Another Great Trip to Club Med

After our trip in December, I had promised the girls we could go back to Club Med when it was turtle egg laying season.  I like to keep my word when I can, so I booked us for five days the week after school finished.  I think it's fair to say that this time was even better than our first trip, so I have a feeling another trip is in our future.  

We got there too late for regular buffet lunch, so we went to the special noodle restaurant which was great, because we got to pick our broth and our noodles, and everyone enjoyed their selection.

Elena did her usual dance about not being sure she wanted to do the kids club, but then she saw the giant slip and slide they had set up on the beach.

"I need my bathing suit." And she was off.

She had dinner with us, but then it was back to the kids club in the evening for a dance party.

The next day, we established our routine.  We started with family breakfast, then dropped Elena off at the kids club.  Vivian hung out with us and read for a bit, and then I took her to trapeze time while Jeff picked Elena up from the kids club for some pool fun before lunch.

We would have family lunch, and then drop Elena back off at the kids club.  For the afternoon, she played, and Jeff, Vivian, and I walked to the other side of the resort where there was an "adults only" pool area.

It's called the Zen Pool, and basically, they didn't want any yelling or screaming youngsters around.  Vivian wasn't a problem.  We all had books we wanted to read, and we made friends with the barkeeper who kept us supplied with libations.

This was our view.

If we got fidgety, we could walk along the beach and through a passage that was only open at low tide to another part of the beach.  We had the whole place to ourselves.

On the second day, our new friend the bartender offered us pancakes and honey.  Vivian was a huge fan.

If we got really hot, we dipped in the infinity pool to cool off.

Eventually we would have to pack up, head back to the main part of the resort and then retrieve Elena.  As a baseline daily routine, it was pretty fantastic, but Club Med does not lack for things to do.  The most important was seeing baby turtles and helping with the baby turtle release, so one day, after beach and before dinner, we got in a van that took us down the coast a ways to the turtle center.

There were lots of other families there, and the person in charge was great about making sure the kids could come up to the front and see everything.  She started by explaining what they do.  She said the beaches near the resorts are all protected, but the large portions of public beach are not, so when local people find turtle eggs, they can sell them at the market for food.  What this organization does is pay them just enough more for the eggs to incentivize people not to sell them for food.  Then, they replicate the incubation conditions, keep track of when the eggs hatch, and then get volunteers like us to get the turtles from the hatchery to the water.

She showed us some baby turtles that had recently hatched and the reaction to the cuteness was audible.

The little dot on their bellies is leftover from the egg sack, and it's what they live on as they float on the waves.  She went over the turtle life cycle and then how to hold them safely.  It was really interesting.  Next, we walked over to the hatchery where the sand was moving around a bath of eggs that had recently hatched.  Each little nest had a basket over it in case some of the hatchlings got out early.

Our guide carefully scooped away the sand to reveal a baby turtle nest.

She then carefully placed them one by one in a basket.

Some adults were allowed inside with her, but, wisely, the kids were all asked to watch from the other side of the fence.

Then, we walked down to the beach and got in a long line parallel to the water to wait for our turtle.

All the younger kids got coconut shells to hold their turtles in, because the turtles want to MOVE, and they are super wiggly.  This batch was all male, and the guide told us to come up with names while we waited, although Elena said she had to see hers before she could pick a definite name.

Meet Timothy and Shakespeare.

Elena decided on Dennis and said he kept looking back at her as he walked away because he missed her so much.  The fastest by far though was Jeff's Racing Rodrigo who made a beeline for the water.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Elena had a final rehearsal for the Mini Club Show after dinner.  She told us she was the "main character".  Since we knew from last time that the show consisted of each age group doing a choreographed dance number, we weren't sure what that meant, but we took our seats with great anticipation.

There was no dialogue (too many languages going on to make it simple), but the show opened with Elena walking around the Atlantis scene in full costume, looking for something.

She and her friend discovered that the treasure chest was empty of whatever was supposed to be in it.

So they set off to find the missing objects, which ended up being shiny "pearls" in various colors hidden around the audience.

As they found each pearl, they put it back in the chest and then sat down to enjoy a performance by one of the kids club groups.

My loose interpretation is that these pearls restored the dancing magic of Atlantis.  Luckily, Elena's costume was versatile enough that she could quickly transition to participate in the 8 year old dance with her pom poms.  She was fantastic.

By the end, all was put to rights, and she was celebrated with a flower necklace.  Then she went out to celebrate some more with the tower of treats and some very large friends.

We thought nothing could top that day, but our last day gave it a run for its money.  First of all, Vivian was invited to extra evening trapeze practice to work on her back flip dismount. We teased her that the next challenge is learning the catch, but she said she wasn't quite ready for that yet.

They had announced that dinner that night would be served "in the garden", so we went out back to see what they were setting up.

It looked promising.  Elena, with her eagle eye, saw that most of the prime tables in front of the performance platform had "reserved" signs on them, but there was one four seater with no sign, so she declared it ours and proceeded to stake our claim to it.

As we entered, everyone got a rose, and then Jeff went to the steak station to get me one of those to go with my rose.

We enjoyed dinner and dessert and struck up a conversation with the couple sitting near us, so we had a lot of fun as the sun set and the lights came on.  Then, it was time for the show.

It was especially fun to watch and cheer, because the performers are the ones who run the trapeze lessons during the day, so Vivian knows them all now, and they absolutely know what they're doing.

As things were wrapping up, a full strawberry moon started to rise over the water, so I took the girls down to the beach for a picture.

Elena went back and got another great shot of the moon farther up.

It was a magical evening, and the perfect ending to a wonderful holiday.  I'm not sure when we'll be able to go back next, but it is definitely on our list.

Field Day and Graduation

Things are finally getting back to normal, and the last couple weeks of school were filled with all the familiar, fun events.  First off, Elena had a field day, or as the school somewhat more accurately called it, a run, jump, and throw day.  She wasn't a huge fan of the running, but she loved the jumping and throwing.

I was subbing, so I had quite the view of the proceedings from the balcony, but when the rain let up, I went down to see Elena at her favorite event, the high jump.

She had a great day and slept well that night.  The next week, it was Vivian's turn to celebrate, but hers was a much more formal affair.  She is finishing up three of the most bizarre years of middle school anyone in the world has ever experienced.  She attended three different middle schools, on three different continents, and for 7th grade, she did all her classes online.  All the 8th graders got a Class of 2026 shirt, and one of her classmates designed the picture on the back to capture their middle school experience.

2019 started normally, but then in 2020 the virus appeared.  They spent most of 2021 online, and then most of 2022 at school, but with masks on.  While I hate that covid dominated her middle school experience, I have to say that I found the design to be quite clever.

On the next to last day of school there was a "moving on" ceremony for the 8th graders to mark them moving from middle school to high school.  While you can argue that these milestones may get over-celebrated at times, it was really special to have all those kids up on stage and to have the adults who have worked with them over the past year praise their hard work and resilience.  The high school principal gave them a short welcome to high school, and then we went outside for pictures and refreshments.

I made a cake for our family celebration, and Jeff put his icing skills to good use.  He used the front of her ISKL shirt as a model and created a great decoration for the cake.

Vivian was appropriately impressed, and we all enjoyed the cake.

The next day was a half day of school for Elena.  Vivian was officially done, but she still came to school with me to start setting up one of my classrooms.  Next year I'm going to be teaching 6th and 8th grade Humanities, which means I will have two classrooms, one at each grade level, so I wanted to get a head start on it, and she was kind enough to help me.

The last day of school ended with a "clap out" where teachers and parents line the long, open walkways of the school and clap as the students leave.  Vivian thought it was mortifying, so she hid and clapped with me, but Elena thought it was awesome.  Despite all the craziness of the past year, the girls have had a great start to their schooling at ISKL, and we're so excited for two more years of wonderful experiences.

Our First Houseguests and Special Events for the Girls

Malaysia officially opened its borders on May 1, and our first visitors arrived on May 20th.  They are friends we made when we were in Colombia.  Then, we got to hang out with them for a year in Virginia, and now they are also in Asia, posted to Hanoi.  Luckily, they are the kind of friends we can tell that we won't be home when they arrive, because Vivian is having her first ever dance, and we have to pick her up at 10.

With more and more restrictions being lifted, a group of 8th grade parents were able to put together a party to celebrate the end of middle school, and, because this is a private school in Asia, the party was at the Ritz.  Vivian was over the moon, and I couldn't resist going all in and taking her to get her hair and make up done.  The end result was stunning.

The different colors in her hair made for a really fun updo, 

and she achieved her eye makeup goal of getting her eyes to look as green as possible.

Of course, all that finery didn't mean that she wasn't still up for a light saber battle.

Elena got her own heroic dress up moment for a superhero themed free dress day.  She decided that she was a super hero and didn't need to dress up like anyone else.  Luckily, we have her E cape, so she themed her outfit to match and went to school as Super Elena.

Vivian didn't have to go to school at all, since she had just gotten back from Malaysia week, so she spent the morning doing things like working on her Disney puzzle.

For lunch, she and I met Jeff at the embassy and walked across the street for lunch.  We had been planning to go to the Thai restaurant, but it was closed for a private event, so we walked a bit down the street to another restaurant called If Only, which turned out to be really good.  We saved room to try dessert too.

Saturday morning we took it easy.  Our friends were recovering from their trip, and Viv was recovering from her dance.  Of course, the littles needed to be entertained, so we got everyone in pool gear and spent some time at the pool.  By the afternoon, the adults were recharged and the kids were worn out, so we handed them off to Noby, and the four adults went out for some sightseeing and dinner.

We took them to KLCC park.  The weather was perfect, and it's a lovely spot.  We had a good time walking around, and Jeff was in full photographer mode.  He got lots of pictures of our friends, of the towers, and even one of the two of us.

We explored the mall a bit and then walked over to The W for dinner and drinks at the Wet Deck.  Jeff got their signature drink to try.  It had a lovely color, but the alcohol in it was tequila, so I didn't partake.

We had fun watching the sun set and the towers light up.

The next day, Jeff combined a photo he took of the towers with one he took of the littles on the sofa, so that they could feel like they were there.

The kiddos actually had a really fun evening.  Our guests especially enjoyed feeding the fish.

The next day we had an early fondue lunch, which was a big hit.

Then the adults went out for another dinner with a view, this time from the opposite side of the towers at Fuego, our favorite steak place.

The steak did not disappoint.

And we got our favorite side, the spinach hashbrowns.  Inside there is a spinach and potato mixture that is heavenly.

The sun started setting as we were finishing our main course.

Which meant it was time for dessert.  The churros were awesome!

By the time we were done with dessert, KL was lit up.

Another fun outing success.

During the week, our friends took a trip to Penang.  We welcomed them back on Friday with a roast chicken dinner.

During dinner, Elena regaled us all with the tale of her triumph during the Swim Carnival, where she earned her class a bunch of extra points by catching the tennis ball mid jump.

On Saturday, the guys went to see the new Top Gun movie, Viv opted to stay at home, and my friend and I took the littles to the Bird Park.  Elena was excited to see the birds again, but she also loved being the helpful big kid.

As always, the beautiful birds were a treat.

For my friend and I though, the real treat came after the bird park.  We dropped the kids off with Noby, and then I took her to try Din Tai Fung, home of the best dim sum around.

When we finished our dim sum, we went to meet the guys at a different restaurant in the mall, where they had been hanging out after their movie finished.  It was a fun outing to end the visit.  We were sad to see them go, but we're excited to plan our trip to visit them in Vietnam.