Fall Parent Conferences and Days off from School

Each fall, the kids at American School of Dubai (ASD) are given two full days off from school while the teachers host conferences for the parents. The students are asked to participate in these conferences, and it's a great opportunity for all to reflect on their learning to date.

The middle school hosted conferences first. Connor was SO pumped to have two days away from school. Leading up to the conference date, he and the other middle schoolers prepared several topics to discuss with their parents, such as learning goals, service goals, and role models. Connor and I attended the first day of conferences and managed to sit down with all 8 of his teachers. Most gave glowing reports and recognized that Connor was seen as a strong student and leader in the classroom. It's always nice to hear the positive feedback when sometimes we tend to focus on the negative at home.

The following week, the elementary school hosted their "dreams" conferences with parents, teachers, and students. The purpose of the conference was for the student to share with parents about a specific goal they hope to achieve throughout the school year and the steps they will take to achieve it. Kaitlynn's goal was to gain confidence by singing in front of others. I was a little confused by the format of the conference and by Kaitlynn's chosen goal (considering she has performed a solo in front of her student population on two prior occasions) but I'm all about promoting confidence in our young lady at home. We agreed on some steps she could take to get over her shyness, and then Kaitlynn enjoyed the cookie/cupcake bar set up by her teacher, Ms. Wiltgen, for all of the students to enjoy during the conference. Such a cute idea!

We had several UAE holidays this fall that aren't typical of days off that we get back home in Texas. We also had a day off for the prophet's birthday, a Muslim holiday, as well as another day for Thanksgiving and two days off for the UAE National day (anniversary of the birth of UAE as a country). It's an adjustment to learn the holiday schedule here versus what we were used to before in the US, but no matter what the occasion, the kids are always happy to take advantage of the days off from school. Usually we spend those days surrounded by other friends.

MPAC Basketball

Connor has enjoyed shooting hoops in the driveway for a couple of years now, but he had never before participated in any sort of organized basketball league. We intended to get him involved in a league last year, but we ended up moving to Dubai during basketball season. When this fall rolled around, Connor set a goal for himself to try out for his middle school basketball team. To help him achieve his goal, we decided to enroll him in a local recreational league called MPAC with lessons during the week and games on the weekend. He began attending in September and immediately LOVED the experience. Little by little, he was gaining experience and confidence.

The weekend games were short but we loved watching Connor get in on the action. Throughout his first few games, he was definitely improving. That's our #16 below.

Once we reached November, however, Connor's heavy baseball schedule began conflicting with his MPAC weekend basketball games. We had to miss a few of the basketball games simply because we couldn't fit it all in. When the MPAC basketball championship weekend arrived, we were so excited that Connor would be able to play. It was a single day bracket style competition, and his team - the Phantoms - had won their first game while Connor was playing a baseball game across town. After we rushed back from baseball, it was time for the Phantoms' next game in the semi-championship round. Connor was able to play and help out his team, even scoring a basket at the buzzer to end the first half. It was an exciting game, but they ended up losing by 1 point in overtime. Bummer!

The MPAC league experience turned out to be a great opportunity for Connor to play with other kids and improve his skills. When it was time for his middle school team tryouts, Connor was nervous but super excited to participate in the process.

Finally, his goal and all of his hard work paid off. He was thrilled to find out he made the ASD Junior Falcons team! He was so excited and we couldn't be more proud of him. Our sweet friend Cyndi even made him a cake to celebrate. We couldn't wait to watch how he would continue to grow from the upcoming season of middle school basketball. Go Falcons!

Halloween

Halloween in Dubai tends to be much less of an event here than back in the States. Many neighborhoods get into the spirit with parties and trick-or-treating, but it can be hit or miss. Since it fell in the middle of the week, I knew it would be hard for us to do any trick-or-treating. So, for the second year in a row, I bribed the kids with their very own bag of Halloween candy if they opted out of the trick-or-treating this year. Thank goodness, they were OK with this!

Luckily for Kaitlynn, the school put on a nice Halloween party and she was able to dress in her costume at school. The middle school was having spirit week and Connor was able to dress up as well, so he decided to wear his favorite Texans gear. I was thankful once again to escape Halloween without too much fanfare. Kaitlynn assured me that she would not be OK with that for next year, ha!




Dubai Little League Softball

As Connor was gearing up for his new season of baseball, Kaitlynn was thrilled to be able to join the Dubai Little League (DLL) softball games this fall. She wasn't able to play in the spring because the starting age for players is 9. After much anticipation for the upcoming season, Kaitlynn and several of her friends attended the softball tryouts in mid-October. They visited multiple stations to test each players hitting, pitching, and throwing abilities. Kaitlynn was all smiles amidst the cool backdrop of downtown Dubai.

Kaitlynn was placed onto the Sooners team and immediately became great friends with her fellow teammates. Jeff is one of the assistant coaches along with Coach Matt and Coach Ed. They make their twice-weekly practices so fun that Kaitlynn won't stand for missing a single one! When it was time for their first game, the uniforms hadn't arrived yet but that didn't stop them from having a great game.

For their second game, the Sooners were all decked out and ready to play. They looked like such big girls and official softball players.

With her hard work, Kaitlynn is already improving and making some nice plays. She also decided that she wanted to learn how to pitch, and Coach Matt has given her several opportunities already. About 1 in 5 of her pitches are perfect, so now she just has to work on consistency. This girl is DETERMINED... no doubt she'll get there.

Because Connor attended the DLL umpire training earlier in the fall, he is now able to sign up to be an umpire at any of the games outside of his own division. For logistical reasons, we ask him to sign up only when we're already at the fields. So now he is signing up to umpire for all of Kaitlynn's softball games, like in the below photo where he's making the calls from behind the pitcher. It has been quite amusing for Jeff and the other coaches to give Connor such a hard time during the games. Connor has threatened to have them thrown out but no such luck yet!

I couldn't resist throwing in one last comment about the softball experience. As the team parent, I set up a snack schedule for all of the parents to rotate snacks for the 21 games of the season. This was my first experience with DLL snacks because our baseball team opted out of a snack schedule in the spring. After the first two softball games, I was floored by the parents going above and beyond on their snack duty. Massive XL pizzas from Russo's, sandwich trays from Subway, individually wrapped and labeled bags with homemade goodies...I just couldn't believe how high the bar was being set for these game snacks! When it was my turn to bring snacks for a double-header, I decided to bring a basket of healthier items for the first game and then the yummier version with popcorn and brownies for the second game. I was proud of my efforts (below) until I saw half of the softball team glance at the basket and then head to the concession stand for burgers or hot dogs. Ha!

Dubai Little League Baseball

Even though Connor and Jeff had been attending baseball practices several times a week since we returned to Dubai after the summer, the official baseball season for Dubai Little League didn't kick off until the first weekend of November. The new season began with some updated rules which changed the qualification for player age in each division. The cutoff for player age was now April 30, which meant that Connor's birthday (May 3) would qualify him to play either for the Majors division of players aged 11-12 OR the Juniors division of players aged 12-14. Connor very quickly decided to play for the Majors division, which meant that he would be one of the oldest and most experienced players. We all had high hopes for his season ahead!

Connor's new team for the season is the A's and he was excited for his first game. His coach will be depending on him for both pitching and catching. For his first game, he was starting pitcher and struck out 9 batters along with hitting 2 RBIs! It was an amazing way to kick off the new season, and we couldn't wait to see what fun he would have in the coming months.

Kaitlynn's Field Trip to Louvre Abu Dhabi

Kaitlynn's 4th grade class at American School of Dubai (ASD) will be able to take 3 field trips over the course of their school year. We were so excited (and maybe a little envious) to find out that her fall trip would be to Abu Dhabi to visit the Louvre. The Louvre is an art and civilization museum that opened last fall as part of a government agreement between Paris and Abu Dhabi. We intended to visit as a family during our weekend in Abu Dhabi last spring, but we ran out of time. I was excited that Kaitlynn would be able to visit with her class and enjoy such a unique opportunity for her field trip. Here are some pictures shared by her teacher from their fun day.