Mumbai and Ajanta/Ellora Caves

Gateway of India

Little refreshment road side stop for some Thumbs Up Cola

Ellora bus ride. The people crowded out the bus monkeys.

Ajanta "caves"

Blondie and the continual paparazzi - she can pout like the best of them

We started our Indian adventure with my parents, uncle, our children and ourselves piled into an Inova, unencumbered by seatbelts and carseats, free to move about the car as we were free to move and honk about Mumbai traffic, unencumbered by lane markers and the sense of "space entitlement" that we usually impose on ourselves and those driving by. Through the trip, the girls would press their faces to the glass (or jump on the seats) as we would pass rickshaws, colorfully painted lorries, motorbikes with entire families perched on top, elephants, horses, camels, pigs, and the colorful scenes of India. Even the thumb sucker didn't get dissentery, so we must have done something wrong, like avoid too much street food, but overall, I think we will have to call the adventure a success thanks to Dan's planning, some good fortune, and dodging most of the bad luck. Even if Sela and Skye won't remember this when they are old and in elementary school, Sela may never where muted tones again after staring in amazement at all the "bootiful dresses" of all the Indian "princesses" and Skye has toned the biceps in her right arm after raising a salute to everything that even resembled an elephant with an accompanying "Uuunggh" trumpeting sound. My parents have added a few Hindu dieties to their list, Dave has seemingly added a new foreign antigen to his lungs, and Dan and I have always wanted to dance by a bamboo bonfire while burning sparklers with an energetic Santa and a good bass beat thumping in our ears for Christmas. Something for everyone in this diverse country. So, here's to rice and sweet lime soda......

Thanksgiving

The crew

The prep

The feast

The burn off

The workers

The tree

Well, doesn't that look fun

The cousins

The face

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday with family that traveled from afar to enjoy New York in it's finest brown tones. River was so entranced, he didn't want to miss a minute, even curious about what we had to offer at various hours of the night. The cousins got along smashingly, without too much smashing. The adults mostly did as well. In the end, I would call the whole event a success. I mean, how else would we have gotten a group shot with almost everyone smiling?

Kansas

Here we are now, entertain us

Air-spoon tribute to 20 years of Nirvana

Galoshes

3!

As Sela asked us to borrow the car keys the other day to go out on the town, prefaced with, "I'm in the 3 year-old room," and an all-knowing raise of the eyebrows that indicated, "need I say more?", we knew that she indeed was growing big and mature. Mature enough to get her own water when she feels "drinky", and mature enough to put on her own tutu over her shorts before going on a jog with mom, and certainly mature enough to find the best hide-and-go-seek hiding places in the middle of an empty floor by laying face down with her eyes covered. Need I say more? Happy birthday, big girl.


OK, so this is grandma's birthday, but she is also a big girl.

As I am forced to listen to an online lecture about preventing fires in the operating room and how to properly clean your colonoscope (in any way relevant to me?), I will write about our vacation last month to Southern Colorado. I remember sitting on a big rock with Mika up a canyon in college looking at a "cool swoop" in the pattern in the rock wall and discussing, in the very profound way that you discuss things in college, the hope to find people to share life with who have the approximate same definition, or at least an unspoken understanding of the meaning of the word "cool" that we already knew to be true. When he is not leaving me for adventures in more exotic places of the world (not cool), then I'm lucky enough to be able to convey complex intricacies and details of a situation to Dan with the simple few words of "it was so cool!". I also know that I can still tell Mika and Mark, when we visit, that we need to have good tacos, a great hike, or the perfect camping spot, and not much more needs be said. Raise up your glass of Minute Maid orange juice to cool friends and cool places.

4th of July

The days of matching dresses begins...

Somewhere along the way, I started to think that you aren't truly a good mother unless you can make matching dresses for your girls, and so it begins. Dan is just dying to get a matching vest.

Italy and India

This summer was crazy. It seems like I was never in the same place for two weeks in a row. Work took over life and all I have is a few pictures for Sela. I did get lucky enough to catch up with family on one of the many trips and saw Rome while catching a conference.