Life on Wisteria Lane

We recently had some friends over for dinner. Upon arrival, Sharon Peters announced that she felt she was driving up Wisteria Lane, and she should get out a tray of brownies to carry around the neighborhood.

The quiet, gated community where we live can be quite a contrast to Ampang Jaya.

Gabi sure enjoyed having a friend over; she was eager to show her new friend all around the house, all about the playground, and EVEN share her horses. Reeve also enjoyed playing soccer with their 5th grade son.

And Rania, well in addition to stealing Mr. Peters shoes, Rania sure LOVED the delicious chocolate cupcakes that Mrs. Peters brought!

Cosmos World

SUNDAY, APRIL 20




After church, we decided to make our first visit to the nearby mall, Times Square, a HUGE complex that even has an entire indoor theme park on the 5th - 7th floor. There is even a roller coaster that bends and loops around the mall inside.








With little kids, we stayed on the 7th floor, where that part of the theme park is dedicated to the little tykes. Gabi and Reeve greatly enjoyed the little bumper cars -- where they could drive around. As it was still relatively early on a Sunday morning (we arrived around 10:30), we had much of the park to ourselves. So Gabi and Reeve often had the bumper cars almost to themselves -- maybe one other person. They would ride again and again. Gabi insisting on not bumping anyone, and temporarily getting upset when her older brother or another rider would bump into her. We had to explain why they are called BUMPER cars. Hence, much of the time was spent going around and around and around.

Rania could go on a few of the rides that were reserved for the whole family. The train went around the small park, and everyone could go "bye-bye" on the Botanical Drive, where you make your way around a little loop.

Rania wasn't so sure of the merry-go-round, but eventually enjoyed it -- as she and her mother had the entire ride to themselves for a time or two.

As with all outings with three little kids, there is the balance between enjoying the event long enough and being sure you get back in time for naps. Unfortunately on this event, trying to let the kids go on a few more rides didn't end up being such a great idea, as meltdowns made the end of the trip far from enjoyable.

The Chopping of the Hair

SATURDAY, APRIL 19




After months of battling Gabi's tangly hair and constantly fighting to comb it, Tracy finally realized the wisdom of cutting her hair. The ideal of having a little girl with long hair too often ends up in a messy situation of Gabi's messy hair.

So with a quick visit to the barber, a shorter hair girl emerged. Reeve also had his hair trimmed.

Reeve's Birthday Party (Bowling)

SUNDAY, APRIL 13



Reeve had a wonderful birthday party with a few friends from his class, and a few friends from our neighborhood. We had a great time, and Reeve ended up with the highest score (131), aided by the bumpers that prevent gutter balls.

His pair of strikes and a few spares were exciting events. Gabi also got her first ever strike, so she was very excited! Several of Reeve's friends had never been bowling before; Gabi has already declared that her birthday party will be held at the bowling alley.



Tracy magically made a wonderful space shuttle cake, complete with six candles behind to ignite the liquid fuel booster rockets.

After the fun time bowling, we ate cake and snacks at the bowling alley and then came home where Reeve opened his gifts from his friends. A big hit was the water guns he received -- by the end of the evening, he and Gabi were quite soaked as they ran around the playground, targeted by their friends. Reeve was, not surprisingly, quite excited to enjoy a new influx of toys.

Reeve's Birthday

TUESDAY, APRIL 8



On Reeve's birthday, grandparents came up, and we opened many of Reeve's presents. He was quite excited to get the Ferrari that he had been dreaming of for the past month. He was also ecstatic about the many other gifts that he received.

His two siblings also enjoyed the festivities and it was great to have grandma be able to share Reeve's birthday with him for the first time. For even more details about Reeve's birthday celebrations, you can visit their blog (rnwoodward.blogspot.com).

Household Visitor

Tracy has mentioned that our blog needs to capture the excitement of living in Malaysia.

So this post is dedicated to our visitors -- of the animal type -- that have come in our house. In addition to many insects (some quite large), we've had a cat spend the night in our house, and just had a frog arrive.

See the exciting picture of the frog?

Wow, aren't our lives exciting?

Heights and Sunsets

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2


Today, we spent the morning visiting the famous cable car in Langkawi (what? You haven't heard of it!?!). It was quite an adventure. After picking up our rental car, we were warned to fill it up with gas. But on the way to the closest gas station, we ran out of gas. . . meaning we had to find an old oil container to get some fuel (thanks to having two cars among all of us, our van was rescued and we didn't have to hike to the gas station), and cut open a water bottle to use as a funnel.

After this delay, it was off to the cable cars -- which we thought opened at 10, but really opened at noon. So we discovered a little petting zoo, and the kids enjoyed feeding rabbits and a little deer.

We finally made it up the cable cars -- to discover a significant portion of the Woodward household has quite a fear of heights -- as we zoomed up the mountain -- more than 1000 feet vertical gain to a commanding view of the island.

(Can you guess one of the members who didn't want to get close to the edge?)


Unfortunately our attempt at a family picture was FAR from the edge due to our previously mentioned fear of heights.



Tracy's expression pretty accurately sums up her confidence in the cable cars.

We came back for some great time playing around the pool (have to have at least one pool picture, right?)



Based on the wise recommendations of some fellow ISKL teachers we met at the cable cars, we decided not to go out to dinner, but instead snacked above the pool and had a magical evening with a tropical sunset. I'll have to let the (many) photos speak for themselves.

(In typical Doug fashion, I can't choose the best photo to stand alone -- you'll have to let me know which one is best. . .)









Of course after such a magical evening, we had to let the kids have an evening dip in the warm ocean waters.





Sadly, our time in the tropical paradise came to a close -- and it was back to our own sweet beds at home.

An Aquarium Visit

TUESDAY, APRIL 1



On Tuesday, we made our way to the aquarium just down the road -- where we had lots of fun watching the kids watch the fish, and then a long time wandering through the expansive gift shops hoping our kids wouldn't break anything valuable. There were some pretty cool fish, and the kids got a kick out of the penguins following their fingers. It would have been nice to linger even longer.

Another spectacular dinner -- specializing in seafood.



The kids had fun playing, and the adults traded off enjoying the conversation and supervising the kids. On the way home, we had to stop for ice cream. . .



Some of it even made it INTO Rania's mouth!

Langkawi Arrival!

MONDAY, MARCH 31



(We're still trying to catch up on gobs of photos & info after Spring Break.)

After our wonderful professional development conference here, it was off to the island of Langkawi for some wonderful beach and pool time. We went with our friends, the Johnsens, and were lucky enough to have two amazing teenagers (also from Taipei) who were amazing with all of the little kids! It was rough -- beach, pool, great weather, amazing food, and two teenagers to swim for hours with our kids.

Reeve & Sarah were already best friends forever, and it would only grow over the week. In addition to some wonderful beach and pool time, we had a delicious meal, and the kids hung out.

Being only Monday, we decided to spend most of the first full day at the pool. Great fun for the kids! And fun for the adults to be together!

Rania's Birthday

FRIDAY, MARCH 28


Rania turned two! Unfortunately much of the day was spent at the conference, but we returned for a little celebration for Rania's birthday. Somehow, knowing that this is the last time that Rania won't really "get" the whole birthday celebration made it a little less of an event.


And due to the busy-ness of our teacher's conference, Rania ended up with a brownie cake, instead of any elaborate designs. Plenty of room for that next year.

Before we departed for Rania's birthday dinner, Rania was very excited to get her new Barbie car, as a result of Juvy's kindness. Rania was excited to get that present -- we ended up saving the cool doll house we got second-hand for the next day -- to allow Rania to enjoy it more.

We made our way to a Mexican Restaurant for Rania's birthday. The great part was the sound-less cartoons (Tom & Jerry) that they have continually running in the background. It makes for a great distraction for the kids, allowing the adults to converse and enjoy the dinner. They were quite mesmerized while we were able to enjoy some chit-chat.

Unfortunately, the biggest memory was scrunching all 9 of us in our Jeep Cherokee and the horrible traffic on the way and on the way back. Reeve, Gabi, and Sarah had great fun sitting in the way back having a great time. Due to the rain, the traffic had ground to a halt -- so it was nearly an hour there and another hour back. It should have only taken about 10 minutes. So Tracy & Stacey mainly remember the loud protestations of their 2 year olds as we inched along. Let the terrific/terrible 2's begin in earnest.

Jordan Reunion Expanded

THURSDAY, MARCH 27


To add to the Jordanian fun, we again had the Johnsens and the Fullertons over for dinner, and we were joined by the Lyle & Rita Moltzan and their two boys. In the six years since we had left Jordan (& 8 since Lyle & Rita) had left, it was great to catch up on how much our time in Jordan impacted our lives. I'm sure I'll forget something, but names were a big part -- Jordan Moltzan, Rania Woodward, and two other Jordan's as middle names.

Lyle and Rita had been a big part of welcoming Brent, Cheryl, and Doug to life in Amman, but left for Johannesburg the year that Tracy, Erik, and Stacey arrived in Jordan. Lyle & Rita are teaching in Sumatra, but Lyle will be the head of the school next year in Douala, Cameroon.

Now we had nine kids and plenty of adults -- again, it was so fun to see how well the kids got along. Ella and Rania continued their on-again/off-again friendship that has all of the rivalry of two year olds who don't want to share at one moment and are giving hugs the next moment. Stacey, Erik, Brent & Cheryl had even had a nine-year old bottle of wine they had saved from Lebanon to mark the reunion.


With the addition of the Moltzan's two boys, the girl imbalance that had Reeve and Maxim at a disadvantage was momentarily restored. The kids had a great time on the playground before coming in and watching a bit of Spirit -- Gabi's latest favorite movie. This allowed the adults a bit more time to catch up in an all too fleeting reunion.