The Daynes Bday Extravaganza

Our friend Mike Daynes threw himself one amazing all-day party for his birthday. He started with golfing and burgers at Carl's, then the Wave House in Sentosa where we joined in the fun. The kids had a blast boarding on the fake waves. We all trekked to the Chilli's at Resorts World to continue with dinner fun. I love our extended Singapore family!

My birthday boys.

Busy and full weekend celebrating my boys! Here's Ethan on his "real" birthday. All he wanted was a donut tower for breakfast and he saved some bday presents from Grammy to open on his special day. We have a new favorite spot called ISLAND CREAMERY. You get a free ice cream on your birthday so Ethan reminded us we HAD to go there. Here are the kids on Sunday morning egg hunting in our living room. We love Easter for all the eggs and bunnies, but for the deeper meaningful side of this celebration. I love how my kids are old enough now to grasp what Easter really means....finally! I can never celebrate any Easter w/ out my mind going back to my VERY favorite Easter in Jerusalem at the Garden of Gethsemene. Changed my life. We had a fun day of fish and chips with Kate and Lehi at their condo. Here's Ethan w/ their baby Mason. Great to finally catch up with them b/c they were away for a long time in Australia to show off this gorgeous babe. For Niko's delayed celebration for his turning three, we decided to do something HE wanted to do. Bowling! Niko woke up so excited to come down the stairs...he had requested a Ben10 cake, balloons and a transformer toy. I am always so happy to make this little guy happy! I love how he bounces everywhere, is pure energy, and loves sleep-kissing with his mommy! A birthday isn't complete w/ out celebrating with your friends! Here's Niko at playgroup (Crocodile Farm) outing. We enjoyed cupcakes and goodie bags.

A day out to Kusu Island

Still amazed that after nearly 2 1/2 years in Singapore, I'm STILL finding kiddie outings to try. I love it! What a grand adventure Singapore is. My fav days are when the kids have a day off. Here we are taking a garish Chinese junk out to Kusu island with new-friend Jonette and her girls. The kids had a blast going ALL OVER the boat and playing hide and seek; thankfully, we were pretty much the only guests on board.
I love making new friends! Jonette is a warm, deep, life-embracing individual. We bonded immediately, esp. because of our connection with the Hemming family back in Maryland. Kusu is a TINY island, here we are at the old Chinese temple and wishing well. Loved the hour ride along Sentosa Island...and seeing the CBD skyline. Zadian is my most quiet soul of the four, how I love him!

Emily's Chocolate Birthday Extravaganza!

For Emily's birthday I couldn't think what to get her....what do you buy a woman who has everything? Well, Em and I have a common love of parties and photos...so a photo collage is perfect! It felt so high school making one but that's what I love about Em, we're so bonded like you are with high-school friends (that's a true compliment b/c I love my Ecolint girlfriends!) We headed up to the Chocolate Buffet at the Marina Bay Sands. We all got a little crazy eating chocolate! Here's gorgeous Em with her sweet little birthday cake. You think you will eat plates and plates of chocolate, but after eating 2 plates, hot chocolate and chocolate ice cream, I had to call it a night. Such a wonderful circle of girlfriends. Best. Birthday. Party. Ever!!! Did I mention that hanging out with "the Blondes" is so so fun?! I don't have enough pix with Debbie. Cheryl and I always feel like it's a "treat" to spend time with Debbie. She's either in Taiwan visiting the hubby or busy with work, YW and all the million great things she does in life. Debbie is a true, loyal friend who I'm so grateful for. She's pretty much perfect. After the choc buffet I drove her home and we ended up talking for another FOUR hours. I'll never forget our bonding chats, about cooking, love, marriage, life, YW etc.

Music and More....

We're becoming regulars at the Indoor Stadium! Mateo and I went to Maroon 5 in concert. We loved being on the third row and feeling all the ENERGY! I think Adam Levin is a true entertainer! Totally enjoyed the evening w/ Mateo.


The kids aren't really fans of us going out and leaving them behind at night, so we switched things around and went out on a lunch date instead. We loved it and the kids were happy at home...we were able to try new-restaurant MOZZA at the Sands and attend the Van Gogh exhibit at the new ArtScience Museum. I love dates with Mateo! Mosh Safdi (the architect) also designed the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem so that was really special to see this museum. I love living in such a modern city that's constantly growing and changing.



Richelle Hobbs came into town! What a treat to hang out with her. She came to do some executive training for BNP. We were able to get together twice - for a beach day in Sentosa and for a girls night out in Arab Street. We ended up talking until 2am so I decided to have a slumber party at her cool hotel, have a quick brekkie w/ her, and head home to the kids just in time for them to wake up. I love that Richelle! We laughed soooo hard, shared crazy stories, and our usual "popping" about how extraordinary life is.
Just had to throw in this photo of us out for Thai dinner at the hip Jim Thompson restaurant with Dominique and Isabelle Graz (Mateo's Swiss boss visiting from Shanghai). Isabelle is an interior designer so we had to pick a restaurant that had great design (wow it did!). Food was fab of course and I loved hearing about their new life in Shanghai.


Another fun evening was a farewell party for Dave and Kathy Ramirez. Not that it was fun saying good bye, but it was special to have them for an evening with all the kids in Ethan's primary class. They have been wonderful, loving teachers to Ethan and friends for two years. Such a special season as these kids prepared for baptism. We had 30 adults and 40 kids at the British Club for swim and dinner. We will miss them so much, esp. Ethan. When it was time to say good bye on Sunday, Ethan threw his arms around them and got all teary eyed. I sometimes forget in all his "bigness" of nine, what a tender sensitive soul my Ethan is.

Ethan got our whole family into Justin Bieber. I saw JB in NYC last summer and I had NO IDEA who he was...Ethan is sooo into him we are always singing and dancing to his music. So for his bday I took him to the concert. He had a blast! I loved it too!



I can't really get Ethan to smile in photos anymore, b/c he's trying a new JB stud look:

La Famille Clayton a Singapour....

Our friends Matt and Eve Clayton came to visit us from France. They were laden with wonderful Parisian gifts of chocolates and more! My fav times were when we were able to go out as adults and catch up on life, legal careers, raising kids, great memories of Paris, and more....


Here we are at a beach party at Tanjong Beach Club (with school friends Anna and Michael):


We had a fun day at the zoo doing a treasure hunt and winning ben & jerry's free ice cream & zoo pens, really fun to see my kids get into the competition of it all:



My kids never tire of Sentosa Island....on the way up on a luge, Ethan spotted an ad for the ride "Once is never enough!" Ethan was excited and said "Mom, it's true once is NEVER enough, we have to go again!" So we did....


It was a pleasure showing the Claytons all the historical/cultural sights of the city, their girls are angels and so easy to take around. Here we are in Little India:



Ella and Morgan had a very special time together, playing and bonding, creating dance routines, and it's the first time that I've heard Ella speak continually in French, it was cute to little to her w/ her Canadian accent on her French:-)

Families we love.....

April 3 is the one-year passing away anniversary of our dear friend Michelle Dimond. We commemorated the day with a Dimond / Daynes / Furner gathering at Becky's. Delish meal and wonderful togetherness. Becky is the BEST! I call her Prom Queen b/c everyone knows and loves her and she has this very unique way of taking care of EVERYONE (I realize prom queens don't really do that but since I never went to an American high school I'll use that term this way).



Here is Ella and I with Becky, Cassidy and Michelle's BFF Natalie who has been with the family all year to help out. Cassidy is an AMAZING young woman, so full of strength, love, and thoughtfulness towards everyone but esp. her siblings. She is number two in the fam just like me....


Our friends the Wachtels had a groovy night at a club in Clarke Quay. Michael W.'s mid-life crisis is starting a band so we went to watch them perform 70s and 80s rock music. It was A BLAST!! It kind of felt like high-school except everyone is MUCH older....here we are with the Daynes, Moores and cool Sarah Lau (interesting note is that she used to date a Hiatt brother!).





We love it when we get to hang out with the Tuminez Tolk family. The kids have a blast hanging out with Whitman (Ethan's age) while we adults get in some great conversations w/ the gals. We had a Raclette Night and I love how Jeffrey and Astrid love Europe and good food as much as we do!