Welome to Singapore!

We have arrived!

We left Ottawa last Monday at 5am to begin our journey to Singapore. This journey would take 30 hours! With three young children….

Our first flight was 5 hours from Ottawa to Vancouver. We were all very excited at this point. This flight ended up being the most stressful of the three. For the first two hours Everly kind of lost her mind because she couldn’t just walk around – so we walked up and down the aisle about 50 times. My stress levels were skyrocketing just imagining the next 28 hours! Then she finally went for her nap and slept the rest of the flight as did I. Ewan and Isla were  very excited to watch as many movies or play as many iPad games as they wanted over the next 30 hours (normally they get about 30 minutes a day when Everly is going down for her nap – so this was a BIG deal).

We then had a 3 hour layover in Vancouver where we had a good breakfast and let the kids run as far as their little legs could go! The second flight was 15 hours from Vancouver to Hong Kong – this flight would take us over night. Everly fell asleep just before we got on the plane (I had been hoping to keep her up until we took off but it didn’t happen). She then slept in my arms for the next 11 hours without so much as stirring. She has
never slept 11 hours straight in her life. It
was incredible. I watched a movie, ate several meals and slept. I also lost all feeling in my legs. She then woke up for two hours where she ate and then we walked. Shockingly, she fell asleep for the last hour again! Ewan, Isla and Alan managed about 8 hours sleep and watched plenty of movies beforehand.

We then had 3 hours in Hong Kong – and what a view! A gorgeous island with mountains all around. We were all pretty tired and cranky and the airport food left much to be desired. The last flight was 4 hours to Singapore. On this flight we did not want the kids to sleep as we would arrive  in Singapore at midnight and we were hoping they would sleep a few hours that night to help with the transition of Singapore being 12 hours ahead of Ottawa. Ewan and Isla did stay awake but were really starting to lose it by the end of the flight. Everly on the other hand slept another three hours!! I knew this would be trouble but I also needed to sleep as exhaustion was setting in.

We finally made it to Singapore – the heat hit us like a brick wall – it is SO hot!! Even at midnight! We were very fortunate that two of Alans’ coworkers met us at the airport with a van for all of our luggage. They took us to our condo, they had filled it with groceries and made the beds and showed us around. This was so helpful and so very appreciated. The Ewan and Isla had fallen asleep on the way to the condo and we were able to put them directly into their beds. It was not surprising that Everly was wide awake! So we stayed up that night and unpacked all 11 suitcases (not possible to only have 8, so we used our maximum allowance of 11). I really wanted the condo to feel ‘homey’ and have the kids recognize their belongings when they woke up.

The kids were very excited when they woke up at 7am and then Everly and I went to sleep until 2pm. Over the past five days we have been working on getting over jet lag and sleeping at the right times. Ewan is still struggling a little (getting up at 4am and going to bed at 5:30pm) but the rest of us are doing well.

It really is a lovely condo. Much more spacious than I had been imagining and more than enough room for us. It was also very clean and the whole complex is beautiful. I will give you all a little tour –

Dining and living area with entrance out onto patio (we are on the ground floor).

Our kitchen (split into two rooms – pantry, fridge oven and prep sink in one room and then stove top, dish washing sink and washer/dryer in other room)

The kids bedroom – with a wall closet on the wall when you walk into the room. The kids also have their special toys (toys Everly cannot have) behind their beds.

Our bedroom with a dresser and wall closet and a bathroom attached.

The office / play room / ‘school room’ – I also have an ikea kids table and chair set being delivered tomorrow for the room.

A view of the balcony from the outside – there is a pond directly in front with turtles and all sorts of fish!

The walkway to the park and recreational pool.

The park in our complex.

The giant rec pool!

The 50m lap pool – this is just across from out balcony. From what we have seen, I am the only one using it!

Singapore seems like a really lovely place. We are both excited and a little intimidated about learning the transit system so that we can start taking advantage of all of the experiences Singapore has to offer. The goal for this week is to get a bus pass and attend an art class, ballet class, soccer school and find the library. Wish us luck!