Sunday, January 21, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Melbourne, the Zoo & the Aquarium
Melbourne. WOW what a cool city. It has a great deal off local attractions as well as a few of the beaten path type things to do.
We stayed a the Explores Hotel which was right next door to a 7 Eleven, a bar and a backpackers hostel so you can imagine the people watching that was available. Melbourne is obviously a place for single, adventurous, party animal people in their mid-20's. The bars are open until 4:00am. It almost made me miss my youth.
Our goal destinations, the Melbourne Zoo and the Aquarium, along with a couple of nice dinners and a quiet night out for mom and dad. I think maybe the sarsaparilla has lingering effects! (Either that or our age is catching up with us)
We decided to hit the zoo on Saturday morning after an "in room" breakfast with the kids which mostly ended up on the carpet. I worry about what the hotel thinks of us!
We took the train again and Billy has now developed this REALLY annoying habit of pitching a fit every time a train goes by and we dont get on it. Keep in mind that trains go by about every 5 minutes so he was in a constant "state". AND, since he was in a backpack on my back, I got the full brundt of it. Fun....
After we actually got onto a train Billy finaly calmed down and Kay took over insisting she pay for the train ride. The slot to put the money in is about five feet off the ground and Kay being not "quite" that tall it was another mess. We finally ended up at the Zoo.
The Melbourne Zoo is wonderful. They have a complimentary service where as you can get a guide to walk you around the park on your own private tour. It was incredible. Of course we saw your standard koala's, kangaroo's, etc. Jimmy's favorite was the orange goo tans. Kay loved the Meerkats and Billy was crazy over the peacocks walking around "free". It was like our own personal Discovery Channel at our own pace. We were there ALL day. We finally caught a train back (yes, another BIlly fit) and they all promptly fell alseep. The cutest was Billy. He was in my backpack, holding onto the train rail above his head, sleeping. All the passengers were getting a total kick out of him.
Dinner was at the Waterfront Hotel. A VERY nice British pub (ahh.... Guiness) that had steak and rissotto. They also have techno dance music and disco ball. Billy danced the night away and had all the customers eating out of his hands. They didnt know they were getting dinner and a show. Jimmy was fast friends with the bouncers (pretending they were bad guys and he was a Power Ranger) and Kay charmed everyone by eating one piece of spagetti at a time. It was actually fun. The 1st time I can say that about taking them all out to dinner. Maybe we'll actually morph into a normal family at some point and we can actually go out to eat together!
After another breakfast that landed mostly on the floor in the room, we headed to the Aquarium. It was - as Jimmy said "This is Fabulous"! It is 4 levels right on the river in downtown Melbourne. You can see glow in the dark jelly fish, sharks, crabs, fish... the list goes on and on. The tanks all start at ground level so even the littlest kids (Billy) can walk right up to them and see the fish. Billy was transfixed. They had a whole aquarium that had sea turtles, sharks, fish, manter rays (sp?) etc that you could walk "through". Literally all the fish swam above and around you. We watched divers enter the tank to feed the manter rays and sharks. Kind of scary and cool all at the same time. I think it was the 1st time all trip that the kids actually sat still and were quiet. A HIGHLY recommended stop if you are ever in Melbourne, even if you dont have kids.
We then packed it up and headed to the airport for the 16+ hr ride home. Let's just say ...
Read the 1st blog all over again. We made, it wasnt always easy, but we made it.
As we pulled into our house at 11:00pm that night you could hear the whole car say "We're home". A nice feeling. As much as traveling is fun, exciting, adventurous and heartwarming. Its nice to say "We are home".
We stayed a the Explores Hotel which was right next door to a 7 Eleven, a bar and a backpackers hostel so you can imagine the people watching that was available. Melbourne is obviously a place for single, adventurous, party animal people in their mid-20's. The bars are open until 4:00am. It almost made me miss my youth.
Our goal destinations, the Melbourne Zoo and the Aquarium, along with a couple of nice dinners and a quiet night out for mom and dad. I think maybe the sarsaparilla has lingering effects! (Either that or our age is catching up with us)
We decided to hit the zoo on Saturday morning after an "in room" breakfast with the kids which mostly ended up on the carpet. I worry about what the hotel thinks of us!
We took the train again and Billy has now developed this REALLY annoying habit of pitching a fit every time a train goes by and we dont get on it. Keep in mind that trains go by about every 5 minutes so he was in a constant "state". AND, since he was in a backpack on my back, I got the full brundt of it. Fun....
After we actually got onto a train Billy finaly calmed down and Kay took over insisting she pay for the train ride. The slot to put the money in is about five feet off the ground and Kay being not "quite" that tall it was another mess. We finally ended up at the Zoo.
The Melbourne Zoo is wonderful. They have a complimentary service where as you can get a guide to walk you around the park on your own private tour. It was incredible. Of course we saw your standard koala's, kangaroo's, etc. Jimmy's favorite was the orange goo tans. Kay loved the Meerkats and Billy was crazy over the peacocks walking around "free". It was like our own personal Discovery Channel at our own pace. We were there ALL day. We finally caught a train back (yes, another BIlly fit) and they all promptly fell alseep. The cutest was Billy. He was in my backpack, holding onto the train rail above his head, sleeping. All the passengers were getting a total kick out of him.
Dinner was at the Waterfront Hotel. A VERY nice British pub (ahh.... Guiness) that had steak and rissotto. They also have techno dance music and disco ball. Billy danced the night away and had all the customers eating out of his hands. They didnt know they were getting dinner and a show. Jimmy was fast friends with the bouncers (pretending they were bad guys and he was a Power Ranger) and Kay charmed everyone by eating one piece of spagetti at a time. It was actually fun. The 1st time I can say that about taking them all out to dinner. Maybe we'll actually morph into a normal family at some point and we can actually go out to eat together!
After another breakfast that landed mostly on the floor in the room, we headed to the Aquarium. It was - as Jimmy said "This is Fabulous"! It is 4 levels right on the river in downtown Melbourne. You can see glow in the dark jelly fish, sharks, crabs, fish... the list goes on and on. The tanks all start at ground level so even the littlest kids (Billy) can walk right up to them and see the fish. Billy was transfixed. They had a whole aquarium that had sea turtles, sharks, fish, manter rays (sp?) etc that you could walk "through". Literally all the fish swam above and around you. We watched divers enter the tank to feed the manter rays and sharks. Kind of scary and cool all at the same time. I think it was the 1st time all trip that the kids actually sat still and were quiet. A HIGHLY recommended stop if you are ever in Melbourne, even if you dont have kids.
We then packed it up and headed to the airport for the 16+ hr ride home. Let's just say ...
Read the 1st blog all over again. We made, it wasnt always easy, but we made it.
As we pulled into our house at 11:00pm that night you could hear the whole car say "We're home". A nice feeling. As much as traveling is fun, exciting, adventurous and heartwarming. Its nice to say "We are home".
Our last night and saying goodbye
We put the kids to bed and the four of us stayed up talking and sharing stories of how we met,our lives since and now. We all were tired but did not want to say goodnight.
Duane is a fabulous maker of home brewed beer and has another specialty home brewed sarsaparilla. It has a fabulous flavor tasting like root beer but with a kick. So we sampled some of that and bid each other goodnight.
The following morning was sad for all of us. Tracy and I took out time packing the car, Duane and Leann made a leisurely breakfast and the kids keep right on playing.
We had such a great time with Duane, Leann and Cooper and leaving was no fun at all. We had meet each other over three years ago kept in touch via e-mail and photos for all this time and finally got together again and no we had to leave, it is not right.
We loaded up the family truckster keep hugging each other until we felt like we had an ample supply until the next time and the loudamericans were off to Melbourne.
The Gertners were the most gracious hosts, having five people invade your home for 10 days is a lot and we can not thank them enough for their hospitality and friendship.
The drive to Melbourne was "interesting". We got lost twice and waited WAY to long to feed the kids so had to deal with crabby crabby kids in a restaruant. NOT a fun experience. But... we finally made it to the hotel.
While Tom was returning the car, Tracy took the kids on this VERY cool free train ride around the city. It seems that Melbourne runs a free train that circles the city and on Friday nights (which it was) private owners of these trains bring their trains out and run them. The trains are decorated in ALL different themes. The one we got on was an Indian theme and had a live 3 piece band playing on it. WAY cool. The kids were transfixed. A very cool way to see the city too. After Tom got back, we went hunting for dinner. I was craving Mexican. We walked and walked and walked and again waited to long to feed the kids. We FINALLY found a Greek/Turkish restaruant and had gryos. Again, crabby kids at dinner.
I did learn an important lesson though. American is the only place that markets Mexican food. I did a lot of thinking on this and my new theory makes sense. Since Mexico borders us and there are so many imigrants, they have brought their food culture into mainstream. Other countries dont have this blessing and so Mexican food is a rarity outside of North and South America. Bummer for me as I still have yet to have a good burrito, taco, fahita in the last 7 months. I am going crazy!!
Duane is a fabulous maker of home brewed beer and has another specialty home brewed sarsaparilla. It has a fabulous flavor tasting like root beer but with a kick. So we sampled some of that and bid each other goodnight.
The following morning was sad for all of us. Tracy and I took out time packing the car, Duane and Leann made a leisurely breakfast and the kids keep right on playing.
We had such a great time with Duane, Leann and Cooper and leaving was no fun at all. We had meet each other over three years ago kept in touch via e-mail and photos for all this time and finally got together again and no we had to leave, it is not right.
We loaded up the family truckster keep hugging each other until we felt like we had an ample supply until the next time and the loudamericans were off to Melbourne.
The Gertners were the most gracious hosts, having five people invade your home for 10 days is a lot and we can not thank them enough for their hospitality and friendship.
The drive to Melbourne was "interesting". We got lost twice and waited WAY to long to feed the kids so had to deal with crabby crabby kids in a restaruant. NOT a fun experience. But... we finally made it to the hotel.
While Tom was returning the car, Tracy took the kids on this VERY cool free train ride around the city. It seems that Melbourne runs a free train that circles the city and on Friday nights (which it was) private owners of these trains bring their trains out and run them. The trains are decorated in ALL different themes. The one we got on was an Indian theme and had a live 3 piece band playing on it. WAY cool. The kids were transfixed. A very cool way to see the city too. After Tom got back, we went hunting for dinner. I was craving Mexican. We walked and walked and walked and again waited to long to feed the kids. We FINALLY found a Greek/Turkish restaruant and had gryos. Again, crabby kids at dinner.
I did learn an important lesson though. American is the only place that markets Mexican food. I did a lot of thinking on this and my new theory makes sense. Since Mexico borders us and there are so many imigrants, they have brought their food culture into mainstream. Other countries dont have this blessing and so Mexican food is a rarity outside of North and South America. Bummer for me as I still have yet to have a good burrito, taco, fahita in the last 7 months. I am going crazy!!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Umpherston Sink Hole and of course the Pool
Our trip with the Gertners is winding down and I'm sure part of them is anxiously awaiting our departure tomorrow. We have had a great time, seen ALL the sights and are really going to miss our reconnected friends. We had a couple more tourist places to visit in town and ventured out into the heat again...
The "Limestone Coast" boast many unique places to visit and the Umpherston sink hole is on that list. A must do before we left.
The USH (as I have decided too call it) is not your typical hole in the ground. It has beautifully manicure gardens, it is abundant with flowers and at night home to the ever present possum. (Not George Jones) As the smell reminds you. You are literally walking along a flat picnic area and then all of sudden, there is this huge hole in the ground with gardens all through it. We ventured the 100+ steps down and enjoyed looking at all the flowers/water/etc.
Up in the picnic area, they had old tractors, logging machings and plows that the kids could sit on. As you can imagine Billy and Cooper were in their personal version of heaven. There were HUGE sprinklers running for the gardens, so of course Jimmy was soaking wet by the time we left.
Off to the pool. When I asked Jimmy what his favorite part of vacation was, he said "the pool". Of course. It was his favorite part of Bangalore (our pool) Kerala (Le Merdiean pool) and now Australia (Mt Gambier pool) Why do we even bother to take this kid places, I should just buy him a St Louis Park seasonal pool pass and call it a day. I suspect it would be WAY cheaper (remind me of this when we are back...) Once again, the kids played their hearts out in the pool and fell asleep on the ride home.
Leanne and Duane had friends over for "a barbie". They have 2 girls (Charlie -5 and April - 8). I think Jimmy's in love. The kids played for HOURS. They played house, in the sand pit, cricket, bikes, sparklers, you name it. It reminded me of when we were kids and our folks would "drag" us to their friends house for dinner with the promise of new kids to play with. We'd argue for the 1st hour, pout for the 2nd and be inseparable by the 3rd. The world came to an end when it was time to leave. It was a great last night in Mt Gambier. A beautiful summer evening.
The "Limestone Coast" boast many unique places to visit and the Umpherston sink hole is on that list. A must do before we left.
The USH (as I have decided too call it) is not your typical hole in the ground. It has beautifully manicure gardens, it is abundant with flowers and at night home to the ever present possum. (Not George Jones) As the smell reminds you. You are literally walking along a flat picnic area and then all of sudden, there is this huge hole in the ground with gardens all through it. We ventured the 100+ steps down and enjoyed looking at all the flowers/water/etc.
Up in the picnic area, they had old tractors, logging machings and plows that the kids could sit on. As you can imagine Billy and Cooper were in their personal version of heaven. There were HUGE sprinklers running for the gardens, so of course Jimmy was soaking wet by the time we left.
Off to the pool. When I asked Jimmy what his favorite part of vacation was, he said "the pool". Of course. It was his favorite part of Bangalore (our pool) Kerala (Le Merdiean pool) and now Australia (Mt Gambier pool) Why do we even bother to take this kid places, I should just buy him a St Louis Park seasonal pool pass and call it a day. I suspect it would be WAY cheaper (remind me of this when we are back...) Once again, the kids played their hearts out in the pool and fell asleep on the ride home.
Leanne and Duane had friends over for "a barbie". They have 2 girls (Charlie -5 and April - 8). I think Jimmy's in love. The kids played for HOURS. They played house, in the sand pit, cricket, bikes, sparklers, you name it. It reminded me of when we were kids and our folks would "drag" us to their friends house for dinner with the promise of new kids to play with. We'd argue for the 1st hour, pout for the 2nd and be inseparable by the 3rd. The world came to an end when it was time to leave. It was a great last night in Mt Gambier. A beautiful summer evening.
Banglore Traffice - shamelessly plagarized from another blog
November 8, 2005
Driving in Bangalore / India
Filed under: humor — pegasus @ 5:07 pm
For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daringto drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for survival. Theyare applicable to every place in India except Bihar, where lifeoutside a vehicle is only marginally safer.
Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where youdo your best, and leave the results to your insurance company. Thehints are as follows: Do we drive on the left or right of the road?The answer is “both”. Basically you start on the left of the road,unless it is occupied. In that case, go to the right, unless that isalso occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as inchess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, andproceed. Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasionalfatality. Most drivers don’t drive, but just aim their vehicles in thegenerally intended direction.
Don’t you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except for abelief in reincarnation; the other drivers are not in any betterposition. Don’t stop at pedestrian crossings just because some foolwants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumpedin the back.
Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when trafficis moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister isin town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us nottalk ill of the dead.
Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. Wehorn to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust(two brisk blasts),or just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of thebazaar. Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may readthem during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister’smotorcade, or waiting for the rainwater to recede when over groundtraffic meets underground drainage.
Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking coloredlights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminatedbus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go atbreakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty,
often meeting with success.
Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi): The result of a collision between arickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on anexternal combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil andcreosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders orpassengers three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecifiedfare. After careful geometric calculations, children are folded andpacked into these auto rickshaws until some children in the peripheryare not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags arepushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisionswith other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course,the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learnNewton’s laws of motion enroute to school. Auto-rickshaw driversfollow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur, and are licensedto irritate.
Mopeds: The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise likean electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol andtravels at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too roughfor a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road;they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around themand are often “mopped” off the tarmac.
Leaning Tower of Passes: Most bus passengers are given free passes andduring rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengershanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings andthe overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity butobeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (somany Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steerclear of these buses by a width of three
passengers.
One-way Street: These boards are put up by traffic people to add jestin their otherwise drab lives. Don’t stick to the literal meaning andproceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that youcannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive as you like, inreverse throughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I soundhypercritical, I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast drivingin residential areas has been prevented by providing a “speedbreaker”; two for each house. This mound, incidentally, covers thewater and drainage pipes for that residence and is left untarred foreasy identification by the corporation authorities, should they wantto recover the pipe for year-end accounting.
Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience forthose with the mental make up of Genghis Khan. In a way, it is likeplaying Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst thedrivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turnsout to be a truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, justpull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenonpasses.
Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blinkyour lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truckis the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has hadat the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little morethan a naught. Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and arelicensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam oflight about six feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike,but a truck approaching you with a single light on, usually the leftone. It could be the right one, but never get too close toinvestigate. You may prove your point posthumously.
Driving in Bangalore / India
Filed under: humor — pegasus @ 5:07 pm
For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daringto drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for survival. Theyare applicable to every place in India except Bihar, where lifeoutside a vehicle is only marginally safer.
Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where youdo your best, and leave the results to your insurance company. Thehints are as follows: Do we drive on the left or right of the road?The answer is “both”. Basically you start on the left of the road,unless it is occupied. In that case, go to the right, unless that isalso occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as inchess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, andproceed. Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasionalfatality. Most drivers don’t drive, but just aim their vehicles in thegenerally intended direction.
Don’t you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except for abelief in reincarnation; the other drivers are not in any betterposition. Don’t stop at pedestrian crossings just because some foolwants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumpedin the back.
Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when trafficis moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister isin town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us nottalk ill of the dead.
Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. Wehorn to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust(two brisk blasts),or just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of thebazaar. Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may readthem during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister’smotorcade, or waiting for the rainwater to recede when over groundtraffic meets underground drainage.
Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking coloredlights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminatedbus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go atbreakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty,
often meeting with success.
Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi): The result of a collision between arickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on anexternal combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil andcreosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders orpassengers three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecifiedfare. After careful geometric calculations, children are folded andpacked into these auto rickshaws until some children in the peripheryare not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags arepushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisionswith other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course,the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learnNewton’s laws of motion enroute to school. Auto-rickshaw driversfollow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur, and are licensedto irritate.
Mopeds: The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise likean electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol andtravels at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too roughfor a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road;they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around themand are often “mopped” off the tarmac.
Leaning Tower of Passes: Most bus passengers are given free passes andduring rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengershanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings andthe overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity butobeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (somany Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steerclear of these buses by a width of three
passengers.
One-way Street: These boards are put up by traffic people to add jestin their otherwise drab lives. Don’t stick to the literal meaning andproceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that youcannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive as you like, inreverse throughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I soundhypercritical, I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast drivingin residential areas has been prevented by providing a “speedbreaker”; two for each house. This mound, incidentally, covers thewater and drainage pipes for that residence and is left untarred foreasy identification by the corporation authorities, should they wantto recover the pipe for year-end accounting.
Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience forthose with the mental make up of Genghis Khan. In a way, it is likeplaying Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst thedrivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turnsout to be a truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, justpull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenonpasses.
Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blinkyour lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truckis the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has hadat the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little morethan a naught. Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and arelicensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam oflight about six feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike,but a truck approaching you with a single light on, usually the leftone. It could be the right one, but never get too close toinvestigate. You may prove your point posthumously.
Princess Margaret Rose Cave
Leanne woke up to another "sick" day and so Tom, Duane and I hurried to find the kids an "out of the house" activity for the day. It was HOT. If the 1st week we were there was mild (low 60's), now it was HOT (low 90's). Global warming is alive and well in Australia too.
Duane took us to Princess Margaret Rose Cave. This is a particularly interesting cave and park area. This cave was "found" by a couple of adventurous boys back in the middle of the last Century (1930's). The cave is around 17 meters below ground and is always the same temp of 50 degrees (Fahrenheit). The cave being made of limestone is quite remarkable.
You can travel down into the cave and escape the heat of south Australia,which we did, or you can picnic in the park or swim in the river, which we did not (Jimmy didn't have our permission).
Inside the cave is a guided tour that is given by one of the current owners.
Keep in mind that while there were 3 of us adults, there were also 4 kids under 6 yrs old and we are heading underground into a cave.... (This is a set up by the way....)
As I mentioned above the cave was founded by two friends who for several summers through garbage/sticks/rocks into this hole in the ground until one of them had the bright idea to climb down the hole and see what was there. I do not know what inspired the fellow to descend into this small hole with only a candle and some matches, fame or to many beers.
Whatever the inspiration it has become what they refer to in Australia as the "jewel of the crown"in the lower Glenelg National Park.
It was pretty cool. You can see where the rivers ran underground, where the bats and centipedes lived and they even turned off all the lights so that we could see how dark it was. We were able to take some photos but no video was allowed and NO TOUCHING THE WALLS!! This was repeated to three of the loudamericans quite often during the tour by the other two:)!
The reason for this was because you would kill the stalagmite of stalactite and that is a no no. Jimmy, of course, had an uncontrollable desires to TOUCH everything. Kay decided to talk the whole way through the tour including singing all her favorite tunes (Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, Happy Birthday, I Release and I Let Go) and Billy kept saying, "I'm 'cared. I'm 'cared". Its a wonder no one wanted to walk by us, that we were the last people in the tour line and that I only caught 1 fifth of what the tour guide had to say.
We also walked down to the river (outside the cave not in it) and watched a couple of big kids (whose mom and dad gave them permission) swim in the river. It looked a lot like the river in Stillwater, lots of cliffs and pine trees. Very pretty.
We then wrestled everyone back in the car and headed home.
Cooper and Duane headed off to do a couple of chores and the loudamericans headed off to the pool, once again. Billy is now addicted to "swimming" and kept saying "I'm a crocodile Mommy" and would try to bite me. He also pitched a royal fit when we had to leave after swimming for 2 hours. I am sure everyone else at the pool thought I was pulling his toe nails out one by one.
Duane took us to Princess Margaret Rose Cave. This is a particularly interesting cave and park area. This cave was "found" by a couple of adventurous boys back in the middle of the last Century (1930's). The cave is around 17 meters below ground and is always the same temp of 50 degrees (Fahrenheit). The cave being made of limestone is quite remarkable.
You can travel down into the cave and escape the heat of south Australia,which we did, or you can picnic in the park or swim in the river, which we did not (Jimmy didn't have our permission).
Inside the cave is a guided tour that is given by one of the current owners.
Keep in mind that while there were 3 of us adults, there were also 4 kids under 6 yrs old and we are heading underground into a cave.... (This is a set up by the way....)
As I mentioned above the cave was founded by two friends who for several summers through garbage/sticks/rocks into this hole in the ground until one of them had the bright idea to climb down the hole and see what was there. I do not know what inspired the fellow to descend into this small hole with only a candle and some matches, fame or to many beers.
Whatever the inspiration it has become what they refer to in Australia as the "jewel of the crown"in the lower Glenelg National Park.
It was pretty cool. You can see where the rivers ran underground, where the bats and centipedes lived and they even turned off all the lights so that we could see how dark it was. We were able to take some photos but no video was allowed and NO TOUCHING THE WALLS!! This was repeated to three of the loudamericans quite often during the tour by the other two:)!
The reason for this was because you would kill the stalagmite of stalactite and that is a no no. Jimmy, of course, had an uncontrollable desires to TOUCH everything. Kay decided to talk the whole way through the tour including singing all her favorite tunes (Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, Happy Birthday, I Release and I Let Go) and Billy kept saying, "I'm 'cared. I'm 'cared". Its a wonder no one wanted to walk by us, that we were the last people in the tour line and that I only caught 1 fifth of what the tour guide had to say.
We also walked down to the river (outside the cave not in it) and watched a couple of big kids (whose mom and dad gave them permission) swim in the river. It looked a lot like the river in Stillwater, lots of cliffs and pine trees. Very pretty.
We then wrestled everyone back in the car and headed home.
Cooper and Duane headed off to do a couple of chores and the loudamericans headed off to the pool, once again. Billy is now addicted to "swimming" and kept saying "I'm a crocodile Mommy" and would try to bite me. He also pitched a royal fit when we had to leave after swimming for 2 hours. I am sure everyone else at the pool thought I was pulling his toe nails out one by one.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
New Years and the Beach
Dec 31 - Jan 2 - New Years, The Beach and Fishing
What would a trip to Australia be with spending time at the beach!!
There are a great many beaches in southern Australia and it seems they get more gorgeous as you go from on to the next.
On New Years eve Leann was not feeling up to par so we called it a vacation day and did errands, took the kids for a walk etc. Tom cooked the most amazing pork chops and salmon and we got to meet many of their friends as they all stopped by to say "Happy New Year". The kids did sparklers and we watched the Sydney fireworks on TV. Amazing.
On New Years Day we set off for a full day at the beach. There is NO better way to start the year than at the beach. Jimmy was the 1st one in the water (again) and was totally loving jumping into the waves. Kay was playing with the sand toys and had sand EVERYWHERE. Billy was attached to my hip, but loving all the attention he was getting. We had a picnic lunch and then headed for another beach. This one had these cool caves and tidal pools. Jimmy went exploring in them with this silly bucket on his head and Billy fell asleep in my arms. Kay, who hadn't gotten nearly full enough of sand, decided to take off her swim suit and roll in the sand naked. Leanne and I figured it was just as effective as going to the spa to get a body scrub. We had ice cream as a treat and slept the whole way home.
We had a great dinner as usual with some awesome cold beer called Crown. We watched a movie after the kids hit the hay and were ready for another fun filled day.
We arrived at Nelson River ready to catch fish and catch them we did!! Cooper was pulling in fish with Duane left and right and then Jimmy,Kay and Daddy starting catching them and when it was all over we caught about 35 fish, not bad. We played in the park trying to wear the kids out as usual and to no avail; so we did the next best thing...went to the pool!
Mount Gambier has a great pool area boasting three separate pools along with a canopy over each one. It was very hot and the pool was a welcome relief. There is one for babies and toddlers another for 5-10 year olds and then a regular pool. The canopies over the pool is great because you can cool off in the water and not get sunburned for you efforts!!
Finally we got home and the kids had dinner and fell sound asleep. We, being the boring parents, watched another movie and had a quite evening.
What would a trip to Australia be with spending time at the beach!!
There are a great many beaches in southern Australia and it seems they get more gorgeous as you go from on to the next.
On New Years eve Leann was not feeling up to par so we called it a vacation day and did errands, took the kids for a walk etc. Tom cooked the most amazing pork chops and salmon and we got to meet many of their friends as they all stopped by to say "Happy New Year". The kids did sparklers and we watched the Sydney fireworks on TV. Amazing.
On New Years Day we set off for a full day at the beach. There is NO better way to start the year than at the beach. Jimmy was the 1st one in the water (again) and was totally loving jumping into the waves. Kay was playing with the sand toys and had sand EVERYWHERE. Billy was attached to my hip, but loving all the attention he was getting. We had a picnic lunch and then headed for another beach. This one had these cool caves and tidal pools. Jimmy went exploring in them with this silly bucket on his head and Billy fell asleep in my arms. Kay, who hadn't gotten nearly full enough of sand, decided to take off her swim suit and roll in the sand naked. Leanne and I figured it was just as effective as going to the spa to get a body scrub. We had ice cream as a treat and slept the whole way home.
We had a great dinner as usual with some awesome cold beer called Crown. We watched a movie after the kids hit the hay and were ready for another fun filled day.
We arrived at Nelson River ready to catch fish and catch them we did!! Cooper was pulling in fish with Duane left and right and then Jimmy,Kay and Daddy starting catching them and when it was all over we caught about 35 fish, not bad. We played in the park trying to wear the kids out as usual and to no avail; so we did the next best thing...went to the pool!
Mount Gambier has a great pool area boasting three separate pools along with a canopy over each one. It was very hot and the pool was a welcome relief. There is one for babies and toddlers another for 5-10 year olds and then a regular pool. The canopies over the pool is great because you can cool off in the water and not get sunburned for you efforts!!
Finally we got home and the kids had dinner and fell sound asleep. We, being the boring parents, watched another movie and had a quite evening.
Penola, Pathaway and Morambo Creek Winery
Dec 29 & 30 - We packed up the 2 cars and camper and headed out to spend the night with the Sue and Andrew (parents to Maddie 3 and Angus 5). They own a ranch/farm/winery about an hour & a half north of Mount Gambier deep in Australia wine country.
We piddled around all morning, trying to wear the kids out so that they'd sleep on the drive up. We stopped for lunch in this VERY cute little town called Penola. It was an old old town (200 yrs old?) and had a cute main street with an old fashion candy shop, antique stores and wine cellars. After wandering aimlessly for a little bit, we found ourselves in one of the wine cellars (go figure). These are the store fronts to the local wineries. You can taste the wine, eat crusty bread and buy kitchen supplies that would make William Sonoma jealous. After trying desperately to prevent my kids from breaking something, the owner brought in his brand new beagle puppy. Billy was smitten. The kids spent 30 minutes playing with this puppy and Billy was in heaven. It also gave Tom and I a chance to taste the local wine. Yum! God was watching over us again and we escaped without as much as a mark on anything.
After a picnic lunch in the park, we were back on the road. We arrived at Sue and Andrews about 3:00 and the kids proceeded to play like they had known each other for years. The best part about it was, Maddie and Angus were also born in Korea. So.. we all have a ton in common.
The ranch raises cattle and sheep, grows a variety of grains (wheat, canola, beans) and most importantly grapes for wine. The grapes they grow are part of Morambo Creek and Jip Jip Rock wineries. They had BOXES of wine sitting around the house. As you can imagine, Tom and I were in awe. The wines are really great. The have a fabulous Shriaz as well as a very tasty Chardonnay and if you can find some at your local shop it is worth it. Otherwise request them to put it in stock, Andrew and Susan would be grateful.
It was harvest season so the boys went down to see the combines and tractors. We could hardly pull them away. Jimmy even got to help by riding shot gun in the combine. After a pretty unbelievable sunset, dinner was meat/chicken on the "barbie", wine and the most unbelievable dessert "pav" (pavlovia). Its a spun sugar egg white cake topped with whip cream and 5 different types of berries. Tom declared it the "best dish" he had had in 5 months and Kay wouldn't stop eating the berries. All in all, a perfect afternoon.
The Bangalore 5 called it a night and retired to our camper. It was the best. We were in the country... the cool night air... sleeping in sleeping bags... total quiet. There were even little glow in the dark stars on the ceiling of the camper so that when you turned off the flashlight it glowed in the dark. The kids were TOTALLY impressed with this part. Billy kept popping his head up next to mine and say "hi mommy" "hi mommy" "hi mommy" until he passed out.
The next day we took a tour of the grape fields, the wheat fields and took the kids 4 wheeling. They "picked" eggs from the chicken coop and jumped on the trampoline. We lunched on a Plough mans lunch (cheeses, meats, breads, chutneys, pickles, mustard's, fresh veggies .. you know, my favorite lunch) and then tried to rally the kids for pictures. This did not work so well. Like dogs that can tell when they are going to the vet , they could sense that we were leaving, they were tired and all very uncooperative. After 3-4 different tantrums that ran through 3 different families, we gave up all reason and bribed them with ice pops (or icy poles as they are called there). This finally calmed everyone down enough for some group photos. The only draw back is that each kid has one sticking out of their mouths in all the pictures. At least they were quiet.
We packed up all the kids and once again, they were all asleep before we hit the end of the driveway.
We piddled around all morning, trying to wear the kids out so that they'd sleep on the drive up. We stopped for lunch in this VERY cute little town called Penola. It was an old old town (200 yrs old?) and had a cute main street with an old fashion candy shop, antique stores and wine cellars. After wandering aimlessly for a little bit, we found ourselves in one of the wine cellars (go figure). These are the store fronts to the local wineries. You can taste the wine, eat crusty bread and buy kitchen supplies that would make William Sonoma jealous. After trying desperately to prevent my kids from breaking something, the owner brought in his brand new beagle puppy. Billy was smitten. The kids spent 30 minutes playing with this puppy and Billy was in heaven. It also gave Tom and I a chance to taste the local wine. Yum! God was watching over us again and we escaped without as much as a mark on anything.
After a picnic lunch in the park, we were back on the road. We arrived at Sue and Andrews about 3:00 and the kids proceeded to play like they had known each other for years. The best part about it was, Maddie and Angus were also born in Korea. So.. we all have a ton in common.
The ranch raises cattle and sheep, grows a variety of grains (wheat, canola, beans) and most importantly grapes for wine. The grapes they grow are part of Morambo Creek and Jip Jip Rock wineries. They had BOXES of wine sitting around the house. As you can imagine, Tom and I were in awe. The wines are really great. The have a fabulous Shriaz as well as a very tasty Chardonnay and if you can find some at your local shop it is worth it. Otherwise request them to put it in stock, Andrew and Susan would be grateful.
It was harvest season so the boys went down to see the combines and tractors. We could hardly pull them away. Jimmy even got to help by riding shot gun in the combine. After a pretty unbelievable sunset, dinner was meat/chicken on the "barbie", wine and the most unbelievable dessert "pav" (pavlovia). Its a spun sugar egg white cake topped with whip cream and 5 different types of berries. Tom declared it the "best dish" he had had in 5 months and Kay wouldn't stop eating the berries. All in all, a perfect afternoon.
The Bangalore 5 called it a night and retired to our camper. It was the best. We were in the country... the cool night air... sleeping in sleeping bags... total quiet. There were even little glow in the dark stars on the ceiling of the camper so that when you turned off the flashlight it glowed in the dark. The kids were TOTALLY impressed with this part. Billy kept popping his head up next to mine and say "hi mommy" "hi mommy" "hi mommy" until he passed out.
The next day we took a tour of the grape fields, the wheat fields and took the kids 4 wheeling. They "picked" eggs from the chicken coop and jumped on the trampoline. We lunched on a Plough mans lunch (cheeses, meats, breads, chutneys, pickles, mustard's, fresh veggies .. you know, my favorite lunch) and then tried to rally the kids for pictures. This did not work so well. Like dogs that can tell when they are going to the vet , they could sense that we were leaving, they were tired and all very uncooperative. After 3-4 different tantrums that ran through 3 different families, we gave up all reason and bribed them with ice pops (or icy poles as they are called there). This finally calmed everyone down enough for some group photos. The only draw back is that each kid has one sticking out of their mouths in all the pictures. At least they were quiet.
We packed up all the kids and once again, they were all asleep before we hit the end of the driveway.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Mount Gambier-Valley Lakes-Mount Schank-Allendale
Dec 27 & 28 - We had a great night sleep and we were all ready to go see some of the cool sites around Mount Gambier.
Mount Gambier is a lovely town of about 30,000 people, great parks,swimming pool and many differnt shops. Its part of the Limestone Coast and is built on a bunch of underground caves, waterways and sinkholes. It is a great place for really brave and highly skilled scuba divers as you can actually scuba dive under the city through the waterways. That sort of freaks me out a bit.
We set off for the "blue lake" which the locals refer to this unbelievable lake. It is a sink hole that is the bluest lake we have ever seen. The lake is in a sunken volcano which there are several around the area. The color of this lake is one of the great debates because it changes constantly from grey to blue depending on the time of year, day, sun,cloud cover,etc. When the sun is out and the sky is clear the lake takes on the color of a raspberry blue Popsicle. That is about the best way to describe the color. It takes your breath away. We hiked around the lake a couple times during the trip, and I (Tracy) was constantly amazed by it. I guess that scientists haven't figured out yet why it changes color. The photo attached really doesn't do it justice.
We then all headed down to the animal sanctuary to see koala's, kangaroos, emu's and the like. The kids loved it. You can walk right up to the animals and there is very little gating or fencing to prevent you from feeling close to them. The kids loved seeing the animals as much as they loved just running free for the 1st time in 2 days. Jimmy and Cooper were holding hands and hugging. Jimmy started to call Cooper "The Coop" "Coopsie" and "Coops". That's when you know you've made it. When Jimmy gives you a nickname.
Leanne did a great job planning our trip. We had something exciting to see everyday, but none of the days felt like too much. The kids were still home to have a nap and relax. Sort of the perfect pace.
The next day we loaded up the group and headed off to Mount Schank.
Mount Schank is also a sink hole however unlike the blue lake that you can drive to, you must hike up to the top of Mount Schank to see into it. The climb was quite steep however there were some very handy steps that we later found out Leeann's father put them in 20 some years ago. The climb was hard with the 2 kids in backpacks on our back, but it was totally worth it because when we got to the top the views were great. I must apologise here because for some reason we have no photos of it:(. (We forgot our camera that day, but we do have some really cool video of it...) I wish we had had our camera with us as you could see all the neighboring towns, the other "mounts" in the area and you could see the ocean. You could also see Kay's bare bum in the "wind" as she peed in the backpack on the way up and had to walk around butt naked from the waist down as we didn't haul all the necessary provisions to the top with us. It was cute in hindsight but frustrating at the time.
Once Kay aired out, we packed up the troops again and headed into Port Mac for lunch. This is a tiny town on the Southern Ocean. I ordered fish and chips, the kids ate the worlds largest hot dogs and Tom had a steak sandwich. It felt like heaven. We then braved the cool weather and headed to the 1st of many beaches. It was amazing. Rock cliffs, shallow tidal pools, white sand beaches, huge crashing waves. I told Leanne how gorgeous it all was and she said "really, this isn't even one of the nicer beaches, wait to you see the others". We walked out to an island and of course Jimmy managed to "go swimming" despite the cold weather (it was about 65 the 1st week and then hit the 90's the second week. Global warming is alive and well in Australia too....). We then went driving along the coast. Imagine HWY 1 in California past Monterrey Bay, etc. Stunning. We stopped at a couple of places to take video and wiggle our toes in the sand.
Once again, we were home for naps and a good homemade meal with Australian red wine:)
Mount Gambier is a lovely town of about 30,000 people, great parks,swimming pool and many differnt shops. Its part of the Limestone Coast and is built on a bunch of underground caves, waterways and sinkholes. It is a great place for really brave and highly skilled scuba divers as you can actually scuba dive under the city through the waterways. That sort of freaks me out a bit.
We set off for the "blue lake" which the locals refer to this unbelievable lake. It is a sink hole that is the bluest lake we have ever seen. The lake is in a sunken volcano which there are several around the area. The color of this lake is one of the great debates because it changes constantly from grey to blue depending on the time of year, day, sun,cloud cover,etc. When the sun is out and the sky is clear the lake takes on the color of a raspberry blue Popsicle. That is about the best way to describe the color. It takes your breath away. We hiked around the lake a couple times during the trip, and I (Tracy) was constantly amazed by it. I guess that scientists haven't figured out yet why it changes color. The photo attached really doesn't do it justice.
We then all headed down to the animal sanctuary to see koala's, kangaroos, emu's and the like. The kids loved it. You can walk right up to the animals and there is very little gating or fencing to prevent you from feeling close to them. The kids loved seeing the animals as much as they loved just running free for the 1st time in 2 days. Jimmy and Cooper were holding hands and hugging. Jimmy started to call Cooper "The Coop" "Coopsie" and "Coops". That's when you know you've made it. When Jimmy gives you a nickname.
Leanne did a great job planning our trip. We had something exciting to see everyday, but none of the days felt like too much. The kids were still home to have a nap and relax. Sort of the perfect pace.
The next day we loaded up the group and headed off to Mount Schank.
Mount Schank is also a sink hole however unlike the blue lake that you can drive to, you must hike up to the top of Mount Schank to see into it. The climb was quite steep however there were some very handy steps that we later found out Leeann's father put them in 20 some years ago. The climb was hard with the 2 kids in backpacks on our back, but it was totally worth it because when we got to the top the views were great. I must apologise here because for some reason we have no photos of it:(. (We forgot our camera that day, but we do have some really cool video of it...) I wish we had had our camera with us as you could see all the neighboring towns, the other "mounts" in the area and you could see the ocean. You could also see Kay's bare bum in the "wind" as she peed in the backpack on the way up and had to walk around butt naked from the waist down as we didn't haul all the necessary provisions to the top with us. It was cute in hindsight but frustrating at the time.
Once Kay aired out, we packed up the troops again and headed into Port Mac for lunch. This is a tiny town on the Southern Ocean. I ordered fish and chips, the kids ate the worlds largest hot dogs and Tom had a steak sandwich. It felt like heaven. We then braved the cool weather and headed to the 1st of many beaches. It was amazing. Rock cliffs, shallow tidal pools, white sand beaches, huge crashing waves. I told Leanne how gorgeous it all was and she said "really, this isn't even one of the nicer beaches, wait to you see the others". We walked out to an island and of course Jimmy managed to "go swimming" despite the cold weather (it was about 65 the 1st week and then hit the 90's the second week. Global warming is alive and well in Australia too....). We then went driving along the coast. Imagine HWY 1 in California past Monterrey Bay, etc. Stunning. We stopped at a couple of places to take video and wiggle our toes in the sand.
Once again, we were home for naps and a good homemade meal with Australian red wine:)
Dec 25 & 26 - Travel Days
So... despite all my worries, we actually made it to Melbourne and then on to Mount Gambier. While we have flown through the Bangalore airport before, I'm not sure what I expected. There is only 1 international terminal and its really a glorified bus station. Considering how many people fly in and out of Bangalore every day, its a wonder that they get here at all. It also explains why they have flights leaving and coming 24 hours a day. At least we knew we were at the right gate. The flight to Malaysia (to change planes to get to Melbourne) was the worst part. We left at 12:30am and Billy got a case of the "Kay's". I had flash backs of our plane trip from hell to Michigan when Kay stayed awake until 5:30am running wild through the airport. He refused to go to sleep. Its a 4 hour flight and he FINALLY fell asleep at 3:30am. Nice. It didnt help that they keep the lights on in the cabin until 2:45am even though everyone on the plane was trying to sleep. It was actually a pretty good airline (Malaysian air) and they even served beer/screwdriver as a "welcome on board" drink.
We hit KulaLumpar (sp?) about 4:45am and had a 2 hour lay over. Now, this is a REALLY nice airport, it reminds me of Seoul. We even saw a Starbucks! Yummy! The flight to Melbourne (8 hrs) was actually pretty manageable. Billy and Kay passed out for about 4 hours and Jimmy made a new friend. There was no easy way to sit 2 adults and 3 kids (that need supervision) on this flight, so Jimmy ended up across the aisle from me. He was NOT happy about it. He was sitting by this great big (6'4") Brit named Morris. I took it as a good sign that my grandfathers name was Morris. Luckily Morris travels a lot and was very patient with Jimmy. Our seats each had their own TV monitors and the movies/tv/games were all on demand. So, Morris showed Jimmy how to play video games and we didnt hear from him for about 4 hours as well. Thank God for Morris. I wanted to give him a hug when it was over, but he just said "I've sat by worse". I'm sure he has. When we were deboarding the plane, Jimmy said "Wow, you are a big guy, Morris." In more ways than 1!
We got into Melbourne about 9:00pm and after waiting forever for our luggage, customs, car, etc...Tom braved driving on the "other" side of the road and I tried not to push the brake or flinch every 2 minutes. The kids kept asking why Daddy was driving and where was Saravanan. We reached the hotel and needed to find food. Keep in mind, its Christmas day 11:00pm. Nothing was open, but I found an IGA and loaded up on premade sandwiches/beer/juice and chips. We ate and passed out.
The next day we had to drag the kids out of bed at 9:00am to get going for our 5 hour drive to Mount Gambier. The drive was amazing. We were basically heading south west towards the Southern Ocean. It reminde me of a strange combination of Nebraska and California. Flat as far as the eye could see and miles upon miles of golden wheat fields, cattle and sheep. Then, out of no where, you'd be heading down hill, just to hit the "bottom" and go up again. In MN, if you do that, you usually end up at a river or something at the bottom of the hill. Not here, just random down hills followed by flat flat flat. It turns out Australia is experiencing a major drought (hence the brown fields) and was once under the ocean. So, all those sudden hills were like the tiering of the ocean floor. Very cool.
They are also MAJORLY bike friendly. It is legal and almost encouraged for bicyclists to ride on the highways. They have signs and paths all marked out. Wendy, you would have been in heaven! We saw tons of cyclists.
They also seemed very concerned about people falling asleep at the wheel. There were signs posted everywhere "Arrive alive, Revive! Power Nap! Nap area 2 kms, etc." I guess loads of people die every year from falling asleep as they are driving across the country.
Also, every town has a McDonalds. Now, keep in mind that we have only seen 1 McDonalds during our whole time in India. So, the kids were going crazy. Every town had a McDonalds and the kids would "magically" have to go to the bathroom when ever they saw one. "Hey, I have a good idea Dad, let's stop at Old McDonalds to go potty". Its a wonder we made it to Mount Gambier.
We reached about 3pm and our friends (Leanne, Duane and Cooper) met us on the highway on the way into town. We all jumped out our cars for hugs and greetings. It was SO incredible to see them again after 3 years. We all had big big smiles on our faces.
We hit KulaLumpar (sp?) about 4:45am and had a 2 hour lay over. Now, this is a REALLY nice airport, it reminds me of Seoul. We even saw a Starbucks! Yummy! The flight to Melbourne (8 hrs) was actually pretty manageable. Billy and Kay passed out for about 4 hours and Jimmy made a new friend. There was no easy way to sit 2 adults and 3 kids (that need supervision) on this flight, so Jimmy ended up across the aisle from me. He was NOT happy about it. He was sitting by this great big (6'4") Brit named Morris. I took it as a good sign that my grandfathers name was Morris. Luckily Morris travels a lot and was very patient with Jimmy. Our seats each had their own TV monitors and the movies/tv/games were all on demand. So, Morris showed Jimmy how to play video games and we didnt hear from him for about 4 hours as well. Thank God for Morris. I wanted to give him a hug when it was over, but he just said "I've sat by worse". I'm sure he has. When we were deboarding the plane, Jimmy said "Wow, you are a big guy, Morris." In more ways than 1!
We got into Melbourne about 9:00pm and after waiting forever for our luggage, customs, car, etc...Tom braved driving on the "other" side of the road and I tried not to push the brake or flinch every 2 minutes. The kids kept asking why Daddy was driving and where was Saravanan. We reached the hotel and needed to find food. Keep in mind, its Christmas day 11:00pm. Nothing was open, but I found an IGA and loaded up on premade sandwiches/beer/juice and chips. We ate and passed out.
The next day we had to drag the kids out of bed at 9:00am to get going for our 5 hour drive to Mount Gambier. The drive was amazing. We were basically heading south west towards the Southern Ocean. It reminde me of a strange combination of Nebraska and California. Flat as far as the eye could see and miles upon miles of golden wheat fields, cattle and sheep. Then, out of no where, you'd be heading down hill, just to hit the "bottom" and go up again. In MN, if you do that, you usually end up at a river or something at the bottom of the hill. Not here, just random down hills followed by flat flat flat. It turns out Australia is experiencing a major drought (hence the brown fields) and was once under the ocean. So, all those sudden hills were like the tiering of the ocean floor. Very cool.
They are also MAJORLY bike friendly. It is legal and almost encouraged for bicyclists to ride on the highways. They have signs and paths all marked out. Wendy, you would have been in heaven! We saw tons of cyclists.
They also seemed very concerned about people falling asleep at the wheel. There were signs posted everywhere "Arrive alive, Revive! Power Nap! Nap area 2 kms, etc." I guess loads of people die every year from falling asleep as they are driving across the country.
Also, every town has a McDonalds. Now, keep in mind that we have only seen 1 McDonalds during our whole time in India. So, the kids were going crazy. Every town had a McDonalds and the kids would "magically" have to go to the bathroom when ever they saw one. "Hey, I have a good idea Dad, let's stop at Old McDonalds to go potty". Its a wonder we made it to Mount Gambier.
We reached about 3pm and our friends (Leanne, Duane and Cooper) met us on the highway on the way into town. We all jumped out our cars for hugs and greetings. It was SO incredible to see them again after 3 years. We all had big big smiles on our faces.
Monday, January 08, 2007
We're Back.....
We are home and safe and sleep deprived and behind in house work and work work.
We got into Bangalore at 12:30am Monday and the kids were awake at 6:00am yesterday and at 5:00am today. I've been at work and they went to school. Jimmy has a temp of 102 today and I have a slew of guests at work this week, including 22 MBA students from Yale.
Needless to say.....I'll write more when I am coherent.
All our love and well wishes in this New Year!!
LOVE!!!
T.T.J.K.B.
We got into Bangalore at 12:30am Monday and the kids were awake at 6:00am yesterday and at 5:00am today. I've been at work and they went to school. Jimmy has a temp of 102 today and I have a slew of guests at work this week, including 22 MBA students from Yale.
Needless to say.....I'll write more when I am coherent.
All our love and well wishes in this New Year!!
LOVE!!!
T.T.J.K.B.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Happy Holidays!
We board the plane for Australia in 6 hours and I thought I'd recap our holiday weekend to date. We may not be able to blog for a while, but will do our best to keep the stories coming:)
Tom had a bunch of charity work this week for the OWC. They had gifts to deliver and grants to help write, all in time for Christmas. On Wednesday, this brave brave man took all the kids, our driver, our cook, our housekeeper and their son to one of the charities to pass out teddy bears. From what he related, it was quite an experience. The charity was a residents home for small children with epilepsy. Billy, Kay and Sam jumped right in and started playing with the toys and kids. Raj, Florence and Saravanan were even on the floor playing with any kid that was willing. Florence spotted a baby girl and Tom was teasing Raj that their family might expand if he didn't keep on eye on it. Jimmy was the only one that held back a little. He wasn't quite sure what to make about all it and had a 101 questions about the kids that night before he went to bed. Tom took the lot of them to KFC for lunch afterward. I think it was a good experience for everyone. The next day the very 1st thing Raj said to me was "we had a good day ma'am. A very good day".
Friday was the kids Cmas party up at the club house. Through word of mouth, we ended up with a rather motley crew of friends and their kids. I am not sure what I expected, but it wasn't 200+ people packed into a 30 ft by 30ft space where they were serving kids chocolate and cotton candy until they cried. It was chaos and a mess. The kids were in heaven. They even had a Santa. It turns out that in India, when you know Santa will be at a party you bring a present labeled for your child and Santa then hands them all out. Little did we know. So, here we are at a party with screaming kids, candy and soda without any presents for our kids. All the other kids are slowing getting presents and its starting to dawn on my 3 that nothing is coming their way... I thought up a lie and I thought it up quick. I explained that all these kids were going to be gone for Cmas and so Santa and brought their toys to the party instead. Since we were going to be home, Santa was going to bring our presents right to our house. My lie fooled the child.
We rounded everyone up and headed back to our house for the after party party. We had snacks, beer, wine and a bonfire. It was great to just relax and enjoy the evening not pressed body to body with the rest of humanity.
Saturday was a day full of parties, packing and prep. I woke up in a fit of giggles when Jimmy said to Tom, as he's trying to tickle his belly, " Daddy, why does your belly jiggle and my doesn't?" Nice. We had a lunch party for Raj, Florence, Saravanan and Sunita (Saravanan's fiance). We ate pizza, donuts and drank soda. We all exchanged presents and then took photos in front of the Christmas tree. It was really nice to be able to say "Thank You and Merry Christmas" to the people that have made our time here so wonderful. We had bought an extra turkey at Thanksgiving and were looking forward to having turkey, potatoes, stuffing and beans for dinner. I even found a can of my favorite jellied cranberry sauce! In true Bangalore fashion we promptly lost power for the next 2 hours. So, we read the kids books by flashlight and tried to cook our meal on our over sized Coleman stove by flashlight. Interesting. It turns out our turkey was of the Cornish game hen variety. The chickens you get here are bigger. We were laughing... no turkey salad, turkey soup, turkey a la king, turkey omelets, etc... Miracle of miracles though the kids went to bed nicely and were asleep within 5 minutes. The power came on and we watched "A Christmas Story" as is our yearly tradition. All was right with the world...
This morning Jimmy came into our room around 5 and I had a panic attack that the day was about to start. Mercifully, he fell back to sleep and at 7:15 work up and said, "Merry Christmas Mommy. Why is Christmas my favorite holiday?" Within 5 minutes the other kids were up and we ventured downstairs to see if Santa left us anything. He did!!! It was hysteria until all the presents were opened and accounted for... I got some really cool clothes from Tom (I am finally presentable), Jimmy got a space ship gun (he had convinced him that Santa had run out of BB guns), Kay got a kitchen set and Billy got more cars and car paraphernalia than a 2 yr old has a right to. My parents got them all very cute clothes, the Murphy's sent great DVDs and I got an EZ Bake Oven (I mean Kay got an EZ Bake oven). The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys and trying on new clothes. Jimmy, Billy, Mommy and Daddy also had nice long naps in preparation for our midnight flight to Sri Lanka and off to Australia. Kay, of course, chose this day to not nap. I have no idea how we are going to handle her over the next 24 hours as she'll only get an opportunity for 2 hours a sleep at a go. I am still hoping she naps today, but its 6:00pm already and I suspect its a lost cause. She is currently in her room screaming bloody murder. I am sure our neighbors think I am pulling her toenails out one by one. Our flight leaves at 12:30am, we travel 4 hours to Sri Lanka, have a 2 hour lay over and then board a plane for an 8 hour flight to Melbourne. We land at 8pm. The next day (Tuesday) we have a 5 hour trip to Mount Gambier. We are SO excited to see our friends but I am a little worried about the journey at the moment. Wish us luck.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT!
Tom had a bunch of charity work this week for the OWC. They had gifts to deliver and grants to help write, all in time for Christmas. On Wednesday, this brave brave man took all the kids, our driver, our cook, our housekeeper and their son to one of the charities to pass out teddy bears. From what he related, it was quite an experience. The charity was a residents home for small children with epilepsy. Billy, Kay and Sam jumped right in and started playing with the toys and kids. Raj, Florence and Saravanan were even on the floor playing with any kid that was willing. Florence spotted a baby girl and Tom was teasing Raj that their family might expand if he didn't keep on eye on it. Jimmy was the only one that held back a little. He wasn't quite sure what to make about all it and had a 101 questions about the kids that night before he went to bed. Tom took the lot of them to KFC for lunch afterward. I think it was a good experience for everyone. The next day the very 1st thing Raj said to me was "we had a good day ma'am. A very good day".
Friday was the kids Cmas party up at the club house. Through word of mouth, we ended up with a rather motley crew of friends and their kids. I am not sure what I expected, but it wasn't 200+ people packed into a 30 ft by 30ft space where they were serving kids chocolate and cotton candy until they cried. It was chaos and a mess. The kids were in heaven. They even had a Santa. It turns out that in India, when you know Santa will be at a party you bring a present labeled for your child and Santa then hands them all out. Little did we know. So, here we are at a party with screaming kids, candy and soda without any presents for our kids. All the other kids are slowing getting presents and its starting to dawn on my 3 that nothing is coming their way... I thought up a lie and I thought it up quick. I explained that all these kids were going to be gone for Cmas and so Santa and brought their toys to the party instead. Since we were going to be home, Santa was going to bring our presents right to our house. My lie fooled the child.
We rounded everyone up and headed back to our house for the after party party. We had snacks, beer, wine and a bonfire. It was great to just relax and enjoy the evening not pressed body to body with the rest of humanity.
Saturday was a day full of parties, packing and prep. I woke up in a fit of giggles when Jimmy said to Tom, as he's trying to tickle his belly, " Daddy, why does your belly jiggle and my doesn't?" Nice. We had a lunch party for Raj, Florence, Saravanan and Sunita (Saravanan's fiance). We ate pizza, donuts and drank soda. We all exchanged presents and then took photos in front of the Christmas tree. It was really nice to be able to say "Thank You and Merry Christmas" to the people that have made our time here so wonderful. We had bought an extra turkey at Thanksgiving and were looking forward to having turkey, potatoes, stuffing and beans for dinner. I even found a can of my favorite jellied cranberry sauce! In true Bangalore fashion we promptly lost power for the next 2 hours. So, we read the kids books by flashlight and tried to cook our meal on our over sized Coleman stove by flashlight. Interesting. It turns out our turkey was of the Cornish game hen variety. The chickens you get here are bigger. We were laughing... no turkey salad, turkey soup, turkey a la king, turkey omelets, etc... Miracle of miracles though the kids went to bed nicely and were asleep within 5 minutes. The power came on and we watched "A Christmas Story" as is our yearly tradition. All was right with the world...
This morning Jimmy came into our room around 5 and I had a panic attack that the day was about to start. Mercifully, he fell back to sleep and at 7:15 work up and said, "Merry Christmas Mommy. Why is Christmas my favorite holiday?" Within 5 minutes the other kids were up and we ventured downstairs to see if Santa left us anything. He did!!! It was hysteria until all the presents were opened and accounted for... I got some really cool clothes from Tom (I am finally presentable), Jimmy got a space ship gun (he had convinced him that Santa had run out of BB guns), Kay got a kitchen set and Billy got more cars and car paraphernalia than a 2 yr old has a right to. My parents got them all very cute clothes, the Murphy's sent great DVDs and I got an EZ Bake Oven (I mean Kay got an EZ Bake oven). The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys and trying on new clothes. Jimmy, Billy, Mommy and Daddy also had nice long naps in preparation for our midnight flight to Sri Lanka and off to Australia. Kay, of course, chose this day to not nap. I have no idea how we are going to handle her over the next 24 hours as she'll only get an opportunity for 2 hours a sleep at a go. I am still hoping she naps today, but its 6:00pm already and I suspect its a lost cause. She is currently in her room screaming bloody murder. I am sure our neighbors think I am pulling her toenails out one by one. Our flight leaves at 12:30am, we travel 4 hours to Sri Lanka, have a 2 hour lay over and then board a plane for an 8 hour flight to Melbourne. We land at 8pm. The next day (Tuesday) we have a 5 hour trip to Mount Gambier. We are SO excited to see our friends but I am a little worried about the journey at the moment. Wish us luck.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
If you hate to hear people brag about their kids, dont read any further
Ok ... We had parent teacher conferences today and we just need to brag about our kids for a bit.
The teachers LOVE them...
Let's start with Kay...
You've heard of the teachers pet. Well Kay is ALL the teachers pet. All the teachers stop by at least once a day to pinch her cheeks and give her a squeeze. Who can blame them?! As Kay's teacher, Ma'am said, "she is totally pampered". Kay asks questions about everything they do in class - can I help, what's next, how does this work, why are we doing it this way... on and on. Then, when they have finished their activity (and all of Kay's questions) she tells Ma'am "that was wonderful" or "you did such a beautiful job" or "thank you Ma'am that was so much fun". Ma'am says Kay makes her feel so good about being a teacher. She also was so proud of Kay at the Christmas party yesterday at school. Kay was the only kid (in grade 1 or below) that asked, "but who is in the Santa outfit? where's the real Santa?" I hope she doesnt ruin it for everyone else....
Now Jimmy ...
His report card says "keen learner", "enthusiatic and friendly", "does very well in English and pronounciation" (no kidding...). Ma'am loves having him in class. He's friendly to everyone and will play with anyone. In fact, he stops by all the other classrooms on the way back from the bathroom to say "hi". (I would suspect this drives them a little crazy.) He also is VERY interested in learning and always wants to be the 1st one to answer a question. His Hindi Ma'am also wanted to tell us how proud she was of him that he now knows one letter in Hindi (how many are there?!). We didnt want to tell her that our housekeeper told us yesterday that Jimmy's now speaking phrases in Tamil (our housekeepers 1st language). Hindi Ma'am also said that since she is only in their class 2 days a week, he runs up to her to tell her "100 and 1 things about what's happened in the last week".
I think both have the "gift of gab" thanks to Tom's side of the family.
It also seems that we are raising future politicians....
The teachers LOVE them...
Let's start with Kay...
You've heard of the teachers pet. Well Kay is ALL the teachers pet. All the teachers stop by at least once a day to pinch her cheeks and give her a squeeze. Who can blame them?! As Kay's teacher, Ma'am said, "she is totally pampered". Kay asks questions about everything they do in class - can I help, what's next, how does this work, why are we doing it this way... on and on. Then, when they have finished their activity (and all of Kay's questions) she tells Ma'am "that was wonderful" or "you did such a beautiful job" or "thank you Ma'am that was so much fun". Ma'am says Kay makes her feel so good about being a teacher. She also was so proud of Kay at the Christmas party yesterday at school. Kay was the only kid (in grade 1 or below) that asked, "but who is in the Santa outfit? where's the real Santa?" I hope she doesnt ruin it for everyone else....
Now Jimmy ...
His report card says "keen learner", "enthusiatic and friendly", "does very well in English and pronounciation" (no kidding...). Ma'am loves having him in class. He's friendly to everyone and will play with anyone. In fact, he stops by all the other classrooms on the way back from the bathroom to say "hi". (I would suspect this drives them a little crazy.) He also is VERY interested in learning and always wants to be the 1st one to answer a question. His Hindi Ma'am also wanted to tell us how proud she was of him that he now knows one letter in Hindi (how many are there?!). We didnt want to tell her that our housekeeper told us yesterday that Jimmy's now speaking phrases in Tamil (our housekeepers 1st language). Hindi Ma'am also said that since she is only in their class 2 days a week, he runs up to her to tell her "100 and 1 things about what's happened in the last week".
I think both have the "gift of gab" thanks to Tom's side of the family.
It also seems that we are raising future politicians....
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Billy is now Two
Can you believe that our baby boy is now two!?! He had the time of his life on his birthday. To sum up Billy in one word is hard but if we had to, it would be... trucks. That's right he is a bonefied truckaholic. If you so much as look at one of his trucks you'd better watch out. It appears that everyone in the neighborhood is aware of this as well because he got a truck from every kid on the block including the drivers!! (I think they all want their trucks back as Billy is also a truck thief).
We tried to keep it simple, which translates in Bangalore to mean 12 kids 10 adults. We even had the no present rule and still it was chaos. We have several of our neighbors on our block that are Korean and they all brought food, it was very sweet of them. So, we had Chop Chae, Kim Bop and even Bolgogi. We were planning on going to dinner at one of the Korean resturants in town, but why bother when your Korean friends will bring a feast to your door?! The kids were in heaven, Jimmy ate a whole plate of Kim Bop on his own....
Billy's cake was to be shaped like a truck but turned out to be more of a car.The windows were made out of aluminum foil as were the windshield wipers, the rear and side view mirrors. The foil was to be removed before eating they informed us.
We also had ice cream and candles and Billy had to wait for Jimmy and then Kay to blow out his candles before he actually got his turn. It is great to have a brother and sister who love you so much.
Billy also got a new trike which has caused another stir. It seems that Jimmy and Kay think it is their's and true to Billy's attachment to "his' trucks he had to pinch each of them in the face to remind them who's truck it really was.
Billy finally went to bed and at 11:00pm. Dad had to go into his room and remove the truck from his bed as he was still making "varoom" sounds and keeping Mommy from a good night sleep... (See St Nick jiggle for background....)
Sunday, December 10, 2006
This weekend
We've had an incredibly busy weekend so we thought we'd share the highlights....
Friday night: We decide to have our neighbor friends over for A Christmas drink. The key word here is A. As background, there seems to be a mass exodus from Bangalore in the next week. Everyone heads to their respective home countries for extended holiday vacations. So, we thought we'd wish everyone well and have A friendly drink. It was a great night. Tom managed to get a fire started in our fire pit/grill and everyone brought snacky things to share. These type of potluck events get interesting as our friends are German, Irish and Canadian. We had cheese whiz, Bavarian sausage and chocolate and cream crackers. I was in heaven. Our German friends also brought their "hooka" pipe. Basially this is a water pipe through which you smoke flavored VERY mild tobacco. (really, no really). The oddest moment of the night was watching our friends sit down with their kids (ages 13, 10 & 7) and smoke hooka together. They totally admit that they would never do something like this in Germany, but as they say, what happens in India, stays in India. Everyone headed home at 1:30am and we were in bed by 2:00. So much for A drink.
Saturday: Tom and I awoke thinking . .. Naps Naps Naps ... But, TSI had an intercompany Cricket match that we had committed to bringing the kids to, so we were out the door at 9:3am. I have to admit that I know nothing about Cricket and after Saturday that hasnt changed. It is not an intuitive game. The kids had a great time though... they chased balls, drew with sticks in the sand, found an abandoned garbage pit and went looking for snakes in the weeds. Your typical wholesome Saturday morning in India... After a few hours of sufficiently driving my co-workers mad, we packed the kids up and headed home for lunch, baths and naps. For ONCE they cooperated and ALL of us had a 2 hour nap.
Saturday night: We woke up late for our next gathering. A wedding reception of a coworker followed by a party at our English friends house. My coworker insisted that I bring the kids, so the plan was... head to the reception, stay for an hour, meet Raj (our housekeeper) at our friends party, send him home with the kids, have the driver pick us up in 2 - 3 hours. This was a flawless plan, until you factor in Bangalore traffic. Needless to say, after sitting in the car (in a traffic jam) for 1 1/2 hrs, we had to give up hope of making it to the reception. The kids were starving and we were only 1/2 way there. We bailed and found the most fabulous Chinese restaruant. The kids got to eat noodles and Tom and I were able to enjoy a drink. We did the Superman change of clothes in the car and were ready for our next party. It was a rooftop party in the heart of the city. They had a tent, a groomed lawn, fabulous kebabs and a DJ. We met some really cool people and drank some decent wine. Plus we didnt have to clean up, so all in all, a good night!
Sunday: Today was the day. Our driver is finally getting engaged. It is an arranged marriage and you'd think that this was his last day on earth for how nervous he is. Now, dont get me wrong, he has wanted to get married for the last 4 months, I just think that the "gravity" of the decision is finally sinking in. For the engagement there is a big ceremony and he's asked us to specifically wear our best Indian clothes. The program started at 11:00 and was scheduled to go to 3:00. Having never been at an Indian engagement, I had no idea what to expect. Well... It is almost undescribable. 1st you arrive at a "hall" that is basically a grade school auditorium where they have for some unexplicable reason turned on the heat. There is a 16 piece band and 14 of the pieces are drums. People are sitting 2 to a seat and everyone is wearing their best and brighest clothes. ALL the women have jasime and flowers in their hair and the kids are running around like its Christmas. Then, there doesnt seem to be any start or stop to the ceremony. People talk, visit, stand, sit, move around...all through the ceremony. After 1 hour of this, the kids were getting a little antsy to say the least. I take them one at a time out for a potty break and a little fresh air. Another hour passes and Billy cannot be contained. He has spotted the velvet love seat that is on the "stage" and is bound and determined to sit in it. After 2 major meltdowns 2 feet away from the happy couple, I am sure they are wondering what they are in for. Jimmy of course had found the "boy posse" and was running up and down the stairs screaming, wrestling and chasing all the other boys ages 5-10. Kay had been swept away by one of Saravnans "aunties" and was getting her cheeks pinched by everyone in the room. We finally made it to pictures. This is an interesting part of Indian ceremonies. The couple stands on stage and EVERYONE files by, one by one and has their photo taken with the "happy" couple. This could go on for hours, I'm thinking, and it did. Saravanan had thought of everything though and one of his uncle led us to to a room that had cheese pizza and beer. THANK GOD!! We managed to wrap up a little after 1:30 and naps today consistented of a few minutes of shut eye in the car.
We came home, took a shower and went to bed.
Friday night: We decide to have our neighbor friends over for A Christmas drink. The key word here is A. As background, there seems to be a mass exodus from Bangalore in the next week. Everyone heads to their respective home countries for extended holiday vacations. So, we thought we'd wish everyone well and have A friendly drink. It was a great night. Tom managed to get a fire started in our fire pit/grill and everyone brought snacky things to share. These type of potluck events get interesting as our friends are German, Irish and Canadian. We had cheese whiz, Bavarian sausage and chocolate and cream crackers. I was in heaven. Our German friends also brought their "hooka" pipe. Basially this is a water pipe through which you smoke flavored VERY mild tobacco. (really, no really). The oddest moment of the night was watching our friends sit down with their kids (ages 13, 10 & 7) and smoke hooka together. They totally admit that they would never do something like this in Germany, but as they say, what happens in India, stays in India. Everyone headed home at 1:30am and we were in bed by 2:00. So much for A drink.
Saturday: Tom and I awoke thinking . .. Naps Naps Naps ... But, TSI had an intercompany Cricket match that we had committed to bringing the kids to, so we were out the door at 9:3am. I have to admit that I know nothing about Cricket and after Saturday that hasnt changed. It is not an intuitive game. The kids had a great time though... they chased balls, drew with sticks in the sand, found an abandoned garbage pit and went looking for snakes in the weeds. Your typical wholesome Saturday morning in India... After a few hours of sufficiently driving my co-workers mad, we packed the kids up and headed home for lunch, baths and naps. For ONCE they cooperated and ALL of us had a 2 hour nap.
Saturday night: We woke up late for our next gathering. A wedding reception of a coworker followed by a party at our English friends house. My coworker insisted that I bring the kids, so the plan was... head to the reception, stay for an hour, meet Raj (our housekeeper) at our friends party, send him home with the kids, have the driver pick us up in 2 - 3 hours. This was a flawless plan, until you factor in Bangalore traffic. Needless to say, after sitting in the car (in a traffic jam) for 1 1/2 hrs, we had to give up hope of making it to the reception. The kids were starving and we were only 1/2 way there. We bailed and found the most fabulous Chinese restaruant. The kids got to eat noodles and Tom and I were able to enjoy a drink. We did the Superman change of clothes in the car and were ready for our next party. It was a rooftop party in the heart of the city. They had a tent, a groomed lawn, fabulous kebabs and a DJ. We met some really cool people and drank some decent wine. Plus we didnt have to clean up, so all in all, a good night!
Sunday: Today was the day. Our driver is finally getting engaged. It is an arranged marriage and you'd think that this was his last day on earth for how nervous he is. Now, dont get me wrong, he has wanted to get married for the last 4 months, I just think that the "gravity" of the decision is finally sinking in. For the engagement there is a big ceremony and he's asked us to specifically wear our best Indian clothes. The program started at 11:00 and was scheduled to go to 3:00. Having never been at an Indian engagement, I had no idea what to expect. Well... It is almost undescribable. 1st you arrive at a "hall" that is basically a grade school auditorium where they have for some unexplicable reason turned on the heat. There is a 16 piece band and 14 of the pieces are drums. People are sitting 2 to a seat and everyone is wearing their best and brighest clothes. ALL the women have jasime and flowers in their hair and the kids are running around like its Christmas. Then, there doesnt seem to be any start or stop to the ceremony. People talk, visit, stand, sit, move around...all through the ceremony. After 1 hour of this, the kids were getting a little antsy to say the least. I take them one at a time out for a potty break and a little fresh air. Another hour passes and Billy cannot be contained. He has spotted the velvet love seat that is on the "stage" and is bound and determined to sit in it. After 2 major meltdowns 2 feet away from the happy couple, I am sure they are wondering what they are in for. Jimmy of course had found the "boy posse" and was running up and down the stairs screaming, wrestling and chasing all the other boys ages 5-10. Kay had been swept away by one of Saravnans "aunties" and was getting her cheeks pinched by everyone in the room. We finally made it to pictures. This is an interesting part of Indian ceremonies. The couple stands on stage and EVERYONE files by, one by one and has their photo taken with the "happy" couple. This could go on for hours, I'm thinking, and it did. Saravanan had thought of everything though and one of his uncle led us to to a room that had cheese pizza and beer. THANK GOD!! We managed to wrap up a little after 1:30 and naps today consistented of a few minutes of shut eye in the car.
We came home, took a shower and went to bed.
The Bus
The bus sagas continue...
Out of no where, Kay decided she wanted to ride the bus this week. So she started to just get on the bus. She is hysterical. It doesnt seem to bother her in the least anymore that neither Tom or Saravanan are with her. In fact, she was causing the school a lot of headache as we hadnt paid for the bus yet. The school called 3 days in a row so we finally signed her up. Thursday was the 1st official day that she was going to ride the bus both ways to school. It was suppose to come at 9:30am and at 9:15am we get a call from the bus driver ....
Bus driver: "where's Kay?"
Us: "I thought the bus came at 9:30"
Bus driver :"yes"
Us : "but its 9:15"
Bus driver: "yes"
So, we get into high speed getting Kay ready for school. All the time she's saying....
"Oh Man... I'm gonna be yate for the bus. I'm gonna be yate...." "Mommy hurry, I need my yipstick". Like she's been riding the bus for years....
On the other hand, Jimmy is currently not interested in taking the bus home... He has a friend that rides a different bus and for the last week, Jimmy has been refusing to get on his bus, and is trying to sneak into his friends bus. School called Tom 4 times on Tuesday in the hopes that Tom can talk him into it. It doesnt work. So far the only thing that works is to have the bus driver bribe him with bubble gum. Buy stock in the Super bubble gum company.
Out of no where, Kay decided she wanted to ride the bus this week. So she started to just get on the bus. She is hysterical. It doesnt seem to bother her in the least anymore that neither Tom or Saravanan are with her. In fact, she was causing the school a lot of headache as we hadnt paid for the bus yet. The school called 3 days in a row so we finally signed her up. Thursday was the 1st official day that she was going to ride the bus both ways to school. It was suppose to come at 9:30am and at 9:15am we get a call from the bus driver ....
Bus driver: "where's Kay?"
Us: "I thought the bus came at 9:30"
Bus driver :"yes"
Us : "but its 9:15"
Bus driver: "yes"
So, we get into high speed getting Kay ready for school. All the time she's saying....
"Oh Man... I'm gonna be yate for the bus. I'm gonna be yate...." "Mommy hurry, I need my yipstick". Like she's been riding the bus for years....
On the other hand, Jimmy is currently not interested in taking the bus home... He has a friend that rides a different bus and for the last week, Jimmy has been refusing to get on his bus, and is trying to sneak into his friends bus. School called Tom 4 times on Tuesday in the hopes that Tom can talk him into it. It doesnt work. So far the only thing that works is to have the bus driver bribe him with bubble gum. Buy stock in the Super bubble gum company.
Jolly Old St Nicholas
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, lean your ear this way
Dont you tell a single soul what I'm going to say
Christmas Eve is coming soon, now you dear old man
Whisper what you'll bring to me, tell me if you can
Mary wants a pair of skates
Susie wants a dolly
Kay Kay wants a kitchen set
Billy wants a trolley
Jimmy wants a BB gun
Daddy wants some wine
Mommy wants a good night sleep
Then we'll all be fine....
Dont you tell a single soul what I'm going to say
Christmas Eve is coming soon, now you dear old man
Whisper what you'll bring to me, tell me if you can
Mary wants a pair of skates
Susie wants a dolly
Kay Kay wants a kitchen set
Billy wants a trolley
Jimmy wants a BB gun
Daddy wants some wine
Mommy wants a good night sleep
Then we'll all be fine....
Sunday, November 26, 2006
The three loudest Americans - new photo!!
Tought we would post an updated photo of the kids. Jimmy 5, Kay 3 and Billy almost 2!
Fishing in India
…So it came to pass that God created the Heavens and the earth. He sat back to ponder his creation. He thought deep and hard, opened a Kingfisher, because at this point in the creation process, he was in India, otherwise He would have opened a Bud because even God has cravings. He thought to Himself, Self, I have created great lands but do I realize that 2/3 of these lands are covered with water, I must since I created them. I my have started what is to become a heated debate, should man sail, should man swim, should man drink or should man FISH.
And Fish man did, at least these two mortals attempted too.
Meandering through the woody snake infested landscape amidst the forests of Karnataka
(The state in which we live, land, not mind) is the mighty Cauvery, the most majestic and sacred river of south India.
My friend Greg Schmidt and I set off against all odds to a place called Bheemeshwari Fishing and Nature Camp, about 2 hours south of Bangalore, in search of the elusive and world renowned Mansheer. It’s a fish, the finest and largest sporting fish known to man.
To us it is a really big and extremely ugly fish. Hugh scales sucker type mouth, as Lyle Lovett said, She’s Ugly From the Front.
The place has beautiful landscape, the river is very wide and has some “small” rapids and as we came to find out, crocodiles. The guide informed us we had nothing to worry about.
We fished for about 3 hours the first day and nothing not even a bite! We had a great campfire and shares stories with the other anglers and even had a great night sleep.
The next morning promptly at 5:30 the monkeys started fighting on our front porch over the empty beer cans that were left on the table and then at 6:00 our guide knocked on our door with our morning coffee.
We set out again at 6:30 in search of the elusive Mansheer. Several hours later after navigating the “small” rapids we still had not caught a fish.
We were on the shore waiting for the jeep to take us back to camp when wham I had a fish. I fought the fish for about 10 minutes and finally got it to the shore. It was a 10lb Mansheer! My guide got into the water for what I assumed would be a relatively easy retrieve of my fish. I watched in horror as he all of a sudden broke the line and the fish was gone…seriously we caught one, really we did!
We returned to camp a little downtrodden and realized we still had a couple of cold beers left from the previous night. So we resumed the discussion, do we fish, sail, swim or…
Regardless of where you stand in this debate should you be in the vicinity of the Bheemeshwari Fishing camp it is worth the visit. Just beware of the vicious whirlpools and the crocodiles.!
And Fish man did, at least these two mortals attempted too.
Meandering through the woody snake infested landscape amidst the forests of Karnataka
(The state in which we live, land, not mind) is the mighty Cauvery, the most majestic and sacred river of south India.
My friend Greg Schmidt and I set off against all odds to a place called Bheemeshwari Fishing and Nature Camp, about 2 hours south of Bangalore, in search of the elusive and world renowned Mansheer. It’s a fish, the finest and largest sporting fish known to man.
To us it is a really big and extremely ugly fish. Hugh scales sucker type mouth, as Lyle Lovett said, She’s Ugly From the Front.
The place has beautiful landscape, the river is very wide and has some “small” rapids and as we came to find out, crocodiles. The guide informed us we had nothing to worry about.
We fished for about 3 hours the first day and nothing not even a bite! We had a great campfire and shares stories with the other anglers and even had a great night sleep.
The next morning promptly at 5:30 the monkeys started fighting on our front porch over the empty beer cans that were left on the table and then at 6:00 our guide knocked on our door with our morning coffee.
We set out again at 6:30 in search of the elusive Mansheer. Several hours later after navigating the “small” rapids we still had not caught a fish.
We were on the shore waiting for the jeep to take us back to camp when wham I had a fish. I fought the fish for about 10 minutes and finally got it to the shore. It was a 10lb Mansheer! My guide got into the water for what I assumed would be a relatively easy retrieve of my fish. I watched in horror as he all of a sudden broke the line and the fish was gone…seriously we caught one, really we did!
We returned to camp a little downtrodden and realized we still had a couple of cold beers left from the previous night. So we resumed the discussion, do we fish, sail, swim or…
Regardless of where you stand in this debate should you be in the vicinity of the Bheemeshwari Fishing camp it is worth the visit. Just beware of the vicious whirlpools and the crocodiles.!
Thanksgiving in India
Well, we knew that Thanksgiving here would be interesting, for starters, its 75 degrees every day and we all had to work. Beyond that, things were very interesting!
On Thursday, we celebrating Thanksgiving at "The Only Place" a local establishment that serves continental food (aka burgers and fries). We had a table of 20 reserved for all our Palm Meadows friends. Yes, we celebrated with the Germans, the Irish, the Canadians, the folks from New Jersey and our friends from Seattle/Arizona. The other Target expat were there as well.So, basically everyone we knew in Bangalore was at this place for dinner. They had a whole spread ... turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, brocoli, beans, carrots, rolls, garlic butter and pumpkin pie. They also have a corking fee of of just 100R ($2). This is fast becoming our favorite place:) We all ate too much and the kids played "Power Rangers". Just like at home!!
On Saturday, we had busy plans for the day. The Christmas Bazaar and hosting the Target expats for a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner.
The Christmas Bazaar was amazing. There were tents set up all over St Marks Cathedral and there must have been 200 vendors selling sweets, food, soda, crafts and other gift items. There was a huge stage, Santa, kid activities and pony rides. Needless to say, we had a great time. The kids were so excited to see Santa. They talked about it non-stop on the way to St Marks. The only concern was that Kay did not want Santa to touch her. She was adament about that! Jimmy was going to ask for a pretend BB gun with a pumper thing and a trigger (no lie, we didnt even prep him on this "Christmas Story"-esce request - I was cracking up). Kay wants a kitchen with a stove and Billy wants a tricycle (we think). They were all set to ask Santa for their gifts when they actually spotted Stanta. Now, keep in mind, this is India and the "suit" was made here. Needless to say Santa was a little on the skinny side and his beard was scotch taped to his face. They just stood and stared at him for about 10 min's. Then Kay, on the verge of crying, looks at me with a quivering lower lip and says... "Why is Santa...Daddy"? Sure enough, Tom was playing Santa for the Overseas Womens Club and Kay was the 1st to catch on. So, we had to explain that Santa got stuck in traffic (as we all do in India) and that the Reindeers got sick because of the food/heat (again, as we all do in India) so Santa had called Daddy and asked him a big favor. He needed Daddy to pretend he was Santa so that he could find out what all the kids wanted and then call Santa on his mobile phone to tell him. This explanation apeased the kids. Until they realize they got gypped out of seeing the real Santa. We heard nothing else for the last 2 days except... "Now, when can we see the REAL Santa?"
After our close experience with Santa, we were off to find another turkey. Tom had managed to find one early in the week, but once it was plucked and butchered, it only weighed 2.5kgs (5.5 lbs). That wasnt going to be enough for our feast. So, we were off again looking for a turkey. It turns out, that while you can buy a chicken from almost anyone on the street, turkeys are a rare commodity. We managed to find one at the local market. The shop was called "Wet Pets". Yep, it was a pet store and the had 2 live turkeys. Upon hearing we wanted to buy one, the guy started chasing them in an attempt to catch one. Imagine being in a very Indian open air market, with traffic, street vendors, etc... and this guy is chasing 2 turkeys down the block. We were laughing so hard we couldnt even take a picture. Needless to say, he was successful and we had VERY fresh turkey for dinner.
Even later that afternoon, ur friends the Chinese/French family next door, lent us their oven. Very overy nice of them considering they are vegetarian and they were going to have a recently deceased turkey in their oven for 4 hours. We did mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing (thanks to a visitor from the US that brought us 2 boxes of Stove Top - YUM!!), salad, apple and pumpkin pie. We also had great wine and even better company. We invited the neighbors to join us and they seemed to enjoy their 1st Thanksgiving meal (granted it was pretty much just carbs for them, but still good). The kids LOVED having company and were busy painting and giving tours of the house and their rooms.
We all fell into bed exhausted.
It was a good holiday weekend, all in all.
We did miss all of you (our friends and family at home). But, we know that we are so blessed to be loved and to love so many people all around the world.
Love and Happy Thanksgiving!!
On Thursday, we celebrating Thanksgiving at "The Only Place" a local establishment that serves continental food (aka burgers and fries). We had a table of 20 reserved for all our Palm Meadows friends. Yes, we celebrated with the Germans, the Irish, the Canadians, the folks from New Jersey and our friends from Seattle/Arizona. The other Target expat were there as well.So, basically everyone we knew in Bangalore was at this place for dinner. They had a whole spread ... turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, brocoli, beans, carrots, rolls, garlic butter and pumpkin pie. They also have a corking fee of of just 100R ($2). This is fast becoming our favorite place:) We all ate too much and the kids played "Power Rangers". Just like at home!!
On Saturday, we had busy plans for the day. The Christmas Bazaar and hosting the Target expats for a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner.
The Christmas Bazaar was amazing. There were tents set up all over St Marks Cathedral and there must have been 200 vendors selling sweets, food, soda, crafts and other gift items. There was a huge stage, Santa, kid activities and pony rides. Needless to say, we had a great time. The kids were so excited to see Santa. They talked about it non-stop on the way to St Marks. The only concern was that Kay did not want Santa to touch her. She was adament about that! Jimmy was going to ask for a pretend BB gun with a pumper thing and a trigger (no lie, we didnt even prep him on this "Christmas Story"-esce request - I was cracking up). Kay wants a kitchen with a stove and Billy wants a tricycle (we think). They were all set to ask Santa for their gifts when they actually spotted Stanta. Now, keep in mind, this is India and the "suit" was made here. Needless to say Santa was a little on the skinny side and his beard was scotch taped to his face. They just stood and stared at him for about 10 min's. Then Kay, on the verge of crying, looks at me with a quivering lower lip and says... "Why is Santa...Daddy"? Sure enough, Tom was playing Santa for the Overseas Womens Club and Kay was the 1st to catch on. So, we had to explain that Santa got stuck in traffic (as we all do in India) and that the Reindeers got sick because of the food/heat (again, as we all do in India) so Santa had called Daddy and asked him a big favor. He needed Daddy to pretend he was Santa so that he could find out what all the kids wanted and then call Santa on his mobile phone to tell him. This explanation apeased the kids. Until they realize they got gypped out of seeing the real Santa. We heard nothing else for the last 2 days except... "Now, when can we see the REAL Santa?"
After our close experience with Santa, we were off to find another turkey. Tom had managed to find one early in the week, but once it was plucked and butchered, it only weighed 2.5kgs (5.5 lbs). That wasnt going to be enough for our feast. So, we were off again looking for a turkey. It turns out, that while you can buy a chicken from almost anyone on the street, turkeys are a rare commodity. We managed to find one at the local market. The shop was called "Wet Pets". Yep, it was a pet store and the had 2 live turkeys. Upon hearing we wanted to buy one, the guy started chasing them in an attempt to catch one. Imagine being in a very Indian open air market, with traffic, street vendors, etc... and this guy is chasing 2 turkeys down the block. We were laughing so hard we couldnt even take a picture. Needless to say, he was successful and we had VERY fresh turkey for dinner.
Even later that afternoon, ur friends the Chinese/French family next door, lent us their oven. Very overy nice of them considering they are vegetarian and they were going to have a recently deceased turkey in their oven for 4 hours. We did mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing (thanks to a visitor from the US that brought us 2 boxes of Stove Top - YUM!!), salad, apple and pumpkin pie. We also had great wine and even better company. We invited the neighbors to join us and they seemed to enjoy their 1st Thanksgiving meal (granted it was pretty much just carbs for them, but still good). The kids LOVED having company and were busy painting and giving tours of the house and their rooms.
We all fell into bed exhausted.
It was a good holiday weekend, all in all.
We did miss all of you (our friends and family at home). But, we know that we are so blessed to be loved and to love so many people all around the world.
Love and Happy Thanksgiving!!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The end of the world as we know it
This is an appropriate theme song for the day...
Last night, our world ended as we know it.
Yes, after not quite 24 months, Billy has learned to crawl out of his crib. I was getting ready for bed last night, heard a commotion, turned around and there was Billy, giggling uncontrollably. I didnt know if I should laugh or cry. Now, instead of having 2 little people in and out of our room all night, we'll have 3. I suspect we wont be getting a full night sleep for a while. All the kids were so excited and proud of his feat that they made him do it over and over again. Finally, we gave up. They were all in Jimmy's bed cuddling and we were hoping they'ed fall asleep. (yeah right) Instead, Jimmy comes out crying ... We asked him what was wrong...
"There are too many kids in my bed".
'nough said.
Last night, our world ended as we know it.
Yes, after not quite 24 months, Billy has learned to crawl out of his crib. I was getting ready for bed last night, heard a commotion, turned around and there was Billy, giggling uncontrollably. I didnt know if I should laugh or cry. Now, instead of having 2 little people in and out of our room all night, we'll have 3. I suspect we wont be getting a full night sleep for a while. All the kids were so excited and proud of his feat that they made him do it over and over again. Finally, we gave up. They were all in Jimmy's bed cuddling and we were hoping they'ed fall asleep. (yeah right) Instead, Jimmy comes out crying ... We asked him what was wrong...
"There are too many kids in my bed".
'nough said.
photos below
The photos below are of our day with Jessie, we saw ..
Shiv monument
Ganesh monument
Bangalore Palace
As you can see Billy is being carried around by his personal assistant, Saravanan, our driver:)
Shiv monument
Ganesh monument
Bangalore Palace
As you can see Billy is being carried around by his personal assistant, Saravanan, our driver:)
Photos of Bangalore with Jessies
Outside of Bull Temple, Inside of Bull Temple and Shiv Temple.Sorry these are a little out of order...photos from our weekend with Jessie.... Forgot to publish them!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
India-isms & English-isms
India-isms
As it is commonly known, India was ruled by the British for quite a while. Long enough, in fact, that many of the common phrases seem to be straight from the U.K. I thought I'd list out the more popular ones so that when you visit you dont need a translator:)
Needful - To do what's required of one... "I will do the needful" You are never quite sure what the needful is, but as long as its done, I guess it doesnt matter.
Come - A command asking someone to come closer ... "Come, Come"
Tell me - A common greeting on the phone instead of Hello ... Ring, Ring... "Tell me" - these last 2 give a glimpse into how "bossy" folks can be here...
Look after - To be responsible for something. .... "I look after Merchandising in Business Services at TSI" I particularly like this one as it has a nuturing ring to it.
Revert - To respond with an answer ... "Please revert by tomorrow" So formal:)
Paining - To hurt... "I have paining in my ear" Not sure what to say to this one...
Pre-Pone - To have a meeting earlier than scheduled "Since I am in the office now, could we pre-pone the meeting". Seems like a bit of a double negative to me, but I cant figure out why this isnt proper terminology....
Fix it - To do something, cross it off your to do list ... "Tracy, I have fixed it." "Dont worry, I'll fix it". Used in many situations...making a dinner reservation, calling the handiman, booking airline tickets, etc. I like the finality of this. I appeals to my strong need for closure:) (Anyone who has read my PE will get this point...)
Erstwhile - In the meantime, meanwhile - back at the ranch "Tracy was at work, erstwhile, Tom was napping with the kids". This one cracks us up. It seems so proper!!
English-isms
There are also many people here who dont speak English as their 1st language, this is a great conversation trap for those of us that are native speakers but utterly clueless as to the rules/history of the language. My neighbor speaks at least 3 languages and tutors in English. She has asked me the following.... Maybe you can help me out on some of these as I didnt have the answer...
Shin dig - Why do we call parties shin digs and do we really use this term? What's the origin of the word? (she heard it on Desparate Housewives of all places).
Tend - Do you tend your garden or do you tend to your garden? Which is proper English and why?
Fish vs Fishes - Fish is the plural of fish, right? Unless you are talking about many different kinds of fish that are all in the same place, then would you call them fishes?
Foursome - Why do they call it a foursome and not - group of four or golfing partners. The whole concept of "tee-ing off" and a "tee box" was hard to explain too. She saw all of this on a Nokia commercial. Its good to know people are learning their English from TV.
As it is commonly known, India was ruled by the British for quite a while. Long enough, in fact, that many of the common phrases seem to be straight from the U.K. I thought I'd list out the more popular ones so that when you visit you dont need a translator:)
Needful - To do what's required of one... "I will do the needful" You are never quite sure what the needful is, but as long as its done, I guess it doesnt matter.
Come - A command asking someone to come closer ... "Come, Come"
Tell me - A common greeting on the phone instead of Hello ... Ring, Ring... "Tell me" - these last 2 give a glimpse into how "bossy" folks can be here...
Look after - To be responsible for something. .... "I look after Merchandising in Business Services at TSI" I particularly like this one as it has a nuturing ring to it.
Revert - To respond with an answer ... "Please revert by tomorrow" So formal:)
Paining - To hurt... "I have paining in my ear" Not sure what to say to this one...
Pre-Pone - To have a meeting earlier than scheduled "Since I am in the office now, could we pre-pone the meeting". Seems like a bit of a double negative to me, but I cant figure out why this isnt proper terminology....
Fix it - To do something, cross it off your to do list ... "Tracy, I have fixed it." "Dont worry, I'll fix it". Used in many situations...making a dinner reservation, calling the handiman, booking airline tickets, etc. I like the finality of this. I appeals to my strong need for closure:) (Anyone who has read my PE will get this point...)
Erstwhile - In the meantime, meanwhile - back at the ranch "Tracy was at work, erstwhile, Tom was napping with the kids". This one cracks us up. It seems so proper!!
English-isms
There are also many people here who dont speak English as their 1st language, this is a great conversation trap for those of us that are native speakers but utterly clueless as to the rules/history of the language. My neighbor speaks at least 3 languages and tutors in English. She has asked me the following.... Maybe you can help me out on some of these as I didnt have the answer...
Shin dig - Why do we call parties shin digs and do we really use this term? What's the origin of the word? (she heard it on Desparate Housewives of all places).
Tend - Do you tend your garden or do you tend to your garden? Which is proper English and why?
Fish vs Fishes - Fish is the plural of fish, right? Unless you are talking about many different kinds of fish that are all in the same place, then would you call them fishes?
Foursome - Why do they call it a foursome and not - group of four or golfing partners. The whole concept of "tee-ing off" and a "tee box" was hard to explain too. She saw all of this on a Nokia commercial. Its good to know people are learning their English from TV.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Jessie Stoll and the sites of Bangalore
Well, we had our 1st official guest this weekend. Jessie Stoll came down from Moosorie (northerm India in the hills) for a long weekend in Bangalore. It was great to have her here. It gave us an excuse to see parts of Bangalore we hadnt seen before and the kids LOVED having an extended "sleep over":). I think she had fun. She commented that Bangalore was so clean. Holy cow, if Bangalore is clean, I am scared to see the rest of India!!
Jessie is my long time friend, boss, mentor, Paul Stoll's daughter. She is also an Ole and just graduated. She's doing her student teaching at Woodstock, an international boarding school in Moosorie. She will be teaching there through the spring and then home for a Minnesota summer before she commits herself to 2 years in the Peace Corp in Central Asia.
She's incredibly brave and adventurous and has been traveling around India for 2 weeks all on her own (she has another 2 weeks to go). She is especially brave to visit the LoudAmericans for 3 whole days.
The highlight of the weekend was our "tour" of Bangalore. Tom and Saravanan had it all planned out... Bull Temple, Krishna Center for Higher Thought, the Palace and finally Shiv Temple. This was all carefully planned around a stop at KFC for lunch. We go all out for our guests:) Actually this was the drivers request.... KFC for lunch. Since he was driving us around for 9 hours to go 30 kilometers, I figured he deserved this...
Little did we know that included in our tour of the day was 1 public bathroom, 1 random restaruant bathroom, a side of the road "pit stop", the KFC bathroom, the Palace bathroom and finally our own home bathroom. Needless to say, this is what you get with 3 kids in 1 car. I think we had stopped to go potty 3 times before we saw anything of historical interest. Please refer to the prior "10 things I learned on vacation" blog. My newly learned bodily function tricks came in handy again.
We rented "Oliver!" mainly because I had the song "Consider yourself at home" stuck in my brain. Rent it. Is surreal. The bull terriers name in the movie is Bullseye. Coincidence? I think not!
Then, Sunday was a lazy day of playing with kids, the gym, naps and a pedicure (for Jessie). She was a doll and watched the kids Sunday night so that we could go for dinner with a new coworker. It was great for us, but I'm afraid Jessie is scared off of having kids and thinks that all we eat is KFC, Pizza Hut, Fruit Loops and Pop Tarts . Can you tell who went shopping last?!
I'll have Tom post some pictures. It was a really great weekend. I hope you had fun Jessie, I am sure we'll be talking about you for weeks to come! Good luck with your travels, maybe you'll have 5 loud visitors this spring...
Jessie is my long time friend, boss, mentor, Paul Stoll's daughter. She is also an Ole and just graduated. She's doing her student teaching at Woodstock, an international boarding school in Moosorie. She will be teaching there through the spring and then home for a Minnesota summer before she commits herself to 2 years in the Peace Corp in Central Asia.
She's incredibly brave and adventurous and has been traveling around India for 2 weeks all on her own (she has another 2 weeks to go). She is especially brave to visit the LoudAmericans for 3 whole days.
The highlight of the weekend was our "tour" of Bangalore. Tom and Saravanan had it all planned out... Bull Temple, Krishna Center for Higher Thought, the Palace and finally Shiv Temple. This was all carefully planned around a stop at KFC for lunch. We go all out for our guests:) Actually this was the drivers request.... KFC for lunch. Since he was driving us around for 9 hours to go 30 kilometers, I figured he deserved this...
Little did we know that included in our tour of the day was 1 public bathroom, 1 random restaruant bathroom, a side of the road "pit stop", the KFC bathroom, the Palace bathroom and finally our own home bathroom. Needless to say, this is what you get with 3 kids in 1 car. I think we had stopped to go potty 3 times before we saw anything of historical interest. Please refer to the prior "10 things I learned on vacation" blog. My newly learned bodily function tricks came in handy again.
We rented "Oliver!" mainly because I had the song "Consider yourself at home" stuck in my brain. Rent it. Is surreal. The bull terriers name in the movie is Bullseye. Coincidence? I think not!
Then, Sunday was a lazy day of playing with kids, the gym, naps and a pedicure (for Jessie). She was a doll and watched the kids Sunday night so that we could go for dinner with a new coworker. It was great for us, but I'm afraid Jessie is scared off of having kids and thinks that all we eat is KFC, Pizza Hut, Fruit Loops and Pop Tarts . Can you tell who went shopping last?!
I'll have Tom post some pictures. It was a really great weekend. I hope you had fun Jessie, I am sure we'll be talking about you for weeks to come! Good luck with your travels, maybe you'll have 5 loud visitors this spring...
Thursday, November 16, 2006
#4 Cherry Tree Lane
On a fabulous November evening the inhabitants of #4 in Palm Meadows got together for a Grand Party.
The evening was great.
There are 14 homes on our block and there are 16 children aging from newborn to 12.
Each of the family’s brought food and since we have family’s from Korea, India, Germany, Sigapore, France, Italy, and the US the spread was delicious. We had BBQ lamb and fish, Indian BBQ, Chap Che, Pu Chim Gay, and Korean Chicken. Lasagna, many salads, fruits and of course Chocolate cake!!
Our neighbor and new friend Arun arranged the entire party. He had a friend come out and put a spot light on every Palm Tree on the block as well as hired a three-person band to entertain us. He did as great job and we found out the night of the party that it was actually his wife’s Birthday!!
The family’s all finally got to meet each other exchange stories and everyone had a great time.
A big thanks to Arun for all his work!!
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