I know, I know!  I haven’t updated in a while.  I’ve got lots to post about, as we have been living in Singapore for not quite a week now.  We officially landed on this island last Thursday, August 8th, at 2:00 am.   That’s Wednesday 1:00 pm Central Zone time. Confusing, right?  We made a quick jump to 13 hours ahead in time from our home in Hudson.

Let me back track a bit.  Our last full week at home was all about swimming.  We had the Minnesota State Swimming Championships at the University of Minnesota one weekend, and then the following weekend we traveled to Topeka Kansas for the USA Central Zone Championships.  Once we got through those two meets and traveled back to Hudson, we had exactly 18 hours until our scheduled shuttle pick up … we had a flight to catch!!

Eighteen suitcases.  That’s how many I packed.

Needless to say, the logistics of three kids with 18 suitcases was a bit complicated.   We checked 13 of them, and we each lugged a carry-on bag and it worked perfectly.   Once in the shuttle, I snapped a pic of one of the boys taking one last photo of Hudson from the 94 bridge. 

Our last few moments at the airport, prior to boarding our flight with one-way tickets, brought different emotions to each of us. Hubby was relieved and ready to just get his family settled, as he needed to concentrate on his new job.  Dear Daughter became quiet and introspective, I imagine she was thinking of her friends she was leaving behind.  The boys were giddy with excitement, like just before kick-off for a Steeler Super Bowl, which made them hungry, which then warranted a last minute top-off at Subway.  I frantically made a last minute phone call to my parents, and got the reassurances that I needed from them, that I was in fact, making a move that would be good for my family and that things will be okay.

I know my sweet parents didn’t want me to take their grandchildren to the other side of the world,  and I could hear the emotion in their voices, which brought me to tears.   I managed to embarrass my daughter a bit, which of course is my job, but when the child looked at me and said, “Let’s Do This!!” when they called for us to board, I dried my tears, gathered up my gear, and shuffled onto the plane.

And so we have now been Singapore residents for FOUR complete days now.  It has been wonderful, exhausting, exciting, emotional … you get the idea right?   I think because of all the stress & exhaustion, I came down with the sickies, but thankfully I had a Z-pac from my physician-sister Rachel packed that by some miracle I was able to find. I’m confident that in a few days I’ll start to feel better.

On Saturday our air-shipment arrived  ( with very little damage ) and I’m working on getting it all unpacked and setting up the house.

The kids had school orientation on Saturday, which lasted nearly the entire day, and school started for the kids already.  And there you go!  We live in Singapore!