13 November 2018, by Mandy Loh
Settling down in the USA
So its been three months since our big move to the US! And phew, what an awesome adventure we’ve been having!
We’re now quite settled, and things are getting into the groove. Here are some highlights of all the fun we’ve been having:
When we first arrived, we spent the first few days in Chicago, to get over jet lag, acclimatise, and just have a little holiday as a nice start to the new chapter of our lives.
Checking out the famous Chicago Riverwalk
Jet lag was hard on all of us…
Crashed out in the middle of the afternoon…yikes!
But after a few days of rest and relaxation, things got better. We tried our best not to take naps in the afternoon, so that we could sleep better when it was night-time.
We also made sure we were out and about during the day, walking around the city and enjoying the sunshine, so that our bodies could reset our circadian rhythm.
For the kiddos, their favourite place to run around in was this amazing Maggie Daley park, where they had a blast!
Running wild and free!
The next big milestone was moving into our new home in the suburb, Naperville.
Welcome to our new home!
The kids were delighted to see the house, with sooooo much space!
A three-storey house, including a huge basement. Coming from a shoebox apartment in Singapore, this is too much space for us! Hahaha!
And oh my, the backyard! The kids absolutely loved the backyard! It was such a pleasant change from our tiny apartments in Singapore, and the kids stayed outdoors for most of the afternoon every day.
Setting up home was a fun, albeit tiring process. Multiple trips to buy stuff, hours of furniture assembly at home, and some rental furniture while waiting for our stuff to arrive in sea freight, made our new place liveable!
The munchkins were so excited to help out in assembling the new furniture pieces!
Proud of their finished product!
It was a little challenging living without most of our stuff for the first two months, but I realised something quite interesting: Kids use their imagination ALOT more when they don’t have much toys!
Setting up a “taco stall” with play-doh tacos! They came up with this completely on their own!
Settling in hasn’t been all work and no play. In fact, we have had a TON of fun in these three months! There have been so many parties and events celebrating the end of Summer/ beginning of Fall, such as:
Labor Day Parade @ Downtown Naperville
Labor Day Carnival with kiddy rides and carnival games
Family Picnic day at Tim’s company
and even a neighbourhood block party! We decorated the scooters for a scooter/ bike parade to flag off the evening!
We’re also relishing all the opportunities to do fun things outdoors that we never had a chance to try in Singapore:
Going apple picking
Shooting a BB gun at Cub Scouts
and frolicking in Fall leaves! (screenshot from a video, sorry for the grainy quality!)
Overall, its almost like an extended holiday for us, with so many new experiences and fun adventures.
However, many locals have been warning us that it gets more dreary in winter, and I’m not very sure how well we will cope with the extreme cold in the Midwest! Crossing our fingers that it’ll be ok! Wish us luck!
Tags : chicago, creative play, jet lag, naperville, USA
Posted on : November 13, 2018
Filed under : Uncategorized