Hong Kong

Hong Kong Rocks! How can we get an ex-pat assignment there?
I loved how the skyscrapers look as if they are floating on the water.

Scott and John at a restaurant.

View from the peak.

Ferry ride.

John and Scott on the Ferry.

Ditto.

Another view from the peak.

My guys.

Another angle of Hong Kong.

The Smith Family.

John and Scott.

John and his buddy Mario.

Scott and John having lunch.

Here is John on a staircase at a mall... the colors change.

What's with Hong Kong and really big escalators?

Robyn and John at the peak.

Dim sum chefs doing what dim sum chefs do.

We went to this dim sum restaurant and while we sat at our table the line to get in got longer and longer... it was really good dim sum.

We stopped at a cafe one night, we were so close to the street... here is a picture of John with a bus going by behind him.

John using chop sticks.

Streets of Hong Kong.

Scott and John on a crowded street.

John at Bread Talk.

John saw something on t.v. about putting a mentos in a diet coke... what better place to try the experiment than a hotel?

Robyn and John waiting for the train.

Waiting in line at Disney.

More lines at Disney.

This was a display at Disney... it was so pretty I took a picture. The lanterns change color.

Dinner at Disney.

Disney

John and Scott on the train to Disney.

Robyn and John on the train to Disney. This is a public train, but check out the windows.

Ouch!

Disney Hong Kong went 'all-out' for Halloween... here is John and Scott going through a haunted house.

Ditto.

A lot of the bathrooms had tiny toilets for kids... nothing says tourist like taking a picture of a toilet!

Scott and John taking a break on one of the long escalators.

Hey John! Look at the view!

Sushi!

Ditto.

Walking in the rain.

Scott and John doing an impromptu song and dance.Who could ask for anything more.

John and Scott at a really big table.

Seafood.

Oregon

My Father-in-law and his wife live in the most beautiful part of the U.S. (my opinion). The Oregon coast.

John, Scott and John... confusing, huh?

John, John and Scott in front of an enormous fish tank at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

John doing a seal impression.

The kings of crab in front of a king crab.

One of my favorite things... crabbing. Here is Anne, Scott, Jerry, Marge, John and me on the dock... only caught one that day.

At low tide, Seal Rock beach is an interesting place to see. You can walk on what was below water an hour before. You can see starfish, and urchins, little fish caught in tide pools. Seagulls scavenging for clams and muscles.

Here is a picture of a tide pool. There is a starfish under the rock and some urchins. My father-in-law has taken a picture here before with a rainbow of starfish and urchins.

John and Scott.

John

No one here but us crabs.

Scott and John on the path to the beach.

Scott and me... John took the picture.

Tide-pool-John.

John looking out as far as he can see... trying to see India I think.

John

They say Oregon is where the forest meets the sea.

Robyn, John and Scott in front of Alsea Falls.

Anne, John, Buttons, and Daisy.

Scott and John on a forest path.

Racing up the path.

Paris

When we came back to India this summer, we stopped off for a visit to beautiful Paris, France.

Here I am looking out our hotel window.
Near our hotel was a traveling carnival... John loved the fun house.
Here is John and me waiting for our train.

Here is Scott and John in front of the big arch thing... some people call it the Arc de Triomphe.
They had these bicycles you could rent per hour in Paris... I think it's a great idea. Get your citizens in shape and save the planet. I wonder if this is something that would work in India or America?
Scott and John in front of the Eiffel Tower.
I wonder if there is a picture or angle of the Eiffel tower that hasn't already been shot?
John and Scott standing in the exact middle under the tower.

Waiting in line to walk up those stairs.
View from the tower.
Ditto...
This is one way to watch a street entertainer and not feel guilty for not tipping them.
Another view from the tower.

Yet another view from the tower.
John and me.
Resting under a shade tree.
This is my favorite picture of the E.T. (That's how cool people say Eiffel Tower).
John eating a very french hot dog.

John and me at the fun house... we would pass the carnival every time we went back to the hotel.
John at the Louvre.
Scott was such a fun person to see some of these pictures... his comments kept us laughing. This one was, "Why did I move so close to the airport?"
John wanted to know why so many of the works of art were naked... I told him about the beauty of the human body... he looked at me like I was nuts... so I told him clothes are to hard to paint and carve out of marble. This seemed to make more sense to him.
Me and John in front of Aphrodite

Scott and John giggling about something?
John loved the Egyptian display.
The people must have been a lot smaller when they built this castle.
Joan of Arc

John back at the fun house... are you seeing a trend?
The weather in Paris was amazing the sky's were this blue everyday we were there.
John loose on the streets of Paris.
Scott and John on the train.
Sainte Chapelle Cathedral is gorgeous!

More Sainte Chapelle
These stained glass windows are so detailed, and there are so many it's hard to show how breath taking they are in a photo.
Robyn and John.
John under a carving of Noah's Arc... he had seen the play Noah just before we left America and found this stone carving very interesting.
John and Mom at a Cafe.

Notre Dame Cathedral.
Robyn and John in front of Notre Dame.
These stone carvings at Notre Dame were so interesting, but out of all of these men...
Is there one that might stand out a little from the rest?
One that maybe forgot to pay the stone mason?

Scott and John over the River Seine
John and Scott in front of a fountain at the Modern art museum.
Robyn and John.

Museum of Modern Art.
Streets of Paris
Everywhere we went John would order an Orangeina... Orange juice with bubbles what could be better?
John looking for antiques... maybe we can buy Napoleon's bath tub, or maybe Napoleon's girdle, or maybe Napoleon's shoe laces?
Wow... I wonder if the rooms are triangle shaped?

Scott, Freddy, and John at the Hard Rock Cafe. Our wiater sang to us the Bohemian Rhapsody in a French accent... Here's a fun fact: Did you know that Freddy Mercury is P.I.O. (Person of Indian Origin)?
On our way out to see some sights.
Waiting in line at Disney.
More lines at Disney.
Even more lines at Disney.

End of the day at Disney.
This a picture of Scott after coffee... the Indian internet filters wouldn't allow me to put the pre-coffee picture. (Too grusome!)
The Louvre.
John and Scott loose on the streets of Paris.
Advertisement for Euro Disney.

John and me on the train.
It's so inspiring to walk by these historic buildings.
Gandhi Rocks! Even in French.
This was an advertisement in the subway for a movie... I don't quite know if the ad made me want to see the movie or not?
My guys.

John on a slide in Paris... look at the top, there is a neon American Flag.
John eating snails.
Scott eating snails.
This is John on the train after the snail restaurant... I think he still has the snail in his mouth.
What better way to end my Blog of Paris than to show you a picture of my weary son on our way back to our hotel on the train with some snoggers in the background... yes Paris is a romantic city.

Washington

During our summer Vacation we took a quick trip to Washington to visit some of Scott's family and some of our Seattle friends.
Here is a picture of us at a restaurant... Steve, Robyn, Scott, John, Rich, Wendy and Lorraine.
Here is John and Dad just loving being together.
John and his cousin Owen... He has another cousin Alison, but I didn't get a picture of her.
After leaving Lynnwood Washington we went to my friend Nancy's house for a picnic. She has such great taste and such a great eye for beauty (inside and out)... the picnic felt like it was out of a story.
John found a bug. Here they are trying to find what kind of bug it is in a reference guide.

What's Happening Hyderabad

It's been some time since I showed anything Hyderabad so I thought I should catch up...
Our friend Andi moved back to England and couldn't take her dog with her. She met Scruff as a puppy, and trained and took care of him for a year and a half before she left Hyderabad. John was begging for a pet and it just seemed to be the best for everyone for Scruff to come live with us. He became part of our family last year just after Christmas... I can't imagine a better present! He is a part of our family now, and I can't remember what life was like before him.

This is Scruff's pet. He's a frog that lives in our front yard. Scruff and Frog play every night together.
Here is Scott and John at the Taj Krishna for high tea... This is the hotel we stayed at when we first moved to India.
Here is the scene in front of the local Mall. Indi-yeah!

This is John's best friend (sort of) at school... Levy
Here are some of the boys putting on their costumes before going out to beg in intersections.
Here are some of the kids in John's class.
Ladies who lunch... lunching.

John and my future daughter-in-law Kovida.
Every Friday we go to the Novotel for cooking lessons, here we are on a tour of the kitchen.
John and his friend Aidan.
John and Scruff.
Some of the boys in John's class.

This is Scott as a local college at graduation.
Ditto
Lighting the lamp.
John climbing a tree... sort of.
John and Kovi.

Here is a picture of painters freshening up our walls... There ladder is made of bamboo.
Indian style carnival rides. Get in and a man will shake you.
John playing a game at the golf club.
John on the jumpy house.
Scott and his banner.

Scott and I at Oktoberfest
Purple team at Ella Suites... Krishnon, Indu, Dave, Ed, Robyn, Padmaja, Greta, Scott, and Prasad.
PTA at ISH
Scruff, Vijaya and John cooking in the kitchen.
Robyn, Indu and Padmaja

Cousins

We took a quick trip to St.Louis this summer to visit my brothers and see John's cousins.

Here are all of the cousins on my side of the family... At 12 o'clock is Sinjin then Kira, Jayden, John, Malena, Laraya, and Anya.
Here are the kids and my brother Davey.

Here is John and one of my favorite places ever... The Magic House!
We went to a baseball game to watch Sinjin pitch. Here are John, Anya, Jayden, and Kira tailgating.
Malena and Laraya ... "Do you know where John is?"
Sinjin pitching... what an arm!
John and Sinjin

This is Jordan he was living with my parents this summer so he could work at the Dixie Stampede in Branson.
Here is Yakov/John.
Here is Yakov/Jordan.

Johns Birthday

John had a ‘not-so-typical’ 9th birthday party… but what would you expect for a ‘not-so-typical’ boy. Grandma, Grandpa and I took John out to a Bob Evans restaurant…. This was his choice… He read on-line that they sold Webkins at their gift shop.

Here is a picture of him eating his birthday feast of fruit and yogurt (like I said… not-so-typical boy). We let John open up his presents at the restaurant… He got some Webkins from Grandma and Grandpa and an iPod from Mom and Dad. He’s wearing his new Tony Hawk clothes (sorry, maybe you’ll get the matching skateboard for Christmas).

Here is a picture of John with his kind, and generous, and beautiful, and humble mother… did I mention that her breath smells minty?
John doesn’t really like cake so he requested a slice of coconut cream pie instead… so here is the picture of John and his festive slice of pie.
After the Bob Evans we went to The Track. The Track completely rocks! They have water bumper boats, lazer tag, video games, skee ball and go carts.

After The Track we went to the Imax and saw a documentary about fascinating places around the world. I guess the movie inspired John because as we left the theater he asked if we could go home and call his Dad in India to ask if our next vacation can be in Antarctica?

Branson, Missouri

When the Monsoons hit in Hyderabad at the same time John's school goes on a summer break. We like to travel and reconnect with friends and family.
My parents have semi-retired to Branson, Missouri and John and I spend about a month with them while Scott slaves away in Hyderabad to pay for our life of leisure.
If you do not know anything about Branson, it can be summed up by saying it is a family friendly version of LasVegas.
This is the Wilderness Church in Branson... it's my favorite church of all time. Obviously it's a log cabin that seats about 50 people, an old piano and a tree trunk podium. There is a huge plate glass window that overlooks the beautiful Ozark hills.
Scott better watch it... he's got competition.

Here is a picture of John practicing for the streets of Hyderabad.
John took this picture of me at the Butterfly Palace.
Here is John with his cousins Malena and Laraya at Silver Dollar City... SDC is my favorite theme park in the world. It's theme is the turn of the century (20th) and everyone dresses like it's 1880... as they flip the switches that run the modern roller coasters.
Sorry John... I had to put this in there it's too funny. We rode on so many rollar coasters and rides, ate so much 'amusment park' food I thought it would be nice change of pace to go on a tour of the marvel cave. Of all the places to get sick, John gets sick walking through a huge cave.

I am the "Mother of the Year" so I took a picture.
I am such a mean horrible mother that I forced my poor neglected son to ride a horse... It took about a week to talk him into getting on the horse and everyday after he begged me to take him again.
Here is John on a climbing wall.
Here is John and me tubing on Table Rock Lake

John writing a post card to his dad... it arrived to India 2 months later.

Look out tower and a Latte.
John at the Butterfly Palace. If you look closely you can see a cute little pheasant on the ground.