American Traditions

We will be busy Christmas Eve and Christmas night, so we decided to make cookies, have apple cider, and watch Christmas movies. Even though it's warm outside and business as usual this week in South Asia, we were able to create the atmosphere in our home at least!

 

Apple Cider

 

 

New Pj's!

Train Rides In India

Between the both of us, Jimmy and I have ridden trains in 3rd world countries, traveled hours in a dug-out canoe on the Amazon and ridden in rickety 2-seater airplanes...that was before marriage, and before kids! Kids change everything - before we'd be up for anything and everything. We've become exhausted, germ-conscious people in a matter of 5 years. Therefore, you will be able to see from the pictures which train ride we preferred!

Back in July we had our first round-trip Indian train ride. The first one was very pleasant. The second, an overnight sleeper train was not as pleasant. Maybe it was because we were supposed to have 3 bunks, but only got two. Or maybe it was because we were the bunk right by the exit and bathroom, so everyone passed us all night to use the restroom. Or maybe because the bathrooms smelled so "lovely". But mostly trying to sleep in a bunk with two children stretched out, leaving me no room, made for a very restless sleep. It was an experience though!

1st train ride: Early morning, coffee, breakfast served, coffee again, nice large seats, ac, very enjoyable train ride.

Return trip: After 3 hours in a car, 4 hours on a plane, we arrive at the train station late at night. As I took this picture we were lost in a sea of people, trying to find our train, with two children and luggage. We were standing out like a sore thumb. It's blazing hot and humid. Not fun.

Finally, found our train, and our bunk. The kids were ecstatic! This was such an adventure for them.

The adults....not so much. His face sums up how we feel about the next 6 hours sharing a toddler sized bunk bed between the four of us. See the man photobombing Jimmy? He's waiting for the bathroom.

But, we are glad to be on our last leg home and ready to get some shut eye!

Or maybe not. I had less than half of the toddler bunk to try and sleep in. Oh well. It made for fun pictures!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

We've celebrated a lot of birthdays here in the past couple of months - our own birthdays and friends birthdays. I don't even have pictures for all the birthdays we've been to, but here are some!

This was a birthday party of the daughter of a friend of ours. They were so sweet to invite us, as we were surrounded by about 40 of their family members. In India they will feed cake to each other, much like a bride and groom at a wedding. It's a fun photo opp anyway!

Brynn's sweet friend Mira's birthday party. Love all these kids!

Hands down the most fun I've had at a kid's birthday party! This one was at Snow City - a huge indoor place where they blow snow. I actually felt like I was sledding down our driveway in NC. The birthday girl blew out some type of flare on her birthday cake in the dark. Jimmy missed out on this one, so we're going back for sure!

Luke's birthday at school (top picture), and at a friend's house.

Jimmy's birthday w/ a cookie cake. Notice in both pictures Luke couldn't wait to get started on the sweets!

My little party, with a chocolate/Nutella cake made by Jimmy!

City Market

For some reason it took me a year and a half to go to the City Market. Mainly because I never knew how to get there, and if I tried to go there myself, I would be overwhelmed and lost in the crowd...never to find my way out of that place! I went with a local and a couple of friends to buy saris for Christmas gifts, and ended up finding inexpensive Christmas decorations (not easy to find in this city - the inexpensive part).  It was a complete overload of the senses, but fun. I kept snapping pictures instead of focusing on shopping. The pictures don't do it justice - easily half of the almost 10 million people that live in this city were there!

A picture I took from the top of one of the buildings: some of the residences.

Can't Get Enough Shakes!

Just a picture of Jimmy and Brynn at their favorite place...the milkshake stand. Actually I don't know if it's a smoothie or a milkshake, but it's fresh fruit and milk. I don't drink them, so I'm not sure, but Jimmy and Brynn can't resist. 

These stands are everywhere! If we are going by one, this is the scene:

Thanksgiving in India

Our second Thanksgiving in India was a blessing. Although we were not with our families, we have a "family" here, and it was great to get together and enjoy some American dishes!!  Thanks to our friends who brought turkey and wassail/cider - it was as close to home as we could get.

We celebrated as Americans without the nationals, simply because most do not have the day off from work or school, and they really don't like the American food!

Here are some pics from a Thanksgiving celebration overseas.

Dessert Table

Mmmmm!

Luke going straight for dessert. Doesn't everyone have Krispy Kreme donuts at Thanksgiving?
You should!

The kids playing outside....waiting for the food to be ready!

A Little Patch of Paradise

Seeing grass in this city is a rarity. When there are areas that have grass, you most certainly can't walk or sit on it. There are a couple of large parks that have an abundance of weeds that can pass for grass, but they are pretty far away from our house. We found a little piece of paradise with real sod! Real grass you can walk on and sit on! It is close to our house. It cost about 60¢ per adult to enter the park. It's wonderful. We kept touching the grass with our hands, and Luke just rolled around like he was on plush carpet. Why it took us a year and a half to check out what we suspected was there is beyond me.

Yep, it's real

Luke rolling...

...and rolling, and rolling.

Baby Blessings!

Between August 29th and October 1st, we've had three new little people join our extended family. Jim's sisters each had a baby, and Heather's sister had baby. It's hard to be on the other side of the world when these important life events take place, but we are very thankful for at least being able to Skype. All the mommies and babies are healthy, and we feel so blessed to have a new niece and 2 new nephews.

 Click on the picture for a larger view of these cuties!

Mom in India!

Our first guest from the States, and the first time we've seen family in over a year. We had fun, but it went by too fast. We wish all our family could visit, but it is a long way over here. Thank goodness for Skype! Here are some pictures from Heather's mom's visit.

 

 

 

 

Brynn and Mom get chapati-making lessons (Indian flatbread, pretty much tortillas). Brynn shows off her finished chapati, and they both taste test.

Visiting with some beggar women and children in a friend's home.

American Football in India!

In India there is cricket, only cricket. I thought I would see some soccer (or football as they call it everywhere else in the world), but only cricket. It's as big as hockey in Canada. We don't watch much football, as it would mean waking up in the middle of the night to watch it online. Oddly, we don't miss it much, even though we both loved football back in the States.

We had a day that made us feel, for a few hours, that we were back in America. There is an American Football League here in India, and we went to one of their final games. The highlight for me was sitting on a blanket in the grass - something you really never do here in the city. The teams were pumped to play and loved this contact sport, and it was fun to watch them.   After living outside the U.S. for over a year now, I can see how silly it is that we call this sport football.

One funny thing: The goal posts looked like they were purchased at Toys R Us, and were about 4 feet wide. One extra point was attempted unsuccessfully, then the rest of the game each team tried for 2 points. No field goal attempts. I can see why. This first picture shows a shot of the goal posts in the background.

Brynn kept saying, "Go Warthogs!" Haha!

It was breezy - almost could have been a fall day in America, watching football, yep it felt normal.