WW2 Jeeps in Haryana!

by HouseBoy

Evan and his Cub Scout Den had another interesting experience last Saturday. The boys had an opportunity to go four-wheel driving in vintage Jeeps. Seven Boys and some of their parents (not sure who had more fun, the Dad's or the kids?) drove about an hour outside of Delhi into the countryside in the neighboring state of Haryana. A friend of our Den Leader assembled an odd assortment of classic SUVs for us to learn about and drive.

Three World War Two era Willys Jeep MBs, a 1950's era Nissan Patrol (called a Jonga by the Indian Army) a Russian Gaz 69, and a rare 1960's era Jeep CJ-6. The parents each got to try driving in the mud, water and the sand. The boys had their pick of vehicles to bounce around in.

We drove up steep hills, across streams and muddy sections of trail. We got pointers to improve our off-roading skills and even learned how to drive in sand.

After a couple of hours we enjoyed breakfast up on the top of a hill overlooking the skylines of Delhi and Gurgaon. 

Then off we drove for another hour of four-wheeling. We ended the outing with a tour of the workshop where these vintage vehicles are restored and refurbished.

Evan said it was "one of the best scout outings yet!"

Afterschool Activities

by HouseBoy

The school year kicked off early for Audrey and Evan (8 Aug)... New classes, new teachers, new friends from around the world. Now that the dust has settled and the weather is a tad bit cooler their after school programs have started.

Audrey's back taking riding lessons at the Delhi Riding Club with her good friend, Mariam. She does this two times a week - usually in the mornings to help avoid the steamy heat of mid-day. Audrey is in rehearsals twice each week. She is practicing for her first solo-singing part in the Elementary School's next Musical, The Princess and the Pea. She's pretty excited about this because one of her goals this year has been to learn more about acting and performing!

Evan's schedule has kicked into high gear just this week. He's now a Webelos 1 in the Cub Scouts.(Dad continues as Assistant Den Leader again this year). The boys meet about twice a month after school or on weekends. There are some exciting scout activities coming up... more to follow on this in future posts!

Evan's also taking Table Tennis and Chess after school once day each week. To quote, Evan: "TT is pretty lame, but I'm getting good at chess." 

His favorite after school activity by far is Football (Soccer). Evan continues to work on his technique and has short games each session at the nearby British School... 

Legoland in Delhi

by HouseBoy

No... its not a new amusement park opening here in India... but there's been a whole lot of Lego activity here in our apartment recently.  Evan's always been a huge fan, since long before we ever moved to Asia. He started building intricate contraptions out of them from a pretty early age.  But now Audrey's really gotten into the swing of a Lego lifestyle.

Since watching all 4 of the Pirates of the Caribbean over the summer the themes have definitely changed...  Gone are the space ships, and blaster battles of yesteryear. Legos are now all about swashbuckling, sailing vessels and cannon fodder, With even a little romance thrown in...It seems girls are most definitely just as good as boys when it comes to handling swords and flintlock pistols. And, of course, they make great ship-captains for a stolen Man 'O War.

This past weekend the kids built a little village complete with houses, shops and a dock. Audrey and Evan have always played well together (although they will each be the first to deny this fact). But thanks to the mega billion dollar Disney franchise... our boxes of Legos now have a new lease on life!

We haven't purchased any Disney merchandise, or new (and really expensive) Pirate Lego sets... But thanks to a little dose of Jack Sparrow, the juices of imagination are flowing freely.  The little buggers are painful to step on in the middle of night, but Audrey and Evan really know how to extract a boatload of fun out of tiny plastic building blocks.

Seven Weeks of Fun

We had a whirlwind summer. Evan and Audrey traveled up and down the east coast...over 4,000 miles with Mom and Dad. From Atlanta to Buffalo and back again. The trip included visits to grandparents,

swimming in Georgia lakes and streams and fishing in Canada. We went to Mystic Seaport and learned about rope-making, we learned what a "cooper" does (they make wooden barrels)

and got to pretend to captain 19th Century Sailing ships with our Aunt Heidi and cousin Che.

For the first time ever we went cherry picking at a farm in New York state. We used tall ladders and metal buckets to pick 10 pounds of Bing and Queen Anne cherries!

Our Grandma went with us to an amusement park where we ate yummy food, saw a western gunfight and got to go on some wild rides. In Philadelphia we marched in formation with Colonial troops. We got to ride on an ATV, paddle a canoe and see black bears in the wild!

Evan caught some fish and learned home to use an outboard motor and an electric trolling motor. We ate Pretzels and pies made by Pennsylvania Amish families, and got to spend time with our cousins Sarina and Isabel,

our Aunt Melanie, great Aunt Jane and her daughter and grand children. We saw fireworks on the 4th of July and visited with our cousins in Buffalo. We watched "Gone With the Wind" (our Grandma's favorite movie) and we saw the worlds largest granite rock (Stone Mountain)

We found an ancient American Native burial mound and we went hiking in an old-growth forest - the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest where some of the trees are 100 feet tall and are 400 years old!
We even went to see the house where Dad grew up and the town where our Mom and Dad met...

Our Mom and Dad say we're pretty fortunate...  We do miss our house and cat (Tiger) in Austin, but we have a nice friends, new teachers and unusual adventures to return to in India.
Yeah, it was a pretty good summer.