Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Our house

We love our house, and it has been a great place for our family. Here are some photos we would like to share. Hopefully the formatting won't get too messed up. You get the special bonus of 3 cute kids in most pictures -- though they certainly aren't like that all the time!

Having a playground right outside our back door has been fun for the kids. It is nice being in the shade of the palm trees, and the space, including a BBQ pit you can easily check out, is nice for parties.


Living on a dead-end street, it is a great place to ride bikes, talk with neighbors, or play badmitton. Being at the edge of the jungle, it is also extremely quiet, green, and a bit cooler than down in the valley.


We have a nice little yard, and the porch is great for BBQs or sitting outside in the cool evening, or enjoying the amazing experience of watching a tropical thunderstorm come through.




The downstairs has plenty of room. The owner specifically wanted an open feel to make it attractive for ex-pats, and our kids have loved playing or having "movie night" or being able to be on the computer while a horse festival plays out at our feet.



The kitchen is not the high point of the house -- small, but functional. A new sink does help matters! The dining room is part of the spacious downstairs!




One thing that is nice is the side yard; having a semi-D means you get lots of light coming in; with a link house, you are connected to other houses on both sides. Having the best neighbors in the world is also a plus. The upstairs room (at the top of the stairs) could be better utilized, but it does get warm, and with plenty of space, we don't use it too much.

Moving upstairs, there are three large bedrooms. The Master Bedroom is huge!



Bedroom #2 -- the two bedrooms are huge, and each have an attached bathroom.


Here is the other bedroom.



With 4 bathrooms in the house, we don't have too many problems. The master bath has a shower and a tub, and the two other bathrooms off the other two bedrooms have a shower.


The downstairs bedroom is good size, and the bathroom we also use for some storage (and washing machine). There is also good sized storage under the stairs.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A Visit from Connie


It is always fun to see Connie Buford, and we've been privileged to meet her three times in the last year and a bit, as she has passed through the region as part of her work with the Office of Overseas Schools.



We also have some mighty cute girls!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

He is Risen!


At church, we had quite a crowd. The kids even got to have an Easter egg hunt, partially the product of our egg decorating the night before.

It was wonderful to be able to celebrate Easter with family We had an amazing meal with some absolutely delicious ham, twice-baked potatoes, hot-cross buns, a fruit salad, and a bunny cake. Wow! What a great meal the grandparents put together. (especially considering they had done emergency child care the day before due to a broken foot!)

Birthday Party at Science Center Leads to. . .

SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2009

We were having a great time at the science center with a handful of Reeve's friends. It is an amazing museum with all sorts of hands-on activities. The kids were having a ball.



In fact, our only worry was that the kids would be so immersed in all the fun things that we might not make it to McDonalds in time to eat.

Well, we were all in bliss until. . . .

...A Broken Foot

. . . until Tracy stepped off the helicopter ride simulator, missed the platform and fell awkwardly.

A visit to a clinic in KLCC said we should go get X-rays (their X-ray machine had closed about an hour earlier). Hence, a bit of a wait at Glen Eagles hospital, the discovery of two fractured meta-tarsals. . .

Fortunately no displacement of the bones, so two weeks rest (off the foot) is the remedy. . .until the next check-up.

Little League Baseball

SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2009

Reeve began Little League Baseball / T-ball today. And guess who his coach is? (That was a bit of a surprise letter!) It is neat to have a bunch of kids having fun running around no a Saturday morning on the baseball field.

The Birthday Boy

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2009


We had a fun time celebrating Reeve's birthday with family. He had a great time opening a few presents, and even diving into some birthday cake.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Bolt 2 - The Sequel

After watching Bolt for movie night, we had some high stakes drama.

Hard to know:

Is it possible the sequel is better than the original?
Is it more fun to watch our kids act out Bolt than watching the real thing?



Watch the Woodward Version of Bolt 2 and decide.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Bye Bye Paradise



After a wonderful week reconnecting with the Fullertons and seeing parts of Borneo, it was time to head back to the airport and on to KL. Reeve and Gabi were sad to say "bye" to their friends, but we are hopeful we might see each other in the not-too-distant future.

The kids also enjoyed the super fast speed boat ride back to the mainland!

Manukan Island


After the national park, we had a wonderful two day stay with the Fullertons at Manukan Island -- only a ten minute boat ride from Kota Kinabalu. It was a gorgeous island with some spectacular snorkeling.



Tracy and Doug even got in some diving -- a nice refresher after getting certified in June. It is worth adding, though, that the snorkeling was better than the diving in terms of fish and sea life -- since the best parts of the reef are in rather shallow water. Doug saw his first sea turtle -- a magical underwater sight -- while snorkeling.

We also celebrated Maxim's birthday -- which was lots of fun. After the day trips departed in the late afternoon, we had nearly the entire island to ourselves, which created quite a relaxed feel.

Rania's Birthday

Rania was so excited about her birthday!

Kota Kinabalu National Park


We had a wonderful two days in the gorgeous setting of Kota Kinabalu National Park. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was incredibly beautiful, and we greatly enjoyed the cool air, almost a mile in the air.


While we'll have to save climbing the 13,435 ft mountain for another time, but we did have lots of fun. Reeve and Gabi did a spectacular job walking on the canopy walk, high up in the air. As the parents were dealing with Rania (who ended up walking down with grandma), you can see pictures of them on Grandpa's blog. (Best viewed in Internet Explorer, unfortunately). So the adults had a beautiful walk high above the forest floor before catching up with our kids.

Another highlight was singing Happy Birthday to Rania again -- this time with a candle. One evening we let her blow out a candle -- and she was beaming and jumping up and down, so excited. And after her futile attempts this Christmas, she now can blow out a candle!

Friday, April 3, 2009

The Birthday Girl!

SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2009


We had a number of momentous events on our trip. We should have known there would be fun memories when we arrived at the airport and Gabi had her loose tooth fall on the floor as we were getting our luggage! But when we got to celebrate Rania's birthday around the pool, it was fun to watch her dance up and down, so happy to celebrate her birthday! Throw in some ice cream, a bit of chocolate brownie, and some presents, and she was one happy girl!

Sutera Harbor Activities


In addition to fun at the pool right outside our hotel, there was also a lot of other fun activities for kids. There was one pool with huge water slides, and the kids had a blast going up and down, up and down, up and down the curling water slide before splashing into the water.

There is also a bowling alley on the premises, so one afternoon we beat the sun by enjoying a few bowls. With the help of the bumpers on the gutters, and a ramp so Rania could roll the ball down, the kids had a blast! Playing with friends, and having grandparents around certainly doesn't hurt! There is even a small movie theater in the hotel complex -- though we did not make it there.

Sutera Harbor Sunsets


Each evening of the three day conference, we were able to enjoy some spectacular sunsets. With the sun setting over the South China Sea, and a handful of islands dotting the horizon, it was a great setting to try (unsuccessfully, of course) to snag a family photo -- while also trying to capture the beauty of the place.


A Rough Teachers' Conference


It is pretty hard to imagine a more picturesque setting for a professional conference than at the Sutera Harbour Hotels in Kota Kinabalu. While Doug and Tracy tried to go to some workshops and speakers -- while trading off child duty, the kids -- and usually one of us -- were able to play in the pool. One of the great benefits of the teachers' conference is catching up with old friends.

It was wonderful to re-unite with the Fullertons after a year, and the two girls were immediately best friends. A huge surprise came when Doug met Bethany Shull -- with whom he had survived student teaching at North Central High School way back in 1991. He hadn't seen Bethany since a Hong Kong visit in 1993. She and her husband and daughter are now loving life in Tokyo, and it was so fun to catch up, if ever briefly.

And my, oh, my, the sunsets. Wow!