Bye Bye Monsoon!!!

The kids in their raincoats for another year of monsoon!

And their boots too--a wonderful gift from their aunts and uncles!

This year's monsoon was long, and we still get occasional rain. There was a time I was ready for monsoon to sweep in and take away the ants, water shortage and the heat. But, with monsoon comes so many other things--mud, mosquitoes (wait...I think we have those all the time), dirty water, mold, wetness all the time and a few other things. As with anything...we must take the good with the bad, right! Here are a few pics and videos from the monsoon season. All are at our house and yard...monsoon is crazy all over, but unfortunately, I have gotten to where I don't have my camera with me that much. Sorry! Enjoy our pics from around the house.

One of my favorite things about monsoon is that we had enough water for Sarala to wash dishes after lunch every school day. She does it often on our drought days too, but it just means we'll have to pay for water tankers more often. Check out the videos and you'll see why. Caught her in action! At least she makes it fun.

Singing Little Einsteins as she finishes up

Another of Sarala washing dishes. Don't you think she's so cute!!! She's not always jumping to do her chores (she does complain and whine sometimes!), but most of the time, she does have fun with them. Love how she turns the water off when she knows she's caught. ;)

This is a picture of our water just before monsoon came...It's pretty clean (bugs aside). I took this picture to show all the beetles from out back that entertained the boys! it's like we have different bugs at different times--they come in seasons too (little ants, beetles, mosquitoes, big ants, red ants...and right now it's fruit fly season)! Ugh...I'll take the beetles over the fruit flies...and the dirty water below.

For most of monsoon (I'd say for at least 2 months), our water looked like this! Only the last two weeks have we gotten clean water flowing into our house again. This is the water we bathe in, wash dishes and clothes in and such. Thankfully our filter is still going strong and it makes our water clean and tasty for cooking and drinking!

Here's an example of when the waters came so fast and so much that our neighborhood couldn't drain it quick enough. We've walked through many many puddles. There is one massive puddle right outside our house that one night when Gray drove home, the headlights were submerged! Not lying or exaggerating! These are the times we're thankful we even have a vehicle at all, and the bonus is that it's a large one that can handle the water!!!

This video was after such a hard rain that the standing water on the other side of our wall was flowing through a hole in our wall!!!

In this one, it's actually going under the ground of the wall and bubbling up on our side.

These couple of pictures are right outside our house's walls.

These fields were full constantly during monsoon!

The fields have also been full of sheep and camels! There are nomadic herders and there were times (even in monsoon) that they set up in the fields behind our house.

In the picture above, you can see the little black sheep in the corner. We got to see a few of these babies. They were soooooooo cute with their little baah and the funny gait as they were learning to walk. Isn't it cool this all happens in our backyard!!!

There were a few times I started up the stairs to get Parks from his nap because I thought he was crying only to discover from the window it was just the sheep bleating outside in the back! One early, early morning, I even woke Gray up thinking one of the kids was calling for Dad (as in dddaaaaaaaaaaadddddd, ddddddddddaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhdddddddd), but it was just a sheep!

A video where you can hear the sheep!

My friend Christy has a great post on saying goodbye to the monsoon too! Guess it's evident we're kind of glad to see it go. Check out her post, Good-bye Monsoon. She has great pictures and you can see some of the mold we deal with! Yuck!!!!!

And, here is one other story--definitely the craziest thing that happened to me during monsoon! Actually, it is the CRAZIEST and SCARIEST flight I have ever been on for sure! A friend, Christy and I were on our way to Delhi and everything was going great until about 15 minutes before our scheduled landing time. We were descending and not terribly far from landing when we all of a sudden started going back up as you do during take off (as in the plane is seriously angled with major engine noise). This happened 3 different times! We'd go back up through the huge, thick white cloud with lots of turbulence fly around and then descend again. I just knew something was wrong with the plane and we might die (so many dramatic thoughts)! Finally after the 3rd time, they announced it was due to the weather and that there was no visibility! They said we'd try another time and if we still couldn't land, we'd have to go to another airport. We landed! We landed in lots of water--lots of water--I can't even describe it!!! It was the craziest amount of water. I went from thinking this pilot might not possibly have a legit license (it's happened in India before) to thinking he was the best pilot ever to have landed (and landed well) in such conditions.

Well, we were thankful to have landed, but the craziness does not stop there!!! On our way out of the airport, we were stopped because it was so flooded they weren't letting people exit. We had to exit through the international part of the airport, and the waters were just starting to come into the airport there as well! As we got outside, we walked through water that came mid-calf all the way to our taxi. We were using a taxi driver that is a friend, and his car is small and old. The engine was flooded--as in the waters came that high--and he could barely chug out. We finally got out of the waters slowly and had to wait for the water to burn off for it to drive normally. As we drove, we could see all the water everywhere! Now, I was in some crazy monsoon, flood-type roads last year, so I though it might just be a crazy rainy day. But, this was the craziest rain I had ever seen!

Well, later we found out this day--even more, actually this particular hour--was history for India! It was the most rainfall that had happened in one hour, in one particular small area for about 70 years! The area of the airport got 12 inches of rain in ONE HOUR!!! And, this was the same hour we landed. They called it a cloudburst! So, that's my crazy monsoon story. If you really are interested, you could google about it to read the news stories and see pictures. The day we flew was Thursday, September 15. I'd love to post and link more and scan the newspaper articles and pictures, but I just don't have the time. If you don't want to google (or even if you do), you can quickly check my friend Christy's blog--she has some cool pictures where you can see the flooded, new international airport and how much water was on the roads! It was insane! So, again, go check out her blog! Christy, I'm so glad you blog...I guess soon I'll be asking you to be a writer and photographer for me.

Monsoon Season

This year's monsoon season has brought record rain, record floods, record Dengue Fever, and lots of fun for our kids!!! Usually the capital doesn't get as much rain as other places, but it got a lot of rain this year. One day, when we were driving, I was sure water was going to pour into our car any moment. It was crazy! We were very thankful for our raincoats and rain boots and the kids loved stomping through the puddles. Here are a few pictures from around town and the kids stomping around in the neighborhood where we were staying in the capital.

I was trying to snap shots from the car riding around.

You can't tell how crowded this really is. Many people ride motorcycles in South Asia. Many people ride bicycles. Many people walk. MANY!!! So, when it rains, some of them drive through it. Some have rain suits. Others stop and seek shelter waiting for it to stop. This is a passage way that goes underground to cross the street. People are all crowded in there under the shelter. They are literally touching and it goes down the stairs. We saw this every time it rained.

You see this a lot. These are some people's homes. From my understanding, it's their "temporary housing" while they are doing construction work nearby. Someone correct me if I'm wrong and you know more. Could you imagine this being your home--night after night (not just a camping trip)--and during monsoon season?!!

Here are the kids another day coming home from puddle stomping with Daddy while Parks and I stayed inside. When it's so wet and humid, it's hard to keep the camera from fogging up...and they were pretty far away from me too.

But, this was their favorite day by far of playing in the rain. It was after a HUGE rain everyday for multiple days in a row. So, lots of water and lots of puddles...all in our neighborhood.

There's the fog again...makes it seem so tropical, I think!

Looks kind of like special effects on the camera or something!

The biggest puddle they found was in the park across from our house!

Then, they ventured to play in the hose (aka...mini sprinkler)!

This is a cricket batting cage...not jail/cage for disobedient kids!

Monsoon is Coming

We've had many days that are like this. Even days when it gets over 90 inside. And, one day we saw that outside was 111 and our thermometer is in the shade! But, we're thankful the monsoon is coming and that we're on the brink of changes in the weather. We've had about 5 big storms come through that have given us a bit of relief on these hot days (and taken out our electricity). The kids have enjoyed a few walks in their rain boots stomping through puddles too. But, we're still longing for the real monsoon season to begin.

When the rains come...the temps have gotten even this low. We have a greater appreciation and love for the rain and storms than we've ever had before. It's awesome!!!

But, while it's still hot, I wanted to note a few things that I do here that I never did in America. I do most of them because of the heat. So, before we leave the hot season, I wanted to share them with you.

1. I drink milk with ice in it. Our milk just does not get cold in our fridge, and I like cold milk. I usually drink a glass every night. I have even put ice in cereal to make my milk colder. Gross...I know. I would've never dreamed I would do this. It reminds me of Allison H.!!!

2. I walk out and about with an umbrella. I started doing it for all the grief I was getting from ladies about being in the "dup" which is Hindi for sunshine or rays. They would always ask me first, why I was out and then where my umbrella was. I started taken it with me when I'd be around these ladies, but then it started growing on me a little when I realized it's more like walking in the shade.

3. When we have guests over, we hang out in our bedrooms. We only have A/C in our bedrooms for relief when we're sleeping. It's SO hot in our living/dining room and kitchen that we move to our rooms to hang out. We've played games in our bedroom, had worship/sharing time in our bedroom and also watched movies. At first it seemed a little awkward, but quickly we all love the air and get over any awkwardness there is.

4. I start a load of laundry every night. So, this isn't really for the heat, but it is something different and noteworthy. Our machine is small, so I easily do a load everyday, sometimes two. I start it at night cause it takes a while for it to fill up with water (and time is important when you know the power is going to go off). After it agitates a little while, I turn it off and let them soak overnight. In the morning I turn it back on and run the entire cycle. There are two main reasons I do it this way. 1. So that a load is finished washing when our power goes off every morning for a few hours. 2. So that it's finished when our helper cleans the floors and she can get up all the mess from the water dumping out all over the bathroom floor.

5. When it rains, we open up the doors and windows cause it feels so good. Our floors and window sills are marble, so they can handle the water. It feels so good and we love watching the storms and rain. And, sometimes we even run outside to feel it. This one particular day, we ran out to see how big the hail was.

And....one more thing about rain. One evening during one of those storms, it was the craziest rain we've ever seen. It was like mud falling out of the sky. We thought at first it was just all the dust coming off of our roof. It's pretty dusty during the dry, hot days. But, as we talked with our landlords and other friends, we found out it really was dusty/muddy rain. There was so much dust in the air (from a desert region a little ways from here) that when the rains came down, it pushed all the dust down. It was wild to see!!! Here are a few pictures from our terrace of all the mud left behind. We actually took them 2 days after the storm before our terrace was cleaned.

Can't wait to post more pictures of the real monsoon!!!!

Rain Boots

We were very strategic with our family in gift-giving this year, mostly meaning, nothing big, something useful for overseas. We got a lot of DVDs. Uncle Andy, Aunt Lollie, Uncle Jake and Aunt Christina got the kids was raincoats and rain boots. I asked them for them! We do have a monsoon season that is just a month or two (or three, actually, in the city we live in right now). Most of the time, though, it's hot and dry. So, I started thinking that it might be too short a season and the gift might not be such a wise idea for just a few months out of the year. Then.....

It rained the other day. It's not monsoon season, just a rainy couple of days as the weather is changing--it's warming up! It rained so much during those days. And, then, I was super glad we have good rain boots and coats for the kids. They are glad too! Why didn't I ask for some is what I really began to wonder!

We went out on a few walks after the rain settled down in their rain boots and they loved it SO much!

They were watching a serious game of bad-mitton.

It really was a good game too.

You can tell it's super sunny this day, so a walk outside was great--

especially with just a few puddles left before they all dried up.