Being an editor doesn't make it any easier to edit myself, especially when my kids are so adorable. So rather than simply delete my file of possible Christmas card photos, I thought I'd share the ones that didn't make the cut. It makes a good year in review.
First, the winner:
This was taken on the Skydeck at the Willis Tower in Chicago. You've probably never heard of the Willis Tower. That's because it's actually the SEARS Tower, which was sold a few years ago to these Willis clowns. The funny thing is that no one in Chicago calls it the Willis Tower. It's still the Sears Tower or (for those unfortunates who have to be precise, like the guide on our river tour) the Former Sears Tower. We started calling it The Tower Formerly Known as Sears, because that's the obvious next step.
Chicago was one stop on our Great American Road Trip, otherwise known as home leave. We started the summer in San Antonio with my parents and then made our way to Washington, D.C., via Utah's Wasatch Front; Grand Junction, Colorado; Nauvoo, Illinois; the Twin Cities, Minnesota; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, because that's all on the way, right?
Here's another Christmas card possibility taken from the Skydeck:
Once upon a time, visitors would ride the elevators up the Sears Tower to feel the building sway and look out huge windows at incredible views of Chicago, Lake Michigan and even into Indiana and Wisconsin. Upping the cool factor, the Skydeck now has these crazy glass-bottomed boxes that stick out over the city. You'll notice I'm not in any of these pictures. That's because my fear of heights kicked into full gear as soon as I stepped onto the glass. I DID get out there, but I didn't stay for more than a few seconds. The kids, however, had to be dragged away to give somebody else a turn.
But more on Chicago in another post.
Our second-place photo, a close runner-up:
John took this photo outside the visitors center at Gettysburg National Military Park, the last stop on our epic summer road trip. I love this picture. The kids all look cute, and it's a good reminder of a great couple of days. If you haven't been to Gettysburg recently you really need to get there. The park rangers and volunteers do a fantastic job teaching about the war and this battle in particular. Someday I'll write a full post about our trip. (ha!)
In third place is this fun shot from our trip to Kerala last spring break:
John caught this shot while the kids were running around an old fort in Kannur. I've started blogging about our Kerala trip (first post here), but have a ways to go before I get to Kannur. We went out of our way to get there so we could see authentic theyyam (and here), and it was more than worth the train ride up from Kochi. More on that when I get this dang blog updated. Stay tuned.
I'm going to throw the rest of the photos on in (somewhat) chronological order. Warning: I was considering doing a collage, so there are lots of pictures. Bear with me. Or stop reading right now. It's up to you. (But if you stop you'll miss cute pictures of my adorable children in interesting places. You've been warned.)
Every time I write a Christmas letter I worry that it's going to sound like a travelogue ... lame. The problem is that our life is kind of like a travelogue, except that it's not lame.
I chose this picture because it just looks like Chennai, and I've been feeling some homesickness. The kids are sitting on the stoop in front of a shop where someone has drawn traditional kolams.
Samuel radiated pure joy when he met his favorite Indian cartoon character, Chhota Bheem!
The next few are from our trip to Kerala last spring. Here's Johnny at the temple inside Padmanabhapuram Palace.
A couple from our boat trip on the Backwaters ...
I grabbed this next one to show that Samuel is a train-riding, biryani-eating-with-his-fingers master traveler ... but then I realized that he looks a little weird ...
... as opposed to this adorable shot of him at the fort in Kannur. Be still my heart! How is he this cute?
And if you think THAT'S adorable, just look at this picture of Samuel watching the fish at the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar. I love this picture!
The next few are from our trip to the Ajanta and Ellora Caves, both of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. This was our last big trip within India, and it (like just about every other trip we took) was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. The ancient caves, carvings and paintings are awe-inspiring, but more on that another time.
The kids explore Ellora Cave No. 16 ...
This photo was a possibility because it chronicles our last meal together in Chennai. It was taken just a few hours before the kids and I hopped on the first of four flights to San Antonio. The kids chose to eat masala dosas at Saravana Bhavan ... mmm ... masala dosas ...
Since we spent half of 2013 in the States, we pulled a few photos to prove that we're immersing our kids in Americana. Here's one of the kids in the space shuttle cockpit at Houston's Space Center. We spent a great June day there with Grandma Cragun and Favourite Aunt Carrie.
And how American would an all-American summer be without a Fourth of July parade, this one in Provo with Nana, my amazing friend Emily, and another favorite aunt, Holly.
This one is of the kids hiking in Wallsburg, Utah, where we were at a Hall family reunion. I really like this photo ... Let's say it was in fourth place.
I threw these close-ups into the mix because the kids had so much fun dressing the part when we were in Nauvoo for a Cragun reunion.
I love this one of Evie on the carousel at the Columbus Zoo, one of our favorite places in the world.
And just look at these red-blooded Americans admiring the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia! Yes, it's true that Samuel keeps mistaking the Stars and Stripes for the Indian flag, but we'll get him trained ... just in time to confuse him with our move to Thailand.
So that's our 2013 in rejected Christmas card photos. It really has been a busy, wonderful time. Stay tuned for more details. Now that I'm feeling healthier, I have grand plans to get caught up with things.
First, the winner:
This was taken on the Skydeck at the Willis Tower in Chicago. You've probably never heard of the Willis Tower. That's because it's actually the SEARS Tower, which was sold a few years ago to these Willis clowns. The funny thing is that no one in Chicago calls it the Willis Tower. It's still the Sears Tower or (for those unfortunates who have to be precise, like the guide on our river tour) the Former Sears Tower. We started calling it The Tower Formerly Known as Sears, because that's the obvious next step.
Chicago was one stop on our Great American Road Trip, otherwise known as home leave. We started the summer in San Antonio with my parents and then made our way to Washington, D.C., via Utah's Wasatch Front; Grand Junction, Colorado; Nauvoo, Illinois; the Twin Cities, Minnesota; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, because that's all on the way, right?
Here's another Christmas card possibility taken from the Skydeck:
Once upon a time, visitors would ride the elevators up the Sears Tower to feel the building sway and look out huge windows at incredible views of Chicago, Lake Michigan and even into Indiana and Wisconsin. Upping the cool factor, the Skydeck now has these crazy glass-bottomed boxes that stick out over the city. You'll notice I'm not in any of these pictures. That's because my fear of heights kicked into full gear as soon as I stepped onto the glass. I DID get out there, but I didn't stay for more than a few seconds. The kids, however, had to be dragged away to give somebody else a turn.
But more on Chicago in another post.
Our second-place photo, a close runner-up:
John took this photo outside the visitors center at Gettysburg National Military Park, the last stop on our epic summer road trip. I love this picture. The kids all look cute, and it's a good reminder of a great couple of days. If you haven't been to Gettysburg recently you really need to get there. The park rangers and volunteers do a fantastic job teaching about the war and this battle in particular. Someday I'll write a full post about our trip. (ha!)
In third place is this fun shot from our trip to Kerala last spring break:
John caught this shot while the kids were running around an old fort in Kannur. I've started blogging about our Kerala trip (first post here), but have a ways to go before I get to Kannur. We went out of our way to get there so we could see authentic theyyam (and here), and it was more than worth the train ride up from Kochi. More on that when I get this dang blog updated. Stay tuned.
I'm going to throw the rest of the photos on in (somewhat) chronological order. Warning: I was considering doing a collage, so there are lots of pictures. Bear with me. Or stop reading right now. It's up to you. (But if you stop you'll miss cute pictures of my adorable children in interesting places. You've been warned.)
Every time I write a Christmas letter I worry that it's going to sound like a travelogue ... lame. The problem is that our life is kind of like a travelogue, except that it's not lame.
I chose this picture because it just looks like Chennai, and I've been feeling some homesickness. The kids are sitting on the stoop in front of a shop where someone has drawn traditional kolams.
Samuel radiated pure joy when he met his favorite Indian cartoon character, Chhota Bheem!
The next few are from our trip to Kerala last spring. Here's Johnny at the temple inside Padmanabhapuram Palace.
A couple from our boat trip on the Backwaters ...
We really tried to find a good photo of the entire family to send out with our cards, but this one of us in the canoe just illustrates the problems too well. John and I both take a lot of pictures, but he shoots a lot of scenery and I like to get the kids in my photos. This means I'm not in many pictures at all. The photos I'm in are like this one, with kids looking in all directions, Johnny's eyes closed, random guy just above Johnny's head ... and this is the one that made the cut for Christmas card consideration. Yikes.
Here's Evie striking a Bharatnatyam pose at the Kerala Heritage Museum ...
The boys learn some moves after seeing a demonstration of kalaripayyatu, an ancient Indian martial art (blog post coming soon ... I promise!).
Not to be outdone, Evie shows some girl power ...
These pictures of the kids bathing an elephant are cute, but I didn't use them because the elephant looks like a big lump of something non-elephant ... a slug? a rock? I don't know. By the way, I haven't yet posted about any of the photos you'll see from here on out, but I will ... really I will ... and soon ... so I won't go into much detail here.
I grabbed this next one to show that Samuel is a train-riding, biryani-eating-with-his-fingers master traveler ... but then I realized that he looks a little weird ...
... as opposed to this adorable shot of him at the fort in Kannur. Be still my heart! How is he this cute?
And if you think THAT'S adorable, just look at this picture of Samuel watching the fish at the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar. I love this picture!
The next few are from our trip to the Ajanta and Ellora Caves, both of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. This was our last big trip within India, and it (like just about every other trip we took) was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. The ancient caves, carvings and paintings are awe-inspiring, but more on that another time.
The kids explore Ellora Cave No. 16 ...
Johnny looks down from the second tier of Ellora Cave No. 10 ...
These two show the scale of some of the carvings at Ellora.
Johnny exploring Ellora ...
This is Evie tapping a pitched column in one of the Ajanta caves. All of the pillars in this particular cave were pitched ... you could play them like a giant percussion instrument, which we did, of course, until a stern-looking caretaker shooed us away ... party pooper.
On that same trip we spent a few hours at Daulatabad Fort, which looks like it's straight out of Lord of the Rings. My kids cannot see a cannon without climbing it.
Johnny in Daulatabad's "dark passage," a pitch-black, winding tunnel that was meant to be impassable ... complete with bats, drops to certain doom AND places to pour boiling oil on people!
Johnny and John hiked to the top of the fort, while the other kids and I explored at ground level.
This photo was a possibility because it chronicles our last meal together in Chennai. It was taken just a few hours before the kids and I hopped on the first of four flights to San Antonio. The kids chose to eat masala dosas at Saravana Bhavan ... mmm ... masala dosas ...
Since we spent half of 2013 in the States, we pulled a few photos to prove that we're immersing our kids in Americana. Here's one of the kids in the space shuttle cockpit at Houston's Space Center. We spent a great June day there with Grandma Cragun and Favourite Aunt Carrie.
And how American would an all-American summer be without a Fourth of July parade, this one in Provo with Nana, my amazing friend Emily, and another favorite aunt, Holly.
This one is of the kids hiking in Wallsburg, Utah, where we were at a Hall family reunion. I really like this photo ... Let's say it was in fourth place.
I threw these close-ups into the mix because the kids had so much fun dressing the part when we were in Nauvoo for a Cragun reunion.
I love this one of Evie on the carousel at the Columbus Zoo, one of our favorite places in the world.
And just look at these red-blooded Americans admiring the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia! Yes, it's true that Samuel keeps mistaking the Stars and Stripes for the Indian flag, but we'll get him trained ... just in time to confuse him with our move to Thailand.
So that's our 2013 in rejected Christmas card photos. It really has been a busy, wonderful time. Stay tuned for more details. Now that I'm feeling healthier, I have grand plans to get caught up with things.
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