Staff Retreat

Every year, right before the second semester starts, we have a staff retreat. This year we got away from the island and went to this resort http://www.cinta-sayang.com.my/ and had a GREAT time. The format was a little different than usual, but that didn't take away from the retreat at all. Matter of fact, I heard several comments that it was the best retreat ever and I must say it was definitely up there in my book as well. It is always nice to spend a couple of days relaxing and getting to know your colleagues a little better. Also, due to some snafus with the hotel, we got "bumped" up to a VERY nice room...normal price around $270/night! It was great. The only downfall for us was there was no hot water any of the mornings when it was time to shower! Since we are in the tropics, and the ground water is not all that cold, it is not as big a deal as it would be in most places in the US. And since we didn't actually pay $270 for the room we felt like we really couldn't complain about it so we just suffered through. The ironic thing is there would be plenty of hot water in the afternoons...just about when you wanted a cool shower to cool you off from the heat of the afteroon! Oh well...just a minor inconvenience for sure.

On Tuesday afternoon we went to the Carnivall Water Park, which is associated with the resort. here are some photos from that day.


KR doing the European Bungee..look at that face!
KD giving it a try.

KL doing a backflip . He made it look easy. The other two were not able to do the flip so I think it was harder than he made it look.

This huge bucket of water would fill up and then spill periodically. There was A LOT of water!

Participating in a sandcastle competition. It was a little on the lame side, but the kids had fun anyway.
Playing in the lazy river.
KD and his friend and classmate.

The following photos were taken back at the resort.

KR and her friend under the waterfall at the resort pool
KB and the lizard.
Do you want to touch it? KJ and her good friend. She loves this young man...he's so good with her.
The resort pool...pretty, huh?

These next two pictures were taken on the ferry (the kind you take your car on) on the way home from the retreat.
This is the view of the island we live on.
The boys enjoying the ride.

Belated Birthday Wishes...

Mean Mommy...

Kalaiah had been saying for a while that she wanted to wear earrings like Mommy. Although I know in her little mind she really didn't know what she was asking for, as far as going through the actual process, I decided to take her in to the shop to see if she would do it. Selfishly I was hoping she would be brave enough to do it, because I have always wanted to have her ears pierced. So here is the process and result of that.

Choosing the earrings she wanted. She had to have the pink ones.
Looking pretty positive that this wasn't going to be a big deal...
Getting the ears all marked and ready to go...
Starting to think twice about all this...maybe it isn't a good idea...
"I changed my mind...I don't want earrings anymore!"

Thinking about it some more and talking it over (as in "Mommy will buy you ice cream and a toy if you decide to do it")...

Changing her mind again and letting the ladies do their thing...(she really was very brave about it and mananged to sit quite still for them).

But it HURTS!!!

Maybe ice cream will make it feel a bit better...

And how about a new My Little Pony...

I know some of you think I am probably mean for even doing this to our little girl. I guess I will just have to live with that. She has done very well with them since the day she got them done. If you ask her if she is glad she went through with it, I don't think she will say "yes" quite yet. The trauma is still too fresh. However, I do think that someday when she is older she will be glad to have them done already. KR wishes we had done her's when she was a baby because then she wouldn't remember it. As it is now she is too scared to get them done. She says she is going to wait until she is 13 and then she will be brave enough. I guess time will tell.

Mount Kinabalu

G and the younger boys are back from their mountain climbing adventure. They, and some friends, left last Friday to fly to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah (East Malaysia on the island of Borneo) to climb Mount Kinabalu, the fourth tallest mountain in SE Asia (13,435 FT). They arrived in KK a day early, spent the night at a backpackers lodge, and started the climb Saturday morning around 10 o'clock and arrived at their stopping point for the day around 2 o'clock (after trekking 3.5 miles).

Sunday morning they had to get up at 2 o'clock to finish their climb to the top (1.86 miles of climbing up a rock slope) so that they would be able to view the sunrise. They were able to get this picture taken at the top right about when the sun was coming up (too bad KD had his eyes closed!)

The weather was very cooperative for them (it's rainy season there) so they felt very fortunate to only have to deal with a little fog the first day and the chill the second morning.

Overall, they all said the climb itself was not as difficult as they thought it would be, but they all said it was colder up there than they had anticipated (and prepared for)! KL was especially chilled, but anyone that knows him knows he has no fat on his body for protection so it's no wonder his lips were purple and he looked miserable in most of the photos! I guess there were a few moments when he thought he couldn't continue, but he pressed on and made it to the top. I am so proud of my little guy!

After making it to the top, and spending some time admiring the view, it was time for them to hike all the way back down. Everyone says that is actually the toughest part of the "climb" and G said he has to agree with them. Apparently his legs were shaking like crazy coming down but they all made it with no mishaps. The only glitch in the trip was KD and G coming down with something (bug? food poisoning?) and having to spend their extra "fun" day lying around their hotel room close to the bathroom! I am happy to report both are very much on the mend now, so it wasn't a long-lived issue!

Here are some scenery pictures from the climb...G said the forest they went through was just gorgeous with some fun and amazing plant life:

This is a pitcher plant.

And some other pictures of the boys, G and friends:

This is the place they spent Saturday night.

2 a.m. and ready to go....

Still dark out...

The whole gang at the top.

Coming back down. Walking on this surface was hard on their legs. It was something about the angle that fatigued them quickly.

I accidently put this photo in here twice and I can't figure out how to delete it....so you will just have to look at it twice! Sorry!

Finished!!

In my previous post I mentioned a digital scrapbooking project I was working on...well, I am happy to report that I am FINISHED!! Back in September Yahoo Photos closed and when they did they gave me the option to transfer the photos I had on their site over to one of several other photo sites. I chose to send mine to Shutterfly because they were offering a free photo book to those who did. I have been doing some digital scrapbooking over the past 1.5 years so thought that would be neat to have some of them printed out in a book (for free!...well + shipping). Sounds great, yeah? Well, I procrastinated so long that my voucher was about ready to expire and I needed to get my project done before the deadline (today) or else I would lose my chance at the free book. So over the past three days I have put together 15 digital pages!! Yikes...and at "only" 2-3 hours per page that adds up to A LOT of hours spent getting that project done! I just hope it's worth it in the end! And I hope I have learned my lesson about procrastinating...nah, probably not! LOL!

Here are some examples of the layouts I did. If you notice there are a lot of KR, it's because that was the theme of the book (easiest for me to do on short notice) .

So there you have it...my BIG project... And now, since I have neglected my kids terribly over the past few days, I am going to close. I hope to be back in a couple of days to update you on the adventure G and the two younger boys are currently experiencing...so check back!

New Year's Eve photos

KR and her friend enjoying the gingerbread house that her friend's family brought over.
KJ with her big-girl friends. She adores them.
Enjoying some snacks before the games begin. Boys enjoying a good game of Greed.
Girls bringing in the midnight hour singing a song they made up...too cute:-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Just posting some pics my friend took from our get together on New Year's Eve. Am busy with a little project for the next couple of days, but hope to check back in again when I am finished!

Day Two in blogland

Ok, so adding the photos on the last post took longer than I thought/hoped it might. I do hope everyone enjoyed seeing them.

Last night we had our annual New Year's Eve party. Every year I think I am going to get organized in advance and get people invited, and every year I don't. However, those who were free to attend at the last minute did seem to enjoy themselves so I guess that's what really matters most. My husband, G, is not really into big crowds of people anyway (especially in his house) so I guess in the end it worked out for the best just to have a few friends over. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures to post, but another friend did, so if I can get my hands on some I will try to post them at a later date.

Today is my big Bro's birthday (Happy Birthday, D!!). I won't say his age because he might get upset with me for revealing such a private thing on a public forum. I was just sitting here trying to decide if I am going to send him a birthday email or not. I don't think he wants to be reminded that another birthday has come...so maybe it's better if I just let you all know it's his special day but not say anything to him. Hmm...nah, I think I had better send him a note to let him know I am thinking of him in his old age!

Hope everyone has a great (lazy) day I know mine was lazy...I stayed in bed until almost 11! Wow, unheard of as a mom of five! G was able to watch some football which was very enjoyable for him. I have to say that Astro (our satellite company) is doing a much better job this year of showing American Football..it has been a lot of fun for the expat men around here.

Ok, KJ says she needs some supper and something to drink. I have been putting her off for about an hour now, but I am starting to feel like a bad mommy who's neglecting her children so I had better close this for now! Have a great day!