Halloween

This year, Elizabeth was Hannah Montana and Alex was a Transformer for Halloween. We went to Vizcaya trick or treating. The kids got a lot of candy. I think Elizabeth looks like a mini drag queen!

I bought pumpkins at Carrefour. They had big ones this year, they haven't in the past. You don't even want to know what I paid for them. It was hilarious walking through the store with a cart full of pumpkins. Xiao Zhu was with me and everyone kept asking her if we were really going to eat all of them. Chinese people eat pumpkins, they don't carve them, let them rot and throw them away. Kind of makes sense i guess :)

After trick or treating, we went to the Pigott's house for a party. Missy made some great finger cookies, see pic. There was a ton of Halloween food there. I think Missy's costume was the best.

School Pictures

Elizabeth 1st Grade
Alex Pre K4
Here are the kids school photos. They turned out nice.

Here is the Chinese thing about them.....they airbrushed Elizabeth's mole off of her nose! I didn't ask them to, it's part of Elizabeth. But my guess is that they are so focused on how people look on the outside, they thought they should take it off. I didn't have time to complain to the company so I guess I'm complaining here.

Concordia Volleyball Tournament

Concordia hosted a volleyball tournament. The PE teachers took the kids to watch the early games on Friday during PE class. The kids got to learn a little about volleyball but what they learned most is how hard the kids work and how to support team and school spirit.

We took them at night to watch the finals. Elizabeth was so excited, she made cheer signs and brought her pom poms. Alex even got into the school spirit. Alex lost interest after the first game, but Elizabeth and Kirk stuck it out.

Concordia Fall Carnival

The school doesn't really celebrate Halloween. Not sure, guess it's anti Christian? I won't rant about that.

Anyway, they put on a fall carnival again this year. Kids couldn't wear their costumes, but had a great time running around to all the games and the bounce houses.

You can see our apartment right from school. Kirk took the pic.

Singapore & Bintan Island

Singapore Pictures
Bintan Island Pictures


We took a vacation during the October holiday with the Taverna family - Joe, Keri, Emily, Joey, and Matthew. We started out in Singapore for a few days and toured the city and finished our vacation with a few days on the beach on Bintan Island, Indonesia.

Singapore is a really nice city/country. The first day we got there, we went to Little India. This is an area of town with lots of small shops, restaurants, and Hindu temples. The girls had lots of fun shopping and Emily and Elizabeth even got Henna tattoos on their hands. We loaded up on bangles and bindis. We didn't eat since we went in the morning directly after breakfast but the food smelled good.

The next day, we went to the zoo. Everyone says how great it is and they are not lying. Truly the best zoo we've ever visitied specifically because we were able to get so close to the animals. We only spent a half day here but could have easily spent a whole day here.

After the zoo, we did the Night Safari. This is next to the zoo and you can either walk through or take a train. We opted for the train. Here we saw animals in their natural habitat - specifically the nocturnals. Really cool because you couldn't see any fences and it gave the illusion that you were directly next to the animals.

Kath and Elizabeth got to see Peline and Crystal Tan one morning for breakfast. If you have followed our blog, you'll know that Elizabeth and Crystal were best friends at Concordia. They moved back home to Singapore this summer. It was great to see them.

We got to visit Kirk's favorite - Outback one night. We did some other shopping around Orchard Road area, pretty expensive stuff, so we didn't buy much. Kids also got to swim in the pool at the hotel.

Singapore is definitely a place to visit again.

After the city visit, we needed a break on the beach. We took a ferry over to Bintan Island and stayed at the Club Med for a few days. This was our first time at a Club Med and it was nice. It was all inclusive so all the kids loved going up and getting smoothies any time they wanted.

The kids had fun playing on the beach and jumping waves. There were only two pools but the kids kept busy all day in them.

We had a great time together!

After t