Castaways

Hello! Sorry for the gap in posts but we've just been playing in the ocean and chasing Lee around. The water here is warm, I say just over 80 degrees. There are just enough waves to play in but you don't have to go far out to bob around with the fishes. The water is a crystal clear blue. Lee was pretty unsure of the sea at first. We've been slowly getting closer & closer and today he played in the water just like at the pool. He's still eating his weight in sand which makes for interesting diapers. 

We went into Varkala town looking for a baby hat. The manager of where we are staying sent us to a multi level clothing store much like we had expierenced in Kochi but more like its frumpy sad small cousin. They pulled out a few hats with visors, ball cap style. One said puma on the bill and had a sad excuse for a Nike swoosh on the front with decorative buckles on the sides. It was ridiculous. The clothes here for boys are ridiculous. Lots of English words out of context. We settled on a nice grey cap that says "style star" and "fashion" on it. They brought out a ton of clothes trying to get us to buy something. We saw a salmon colored tank top and short set we couldn't pass up. The top has Mickey Mouse, a monkey and an elephant on the front and says "SARFING" in big letters on the back. The matching shorts say "Eeyore" on them. Hmmmmmm. We're pretty sure sarfing isn't a word but have since dubbed riding in the baby backpack sarfing. Lee had a long day of safring. While Tommy hoists the pack onto his back, "sarf's up!". Well worth the $3 spent on the outfit. We had some lunch at a great local spot, roamed a bit. The area is a bit more depressed, dirty, less friendly. I attribute it directly to the type of tourists that have taken over their town. It's mostly downtrodden seeming dirty, cheap, hippyish travelers roaming the beaches and town. They don't seem to really respect the local customs and as our Kiwi friends put it "seem like lost souls". It's like a bunch of sad 40 year old yoga hippy types are searching for their place in the world and wound up here. Sitting in the western style cafes writing in their journals. Then a few people like us mixed in simply here for vacation and culture. It's an odd scene that's obviously worn on the locals. They still fawn over the baby. We have met a great kiwi family that we first came across in Ft Cochin and are drying right near us here. They are both ICU nurses and have two kids, 6 & 9, and have been traveling through Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and now India for the past 3 months. We have been enjoying lively dinners with them, it been fun to make friends on the road. We have been going to the beach in the morning and evening and a little adventure, tea and cake in between. I've even started reading my book(thus no blog posts). We have two days left and only small plans. It's been a a nice few mellow days. Ok, onto pictures! 

Beach Life

Last night the sound of the crashing waves kept me up. I'm not complaining. The waves here break close to shore so it's a boom sound every 10 seconds. Reminds me of the fireworks a few nights ago. We didn't do much today. Late breakfast. A wander along the off to the tourist shops. There are a lot of western tourists here. Mostly Europeans and Aussies. We hope to venture into town tomorrow and see what the locals are up to. We had another fail. We lost Lee's hat. This is more of a problem because finding a floppy full coverage SPF 50 fabric baby hat in India may just be impossible. They sell these amazing stiff plastic hats with tassels and flair here but Lee threw it off immediately and it also would hit on the carrier pack and fall off. Hat finding will be our quest tomorrow. Next time I will pack at least 2 hats! 

After our wander through mostly tchotchke shops we set out to play in the ocean. Lee was not into the moving water but loved crawling around and playing(eating) the fine black sand. It mixed nicely with his sunblock and is still in all of his cracks. Tommy and I took turns playing in the surf. It was warm and felt amazing and liberating to enjoy. We may also have sand in all of our cracks. We enjoyed tea while Lee napped and a perfect dinner watching the sea. 

I thought I'd tell some Lee updates since our day wasn't too exciting. He turned 8 months old the other day. He has one tooth, the bottom right one. We met a nice kiwi family with two kids who quite enjoy Lee. One of the kids went to feel his little tooth and said, "Ow! That must be a meat tooth, it's really sharp!!". Ha! Smart kid, we knew what he meant. Now we refer to Lee's tooth as his "meat tooth". He's figured out how to use it when trying to eat things, it's pretty cute. I think it's neighbor is going to pop up soon, he's a little fussy about it. He really likes pulling himself up on things and standing and playing with one hand holding balance. He just figured out how to get himself into a sitting position from crawling position. You can tell he's still working pretty hard at it. He's a happy little guy and as a nice older woman from Glasgow said after holding him while we had breakfast, "he's seems like a really healthy guy! Not that he's fat, just sturdy and healthy". Makes me think back to 8 months ago and feel very thankful. That is the best compliment anyone can give! He doesn't say any words but knows a few for sure! When we're on a tuktuk he makes a bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb sound vibrating his lips together and sounds just like the little 2 stroke engine of the tuktuk. He's really good at rolling the ball back and forth on the ground and cracks up when I say "woof" while showing him a picture of Jacques. Ok, that's enough for now.