Bailey's 1st Basketball Season

Bailey just finished her first season of girls b-ball. She played in a girls 3rd/4th grade league. She got lucky and had a great coach - a former college basketball player himself. The coach had them doing tons of plays and was going crazy with the b-ball whiteboard at every time-out.
Bailey really liked the social aspect of this game...goofing around with her friends on her team and the opposing teams. She didn't care too much about the competitive part of it until...the last 2 games when Mike decided to make things a little bit interesting...
Money Talks!!!
Mike told Bailey he would pay her 5 bucks (Singapore dollars) for every basket she scored and 2 bucks for every rebound or steal. Suddenly Bailey woke up to the game of basketball! She finally took her first shots and actually scored a basket in the last 2 games. I had to leave the game where she scored her first basket (Jack had a dirty diaper conveniently) but my friend sent me a text saying, "Bailey just scored a basket!" I was in tears! I remember those feelings of scoring a basket for the first time in a game. It really is one of the best feelings out there. Apparently Bailey's smile could have lit up the barges of the Brother of Jared with how brightly it gleamed after that basket.
Bails ended up with $20 and then another $18 for the last 2 games of the season.
After the last game the coach awarded her the "Play Me" award b/c she was the kid on the team who was constantly asking the coach to put her in the game and was mad when he took her out. Way to go Bails!

Sammy & Cassie

Sammy is sad these days because she's losing her 4 best friends...by this June all 4 will have moved back to the U.S.  Her friend Lisel left at Christmas time, her friend Cassie leaves in 1 week, Lydia and Ross leave in June.  When I explained to Sammy that all of them were leaving due to the changes in the economy she said, "I hate the economy!"  I think that sums it up for all of us.

Here's some fun pictures of Sammy and her friend Cassie.  We took her out for a birthday outing one day when Sammy was out of school.  

This is what 6th & 7th graders like to do on birthday outings for those of you who are just entering the exciting world of parenting:

First stop was the Coffee Bean for a chocolate ice blended.

Second stop was a couple of hours at Kunokuniya - a Japanese bookstore.  The girls each picked out a book and had them half read by the time I came back to pick them up.  

Next stop was lunch at Hard Rock Cafe...Mike met us there since it's right next to his office. Wow our burgers tasted divine!  We satisfied our craving fix there.  Living in Asia is sort of like being pregant in the sense that you're always trying to satisfy your cravings for authentic American food.  This is one of the few places in Singapore where you can find a good burger.

Next stop was Mike's office to show Cassie the sharks hanging from the ceilings and the Disney On Ice wallpaper.  Cassie thought Sammy's dad had a much cooler job than her dad!

Bye Cassie...Good luck in New Mexico.  We miss you already.

Bailey The Irish Dancing Queen

On Saturday Bailey danced on stage at the American School's County Fair.  This is like the old school fair that they used to have at Briarcliff Elementary School when I was growing up.  The only difference is that this one has thousands of people in attendance and doesn't promise that Seattle Sonic basketball players will show up at it but they never really do.  And there's no cake walk which is a bummer b/c that was always my favorite.

Anyway, Bailey performed an Irish Dance routine called "The Reel" for her first time ever on stage!  She's good enough to perform for the Irish relatives someday...  

Pink Ladies

Bailey and our neighbor Lydia performed in the Variety Show this year.  If Lydia's name sounds familiar it's because she performed with Sammy in the Variety Show the past 2 years.  Sammy was too old this year b/c the show is only open to kids in 3rd-5th grades.  Sammy was sad to have "graduated".

The girls sang a duet to the song "We Go Together" from Grease.  They also danced but really they mostly just ran around the stage acting crazy and looking like they were having a fabulous time...which they were!  If there was an award given for the 2 happiest girls in the show who had the biggest smiles and the most fun it would have to go to these 2 cute girls.

(video footage coming soon to a you tube site near you.)

Desaru, Malaysia

Playing in the waves with friends is always a good time. I can hardly believe my girls are so grown up! They are such great big sisters to our 2 boys.

Desaru

Gong Xi Fa Cai!  

Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday in Singapore.  So we decided to take the surfboards and head to the beach while Mike had a few days off of work.  It was a typical Malaysian vacation...it started out with traffic through the border, then finding our beachfront hotel that was oh so beautiful on the website but very run down and unkempt in reality; mixed with poor service and throngs of Chinese & Malay tourists who filled the pool area of the hotel.  I can't forget to mention the large amount of oil in every meal...oily eggs, oily spaghetti, and oily fish & chips were oh so tempting.

Actually, aside from the crowds, our increased level of cholesterol & lack of surfable waves we really made the most of it and had a great time.  We had great weather...(a bit windy so that the surf was blown out) and good times with friends.  Our regular traveling companions, the Robisons, were there, as well as the young men from our ward who were camping down the beach a bit in tents.

We can't believe ourselves

Cars are expensive in Singapore...very. Most Singaporeans take public transportation. Scooters and motorbikes are very common and since we live very close to Malaysia we get to see lots & lots of Malaysians commuting by scooter to Singapore everyday. They are brave men & women b/c they have some unwritten code here that flip-flops are proper foot attire for motorcycle riding. Don't think they've ever considered Harley Davidson as they're picking out their footwear.

Anyway, we feel extremely blessed that we have TWO cars! We added this cute mini to the Daynes family a few months ago and she is still the baby of the family. Which baby is cuter?