Posted 9:52 PM by Anne Wilhoit
As I wrote to my brother Greg in an email, it seems to have been a week revolving around “military”. Monday was a Holiday here and although not Memorial Day, we were remembering in spirit. It was Vesak Day here – Buddha’s birthday.
On Tuesday afternoon, Katie attended a friend’s b-day party at a club for the U.S. Navy. It is called the “Terror Club”. Right across the street are several old “black and whites” – old British Colonial homes which are now military housing. Very nice for the occupants…the “black and whites” are highly sought after around the island and, in most places, very expensive to rent (15 – 25 k a month). I’m assuming that the U.S. military purchased them several years go and that is why they are able to use them as military housing. Katie enjoyed the swimming and party, but I got bit about 10 times by some nasty mosquitoes. Even my Cutter could not ward off these pesky beasts.
Wednesday was Katie’s b-day. I cannot believe she is 6! David was “VIP” for Katie’s class and did a great job guiding the kids through assembly of their dinosaur dictionaries. He wanted me there for support but truly he did not need me at all. After treating Katie to a Burger King lunch at the high school cafeteria (Dave and I had Subway…can you believe there is a Burger King and Subway on campus?) David and I took a short break from school. The kindergartners were treated to a magic show (courtesy of the PTA). Katie was called up on stage to help and apparently was s sight to behold with a plate spinning on her head and one on each hand. Afterward, David and I met back up with her class and were able to see the kids sharing in Katie’s b-day cupcakes which we brought up earlier in the day. Finally, comes the “military’ themed event for the day…we rode an amphibious vehicle around Singapore for a tour. It is a “Ducktour” and a brand new tourist event here. You start off on land and tour around some of the monuments and then the vehicle goes into the bay and up to the mouth of the Singapore River. The vehicle was used in the Vietnam War and has been refurbished to be used here. It was pretty cool except for the annoying little jingle they kept playing…”We are going on a duck tour…quack, quack, quack”. They even handed out “quackers” so one could quack along with the jingle. Of course, the girls love the quackers!
On to today…Amanda’s playgroup was held at the home of a gal whom is new to the playgroup. Her husband is with the Army…”Special Forces”. It was a nice time but our playgroup is dwindling down as 4 gals re-patriate this summer, and one just had a baby on Tuesday. That leaves 4 of us (including the one who just had a baby). We feel like we probably will not have much of a group come August as the remaining are all looking at starting some sort of pre-school program with our kids. It’s been a great group to be with and I will miss those leaving this summer. One gal is moving to San Mateo…small world, huh? She is originally from New York and has lived in Singapore 8 years. She just bought a house in the Aragon District of San Mateo. I will be able to see her this summer in CA as she is leaving here mid-June as well.
That’s it for now…Saturday will be the last day of t-ball, another b-day party for Katie to attend in the afternoon, and then dinner with our friends Sabine and Ken and their kids. After dinner, we will send David off on a midnight flight to Germany. He will be gone for one week. While gone, Katie will finish up kindergarten and Anne will surely shed a few tears as we say “good-bye” to several friends leaving for the summer and re-patriating. The comings and goings of the ex-pats…such is life. I’ll try not to think too much about the good-byes, but rather about the “hellos” we will be sharing with all of you back in California in just 2 weeks!

Posted 10:38 PM by Anne Wilhoit
Thursday, May 16

The morning started with a PTA appreciation tea at the U. S. Ambassador and Mrs. Lavin’s home here in Singapore. I think there were about 175 parents from the school in attendance. The Lavin’s have children who attend SAS and graciously opened their home for the event. The residence was beautiful! Just a little tid-bit: there is a “seal” on the outside of the home which reads “Residence, United States of America”. Someone told me there used to be a large Eagle on the front gate but it was removed after Sept. 11. (Not sure if fact or fiction). I got to shake hands with the Ambassador’s wife and caught a glimpse of the Ambassador himself as he said a few words at the opening of the meeting. You know I love this pomp and circumstance stuff. The funny thing was that when Katie found out I was going to the Ambassador’s home she asked: “Daddy, what’s an Ambassador”. Can you imagine David’s answer….you know, along the lines of: “Someone who paid a lot of money to help get the President elected”! Yikes…just kidding Katie. I proceeded to try to explain the Ambassador’s position and ended with “a very important person to the United States and Singapore alike”. (Along with the appreciation tea, the PTA held their last meeting of the year and announced funds raised this year as well as officers for next year). In closing, we were treated to singing from the AWA (American Women’s Association) choir.

No time to mess around…it’s off to school for a wedding! Katie’s kindergarten class and one other (their “buddy“ class next door) held the “Q/U” wedding. All year, as they have learned the alphabet, the letters have all taken on identities of their own. The consonants are all male, and the vowels all female. They have clever little sayings that go along with them like “Mrs. A says Achoo”…to help the kids learn the sounds. Mr. Q married Ms. U in the long awaited union to form the sound “QU”. All the kids were “bridesmaids” or “groomsmen” (carried other paper alphabet letters). After the union, which was performed (very cleverly) by the Associate Principal, the children sang alphabet songs. I made wedding favors for Katie’s class. They were comprised of Hershey kisses and chocolate hearts wrapped up in netting and tied with a tag which read: ”Love and Kisses for Two, Hooray Q and U”. My friend Susan baked a 3 level wedding cake for the classes to share. It was something to see and tasted great too! It was decorated with roses and round cookies with all the letters of the alphabet on them. The cake topper was two cookies…”Q” and “U”, of course, decked out as a bride and groom.

We finished off a fun-filled day by attending a dress rehearsal of the high school dance recital. We stayed for the first 10 dances or so. Boy, it was incredible! There was so much talent….jazz, funk and hip-hop, classical ballet, and even some Latin numbers. It sure brought back memories. How long ago were all those dance lessons?

Turning to Friday, May 17! (Day off of school) Katie’s b-day party filled up our morning and early afternoon. We had a total of 9 girls in attendance (including Amanda). The girls started off by making doggie bags (see pictures) as a craft project. Katie still loves dogs and loves crafts, so it was the perfect project. They turned out really cute and the girls used them to pack their “goodies” in. We played dog-themed games like tossing dog toys into dog bowls, “puppy, puppy, dog” (version of duck, duck, goose), walk around Rover, and freeze dance to dog songs like “who let the Dogs out?” Katie also decide we should have a barking contest so all of us got to give a try at barking. Then, it was time for lunch…hot dogs, of course. And mac-n-cheese, Pringles, and cantaloupe (all of Katie’s favorites). Time for presents…and then cupcakes! It was a fun party and Katie was a gracious b-day girl. She still has 8 more days until her “real” birthday, and between now and then she has 3 friends’ b-day parties to attend. That’s how busy we are with 6 year old b-day parties and a reason we decided to have Katie’s a little early.

Now, mom needs a break before she turns into a dog from all that barking and party-planning, so David and I sneak away Saturday afternoon (after getting Katie on her way to a friend’s b-day party of course!). We head out to Bintan, Indonesia, for the night. It is a short one-hour ferry ride to Bintan. We depart and the ferry arrives in Bintan and is greeted by a bus which takes us to the Nirwana Gardens resort complex. There are lots of choices for accommodations and ours this trip is a small one-room “bungalow” just about 50 feet from the beach. Although it’s scorching, it’s absolutely peaceful and beautiful. The ocean was so warm we did not want to get out. We treated ourselves to some wonderful spa treatments which concluded with a couple’s bath in a huge outdoor tub and a lemongrass herbal drink. There were hundreds of orchids floating in the tub. AHHHHHHH, paradise. We will return….alone again perhaps. Also, we will return with the kids and stay at the main hotel which has a great pool, play area for the kids, and lots of other facilities.

David has some funny things to share about the trip to Bintan and vows to write a little soon. He has updated the pictures, as you have most likely seen.

We returned home this afternoon to our adorable little girls running up and giving us big hugs. Lis looked a little tired but said everything went fine while watching the girls last night. We are so blessed. Its weekends like this which make me forget the frustrations of living abroad.

Posted 11:36 AM by Anne Wilhoit
Happy Monday morning to all and a belated Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and moms-to-be. Mother’s Day is celebrated in Singapore as well (Hallmark is everywhere!). Katie and I started our morning by attending mass and then the whole family ventured out for a casual brunch river-side. Our friend Eileen and her daughter Taylor joined us. Randy (hubby/dad) is out of town. After lunch we walked around the Sunday flea market down by the quay. After arriving home David said he would watch all 3 girls while Eileen and I treated ourselves to a Mom’s day Starbucks break across the street. The afternoon was spent lazing around the apartment and the pool, and I did not have to cook dinner either…David through together some goyza and various left-overs he found in the frig. It was a nice day!
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We have received some photos from Amanda’s Fraser Suites photo shoot and have seen a copy of one of the ads. We might be able to post a few to the site, so keep posted. David wants to try and get some new pictures up soon.

On Friday we attended Katie’s “student led” conference at school. Katie showed us all around her classroom, led us through her amazing memory book that she has been creating all year, and introduced us to her music, art, and perception/motor instructors. We are so proud of her! She did a great job. It is nice to see her progress through her eyes as well as to hear her tell about all the aspects of school. After the conference, Taylor had her b-day party and Katie was the only 5, “almost 6”, year-old there (all the other girls were 9). Katie did great fitting in and the girls were all really nice. They played laser-tag and lots of video games. After dropping Katie off at home I met up with David at an Indian restaurant on the East Coast. We had dinner with the moms and dads from my playgroup. It was actually a going-away party for one of the gals but it turned into a going-away party for three of them. Two more have announced they are moving stateside this summer. It was a lot of fun and the food was great. I’m amazed at how my taste buds are adapting to all the spices…I actually tried everything served and only one dish really set my mouth on fire. Thank goodness for the cold beer.

We skipped t-ball on Saturday and opted for a lazy morning at home. Late morning we walked over to our local shopping center for a Thai lunch (local food court food, nothing fancy). The girls passed on the Thai food but had their favorite…chicken and rice. After a few errands it was home for Amanda’s and David’s naps while Katie and I went to the pool. Even though we ate out for lunch, we also ventured out to the Hard Rock café for dinner. We encountered a whole bunch of U.S. Navy personnel and found out that the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk was in port. Katie was interested in finding out a little more but when we asked, the reply was “We can’t talk about it.” The “ma’am” was implied. I know it’s an aircraft carrier so I’m not so sure I want to know where they are heading…maybe they don’t even know for sure yet.

Amanda and I just returned from a walk to the market and it’s the start of a busy afternoon. I have to head up to the school to pick Katie up as she has “bridging” from Daisies to Brownies this afternoon. After the ceremony the girls are having an end of the year swim party. More to come later this week…

Posted 4:43 PM by Anne Wilhoit
What’s news on the Wilhoit home front?

The big news here is that Amanda has gone 2 days without her bottle. We decided to go “cold turkey” a few days ago. Leading up to it, we started telling her about a week ago that her bottles would soon be going “bye-bye”. She thinks we gave them away to another baby. So far, it has actually gone fairly easy. It makes me a little sad though, thinking that she really is growing up. I guess I sort of still thought of her as a baby when I saw her drinking her bottle. The next big feat will be the “bee-bee” (pacifier) but we are not going to stress about it yet. You are all sure to see her with it this summer!

It’s been raining almost every day here for the past 10. Usually the storms produce thunder and lightning too. We went to the zoo for a while today and luckily made it home before the storm hit. Yesterday Katie had t-ball in the morning, and the rain held out until the afternoon as well.

Last night David and I went to a cocktail party with a bunch of people from our condo complex. We had such a good time that we joined them all for dinner and missed our Cinco De Mayo party. One of the gals that lives here is a flight attendant and flies with United. She had us all riveted with her story of the flight she was working on Sept. 11. They were diverted to Honolulu on her way to LA from Hong Kong. They were escorted in by fighters and the crew and passengers knew very little about what had happened until they landed. Despite the seriousness of her story, we had lots of happier stories and laughs throughout the night. It is a great group of people and we are pleased to be living here, and to have gotten to know them all a little better.

We are already starting to think about our trip to the states but trying not to wish away the next few weeks. There are lots of activities coming up including b-day parties, a kindergarten carnival, and the “marriage” between Mr. Q and Mrs. U. All the kindergarteners attend and the Principal acts as the Reverend as the two letters “merge”, thus making the famous union “QU”. There will even be wedding cake served! I will be making wedding favors for Katie’s class. It should be a lot of fun. That’s on the 16th and then being that the 17th is a school holiday, we will have Katie’s b-day party that day. More to report on that later but all talk is of a dog-gone good time.

Hope all is well with you and yours! Love from Singapore, Anne.