Start of School and Stuff

At the start of the year, we had Vincent and Gigi's teachers over for dinner. It was a fun evening. Coach Barry joined us as well. It was our first dinner party with kids--you can notice all the teachers' kids joined us. We had a good time.



All the boys fit inside the toy box! The girls must have been playing elsewhere.



This is a family shot from our balcony on the night of Gigi's birthday. She's three in this picture.



Gigi passed out against me the night of her birthday--she had about 5 rounds of cakes with song. She was pooped!! For her birthday she received a pet doctor barbie, a kitchen set complete with plates, pans, coffee maker, etc, and of course some books from mommy!



Here's a picture of our growing kids up at Matheran. Each year, we go to the same place. The place stays the same, yet obviously the kids change. They are growing so fast!

Ganpati Bappa Moriya

Ganpati Bappa Moriya (gun potty bappa more eee ah)!

The Ganesha festival that starts the Hindu calendar is a celebratory 11 days filled with color, music, excitement, laughter, and many many Ganeshes filling the beach for his immersion. Families and communities keep a Ganesh statue for any where from a day and a half to eleven days. He must be fed and cared for as a true guest. Someone must always be with him, and one should never turn their back to Ganesh. When the day comes for his immersion, a puja starts the parade to the beach accompanied with fireworks and a marching band. Arrival to the beach becomes a bit more solemn as the puja continues with fire and incense. Before his enters the water, followers put their hands in the smoke from the fire and rub their face with the smoke.

The Krembs' family thoroughly enjoyed their third Ganesha immersion. Let the pictures depict the merriment of this extraordinary festival!

MVSO (In other words: Mini Van Sell Outs!)

It's official: we are MVSOs (mini van sell outs)! But man, during our sometimes too long commutes or even in just our regular route home, the new sleek black Toyota Innova is so cushy comfortable! And for just in case emergencies, we have a DVD player that drops from the ceiling. I know, I know: pathetic! But oh so comfy!

Here's a little info about the pics:



First, for any large purchase a puja is done. A puja is basically like a little prayer offering to the new purchase. Our's included a nice necklace, a little Lord Ganesha and Christ sticker miniature for the dashboard (it wouldn't be a complete Indian car with out the ornamentation), and a coconut. The cocunut is cracked on the ground and then sprinkled on the engine--just to make sure everything runs all right. Who knows? But, when in India, do as the Indians!

Sayed is our driver. He is super. The most distinguishable characterestic of Sayed is his pride--and then his sense of humor. He is very good with the kids. Sayed's an aggresive yet safe driver. He adores the kids--kinda like everybody else! White children (I'm not trying to sound bad) are a bit of a novelty here in India. (Just yesterday on the beach some strangers wanted to take a picture of Gigi. Older brother Vincent politely declined, "No thank you." It was a cute proud parent moment of our eldest son and his developing manners.)




























Finally you can all see this Holly Hobby picture of little Gigi. I couldn't resist. Her freckles and bright blue eyes were so cute in this shot. And the first pic up above at the top is simply a family picture in front of our new Innova, Toyota Mini Van! Yes! We are indeed proud sell outs!!