Michael left for Singapore on March 13th and returned on the 28th.
The kids had lots of questions about where it was, what language they spoke, what it would look like, etc. Of course Michael got their globes out and showed them where it was and told them as much as he knew about the place.
Charlotte wanted to know, "Who is going to take care of us? One parent is NOT enough. We need two people taking care of us."
I have to admit I wondered the same thing. Who was going to take care of them. One parent was not enough! Luckily Grandma and Grandpa are awesome! They helped keep me sane and made sure everyone got everywhere they were supposed to. And then there was Miss Jenni. She came over 4 times to allow me a break and for me to go out to dinner with friends. She is wonderful and all four kids love her so much.
Of course both the little girls got sick while Daddy was gone. And of course Charlotte didn't sleep well. But overall it went well and we all survived!
One of the biggest challenges was the time difference. Singapore is 13 hours ahead of Texas. So of course the two times of day that were even possible to talk were bedtime or before breakfast. Of course these are the two worst times of day as they are the most hectic. We used skype to call each other which was great! Gotta love being able to talk to each other on the other side of the world for free! One day Michael called on the phone. Rehm was shocked! "I didn't know you could call from Singapore on the telephone! I thought you could only use the computer!"
Michael connected in Tokyo both directions. Rehm kept asking when Daddy would get to "Kentucky." I kept saying "he isn't going Kentucky." Then he would say "I mean Kentuckyo." At which point I would say "Oh you mean Tokyo!"
Charlotte called Singapore, "Seen-a-pork" or "Soon-a-pork."
Everyone was very happy to see Michael when he returned. And I think he was happy to be home. Now hopefully he'll write a bit about his actual time there.
Here are pictures he took while in Singapore. There are no captions yet so you kind of have to guess at what you are seeing. Enjoy
Jenn
Great pictures from Soon- a- pork! I hope you don't mind if I borrow a few of them. I am always looking for diversity and animal pictures for the daycare centers that I work with. Glad you are home safely.
ReplyDeleteThanks for loading all his photos on the site - there were fabulous (though I went very quickly through the beetle/butterfly images) I especially enjoyed the town scenes - the skyscape views from the balloon - the busy port. (Oh, and the descriptive plaques telling the history of the hill.)
ReplyDeleteWhat an exciting experience it must have been.
Shelly, Rehm was doing a presentation at school about the rhinoceros beetle which is why we have so many bug pictures. If I could just figure out how to get my file size smaller I could upload the video of his presentation for everyone to see.
ReplyDeleteI thought you would enjoy the plaque pictures :)