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Lily and her friend Lauren, making an old favorite new again.  Just when the Potato Heads had been forgotten at our house, we discovered a new way to play...




We made new hair and facial features out of play dough!  Hours of creative play, fairly easy clean-up...  Genius.  Simple toys really are the best.

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Sunset.

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The sun has been blazing down on the Lion City for the past few weeks, and swimming continues to be our favorite way to beat the heat.

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Kindergarten is coming up, and many of Lily's friends are transferring to other schools.  When I look at sweet pictures like this, I smile knowing that they will see each other tomorrow, sing silly songs, giggle and tell secrets.  Then my heart breaks a little, because I know that change is coming.

Fish Tacos

I have frequent cravings for Mexican food - it's like a chronic illness that I picked up in Southern California.  Seeing as I haven't found any good Mexican food over here, I've resorted to making my own which is usually good enough to satisfy me.  Lately, I've been dreaming about fish tacos...  Like the ones I had in San Diego one spring break when I drove down there with some friends to learn how to surf.

That's me, second one from the left with the blue board!











I haven't found the perfect recipe yet - I think the sauce is key - but this one comes pretty close to what I remember!

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We realized (and were shocked!) the other day at how few photos we have alone together.  The arrival of our kids has made us incredibly busy (not to mention rarely alone together).  At the same time, it has also inexplicably created the illusion that time has stopped.  Then every once in a while, we've woken up and noticed things like, "Why are my clothes falling apart?  Didn't I just buy these?"  And, "Whoa, was that really our FIFTH anniversary?"  And, "Why do we have thousands of photos of the kids, and none of ourselves??"

So finally, ladies and gentlemen, here we are - Steven and I on our way to watch Marvel's The Avengers!

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It is birthday party madness in Singapore, and we recently attended an awesome one at the new water park Port of Lost Wonder in Sentosa!  

It was Tammy's 5th Birthday and aside from the amazing pirate ship with water slides and spray guns, there were games, cake and a pool of bubbles!

I remember feeling exactly the way Lily looked as soon as we walked into the party - both her and Ruby clung tight to my legs and did not want to let go.  Large parties were (and still are) intimidating to me in the beginning.  Imagine the festivities already underway, loud music, working your way into the crowd of people...  Only after she realized she was surrounded by familiar faces from school did she settle down, have a bite to eat and join in the fun.  What fun!!

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This is Cameron.  He is a scrambled eggs kind of guy.  I am about to make him try a Singaporean breakfast of (really runny) half-cooked eggs, kaya toast and kopi.

He is Steven's cousin, and he came all the way from Florida to visit us in Singapore!  The girls knew him as the guy who appeared on the sofa one morning and brought cuddly panda toys, a week full of adventures, ice cream and (usually forbidden) morning cartoons.

Lily fell in love.

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We're all dressed up in black and white and off to a friend's birthday party inside the building that's towering over us.  

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We (Steven and I, really) have been on a huge fitness kick lately.  Could it be a mid-life thing?  Maybe it's because we hear about so many of our friends running marathons lately.  Maybe it's because we have no cold weather excuse to stay indoors and no winter clothing to hide the chubbiness under.  I think it probably has something to do with the fact that the girls are getting bigger, and we're finding much more time to do things for ourselves.  Hooray!

Our kids stay pretty active.  Here's Ruby working on her balance at gymnastics class...  

And here's a handstand on the parallel bars...

The girls learn so many things each week.  It's so easy to forget that we adults can do the same, if we try new things and challenge ourselves.  Now I don't remember the last time I even attempted a handstand, but it's something that I'd like to be fit enough to do!  

And of course, the greater the challenge, the greater the rewards, right?

Yum.  Prata.  :)

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Watching some rabbits at Horse City.

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Teaching the monkeys how to hang from the trees.

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Happy Birthday to me!  :)

I have a thing for unusual instruments, and I thought I'd give this toy accordion a try.

iPhone Wedding Photography

As soon as I heard about Kenny Kim's experiment, I had to post it on Traveling Light.  He photographs weddings professionally, and has recently tried shooting them entirely with his iPhone4!

I think his images are gorgeous.

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More birthday madness.

Arrrgh!!  Here we are at our friend Dylan's pirate party. Ruby had her first handfuls of jellybeans from the snack table and Lily was delighted by the pirate ship piñata, a.k.a the "treaty-boat."

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We took the girls to see The Muppets in the theater when the movie first opened, and Lily hasn't stopped listening to the soundtrack since.  So we threw a Rainbow Connection party for Lily's 5th Birthday!

Friends and neighbors came, we inflated dozens of colorful balloons, filled a tub full of water balloons, printed piles of Muppet coloring sheets and played "Pin the Arms on Kermit."