Swim Carnival Video

Wow.  It seems so weird that just 4 years ago, Reeve was in the swim carnival.  Ages ago? (So much has happened).  Yet just yesterday?  And more poignantly, never again will we have a child in a kindergarten swim carnival.  In the span of four years, everything passes through our three kids. . .nearly to the date.

In honor of the Swim Carnival from four years ago, we'll try to go with the same music (but significantly better video quality, we hope!).

Swim Carnival

One of the highlights of the school year is always the ISKL elementary Swim Carnival.  Doug was able to get away for the younger kids - and see Rania and Gabi do their races.  How fun! 

Gabi got ribbons (wristbands) for all of her races - she sure did well!  

Rania also got several ribbons for her racing.   It is sad to think that we won't get to have Ms. Ely as a teacher for any of our kids anymore.  Boo hoo.

It was a fun day!

Portfolio Workshare

One of the highlights of the end of the year is the celebration of learning that takes place.  Doug got to attend Reeve's Portfolio Workshare.  In addition to seeing some great work over the course of the year, daddy also got to see art work, take part in a delicious feast celebrating SE Asia (rice dishes was the theme - no surprise) and see some neat group projects that were displayed in the room.

Birthday Party @ MegaMall

Reeve had the fun experience of playing lasertag for a birthday celebration at Mega Mall.  We were just happy to find the place - since we hadn't been there in several years.  And we got there early enough to get a parking space - which sometimes is also not so easy.  While Reeve was at the birthday party, we got a jump on some much needed summer shopping from a Factory Outlet Store with items that are often made in Malaysia, but don't make it to overseas export destinations for whatever reason. 

Prom Date!

Thanks to Tracy's work with high school, Doug and Tracy were invited to be chaperones for Prom.  It was pretty fun to get to see students whom I had not seen in several years - and fun for Tracy to see some of her students in their last few days of school. 

It was a good, fun event, and we enjoyed the benefit of a delightful dinner!

We did not get the official Prom picture - but Reeve got to be our photographer before our departure. 

Saturday Baseball

Reeve's season of Saturday baseball came to an end.  It was a short season with lots of holiday interruptions, but a great chance to get out and play some baseball. 

Reeve hit a big home run in the final day, and it was a fun conclusion to the season.

Five-bies Goodbyes (Class of 2007)

We had to say goodbye to some of the class of 2007 that would leave ISKL after five years. Our record class of 36 some teachers will be down to 15 come August. But it was a delight to get together and reminisce about the past bonding experiences and first impressions from nearly five years ago.  A special bonus was getting to see Chris and Suzanne's twins. 

End of Year Party

We had the end of the year party for faculty and staff.  It was hosted at the Prince Hotel, and the theme was hats and ribbons and bows and . . .(not sure exactly).  But somehow, this is how we ended up!

 

Goodbye Tioman

We were a bit hesitant about the departure from Tioman - rightfully so, we discovered.  Heavy waves and a storm made for some rough weather before we headed back to the mainland.  We would have been fine, except for tossing and turning when going to three other stops to pick up other passengers from other parts of the island. 

In short, it was pretty miserable, with too many barf bags - and only some drugs finally knocked the kids out and put an end to the misery. 

Tioman Games

After our dives, we found some heavy weather coming into the area, so our afternoon snorkeling was wiped out by thunderstorms.  We did do a night dive - a first for Tracy and me.  But most of the afternoon was spent playing games, and figuring out riddles.

Once the rain passed, we did go down to the beach for some Bear, Bug, Frog and throwing the football.  (Bear eats frog; bug bites Bear; Frog eats Bug).  Somehow Reeve was too fast to be caught by anyone. 

Tioman Scuba Day 2 Video

A second day of scuba diving brought some amazing sights.  See the pictures in the previous post.  Or the video below.

Tioman Diving Day 2

 

We had several more amazing dives on Sunday. There were some great swim-throughs through caves and underwater crevices.  It was pretty awesome - and the first time Doug had such an experience.

More amazing pictures from the underwater horizon.

Kids Scuba Video

Ah, the amazing sight of breathing underwater.  You never ever quite get used to it! And what a thrill to see your own kids experiencing it! Hopes of future family scuba trips!

Kids First Scuba Experience

ISKL Teachers Max and Chris Wright were the instructors for the intro to Scuba - Bubbles course. The kids got some basic safety and then went into 1-2 meters of water.  But wow, did they have fun!  Getting to see a turtle right off shore for their first dive experience  - pretty lucky kids.  They were pretty thrilled - and what an amazing experience to be weightless, breathing underwater.

Tioman Scuba Video

Part of the fun of Tioman (okay - about all of the fun!) is the diving and snorkeling.

Here are some highlight clips.

Diving in Tioman

We took advantage of a long weekend in May to make the trip to Tioman.  It was our first time to visit the island.  The Inskeeps were pros and showed us their way to get there.  The first morning, Doug headed off scuba diving with the Inskeeps.  Incredible sights and great to be diving again!

Photo credits to Brian & Brenda Inskeep - who had the camera for most of the dives.

Bate Bate Chocolate

Rania has been begging for pictures of our dog, Chocolate, so that she could show them to her friends at school.  We sometimes love our beloved Chocolate, and then there are the times like when Chocolate ate through our electric gate wire - at quite the expensive repair bill to get our gate working again.  Sometimes the beloved guard dog helps us find stray snakes (see April 1), and then the times when she scrapes up her face in a desperate attempt to chew through the fence and escape.  Sigh.  I guess we are not the experts in dog obedience.  Time to get back to the Dog Whisperer episodes. . .

Moving Sale

Alas, part of the stress of moving houses (our owner is putting our house up for sale) is housecleaning.  Trying to sort through things and get rid of them is part of our challenge.  Below is the photographic wreckage of things we'd rather not have in our possession.