One of the biggest blessings we have had while being here in India is meeting Wendi and Cameron Blair and their amazing and awesome kids Tyler (Bransons age), Jillian (Harry’s age) and Griffin (Ady’s age). The Blairs moved to India from California just a few months before us and literally were our saving grace helping us through those first few weeks and months here in India. They shared with us their favorite restaurants, favorite movie theaters, favorite stores, pizza places, vacation spots, parks, and places to go and play as a family. They told us where to find cheese, and fresh fruits and veggies and were just a wealth of knowledge to our unknowing minds. I don’t know what I would have done without their goodness and kindness! It was also wonderful because we were in the same Branch, so the kids had a fairly easy adjustment that way as well and had instant friends their first day! The Blairs also were wonderful at inviting us to GET OUT and explore new fun things with their cute family and many fun adventures and memories were shared with them in India (rock climbing and Chili’s at Phoenix mall, Movie days at Forum, swimming in each others pools, Snakes and Ladders, California burrito, Mcdonalds ice cream cones, Crispy Cream donuts, Hole in the Wall cafe, and shopping on Commercial Street). The fun just never ended with the Blairs and we are so so grateful for their instant friendship and love to our family!
The below pictures are from one of our outings together to a fun place the Blairs discovered early on during their time in India and a place that took us all back to our childhoods! Snakes and Ladders. This place was great because it cost you about $2-3 per kid per hour, but you literally had the whole place to yourself. Legos to play with, slides to go down, balls to jump on or in. It was awesome!
We ended up arriving super early (about a half hour) so I took a bunch of pictures when we first got there and then totally forgot to take more once the Blairs arrived, darn it all! But they were there and we sure had a great time with them! Thank you so much for inviting us! We sure love you guys!
Where in America can you still play in a ball pit? We were all so excited when we saw they had one! I love that about India. They haven’t outlawed every awesome toy, play thing, or playground equipment because of health code violations or safety concerns. They expect that some kids will get hurt and that its part of life. Yay for India! I wish America was still more like that. Getting hurt is part of growing up, but lets not take the fun out of childhood!
After we were done at Snakes and Ladders we had a bit of a hard time tracking down our driver Naveen because for some reason our phones weren’t connecting. Luckily Wendi’s driver was able to walk down the block and find him and alert him that we were trying to get a hold of him. I kind of felt silly though because all he did was basically drive us across a street so we could go to McDonalds to get some ice cream cones! ha ha. Whoops. At least we were able to find him though.
Here you can see some of India’s Indian flavored menu. On the left is a paneer sandwich (like tofu for Indians) and on the right is a spicy chicken. They don’t do beef burgers AT ALL (as the cow is sacred) and their happy meals don’t come with fries. Its all just very interesting. We still love coming for fries, ice cream, and sundae’s though! 🙂 Can you tell we are WAY off our “healthy eating habits” while here in India. You do what you have to do when living in a foreign country – but we are all very excited to get back to green smoothies and healthy salads once we return home! And there is no sarcasm in that! We miss them!
After McDonalds we departed from our wonderful friends and then decided to hit up Chili’s since we were in the area. This is always a favorite place for our family to go because EVERYTHING tastes American without any hint of Indian spice. So when we are wanting a real true taste of home…nothing satisfies better! On this particular trip I didn’t get the kids a single kids meal, but got 3 of MY favorite adult menu items and we all split them. The kids all loved my choices of babyback ribs and fries, Monterey chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies, and chicken Alfredo! Yum! We ended the evening with a thick slice of cheesecake!
We sure are loving our time in India, even if sometimes we need a taste of home to end a good day! 🙂