London

Well to start off, I first have to apologize for not posting for so long. But this time I really have good reason! Second, I have to apologize for the gazillion pictures I have and the bazillion new posts. It might be super long and boring for you or you might enjoy them but just so you know in advance! And you'll have to click on OLDER POSTS to see everything!

Carter and I had the amazing opportunity to go on a trip with my family first to London to visit some family and then on to India for a wedding. Since Carter is still a lap child, his ticket was hardly anything compared to mine so we decided to take him and I'm so glad we did! He got a fever the night before we left and was sick and getting his molars for the first three days in London. But after that, he was happy and then in India he was SO much fun! I've broken up the trip into different posts.

So we'll start with London! While there, we saw as much as we possibly could. So we were go go go the whole time. But it was so worth it.

There are so many amazing buildings and so much history. This is St. Paul's Cathedral

Inside the London Tower

My dad was calling this the London Bridge so we all thought this was the real London Bridge. And thought it was so cool...but after walking through it we found out that it is in fact the Tower Bridge and the real London Bridge really has fallen down and I guess is somewhere in Arizona?...not quite sure on the whole story, but it was still a cool bridge:)

One of the buildings in the London Tower is filled with all the crowns and jewels that all the past kings and queens have worn. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside so this is the best we got. But that was awesome seeing all the beautiful crowned jewels!

Ashlie's new boyfriend....:) This was a manikin on an old warship...I guess I didn't get a picture of the actual ship.

Big Ben...

Ok so i'll have to get other pictures from my brother and sister and repost, but Westminster Abbey was a beautiful building also.

This was my favorite. The Windsor Palace is a working palace and it is where the queen comes on the weekends.

She was there the day we were there and this is where she was staying. Too bad she never came out!

This is the view from the palace.

One building of the palace. We got to walk around a part of the palace and it was really cool because they still use most every room in the palace for functions and invite all kinds of royalty. It was amazingly beautiful inside. My favorite thing inside the palace was the queen's doll house. I'm not sure which queen it was, but she had a doll house made of the exact replica of the castle. The rooms were just as they were. Even the beds, the chairs, the plates and silverware were even real gold. Then she had all her dolls and their beautiful dresses.

I just love all the architecture. It was so beautiful!

The gang on a bus:)

Buckingham Palace. They only give tours during certain times of the year, and we missed it so we just walked around the outside.

These are the light posts surrounding the palace.

I bet the street is gorgeous in the spring and summertime!

Hampton Court. This is an old palace where King Henry VII lived.

So they let you take pictures and more so have an experience there. So we all got dressed up in these AWESOME cloaks!

King Henry liked to entertain the people who came to visit. This was the first room they would walk in to. This room was solely made to impress his visitors. Everything on the walls is guns and swords. It really was amazing. The guide was telling us that every 25 years, they take every gun down and take it apart completely to clean it and then put them all back up. It is a huge job, but by doing that, they have been able to preserve the original guns which is what these are...

Cute street. We got in trouble for "trespassing" here. It was kind of funny cause the guard came up to us and asked why we were just standing on some random person's porch to take a picture. I had this cute idea to have everyone stand on a different staircase, so you can see Dustin walking to his, but we got in trouble before he got there lol.

Our last day in London we went to the natural history museum. That is one amazingly huge museum. Carter's favorite part was the dinosaur section. He had gotten over his fever by then too and was able to finally just have fun and see all the cool dinosaurs and animals and everything else they had there.

Me and Ashlie sat in front of these mirrors for seriously like a half hour just laughing at ourselves. People probably thought we were crazy but hey we were having fun!

Paris

From London, Paris was only about a 2 and a half hour train ride. So we took the earliest train there and the latest train ride back to London. It was FREEZING that day!! So Sunitha, Carter and I ran to the Notre Dame and then ran over to the Eiffel Tower and then Hailie and Ashlie decided they were too cold also, so we went to a huge mall and stayed inside.

The Notre Dame is an amazingly beautiful building inside and out.

The art and the stainglass inside is breathtaking.

Inside the Notre Dame, if your wish you can light a candle and offer a prayer. You also had to pay to light a candle...

Just one of the doors on the side of the Notre Dame.

We were all bundled up!! I didn't realize how big the Eiffel Tower really is. This picture puts it in pretty good perspective I think. This is just the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.

I was walking through Costco the other day and walked past the art gallery. They had this exact picture from this exact angle selling! Maybe I should try and sale my beauty :)

Ok the background in this picture makes it look like it was a beautiful day outside. But it really was miserably cold! My dad's favorite thing to do with his grandkids! Carter someday will love this picture I think!

London and Paris were amazing! Thank you to Sunitha and David and their cute family for showing us around and letting us stay with you. I want to come back someday with Ryan and Boston in the springtime because I hear it is beautiful! We miss you guys already!

India!...Bridal Showers

After London, we headed over to India for my cousin's wedding. They had already been celebrating before we got there with an engagement party. They day after we got there, we started with the bridal showers.

Bridal showers in India aren't quite like bridal showers in America. Yes she gets gifts, but that is not the main focus.

Bridal shower number 1

The bride sits with someone on her right and everyone takes a turn putting rice and oil on their heads and rubbing these spices and oils on their head, face, arms and legs. It's kind of funny because here in America we all envy darker and tanner skin. There in India, they all want to be lighter. So some believe that if you rub these spices on your skin for a week to 10 days before the wedding, it will make your skin lighter and you will be glowing. My family more so did it for the tradition. When I got married, we did this same shower for me. It was so much fun! Also by putting the rice on her head, you are giving her blessings and good luck with her marriage. This is only after the first couple of people.

Carter didn't know what to think at first. But here we are taking our turn. They always start with the eldest in the room and work their way down.

This is what they looked like after the last person!

Then after everybody has taken their turn, the bride will go shower and dress up in her pretty sari and jewlery and come recieve her gifts. Cute family.. Prasad, Reema, Shilpa (the bride), Nikitha, and Anitha

Bridal shower number 2 at Aunty Lucy's house. Taking my turn..

Aunty Prema got sneaky and after each person's turn, rubbed it on our faces... Oh and that is Heather, one of my cousins, sitting with Shilpa this time.

I tried to hide my face from Prema while she was trying to get me, but I obviously didn't win that fight. But it sure freaked Carter out! Poor little guy thought I was getting hurt...I'm glad he loves his mama:)

Heather, Prema,Shilpa, Lucy, Pushpa, Nadia

Bridal Shower number 3. This was just at our home and more of a spur of the moment thing to keep it going. We had already done a couple and they decided why not just do them everyday! But Shilpa was kind of tired of getting the spices rubbed all over her and having to clean it all off again (which I totally don't blame her!) so we only did the rice on her head this time. Eric had stopped in Delhi to visit his old mission area and my brother Travis who is there now and had just made it to Hyderabad. So he got in on the festivities too:)

Ashlie sitting next to Shilpa and taking her turn..

Mom handing over her gifts..

After being blessed...

Bridal shower number 4! By this point, it was just for fun:) Reema sat next to Shilpa this time and got smart and put her hood on so she wouldn't have to worry about getting all the rice out of her hair! Smart girl!

And after they got blessed...

Wedding Day

The night before the wedding, they had a dowry ceremony. That is where the bride and groom's family come together and the groom's family gives the bride's family gifts. So they gave Shilpa and her mom pretty saris and then they gave bananas and a sweet to all of the guests that came. My brother and sister have pictures of the ceremony, so I will have to add them later.

Morning of the wedding! I did Shilpa's hair, so we had to start early on curling:)

All the girls watched Ashlie curl her long pretty hair and wanted it like that for the wedding, but they hadn't ever done it to their hair before, so Ashlie helped...

Nadia helping Shilpa with her jewelry

Nikki caught on and her and Reena helped Reema with her hair..

Finally ready! Shilpa designed this wedding dress and had it made just for her

My mom introduced Shilpa to the guests at the beginning of the wedding ceremony.

They sat up on this platform with these beautiful chairs..

Shilpa giving Venu his ring. Venu won't give her ring to her until the reception. But instead he ties a gold chain around her neck with a ring on it that she won't ever take off.

Bride's family

They feed each other the cake and they don't smash it in each other's face!

cousins!

This was kind of funny. It is tradition there that the groom's family invites the bride's family to their house after the wedding. So the groom's family was all piled into this car.

But then part of the tradition is that the girls on the bride's side of the family stand in front of the car and don't let them leave until the groom gives them some money. It usually is all fun and games and the groom gives each girl some money. Well this started all fun and games. They stood there for about an hour and half to two hours and the groom was not giving anything. Then the groom's family finally got out of the car and started to walk home. He still wasn't giving anything so finally the girls gave up and that ended the night. We went back to our rooms and packed up for the train ride home. At the end of the trip though, he ended up giving some money to all of us!

All in all though, it was a really beautiful wedding and lots of fun! Having to watch Carter the whole time, I didn't get all the pictures on my camera. There are some pictures I will be getting from my brother and sister.