Family Swimming Day

While we are here in India, Sunday is our day off.  So, after some Team Time in the morning, we headed out for one of my favorite places (both in India and America)... the pool.  Our last experience here as a team was not-so-grand for Bob.  A bad combination of heat, not eating much, and a curvy car ride led to a lot of nausea and a yucky head-ache (among other things that I will omit).  Who wants to have their last memory of a pool being that?  No one.  So, off we headed to the pool.

After some confusion from our cab driver about where we lived, we arrived, went through security (security is EVERYWHERE here, including malls and movie theaters), we had finally arrived.  And Hannah had already peed through her swim diaper.  How is that possible?  She had it on for maybe 45 minutes.  Ha!

Cheesin'!

 Hannah just adores the pool.  She's been slightly unsure at the beginning every time, but once she's in- she doesn't even want to come out! She would have played in there for hours if we would have let her.  

You think they look alike?

Love this girl!

I have so much more to post, but not enough time!  We have about a week left here, than some traveling throughout India and then home!  (Well, almost.... first Alabama, then home a week later.)  Off we go!

Fourth of July

Happy Birthday America (from India)!

We celebrated the Fourth by hosting a party for all of our Indian friends we have met while here.  It was a blast!  Over 100 of our friends attended, we played games, and even set off some "crackers"!  Our cook even made us BBQ Chicken and French Fries for dinner.  It was quite an "All-American" day!

Bob, Hannah, and his friends Mohit and Shubh

Christina, Hannah and I with friends

 One of our friends snapped this photo of Hannah.  Is it not incredible!  He was trying to get a picture of her with the sunglasses on, but I think this one is just as cute!  And I love that Bob's hand is in the picture too. :)

Digging

Today Hannah realized that her bib has a pocket.  Smart Girl.

And that her bib had food in the pocket that she's dropped.  Genius.

Yes! Got it!

And tonight we tried CHEESE for the first time and she was in L.O.V.E.   She gobbled it up faster than I could keep it on her tray.  It was a wonderful feeling because little miss has been quite the picky eater (a.k.a not eating) these days.

Maybe I should put all her food in the bib pocket?  Would that make it more fun to eat? :)

Is this India?

On Monday we had our first Team Day.  It was a blast!  We didn't tell them what we were doing- just that they had to be ready for breakfast by 9:30.

Our plan for the day was to go to the zoo and then to a nice hotel to relax at the pool!  Unfortunately, the zoo was closed.  Who knew?  Closed on a Monday? Sure, why not...  It was a big bummer because we drove almost an hour to get there. So, we changed our plans and went to a museum.  It wasn't the best museum I've ever been to, but we had some laughs! They should have let us in for free due to the amount of pictures that were taken of Hannah- you would of thought that she was part of the exhibit! Ha! :)

The BEST part of the day (in my opinion) was the pool.  It was incredible.  (This might be because I am a lover of pools.)  Hannah was a little unsure of the water at first, but she warmed right up to it!   Once we got there, you wouldn't even think you were in India.  It looked like a resort right out of the U.S.!

"Me, a model? No... " :)

Hannah, as always, was making friends.  One of the pool helpers even offered to bring her a milkshake.  Too sweet!

Father's Day

Hannah and I are lucky gals!  We have the best man in our life to celebrate! :)

Family in a Rickshaw

We joined the fun on Saturday night and tagged along for the group date.  I was so excited about spending time with our students that I didn't really think about the fact that Hannah goes to bed at 8.  Oops.  So, here is what our evening looked like- ride in rickshaw to "Eat Street," meet up with the students, order Pizza Hut at the food court- chicken tikka pizza, anyone?, Hannah gets her picture taken at least 3 times (by other people), eat pizza really fast, climb back into the rickshaw and head home.  Oh, and Hannah basically ate at least half of my ice cream cone on the drive home.  Even though it was short-lived, we had a great time!

Father's Day at Mozzarella

On Sunday, Bob, Hannah and I went to Mozzarella- a fancy restaurant just down the street from our flat.  We had SO much fun!  Since Indians generally eat later, we were some of the only people there for a while. 

We weren't really sure what to order, so we decided on the buffet (pronounce the "t", that's how they say it here.)  The buffet itself was huge, but they also brought out 3 veg and 3 non-veg appetizers to you- as much as you wanted!  Whoa.  Not to mention one veg pizza and one non-veg pizza!  That's basically a whole meal before you even started at the buffet! 

Here's the dessert portion of the buffet.  I love that it says "Sunday Brunch" on the cake.  Ha!

Remember how I said Hannah is a CELEBRITY here?  Well, immediately after sitting down at our table, a waiter comes over and is talking to Hannah.  This is normal, so I think nothing about it.  Then, he proceeds TO TAKE HER OUT OF THE HIGHCHAIR AND CARRY HER OFF.  On the outside, I'm like, "No big deal....haha, so funny!"  On the inside, I'm thinking, "WHAT???  Bring back my daughter!"  Thankfully, Bob read exactly how I was feeling and kindly got up and followed the waiter.  And of course, he wasn't doing anything crazy.  He was just showing her off and showing her the restaurant.  :)  A little bit later, the bartender brought Hannah over a special drink.  No kidding.  (Don't worry, I tasted it first.  Just mango juice.)  And Hannah downed it.  

Not the most flattering picture, but it was the only one that showed the mango juice. :)

P.S.  Notice that Bob isn't sporting his glasses in any of the recent pictures??  They were lost in a rainy day/rickshaw splash/going-through-mall-security-adventure.  He's got new ones coming. :)

Around the Neighborhood

Hannah and I make an effort to get out at least once-a-day.  Before I was brave enough to try out the rick-shaws, we would leave and walk around our neighborhood.  We live in a really nice part of Hyderabad.  We can see a lot of the city and even have a park near-by!

Here's some houses around our flat.  

Aren't they beautiful!

And some new construction is happening!  Their idea of scaffolding is a little bit different than in the U.S....

There is a Hanuman temple just down the street from our flat.  Hanuman is a Hindu deity that resembles a monkey.  This temple is actually very small compared to most others.  We were able to visit a temple in another part of the city a few days ago, but couldn't stay long because the temple closed so that the gods could take their morning rest.

When Hannah was still adjusting to the new time zone (10.5 hours different!), I read online that exposing babies to the sun during the day can help their little bodies to adjust.  Since I wasn't super thrilled about the 4am wake-up time, I decided to give it a try.  These pictures are from the day I woke Hannah up from her nap (she had already slept for 2 hours) and we went to the park.  

Slightly ironic, huh?

Small smile for the camera

Obviously Thrilled to be Awake

Thankfully, Hannah has adjusted to the new schedule and is doing quite well.  I mean, who wouldn't?  She's practically a celebrity here.  Yesterday I went to the store to get some items and the owner gave her a candy bar for free.  (But really me, because Hannah can't eat candy...)  Too sweet!

Here Comes The Bride... An Indian Wedding

This past Thursday, our team had the privilege of being invited to an Indian wedding.  Incredible!  (Really we were friends of a friend of the bride, but in India, the more the merrier.)

my loves ready for the wedding

What an experience! The wedding was beautiful (and hot) and it makes me want to have a wedding in India so I can participate in all of the fun activities, ceremonies, and fun (marrying Bob again of course!).  Indian weddings normally last a couple of days, so we attended the ceremony on the second day where the couple "exchanged their promises."   Indians are very superstitious and they want weddings to occur on an  time and day, when all the stars and moons are aligned to bring the most fortune to the bride and groom.  Thus, the actual vow exchanges took place at 9:17am!

Beautiful girls!

It was quite the event- with two bands, servers walking around with food and drinks (one of which looked like Fanta but actually tasted like a salty egg...gross), flat-screen televisions with a live-feed of the nuptials, and lots of politicians stopping by to say congratulations.

Watching the Nuptials

 After we said congratulations to the bride and groom, Bob and I had to head out because Hannah was soooo hot and was melting down.  I am so thankful that Hannah can drink out of a straw because bottled water and straws are our best friend!

Hot baby

On the way home, Hannah crashed out in Bob's arms.  She never does that so it was quite the treat!