Dalat 2011-2012

My kids love Dalat International School!  Their satisfaction has certainly eased the transition of moving overseas, and they have felt at home here from the beginning.  Combining a reputation for academic excellence with Christian values and philosophy, as well as following the familiar American curriculum, Dalat has been a good match for our children's education.

I particularly like the sense of community at Dalat.  Parents and teachers are highly involved, there are ample opportunities to serve, and crossover between grades and various teacher roles is common.  (Rachel's preschool teacher is also the elementary art teacher.  Seniors each get a kindergarten pen pal that they meet at the end of the year.  Students have freedom to roam and play; it's fun to watch the grades mingle during recess.)  Campus is very safe, thanks to Dalat's friendly security guards that recognize every parent and student face.  The school grounds are also quite lovely; the cafeteria overlooks the ocean and is surrounded by frangipani trees.  I even like the uniforms!  (Below is my 3rd-grader, kindergartner, and preschool-3 on the first day of school.)

Of course, it's always an adventure living on a tropical island.  Below is a real "show-and-tell" that caused quite a ruckus on campus one day in early spring.  A beautiful reticulated python was found by a nearby local (after having digested a small goose!), and brought to campus for viewing.  I went to pick Rachel up to find that all classes had already been paraded over to see it stretched out long; some were even brave enough to touch!  By the time I arrived, it was resting in this wheelbarrow.  Over the next several days, the snake became a science experiment and was dissected, but I won't include pics of that!

My kids all did really well this year in school, and I'm proud of them all!  Rachel loved her first experience with preschool and mornings quickly became her favorite part of the day.  She loves painting, snack time, learning letters, making simple crafts, and playing with friends at recess.  Abigail participated in the Math Olympiad and performed with grades 2-4 in a musical called "Under God's Sea".  Both Mark and Abigail sang in a Christmas program, and each of their classes hosted a Friday chapel time.  Abigail got to be dressed as a scarecrow during a fall carnival, won a book contest with her 3rd grade team, and later was the one to hit the mark and dunk the elementary principal in a dunk tank!  Of course, a major milestone for Mark was learning to read and write.  Below is one of my favorite of his homework assignments!

For the first time in my parenting life, I've finally had some time to myself!  (Picking how I get to spend my mornings is definitely worth the lots of driving I do daily, and I'll be ready by summer's end to get in that car again!)  Running errands, exercising, relaxing, laundry, (almost everything!) is so  much easier when kids aren't around.  Still, I enjoyed spending afternoons with my "little", so here's a cute picture of  Rachel in the car with her dolly.  I'd pick her up at noon and head home for lunch and play/book time before getting the older two later, and then I'd play with them.

It's been a great year, and we'll "jumpa lagi" (see you again!) next year, Dalat!

Weekend in Kuala Lumpur

Now that school's out for summer, I've been looking for fun to entertain us all, so when a fellow  mom friend invited me to join her and her two boys in Kuala Lumpur for the weekend, I jumped on board!

On Friday morning, we loaded 2 moms and 5 kids into my van and drove the 4 hours to KL.  Chatting with my friend along the way, we passed the time pleasantly, though the backseat got pretty noisy (mostly my kids!).  We arrived mid-afternoon pretty hungry so we grabbed some curry mee and Singapore laksa at Secret Recipe (yummy!), while the kids had Western food.  We then headed over to the KLCC mall and purchased our twin tower and science center tickets for Sunday before they sold-out.  By this time, the kids were all anxious to run, so we killed an hour on the playgrounds at KLCC park.

The kids voted Chili's for dinner, but the hour wait was too much for them, so we spontaneously bought movie tickets to Madagascar 3 and stuffed down McDonald's before the movie began.  When I went to buy the tickets, the sellers were all wearing circus Afros from the movie!

The next day, after enjoying an amazing breakfast spread at the Intercontinental hotel, we piled in the car and circled around downtown KL three times before I found the correct freeway heading towards the Genting Highlands.  We enjoyed a refreshingly cool day up at the top of these hills riding rides at the indoor and outdoor theme parks.  It was very crowded (summer vacation on a Saturday), but we all had fun despite the long lines.  Highlights were the bumper cars and the Flying Dragon roller coaster!  We returned to our hotel late to enjoy a warm shower and room service for dinner.

Sunday was our last day in the capital city, and what a full day it was!  We checked out of our hotel and walked back to the mall, where we had tickets to Petrosains, a highly interactive science museum that the kids didn't want to leave!  To get to the exhibit area, we rode a Dark Ride, then proceeded to explore the world of petroleum, dinosaurs, motion/physics, and energy.  It was a huge museum and we had only explored half of it when it was time to go up the towers.  We'll definitely have to return!

We made it just in time to the Petronas towers and were whisked up the elevator to floor 83 (of 88).  What views from the top!

After 15 minutes, during which Mark chatted up the very friendly security guides, we were taken down to the famous skybridge.  We were blessed with a clear day and could see for miles; so beautiful!

Finally it was time to head home.  We gathered our luggage, and selamat jalan!  On the way out of town we stopped to buy donuts from Krispy Kreme.  =)  Everyone had a fun weekend, and it was a fabulous way to start my first summer in Malaysia!