Day #8 - Taj Mahal

Absolutely breath taking! I can understand why this is one of the wonders of the world!

Day #7 - Holy Cow!

It's true....cows really do roam the streets in India! They are considered sacred to the Hindus. There is a fine and a week in jail if you run one over.

Day #6 - Dawn on the Ganges

Thousands of people come every morning to bath in the Holy Ganges! Today is our anniversary and it will certainly be one I'll never forget!

Day #5 - Shopping!!!!

Scarves, jewelry, jackets, saris, carpets and so much more! Shopping is a fun adventure and even better with a shopping companion like my sister-in-law Katherine!

Day #4 - Now that's a load!

Kathmandu, Nepal

George says that she is good woman! Equal rights for women in Nepal!

Day # 3 - How high can you go?

Mount Everest - No words necessary!

PIcture of the day #2 - New friend

While visiting the Sikh temple in Delhi, this cute little girl came up to me and very politely asked to practice her English!

Two Pictures of the Day on Day #1

I've seen traffic chaos before but never quite like this and it is Sunday which is supposedly a light traffic day! In our adventures we took several of these motorized rickshaws. The rule of the road seems to be to fill ever available space with cars, trucks, rickshaws, bikes, and motorcycles with the occasional pedestrians thrown in for good measure! Any rules about lanes are completely ignored. This picture doesn't really give you an accurate picture of what it is like but you can at least get some small taste!

Amazes me that in this metropolitan area of some 20 million people, monkeys still live in the parks! They seemed to like tormenting the dogs. Instead of chasing squirrels, these dogs chase monkeys!

Will it all fit?

Wow the day for the much anticipated India trip has arrived!!!!!

Normally I love packing for a trip. This time however I was pretty stressed. We are allowed one checked bag with a maximum weight of 44 pounds and one carry on, maximum weight 18 pounds. Our tour won't be stopping for lunches so we need to bring snacks for 15 days of 'on the go' meals. To the weight of that food add all the cameras, chargers for I-pods and Kindles and cameras, and I was worried that we wouldn't have room for clothes! I'm taking fewer clothes on this trip than I've ever taken. I'll probably want to burn every outfit when I come home I'll be so tired of them! Last night we put it all out on the bed and started trying to get it all in.

I started with my carryon and the first weight was 33 pounds...trouble! So I switched to a smaller, lighter carryon, rearranged a few thing and I was a little under 18 pounds! My big suitcase is almost totally full of food and 'stuff' with some clothes. And best of all it weighs quite a bit less than 44 pounds! I can shop till my heart is content and eat American junk food until my few pair of pants don't fit!

We're off on our 'passage to India'!

Happy early birthday and happy late birthday!

Matt's birthday is going to be while we are gone on our trip so I decided to post his birthday tribute early. Then I realized that I had completely forgotten to post on George's birthday so maybe if I do Matt's a few weeks early and George's a few weeks late, on average I'll be ok!

Here is George getting his first birthday cupcake! I love the high chair! I wish there was a picture of him eating it. His mother told me that he never liked to be messy. I wonder! If that is true our sons definitely didn't take after their Dad!

Here is my favorite recent picture of George. Happy late birthday!

And here is how I feel after being back living in the same place for a few months!

Matt will soon be the big 3 - 0! I can't believe it. Two children over 30! Matt was a wonderful fun, smart, busy and interesting boy!

Now he is a fun, smart, busy and interesting man

My 4th 5K

The year I turned 55 I decided to run a 5K and I did. Then things got crazy in my life with my Aunt Mary's death and then my mother's death and George loosing his job and moving to Oregon but last spring I decided to start running again. I completed 3 5K's this year and I've improved my time from the first one to the 2nd one by 3 minutes and then from the 2nd to this one by 3 minutes! Amazing what running regularly can do! Or so I thought!

George agreed to run with me. In fact this was his 2nd 5K and he improved his time by 5 minutes! That's really impressive when you consider that his training plan for this last one was "Panda Express and pizza"! (His words not mine!!!) Seriously he hasn't run in months while I've been going out 3 times a week! Is that even fair?

He was still running well at the end. If he starts beating me than I'm going to really be mad!

I got 2nd in my age group.

Happy Birthday Johnny!

Happy 26th birthday Johnny! He was an adorable baby with curly hair and the cutest personality!

I think he enjoyed his first birthday cake!

He is still a handsome guy! We really enjoyed his three week visit with us. The apartment seems lonely without him!

Walking in the rain with the ones I love!

All last week we planned and looked forward to a trip to hike on Mt. Saint Helens. The weather has been beautiful for the last couple of months that I've been in Oregon so I think I forgot that it rains here a lot. Since real Oregonians don't let little things like a rain storm keep them indoors we decided to go ahead and go on the planned trip. This was the view of Mt. Saint Helen's that we were anticipating.

And this was the view we got. If you look carefully you can see both sides of the mountain!

Do you remember the eruption on May 18 1980? I do. This is how the mountain looked pre 1980. Notice the trees on the lower slopes.

Isn't that an amazing illustration of the power of Mother Nature? That valley and what appear to be river beds are actually where the lava and mud flowed.

Hiking in the rain wasn't too bad at all and for once there were no crowds on the trails....in fact we had the trail to ourselves.

The colors were stunning.

It's been wonderful to have John here with us. I'm going to miss having someone to entertain me during the days and play with us on the weekends.

He's also an amazing photographer! I think this picture could win a prize!

And here's my attempt at an 'artsy' photo.

Food Connoisseur Matt

Stories of Matt and his expensive restaurant choices are legendary in our family. Probably the best one happened when I was traveling with all the kids in France. We were with two other moms and their children.....12 people total, none of whom spoke French. At a simple restaurant in Mont St. Michael, Matt decided he wanted lobster. The price was per kilo and I really couldn't completely understand the price or picture exactly what a kilo of lobster would be or how many kilos were in a whole lobster. So I gave in to the pressure and let him order it! When the bill came I almost fainted as the total for the rest of us, ALL 11 OF US, came to less than the price of Matt's lobster. He has good, as well as expensive taste! Thursday night we ate at a sushi restaurant and all the rest of us got normal looking sushi rolls to share...Matt ordered this "Golden Dragon". Quite the work of art and it tasted good, plus he did share! I can't remember if it were the most expensive thing on the menu. Knowing Matt it probably was!

Wedding Catering

Our friends Anne and John's son got married on Friday. I flew to Boise on Wednesday to help with the food and attend the wedding. Gail and I made lots & lots of chicken salad!

The bride and groom looked so happy.

The food looked amazing and tasted great. Gail and I are both southerners so we made pimiento cheese sandwiches. I'm shocked that some people said they'd never heard of them. They are missing a yummy treat! I ate way too many.

Do we almost look professional?

Towards the end of the night we got a little silly!

I love my friends and I love making memories with them.

Coach Scott

It is hard for me to picture my baby Scott as the Junior Varsity Soccer coach at his old high school...but he is! Attending a game was really great, although I found myself wondering when Scott was going to play. He says that he often wants to put on his cleats and go help them on the field! Do you think the referees would notice?

The report I hear is that the parents and boys really like him. He is positive and encouraging and great at teaching them tactics! Scott is enjoying it so much. I think he will be an excellent high school teacher!