Roman theater and an old Monastery at the top of the hill.

 Me pictured inside the cloister of the Monastery.

This is a poor picture for two reasons: one, it is my iphone so the resolution isn't too great; two, the man taking it had never used an iphone before.  Joseph and I went to a formal company dinner with 8 courses at a beautiful hotel in Milan--The Four Seasons.  It was an old convent that dated back to the 18th c. and converted to a hotel .  It was a beautiful hotel with cloisters and amazing landscaping in the courtyard.  It was decorated beautifully for Christmas.  The whole reason for me coming to Italy was to attend this dinner.  We were the only Americans and shocked the Italians with our number of children and the fact that we drink no wine.