Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Chennai

Just after New Year's we took the overnight train to Chennai (on the southeastern coast of India) to spend a few days with our friends Lydia and Judah (they live in Ooty, but were on holiday with Lydia's family). Lydia's parents graciously let us stay in their home, and Lydia was an excellent tour guide of the city. Some of the highlights were visiting a snake park, playing in the ocean, going to an amusement/water park, shopping, and just relaxing with friends. Ryan also led worship in Lydia's brother's church on Sunday, and then sang in one of the english services at New Life Church (the largest church in Chennai). I'll post several pictures with captions so you can get a taste of our adventures.

The kids at the entrance to the amusement/water park called Queensland. We had such a great day!


Addie getting a lesson on how to drive a bumper car. It was funny to us that she was trying to explain to a 3 year old how to drive, and even funnier that she was doing it in Tamil.


At the water park playing in the wave pool. Addie wasn't all that impressed with the ocean waves, but she kind of liked the calm side of the pool. Also, here's a pic of the "baby bump".


On St. Thomas Mount overlooking the city.

Lauren: "I'm so glad I wore a ponytail!"
Judah: "Are my eyes open?"
Brenna: "Why did I even bother brushing my hair?!"

Addie playing with Judah and his cousin.

Playing in the sand - lots of fun, but a huge mess to clean up!




It's been a busy month!

We've had a great few weeks off of school, but I haven't been very good about updating our blog. I'll post some pictures over the next few hours so you can see what we've been up to!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Chocolate Fondue and Testicles (no, I am not making this up)


**Disclaimer: if you are offended by the title of this post, then you probably shouldn't read any further. If you have been diagnosed with a medical condition such as glaucoma, high blood pressure, heart disease, or emphysema, then you should proceed reading with caution.**




Ryan and I have decided that Lauren and Brenna are both "too young" and "too old" to be watching the movie My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding. This realization came to us when our daughters started talking about testicles during our traditional Christmas Eve chocolate fondue dinner. The conversation went something like this...

Lauren (or Brenna, it's hard to remember) asked, "What are testicles?" Being the serious health professional that I am, replied, "You know, they're those ball things that boys have." (to which Ryan rolled his eyes and muttered, "Unbelievable.") I shot back at him a grin that said, "Well then, you give it a try." To which he replied with a look that said, "Fine, maybe I will." At which point Brenna interrupted our non-verbal conversation with, "Lauren told me that they're in your knees!" To which Lauren exclaimed, "I did not!". "Oh, yeah," Brenna retracted, "You said that testicles were the things that hold your pelvis together - but that's your kidneys, right Mom?" "What?! No." I said (trying not to laugh, but laughing anyways). Then Lauren replied, "Well, how am I supposed to know?" and then asked, "What's a pelvis?" (to which no one replied).

Ryan, trying to get back to the original question said, in a calm manner, "Have you guys ever seen animals around town like goats, dogs..." Just then, Lauren interrupted enthusiastically, "and chickens!!". At which point I exclaimed, "What?!? No, not chickens!" At which point Ryan and I start laugh uncontrollably, and I think I started crying.

Just then, Brenna stood up, put one finger in the air, and with a look on her face like a lightbulb had just turned on in her head stated, "I've seen a cow with six testicles!!" At this point we all started laughing hysterically, and continued to do so for several minutes. This was until the laughter slowly died down, one of us gave the "post laughter sigh", and Ryan and I looked at each other as if to say, "What made us think that we were qualified to raise children?".

Don't worry, Addie missed out on this conversation because she had already overdosed on chocolate and "pencils" (pretzels - turns out she loves them and can't remember ever having them before), and was dancing around the table doing her impersonation of Maria from The Sound of Music (a much more appropriate movie for children).

Also, just to let you know.... when we finished eating we let the girls open one Christmas present. When they were done I told them it was time to go upstairs and go to bed. Brenna, quite surprised at this, even though it was already after 8:30pm, said, "But we didn't have a proper dinner!" At which point Ryan and I started laughing again, both at all of the "improper" things that had been said around the table, and at the fact that our 8 year old was complaining about having to eat fruit, cheese, chips, sausages, and chocolate for dinner on Christmas Eve! Oh, well... I guess that's what we get for raising our children at a British residential school.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Shrew Update


Tonight as Lauren left the house to go to prep (like homework club) a shrew ran inside, and ran straight into the trap in the kitchen! Seriously, this shrew has a problem... so, Ryan and the girls let it loose down the hill. We'll see how long it takes it to come "home".

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

One Nation, Reading Together


On Friday in Junior School they celebrated "One Nation, Reading Together", an event to promote literacy in India. All of the children were encouraged to dress up like a character from a book, and they had special literacy activities throughout the day. Lauren was Fern from Charlotte's Web, Brenna was Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia, and Addie was Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

In the evening we celebrated Thanksgiving with our American friends. It made for a long day, but we had such a good time with great friends. And we ate more food than I've ever eaten at a Thanksgiving dinner in the US - it was incredible!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Taming of the Shrew




We've had a shrew in our house for the past few days. We know it's been living in our kitchen, and we know that it came in through the hole where the washing machine drains (yes, we bought a washing machine!). However, we've been unable to catch it, even though we've tried, as you can see from the pictures. We didn't really want to kill it (remember how upset Ryan was when I accidentally shut this little shrew's brother in the front door?) so we got a box trap. And we caught it... twice, but it kept escaping. Then Ryan noticed that it was starting to pee and poo in the box trap. Great, so not only did we have a shrew living with us, but it was house trained!?! Well, it finally had enough of us tonight and it started shrieking in the kitchen (probably thought it was dying of starvation or somehow got shocked under the fridge), and so we chased it back out the hole from where it came in. And then we promptly mixed up some plaster of paris and plugged the hole. So, for now little shrew stay outdoors where you belong... until that unlucky day when you meet your demise in the front door.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Hollywood meets Bollywood






Twice a year the Student Council at Hebron puts on a dress up event. This semester the theme for the SC Event was Hollywood meets Bollywood (for those of you who don't know, Bollywood is the name of the Indian film industry). Being Americans, we jumped at the chance to show off our Hollywood style - and tried to convince our friends that we usually dress like this when we're in the States (yeah, right). Anyway, enjoy the pictures... Brenna is Maria from The Sound of Music, Lauren is Miley Cyrus from Hannah Montana, Addie is a princess (this is what she always dresses up like), I'm just some movie star with way too much make up, and it wasn't intentional but Ryan ended up looking a lot like Bono from U2.