Tuesday, 16 June 2015

An Eventful Weekend

Friday 12 June 2015
The weekend came early for me. The apartment held a cooking lesson -  Fiesta BBQ. Basically, they got someone to come in to teach some of us how to cook Mexican BBQ!


 I attended with a Cindy, a fellow Singaporean.  Her husband also works with Amazon.

Saturday 13 June 2015

A somewhat busy day.  First, we drove down to Tacoma for Ian's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.
Little Man had lots of fun playing with the various machines. Little Lady really enjoyed interacting with Chuck E, the mouse mascot.

In the afternoon, we went to Amazon's Annual Maker Expo.  Little Man had fun with some of the exhibits, but I think it was JH who had the most fun.

Sunday 14 June 2015

We had a lazy morning, and then we drove to Bolles Organic Berry Farm in Monroe to pick strawberries.  We had fun hunting for and picking strawberries.  Although it was the end of the season, there were still berries to be found.

We also bought a jar of organic local honey.

Monday, 8 June 2015

Sunday 7 June 2015

Had a nice dim sum lunch with C, a fellow Singaporean.  Our hubbies both work for Amazon, and we live in the same apartment complex.  She introduced me to Top Gun which had nice dim sum. 


While the mummies were taking a well-deserved break from the kiddos and housework, the daddies settled the children's lunches, and brought them out to the playground.

Saturday, 6 June 2015

Saturday 6 June 2015

What a fun day!

We started by helping to set up the kiddo's school's plot at the community pea patch.  The director of the school had waited 15 years for this plot! (They told her it would take 20 years, so she actually got it ahead of time!)  We're so lucky that the kiddos got to experience this.

A daddy had spent the whole of last week clearing out the vegetation and levelling the ground, so we helped to set up the planter boxes and fill them with soil.


The kids helping out.

It was a fun way to spend the morning.  We had perfect weather for gardening too!

After that, we went to Costco.  We checked out the one at Issaquah. We usually shop at the one in Seattle.  The Issaquah Costco seems to have a slightly different range, and is in a nicer neighbourhood.

Look what we picked up!  They really do sell everything here!

All in all, a really great day!

Friday, 5 June 2015

Thursday June 4 2015

Ok, I've obviously been slacking in the blogging department.  This is my attempt to kick start this again.

This week, both the kiddos were the special persons of the week at school.  Today, Little Man had his (belated) birthday circle.

After school,we made our way to the Museum of Flight where we met up with friends who were visiting from Singapore.







Monday, 4 May 2015

Weekend

Lazy weekend

Saturday 2 May 2015

Went to the Keraton 2015: Indonesian Festival, held at Red Square in the University of Washington.

Met up with some other Singaporeans in the area:

Had some yummy yummy Indonesian satay (not to be mistaken with Singaporean satay), zhang (dumpling), kueh kueh and avocado shake (also different from the one in Singapore, but yummy nonetheless.

Kids had a blast playing with balloons


May 3, Sunday
Lazy weekend continues. We went to Snoqualmie. A quaint little town.
We wanted to go to the train museum, buy we missed the last train. We'll go again to take the train.

We took the scenic route back. Passed by Microsoft in Redmond. Huge campus.

Picture of the moon and Mt Rainier taken on Sat.

Saturday, 2 May 2015

Friday, 1 May 2015

1st of May. Also known as May Day and Labour Day. In America, it is known as International Workers' Day, and it is not a public holiday. Bummer.

The children played for a while at the play area in the CC near school after I picked them up.


After lunch, we picked and cleaned up. Then I winged some braised pork ribs.

We had the Stradleys over for dinner.

They brought some awesome made in Seattle ice cream!

Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Too many days has gone by without me posting. Too much has happened.

So I'm only going to note what happened recently.

Friday 24 April 2015
Shawn's wife, Irene. And TC's gf, Karin are in town, so the whole gang came by for dinner. Irene prepared sio bak (roasted pork belly), TC and Karin prepared ABC soup and we did steamed fish, Teochew style (with the salted plum airflown from Sg), coconut rice (nasi lemak) and bacon mixed veg.

Good food and great company. Best combination.

Saturday 25 April 2015
We spent the morning at the circus. The kids had great fun. Especially on the bouncy castle slide, and the pony ride.


Went to Costco in the afternoon. Got lots of supplies. Should have minimal need to go grocery shopping the coming week.

Sunday 26 April 2015
Had a lazy morning, then went to the outlets to get shoes for the kids. Also got some pants for the girl.

Then we drove south to meet the gang, as well as their friend, Gwen, at The Melting Pot in Tacoma for dinner. Basically a fondue place. Cheese for starters, broth for mains and chocolate for dessert. Ate too much, stayed out too late.

Monday 27 April 2015
Took my driving test - both the knowledge test (aka theory) and practical. JH forgot to book the practical for me, but luckily they had a slot. Aced them both! Yay! Was damned stressed about both, especially the practical, but whew! Unfortunately it was Monday, so the DOL was closed. Had brunch with JH and Irene (who also passed her test, yay!) at IHOP. Went to pick up the children. Irene sent JH to work.

Tuesday 28 April 2015
Went to DOL after dropping the kids off at school. Got my temporary license. Paid $89 total - $35 for the application, $54 for the picture (!!!). Paid in cash as I refused to pay another $2 as service fee for the debit card. Unfortunately, it was a crappy picture

Thursday, 9 April 2015

29 March, Sunday

Drove for the first time today! It was a bit unnerving as 1) the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car, 2) I'd have to drive on the wrong side of the road (technically, its on the right side) and 3) the car was humongous! I'm not sure which I was more nervous about, the extra space I was taking up, and would therefore need to allow for (and not crash into or side swipe anything), or reprogramming my brain with regards to which lane I should be turning into and which I should avoid.

JH had me drive the route to the children's new school. I then drove around in the car park for a bit before venturing out onto the streets again. It went ok. I tended to lean to the right and mounted the kerb (or as they say around these part, curb - that's a verb, darn it!) once in the carpark.

For some reason, I've been rather disoriented since we arrived. My sense of direction has never been very bad and I usually form a mental map of a place quite quickly. However, despite being driven around the neighbourhood more than a couple of times (albeit to different places each time), I've been feeling like the stereotypical female with no sense of direction. I guess I'll need to explore around more.

After taking over the wheel (whew!), JH drove us to the Seattle Gas Works Park. It is on the north end of Lake Union and has beautiful views of downtown Seattle. The juxtaposition of the old industrial equipment next to the lake and the open field was striking. I did not manage to catch any nice photos of it, because the camera kept underexposing it because of the sky.

30 March, Monday
Mostly spent at home doing laundry and cleaning. Also did a grocery run at QFC.
Nice warm day, 18 degrees Celcius.


31 March, Tuesday

Another day spent at home, trying to set up a routine, as well as a realistic budget. Made Nestum coated chicken tenders and a rosemary zucchini and mushroom dish. Need to work on portion control.

8 degrees Celcius today. Rained too. Snowed somewhere, it seems. Puget Sound, I think it was. Hailed in town, too.

1 April 2015, Wednesday

Finally jumped on the tomato rice bandwagon today. It turned out alright. A bit on the mooshy side. Maybe I should take out 7 spoonfuls of water instead of 6. It was not a hit with the children. They ate most of it, but not on their own. I had to feed them.

Dinner was much more successful. I cooked the pork ribs I bought at QFC with the Seah's Bak Kut Teh spice packet I brought over. Yums. Also fried kale with carrots and bacon. Also turned out successfully. Yay! S came over for dinner, and brought a box of donuts. Thanks, S!

2 April 2015, Thursday


Did the American thing today: clip coupons. The children helped.

We also went for a walk.

3 April 2015, Friday
Did some unpacking today, including stuff and boxes from when JH first moved in.

Also finally cooked something western today for dinner. Spaghetti and meatballs.

Well, more like fusion, depending on what carbs it is paired with. ;)

4 April 2015, Saturday
JH brought the girl out to Costco today, and came back with lots of stuff.

Rearranged the furniture a little. Looks a little better than when we first arrived.


5 April 2015, Sunday

Happy Easter! We went for an Easter Egg Hunt in Kirkland. They had different areas for different age groups. The eggs were gone within 5 minutes, I think.
The kids had fun.

We bought some food from a dumpling shop in Kirkland, and had a picnic before and after the egg hunt.

This is the dinner that JH prepared for us. So much variety and so yummy!

6 April 2015, Monday
First day of school for the children!

Checking out the school.

We chose a Montessori School for the kiddos to hopefully ease their transition. They seem to like it so far. It is actually Spring Break now, so there are fewer children around. Hopefully they won't be too overwhelmed when the rest of the kids return next week.

7 April 2015, Tuesday
Went to the Moore Theatre to catch "An Evening with America's Test Kitchen" with S this evening! Thanks to JH who looked after the children! Muaks. Much love and appreciation!


8 April 2015, Wednesday
Super duper sleepy the whole day. Old liao, cannot have late nights out. Funny, because I turn in much later on normal nights.

9 April 2015, Thursday
JH came along to drop the children off this morning as he wanted me to drop him off for his dental appointment. He drove into town, and I drove back. Thank goodness for the GPS.

Monday, 30 March 2015

First Week (thereabouts)

24th March 2015 (Tuesday)


23 hours, 30 minutes. That's the time we spent in planes and airports during layovers today. Not including checking-in in Singapore or collecting the luggage in Seattle. The trip comprised of three legs - Singapore to Seoul, Seoul to San Francisco, and San Francisco to Seattle.

With the reshuffling of the luggage, we barely made it to the plane on time. By the time we got to the gate, the plane was already boarding.

The kids were brilliant on the first leg. Little Lady slept through most of it. Little Man got a little angtsy around the 5 hour mark and wanted off the plane. However, he was able to keep his cool until we landed in Seoul. The Seoul layover was supposed to be 1 hour and 5 minutes, but after disembarking, going through security and early boarding with young children, I think we effectively had 5 minutes at Incheon. But I think the kids managed to stretch their legs and were more settled for the next leg.

The kids were once again brilliant on the second, 10 hour 45 minute leg. After the meal, Little Man again wanted out, but after a bit of convincing, he agreed to sleep. He slept through breakfast, and by the time he woke up, it was almost time to land in San Francisco.

At SFO, we passed through immigration, picked up out luggage, checked the luggage in at the transfer area, and then went to check in for our final leg. Mr Milo was able to change his flight to the same one as the rest of us were on.

We had some time to kill (maybe half an hour to 45 minutes left of our 3+ hours layover), so we had a quick bite (since Little Man missed his meal on board) and watched baggage get off-loaded from an A380.


The kids slept through most of the final leg. They even slept through the landing!

We were met in Seattle by Mr Milo's friends, S and TC. They were very kind to drive all the way to the airport to pick us up. TC even drove to our apartment here in Seattle to pick up our car first! They helped us to load up our numerous luggage, drove us home and then help us unload!


After unloading, we rested a little to recover, and then had dinner at a nice Thai restaurant in the neighbourhood.

Little Man slept peacefully, but Little Lady woke at 2am and stayed awake till about 5am.

25th March (Wednesday)
We all woke up late, and had brunch of waffles and luncheon meat made by Mr Milo.

As Mr Milo had lost his wallet back in Singapore, we spent the afternoon getting a replacement driver's license and SIM card as well as a SIM card for me. I was very sleepy for a couple of hours, partly due to jetlag, and partly due to Little Lady's shenanigans the night before.

On our way back from the errands, we stopped by the neighbourhood QFC and bought some supplies.

Dinner was naan and roast chicken ($7.99) from the supermarket. It was as yummy as the ones from Woolies and Coles in Perth. I then deboned the chicken to use the carcass to boil up some stock.

Once again, Little Lady woke in the wee hours. Slightly better though. She fell back to sleep at 4am.

26th March (Thursday)
We had pancakes for breakfast.

After lunch (chicken noodle soup made with left over chicken and the stock made the night before), Mr Milo brought us to see the children's school. They had a lot of fun on the playground on a hill just behind the school. School was out for the day, but we looked around the compound, and the children had lots of fun playing with the toys in the schoolyard.


After that, we walked further up the hill behind school and came across a community garden. It looks wonderful. I must figure out how we can get a plot.

Dinner was fried rice. I am glad to report that the children ate well for both lunch and dinner. It was a relief as I hadn't cooked for a long time, and the children are generally picky eaters.

Little Lady again woke in the middle of the night. This time, she was joined by Little Man.

27th March (Friday)
Mr Milo's first day back at work. Since I wasn't comfortable driving yet, he drove to work. The children and I spent a nice relaxing day at home. I made meatballs and patties with the ground pork and turkey we bought the other day. We had some for lunch and dinner and froze the rest for another day.

28th March (Saturday)
We ventured to a Target in Bellevue today. Bought some stuff for the home. We also applied for the Red Card, which gives us a 5% discount. However, because there was an issue, they moved us to another cashier without a scanner. There wasn't a price tag on one of the items, so the cashier charges me $1 for it. Score.

Little Man wanted pizza for lunch, but we could not find any in the mall we were in, so we settled for some Greek food. Both Little Man and Little Lady loved the pita bread. Mr Cuppa and I much preferred the traditional gyro to the chicken.

In the afternoon we went to the Mercerdale Park and met up with K, C and family. The kids had fun on the playground.

After that, we all had dinner at Szechuan Chef in Bellevue. It was yummy, authentic Chinese food.

When we got back to the apartment, we watched the live streaming of LKY's funeral on the laptop. I couldn't help but tear a little too. He was instrumental in a lot of what we take for granted in Singapore.