Trick or Treat

Halloween is certainly not a local Singaporean holiday, however, there are certainly celebrations of the ritual amongst the large number of American expats living here.
As lack of luck would have it, I was on a top secret mission to Tokyo during the fateful week and was sorely disappointed to miss the Party of Five first annual Halloween special. Luckily though, the Wicked Witch of Weight Loss was good enough to capture some defining moments for all of us to share.

For the Blaus this year we had the following cast of characters...

Savanna, starring as Ariel, the Mermaid Princess who enraptures sailors with her voice and can stuff a whole pumpkin cupcake into her mouth while fighting off peers seeking to touch her mysterious Ariel backpack.

Sienna, featured this year as a Disney Hula Girl preparing for her video trials of Mickey Mouse Club 2010.

For 2007, the year of the new homerun king in baseball, Colten chose to honor his San Franciso hero with a dedication to Giants Baseball.
(Please note that there is still a pending investigation as to how Colt was able to exceed 8 kilos in his last five months. Local press reports have suggested performance enhancing drugs may have been supplied by his father, something the family vehemently denies)

Brandon and Jen were not to be outdone and managed a respectable showing as Fashionable Witch and Rather Dubious Pirate. Seven years ago we started our courtship on Halloween and thus it's also been a special holiday for us. This year we managed to show up at another family's Halloween Party, without our kids, and as the only adults in costume. To top it off, all the other families were French so we spent the rest of the night drinking Bourdeax, chomping on baguettes with extraordinarily smelly cheese and casually chiming in Je ne parle pas français bien mais ce vin est délicieux as appropriate.

You've got to love Halloween!

Time Flies

There's a very fine line between appreciating how blessed we are to have 3 such wonderful young children...and wondering how the hell we're going to get through the next day. Lately, the former warm fuzzy thoughts have outnumbered the feelings of desperation. Although I'm certainly jinxing myself with this post.

For infants Singapore is a fantastic breeding ground for colds as you're either in the sauna that is everyday in Singapore, or you're passing through a blizzard of competitive freon producers at local malls, apartments and doctors offices. Hot and Cold, Cold and Hot. The vicious cycle continues and the sniffles bound. Fortunately, medical attention here is excellent and easy to come by.

The twins have grown increasingly aware of us, one another, and a crazy 3 year old that puts on dance shows for them and occasionally attempts loving wrestling moves. They are now squawking and yelling, just on the cusp of first words. My weekends are dedicated to planting subliminal messages that will trigger their first statement of "Daddy" or "Shake & bake". However, I believe this is a losing effort with the obligatory "Mama" sure to take the pole position in their race to verbalize inner thoughts.