First Goodbye's

I'm trying something a little different. I've had much trouble uploading pictures lately so I'm going to post a link to Picasa. It's the user, not the software!

A few weeks ago we said our first goodbye to Brian and Fay and their two children. When we finally left that evening everyone was sad on the way back home. We've really enjoyed getting to know them and are going to miss them! We're working on getting them to move to Chicago:) To see pictures of our last evening together click here. (Then you will need to click on the collage to view it bigger.)

I'm STILL working on our Phuket pictures and hopefully will have them available soon to post. I also need to get around to posting pictures of the twins from wacky hair day at school a few weeks back.

Ryan and I have slowly been checking off our "to do" list! Most of the paperwork is done - for now - and I've been working on sorting and packing up a few things like toys, books, and linens. I need the moving company to bring more packing paper and boxes so I'm at a stand still on that for now. We also purchased tickets for my parents to meet us out in LA - plans changed and the kids and I will be spending the night in a hotel because there isn't a Southwest flight out the same evening that we get in from Singapore. So my parents were willing to come out and meet us to help with the rest of the flight back the next day. I made 48 cupcakes today (but still need to frost them) for the twins' parties at school tomorrow. Then Saturday we have their birthday party at our pool from 3 - 5. It's kind of a going away party/birthday party. Tomorrow evening I'm going with a few of my friends for a little farewell get together. Sunday is a free day before another busy week begins.

I can NOT believe that we are down to 5 days of school left and 11 days until we leave here for good.

The Chicken or the Egg?

Here is a video of Kenton's turtle research project.

**********************************
Kenton asked me after school today:

"Mom, which came first the chicken or the egg?"

ME:

"UMMM, the egg."

Kenton:

"Nope. The chicken."

ME:

"How do you know that?"

Kenton:

"Well, God made the chicken and then the chicken laid eggs."

Ryan was able to knock buying a car off my to-do list - we got the same van we had before moving here except it's a little newer and a different color - silver. We were happy with it so decided to stick with the tried and true:)

We also put in an offer on a house. It's a short sale which means it will take awhile for the bank to approve our offer and then to close on the house. There is another offer on the table for it as well which means it could fall through if the bank accepts the other offer. We don't want to get into a bidding war so if the other party raises their offer above ours we are back to looking again. We figure that we have time so are not going to rush into anything. We will be in temporary housing in Schaumburg for the first two months that we are back home and then may have to move to a rental place if the paperwork is still being processed for the house and we can't close.

Ryan also brought back my new cell phone. I was planning on sticking with the phone I had before but since I'm switching cell phone providers I had to get a different phone. So we're trying something new - we are not going to get a home phone and just use cell phones. We had talked about doing this a few years ago but were too nervous. This seemed like a good time to make the switch and by the time we actually get to move into a house we will know if it was a good choice or not! I've been busy putting all my contacts into the phone so that I'm ready to go when we land in the US:) I will get my new number out to family/friends as soon as I get a new one assigned. When I ordered the phone I told them which area code I wanted but for some reason they gave me a KC one instead - maybe it's a sign!

I'm heading to lay down - I have had a headache for the past few hours and am hoping I'm not getting strep. Ethan fell asleep on the chair and it's only 5pm so I hope he isn't getting it either!

Moving Update

What laundry day at the Weiss's looks like!

*************

Sorry to leave you all hanging by not posting another update! I still plan on posting pictures from our Thailand trip but since we took so many I'm working on a slide show with captions to post. We had a wonderful time there and it was very relaxing - just what the doctor ordered as it's been hectic since then!

I spent the first few days this week tracking down a few things that family requested us to bring back and now I'm glad to say that we are officially done purchasing things here other then food! Ryan's back in the US this week meeting his new co-workers, looking for a house, buying a car, and picking up my cell phone that I pre-ordered. I figured that was easier then dragging three kids out cell phone shopping! I knew what I wanted anyway so it was just a matter of ordering it.

As far as a house I will keep you posted! There has been a lot of looking at places and back and forth about where to live, which house to put an offer in on, that I haven't really written about it. Sometimes our decision has changed daily about what to do so I don't want to publicly say anything until we've put in an offer. That could happen tomorrow so stayed tuned - like I said things can change:)

Today is a huge paperwork day for me - I'm taking care of looking into cancelling Lovel's work pass so she can move on to Norway, filling out shipping insurance paperwork (in case they damage or lose our shipment), filling out the billion documents that they need in order to process our move, and cleaning out Kenton's room and the office. I've done these two rooms recently so it's just a matter of making sure it's all organized before they come in to pack us up. That way it should make unpacking a little bit easier.

Tomorrow we have student-led conferences and my last shift at the PTA Sales office. Saturday is the last of the twins' baseball/softball games followed by a little awards ceremony and then I can relax the rest of the day:) I'm always all for relaxing! Sunday is another day of no plans before another busy, busy week begins!

Singapore Flyer

A few weeks ago we went to the Singapore Flyer. It takes about 30 - 40 minutes to go around once and it gives spectacular views of the city at night. We had gone out for supper at Outback Steakhouse and realized we weren't too far from the Flyer so we walked over. There wasn't a line and we got right on - when it first opened we heard people were standing in lines for hours to take a ride!

Inside one of the cars.

The Flyer is constantly changing colors as it rotates.

Here is one of the cars - each one can hold 15 people maybe.

Moving Update

I thought I'd post a quick update on how our move is progressing. Our TENTATIVE plan is as follows: The kids and I fly out June 8th with a layover in Tokyo before landing in LA. We're going to spend a couple of days with Justin, Robin, and co. before flying on to Elgin on June 10th. Ryan will follow on June 26th after he oversees the packing of our house. It's a little strange for me to not be here when all the packing will be happening but at the same time it would have been crazy to have all three kids around while they are trying to work.

The moving company is delivering boxes to me two weeks before I leave for the US so that I can start pre-sorting things. That will hopefully make the unpacking slightly more organized!

Our air shipment gets packed up June 3rd which is the day before school gets out for the summer. Hard to believe that first grade is almost over! I tell the twins from time to time that it's okay with me if they just stop growing for awhile:)

As far as our summer plans they will all depend on when we close on a house, how much work needs to be done before we can move in, and when our shipment will arrive. I'm not looking for our shipment before middle of August since it will take awhile for it to go through customs once it arrives in the US. We will be in temporary housing for the first two months after we move back or until our shipment arrives (assuming we have a house by then.)

The only FOR SURE plans we have are to spend a couple of weeks in Forrest, a couple of weeks in KC, and a week in Colorado with my parents. The timing of those weeks depends on the whole house thing again:) I'm also planning on meeting up with Joe and Joan near O'Hare the day after we arrive in Elgin for supper since they will be in the area for meetings.

Ryan talked last night with the people coordinating our move and they added more things to our to-do list! Seems like the more we tick off the more gets added.

We are running errands today and finishing up a couple of projects before we meet up with our friends Brian and Fay one last time before moving. They will be leaving for Chicago for a visit soon and they get back about the same time the kids and I fly out. It will be sad to say good bye but I'm holding out hope that they will move to Chicago in a couple of years:)

Tomorrow evening we leave for Phuket, Thailand for four days before our really busy time happens. It will probably be the only vacation Ryan gets this year so we're pulling the kids out of school for a few days to go. When we get back Ryan leaves for the US and I'm spending a day with a friend doing a yard sale to get rid of all our electronic appliances. We can't bring any of them back with us because of voltage differences.

Well, I need to head to the mall to pick up a birthday gift for Kaitlyn to take to a party next weekend. Have a great weekend!

This One's For You, Dona!

Last weekend we went up to Melaka (or Melacca), Malaysia for a two day holiday with a co-worker of Ryan's. It was fun to finally cross the border that is literally 5 minutes from where we live and take a road trip - kind of reminded me of trips back in the US complete with rest areas. It took us awhile to get through customs and than about 3 hours of driving before we were there. Ethan loved not being in a carseat which is going to make it so much fun once we get back this summer! It made me nervous to ride with him like that but we didn't have a carseat for him. We spent the night at the Baba House which is an old shophouse that has been renovated into a hotel. It was unique and so much fun! Below are a few pictures of the hotel. There were little alcoves and gardens all over the place.

Ryan took the next picture. The streets there are very narrow which forced us to walk between parked cars and the drainage ditches. Sometimes it was a precarious walk (as you can see from Ethan!) but it was far safer than walking on the street.

Kaitlyn stayed behind in Singapore to attend a birthday party that she had been counting down the days for.

Kenton and An

There was a section of town where the police were riding horses.

We climbed up many stairs to see an old church that also had a fantastic view.

We went on a river boat cruise and saw many old buildings - many of which have been around for several hundred years.

Ethan was getting sleepy and was in desperate need of a nap - but over all he did very well!

This is the first ship that ever landed in Melacca.

We let the boys ride these motorized animals around at a mall. They have these all over Singapore.

There were trishaws everywhere offering tours of the market area.

On our way home we stopped at a market to pick up fresh mangoes - 3kg was the same price as one mango here in Singapore costs (about 6 pounds worth.)

Ethan wanted to ride a horse so we stopped to let him take a little ride.

Kenton and Ethan got to take a mini go-cart out for a spin!