Saturday, December 31, 2005

Off We Go!!


We had a hard time saying goodbye to our temporary home at Grandma and Grandpa Cutler's house, but we were all excited to go!

Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Kimmy were all there to help us check in our 15 bags, 3 car seats, and one stroller. Rich had weighed each one with a bathroom scale and stuffed things in until they were 50 lbs. each. The woman at the counter was endlessly patient and helpful with us. After much to-do, we said goodbye and went through security with our 9 carry-on bags, only to realize we forgot the other stroller! Once we got on the plane, we had to wait an hour on the ground for clearance to go to Chicago, but luckily we had our bag of tricks to keep us busy!

Aunt Kimmy was a super-hero in helping us get ready to go. She made several trips to stores for odds and ends, and then got several fun pictures of family developed for us to take along to help us remember. We will sure miss her while she's on her mission!

Here's us in the Dallas airport super-excited to go!

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Moving and Christmas Together


Wonderful Aunt Katie and Uncle Dave and Grandpa Cutler came from Dallas to rescue us! They brought food, laughter, fun, and lots of elbow grease. Katie packed my piles into suitcases, cleaned bathrooms, and played with the baby, while Grandpa and Dave cleaned up the house and ran errands for us. We might still be there if they hadn't come to scoot us out of there!


This is Grandma and Grandpa Cutler reading the Cajun Night Before Christmas to the boys--a Cutler family tradition. What a relief to get to Mom and Dad's house where the fridge works, there's lots of toys, and lots of love. Katie and Dave and Kimmy were already there, and Amy, James and Max arrived later.


This is Russell watching the packers pack up our air shipment on our last day in our house. Both Isaac and Russell have been so brave about this whole thing, and did amazingly well without toys for a week in our nearly-empty house. They mostly just ran around outside and inside and improvised toys out of boxes and junk!


Sadly enough, our beloved harvest gold fridge broke two days before we moved. I've been praying for the ugly thing to die for a long time, but I wasn't quite prepared for it. Isaac filmed a 3-minute inch-by-inch tribute to the thing, and I called all my friends to come over for free food while I made chicken, rolls, and frozen vegetables for breakfast!


We had to say goodbye to our beautiful Martha Washington Duck. Robin and David came to visit and we took her down to the creek for her first and final swim there (I think the water level was finally low enough that she wasn't afraid!). She is living now with the Mellors in our ward who will take good care of her. We will miss our loyal friend.


Graham tried out the bouncer this week for the first time and loved it! He also rolled over, put his pacifier in his mouth, and laughed all within a matter of days! He is endlessly happy and smiley.


The moving truck drove off with most all of our stuff. Russell was especially impressed with the sheer size of the thing. We only filled half of it, but we've certainly got lots more stuff than when we drove up to the house five and half years ago with a little U-Haul! Russell has said several times with gravity since the truck drove off, "The moving truck took our trains to India." And then Isaac chimes in, "Yea, we won't see them for a long time!"


The great thing about moving is that you find long-lost stuff--like the mouthpiece to our bugle. We barely had time to enjoy it and practice our bugling talents before it too was carted off to India. Luckily we've got some of those Legos in our air shipment so we can build towers in our empty house!


It was such a relief to finally arrive at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Dallas and settle in to the Christmas fun. We are so glad to have this stopover trip with our loved ones before we face our adventures in India!


We will miss so many of our friends in Austin. We wish we'd been together enough to take pictures of all of them, but here's our next-door-neighbor Chloe.


And here's Joseph Wells. The boys didn't get a chance to say a formal "goodbye" to Joseph, Jacob, and Serena Wells, but we will surely remember them and keep in touch.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Taj Mahal with Graham



Taj Majal. It was amazing in person!

Graham was not really amused . . .

Graham wasn't really impressed, but he was an attraction almost as large as the Taj. Several women came up and tried to take him right out of our arms (not maliciously, just wanting to hold him).

We were lucky enough to have a guide who turned photographer, which was lucky since there were people everywhere wanting to charge you $10 to take your picture.

Posing with one of the many people who wanted to have their picture taken with us. There were very few Western sight-seers, so we were a novelty, especially with Graham.

This is the mosque built on the side of the Taj. On the other side is an identical building built for guests. The entire Taj is symmetrical.

There wasn't water flowing here today, but usually there is, they say. The amazing thing about the Taj is that it's built on top of water and teak wood so that if there's an earthquake, it won't be destroyed.

Two gorgeous kids who wanted their picture taken with us. We saw lots of kids with black eyeliner under their eyes. We finally had someone tell us they do that to keep evil spirits and looks away from them.

The Taj again.

Graham AND Rich tuckered out from site-seeing.