Dressing up - Halloween and Deepavali

Violet: "Mom, do we get off school for Halloween here?"
Mary: "Like a day off of school? No."
Violet: "You mean Halloween's not a public holiday in Malaysia?"
Mary: "No, Violet.  Halloween isn't a public holiday in the States either."
Violet: "Wh--what? What? You're kidding me, right?"

I guess I understand her confusion. Mt. Washington really does have the best Halloween celebrations! We love the Grove's annual party with the hayride - and the fantastic decorations at the Steiny's and Kelemen's. (And the beer at so many locations...) Trick-or-treating with all our neighbors is a blast. Last year, we were in Disney World for Halloween. And while that rocked in its own way, Violet's still irritated that we didn't have traditional trick-or-treating. So for the last month, I've been peppered with questions from Vi and Ty about how Malaysia celebrates the big holiday of Halloween. Just when they almost broke me with unending questions, the sign went up in our condo building for "Trick-or-treat sign-up." Yippie! To get ready for trick-or-treating, we made a door decoration. The scary pumpkin patch was all Violet's handy work!

Isabel came down to do Violet's vampire make up. Thank you, Isa! Isabel and I stayed at the apartment to hand out candy to some of the cutest little witches, princesses, and superheros. For many of the kids, I believe it was their first trick-or-treating experience. Brian took the kids to meet up with friends from the complex and seek out candy. Turns out trick-or-treating in an apartment building with 50 kids and 2 elevators is a logistical nightmare. We capped off the evening with a party of the PUGSOM family at Charlie's. The lamb curry was especially delicious. A very nice way to celebrate Halloween.

Speaking of dress up, Tyler's picture made the display at the entrance of GIS!

On November 1st, we had another very different occasion to dress up. On Saturday, the Hindu population celebrated Dewali - know in Malaysia as Deepavali. Deepavali, one of the most important Hindu celebrations of the year, is the festival of lights signifying the victory of good over evil. As I learned in the school's celebration, Hindus light many candles, making one light. Tyler's wonderful teacher who organized the school's activities, asked if any parents wanted to volunteer to assist with decorations, especially with the rangoli. After googling "rangoli", I decided I had to try this. A rangoli is a decoration made on the floor out of piles of brightly colored sand or rice. We used rice. The mums took a design and drew a large version of it on the floor. Then came our job to fill it in with piles of rice. It's kinda like an adult paint by number. A big thank you to all the mums who very patiently explained the best rangoli making techniques. We also worked on the sign on the wall. While I've never made rangoli and needed lots of guidance, I think I impressed the mums with my glittering skills for the sign! Tyler's class came down for a few minutes to help with the rangoli.

Tyler's teacher invited the mums that helped decorate to attend the Deepavali assembly at school. The mums said we were "going sari" and I really should dress up, too. Fortunately, Nicole and I are just about the same size and she didn't happen to need her sari on Friday morning. So here are some pictures of me after Violet's teacher dressed me! Tyler was in the the school's Deepavali fashion show. Multiple people called him John Lennon, but he couldn't figure out why.

This week is the kids' mid-term break, so they are off. With Brian also having Tuesday off, we wanted to do a nice 4-day weekend trip. LegoLand's water park, in Johor, Malaysia, opened a week ago, so we decided that a trip to LegoLand would be great fun. We were joined by our friends Monique and Dave and their kids. Johor is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from KL - straight down the North-South Highway. Singapore is just across the river -- about a 30 minute drive further south - so we decided to also spend a day at the beautiful, amazing, and fantastic Singapore Zoo. The zoo looked so much like Disney's Animal Kingdom, that it made me homesick. We were at the zoo from 11 am to 6 pm and didn't see everything. We will most certainly be back for another visit.

Violet enjoyed reading the map and guiding us to each exhibit. She's so my kid.

Outside the bear exhibit. I thought this was pretty cool to see in Singapore.

We returned to Johor, Malaysia, that evening and woke up the next day for LEGOLAND. The rides were fun, but the most amazing thing were the Lego structures. I've included a ton of pictures - because they were just so much fun to look at.

The big boys and little boys working on their race cars. Then there were several incline tracks to test the car designs.

Hello Death Star!

Dan and Kathy - here's a miniature of Angkor Wat in Cambodia!

Lego mini of Malaysia would not be complete without a mini mall!

Lego pirate scene, complete with water cannons

This sign reassured Dave that he'd meet the height requirement for riding the dragon roller coaster.

The boys took on the dragon on their own!

After the minions made rojak for dinner at the hawker stalls, we had a good nights sleep . The next morning we headed to LegoLand water park!

The lazy river tubes have block building platforms. As blocks float by, you scoop them up to build your creation. Super cool! 

Now we are back in KL for a few days. The kids are relaxing and I'm trying to work - so hard when the kids beg me to play Skylanders with them. We love everyone and miss you all. We were thinking about our Thanksgiving celebration here -- we need two weeks to import a turkey. Enjoy the fall weather for us - it's still hot here!