Our Time in Nargarkot

We returned from the mountains this afternoon and truly enjoyed our weekend there. The weekend was filled with things we have never seen or heard before, such as water buffaloes grazing with birds perched on their backs. It was like a scene straight from the Lion King. As we took long walks we would often hear birds that made the exact sound of a coo-coo clock. We asked someone what the birds were called and were told Qualies.

And of course there were those spectacular views of the Himalayan Mountains from the balcony of our room. As I mentioned in my last post, I set the alarm for 5:15 a.m. to be sure that I saw the sun rise over the mountains. I woke up and dutifully took my camera and went to the highest terrace of the resort where I was joined by a tour group of about 15 people from China and a handful of Europeans. Well, we did see the sunrise but we didn't see the mountains. There was too much cloud cover. (We later learned that you could sign up for a wake up call in which you would only be called on the mornings when the mountains were visible. Oh well.) That evening after dinner, with no effort at all, we walked out onto our balcony and there they were. The cloud cover had lifted after a strong thunderstorm and it was like someone lifted the curtains and threw on the stage lights. Majestic is the only that word that comes close to describing their beauty. Bret in particular couldn't stop looking at them. They changed as the light and clouds changed. It was breathtaking.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we hope to receive Wynn's travel documents. The Nepali government told us that they would be ready on Wednesday but Aruna tried to get them to have them ready one day early. We'll see.

Leah and Wynn are doing great. Wynn now says, "Thank you, mommy" when I give him something and today starting saying "hungry." When he uses a Nepali word that we know, for example water is panni, we repeat the English word too so he associates one word with another. We're certain that he understands much more English than he can express, but that's natural and the English will come with time. Sometimes he'll just repeat phrases such as, "Just a minute." (Which I'm forever saying to both of them.) When Bret or I were holding him in the jacuzzi yesterday we would say, "I've got you," as he isn't completely comfortable yet in the water. Wynn would them smile and say, "I've got you." Leah continues to be a great teacher and big sister. And after four years of life only with Leah, Bret and I are working on cloning ourselves and growing bigger laps when both want to climb up to be with one of us. Let this be our biggest problem.

Photo captions - Lobby of the resort; Mountain view from our balcony; family photos; women harvesting wheat.