Home

We are home. We are almost back on time, and all of us are feeling like the year went by in a flash.

All of our bags and things made it unharmed, and we are all enjoying the sunshine, clean air, delicious food and simplicity of the stores here!

However, I insulted my taste buds with an over priced under ripe mango from Safeway this morning. It was utterly dissapointing and made me long for a 10 rupee king mango off TTK Road..........

Here are a few shots of the journey back; starting with the tedious process of packing and closing the Chennai home and finishing with our Winnipeg home:

Lunch with the boys from the office:

Ladha and her family:

Brandy juggling weight and stuff between all 9 suitcases:

Me and the girls from Greyshot:

I already miss you Olivia!!!

Dan's new digs:

Gage and I took Dan here for his first night away from 'home'; ask him one day about losing 5 pounds to sweat and stubborness:


Thats all for now, a lot more to come when I have some (free?) time.

Dave

Winding down

The place is reminisicent of our arrival; the rooms are empty except for our suitcases and a few items left out. The days have seemed to fly by looking back as they always do and we knew they would; but our minds were not prepared.

We will be home soon; we will be back to Canada. We have grown and we will continue.

Love India.

DM

Paradise = Maldives

It was short and very sweet. I have been to the Maldives. The water is crystal clear and warm, the air is clean and crisp and smells of coconuts and suntan oil.

The adventure started in Chennai, with a plane that was 3 hours delayed. A stop in Bangalore was short as the flight was waiting for us; I loved the rush and hustle of running to catch it because it made time FLY!

Next stop in Male (not like male the man but pronounced Mal - a), where we moved to a small sea plane. Apparantly an unusual storm was passing through and with mega winds and rain I was counting on the two air sickness bags to get me though it...I left them both under my seat as an arrival present to the pilots. A total of 18 people could fit the plane but only 6 got off at the Hilton Rangali, 4 others were carrying on to another island after we were clear. The wind was so strong the pilot took three tries to get the dock! I couldn't wait to get off that plane as my motion sickness was bad.

A deep breath, some cold H2O and I was ready. Here is the sea plane dock:

Here is the walk to the island hotel reception:


More to come ... ...

DM

A Great Weekend

We spent some time in GRT Temple Bay again...such a glorious place, I feel relaxed, tanned, fat and happy.
The view from our terrace...

Dan taking some photos...

Me, Emmy and Svenia in the hotel bar...

The German and Canadian kids having some fun...

A wicked heap of rope...

Gageman on the beach...

Emmy in 'fast mode'...

Brothers

Dan has arrived - safe and in great spirits. The kids were PUMPED to have uncle Dan here and both talked his ears off (actually they haven't stopped!).

Here is an early pic of the shoeless hobbit feet:


Another Angle:


Freshly stepped off the plane:



And a short video of the main drag by our house from last night; there was a 'meeting' going on. It was LOUD!!

Indian Zoo

OMatthes Clan at the Indian Zoo

We had a blast, it was hot and long. Famous quotes:
Brandy - I have never sweat this much. Ever.
Gage - Models of Dinosaurs? That nice, but I'm ready to get back to the car.
Emerson - Dad? I want to see the fat hippo.
Dave - Get a picture of that sign! (of an animal called the Wild Ass. We didn't get the picure)

 

Good times

-Dave

It's here somewhere ...

Down at City Center (the local mall) it is easy to miss your bike in the lot. .. .. .. This is only about 1/3 of the two wheeler parking space, B and I just went for lunch on a Wednesday in the mall food court.

Crazy
-Dave

Beach Airshow

These pictures are from Sunday April 22, 2006. Chennai put on an airshow at Marina Beach, and over 550,000 people came to watch. That is almost as many as ALL THE HUMANS IN WINNIPEG!!!

It will seem quiet back home ....

 

-Dave

RAD

Brandy -- You are RAD!

Love D

 

Thirty and a day

It's great to be alive
It's great to feel healthy
It's great to think about the next 10
It's great to be 30.

I am lucky:
I don't wear diapers
I don't eat through a tube
My nose hair is long but I have a little thing to clean up in there.

The kids are getting bigger
The belly is growing huge
My wife is still older and I like that too (ssshhh don't tell anyone!)

When I get back home
When I get to the peg
Lets burn some big trees out at the lake
Lets drink some fine rums and look at the stars

Peace
From Dave
The old guy
The 30 something
The dad with a gut
The happy kid

Some Crazy Dancing

Gage was feeling a little goofy ....

B - taking a time out

Aaahh the tranquil Saturday morning. Most of the kids are sleeping in, eating sweet cereal or watching violent cartoons. Anywhere but in the pool, and this small window in time is the perfect moment to float on a blowup toy.

 

Love Dave

Ode to Swimming

Smile if you love to swim ... put your hands up in the air if you just can't wait to cannonball....

 

DM

HP IS BACK ONLINE

Its huge. It feels like home. It is back online.

Damn you HP for your crappy Indian support.

Thank you for the power adapter from Canada.

Aaaahhh......

Good bye for now little Mac:)
you are easy to use,
but a little too small.
And outlook exchange doesn't like you.
So our love affair must end.

DM

Great Hair - Now

Gage put on my hat last night and he looked so darn cute I had to take a snap - he looks all grown up!

-Dave




Check out Gage's blog recently added: http://gageman.blogspot.com

A View from the Office

Everyone calls a room inside the office a 'cabin', so this is actually a view out of the window in my cabin ....

Old McDonald

Little Emerson hard at work again ...

Siobhan do you think you could start entering her in some movies? Or a sitcom? Somewhere to showcase the talent....

Goodbye Grandma

It was great to have you here, hope your trip was all worth it and you have many stories to tell - pass some of the Indian heat to everyone back home!

I hope you find your luggage.

Sweet dreams of dark dal and naan...

Love
B
D
G
E

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!



And Happy Birthday little Sister!


Love Dave and Family

Back from Holidays

After an awesome week of relaxation we are back online; all tanned and feeling recharged.

We spent our time on the beach of GRT Temple Bay in Mahamallipuram and in Pondicherry.

Mahamallipuram was really great - it is an old site along the beach that has some HUGE rock formations that were carved up long ago by the Indians. Check out the fam just walking with the crazy backdrop of an Elephany and Snake carving:



The beaches were nice, with brown sand and nice waves - Gage spent the most time in the water and we all had lots of fun getting tossed around in the water. This shot is of the beach, ocean and fishing boats. It reminds me of being there and makes me relax.



And when we got tired of the waves the pool welcomed us, this is really one of the nicest pools I can remember.



Pondicherry - the French Quarter - this place was ruled by the French (as opposed to the British) before India took back their own rule. It was really different than Chennai and I totally had fun. There are a lot of shops to browse and great food to enjoy.

This shot is of Gage on the pier, we just went for a walk and he called it 'attack the beggars' because we were asked for money by about 20 people in about 20 minutes. There are alot of street vendors with stuff to buy like food, baloons, peacock feather fans, drums, and other stuff - these guys are really persistent and Gage has become a pro at warding them off.



Here Grandma is getting asked for money by a haggard mom and her super cute kid, she was entranced by the cute bum and was dying to give some rupees to her.



The streets were lined with little bunnies holding the dustbins; the cute kids were glad to pose for the camera.



Thats all for today; more to come ....

Peace
DM