singapore

My new job necessitated me to travel to Singapore again- I haven't been in a decade- the last time I was there I was pregnant with Owen.  Singapore didn't really change- just larger and more interesting buildings have appeared.  The first 2 pictures are taken from the top of the building in the third picture- the quite beautiful and bizarre Marina Bay Sands hotel.  It was the week before Lunar New Year- the year of the ram- so all the decorations were out in the Chinatown district.  It was a quick week- lots of meeting with new partners, and some catching up with old friends.

ben turns 6 in lego style

Ben at six:
What is your ...
favorite color?  Blue
favorite movie? favorite mini-sode is the Mixels (legos).  Favorite movies include all the Star Wars movies.
favorite TV show? Star Wars Clone Wars
favorite game on the iPad? Calling All Mixels
favorite sport? karate
favorite song? he is saying the main Mixels song, but he has been requesting Huey Lewis frequently
favorite friends?  Jayce, Cooper, Sterling and Oliver
favorite book? Danger in the Outlands

What do you want to be when you grow up? Car designer.  He wants to make a company that builds airplane cars.
What are you really good at?  Art (and he really is!), strategy games, counting
Where do you wish you could go on vacation?  Candyland
What would you buy if you had $1000? I would buy.... lots of legos- could make my own house out of legos.
What do you like to do with your friends?  Play and race and have fun.

Ben turned six on the last Saturday of our Christmas break.  He had another anxious night of sleep, waiting for the clock to turn to 7:00 so he could get up and open his family gifts.  He was wide awake at 4 AM and kept a countdown going till 7.  He had picked out some gifts that he wanted to open first- correctly identified the Mixels (he's a little obsessed at the moment).

He decided on a lego themed party, so Richard, Owen and I came up with a few games for his friends to play that afternoon at his party.  We raced lego cars down the Cub Scouts track, while Owen videoed in slo-mo to determine the race winner.  We did a Creationary game where each boy made a construction and the others had to match it, and we did a lego bingo game.  We had 5 boys able to come, from the kindergarten, one from the first grade, and our neighbor.  Owen helped with all the games and they worked out really well.  Ben requested popcorn be served, which was a big hit with all the boys.  We did cupcakes and gifts and then the kids had a few minutes to ransack the play room.

Later that evening, the Delos-Reyes and the Muhly's came over for more cake and a small celebration.

We love our cheerful, smart, not-so-little guy and look forward to a fun year ahead!

happy 2015!

We ended 2014 with a bang this year.  Susie hosted a kids party, celebrating New Years 12 hours early, where the kids (and moms) made fun hats, ornaments and went caroling in the neighborhood.  At noon we did a countdown and she and Laurel had created a sparkle ball to drop and balloons to throw.

That evening, Susie and Laurel, plus the Langpap's, the Reimer's, and George and Whitney joined us for some New Year's enchiladas, cakes, and karaoke.  The party went well past midnight, with the singing and dance moves getting more and more talented as the night wore on.  The boys enjoyed Wii Dance and watching Anderson Cooper in Times Square, and both made it past midnight.  Great fun with great friends, and a fun way to celebrate the beginning of a new year!

Christmas!

Christmas morning had the boys up early and discovering what Santa had left.Turns out the boys were good this year.  We didn't find even a piece of coal.

Owen's big gift this year is a remote control plane.  The plane had several flights of the past week and it works really well- he is able to safely take off and land it, and it has stabilizers so it can flies level.  Ben got what he had asked for: legos, legos, legos.  He spent the rest of the day and then the rest of vacation assembling legos with Grandpa, Richard, and Uncle Todd.  The biggest project was a Star Wars spaceship which took most of 2 days to assemble.

We had a fun morning unwrapping gifts from friends and family, and enjoyed paella and pie for Christmas dinner.  Most of all, we enjoyed spending the day together.

its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas season was approaching, and my dad flew out in time to see Laurel dance in The Nutcracker.  She was an angel and a soldier, and did a wonderful performance after many months of practices.  We had lots of Christmas concerts and parties planned for the last week of school, but unfortunately the four of us all got sick, and we missed pretty much all of it.  Dad helped keep the house running and I struggled to get through the end of year obligations at work.

It also interfered with our plans to spend a long weekend in Sunriver, getting in some skiing and snow fun before Christmas.  Susie's family and Dad were able to go enjoy the rental house for a couple of nights (and found out that there was only rain in Sunriver).  We all recovered in time for the usual cookie making and Christmas Eve festivities with the Muhly's.  We decided to try a Japanese restaurant for Christmas Eve family meal- the type where the food is cooked in front of you on a big grill.  Ben and Grandpa particularly liked the flames.  Richard enjoyed catching the thrown food in his mouth.

After Christmas services and a few more pictures, the boys were ready to get to sleep before NORAD showed Santa approaching the West Coast.  It was particularly hard for Ben to fall asleep- he was so excited about Santa and Christmas, but eventually "all was calm."