The Downtown Visit

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2010

On Saturday we had a fun play-date and dinner with our friends Rob & Julie and their family.  In addition to yummy food, homemade ice cream and great conversation, we also got to visit their swimming pool for some fun in the spacious pool in their downtown condo.  We enjoyed the spectacular views of the city from their condo more than a dozen floors up.

Brewin' Up Some Folktale Soup

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Reeve had a great role as an Indian prince in the retelling of the Cinderella tale -- the Indian version.  He was very handsome and extremely eloquent in the 3rd grade presentation on Folktales.

AFC South Rivalries

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2010

As part of a friendly rivalry, Doug (a loyal Colts fan) and his good friend Billy Thomas (a loyal Texans fan) had a friendly wager over the Monday night football game between the Texans and the Colts.

The loser had to wear a shirt (or tie) from the rivals.

Fortunately for Doug, we didn't get our act together by Week 1 when the Texans put a beatdown on the Colts.  This time, Lucas Oil and the home confines of Indianapolis was much more conducive to the Colts finding their winning formula with a 30-17 victory helped by some key turnovers and Houston avoiding the running game that was so devastating to the Colts in the opening of the season.

Sunway Lagoon

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2010

As part of the Deepavali Holiday, we decided to stay in town, but treat our kids to a fun day at a local theme & water park.  We had a great time, and our first visit to Sunway Lagoon certainly exceeded our expectations.

There was lots of room for the kids to play, there were rides to go on, and there were HUGE water slides that were lots of fun for the more adventurous -- though Gabi certainly was the most eager as others were a bit reluctant to experience that feeling when the stomach drops.

Halloween

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2010

A great tradition in one neighborhood is for much of the international community to show up and go trick or treating. This year they decided to do it on Saturday night. Some people decorate their cars and pass out candy from the back of cars. Some who live in the neighborhood invite others. So we get to walk around, trick-or-treating and the kids get their haul of candy. Of course, before, we had to stop at Grandpa and Grandma's house for our first stop.

As we walked around, the kids got to see a lot of their friends.

Reeve was Indiana Jones, complete with a whip and a cowboy hat. Gabi went as a cat, and Rania continued to be an island princess.

And, of course at the end, you have to sort your loot, do some trading and take stock of all the fun things you found.

Halloween Dress-Up Day

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2010

The kids got to dress up for Halloween on Friday. Lots of parties at school.

Rania was an island princess.
Gabi was a cowgirl.
And Reeve, well, he was only the best quarterback ever to play the game. (It was unsure whether he would be signing autographs as "Peyton Manning" or "Reeve Woodward.") Obviously one is the future great QB.

Connie Buford & Kenya Reunion

What a thrill when we have the chance to see Connie Buford. In her work with the State Department she passes through the region, and this is the third time I've gotten to see her in the past 3+ years. Two visits to Kuala Lumpur and another meeting for a conference in Shanghai. What a treat to get to catch up on her work and reminisce about the days at ISK in Kenya. It was quite fun.

Juvy's Birthday

How incredibly lucky we are to have Juvy working and helping our family. We had the chance to celebrate her birthday this month. For all that she does for us, we sure are grateful and blessed.

The girls made cupcakes (gluten-free!) for Juvy's birthday and we ordered pizza (and made our own gluten free pizza) to give Juvy a bit of a break on her birthday.

Play Date

We were so thrilled to meet a couple at our church that has so much in common with us. Rob and Julie have three kids, just like us (boy, girl, girl). Both of them are Cedarville grads like Tracy. Julie grew up in Oregon as a PK, just like Doug. And they spent some time living in Indianapolis. Hilarious how small world it seems with so many parallels.

We had the chance to have them over for an afternoon of fun. They had a neighborhood BBQ at their home that evening, so we weren't able to include dinner in all the fun, but how great to have the kids playing and for us to be able to have some good adult conversation. We loved it!