On Vacation - Again

We're leaving tomorrow for 2 weeks at the beach for our real vacation. I know, hard life. We do have 3 speaking engagements during it - so, you know, no rest for the weary - and we are pooped!

Too Much Fun!

Having a great time at the shore. Will post pics later.

Our Semi-Vacation

Since P.'s Passport appointment was scheduled for June 3rd in Bombay we decided to take the whole family there for four days as a little vacation since we didn't go anywhere this summer. It was a hassle and our hotel room was Way Too Small and everything was really expensive. But, we went to Essel World ("Asia's Largest Water Park") and the girls had a great time swimming and playing in the pools. I mostly tried to keep my pasty white skin out of the sun and the skeevy water off my head.*

P's American citizenship interview went very smoothly with the only glitch being that O.'s name was different on all three of the main documents. We ended up writing an affidavit stating that O. is known by ALL these names but prefers to go by ... and everyone was happy. I got notified by the consulate today that P.'s passport has already arrived there and they will be sending it to me by courier very soon.

The whole names thing in India is kind of funny. A man in front of us was trying to fill up the form for his son's passport renewal and was talking with the American woman behind the booth.

Consulate Lady: You need to write your wife's maiden name here.

Man: Ah yes, but you see in Indian culture the woman uses her father's or husband's name as her middle or maiden name.

Consulate Lady: But it says "Maiden Name."

Man: O-kay.

Those silly Americans. Such sticklers for the rules.

We also got to go to a small aquarium one day. Did I mention small? The names of the fish and descriptions were hand written. That was amusing. But not as amusing as the description of a weird fish from the Amazon who feeds on "live fish and raw shrimp."

So, all in all, it wasn't, say, Hawaii, but the girls enjoyed themselves and I got to eat lots of chocolate croissants from the bakery near our hotel. Definitely worth the trip.

*I did end up with a nasty infection that sent me to the doctor on Saturday. I'm convinced it was from the water park water...

Sleems

My E. is never ever sick.

Except when we travel. On those rare occasions when she does become sick, it generally starts with vomiting and diarrhea the morning we are scheduled to leave.

And as it was, after a week of eating every meal out, E. got the "throw-ups" and diarrhea the morning we were leaving Goa.

After throwing up numerous times E. and I had this conversation.

E: "I'm sick because you fed me those Sleems last night."

Me: "Sleems."

E: "Yeah, Sleems."

Me: "Sleems... Sleems... You mean Shrimp*?"

E: "Uh, yeah."

*We call them "Prawns" over here. And we ate lots and lots of them in Goa. G. even loved 'em and could chow down several fried sleems at one sitting. This was amazing to us since she only has 8 teeth. However, after two days of being bitten numerous times by my 14 month old, we discovered she has 2 new molars. This explained the three mysteries of vacation -1. Fantastic Sleem eating by Baby G. 2. G.'s vampirish tendencies on Saturday and Sunday 3. G.'s red raw bottom and miserable disposition during the middle of our vacation.

Update on E.: By God's grace she was fine by the time we got on the train Sunday morning and hasn't thrown up since. We're just continuing to avoid the sleems.

Home Again

We arrived back home at 5:45AM this morning. Our laptop caught a virus and was out of commision so I couldn't post anymore from Goa, altho I wanted to. I have more Goan thoughts and I'll get to them over the next few days.

For now, we're home, and there's washing to do.

Goa Girls

Dolphin Sighting

We left from here yesterday morning to go look for dolphins.
We saw some.

At least some of us saw the dolphins. Others of us - slept.

Us

I knew after I put up that last post I'd be able to start loading pictures.

Us. Last Night at sunset on the beach.
C., Rebecca, O., G., E.

Loading

I've been trying since last night to load pix from the vacation but it's not happening for some reason. I'll keep on trying.

G. Killed A Sandcastle

It was her first sandcastle ever.

G. took to the beach like she did to the water. She must have gotten some of her mother's blood after all.

What can I say about the beach? It's really sunny here. I need to change the setting on my camera.

This is where we are. Beautiful.
Beach Beauty.

Girls and Papa.

In Goa

It was an uneventful trip on the train last night and this morning, save for the woman who, although smiley and nice, continuously scolded my children and seemed way too happy that our station had finally arrived.

We are here in our hotel and it is pleasant and we swam all afternoon. G. took to the water like a natural born fish. Her little legs kicked with precision.

On another note, the principal of one of our schools has a house in Goa and he is here for summer vacation and he is lending us his motorcycle for the whole week. Isn't that nice.

Where We Are

We leave tonight for Goa. Our first family vacation since 2005.

We'll have the laptop with us so I think I can blog and email.

The Month Of May

Everyone is on vacation. Or going on vacation. Or acting like their on vacation already. May is so depressing. I love the hustle and bustle of the other eleven months. May is way too quiet (not to mention HOT) for me.

We leave for vacation on Saturday. A week in the South Indian beach state of Goa. We were there 4 years ago and loved it. I think we’re gonna have a great time. I’m a little apprehensive since it’s just going to be me, O. and the 3 girls*. No highchairs, no strollers. Nine days of lugging a 1 year around, with a 5 and 7 year old in tow. Doesn’t sound like a relaxing vacation to me, but I’m going with the flow and I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful time. I’ll probably even develop some arm muscles with a side of stiff neck.

*We’re all way too adapted to the communal living thing. Just the five of us, weird.