A night out at the Races

Our first time to the Horse Races. We went with the Canadian Association who rented out a "box", we were asked to dress up and there was dinner and free flow beer and wine...which was the only way I could convince Steve to get into a shirt and tie!
Anyway, we had a great time, fun to experience something new.

Golfing

On Thursday night we went out for a charity golf event, nine holes on a par three course...just my speed! We had a good time, lots of beer, good people to be out with and being out on the course again made Steve very happy!

Khao Lak Thailand

Our Family at dinner...Madi is the best little traveller!
Madi now knows how to suck out of a straw!! This was her first taste of juice ever and it was a mango shake...she LOVED it!
Steve and Ben rented scooters for a couple days, they really enjoyed exploring. I even hopped on the back a few times.

James Bond Island! Not as nice in te rain, but still fun.
Steve and I in front of James Bond Island
The group of us waiting the rain out...a few minutes later we bought ponchos and kept going. This is Steve, Me, Ben, Jocelyn, Julie, Carrie and Charla
This is lunch on the floating village.
These are Mangrove trees..they grow in the water with their roots explosed...I thought they were kinda cool.

Steve enjoyng one of his massages
The hotsprings resort!
Josefina with Madi one night
The gang on our way to James Bond Island
I just think this shot is cool!

This is at the Singapore airport...a great way to start our vacation on a roof top bar!
A great shot of an elephant while we were waiting at the trekking spot
What a cutie!!
Steve carried a sleeping Madi through the forest on our walk.
Jos, Me, Carrie and Sara

A four day weekend away in Khoa Lak Thailand…ahhh, so nice!

Due to the Indian Hindu festival Deepavali we were given two days off so we booked our flights and planned a nice weekend away.
It ended up that 12 of us went, so it was a lot of fun. Madi was an angel and a total hit with everyone. Josefina, our nanny came along too…long story, but basically I accidentally booked her flight home incorrectly so the only way to use the ticket was to bring her along. I think she really enjoyed herself as she has not had much opportunity to travel. And of course we loved it, as she was able to look after Madi when we wanted to explore a little bit.
Khoa Lak was one of the places badly hit by the Tsunami. When we returned to Singapore we looked up footage and maps and Khoa lak was pretty much devastated. They are still very much in the re-building stage..which was a bit surprising as I think that most places that were hit are already up and running and look totally back to normal.
Anyway, on the first day we hired a car with 5 others and were going to the rainforest, we ended up stopping for some elephant trekking, which would have been so fun, but it was not safe for Madi and we had her with us so Steve, Madi and I just hung out with the elephants while the others went for a ride and then we headed off to the forest. The forest was good, we had a good walk and explored a little bit. Then we came back had a swim and went for dinner with the gang. I am happy to report that I ate Thai food the entire weekend…which was very easy to do as Thai food is fantastic!!
The following day Steve and his friend Ben rented motor bikes and explored the area while the girls went to find some hot springs…we packed our hikers assuming we would be taking a trek into some area where the natural hot springs would be…we felt a little silly when we were dropped off a five star resort called “hot springs resort and spa”! We think there was a breakdown in communication…but we weren’t complaining! We enjoyed their hot springs as well as their swim up bar..a great day!
The following day we went to ‘James Bond Island”, used in the movie “Man With the Loaded Gun” We took a long boat out and saw the island…it was pouring rain, so not the serene blue water in the pictures you have seen from others, but still a great day. We were able to stop at a floating village for lunch and a look around…very interesting, they have a school and everything in the middle of nowhere. Lunch was a feast.. although not so much for me as the fish still has their heads as did the prawns…but the idea was nice.
We had massages every night, which were wonderful and only $12.50 for an hour!
The last day we spent shopping and lounging by the pool.
All and all a great weekend. Four more weeks until our three week Christmas break!

We have a few shots to share with you, hope you enjoy!

My husband the tri- athlete

Every year CIS does a corporate triathlon, Steve entered and completed the mini triathlon on Saturday morning. He did a fantastic job completing it in 35 minutes!

Here are a few pics of the event.

Lounging at Home

We spend almost every evening just playing and hanging out with Madi...that is the luxury of having a Nanny. So these are just a few recent pictures of Madi at home hangin' out.

Halloween

Halloween in Singapore is a bit different for the kids. The CIS PTA organizes a "tailgating" party and Friday after school they bring their cars to the parking lot and decorate them and then the kids go trick or treating from tailgate to tailgate, or trunk to trunk. It was actually kind of nice because the ids ended up getting about 30 pieces of candy, not a million an then there were activities and games. Steve was in the dunk tank for a while!

Madi went as a Fairy princess for this event and then on Halloween she went as an Angel. My Mom and Dad sent her the most beautiful angel costume from home!

Madi enjoyed her first Halloween experience and went trick or treating for the first time.

Halloween Adult Version

The CIS social committee puts on a Halloween pub crawl every year. So we got dressed up and went out! I was adopted as a Pink Lady from Grease, the jackets were made in Hoi An, and although they were lovely, they were way too hot, so they were only on for short periods of time. Steve squeezed into a size 32 pair of black jeans and a small white t-shirt to be my Kenickie. We were taken to a few new places in town so that was fun and ended up at a dance bar where they of course played the Grease re-mix...so fun!