Our Welcome to India

After over 30 hours of travel, we have finally made it to New Delhi, India.  We met up with several other new teachers and their families at the airport by the administrators at the school who greeted us with flower leis.  We were then taken to campus to our new apartment.  In the walkway to our front door, we found beautiful decorations on the floor, made out of colored rice.  At first we didn't even notice that it was rice because it was so pristine.

Our new teacher orientation started the next day at lunch time, but with jetlag, we were awake before 4am.  After a few hours, we found the campus pool and took the girls for a little swim.  However, it wasn't long before we experienced our first Indian creatures.  There were some bright yellow wasps flying around the pool, and Kaelia grabbed a nearby rope to keep herself afloat that happened to have some of the wasps around it.  She was instantly stung which ended pool time and began a massive swelling on Kaelia's wrist.  She got over it a day later, but it was an interesting start to our first day!

During orientation, it was wonderful to get to know the other new teachers and learn a bit about India.  The school even put together a little expo (called mela in India) to show us more about the Indian culture.  At the mela, we attended stations to learn more about fashion, beliefs, travel, holidays, clothing, art, and food.  They had some delicious samples of Indian food, and we left with free bags of artwork and bangles (bracelets).  There was even a henna station which the girls and I definitely took advantage of.

It has been a wonderful first week to India.  We are learning more and more about the culture, and we cannot believe how kind everyone is.  The people here have gone above and beyond to help us and make us feel welcome.  We are really hoping that the girls embrace this culture and behaviors as it is such a contrast from our last two years in Doha.

Summertime Fun

It's time to say goodbye to another fun summer in the USA.  Our time here was quite short this year because of the timing from leaving one school and starting at another with a slightly different calendar, but that did not stop us from fitting in some awesome time with friends and family.

Just after the 4th of July, we flew down to Florida for a week where we spent time in Orlando and Vero Beach.  Uncle Joel first met us in Orlando for a few days where we hit up the two parks at Universal Studios.  Because we stayed in a Universal resort hotel, we were given an hour early admission to the Harry Potter parts of both parks.  This privilege made such a difference!  On day one, we rode all of the Harry Potter rides several times, got some butter beer and pumpkin juice, and watched a little demonstration about wands at Olivanders.  Then we visited the rest of the as it just opened for the rest of the public.  Most rides were about a 5-10 minute wait, and we rode everything by noon!  We all found the Harry Potter rides awesome, but we also liked the Riptide Falls water ride, Spiderman and the King Kong ride.  King Kong is new and only open for an hour a day to test it out; we happened to get on during that hour, and it was really worth it!  We also enjoyed the Jurassic Park ride, although Kaelia did not like when T-Rex almost ate us at the end.

The next day, we went to Harry Potter at the other park to ride the Gringott's ride and then ventured over to the rest of the park.  The highlights here were the Mummy, Transformers, and the Simpsons ride and part of the park.  Justin and Joel even enjoyed a Duff beer at Moe's while the girls tried their luck at the Love Tester!  Kaelia got a rating of Casanova while Taelyn got Dead Fish.  Before leaving the park, Uncle Joel allowed the girls to each pick out something as a gift.  Kaelia chose a stuffed animal cat, and Taelyn chose a new wand from Harry Potter.  She couldn't decide which wand to get, so the saleslady asked her about her personality and showed her the wand that would match.  Taelyn was sold and then went off the various parts of the park where she could wave her wand and say a spell, and then "magic" would happen.  It was a unique experience and a fun way to end our time at Universal Studios.

For the rest of our time in Orlando, we swam at the pool at our resort and then went an escape room one evening where we had an hour to find gold in the old West.  Even the girls helped find clues, and we got out in time with no problem.

After Orlando, we went to Vero Beach to see our great friends from high school, Adam and Michelle.  All of our kids had a wonderful time together swimming in the pool, going to the beach, playing mini golf, and getting lots of ice cream!  It was a wonderful and relaxing visit.

Our other big trip of the summer was to the west side of Michigan where we went to Michigan Adventure with Uncle Matty's family and the Jettner's and then on to the Jettner's lake house.  Michigan Adventure was a blast - they had rides and waterslides for every age.  Taelyn and Jayden liked some of the more extreme rides while Kaelia and Ari preferred the milder rides.  At the lake house, we spent a lot of time tubing, kayaking, jet skiing, and hanging out. It was a great way to end the summer.

In between these visits, the girls had plenty of cousin time with Jacob and Riley and quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Pepera and Walker - including camping for a night with Grandma Walker.  They also started the summer off with a week-long day camp; Taelyn went to Harry Potter camp, and Kaelia went to Barbie dream camp.  We really had a nice time seeing everyone again and enjoying summer activities.  Now we are on to our next adventure: India!

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Frankenmuth 4th

One of our favorite places to spend the 4th of July at is the Frankenmuth Volkslaufe where they hold a German-American festival of music, food, and running races.  This year, both of our parents joined us along with the girls, who ran their first Volkslaufe races this year.

After living in Doha for two years, Justin and I were not in the best shape, but we attempted to put in a little speed over the last month to try to secure an age group award in the 5K.  Justin ran significantly faster than expected and came away with 2nd place in his age group.  I didn't run any kind of special time, but it was the best I could have hoped for that day and good enough to win the age group.

After our victories, we hopped in the 2K fun run with the kids.  Justin ran with Taelyn who ran the entire distance and had quite the kick in the end.  She loved the race and wanted to run fast!  I ran with Kaelia who had a great time talking with me and enjoying the atmosphere,  She did not want to run fast and she took breaks, but she was very proud of herself after each running segment for persevering through the tough times!

One of the best parts of the Volkslaufe is the awards ceremony.  We all got a German-themed lunch of brats or roasted chicken while an oompah band played music in lederhosen and drindl.  When Justin and I were called up for our awards, we were given German beer steins as our prize and took them straight to the beer tent for a free fill of German beer.  It was a great day and a great combination of my two favorite countries.  Happy 4th!