First Grade Performance Video

Rania had a fun performance.  Here are some highlights.

Soccer v GIS

The next soccer game for the U11 was a close game against GIS.  They did much better than the last time.  After giving up a very early goal, the team rebounded and played pretty even.  It could have easily been a tie, but hopefully they can build on the 0-1 result as they go through the season.

First Grade Performance

One of the big highlights of the elementary program is the annual grade level performance.  This year’s first grade tied their performance to their science unit on habitat.  It was fun to watch Rania’s big line with her emphatic “Yes!” and her line about falcons and how they fly for “miles.”  She certainly can be expressive, as we well know.  The variety from the different classes and different approaches made for a fun performance. 

Grandpa's Birthday

To celebrate Grandpa’s birthday, grandma arranged a fun surprise.  We told Grandpa we were taking him out, but he didn’t know where we were going.  We went to Lo Poh Heen, the fancy Chinese restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.  Thanks to grandpa’s health club membership at the Mandarin Oriental, which several teachers get, she gets a collection of discounts, including the once a year 50% off at the restaurant and a free cake.  The Peking Duck, the delicious food, the fancy atmosphere and the great manners all made for a delightful evening.

Chinatown

For a final trip, Tracy and her mom made their way downtown to Chinatown.  Riding the LRT is probably easier than fighting for a parking spot or getting snarled with some traffic downtown.  Fortunately, it usually isn’t so bad – but a quick trip from KLCC’s LRT station makes it easy to get to Chinatown, some fun shopping, and a favorite spot, Peter Ho’s. 

Indigo Pearl

Tracy had a nice weekend getaway with her mom and they had the chance to visit Phuket.  The Indigo Pearl is quite the luxurious resort.  Fine dining, dinners on the beach, visits to the spa, massages. . . sounds like fun in Thailand!

Stay Home With Grandma

Since Grandma was visiting from the States, each of the girls got a chance to stay home one day for a special time with grandma.  On Gabi’s day they had a mini-spa little experience, sitting in our tiny bathroom.  They also had a nice walk in our neighborhood. 

Soccer Game

The U-11 team had a game against Alice Smith.  It was fun to have the first home game of the season, and it was a fun chance to watch the game.  Reeve had some good defensive stops, but the team did not come out ahead in this one.  Perhaps having more British students gives an unfair advantage for those on the other side of the pond trying to compete. 

Lest this appear like Reeve got beat, you can see the next picture shows that he was able to close the gap. 

Track Meet

The first track meet of the year!  It was so fun to see the girls cheering and chanting for ISKL!  ISKL! ISKL!  They had lots of fun together.


Unfortunately, before the 100m and 50m events, which featured the star of the show, the thunder and lightning popped out and the track meet had to be postponed / cancelled.  Boo hoo, but good to remember safety first!

Sunday in KL

It is always fun to get little surprises when stumbling around KL.  After a Sunday morning of going to the early service at St. Andrew's where Doug did the children's message (you can see the heavy burden of worries burdening everyone!), we also followed form by going to the Pavilion.

Again, the Chinese New Year Decorations are so impressive and vibrant.  It was fun to show them to Julie.   But the surprise occurred when we went outside to see the fountain.  All of Bukit Bintang (a major street in KL) had been blocked off and there was a huge election rally for the governing party.  We heard singer's performing Adele songs, beat boxers doing incredible rhythms, large drum corps performing on Chinese Drums . . .and the most impressive sight may very well have been an attempt to have the world's longest buffet table.

 They had four tables running the full length of Bukit Bintang, more than a kilometer (marked off meter by meter) with covered Chinese vegetables and lots of chopsticks waiting for a massive feast.  It may very well be in the Guiness Book of World Records soon.

After seeing the sights and fighting the crowds, we ate at Din Tai Fung, which has the most amazing Chinese dumplings you can imagine.  It is always packed, and due to the glutenous nature of dumplings, we don't eat there too much (TGI Friday's which you can see in the reflection in the window and is right next door, is a much more frequent restaurant site for our family.)  Everyone loved the delicious food.

Thai Dinner

 A favorite restaurant is the Thai restaurant in KLCC.  Our kids love the mango chicken, it is easy to get to, and is fun.  It is a great environment, too.  During the dinner with 3 grandparents around the same table (yea!) Gabi asked for the grandparents to tell stories of when kids were little.  It was fun to reminisce and hear stories long forgotten.  From surviving tornadoes and diseases, to leaving bath water running and getting stitches, we heard a bunch of stories. 

On the way, we got to enjoy the beautiful decorations for Chinese New Year.  All the malls get intricate decorations for every season.  But Christmas and Chinese New Year seem to always be the most impressive!


And after the dinner, we enjoyed the fountain show that was set to music in KLCC.  Rania took a picture of the towers, which become commonplace after having lived here for several years. It was fun to see several of the pictures which Rania took - through new eyes - all three of which are below.  She was a bit sad when we took the camera away from her as it was time to go home. 

Diva Party!

One of the friends in Gabi's class hosted a Diva Birthday Party.  All the kids had the chance to spend several hours in a downtown mall doing fun karaoke songs in a party room.  Some of them were definitely popular and got repeat performances. 

It was a popular event and lots of fun - and just in time to get to track and field practice!

Here is a clip of the fun singing!

Saturday Soccer

How fun to be part of Saturday soccer.  It is a great tradition where kids come out and play each other.  They've changed a few things so that instead of being on a single team, the teams are divided each week.  The advantage of that provides equal ability levels to compete against each other.  After some warmups and drills, we usually play games.  But today was photo day - with the team picture of all the 4th and 5th graders being taken. (Of course, you have to add a silly picture too!)

To encourage the kids to get lots of action in the field, the coaching adults sometimes play goalie.  In this game, a last second shot got past Coach Woodward to secure victory for the other team.  I guess that the opposing team's goalie got one too many saves (pictured above).

Kids!

Thanks to Grandma Julie, we got some of the typical pictures that we forget during the course of everyday events, one after another.  The early morning routine.

You can see one girl who is awfully excited about Big Nate, which is the books that she is eating up most recently!



The other two are getting things ready for school.  When they start the day with PE in the morning, they can go to school with their PE uniforms, then change after PE.

They tried to get Chocolate to turn around for the picture, but our dog would not cooperate.

Grandma Julie Arrives!

Horray! How great to have Grandma Julie arrive.  We went early in the morning to KLIA and she was waiting right at the curb after a long flight.  There were lots of hugs and great celebration in the Woodward household.

When the presents came out, things got even more exciting!  How wonderful to have suitcases full of presents and gifts from abroad!

We are looking forward to a wonderful two weeks with grandma visiting. 

House Cleaning

In an attempt to get rid of things that continue to accumulate, we have a few photos from the time of what we are trying to sell / donate / get rid of.

Chinese New Year

We had a quiet Chinese New Year.  It was nice to catch up after the busy conclusion of the SEA Forensics tournament (Tracy).  We spent some time at Grandma's pool, did some furniture rearranging and did little else.

It was nice and relaxing.  We did get a chance to make an epic movie trailer, thanks to iMovie's pre-made template.

Reeve also had a playdate with his friend, and made a video for him.  Originally it was going to be two spies, but one of the members was less enthusiastic about the project, so it was just one spy in the end. 

With the parents giving the boys a bad time about their long hair, the quest for "Pro Hair" became the discovered theme for the movie.

Father Child Breakfast

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A fun tradition at Melawati is the Father-Child breakfast. We got to go to the breakfast and what a privilege to get to eat breakfast with the three most precious children in the world! We had the added bonus of having the visiting author present to entertain us with some participatory poems and fun interactions.