Kolkata- mama.

After almost 2 days of traveling, we landed in Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, on Sunday morning.

We stepped outside and were met with air and noise pollution like I'd never seen. We also got our first taste of Bengali life- everything takes longer. Mostly because there is never a fixed price in India, especially when white people are involved.

After a harrowing cab ride (Calcutta driving is like nowhere else- anything goes), we made it to our new home, the Sremon Guest House, a small hotel with the nicest staff and best kitchen in all of Calcutta.

Because anything goes in Indian driving, you use your horn to let the other car, bike or rickshaw know you're close or passing. So it was insanely loud. Add on that it was a national holiday (Republic Day), so there were actually loudspeakers mounted in the street playing music, and I was completely overwhelmed. I had only slept about 5 hours on the whole trip, so my only defense was to find the closest bed and crash for a while.

Lucky I did, because I woke up while everyone else was sleeping. And I got to accompany John and Kingkini's Aunt Manisha on a walk, an auto rickshaw ride, and a metro ride to the New Market to buy some clothes.

The next day, Kingkini's uncle, Shumit, took us around the city. Everywhere was awesome food that we were too nervous to eat. Soon the "Second to Last Day" plan was formed. (Stay tuned.)

It's worth noting that I'm going to great pains to only put up a small fraction of the pictures I took.

Yet none of them seem to do India any justice.

Our first stop was Belur Math, a Ramakrishna temple. We couldn't take pictures inside the grounds (I got this from the website). There we got our first taste of celebrity. As Culcutta isn't a touristy city, we didn't runinto a lot of other white people. So we were a pretty big attraction.

Especially among young girls. People were always taking our pictures and wanting to talk to us. As many people had learned English, they wanted to talk to native speakers and were always interested to hear how we spoke.

This is what normal traffic looks like.

Next up was the Kolkata Botanical Garden, home of the world's largest Banyan tree. That's part of it right there. The whole tree took up over 4 acres.

Banyan trees are pretty incredible because roots grow down from the branches to support the tree, so it just keeps getting bigger.

In fact, the trunk of this tree rotted out long ago.

We also say a double coconut tree, the world's largest seed. Boy, do I love a record breaker.

I don't know if these lily pads set any records, but they sure were big.

Dubai- Mama.

I've been reluctant to update the blog lately. Mostly because it's supposed to be about the kids and the last two weeks of January were all about me. When we left you, I'd taken the girls up to Cincinnati. And shouldn't that be enough, as the greatest city in the world? Well, Grandma Seibert came down to pick them up and I hopped on a plane with Aunt Mary Ellen on a trip to India. My cousin John was celebrating his third wedding to his lovely bride, Kingkini. (I should have married a foreigner, then I could have had three wedding too.)

But one cannot simply hop a plane to India. First stop was JFK in New York City. And JFK is enough to make you want to leave the country. Luckily our next stop was 12 hours later in Dubai.

If JFK is the worst airport, then Dubai is undoubtedly the best. In Dubai, everything is less than 10 years old and covered in money. We found out that the United Arab Emirates grants an automatic 30 day visa to all Americans, so we ditched the Indian (sorry, Kingkini) and hit the town for a quick tour of the city.

This is the metro station.

This is the team down by the beach- Aunt Mary, Dan, John and Aunt Jenni.

It was really windy.

Dubai was incredible. Like Las Vegas, only richer. And if you think these building are awesome, check out this one:

The Burj Khalifa. This is the world's tallest building. At 834 meters tall, it beats the next tallest building by almost 200 meters. This is honestly what I was most excited about for the entire trip. I do love seeing world record's get broken.

Aunt Jenni could barely handle the excitement. We filled her up with some McArabias from the McDonalds, put her on the plane and told her to wake up when we hit Calcutta.

On the road again- Jo.

Remember how mama said that 2012 is the year of travel? She meant it. She packed up herself, June and I and we were off to to place where dreams come true- Cincinnati.

On the way, we stopped for lunch at Taco Bell. Our favorite restaurant because sometimes June will agree to eat quesadillas and we both like the cinnamon twisters.

Mama ate a Crunch Wrap Supreme in honor of Uncle Jim.

When we got to the 'Nati, we picked up our favorite Mister Paul and Miss Susan and went out to eat at another Mexican restaurant. Then Mister Paul stayed home with us girls while the big girls went out to an awesome store called Party Source to buy some wine.

And on the way back, they stopped and picked up ice cream at the UDF. If it sounds like the best day in Cincinnati ever, you're right. Only some Skyline could have made it better.

Note my beautiful Dora ballerina dress. I wore this 3 days in a row and demanded I wear again so Miss Susan could see it.
We unwound with some Dora and a great night was had by all. I even heard that the grown-ups watched the Lord of the Rings after we went to sleep. it couldn't possibly get better than this.

Hot and ready- June.

Lately, papa and I have a little tradition.

On the days he picks me up from school, sometime I can get him to take me out for lunch.

And there's only one place we go- Little Caesar's.

The pizzas are always hot and ready, there's a patio where we can eat outside, it's guaranteed I'll eat it (which is never the case anywhere else), and a whole pizza only costs $5.

Sometimes, there's even a piece to take home for mama. Sometimes. I can really put back pizza.

Not bad for a cold January day in South Carolina.

Bike riders- Jo.

Early January in South Carolina was lovely, much to mama's disapproval. (She was really holding out hope for at least one snowfall this winter.)

So we dragged bikes down to the road for some good old fashioned fun.

It was a little warm for hats, but when your mom makes you custom fleece hats, you have to wear them at least once.

Henry is such a good sport. He even gave me a ride on his bike.

Check me out.

Notice that Henry's tooth is crooked. It is loose and is always at some unnatural angle. I wish that thing would fall out already.

Looking tough.

Henry insisted that mama get a video of him riding to the end of the street. Pay attention and you can see Henry doing tricks even while mama got distracted watching me carry Tigee around.

Papa in New Orleans- Henry.

There is evidence of papa's trip to New Orleans.

This picture has caused much jealousy. Mama loves a muffuletta.

Apparently, the guys cleaned out this place on oyster night.

And I'm pretty sure they went out for beignets at least 3 times. This trips appears to have been focused entirely on eating. Which means it was the best kind of trip.

No dad- June.

2012 is tuning up to be the year of travel. Unfortunately for us kids, it's the year of travel for mama and papa. And since there are 3 kids to be tended for, only one person gets to travel at a time. First up was papa. He went to New Orleans for the Southern Political Science Association meeting. Or as mama calls it, "A good reason to spend the weekend in Louisiana with the 601 guys."

Back in the SC, we had Christopher over for a morning. Henry is going to make an awesome babysitter some day.

Miss Juliet gave us a haunted house themed brownie kit. Mama made us wait until Jo went down for her nap to make them. In the meantime, Henry insisted on reading and following the directions to the letter. After we made the brownies, the next step was to design how you wanted to decorate your house.

Designers at work.

Finally the brownies cooled and mama let us decorate. I preferred using candies.

While Henry opted for more frosting.

This is my finished house.

And Henry's. They were delicious.

JoJo was a good girl while we decorated, if only because she snuck into my toys and played with my Polly Pockets, something that absolutely drives me crazy.

Isn't this dress sweet? It belonged to our friend Miss Cooper when she was a little girl.

I've been carefully choosing clothes that will best display my dancing skill. Today it involved a leotard and two skirts. And I insist that my hair be pulled into a ponytail when I dance. It takes a lot of effort to look this good.