Christmas in Bombay

WINTER 2010 Ok..not yet winter..but still wanted to capture the activity in December..Once we booked our tickets to India for christmas, we could not think or do anything that was not related to the holiday. A simple request like 'can you fix the lightbulb in my room dad?" would elicit a response.."no, we'll do it when we get back from India". Anyways, we spent our time buying gifts for everyone and ourselves. The travel to bombbay was tiring but good. we had a stopover in paris for 2 hours..where i changed Kimberly;s dirty diaper in the children's play area..i was tired and the airport washroom (at least where we were seated) did not have a baby changetable. so there..an explanation if Kimberly ever gets to reading this post and finds out the nasty thing I did. anyways, Kyren/Yohann/Keith and mum travelled home in one car..keith told us later that the boys were looking around surprised and trying to comprehend the birthplace of their parents and Yohann made an observation "looks like the city was destroyed and the only thing that survived was the people" ha ha..that was only the beginning...when they rode in a rickshaw for the first time..they jumped in excitedly and started looking around for seatbelts.. We had a great great time in bbay..everynight we sat around until midnight sipping wine and chatting. Mum made sure we had great food which we would always remember..and she's accomplished that. fried bombils/ targollas/ coconut water and malai. Chappatis in the morning for b/fast/ brun bread/ multigrain bread/ cheese/ jam and eggs. lunch was fish curry/ rice/ 2 vegetables and fried fish. Dinner was a feast of and un-gravy dish/ cutlets/fried chicken..i am salivating even now. Joel came running home from school everyday and devoted every minute and breath of his playing with kyren, yohann and kimberly. I miss you joel, so much. Jane/Elvido came home everyday after work and spent all of their free time with us. Fiona came in from Mauritius a few days later. she is Mrs Claus. she bought tons of gifts for the kids and homemade christmas cake which was to die for. Aunty Elsa and Noreen came and spent a couple of days with us. Aunty Elsa made the most amazing cheesestraws. kyren is begging me to learn..but i dont' think mine would turn as good as the original. Christmas in Bbay. We went for midnight mass and was surprised to see the entire Domenic colony was decorated with Christmas lights including the inside lanes...such a beautiful sight and so christmassy...all around the church there were shops with an abundance of christmas sweets/ decorations/ and people hurrying about trying to get their shopping done.

We had such a feast on Christmas day (Roast Chicken/ Sorpotel/ Meat Loaf/ Roast Beef/Salad/ Rice/ Sanaas/ and christmas sweets for Dessert.

The boys had a fantastic time in bombay. Their aunts spoiled them rotten. They went to the play zone at Inorbit mall frequently. Yohanna tried paper dosas and Kimberly tried a rava dosa plain. We all went to Manori, which is a small island just outside bombbay. so serene and quite and we took a horse carriage to reach the bungalow that we booked. We played on the beach and the boys built sand castles. Kimberly sat on a fishing boat and refuse to vacate it. we had to pull her out kicking and screaming. We went to far end of the beach for a walk where couples make out..and Kimberly went into a rocky area where she parked herself and did not want to move. we again had to carry her kicking and screaming... The smell of sea water combined with the white foamy waves should make it into the book of awesome.

GOA We arrived in Goa on Jan 1st and stayed with the banglore gang..we went that night to dinner at Cavallis with all of them. We were 20 of us including some friends from New Zealand. We stayed at Giselle's house in Goa. We visited Jennifer/ Ronnie one day and the next went parasailing and jet sking. All new experiences for us and thoroughly enjoyable.

Anniversary

Elvido Jane Joel mum and armando dropped us back to airport. Chaotic at the airport but that was expected. In france, we took a cab to see the Eiffel tower. Paris is beautiful and we would like to go back for a longer time.

Jaron came to pick us from the airport. Karen and Lancy were waiting for us at home with food that June made. Also our fridge was stocked with all our favourite food courtesy giselle..croissants for the boys with strawberries and blue berries. smoked salmon/ humus/ and baguette.