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

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.