Week in the Life- Sunday

Well, here we are on the last day of the week of travel that I carefully recorded. It's supposed to be a scrapbooked exercise, but will it be scrapbooked? We may never know. I will proudly say that today I sewed Draggy (YaYa's stuffed dragon) up, as his neck was falling apart. I'm such an awesome mom. I pulled out the needle and thread, guys! I'm amazing.

I owe you some Thailand, now that we're finishing Nepal. There's been a little gap because we got on yet another bus and came to Pai, in Northern Thailand. And then I had what was very near to a panic attack and had to breathe through it. I'm still calming down. But today we found a beautiful place to stay and I feel mostly normal and I think things will continue along in peace.

Anyways! Sunday!

Sunday (the 31st of July) was the day we got on the plane to fly away. It was also the day that we spent seven hours in the New Delhi Airport.

First, though, the kids ran downstairs to retrieve this game from our guesthouse lobby.

I don't really know what it is. A lady made it for the guesthouse owner, which was very nice of her, and a bunch of guys basically play it all day long.

On our way to breakfast, we found a cool wasp's nest. We're always on the lookout for insects and animals and reptiles.

So it was nice when we found a cat on one of our chairs.

And I had Muesli fruit curd and coffee again.

There was more Carrom. Solo jumped in. We should really get a board, when we get back to Goa.

I ran out for some last minute shopping, which included buying kid's fever reducer for Leafy's fever.

And we got in our taxis and drove to the airport. This is not us in the taxis- this is what it looked like outside the taxi.

We flew Kingfisher. Our flight to Delhi only took an hour and a half. (I think. The details are fuzzy.)

When we got to Delhi, there was this lovely man waiting with an electric cart. Can you believe it? We hopped on the cart. No one was more glad than Chinua, because of his heavy heavy banjo.

I thought it was pretty fun, scooting down the airport hallway on a cart. Travel with kids, people! It makes life easier! (Sort of.)

Then we settled into our new home. For seven hours, that is. What you need to know about the Delhi International transfer area is that there are no ATMs. And very few places that take visa. And no places that change Nepali rupees. It doesn't make sense to me either.

Especially because there are all these places where you can spend your money, if you had any, that is.

I was in awe. This terminal is only a year old, so I'd never seen it before. It didn't feel like India at all. I was a little culture-shocked, or consumer-shocked, or something.

Is that a Body Shop? In India?

Of course NOW I've been wandering the malls in Bangkok, so this looks like small potatoes. But THEN, I'd been four months in Nepal.

I didn't buy anything. Carrying your things on your back is a great way to stop purchasing. Having little money is another great way to stop purchasing.

Did you know we're cubers? Maybe I told you that already. Except I wouldn't have said WE because I'm a very new cuber. Chinua taught me to solve a Rubix cube the day before yesterday. And now I'm addicted. I learned because I don't like Kid A knowing things that I don't know. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep up with him though... He's really very good.

Solo was so smitten with this helicopter that he barely left it. For seven hours.

This photo may look normal, but the abnormal part was that it was taken at midnight. All the kids waiting for their next plane took over the airport and it turned into "Children of the night- The airport," or something like that.

All except this little boy and his fever. Poor kid. But he slept for five hours in the airport, and then the whole time on the plane, while the rest of us got maybe TWO hours of sleep. And the next day? Who was chipper and refreshed, like he'd never been sick at all? The Leafy Boy, that's who.

This is what you should know about traveling with kids. If you're going to be sleep deprived, sleep deprive them all. Because if ONE is chipper and refreshed, that's a problem.

No, it was good that Leafy got plenty of rest. And I only spent a day feeling like I was dying of sleep deprivation, so all's well that ends well. The cheap red-eye flights always seem like such a good idea when I'm paying for them, but they never seem like a good idea at 1:30 when I'm boarding the plane.

Thanks for joining me on this crazy journey. I noticed lots of games and animals in our week. Also, buses. It was fun, noticing.