Halloween!

One of the fun traditions in a neighborhood near school is where we take over the neighborhood with some trick or treating.  A bit of an unusual tradition in Malaysia- though the increase in Halloween candy has definitely been on the upswing the past couple of years.

We got to see some fun teachers on the route!  

We got to have some friends over for a fun trick or treating experience, and then we had a super time - and hot and sweaty! - walking around and getting a huge haul of candy.

Did I say huge haul?  YES!

Halloween @ School

Rania couldn't be something too scary for Halloween at school (that wouldn't be appropriate!), so this year she was a spy!  What a fun day. According to the super spy, "I was a spy because it was a good idea and also I had good clothes for it.  At school, it was Halloween dress up day.  Ms. Joan, my teacher, took everyone's picture and she did my friends and me together."

What showed up outside the window

The neighbors are doing some construction, and we were a bit concerned when a large backhoe showed up right outside the kids' windows - on the only patch of dirt that wasn't being moved as a result of the retaining wall that was being built.  Thankfully, this work looks to be a bit higher quality than in the previous version, which appeared to just be cardboard and a bunch of dirt - which the DeHarts fortunately caught when they were here in the summer.

Goodbye Khao Lak

Our final breakfast before the van ride to the airport meant that we had to say goodbye to our vacation and head back to Kuala Lumpur.  So it was a last delicious buffet breakfast and saying goodbye to the beach. 

The Final Dinner

After the sunset, we had a chance for our final big meal at the resort. We took advantage of a voucher provided by the deal to get a nice dinner that evening at the Thai restaurant.  It was a great experience, as the adults and the kids were able to have different tables; afterwards, there was a final chance to play at the game room. 

Pool Jumpers

A last day in paradise before our wrap up of our Fall Break.  It was a fun day playing in the pool, with Reeve making some ridiculously fun catches off a ledge.  The girls got to sip drinks at the bar, and we tried to stay out of the sun, as a bit of delinquency in applying sun screen resulted in some extra precautions on our last day.  It was good they were at the bar,   as there was a bizarre crash of a beam above one of the play areas.  The rest of the roof soon followed. Thankfully no one was there - especially since our kids had been playing there a bit earlier.  Quite soon there were a host of maintenance folks there to clean up the fallen roof.  In the midst of a wonderful vacation, it does result in great reminders of how blessed we are for good health.

 

Wave Rider

Okay, so another short ride in on the board. Fun!

Wave Jumping!

Some definite highlights of the JW Marriott was the beautiful grounds and the expansive breakfast buffet! 

 

  

We got some great pictures jumping the waves!  What a great, fun place with such warm, enjoyable water.

And for dinner, it was back to the Phen Restaurant, where "Chicken Noodle Soup, #103" was a big hit, as well as the pineapple friend rice - with chicken.  With separate adult and kids tables, it was good for everyone.

Phen Restaurant

One of the huge saving features of our vacation was a nearby Phen Restaurant, which about 100 m off the beach had reasonable (and delicious!) dinner options.  This allowed us to get off the hotel grounds and also make sure we could order food without worrying too much about high resort-type costs. 

With the two other families, we were frequent visitors to the Phen Restaurant, and enjoyed some late, dark walks through the woods to get the restaurant.  Even in the few days we were there, it was impressive how much things improved as the restaurant had just opened.

Boogie Boarding

Catching the waves!

Swimming the Andaman Sea

Okay, so we didn't swim across the sea, but the beautiful beach with perfect waves that crash just at chest / waist level made for some really fun times on our first full day of the holiday.  It was so fun to travel with some other families - and we had a great time hanging out in the super warm ocean water and enjoying lots of fun. 

There was body surfing, wave jumping, boogie boarding, and lots of time just enjoying the surf. 

Fall Break! Khao Lak!

How wonderful to have a fall break for the first time, at least in ages, at ISKL.  We took advantage of  a Travel Zoo promotion to visit Khao Lak's JW Marriott, which was certainly a beautiful hotel about an hour and half north of the Phuket airport.  Many of our friends had visited, and we decided this would be a good first opportunity.

With a network of connected swimming pools, one of the boasts is among the world's longest swimming pool - or the longest in SE Asia - or something.  The next day we awoke, and they even had an elephant visiting on the beach. 

Learning 2.014

Doug had the chance to visit Bangkok for the Learning 2.014 conference, which was some more excellent professional development, as well as the chance for some reunions.  Party like 2007?  The tech team from ISKL in 2007 was reassembled. Even a Double Doug sighting  - with Doug Irish in Oman, Charlotte in Hong Kong, Chad in Bangkok, I am the last holdover from that group still at ISKL (It was only my first year.)


Or even better, party like 1988?  It was very fun to see Robin again.  Going back to our days at Taylor, it has been amazing how our paths keep crossing.  Great to catch up on memories from ages ago, as well as comparing notes on our respective jobs.