Five!

For Max it has been all about the ninja this year.  

And all about his school friends.

So his birthday was easy.  

Ninja cake and every school friend in attendance.  

Max was a happy birthday boy!  

He turned FIVE.  

How is that possible?  

Max is our boy of NO MORE kisses, 

won't hold your hand and likes to be grumpy.

BUT when this sweet boy smiles 

he melts every heart in melting distance.

It was all about the elephants....

Jeff's been doing the Asia thing for quite a while.  

Most of it without his family in tow.

Over the years of travel, the boys have looked forward 

to those running welcome hugs at SFO.

AND soon after those airport hugs & kisses come

the fun souvenirs that Daddy brings home from the 'far and wide'.

One of the reoccurring themes in Jeff's mementos of Asian travel 

are of the amazing and powerful elephant.  

We even have an ivory tusked little elephant (from India)

 that has squeezed himself some

prime seating on our mantel in CA.

So with our move to Singapore 

a trip to Thailand to see the elephants 

AND RIDE the elephants was a must.

We started out slowly with riding the elephants at the pool.

Even Oscar joined in on this fun ride!

 Charlie & Max ventured out with Daddy one afternoon 

to meet their elephant to ride.

Like most of our vacations have been over this last year 

our best combination for fun has been 

lovely warm people (easily found in Thailand) 

some sandy beach to play on 

and a huge water slide to entertain. 

Check, check, check.

Thailand and its elephants did not disappoint.

From Valentine's Pink to Chinese New Year Red...

In the land of 3 boys and endless shades of blue, 

ninjas, Lego's & finding matchbox cars in my bed...

there is one holiday that the entire male Merkel population

 is learning to embrace for the sake of the household 

need for some pink....and that is Valentine's Day!  

It is a 3-4 week time period when there are hearts, 

pink, purple and red accents on the breakfast table,

 doorways and nooks & crannies of the house. 

This year was so very very different. 

Not different bad....just different.

Let me introduce you to the Snake!

As in the Chinese Year of the Snake.

This was our February celebration for 2013.

We'll just chalk it up to 'one for the boys' this year:)

Chinese New Year started on Feb 10 with lanterns, 

red envelope (hong bau) exchanges and 

a great anticipation of time with family at home.

It was great fun to learn about Chinese New Year
 and the traditions it holds.  

What we most enjoyed were the extra days off school 

and the fact that Chinatown was deserted!!!

We visited Chinatown the first day of the holiday break,

 took some great photos, had dim sum....

with no crowds!  

Most everyone was home getting ready 

for the very family focused Chinese holiday.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

The Great Escape...

What a gift to meet up with two of my dear friends.

The husband's coined it the Great Escape right from the start.

and it was exactly that.

 We had endless time to ask all those questions 

we never get around to asking 

AND the time to answer them! 

We had leisure meals with no worries 

about getting back to babysitters or kid responsibilities.

 We ventured out most days and 

had fun exploring the local views.

and then back to swim, chat and relax some more!

The men all did amazing holding down the fort.

And the plans are already being made for the Great Escape II

for the HUSBANDS this time!!

Ruined by Paradise....

The Maldives

We did so much of this....

Enjoying the beauty of the sand and ocean.

Walking out straight to our little section of beach 

and swimming in to snorkel.

We saw everything.  Even sharks!

Oscar wasn't a huge fan of the ocean...

or of Mama being out in it without him!

Daily beach exploring

It felt like we owned this entire beach it was so deserted.

Thankfully they had fun kid activities.

Cooking class making sushi & chocolate cake.

Tennis

Kids Club

The older kids activities allowed us to have 

some relaxation time with THIS LITTLE ONE.

so cute but oh so busy.

Enjoying the sunset just Oscar & I.

Even sharing my sunset drink...

Not really of course it was Jeff's:)

Cheers!

We did venture off the beach every so often.

Max's favorite activity was trying to catch the sand crabs.

Oscar loved the washing up bucket!

The big boys went fishing with Daddy and caught tons of fish!

And then we had a nice family dinner
eating the freshly caught fish that night!

We went from beach to pool

to beach to pool.

It was a tough choice.

 

We played and played.

And had some quite moments together too.

And then before we knew it

we were saying goodbye to Paradise.

Back to reality.

Reality hits so so quickly!!

This post was a tough one to write.
I want to be honest in how our life is portrayed.
But honestly who wants to see photos 
of angry ugly moments in a family?
Tantrums, melt downs & struggles.  
We don't want to remember them either.

This trip was a once in a lifetime trip 
and it had some amazing moments.
This post is about the good moments captured.
Be assured that travel for us is NOT easy, 
not calm and not usually even very happy.
We capture the good moments to hold on to
in the midst of tears (the boys AND mine)
 battling angry brothers and 
toddlers that wake up at 4am ready for the day.

This is not the season of life I would have chosen 
to be doing this kind of travel with our boys.  
But we've been given this time and adventure NOW 
so we're making the most of the wonderful moments along the way.

At least it comes with a cute bag....

I had so hoped with the year round warm weather here in Singapore 

that the Merkel boys would skip their annual weekly winterly visits to the Doctors.  

NOT to be so....

one of these cute cheery carry bags 

has been on my kitchen counter 

for about 2 months now. 

We get a new bag about every 10 days or so it seems.

 

Each time one of the boys gets an ear infection, 

tonsil infection, SE Asian bug 

we tromp down the street to our very convenient 

and trendy medical clinic.  

It's the best medical clinic I have ever been 

in all my years of pregnancies, 

7 years of little boy ear infections, several different countries and states.  

It's cheerful, clean, convenient, QUICK, 

and you leave with your meds in hand 

all wrapped up in this cute little bag.

A little bit of "HOME" personally delivered....

My parents arrived for a wonderfully long 18 day visit.

They immediately brought home, hugs and smiles to our lives.

Here's Mimi & Pop Pop surprising Charlie at school.

Such Joy!

I think both Mimi & Charlie couldn't smile much bigger in this photo!

We had so many great moments like this...hanging out, 

playing games and just spending time together.

And of course SO much eating.  It's what you do in Singapore....

eat and shop:)

Here's our first dumpling meal.  

Jeff & Charlie were the pros at dumplings 

as this is one of their favorite spots to hit on the weekends.

Marina Bay Sands with the view of Singapore harbor.

Such a treat to have some time sans boys.

Great fun to welcome in two holidays while Mom & Dad were here.

Celebrating Thanksgiving together was such a special time.

and also such a treat to begin the Christmas season together.

And Oscar appears in the photos!!