Sentosa Island

Yesterday we took a day long adventure over to Sentosa Island....located just south of Singapore about a 30 to 45 minuet commute via train from the Central area. I first imagined Sentosa to be this exotic island full of white sand beaches ....but I was way off! The pictures here don't really show what the island is really like....but the entire area is one giant Theme Park! Owned and operated by the Singapore Government...Sentosa is full of games, rides, beaches, resorts and soon to be Universal Studios and Marina Bay Sands, which is a massive integrated resort (basically, a city built within a city www.marinabaysands.com)

Upon entering the island (via monorail) all you see is construction. In fact the only view of the island from Singapore is all construction. The new integrated resorts are HUGE!!!!!!! The Southern area of Sentosa however is really nice, full of beaches, bars, restaurants and beach volleyball!!!!




Once we arrived we found bikes that we could ride along the beach, so Jamie and I rented a tandem bike.....it was really fun, especially since he could not really tell that I wasn't peddling much!

One of the beaches on Sentosa....the sand was okay....we thought that it might have been man made beaches....but still really nice.



View on top of a tower we climbed.



While biking we rode past a monkey, so of course I yelled "STOP! MONKEY! CAMERA!" He was just hanging out, watching people.




It was a fun day...but by 4pm, we were exhausted!!!! So we headed back, had dinner with Jon and Anya and then rested up for Sunday morning where we have plans to head to the Hyatt hotel brunch......all you can eat for 4 hours AND all you can drink champagne, wine and beer! TROUBLE!

Our morning routine.....

Each morning Jamie and I wake up, quickly check emails....then head off to the pool for some quick laps before really starting our day....here are a few pictures of our morning!


By around 11am.... we are back up, showered and ready to start our day....I could get used to this!

Day 1 in Singapore

Well we have landed safely with no flight delays...YAY! Boy was it a LONG flight, 10 hours on our first leg and 7 hours for our second, YIKES!

After landing in Singapore, our plane windows fogged up from all the humidity and when we got off the plane I was slapped with it. It is hot here! Only 77 degrees last night but it
felt a lot warmer! Jon surprised us and picked us up at the airport (at 2am). We were just about to get into a cab, when the taxi driver said "no, no, too much luggage...you need to get a second taxi or a van" so as we pulled our carts to the side, Jon came running out to catch us!

After settling in....we finally fell asleep around 4am Singapore time. Quick nap and around 7am we were up...wide awake! Jon and Anya's condo is awesome! All marble wall to wall, beautiful Asian inspired furniture and nice amenities!

Our Room

Living Room

Kitchen


View from the living room windows....POOL!!!!

Jamie and I unpacked our mass amount of clothes, shoes and "stuff" then realized we hadn't really eaten in 24 hours, which would explain the massive headache we both had. So we popped some extra butter popcorn and munched until we were ready to head out to see the city.

By around 11 am, we headed out to Orchard Road, one of the major commercial roads in Sing. I have never seen so many shopping malls, food stands and restaurants in one area in my life! Every block had it's own mall, and not just some small mall, each one is at least as big as Northgate, built up. Everything is so clean, not even a piece of paper on the ground, sidewalks, etc AND it is SO LUSH! Everywhere I look, there were huge gorgeous trees that lined the sidewalks and streets!


After getting a coffee from Starbucks we walked on and stopped at a hawker stand (food cafeteria like a food court full of local cuisine) and we met up with Jon for some chicken rice (delish, Brooke you'll love this this) and Indian food. Meal for 3 total $15 Sing = to $10 usd.

After lunch we then walked on and toured the Fairmont Hotel (beautiful!) and then the famous Raffles Hotel which is AMAZING!! It's an old Colonial building, all white with black trim.

Main entrance with a gravel drive way....classic.

Lobby

After we toured the hotel, we hoped onto the MRT Train back to the condo. Now we're off for a swim, nap then dinner with Jon and Anya tonight.

More to come for day 2~

"all our bags are packed.....we're ready to go......"

"We're leaving on a jet plane.....don't know when we'll be back again......"  I love that song! Never thought that I would be singing it for ourselves! 

Well, after a FUN, FULL and BUSY weekend......we are packed....and it was NOT easy! International flights cap at 50 lbs per bag.......NOT SO EASY TO DO when your packing all of your things!  

This past Friday was a hard day, I had to part ways from my amazing colleagues.  They had spoiled me all week...and continued to do so on Friday.  By around 3pm, we popped open the champagne and dined on yummy cup cakes from Cup Cake Royal.  At first I thought....are they celebrating my departure? Then, Ryan said "we are celebrating your adventure!"  (tears!) Thank you to my colleagues and FRIENDS at the Arctic Club! I miss you all already!!!!

After the good byes at work, Don and Kristin took us out to a WONDERFUL meal at Daniel's Broiler in Leschi where Jamie and I first met.  Chef Todd was there (the chef that played match maker to get us together) and we feasted on filet's, crab, calamari and grand mariner strawberries!  DELICIOUS!!

Saturday, Auntie's Pam and Marilyn and the fam came down to say good bye and hello to the newest edition to the family, little Linnea Hazel Holmquist.  It was so nice to see everyone.....we had  big family dinner followed by fun board games (our team won!).

Today, my parents arrived.  Jamie and I met up with them for lunch....then headed to Bell Square to pick up a new MacBook for mom. We stopped by Amy's work (Ben Bridge) to give her a final hug good bye. I am now in the process of setting up all of her skype contacts so that we can communicate online.  I got my brother Mark to join in.....now just Andrew, Rob and Paul.....sign up for Skype boys!  

Don and Kristin made us yet another fantastic meal......roast pork, roasted red potatoes, green beans and a strawberry salad...YUM!  Jamie and I have been eating like a King and Queen these past few days! How am I suppose to wear a swimsuit in 2 days?!?!?  YIKES!!!

Now, it's late Sunday night and neither Jamie nor I can sleep, we are just sitting watching Chelsea Handler and the Soup trying to de-stress our selves, staring at all the luggage in front of us. 

Tomorrow is going to be a big day! We are up bright and early and then off to have a final big family meal together with my parents, Don and Kristin, Alana and Linnea, one big good bye breakfast!

We look forward to writing more on our lay over in Tokyo!

With all our love

Carmen and Jamie

Tough week!!!!!!!!

Wow! This past week has flown! I cannot believe that we leave on Monday! Each night has been filled with happy yet sad farewells. Monday was dinner with Don and Kristin…..Tuesday my colleagues from the Arctic Club and I all went out for happy hour at McCormick’s followed by American Idol Season Finale at Brookes. Ryan, Brooke, Jamie and I ordered Pizza and enjoyed cheering Kris on (sorry Ryan….he is just more crowd appealing!)

Wednesday, I had dinner with the girls (Emi, Mollie, Amy and Becca, oh and Kyle too). We went out to Emi’s house for a final good bye….had my favorite TOTINO’s pizza…that then turned into an American Idol results show party…..WHAT A SHOW!!!! Emi and Kyle had DVR so we were able to rewind and replay our favorite performances J The girls put together a picture frame of the 5 of us and then signed on the matting, LOVE IT! I can’t wait to hang that up in our new home!

Thursday was our final good bye to my brother Paul, he flew out to Alaska today to visit Angie who works up there in the summer months. He took us out to Jak’s steakhouse (one of Jamie’s favorites and Paul’s absolute favorite restaurant). We ate like we were never going get a full meal again. I had the grilled king crab and Jamie had a prime rib, YUM YUM!!! It put us right into food coma! Saying bye to Paul was really hard, BUT I can’t wait until his visits us (Angie promised!!!!)……come soon you two!

Today…..well, today is a hard one as well. My last day at work! UGH!!! My colleagues (and friends) have been spoiling me all week……and now it’s time to say bye L Tears! I will have to get back to this entry later………..

Kelsey and Kristin (who was also one of my brides) stopped by today to say bye…..thanks girls! Love you guys….and I will see you in October!

This weekend is a busy one! Great weather in Seattle, family coming into town…….packing, packing, packing, AHHHHH!!!!! But first, dinner at Daniels with Don and Kristin……the restaurant where Jamie and I first met……looking forward to it!!!!

Good bye bar night....

THANK YOU for our amazing friends for hosting such a nice going away! Our evening began with Mollie picking me up at the hair salon (I had to "lighten the weight" of my hair in anticipation of all of the humidity in Sing.) followed by a wonderful dinner at La Medusa, a yummy Italian restaurant near our house. Thank you to Mollie, Emi, Becca, Amy, Jordan, Marissa, Christie, and Kelsey for putting together such a fun night!

After dinner we met up with the boys and headed to a bar for some drinks to celebrate our move. It was a nice surprise to see my brother Robbie.....thanks for coming Rob!

Now, it's my final week at work and gosh....there is still so much to do! Between finishing up work, packing our things and saying good bye's......I think we will manage to sleep through the entire flight to Sing! We fly out one week from today, I can't believe it!

Looking forward to this weekend, spending time with both of our parents and family, can't wait!

It's finally official...

After monitoring the flight prices for a few weeks now.....we have finally purchased our tickets....it's official we are going to Singapore! We are set to fly out on May 25th, AHHHHH!! So much to do and NOT ENOUGH TIME to do it all! It really hasn't' hit me yet that we are moving....I keep thinking that I am just going to be packing for a vacation.....WAKE UP CARMEN...you're MOVING!

Our wonderful friends are throwing us a small get together on Friday....dinner with the girls (thank you!!!) then after we are meeting up with more friends for a final good bye! That reminds me...I need to get water proof mascara!

countdown begins.....12 days to go....

Back to the city....

We are home from the farm! It was a beautiful weekend, sunny, light 70's and dry. We went on a nice bike ride on Friday, biked to town and had my favorite pizza and roast beef sando with mom, dad and Rob, after pizza we went to Bakers Acres with mom to pick out flowers for her garden.Friday night we went out to Canada for dinner. On our way back we got detained at the border. Jamie had left his green card back in Seattle...so long story short, after an hour of annoying lecturing, we got the foreigner back in the US of A!


Saturday, my brothers Paul and Andrew arrived and my two nephews we had a fun round of family golf!

Dad, mom and I


The view, our farm below



Jamie, riding the mower like a zamboni!



Rob, Jamie and Paul

Lil Alex


Lil Andrew

Road Trip....

We are off to Tonasket this afternoon for a nice three day weekend on the farm! I haven't been "home" for a FULL YEAR and I am so excited to have hometown pizza, fish and chips in Penticton and mom's home cookin! Not to mention that because our schedules are so hectic leading up to this move, we will have some time (5 hours to be exact) to catch our breath and with each other in the car......"blah, blah, blah.....and then....yada, yada, yada....." (this is all that Jamie is going to be hearing from me...I call it the Booth selective hearing) and then....NAP TIME, I always fall asleep on road trips...I can't help it.

(our trip "home" in 06, I need to take more pictures!)

Crossing our fingers that it will be a warm, dry weekend. We are bringing our bikes with us (Jamie got me a new road bike for my birthday and I have not had an opportunity to really ride it around) and we plan to ride to the town for my favorite roast beef sando and pepperoni pizza, YUUUMMMMYYYY!!!!!

We are back Sunday evening in time for dinner to celebrate Mother's day with "mUm" after spending the morning with "mOm" :)

Our first blog!

Well, we've decided to start a blog so that we can record our new adventure and share with family and friends! Thanks to Kelsey for the wonderful idea! She too has a blog so that she can keep her family up to date on her and Gabe's life in Seattle.

We are excited for our fast approaching move to Singapore! We are set to fly out Memorial Weekend and the days are flying by fast! I hope that we get a chance to see everyone before we head out!

We will continue to keep up on stories and pictures here!!