First Trip Around the Sun

We celebrated Nippon's birthday on Friday with a delicious dinner at Stone Brewery and Princess cake. The kids and I decorated with a HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner, tank piñata (yes, a piñata shaped like a tank), camo balloons, and fun presents that included two large canvases and paint. 

We had a lot of fun celebrating with Nippon....but nothing can top the first time. I mean, look at that cake!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIPPON

WE LOVE YOU

Hirakud Dam

We  took a day trip to visit the Hirakud Dam, which was built to control the devastating floods in the Mahanadi delta. There is a memorial tower (Jawahar Minar) that has beautiful grounds full of flowers. We climb to the top of the tower to get a better view of the dam and the surrounding forest and lake. And boy what a view!

Preparations

These are pictures from the day and night before Om's thread ceremony.

The women painted their feet, called Alta.

The alley next to the house was lined with vibrate colored cloth.

Afton loved riding on the scooter!

Om.

Jublee.

Little.

Nippon's mehindi.

These next few shots are of Chortu's hands.

I asked Chortu if I could take his picture, and this is the face he gave me. 

So I said, "how about a SMILE?!" 

:D

My mehindi.

Joram's mehindi.

The decorations; Ganesha, flowers.

Mantu checking on every detail, and making sure it was done right. 

Behind him is where the kitchen was cooking up heaps of sweet treats in humongous pots and frying pans. They gave me a freshly fried ladoo. Drooollllll....

The swing. A fun meeting spot for the cousins.

(Afton, Subom, Joram Chortu, Rowan)

Pretty lil Apoorba.

Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary

The Debrigarh Sanctuary has lots of wonderful flora and fauna. There were lovely flowers blooming, trees with twisted vines for swinging, and lots of little creatures running about. There are leopards, Indian bison, and migrating elephants found in the area but sadly we did not see any. We actually arrived just after the sanctuary closed, so we wandered around the area without a guide. We did see lots of beautiful birds and other small animals though, and it was a such a nice day that it still was a worthwhile visit.