Kayla Going Gladian 2008

I'm not sure what Gladian is. But, Gladian is surely one of Pramuka (scout) activities that involve camping overnight and several outdoor activities. And in this case, Gladian is part of annual student activities for grade 3 students. The school combines this activities with what the students learn in their classes. This year, the school chooses Pesantren Ar-Ridho in Sentul, Bogor, as the location. The pesantren has quite large area that covers several acres, including some rice field, vegetable garden, outbound area, and fish pond.

Kayla seems to like the experience very much, and she just couldn't stop talking about it, even after several days.

Kindy Kids Going City Tour

Last Tuesday, on 4 November 2008, Shayna and her friends were going city tour with their teachers. They were planning to go to Planetarium at Taman Ismail Marzuki, and to Masjid Istiqlal afterward. They started at around 7.30 am and were expected to be back at around 3 pm the latest. Talking about how serious this school teaching independence to their students, no parents or mbaks were allowed to go along with them, or even to follow with their own cars. If some parents insisted on monitoring and supervising their kids, they would be encouraged to monitor them from afar :)

Anyway, since this was the first time for me to send Shayna off for some outing, just for the sake of taking her pictures :), I was quite amazed by the view of some frantic mothers. Some mothers asked the teachers to take eyes of theie kids' additional "baggage", which I couldn't think of what were in those additional big baggage. Some other mothers were busy saying good bye to their kids, while there were mothers who just insisted on following along with the tour. The most important thing was that all was well, the kids were back as scheduled, and they all enjoyed the trip so much.

Times Bookstore in Karawaci

Last week we went to that famous Times Bookstore that is located inside the Universitas Pelita Harapan complex, in Karawaci Tangerang. This bookstore is advertised to be very big and cozy with its comprehensive collection. However, since I love reading and go to bookstores a lot, I can say that this bookstore is not as grand as it is promised. Well, if you are familiar with Kinokuniya at Plasa Senayan, you'd find this bookstore rather ... let's say it doesn't have everything for everyone. For one major topic, they only provide the maximum of two or three bookshelves, while at Kinokuniya we can find three bookshelves just for one favorite sub topic.

Anyway, the bookstore is not to our satisfactory. As for the surrounding, since the UPH itself is quite impressive, not to mention the Benton place with its row of cafes, we can say that it is different and worth our long journey.

Relaxing at Grand Hyatt

It is just our annual family program. After the hectic days of Lebaran, we usually go and stay at some nice hotels. This year, we stayed at Grand Hyatt for free by using our Citibank credit card's point rewards. There was nothing to exciting about the hotel, since we've already stayed here several times. So, we just relaxed and took a long nap after checking in and having our lunch.

The more exciting experience this year was that now there is Grand Indonesia just across the hotel. Grand Indonesia has a new playground called Fun World. In the afternoon we went to that Fun World, and at least the girls had fun.

Happy 8th Birthday, Kayla!

I just cannot believe that my girl is already 8 years old, now. We all wake up early in the morning, and then we together celebrate Kayla's birthday by singing, blowing the only one candle, praying for our health, and opening the presents. Nothing extravagant. Since she is a big girl now, already in 3rd Grade, we don't have any big party plan for her. She is just going to give away some cute cookies to her classmates.

Happy birthday, Kayla! We all hope for a happy and good life.

Celebrating Our Independence Day

Shayna with her Indian Dance

On 21 June 2008, Shayna's school held graduation ceremony for Kindy 2 and art performance for the whole kindergarten students. The theme was Global Warming, with several dances from around the world. Shayna and her other 19 friends got the Indian dance part. The dance was quite dynamic and exciting. And Shayna did her dance very well. We, as her parents, were really proud of her independence and self confidence during her dance performance and during her year of Shayna at Kindy 1.

Kayla's Last Day @ 2nd Grade

This was Kayla's last day at 2nd Grade. Look at their happy faces. By the time they meet again, they will be at 3rd Grade, and get separated in different classes. As for her achievement, we haven't got the report until next week. But, hopefully, her grades are better than during her 1st grade. I am quite sure about that, since it looks like she master her lessons better this past one year.

Kayla is Having Her 2nd Grade Final Tests

During this two weeks, Kayla is having her 2nd grade final tests. This week, she's having some practice tests in Islamic Education, Sports, Computer, and Al-Qur'an. Next week, she's having written tests for three days, with two tests in a day. So, it's been serious weeks at home these past few days.

Unlike her younger sister Shayna, Kayla is not a very keen learner. She's more for art stuff. So, what's her motivation so that she'll be studying hard for her tests? Since her digital camera cannot somehow work properly, I promise her that if she's doing great in her tests, she will be getting new camera. What a price!

Kayla's Own Blog

This is Kayla's own blog. She designed the blog header and background by herself, using Paint application and Paint Artist.

The blog is basically about whatever she wants to put in the blog, which mostly are pictures taken by her with her own camera. The url: http://happy-kayla.blogspot.com/