It happens to everyone

But somehow it doesn't make it any easier. After school today, S was very frustrated by the smallest things. I asked if something happened at school and he started to cry. He said that his two "best friends" wouldn't let him play today. Broke my heart.

Isn't my kid cute?

Whenever I ask N to put his shoes by the door, he puts them by the doors to the patio. Doors we rarely use. Doors on the other end of the house from where he'll need them. It makes me smile every time.

Making a list

My netflix replacement service here has a pretty limited Hollywood selection and I haven't caught Bollywood fever, so I'm kind of on a TV series run. I'm currently watching the second season of 24. I didn't make it through the whole first season of Lost before Phil got online and read the plots of the next few seasons. I was convinced to just give it up before things got too crazy.

It's got me thinking about some old series that I was too young or too sheltered for, but were big enough to break into my pop culture consciousness. Like:

(Speaking of this age category I went to lunch with some friends yesterday where one of the major topics of conversation was health: our health, our husband's health. Depressing. I thought we'd have another 30 years before that kind of thing dominated)


So I'm making a list.

First Haircut

This is nowhere near the first haircut, but since we can't seem to remember the camera for any of the true firsts, we can fake it. This is the same shop where all of N's 60cent haircuts have taken place, though I think the first one or two were lollipop aided. Click on the photos and check out the background to get a true feel for the place.

What do you do...

...when your office is having a '70s party and you live in India and neither you nor your wife have a clue where to purchase said costume? You have one tailored, of course.

Apparently we weren't the only ones, Phil's office had a tailor come in and take orders. Alas spouses were not invited to the party, so I only have the solo photos taken in our '70s kitchen.

American Sports

I woke up this morning to Phil and KSL cheering on the Cougs (why are we always out of Dallas when the cool stuff happens there?). I kinda like the early morning football bit. Done, out of the way, and back to the Sunday routine by 9am.

And S had his first T-ball game of the season (and of life) yesterday (we are novice parents, and forgot to bring the camera). I haven't laughed so hard in quite some time. The leadoff batter headed straight for third base after he hit a dribbler that bounced off the T. There was another kid that, seeing second base occupied, cut across the infield from first to third. I think S's teammates must have been wondering why there was all that throwing warm-up before the game, since no one even attempted to throw the ball to a base, it was all taken care of by footrace. And S? He hit last, which in T-ball is cleanup, and so his contact with the T, rather than the ball, became a home run. We're already looking forward to next Saturday's game.

The Most Amazing Drive Ever

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and one of Phil's cousins were here visiting for almost two weeks, so after the usual Delhi sightseeing we took them north. Mostly because we've been really wanting to get there and they provided the excuse. We flew into Leh, which is on the dry side of the Himalayas and predominately Buddhist.

Then drove across the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, ending up in Srinagar, which is on the wet side of the mountains with a Muslim population. Turns out "dry side" is a bit of an understatement. This area was barren. And absolutely stunning.

The road was crazy. Windy. Bumpy. Dusty. Narrow. We crossed one pass that was over 13,000 feet high. It was a 430km (270 mile) drive that took two 7 hour days to cover.

Luckily you could always get out and throw some rocks.

And there were monasteries

and 25 foot Buddha statues carved into rock for pit stops.

There were checkpoints galore. The whole area is quite militarized, owing to border disputes with both Pakistan and China. At one, Phil's mom misplaced her passport, which resulted in our being stopped later by the military, their radioing back, finding it, and our waiting for another vehicle to bring it. The army guys were rewarded with photos, tales of her family in the US and red vines.

Eventually a truck arrived with the passport in hand.

We did the same hike in Sonamarg, Kashmir on the way into Srinagar, that we did with my parents. And Phil got his turn to go to the early morning floating vegetable market on Dal Lake (Which is a lot cooler than that description sounds).