The "Gulch"

Both of the girls' classes took an overnight fieldtrip to a nearby Outdoor Ed. camp.  It was Fabulous.  I hope the school continues to do these.

 

 

L's group's design for a wind chime (a little over-ambitious)

I especially love the Zia pretzel!

my one Easter photo this year

Oh well.  At least he showed up for the Vigil.  And who can blame him, anyway?  It went 3 hours.

in which BR turns 7 and requests a "tornado themed" party

Daddy whipped up this tornado made of streamers right before the party and it really spun around without shredding making a cool funnel effect!  We also had clusters of white balloons all around, to serve as "clouds."



This was a game I  invented: 2 minutes to nibble a
large marshmallow into the shape of a tornado.  Ready,
Set, Go!

 

"rainwater"



My go-to crepe paper game at all birthday parties: this time the idea
was to race to make your teammate into a tornado



"spin around the bat"--another tornado themed game (no hands!)

Tornado cake!  (Daddy decorated)

 

Our kids had a real "meta" concept for the "Pin the --" game (another go-to around here), and they requested that we pin the donkey into the tornado, which would then be pinned to the Earth which would be pinned to the Solar System...to the Galaxy...and so on.  But we said, Uh, no, thanks. We already bought tornado snacks and built a bunch of props.

 

"Pin the donkey onto the tornado" will do just fine, thankyouverymuch.

 

Happy Birthday to our little ham.

 



And then, when everyone got truly wild, we sent them out to the backyard to destroy boxes (tornado style) and generally run wild.  Overall, a tremendous success.

 

 

look who showed up out of the blue (I mean, off the Rez highway)

And since they were in the neighborhood, we talked them into a hike on one of our fave trails.

 

A. grew especially fond of Great Aunt Sharon whilst in Ca.
recently and so was especially ecstatic at the surprise visit

 

 

 

The kids were Champs. 

(So were Mom and Grandma, of course)

 

We are secretly hoping they will stop again on the way back...

Meanwhile, back on the farm...I mean, in Disneyland...

 

 While their parents were in India, the kids got to visit Disneyland with Papa and Granny!

A. celebrated her 8th birthday while in Disney!

The kids had a great time and have not stopped talking about it since! 

 

(Literally.  They don't stop talking about it.)

Kolkata, take 2 (three years later)

 

"auto" traffic jam

the view from a bicycle rickshaw ride:
 

Steph and Paul's new digs:

 

 

a view of the garden of the guesthouse where I stayed:

 

 a view of the city, on foot (I shot all the videos from the hip, so as not to attract too much attention):
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(view from an auto-rickshaw: I love the soundtrack)

 

 

 

view from a cab:

 

Countdown

We are something like four and a half months off from our departure for Saipan. 

Sai-what?  Where is that?

(here)

 

It looks like this from the sky:

 

 

Which means the beaches might look something like this:

 

(If you want more, just Google "Saipan" or "Saipan beaches" and see what pops up.) 

 

We will be there for about a year and Jeremy will be working at a hospital there.  We hope to travel to at least China and Japan, and maybe Korea, to learn some new stuff about the world and try out some of the food.  Speaking of education, we will (probably)* be homeschooling for the year to incorporate all the travel into some kind of meaningful curriculum.

 

It will be like that epic year we spent between NYC/Calcutta, except that instead of living cities crammed full of millions of people and stuff to do, this time we will be on a tiny tropical island in the Pacific where there is nothing to do!  Except go snorkeling and paddleboarding.

 

But not to worry, we have been assured that it is neither boring nor idyllic in this tiny U.S. Territory and we are sure to be kept on our toes by all kinds of unplanned and surprising events, not least of which the tendency for the power to go out long enough for all the food in the fridge to spoil.  And typhoons and other fun stuff like that.  (I am not sure we could be this lucky twice in a lifetime, but I would like to think that maybe, just maybe we might get another mysterious wooden box...)

Meanwhile, we hope to find some kind folks willing to rent our house for the year so that we can come back to it and our friends here in the sunny (if not always warm) Southwest once we get sick of being so tan.  Oh, and the plan is to carry on with the mini-golf scheming upon our return, in case you are wondering. 

So that's the scoop.  Stay tuned for numerous and obnoxious postings of us swimming and playing in the white sands of the Northern Mariana coastlands while munching on mangoes.


* I said "probably" because it turns out that to homeschool on Saipan you need approval from the school superintendent there first so I guess we hope we get the all-clear. 

"tickle-proof vest"