Monthly Archives: August 2017

Parade of boats at the beginning of the Festival.

Traditional boat races are held in Kerala, India every August. Some of Bobby’s coworkers set us up to experience them at a local hotel. We drove out of town for a couple of hours to a hotel that had set the rooftop up as a viewing place with bleachers and snacks. The TVs were broadcasting an upclose view of the races.

Enjoying the rooftop view.

Bobby and Max watching from the snack bar side.

Each boat differed in size and the number of rowers. Some were huge and some only had about 10 oarsmen. One boat was entirely crewed by women in saris. The crews practice for months leading up to the festival.

One of the heats from the water’s edge.

The festivities began with a parade of the boats. Then the heats began. It took a little while between heats for the boats to get into place, but then they raced right by the hotel. The locals gathered to watch and cheer down by the water’s edge. But plenty of other people had paid for rooftop access like us, to be able to wait more comftably between heats.

Ever seen a guy hanging from a tree in a chair? We have. Bet he could see really well from there.

I have to admit this was one of the less enjoyable of our little adventures. Things were very slow and nothing was in English. The hotel over booked the rooftop, giving mutltiple people the same seats. And we were so far from the action. But it still was an adventure! We did something we had never done before and added to our experiences and understanding.

Our hotel was about a five-minute walk from the White House.

During our summer visit back to the USA, Bobby and I decided we needed to make a little time just for our own family so on the way back from our Pennsylvania trip, we stopped in Washington DC for a couple of days. We walked, we ran, we biked…and we had a blast! I wish we could have gotten tickets to go into the White House (one of my big dreams) but since you must order them through your Senator and must prove you live in his or her district to get the tickets, they are not really available to US citizens who live outside the US. We still had plenty to see.

Outside the National Archives Museum.

Washington Monument Selfie.

We started with the Washington Monument, but we were too late to get tickets to go inside. I don’t think Gabe would have been willing to go all the way up anyway. The Park Ranger gave us a scavenger hunt for the boys to do at the various monuments in DC.  They got really into it and HAD to find the information at each site before we were allowed to leave. Then we hit the National Archives Museum where we got to see the Constitution of the United States. It was fabulous! We spent a long time in there learning all sorts of cool stuff, but we were not allowed to take any pictures.

Trying out the Metro so we don’t have to walk so much.

The Kids’ section of the Smithsonian.

All our legs got pretty tired the first day, so we started trying new ways to save energy for when we really needed it: hence, the Metro. We visited several of the Smithsonian Museum’s building, but for some reason I seem to be missing those pictures. The Natural History Museum had a great Kids’ Museum inside it that my boys just did not want to leave.

We visited all the war memorials. This is the WW II Memorial.

Of course we had to stop by the Lincoln Memorial. But first, we discovered a rental bike shop. I think the boys enjoyed biking on actual sidewalks more than anything else we did on this trip. They miss it. By the time we made it to the Memorial, they said they were too tired to climb all those stairs, so Bobby and I went into the Memorial ourselves. By the time we came back out, they were most of the way up the stairs, playing. Still wouldn’t go see Ole Abe though.

Waiting on their bikes for the light to change.

View across the National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial.

The boys refusing to climb any more stairs.

Bobby and I stealing a Lincoln selfie on our own.

We ended our trip at the FDR Memorial which is stunningly beautiful. I truly admire FDR and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt but this Memorial, etched with so many great words, made me admire them even more.

my girl!

Max’s favorite statue in the city.

So, I realized that I was only recording our adventures in foreign lands on this site. That’s not fair! Our family has also had some great adventures in the USA as well, so I am going back and recording them too.

In June of 2016, the Stair side of our family decided to go on a quest to visit some family history sites and the Priesthood Restoration site in Pennsylvania. Not everyone could attend though. We missed Ben, Ed, Scarlet, and Mike. They all had to work.

We visited plenty of headstones.

Aunt Carol joined us part of our trip.

The grandkids gathering to hear Grandpa’s stories.

Jpeg

Cousins everywhere!

Three sisters trying to take a selfie after church.

Siblings

Getting ready for church at the crummiest hotel.

A lot of little boys in one car and a delicious Burger King meal later.

After visiting family and checking out all the places where our family had lived over the years, we headed to the Priesthood Restoration site in Northern Pennsylvania where Moses appeared to Joseph Smith and passed in the keys to the Aaronic Priesthood.

The Visitors’ Center at the site.

Interactive exhibits inside the Visitors’ Center.

As many cousins as I could grab standing between the statues of Joseph Smith receiving both Priesthoods.

The Visitors’ Center was full of information in easily understandable and enjoyable exhibits and surrounded by beautiful woods with trails.

One of the trails leads you under the highway to the other side where you can experience Emma Smith’s parent’s (the Hales) home and a restored version of the small home that Joseph and Emma Smith built while living on her parent’s land. A pair of Sister missionaries will lead you on a tour.

Outside the Hales’ home.

Cousins listening to the Sister missionaries leading the tour.

Moms, Dads, and Grandparents taking in the formal dining room.

Mort trying to lift the “Golden Plates” by himslef.

Ruby posing for me outside the Hales’ home.

The whole group trying to fit into the room where people would meet to hear about the church.

If you are up for a little longer walk, you can even visit the peaceful site where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey baptized each other in the Susquehanna River.

Baptized in nature’s beauty.

And of course, if you traveling with a whole bunch of little boys, you won’t be able to resist playing there too.