From Dana

Hello everyone! This is getting exciting. Raji is up and running. We are right now trying to get Ravi and his family up and running. Soon the whole family will be chatting back and forth keeping everyone up to date, which is getting more difficult now that we are spreading all over the globe. So much has happened since my last post. I can hardly believe that my sister and Shelby have come to visit us in India. It is so wonderful to have them meet the family and see the places that we have been talking about for the last 14 years. Since they arrived (and got over the jet lag and time change), we spent the day in Mylapore (which to those who live in Chennai you know that means jewelry shopping), Mahabalipuram, Subha's house, Raja & Shoba's house. So we have been very busy. The trip to the Sukra (silver shop) was loads of fun. Kimm and I got a tray and went through each case. We picked the jewelry we liked from each case and put it on our tray. Once we finished that process we sat down with our tray and began the arduous process of picking from our tray of favorites. You know what shopping does to you....makes you starving, so off to the restaurant we went. The next day we went to Mahabalipuram. The ruins are amazing. They date back to the 7th century. The rock carving is spectacular. The following day we were off to Raja and Shoba's house. Of course, we ran up to the roof top for a great sunset view and cool breezes. Avanthika took Kimm and I and the kids for a walk a few blocks away, so we could show them what a Jack fruit looks like. It is a delicious fruit, but it is so peculiar. It is larger than a watermellon, has a rough skin, a thin stem, and scariest of all, it grows high up in a tree. If one falls on you it is all over. Getting the edible fruit out is a lot of work but worth it. We had great fun talking and letting Kimm in on a few family stories. Raja and Raju (that's Siva for my friends back home) talked business as usual. Shoba made a delicious dinner. When there is coconut chutney involved it's fabulous and she makes a fabulous coconut chutney.
Today we went to Subha's house for a quick visit. She made one of my favorite snacks, masala vada. She also made a fantastic tomato chutney with idly. Fortunately we timed our trip just right to miss the heavy traffic. The 22 mile trip can take several hours if you don't plan properly. We already made that mistake earlier in the month.
We are so sad to be counting our last days here. We have so enjoyed our stay. Our family has taken such good care of us. We have all been spoiled. I was thinking that my husband and children were being spoiled, but to day I noticed that all 10 of my finger nails are long at the same time. This has never happened to me before. I realized of course it is because I haven't done any work at all. They don't even let me clear a dish from the table! They are amazing hosts. I'm realizing who much room I have for improvement.
Thank you everyone for contributing to the blog, I believe it will really be a great tool to help us keep up with each other and stay close.