Kodaikanal International School

On day two of our trip to Kodai, I spent the morning with in the Health Center with the school doctor (a great experience!) and the girls decided they wanted to go to school. Luckily, the teachers at KIS were very accommodating, and the girls ended up spending most of the day in class. In the afternoon, Ryan and I sat outside of the elementary school waiting for the bell to ring. It was kind of a strange way to spend a day of vacation, but we were really glad that the girls had such a good time. Brenna said that being in school that day helped her feel "100% American".

The view of the elementary school.

Looking down from the elementary school - over the playground.

Addie getting ready to paint in the preschool classroom - after she had run away from her outdoor PE lesson because she saw a dog on the field!

Matching glasses - Addie found hers in the dress-up box in her classroom.

Brenna working on a science project in her class.

A picture of the girls in our hotel room on the last morning of our trip - eating some amazing cinnamon rolls that Barb had found at a local bakery. Notice that Brenna is up, dressed, and ready for the day. Addie is awake, but still in pajamas. And Lauren is fast asleep. Yep, that's how it goes!

Kodaikanal

The day after the solar eclipse we went on a weekend trip to Kodaikanal. Kodai is another hill station about 8 hours away from Ooty. Some friends of ours, Barb and Torulf Holmberg, from here at Hebron lived and worked at the American school there when their kids were young like ours (actually, Torulf attended the school when he was a small boy). They were very generous to meet us in Kodai and show us around. We had such a great time - that is, after we got up the hairpin bends. The views were breathtaking, but so was the fact that we almost were run off the mountain by another bus.

Solar Eclipse

Here are some pictures of the solar eclipse we had on January 15th. It was wild -the shadows were all eclipsed (if this is the right term), and the light was really strange - like your eyes couldn't quite adjust to it. I got all kinds of comments about being outside during an eclipse while being pregnant. It's a superstition that if you do, then your baby will be born with a cleft lip. Well, you know me... I'm really not into superstition. But, if this baby is born with a cleft lip, then I'm leaving the country!

In the afternoon, once the eclipse was over, we went to a hotel across town with friends for afternoon tea. The kids had a great time playing with rabbits, riding bicycles, playing badminton, and going on pony rides. We had a great time just sitting in the sun.

Back to Blogging

Okay, so I just got on our blog and realized that my last post was over 2 months ago - how pathetic! I think there has just been so much going on that I felt a bit too overwhelmed to blog. My mom must have picked up on it too, because she's usually the one telling me to post some new pictures and stories and she hasn't mentioned it recently :) So, I'll be posting some new stuff over the next couple of days. Just don't be too surprised if it's not really "new" - it'll actually be updates on our life here in India over the past two months.

Mahabs and Pondicherry

After a few days in Chennai we ventured down the coast to Mahabs (Mahabalipuram) where there are ancient stone carvings and a shore temple. It would have cost us $5 to see the temple, so we opted to just see the stone carvings. It was a rainy day, but we got some great pics of Ryan and the kids on this huge stone hill with a boulder (if you can call it that) named Krishna's Butter Ball.

Further down the coast was Pondicherry, a former French colony. This is where a lot of pottery and paper is made. I have very few pictures of our time here since a lot of the places we went were affiliated with an ashram where photography wasn't allowed, but I did get a few shots of the house where we stayed and of one of the rooftop restaurants we ate at on January 6th. It just happened to be my grandma's birthday, so I ordered Quiche Lorraine in her honor (since her name is Lorraine). It was wonderful!

Singing in the Wind

Whoever wrote the song "Singin' in the Rain" obviously never met Addie, because she prefers to sing in the wind. We went up to St. Thomas Mount in Chennai where it is reported that Thomas the disciple, and first missionary to India, fled for his life just before being martyred. The church has a large shrine there with several monuments and statues. Addie found a good spot to sit where she could overlook the city, and gave a great concert - much to the amusement of several Indian families. I was too busy taking pictures to realize that her concert was taking place on the statue stand of the Pope! I hope no one was offended.

More Pics of Queensland

Here are a few more pictures of our time at Queensland and the Pleasant Days Resort. We spent 2 nights here just relaxing, and it was such a treat! The park had rides (both dry and water) and then we ended the day with a cable car ride over the park.