Same, Same...

A real buzz-kill for any "blogger" is routine. Life here is now as life was in D.C...usual. This is nice, but it doesn't make for an interesting blog, does it? Rhetorical, but in case you actually didn't know the answer...it's NO. It does not make for an interesting blog.

I suppose though, just as you'll never step twice into the same river (thanks, Heraclitus), even the usual life is never truly the same as it was a moment before. We've been busy...I, with work and more work and official visits and looking cool, and Julie/the kids with a recent trip back to the U.S.of.A.

India is now, for all intents and purposes, home. This fact is only occasionally depressing. We do enjoy India, except when we don't. It was the same in D.C., though, and I imagine it's the same for everyone, everywhere (except for John Henderson in Cleveland, Ohio...I hear he just loves it, all the time!) We're settled and comfortable (except when we're not - 120 Degrees, 120 % Humidity... this combination may actually only be possible here in Delhi). We've stumbled across routine...have identified our favorite restaurants, have identified which restaurants we'll never go to again (having once been a 'favorite'), have identified, for the most part, what activities to do when based on the kids' moods, our moods, the traffic, the heat and the typical small aggravations that come with doing most anything here in Delhi.

We're planning a vacation for October...a secretive, awesome vacation somewhere secretive and awesome. Frankly, I need to get out of Delhi. In the meantime, we'll try to hop down to Agra, snap a picture in front of the Taj Mahal...check that box. Word is, that's what the Taj visit is, a photo op, nothing more. A very important photo op, however, so we'll make the journey and strike a pose in front of one of the seven wonders of the world (assuming they haven't revised the list...replaced the Taj with something a tad more "wondrous"...after all, the Taj is just one really big coffin). Anywho, when the trip is said and done, we'll be sure to post pictures.

Olivia and Eli are back to school and they're both very excited. Olivia has started 1st grade. 1st...fricking...grade. She's losing teeth left and right (and not b/c of Eli). She's growing and learning and everyday she's more beautiful (takes after Julie, thankfully...or not, we'll see when she's in high school). Eli is, essentially, The Man. Not the oppressive "Man," mind you, but THE Man. He's developing quite the personality, has been for some time...so maybe it's better said he's honing it to a fine point.

Alise has sprouted two full-on, honest-to-goodness, bottom teeth, and one tooth has popped along the top. She crawls around the house drooling, like a miniature Saint Bernard. She's pretty quick now and knows just where to go, just what to do, to scare us shitless, when an opportunity presents itself. Like her siblings, Alise too is a mischievous sprite...we're pretty certain she knows exactly what she's doing and will often flash us a wicked grin as we bound toward her, yelling "Alise, get down...Alise, get that out of your mouth...Alise, please quit trying to re-wire that socket." She can stand now, balance all by herself...but she's not walking. She'll stand for a moment and then return to a kimchee squat, a genetic gift.

Proud Parent diatribe has concluded.

Well...completely unsatisfied, huh? Like you just ate Tofu? Waiting all this time for an update and this is what I write? Really? Really?!?!

Yep. Afraid so.

Delhi...OUT!!!