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Sri Lanka Safari

The third major stop on our trip after visiting the high elevations of Nura Elliya was to head back down the mountain to the national park at Uda Wallawe ((Learn more about Uda Wallawe)).  It was definitely more rural and off the tourist track.  We stayed at a very small resort called Kula’s Hideaway that only had 7 rooms.  Very nice digs for being so far from everywhere.   On Dec 31st we took a morning Safari into the park and despite coming close to getting stuck in the mud twice we saw dozens of elephants, peacocks, a host of birds and two crocodiles.   Kai loved playing “spotter” with the binoculars.

Chandrasiri arranged a New Year’s eve “party” down by the lake which we thought it would be rude to decline.  He seemed very excited about it.  Turns out it was with the same crew that managed the Land Cruiser for the safari that morning – Chandrasiri drove us close to the lake in the van and then we went the rest of the way by 4-wheel drive in the safari truck.  As the sun set on 2011 we were on the shore of Lake Uda Wallawe with some bowls of wild boar and lake fish and a couple of bottle of the local firewater – coconut arrak.   Drums were produced and songs started.  Crystal and I sampled the food and were thankful that Kai and Nora didn’t want to touch it.  The coconut arrak disappeared surprisingly fast.  Nora kept trying to wander away to chase fireflies which made us nervous as at least one wild dog was prowling the perimeter looking for the chance to dart in and steal some food.   It was definitely a New Year’s Eve with bit more character than recent years.

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An Elizabethan Evening

The holiday season is in full swing here.  A singing group that Crystal works with recently put on an Elizabethan evening dinner/concert.  It was a festive holiday feast complete with a king, queen and royal court–a fabulous show and when Kai and Nora heard that costumes were involved they were keen to get dressed up as well.  Nora’s default of dressing as a princess seemed to work well enough and for Kai it was either a Jedi Knight, an alien or a pirate.  The pirate seemed most appropriate.  I thought that we could get him to pass for a monk with the help of his Jedi robe but he didn’t have much interest.  Monks don’t pack cold, hard steel — pirates do!

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Athens

Last week Crystal and I attended the NESA Fall Leadership conference in Athens.  Kai and Nora stayed in the capable hands of Puraida and, though we missed them, it was nice to have a trip with just the two of us.   I lugged around my big Nikon so was able to take some multi-exposure shots and then render them as HDR images.  This is much easier to do well with a tripod but the days were bright which made things a little easier.   Enjoy the pictures!

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Nora’s Various Birthdays

As is probably true with many young children, Nora had a string of birthday celebrations.  There was the celebration on the anniversary of her birth- what Nora calls her “actually birthday” – that we did as a family–turning 5 is a big milestone after all.  Then there was the round of cupcakes and singing in her preschool classroom and finally, as schedules allowed, an afternoon party on a weekend with friends.  Phew.  I think we’re all done now – for another year anyway.   Here are a few pictures that haven’t made it on the website before…

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Nora’s First Day of School

The new K4 (pre-kindergarten) program started up last week in Dhahran. The mascot for the elementary school is the Arabian Horses so in the K4 program they call themselves the “Ponies”.    Nora has been looking forward to her first day of school for a very long time now.   Despite this I thought that on the big day she would go all shy and want to do a lot of hiding behind our legs.   Boy was I wrong.  Even minutes into the first day where all the parents attended with their kids it was clear she didn’t need us there.  I hope we didn’t crimp her style too much.

The K4 classrooms are situated in the building next to our offices so it is nice to catch a glimpse of Nora now and again.  In fact, the ponies parade past Crystal’s office window each morning as they get off the bus.  Enjoy the pictures.

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Devil’s Lake

Devil’s Lake is the best swimming beach close to our cabin in Danbury and we managed to get there to swim a couple of times over the summer.   Though our vacation is over and we are back in the heat and humidity I still have quite a few pictures from vacation so expect a few more posts.

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Kai and Nora at the beach in La Jolla

Here is a video of us at a beach in La Jolla Shores.  The waves were a bit much for the kids so Crystal was doing her best to keep them out of the water.  As I took the video I was standing in the (freezing) water up to my ankles – the dialogue is a bit hard to decipher due to the wind but it all revolves around Kai and Nora busting me for standing in water when they can’t.

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Birch Aquarium and the USS Midway

The last day we spent in San Diego we visited the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla which the GPS Navigator pronounced phonetically as La Joe-la.  Kidding aside, driving in new territory with a GPS Navigator is such a marvel of the modern age.  No more fiddling with maps ahead of time, just jump in the car and go!   I remember our very first GPS was in a car we rented in Germany several years ago.  I swear when we missed a turn the German woman’s voice would get a disappointed edge to it as it recalculated our route.  Not so with our current model.  Crystal programmed in an Australian accent for our current unit and it never runs out of patience.

After the aquarium we let the GPS direct us down the coast for a visit to a beach – we figured it would be a shame to have visited Southern California without at least being on a beach for a few minutes.  The beach was nice but the water was pretty rough with  signs posted warning of dangerous rip currents so we kept Kai and Nora back as well as we could.  The water was freezing so I’m surprised that they wanted to go near the water at all but they were keen to get their feet wet.  One bonus was the seal we saw sunning itself on a rock a little ways from shore.

Our last major stop of the day was the USS Midway – a carrier put into service shortly after WWII which saw its last action during Desert Storm.  Now a museum it was amazingly well done.  If you are ever in San Diego I highly recommend this attraction. They had actual aircraft up on the deck spanning the years the carrier was in service and the self-directed audio tour was top notch.   I’ve never been on a carrier before and I was blown away.  Kai too.  He was most taken with the missles and bombs; Nora’s big question was “where do they brush their teeth?”  We thought it would be a quick walk through and we’d be on our way before the kids got bored but we ended up staying a long time – especially on the flight deck with the planes.

Enjoy the pictures!

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Legoland and the San Diego Zoo

On our vacation within a vacation we took a trip to San Diego for a few days.  One the main attractions was Legoland which we figured would be right up Kai’s alley (which was correct, of course).  We also visited the amazing San Diego Zoo and had dinner with Monica.  Enjoy the pictures!