A picture for Pop-Pop

So...on the Ingalls side of the family when my grandpa took his family on vacation, apparently he often dragged my dad and his siblings around to different war sites, and the tradition was to take pictures of the kids on the cannons.

In Jaipur there is a fort that holds the worlds largest cannon on wheels.
"The Jaivana (Hindi: जयवाण) cannon is the largest wheeled cannon ever constructed. It is located at the Jaigarh Fort, Jaipur. It was cast in 1720, during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Jaipur. The formidable strength of its builder, the scientifically inclined warrior Sawai Jai Singh II, lay in the large number of artillery and copious supply of munitions which he maintained.

Jaivan rests on a high 4 wheeled carriage. The front wheels are 2.74 m in diameter and the rear wheels are 1.37 m in diameter." (quote and top picture from Wikipedia)

I am not standing with this cannon in my picture;-) I am standing with a small cannon at the Amber Fort which is just below the Jaiharh fort. I really wanted to go check out the biggest cannon, as I felt it was my duty as an Ingalls gal, but quite frankly it was just to hot and too far away. I got close though and I hope Pop-Pop is looking down from heaven, laughing at the fact that I couldn't make it up the hill, but at least admiring me for my efforts. And hey, I did get a picture with a cannon in India.

Pictures from vacation

Happier in Jaipur

Jaipur is turning out to be a bit easier. Will and I are here for 3 days so are able to spread things out a bit. We are also getting better at saying "no" no matter how much our friendly rickshaw driver Rehan insists we can just look at his friends shops. Rehan did take us to some nice quiet spots today though, so he gets points for that. It has also cooled off, Will and I are getting a good nights sleep and my stomach is much better. This all helps me tolerate the staring a bit more, which makes sense.

Jaipur is a pretty cool place. It is a large city surrounded by hills and forts that give you a lovely view of the "pink city". The city actually isn't very pink anymore, but it use to be and you can see many buildings that are still painted in this terracotta hue. One sweet place we saw this morning is called Jantar Mantar (click on image above from Wikipedia for more info.), which has the largest sundial in the world. Will really liked this place for the structures and for the science lesson.

Jaipur is also known for its specialty shops in block printing, which we checked out, and precious and semi-precious stone jewelry...which I admittedly checked out;-) Our hotel was smart enough to put a silver shop up next to their rooftop restaurant. Silver is simply priced by weight, so I don't need to worry as much about haggling.

Heading up to the rooftop lounge to read for a bit. Thanks for the emails, especially from my sister and gal pals regarding my last post. It's nice to be supported during the good and the hard.

Love to all,

Lauren

Ugh!...the heat and hastle.

Hello All,
Will and I arrived in Jaipur last night after a few days in Delhi and Agra with Andy. Andy left yesterday afternoon to head home to LA, and should be arriving safely there sometime today. Here's a little catch up of what we've been doing. Sorry we can't post pictures yet. I'll do a huge spread when we get back to our laptop in Dehra Dun.

Good things about our "Golden Triangle" trip so far:
-Traveling with Andy. Will and Andy haven't spent this much time together in years and it's a delight to see them get to have this experience together. I'm a pretty big fan of Andy myself and am blessed by his company.
-Seeing and catching up with our friend CJ in Delhi.
-Going to the "Big Chill" & "All American Diner" for 2 meals. Yes, we are starting to miss food from home.
-Shopping in the Dilli Haat market for regional crafts. Will and Andy bought more than I did.
-A great hotel room in Delhi at the Godwin Grande. ($40 a night for luxury along a small street)
-I got new shoes as my old ones were falling apart. Fake Birkenstocks for $8!
-Will found and bought an instrument called a Sruti Box.
-Taking a bike rickshaw tour through Old Delhi (think very small streets with lots of beautiful colors).
-Seeing the country side on bus and train rides.
-K.K our Agra tour guide and rickshaw driver.
-Seeing the Taj, baby Taj, and Agra fort.
-Mango Lassi's.
-Our cheap but clean hotel in Agra and their friendly staff.
-The guys on our bus to a nearby castle and fort (sorry, can't remember the name) jumped out of the bus and began to push while the drive popped the clutch to get the bus moving. Will thought this was pretty funny/awesome.
-The fabulous Pearl Palace Hotel, decorated with an eclectic mix of artisan work, a lovely rooftop restaurant with views of the city and most importantly a hot shower with strong water pressure. Barb you would LOVE this place!

Some hard things about our trip:
-The Delhi train station "guard" trying to scam us out of money. Andy and Will were amazing at handling this guy as he took us upstairs to a quiet corner and tried to haggle us into paying a "tax". We owed him nothing, gave him nothing, and got on the train just fine. This was all at 5am, and we were all very tired and I am still in awe of how well the guys handled this.
-The heat! It's a lot hotter down here and I am now seriously dreading the summer coming.
-I was told that I would get a lot more harassment from the men in Dehra Dun, but I continue to feel more harassed in Delhi and especially in Agra. Men constantly ask to have their picture taken with me, they whisper in my ear when Andy and Will are walking ahead of me, they bump into me, and want to talk all of the time. I'm married! I'm walking with two men, and the harassment is even worse when I stand alone, which means that Will can't leave me to go look at something. I miss my freedom, and although I know my sweet husband doesn't blame me, I wish he could have some freedom to move around on his own. Will has also used his death glare a lot on this trip, towards the men who openly stare at me looking me up and down, and being on guard all of the time is exhausting for both of us. There were times in Delhi when I looked up and down busy streets only to realize that I was the only woman on them. It felt like I was in the twilight zone with everyone ogling me.
-I have had Delhi Belly for the past 2 days. I was so proud of my body for not getting anything for the first 2 months that we were here, but of course I get sick only during a time when we need to travel almost every day.
-All of this has made me cry 3 times in the past 4 days when all I really want to do is enjoy my husband and the splendor that surrounds me. I hate feeling helpless!

We have 3 days left on our trip, and I try to start each new day with hope instead of the fear that lingers from the day before. Keep us in your prayers during this time. I'd really like to head back to work feeling somewhat rested.
-Lauren

Off to the Taj

Hey Family & Friends,
Will is home safe and sound, he even surprised me and made it home a day early. Some highlights from Will's trip:
-At one point the wheel literally fell off the car while they were driving, in the upper Himalayas. (I did not enjoy getting this information while he was still away.)
-Fish stew (all parts of the fish were included).
-Sleeping in the village school near Chayinda Saur.
-Being invited to his new buddies wedding in May.
-Hiking down upper Himalayan Valleys to pick bugs off of rocks in some source tributaries of the Ganges.
-Seeing the amazing resourcefulness of communities living on the most remote cliff edges.

This week is spring break for the schools of Latika Roy, so Will, Andy and I headed off to check out the "Golden Triangle". This consists of heading down to Delhi, and then over to Agra and Jaipur. So we get to see the sprawling urban city, the Taj, and the desert. We left this morning at 5am to take a bus to Delhi where we met our friend CJ. CJ took us to a cafe called The Big Chill, which offered some yummy comfort foods from the states without feeling like a huge chain restaurant. After that we headed over the Dilli Haat to do a little shopping and then headed back to our posh rooms at the Godwin Grande. Tomorrow we head out to Old Delhi for a little site seeing.

That's it for now;-)

Joshimath

So Will has the camera this week, while he's away, so I'm pulling some pictures from the internet to show you where he is. Last night Will was in a town called Joshimath, which is North East of Dehra Dun. Joshimath is near a place called Valley of the Flowers. Not sure if he got to this beautiful place, but I sure hope he got to at least pass through it. I bet my mom, aunt Barb, and mother-in-law Connie would love this place. Will has been doing well, and staying in small hotels at night. He was very excited to catch a Chelsea game on TV in his hotel room, and get a nice hot shower with strong water pressure.

Back here in DD, Andy and I have been working (I at LR's sites, and Andy on his photos) gallivanting around town, watching movies and hanging out with our new friends Rebecca, Tarek and Namdol who work at a school near by. A huge highlite was finding a place that sells cheese and chicken sausage...what a luxury! Andy is thinking of taking an overnight trip to Dharamsala and my friend Priyam might put me up at her house for the night while Andy is away.

Not much else here. I hope to soon post some cute pics of the little kids that Andy took yesterday.

Blessings to you all.

A trip & A Dog

Hey Everyone,
Will is heading up into the mountains with a group from PSI to do some water sample collecting. He left this morning and will be gone for a week. Keep his safety in your prayers. Our friend Andy B. decided to stay for an extra week, which makes me feel a bit safer staying in the house without Will around. We do have lots of lovely friends who offered to put me up though;-) and Andy and I plan to get as many free dinners out of them as we can.

Also, a few of you have been asking about the dog. We found out that it's a girl and have started to call her Lassi (sounds like the dog star from the states and means yogurt drink with fruit and spices here...which is Lassi's coloring). We have found a home for her! and will be handing Lassi over in about 3 weeks when her new owner moves into his new house. We are grateful to have her until then. The kids behind us have started playing with Lassi, which is nice, and admittedly we let her sneak in once in a while when we're home to try and housebreak her a bit. Lassi has been good though, after a short whimper or two, to be sent back outside for the night or when we are not at home.

That's the quick update from here.
Much rest and peace to you all over your weekend,
Lauren

Water & Ash

I continue to think of free materials to use at LV’s after school program. This week I was thinking about all of the small trash fires that are lit on everyone’s property around here and was wondering if we could do something fun with the ash. So I grabbed some old dirt from a burnt pile, threw in some water and we “painted” the wall outside of LV. All of it will wash off in the rain, orcan be easily hosed down. For added measure I made sure it was the wall facing south so that if anything was stained the sun would bleach it white over time. The kids LOVED working on this project, and I loved that no adults interfered and simply let the kids create on their own.

Holi

Will, Andy and I spent Holi with Priyam and her family. We had a fabulous time and Priyam was not shy about making sure we got involved. Will, Andy & I threw paint, smashed eggs, water balloons and ate until our bellies were full. We had a GREAT time visiting Priyam’s family friends, and were exhausted at the end of our very playful day. Andy was brave enough to bring his camera and took all of the above pictures.

Mussorie w/ Andy

Will and I got to play “tour guides” up in Mussorie with Andy. It was especially nice having Andy around as he is a fabulous photographer and we got the privilege of being in some of his photos.

Baby Booties

At CVT I continue to move along with some easy craft ideas for our kids. We tried out some fabric bracelets which were ok, but came out a bit unfinished. With the help of my dear friend Lois back home I tried some easy fabric baby booties, which seem to be a big hit. I’m going to grab a template for baby bibs next from good old Martha Stewart.