Rania at School

Over the past few weeks, we've gotten a couple pictures from Rania having a super time at school!  There has been international fest - where she is part of a very diverse class.

There has been the Terry Fox run where students raise money and awareness for cancer.

Working with Tanagrams.

There was the Hari Raya dress up day, too.

Based on all we see and hear, it is huge smiles from a super happy girl having a great time in second grade!

Phuket Tournament

The days of international friendlies have begun! Reeve was part of the U13 soccer team that headed off to Phuket, Thailand for some games against other schools for the region.  Nothing like international travel to exotic locations in preparation for an aspiring soccer career!  The team did very well - and Reeve was solid on defense, from all we heard.  One of their big games was held in a driving rainstorm - providing quite the picture of one determined player!

Halloween

In a crazy twist of showing time is flying - we only had three members of our family go out trick-or-treating.  The eldest decided to stay home, now that he is in middle school.  (He was a bit disappointed later, and said he wished he had gone.)

But the witches and cats headed out for some great trick-or-treating in a nearby neighborhood that hosts this expat-heavy event.  Fun!

GAP in Vietnam

 

Tracy spent GAP week with a great group of 9th graders in Vietnam.  Bike riding, ropes courses, abseiling, and lots of great memories. 

Back to Hamstead Rise!

What a treat to be invited back to Hampstead Rise - the site of so many great swim memories.  On this day, the occasion was Ariz' birthday party.  And what a party it was!  Loads of kids (and adults), amazing desserts, water balloons and great times in the pool.  We were so thrilled to be invited and it was fun for all of the kids to get to swim again in the pool.

Juvy's Birthday

How incredibly grateful we are for all that Juvy does for us!  She is amazing and such a huge help.  Celebrating her birthday does not do justice to all that she does, but a bit of brownie and a celebration hopefully provide a glimpse of our immense appreciation.

Chess

It has been fun to have some of the kids playing chess.  Reeve was a big chess enthusiast this summer - and we brought back two chess sets after our summer holiday.  Rania, always a game enthusiast, has begun playing some chess - and she can give her daddy a pretty good game.   Sometimes she even convinces one of her siblings to play.

Learning 2.013 Singapore

Doug had the privilege of attending the annual Learning 2.0 conference.  For the first time, it was held outside of China - so it was great to head to UWC in Singapore and get some amazing ideas and reunite with some exceptional people.  How great to see Charlotte Diller and Claire Psillides - and even run into John Iglar - from ISK, who is now in Addis.   The preconference session on Visual Literacy hosted by Noah Katz was absolutely amazing.

What a great experience - and I was even the lucky recipient of an iPod shuffle as a lucky draw (and only one name away from an iPad!).

Soccer Tourney

Reeve and Doug spent all day at school with a U-13 soccer tournament.  Reeve was playing on the Blue Team, while Doug was coaching the White Team.  The Blue team went undefeated until meeting ISKL's best team of mostly 7th graders - the Gold Team in the final - where they came up short.  Doug's team wasn't nearly as successful - losing all their matches.

It was a fun day with lots of action on several short fields for 7 on 7 soccer.  Reeve mainly plays an attacking defender, and he is one of the stars of his team.

Pictured at left is the team that Doug coached.  Below is the silver medal ceremony for Reeve's team.