There were quite a few interesting things that happened in Sri Lanka, and I often thought, "This would make a good blog post story!" Time just won't allow for that unfortunately, so I'll give you the abridged versions of some of those stories here. I also put up a bunch of the photos of Daniel in Sri Lanka on his 2-month-old post, so I won't repeat them here.
On the train from Colombo to KandyDuring our 5 days in Sri Lanka, we are pretty sure that we took every possible form of public transportation available in Sri Lanka! We arrived by air, took a train up into the mountains, took a bus back down, and took both taxis and tuk-tuks around the towns. After all that, we felt pretty confident in our ability to make our way around the country!
The view from our wonderful guest house in the mountains outside of Kandy
The waterfall near the guest houseIt was about a 15 minute hike down a bunch of stairs to get to this waterfall. We had been warned about leeches, and we found that to be a valid concern! I was wearing Daniel in the snugli, but the rest of us collected quite a few leeches on our way down to the waterfall. Once there, we quickly removed as many leeches as we could find, took a few photos, then headed back up the hill. Of course we gathered even more leeches going UP because not only were we moving more slowly, but we had stirred the leeches up on our way down the hill, so they were ready and waiting for us! I realized just how out of shape I am, but the threat of leeches kept me moving. =)
Daniel seemed to start interacting more during this trip - perhaps because he got more attention than he often does at home. He has a great little smile that lights up his whole face, and the smiles are usually accompanied by coos and chuckles. He is rather selective about who he shares his smiles with though. While Rebekah smiled at everyone and everything at this age, Daniel prefers sharing his big grins with people he knows. But once he knows you, watch out!
Nathan took a bunch of great sunset photos one evening from our guest house. This is one below, but you can view all of the best shots on his Picasa Album.
We began and ended our trip in Colombo in order to an Indian visa for Daniel. We weren't there long, but during the time we were there, we had opportunity to do a few things that we don't normally do in Bangalore. Namely, go swimming and go to McDonald's! Just for the record, Bangalore does have McDonald's, but I have only been there once, and that was before I even met Nathan. It doesn't have a play place, so it wouldn't be as thrilling to Rebekah as the one in Colombo was!
Nathan, Daniel, and Rebekah in the pool - Rebekah was thrilled with it, but Daniel wasn't impressed.
Rebekah's first trip to McDonald'sWe got her a Happy Meal, and she loved the fries, but left most of her hamburger and drink for Daddy. She got a monster truck (which she was very impressed with because she is really into monsters these days.... some children have imaginary friends, but my daughter has an imaginary monster family! They are nice monsters, of course. =) ) and a "Christmas hat," and was thrilled with both.
Rebekah has had ice cream plenty of times, but had never had ice cream in a cone before. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first, but caught on quickly by watching Mommy and Daddy eat their cones. As you can see, she was pretty happy with it. =)
Daniel was wondering why no one offered him any!
This is probably my favorite photo from the trip - Rebekah enjoying her cone with Daniel eagerly looking on!
The McDonald's playground was a big hit with Rebekah too. It was a little big for her, so Mommy got to go in...and up...and around....and down....over and over and over again! Actually though, by the end of our time there, she had gotten brave enough to climb up and go down the slide all by herself. I just stationed myself in the middle of the structure at a place that was too high for her to be able to climb up herself. Everything else she did on her own. She was thrilled, and pretty proud of herself too!
Our hotel check-out was noon, but our flight didn't leave until around six that evening, so we spent the afternoon in an airport coffee shop and then rode the "flat esclators" (according to Rebekah) while waiting to board the plane.
Naptime at a coffee shop in the Colombo airport
What our little frequent flier does to pass the time while waiting to board the plane! 
4 comments:
Eirena loves the escalators and rides them while waiting in the airport for Dr. Daddy to depart and arrive! I am so impressed that Rebekah napped in the airport coffee shop. That is something E would NEVER do- a true exercise in futility on our parts.
Looks like daniel will be catching up to his big sister's antics soon, by the longing look on his face!
You have McDonalds?!? We are so jealous. We have no American businesses here in Cameroon although there is one store that gets a container from the U.S. -- it's the only place you can find brown sugar (I know you asked about that in a comment before -- we have seen it in stock twice in 4 1/2 months at this store so we snatch it up when we see it), Cheerios ($10/box), Cheezits ($10/box),Parmesan cheese ($20 for a decent sized container but a container that's probably $6 in the States), a 3 pound bag of M&Ms for $15, a box of Oreos for $15, etc. Anyway, I'm off subject, but I am so jealous that you have a McDonalds although I know you said you don't go there often. I'm curious if you have other American businesses (Walmart? restaurants?)
I also can't believe Rebekah slept in the airport like that. I have tried to make a special place for Kayla to nap and make sure she has her blanket that she likes but oh no. :-)
That place you stayed at was amazing. How beautiful with the porch and the fence. Glad you could have some fun while you were running the passport errand -- or was it a visa errand -- whatever it was. Sorry to hear about the leeches experience. Kayla would've flipped I think.
Oh and Kayla loves the moving walkways too! Okay, I'm done with this long comment.
(This is Karis at Dan's computer and too lazy to re-sign in as me.)
"Make him stop touching me." That made me laugh! That so sounds like my life too even though Kayla hasn't used the words -- more just the removal of Krista's hands.
I read on someone's blog the other day that their child said, "Mom, he's breathing on me. Make him stop." This was in church. The mom said she was thinking. "Yeah, I'm going to ask him to stop breathing while sitting next to you and then run out to the foyer every time he needs a breath."
Never a dull moment!
I've just discovered your blog, and enjoyed reading about your family. What beautiful children!
Yes, they are a blessing. And, to grandparents too. I always say that grandchildren are the frosting on the cake!
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