The Kiddos in the Mountains - Thanksgiving 2011

 The girls had a great time in the mountains!!!  Aashini is really into posing for pictures now :)  This picture cracks me up :)

 This is in the room where we had our meals ;)

 I tried to take a picture of the girls one day... it didn't quite work out :) haha!

 Here's Diya on the safari :)  She loved the "'noculars" :)

 Aashini stopping to pose for a picture :)

 Diya loved the horse ride!  This horse's name was Deepak.  

 Aashini LOVED her S'mores!

 Diya & Adam :)

 The girls had so much fun playing with their friends!!  It was fun :)

Diya's Birthday!!!

Diya is TWO!!!  Diya's birthday was November 26th.  On her actual birthday we were on a train all day coming home from our trip, so we didn't celebrate that day.  On the 24th our friend Susan had a birthday, so the resort made a cake for Diya and Susan that day.  Diya thought it was so fun!

 She got cake, ice cream AND chocolate syrup!

 She loved it!   Her favorite thing about birthdays is the cake! :)

 A day after we were back, we celebrated her birthday as a family (she already had her Princess Party with her friends a few weeks before - I totally need to post those pictures!  I'm so behind!).   Here she is opening  one of her presents - a doll :)

 She was so happy with her cupcake!

 SUPER Happy!

 She tries really hard to blow out the candles... but still needs some help :)

 She ate the frosting off the top :)

 Here's a video of Diya and her cake/candles :)  I think it's cute :)

Later that day we went to the mall and played and ate :)  Here's Diya (with her doll) all ready to go (and making a silly face :)

Diya's FIRST Day of School!

Diya started school last week!  I can't believe she's big enough for school!!!

For the first 2 days, the kids go to the basement play room and play with the other new kids and teachers as they adjust.  We're in the same room, so it's not so stressful for them.  

On the 3rd day they take the kids to their class for one hour of the time (the rest of the time they're in the basement room).  On the 4th day they spend a few hours in their class (while we sit downstairs in case we're needed) and the 5th day we drop her off!  She did really good!  She really loves school and gets excited to go!

On her first day they celebrated "Mickey's Birthday", so they had a cake and sang.  Diya thought that was AWESOME!  That girl LOVES cake! haha!  She loved it!

So, starting this week, she'll be in school regularly.   She's having a lot of fun!

Halloween... a little late :)

 Halloween isn't really celebrated here, so we don't do much around that time of year.  This year, some ladies at the Embassy planned a fun craft party for the kids.  We went and the kids had a lot of fun :)

 They love "craft time" - Diya felt so big!

 They made a whole bunch of crafts!  It was a lot of fun :)

 Afterwards we got to stay at the club and eat and watch some Baseball :)  It was a very American day :)

 Then we played on the fun playground they have at the club :)

 So... that's what we did for Halloween :)

Holiday Season

Holiday Season is almost ended over here.  Of course there is a holiday just about every week here, but the BIG holidays are just about over.  The other night we were at a local Sikh Temple.

You have to cover your head in a Sikh Temple.  I think the girls look cute :)

Here's Diya goofing off.

Aashini lifting up the people inside.

The girls showing their Bollywood style :)

Lighthouse Beach

After spending a few days at the other resort we went to another area of Kovalam called Lighthouse Beach (you can see the lighthouse in the background behind Adam)...

This beach was very interesting because it had black sand!  In pictures it doesn't look that pretty, but it was really neat!  It was super sparkly too (which you know I just love!).... one downfall of black sand - it was SUPER hot!!!!!!

 I bought these awesome mini buckets and shovels at a dollar store when we were in America.  They're great because they easily fit in my luggage and they are perfect for the girls! :)  They had a ton of fun digging in the sand!

 This is Diya making a funny face... her funny faces crack me up :)  She puts her head to the side and poses like this ;)  It's funny :)

 Diya's little foot in the sand :)

Playing on the beach!  The beach was weird!  The sand on the beach was black, but near the water it was sort of red/brown... but if you dug underneath the red/brown sand, it was black!  Very interesting! 

 The girls were very into playdough this trip :)  They brought it with them everywhere!  

 It was very helpful when we were waiting for meals to come though :)  The restaurants at Lighthouse Beach were all "open-air" and with beach views - it was awesome!

 Diya concentrating with her playdough :)

 Here is Diya making her "funny face" :)

The girls and their funny faces :)

Here we are playing on the beach at sunset :)  It was fun :)

 Digging in the sand at lighthouse beach :)

The sun was about to set but got behind the clouds... Diya couldn't figure out where it went :) 

 Look how black the sand is!!!  Crazy!

 Black sand looks funny on faces :) haha!  It was super fine sand too and it got on EVERYTHING!!!  

 :)

 Sunset time!  I'll have pictures of the sunset on the other blog :)

 A nice bucket bath to end a fun day :)

We LOVED this beach and definitely want to come back here another time!!