Dalton Driver

Bath boy!

He loves to splash and play in the tub.

Boy needs a haircut. And he really likes TV.

Driving his car on the seatbelt road. (post haircut)

Dalton LOVES cars.

The felt car play mat has a new fan. Dalton carries it around the apartment.

Dalton himself also collects fans wherever he goes. Here he is in training with his best girls at McDonald's.

At Chili's.

Examining the cornstarch + water science experiment Maggie and I did during his nap.

Bangalore: Industrial and Technological Museum and Aquarium at Cubbon Park

We went back to Cubbon Park today. We visited the Aquarium, walked around for a bit, and ended up at the Industrial and Technological Museum.

The aquarium is in this weird building.

Very utilitarian.

This is the upstairs. Two layers of fish all the way around, and one layer on the ground floor. That's it.

High Court of Karnataka.

The Library. We never found the Children's Library, but this one was cool. Floor to ceiling books, with ladders and everything.

Live Dinosaur. It moved, roared, and freaked Dalton out. I had to take him out of the room, and he cried for another 5 minutes - even after I paid 1 Rupee for our weight (59 kgs) and fortune (We will possibly see an increase in earnings) from the shiny, colorful, lit up machine. Maggie wanted to see it again on the way out of the museum.

Spinosaurus.

Sewing machine evolution.

There were a LOT of hands on exhibits, from button-pushing to electric shock.

Floating Ball

Upside Up Dalton in the Concave Mirror.

Faux Indians on second generation computers - affordable by some businesses!

Lunch at Sunny's - recommended in Lonely Planet, "favored by the Expat community" and delicious.

First Sewing Projects and a Non Surprise

I mentioned earlier that I've decided to learn real embroidery. I bought some supplies, doodled a design, and learned 4 stitches. As I was working on my sampler this afternoon, Maggie came and "helped" me. I told her a friend was sending us Maggie needles - plastic yarn needles. Not two minutes later, the doorbell rang.

"Who is it?" Maggie asked.

"Someone who doesn't read English," I replied. There is a Please Knock note on the doorbell - with an arrow pointing to the door even.

Lo, and behold - A package containing plastic yarn needles! Maggie was thrilled. I cut out a pattern from a cereal box, punched holes with my new handy-dandy hole punch, and threaded the needle with some yarn that was lying around. We did a star because this week's preschool was S. She completed her project while I finished mine, and Dalton went back to sleep - briefly.

And also a triangle that was leftover from cutting out the star.

Here we are with our projects. More on my embroidery later.

If you had told me two months ago that these are the things I would have requested in a package... well, first of all, I would have packed them in a suitcase and brought them myself! I was especially excited about the 3M hooks. I've already hung up our clock properly (it may have been dangling from a light fixture by a piece of yarn...) and my calendar. And I rigged a holder for my recipe papers on the cupboard so I can see them when I'm baking. Yay! Thanks, Kim.

Hampi Eats, Travels and Mobs

Walking to the Mango Tree restaurant through the banana plantations. Not only the only edible food in the Hampi area, it was really good.

Maggie threw the same leaf over the edge several times; the breeze kept returning it to her.

Cashew nut curry, cheese garlic nan, coconut pancake, and Mango Tree special fried rice.

Mmm, curry!

Relaxing... Between the fantastic food, view, and weather, we didn't want to leave.

Walking back to the road.

This is the garlic we scraped off the garlic nan we ordered from room service. Yuck!

Back at Mango Tree the next day.

Mango milkshake and banana fritters.

Trying coconut water. Dalton liked it, at least.

Dalton not sleeping on the train.

Dalton driving... Not really (this time). We were waiting at the railroad crossing. Forever.

Dalton yes sleeping on the train. He screamed himself to sleep in the train station. Train was an hour late.

School kid mob.
Male mob.
Another young men mob.
Another school kid mob. Can you even see me and Dalton?

Cow mob.

Hampi Day 2

Vittala Temple. Stone Chariot.

Musical Pillars.

Tree. Between the tree and the boat ride, we felt like we were in The Lord of the Rings.

Maggie playing a 500 year old game.

Strongest entrance gate to the city.

Named after this guy, Hanuman. Maggie is doing her best to pose while also holding rupees in one hand and holy flowers in the other.

Outside the archaeological museum.

Dalton was so eager to climb up and so surprised to find a dog at the top.

Queen's bath.

"Holes in the rock!"

View from the king's platform. This is the Royal Enclosure. The structures were made of wood and no longer exist, but check out all the cool basements waiting to be found.

Climbing down from the king's platform.

Stepped pool for clean water storage.

Lotus Mahal.

Guard tower in the Zahana Enclosure (Women (and eunuchs) only!)

The elephant stables. The kids had a great time running around here. 8th wonder of India in this picture. Can you see it? Grass.

And... the elephant stables again!

I think we took more pictures of our cute kids than the ruins. Oh well!