New Year's Eve -- All Together Again!

How wonderful is it to be back together as a family. Tracy and Reeve are still suffering mightily from jetlag, waking up between 1 am and 4 am, and having difficulty staying coherent in the late afternoons.


In an effort to get out and do something as well as get some sunshine -- always a good help with jetlag, we went swimming today. Nothing like a visit to the grandparents pool on New Year's Eve!

How fun to see Gabi swimming so well, and all the kids had an absolute ball in the pool. Of course it was a bit disappointing that Doug had to choose between swimming with his kids and watching the last quarter of the Titans/Colts NFL match. Since Tony Dungy had benched the starters and the game meant little to the Colts, the swimming was an easy decision. Hopefully the results will be better as the playoffs come.

Go Colts!

A Visit to the Zoo

In an effort to pass the time before Tracy and Reeve returned early Saturday morning, we took a morning jaunt to the national zoo. Considering the zoo is just down the road, between our house and Reeve's school, it seemed ironic that we hadn't visited it yet.

So with the aid of my parents, we took Rania and Gabi to the zoo shortly after it opened. My dad was thrilled to find out his entrance fee (for being a senior) was just over $1.75 -- always looking for a good deal. And in zoo terms, that is quite a good deal.

We also enjoyed seeing a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations around the zoo, a bit incongruous underneath all the palm trees. A large sign at the entrance also said, "Welcome to our Christian visitors celebrating Christmas." Since there were few people at the zoo, parking was easy, and it was a beautiful sunny day, we certainly felt welcomed.

Having learned our lesson from the visit to the Taiping zoo, we found a shuttle after entering. Conveniently the free shuttle will take you around major stops at the zoo, allowing you to avoid too much walking in the heat and humidity.


After a bit on the shuttle, and seeing many of the larger mammals, we realized we should visit the 11:00 "multi-animal show." Having just visited the bird show, it was a bit of a disappointment, but still quite fun. The birds raising the Malaysian flag and opening a "welcome" sign was a redux from the bird show -- and the fact that the narration was entirely in Malay (unlike the bird park) was a minor disappointment. But seeing the otter and the sea lion were great fun!

After a visit to the aquarium area and a bite to eat, Rania and Gabi loved the petting zoo, spending quite a bit of time visiting with two little ponies. Gabi announced that Hobbit (the brown pony) would be for Rania, and Wizard (the black pony) would be for her. Rania especially enjoyed having the horsey give her a kiss when she got too close to the rail.

After an obligatory posed picture on top of some elephants, it was time get back for naps knowing that it would be easy to return to the zoo at any time.

Bye-Bye Great Grandparents

It was tough to say good-bye to Great-Grandpa Levi and Great-Grandma Ramona, but their six week visit was certainly wonderful. Grandma Ramona sure read a lot of stories and played hours of horsey with Gabi.

Gabi also became quite a swimmer, wanting to swim between daddy, grandpa and Grandma Ramona. From all of the time with great grandparents and grandpa's incredible generosity from our trip to Georgetown, we certainly had a wonderful time while they were in town.

Now we only have to wait one more day until Tracy and Reeve get back!! Hooray!!

A Skype Christmas Morning

With the wonders of technology, we were able to be together for Christmas morning. Certainly this blog has been a great way to keep in touch during Tracy & Reeve's time in the states. But thanks to the wonder of Skype & webcams, Tracy was able to join us for our Christmas morning.

Just as Santa's stockings were being opened, Tracy dialed in from Christmas Eve in Toledo and was able to share some of Rania & Gabi's excitement at the latest round of presents.

Gabi & Rania were excited to wear their kitty cat shirts, and a whole shopping cart of toy food, new crayons, a Barbie toothbrush, a jumping & barking toy dog, and the obligatory candy & fruit (apples & oranges) were among the items that found their way into the kids stockings.

It was wonderful to have Grandma Ramona & Grandpa Levi staying the night with us, and Doug's parents came up early to enjoy the stockings and prepare pancakes for Christmas breakfast.

It was all fun, but will certainly be more fun when Tracy and Reeve get back at the end of the week!

Finally.....Christmas in Toledo

Okay, I'm sorry I haven't posted in quite some time. I can NOT compete with Doug's faithfulness with the blogging. That is for sure. But I thought I would post a few pics of our time here in Toledo. We have missed the girls SO much, and Doug too, but have enjoyed our time with family. The picture of Reeve with cousin Laura says it all!

Christmas Eve in the Tropics

Gabi and Rania were both very excited that Christmas Eve finally arrived. Ever since our amazing neighbor, Auntie Nani dropped off gifts for each of the girls, Gabi was wanting to know when we would open presents. In an effort to break up the present-fest and hopefully give the girls a chance to play with their toys, we figured we'd open some gifts on Christmas Eve.

While Gabi was very excited to get her new cash register from Auntie Nani, and she also got a jump rope and a super fun Polly Pocket car set, but it had too many small pieces to risk opening it at the grandparents' pad. She was also excited about a whole mismatch of bracelets and necklaces that will work super for dress-up. You can even see the dress-up purse in the picture at the bottom of this post.

The most hilarious moment of our Christmas festivities was Rania receiving a beautiful stuffed animal -- a cat. Gabi has a huge collection of stuffed animals and Rania tries to take them from her sister. Gabi isn't too willing to share, and usually tries to put Samantha, Namey, Whitey, Charlie, and Brownie far away from her sister. Even when she goes to the bathroom or has to obey, she'll emphasize, "Don't let Rania get it."

So it was especially ironic to see Gabi so jealous of Rania's new stuffed animal. Within a few seconds, she wanted to trade Samantha (her favorite stuffed animal) for the new one. She tried to whisper in Rania's ear -- "You don't want your kitty cat, right? -- Daddy, Rania said she didn't want it." After all of these ploys didn't work, she then insisted that Samantha would be lonely if Tiger (the appointed name of the new Kitty Kat)wouldn't sleep with her.

My goodness -- what insights into the selfishness of our own hearts.

We did enjoy our Christmas Eve service at St. Andrews. It is always so important and meaningful to sing the great Christmas hymns and hear the powerful message of the incarnation. We're also excited that Tracy & Reeve will be returning soon, though we're happy that they are having fun with family in Toledo.

Christmas Cookies and Terrible 2s (Early Onset)

With warm weather in Kuala Lumpur, the girls appear more suited for Easter than for Christmas with their warm weather dresses. They enjoyed getting a bit dressed up for church on Sunday, and the previous day was a day spent at grandma & grandpas.

In addition to swimming in the pool, Gabi helped Grandma Woodward make Christmas cookies. While Grandma Ramona worked diligently on decorating many of the cookies, Gabi spent considerable time decorating her "G" cookie all by herself. She did a great job and sure enjoyed eating the fruits of her labor.

Rania, on the other hand was the perfect example of the "terrible twos" with several screaming tantrums and a number of time-outs to try and calm her down. She was only comforted when we put in a video of herself running around the house. Immediately she was transformed to her happy self, yelling "baby! BABY!!." I guess being self-absorbed starts at a young age.

We are looking forward to Christmas, and Gabi is ecstatic about getting to open presents, while being sure that Santa will visit.

Birdie! Birdie! Birdie!! BIRDIE!!!

During our visit to KL’s Malaysia’s bird park, advertised as the largest outdoor aviary on the planet, we certainly saw plenty of birdies. Rania, the ultimate birdie fan was thrilled to see so many birdies, of all sizes and colors. It was quite the collection of exotic birds. From being photographed with birds sitting on our heads, to feeding ostriches, to seeing a fun bird show, to seeing several species of hornbills, to walking through the well-landscaped grounds, complete with waterfalls and lush greenery, we had a great day at the Bird Park.

Immediately after entering the grounds, we were greeted by a large peacock that was in full display of the gorgeous tail feathers. Rania and Gabi were quite excited to see it. Soon the chorus of “birdie, birdie!” was unending from the joyful mouth of our youngest.

We also couldn’t resist the temptation of paying a few ringitt to have Gabi photographed with some birds. Daddy, of course, had to accompany his daughter for the photo-op.

For another few ringitt, Gabi and Rania got to feed the parrots. The girls were quite excited to hold the can of milk while the birds happily lapped up the food. Rania insisted on doing it by herself after a bit.

The bird show was also a highlight; Gabi was mesmerized by watching the birds ride bikes, raise the Malaysian flag, and drive little cars. Between “acts,” Rania would turn to me, shrug her shoulders and say, “uh oh birdie” to display her displeasure of the birds exiting the stage. At the end, the birds of prey even came swooping inches from our heads in a display that brought wide smiles to our girls lips.

Goodbye Eastern & Oriental Hotel

Indeed, it is sad to leave a nice place, especially so when it is the nicest hotel you’ve ever stayed in. Established by the famous Armenian Sarkies brothers (who also founded the Raffles Hotel in Singapore), the Eastern & Oriental was billed as “The Premier Hotel East of Suez.” Indeed, it was a step back in time, with each room designed as a suite, spectacular sea views of the Georgetown harbor, cruise ships and ocean liners passing through, and views of the mountains on Peninsular Malaysia across the way. The service was also quite impressive and the staff was very hospitable.

The lobby was incredibly decorated with a large Christmas tree, and the acoustics in the lobby were surreal – every single sound reverberated in the dome above the Christmas tree. Gabi and Rania especially loved running around the tree and hearing their footsteps echo throughout the room. Whenever we would get out of the elevator, Rania would take off for the Christmas tree, running around the lobby with a big smile. By the end of our time, the girls were well known among the E&O staff.

Before we left, we enjoyed a last time in the pool, with some of those majestic moments that can only be captured in one’s imagination – a mental image that you hope never departs. Throwing my daughters into the sky, landing in the water, below the deep blue sky with patches of white clouds, palm trees above, and Rania’s big smile and laugh as she was tossed in the air. Hopefully the pictures do justice to the wonderful sights and scenes of a picturesque setting.

It was also tough to leave the incredible buffet breakfast – with all sorts of assortments of fruit, juices, pastries, pancakes & waffles, omelet & egg bar. Somehow the buffet breakfast is a step above the typical fare of cold cereal at the Woodward household.

“Blond Baby (Momentarily) Abducted by Photo-Seeking Chinese Woman at Malaysian Butterfly Farm.”

Wednesday, December 19

On Wednesday we wound our way around the small highway that hugged the coast en route to the northern part of the island. The butterfly farm was quite cool with Gabi and Rania excited about seeing all the butterflies.

But the most memorable event from the trip was something that only Auntie Tasha could believe. As we were walking around the enclosed butterfly farm, this young Chinese girl swooped down and grabbed Rania in the hopes of being photographed with a beautiful blond baby. Rania, who was happily wandering along with the butterflies at this point, was not amused by being abducted by a total stranger. Her screaming displayed both her displeasure and ruined her Chinese kidnapper’s perfect picture.

I could only laugh at the event while all of the abductor’s friends profusely apologized (but not the Chinese woman herself!). Unfortunately, Rania was considerably less willing to walk around the farm alone, so I had to spend much of the time in the humid enclosure carrying our youngest daughter.

Despite this hilarious interlude, we were amazed at the many beautiful butterflies, exotic beetles, large spiders, colorful ducks, and tropical fish which were part of the butterfly farm.

Once we finally made it into a little video enclosure, Rania calmed down, and found her most pleasure in walking in and out of hanging beads that separated two rooms.

Since we had promised Gabi a trip to beach, and our exotic hotel has a great view of the sea, but not a sandy beach, we had to stop at a beach. It was certainly not a nice beach, and with a sharp drop off and coarse sand, we figured that there are plenty of other places to enjoy great beach vacations. At least Gabi got to make her sand houses with her grandma Ramona, and Rania giggled as the waves crashed over her toes.

Largest Buddhist Temple in Malaysia

Tuesday, December 18

It isn’t every day that you get to visit the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. I’m sure that in a different setting the various religious aspects of Buddhism and statues of the Maitreya Buddha would have had me searching through notes from University about different sects of Buddhism. But with two kids and a super hot day, most of our visit to the temple was spent keeping two girls entertained.

Throughout the temple there are numerous gift shops, all of which emphasize that their proceeds support the temple construction fund. At the first gift shop, I discovered the best 20 cents gift possible – two tiny rubber duckies. Gabi was so proud of her rubber ducky that the highlight of the entire day was the rubber ducky – which she proudly told her mother via the phone, “We buyed it. We did. We buyed a duckie and paid for it with our money.”

After a nice ride up a little train to the top of the mountain, there were lots of fun statues, including a horsey statue which the girls gleefully played on while their father stressed about them not having enough sunscreen on in the mid-day tropical sun. Rania also enjoyed looking at the water and the fishies, but most of the temple visit was traumatized by Rania wanting to go back and look at “Pooh” who was sitting with sunglasses in some gift shop.

Compliments of great grandpa Levi, we were all treated to ice cream before heading on our way. We thought that our next stop would be the cable car ride to the top of Penang Hill which has an even more commanding view of the island than the view from the temple.

Unfortunately, upon arrival we discovered that there tickets were being sold for 2:45. As it was just past noon and we were pushing our luck with naps as it was, it was an easy decision to bypass the trip up the hill. Oh well.

Finding dinner options anytime before 7 pm can be quite a challenge in Malaysia – and with little kids and hungry stomachs, we thought we would find some hole-in-the-wall place in Chinatown. As the only customers in the Foo Hueong Restaurant, we had a meal where both the girls competed for eating the most shrimp. Hole-in-the-wall was about the best description as the old lady prepared the Chinese food in a back skillet and the boss guy (the only one who spoke even a bit of English) sat in the corner playing some computer game – except when he could be roused to tell the older woman to get us more rice or another plate of shrimp.

Sweating in Penang; Snowing in Toledo

With the parting of the ways, Doug and the girls made their way north to the scenic town of Georgetown on an island on the East Coast of Malaysia. Meanwhile, Tracy and Reeve endured the half-way around the world flight and were greeted with 6-8 inches of snow in Toledo, OH. Tracy may add some tidbits of the Toledo end, but Doug will let you know how the Woodwards, Malaysian Annex are doing.

We made our way north to Penang on Sunday morning. As noon approached, we had heard rumors of a great park and lake garden in Taiping. We figured that since it was only a few km off the road we would check it out in the hopes of eating lunch in a scenic area. We found a gorgeous park at the foot of the mountains, and the guide book said there was a great zoo. So with an entrance fee of just over $1, we decided we’d visit the zoo. Already we were quite hot, and so we were easily convinced to take the tram around the zoo – a 30 minute trip that goes the 2.5 km route that makes up the zoo.


Other than being doused in sweat, we were incredibly impressed with the zoo. In addition to Orang Utans and many species of monkeys, they had an African Savannah, lions, black panthers, tigers, Asian elephants, incredible birds, wild boar, sun bears, and more owls than I’ve ever seen in my life. Rania was thrilled to see so many different animals and kept screaming various sounds “Birdie – “Dee” (deer – or anything resembling it, such as wild boar) and “moo.” Considering the heat, tired kids and great-grandpa (85), the tram was a great gig.

After several bottles of water and ice cream (compliments of grandpa), we were back in the cars heading toward Penang. The girls quickly fell asleep – Rania riding in one car, and Gabi playing with Grandma Ramona in the other car.

Compliments of Doug’s incredibly generous grandfather, we are staying in as plush a hotel as can be imagined. The Eastern & Oriental Hotel sits right on the edge of the island with quite a view of the sea, and is a 5+ star relic from colonial days. You can see a picture of the girls enjoying their nightly bath in our palatial bathroom.

The girls also endured a walk down the street to the Penang museum. Rania (somehow) was quite unimpressed with descriptions of Georgetown’s growth, but sure enjoyed climbing up and down a ramp in the museum. The girls have also been super sports as we visited the Night Market for some delicious outdoor food on Sunday evening, and enjoyed Little India for some Tandori Chicken – for all of $3 for a massive plate.

So things are going well in Penang. We may even be able to find a coffee shop with wireless so I can post this.

Tracy, meanwhile, may post tidbits from Toledo if she gets over jetlag, but their flights went pretty well, and Reeve was super! After arriving at 10:30 pm in the comforts of grandma Julie’s house, they quickly went to bed, figuring that 35 hours of travel was enough, and a 9+hr layover in Atlanta shouldn’t be replicated. After sleeping until 6 am, Reeve was quite weary, and went back to bed after 8 am, sleeping until 4 pm. So jetlag might be quite the transition. I’m anxious to hear how the night went. Reeve then had a chance to enjoy playing in the snow with Grandpa Barrie.

It was amazing to be driving through Malaysia and being able to talk with Tracy soon after she arrived. Cell phones and international calling can be quite the wonder!

The parting of the ways

Within a few hours after school was out, Reeve and Tracy were off on a half-way around the world trip to spend some time with Tracy's family. It is almost exactly 24 hours since they left, and according to the flight status, they have yet to even arrive in Atlanta. So it will still be quite a bit longer until they get to Toledo.

Meanwhile, Doug and the girls are holding down the fort here. The house seems incredibly quiet, but with the benefit of still having 2 sets of grandparents around -- it shouldn't be too bleak.

On Saturday afternoon, we made our way down to Doug's parents place, where there was lots of fun swimming followed by a delicious taco dinner. A huge plus is all of the attention that the girls are getting. Grandma Ramona has sure done her share of reading to Gabi during her many visits over the past few years! She's also been plenty busy playing horses.

Wow, what a blur. It sure is great to be on Christmas break, but it seems like we haven't even had a chance to stop and breathe since we arrived in July.

Gabi's Birthday Video

Gabi had a wonderful birthday, as we described in the previous post. We wanted to include a short video of the event.

Gabi's Festive Celebration

Since today was a public holiday, we had a number of friends over to celebrate Gabi's birthday. Gabi was very excited about having so many friends over, and ran around giving many people big hugs. In addition to parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, our neighbors, Nani & Nina came, our friends the Bates (& their 3 kids), the Psillides (& their 2 kids), the McQueens, and Mr. Fisher (their kids were too tired to make it, but he was kind enough to stop by).

Gabi was also very excited to wear her new dress from her Aunt Carrie.

We had some veggie snacks, crackers & cheese, and Gabi enjoyed showing her horsey collection to Ruby, who is nearly Gabi's age. We also had an amazing cake before the real fun, the games began.

Doug was in charge of the games, but thanks to our (amazing) neighbor, Nani, many ideas were already supplied. Nani used to run a business organizing kid games, so she had some burlap bages for sack races, and we also borrowed tables and chairs to set outside for the kids to eat. Reeve and Nina especially enjoyed the sack races, though mommy and then Rania also got into the act.

(I'm still trying to figure out what is happening in the background of the picture with Rania in the sack -- it appears as though Nina is jumping to supersonic levels.) We also played balloon volleyball (adults vs. kids), hot potato (complete with Tracy's singing since we didn't have music), and a game where blindfolded kids tried to scoop cotton balls out of bowls.

But certainly a highlight of the event was the incredible cake which Tracy made. Somehow Gabi's wishes for a horsey cake came true with an amazing likeness that looked even better than the model picture that was found on the internet.

With the week flying through, it seems like a blur that things are going so quickly since Tracy and Reeve are off on Friday evening. Wow. Tracy is finishing up finals this week, and the middle school is in the middle of our second trimester. Throw in a few holiday celebrations and school work, and things are plenty busy, so we were grateful for this mid-week break and hopefully a memorable celebration for Gabriella.

Gabi's Birthday with the Family

On Monday evening, our family celebrated Gabi's birthday. We realized that there are definite advantages to having your birthday on the eve of the Sultan's birthday. With December 11th being a holiday, that means that as long as we are in Malaysia (and there is the current Sultan), Gabi's birthday should always fall on the eve of a holiday. Then the next day will be a great day for Gabi to have friends over.

But on December 10th, we enjoyed a little dinner where Gabi had some of her favorite food -- Juvy fried some shrimp and made some chicken strips cooked with corn flakes for a yummy treat.

After dinner, Gabi got to open her presents. She especially loved the gifts that came from afar and magically appeared last night. The viewfinder with cool pictures from Aunt Carrie was a special find, and she was ecstatic to find horsey stamps from Grandma Julie & Grandpa Barrie.

Afterwards we had some yummy cake which was a bit of a challenge to make. Trying to emulate the fantastic cooking skills of her mother, Tracy thought she would put a layer of whip cream between the layers. Unfortunately, the cream made it too slippery for the top layer to stay on. So the top layer ended up breaking into three pieces and sliding off. Tracy managed some reconstructive surgery by getting rid of the whip cream and switching the layers and using the frosting to put together a great cake. After hearing the challenges, Gabi generously told her mommy, "You can mess up my cake lots of times!"

Now comes the challenge of making a horsey cake for all the friends that are coming over for the day after the birthday.