Adventures in Rock Canyon

So since Josh and I were going to go and do a slot canyon, I needed some emotional and technical support from my Forsyth Sisters. I somehow convinced Megan and Kara to come with Josh and me up to Rock Canyon. As Kara said "the girly girl of the family" meaning me, needed a beginners lesson in repelling. I have to admit I was terrified but since these ladies are so tough I had to try and act brave. Megan showed me how it was done with her new man "York" oohing and aahing from below. Then Josh made me go. Kara was so kind as to belay(sp?) me from the bottom so I felt safe (I guess since I didn't know that it made a difference in the tall mountain I was climbing off). Thanks to my awesome family for your support and expertise. I couldn't have done it without you.

Cranney Reuion

Look at this baby monitor, Dad!

"Can I catch it?"
"No, they bite. Besides, they're way too fast."
"Aww, he's little, I bet I could catch him!"
"No you can't. I'll give you twenty bucks if you catch him."
(In high-pitched baby talk) "C'mon, little baby dinosaur, I'm not gonna hurt you, hold still now, I'm just gonna pet you, and give you a cookie."

You can't see how fast everyone's moving in the second photo, but after Dad stalked for a few seconds (the upper limit for ADD stalkers), Keven, despite being extremely startled, snapped the picture just as Dad did a full-body lunge and the monitor leaped over the edge of the slope (which is a lot higher and steeper than it looks).

Can I have $20 if I catch a bird?

This is on the sea wall of Galle, a very ancient Moslem trading fort captured by the Portuguese in the 1500's, then by the Dutch (who headquartered the Dutch East India Trading Company here and built it into a huge fort enclosed by gigantic walls), and finally by the British colonists from 1800 until 1948. It is full of ancient mosques, wonderful old creepy churches and cemeteries, and surrounded by massive stone walls, 60 feet thick in places and cut through with tunnels.
We spent a very large portion of our time here feeding crackers to the birds.

How about this goat? Can I have $20 for this goat?

After he caught the goat, he tried saying soothing things to it in baby talk ("Ohhh, yes, him's a pretty little goat, isn't him?") and holding it on his lap and rocking it. But that was just a freaked-out goat.

A turtle! I caught a turtle!

This albino Olive Ridley turtle was rescued from a fishing net years ago, and then got swept out of her pool by the tsunami, which swamped the whole hatchery under eight feet of water, destroying everything and killing the parents of the man who runs the place. Every household in these beach neighborhoods lost family members along with their houses, but somebody found Lily and carried her home.

Cuddly little things.

Isn't it remarkable how Dad loves to cuddle with all animals regardless of how prickly or wet they are, how hard they bite, or how desperately they do not want to be cuddled?

Turtles!

We followed this little hand-painted sign to a turtle farm on the beach; where supposedly this old man who buys turtle eggs from the locals hatches them and puts them out to sea. We pulled up and he started jabbering and showing us a fenced-in garden plot with little mounds staked out with initialed notes. Great, I thought, he's got nothing to show us so he's making a big deal out of his turtle graveyard. I liked him a whole lot better when he started scooping away sand from one mound, because anyone who is so willing to exhume a grave so you can have a look is okay in my book. He uncoverd some soft eggshell fragments and then suddenly there were flapping, struggling baby turtles everywhere. Live animals buried in the sand just seem terribly unnatural; we could not have been more startled if he had uncovered a squirming litter of puppies!
Afterwards we each took a handful of turtlettes over to the pool where they could swim for a couple of days before being released.

Hard at work on the job site.

The two head honchos conferring while the worker bees wait for orders. We had great weather for working while Dad was here - cloudy enough to hold back the heat but no rain. Nope, it didn't start to storm until we took a couple of days off to drive around the south tip of the island. Then we got a nice typhoon/monsoon combo that made the gorgeous beaches and jungle temples really memorable. Oh well, Dad always enjoys leftovers and rejects and mistakes better than perfection anyway. He was a very Cappy Hamper.

Hard at work on the- Hey, I'll bet we can climb this thing!

"Dad, you don't have a harness!"
Ok, yeah, gimme that tool belt, and a couple of t-shirts and your purse strap... Voila! I'll be real careful. Bye!
He doesn't look too high up on the last photo but he was actually 140 feet up. The workers were genuinely frightened.
Note to Mom: When he talked me and Kev into all three of us going up together we only went up to about 60 feet. It was exhilarating; the wind was fierce and the tower was swaying and you could see rolling jungle for miles around!

Still hard at work on the- RECESS TIME!!!

Our tower install site was on the sports field of an elementary school, and when the bell rang, the kids would come tearing out to find their new best friend and Dad would drop whatever and race to get in the lineup (like his little worshippers would make him wait in line for anything). It was like Field of Dreams on meth.
Sorry these pictures take up so much room, but they're kind of priceless.

This is what happens when you turbo up your trishaw. Tough to talk your way out of a ticket when you don't share a language with the cop. Especially when said cop is laughing too hard to listen. You still owe us 5 bucks, Dad. P.S. Yes, he's barefoot.

Move over Porsche, Dad's got a new toy!

I grabbed the camera as quick as I could, but this was about 0.03 milliseconds after I showed him how to start the thing. I had looked forward to giving him little driving lessons, but... Two days after this, he navigated the bumper-car asylum that is Colombo ALONE, and a day after that he rigged the thing up so that it would go WAY over the speed limit (74 km per hour, I'm not kidding, and the limit is 40). It still flies like the wind, and the employees are in awe of David Racecar Man.

A Sri Lankan Wedding

Dad's first day here we had to go to a wedding in a little village out by the factory. He fell in love with the flower girls of course, and the feeling was mutual, though they were so shy. I would post a picture of the special chickens they had cooked just for us, but it would be a little too graphic for a family blog. Dad sang "Fa ra ra ra ra" with his, but nobody got it. Mine had a tail. Not feathers, but a tail. I wish I could explain, but... there you go. I didn't eat the tail.

Kevin's Birthday coming up

Hey Kev, what do you want for your birthday?

Forsyth Award-June Nominees???

Anyone, anyone, didn't anybody do something funny, stupid or even worth mentoning? Josh would you like to tell everyone about the water heater incident on Ella's birthday?

Orem Summerfest

Grandma, Katelyn, Amy, Ella and Preston all rode bikes over to Center Street for the Orem Summerfest Parade. We had a great time watching the parade and Papa as Cinder Britches. He even took us up on top of the Orem Safety building to watch the fireworks. He knows how to make a party a real party.

Kara and Keven's new Home where we wish they would come to stay

Keven and Kara's jungle hut

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Kara and dogs in the Piaggio. Flopsy has to be dragged out of the trishaw by force if she suspects somebody might be going somewhere in it. As far as she knows she is the only dog in the universe who has ever ridden in a motor vehicle, and she eats it up.
As for the house... living in Sri Lanka requires us to make some sacrifices, but our house isn't one of them. Unfortunately, the only nice houses (with floors, indoor toilets, eckeltricity, etc.) are big ostentatious ones. We spend a lot of time conveying the idea that we aren't wealthy to the branch members and our employees, but those efforts are dead before they hit the ground the instant they see our house. Blamm! Like that. On the other hand, my car does have handlebars, and I don't own any shoes.

Idol-worshipping Jonny

In this unretouched photo, our so called "Uncle Jonny" (on the left, with the prominent advertisment for tea on his sleeve) makes an offering to an image of Lord Buddha . Let us know how that works out for ya, Jonny.

Jane and Towanda

There is a grassy little island in the middle of the rice paddy that adjoins our factory. As long as you are on it everything seems to be silenced; the world becomes like a painting of a peaceful landscape that is always dreamy afternoon. Megan and I sat there and watched the clouds drift for a bit, but not for long enough. I'd like to live there.

Happy Birthday to Keven and Megan!

We love you both!

Where is everyone?

OK this is ridiculous! No one is posting anything on the "family" blog or their own blog for that matter. I really want to see what is going on with all of you, especially those who are far away and we are forgetting what you look like. I know it takes a few minutes to do but honestly. I expected more from you all!!! I better see a post from at least one or two of you in the next week or else (I might even hire someone to come after you, i.e. little Kev). Please, we miss hearing from everyone.

Forsyth Award-May Nominee-Amy

So I decided to take the kids out for a ride the other day. I got everything ready with the help of my wonderful hubby, and set out for a nice bike ride. Ella and Preston were buckled into the trailer nice and snug and I decided to try out my new biking shoes. As I headed out on the trail I clipped my feet in and out of the pedals trying to be as high tech as my gear headed husband. Feeling fairly comfortable I finally left them clipped in and really started riding. When out of nowhere came my turn onto the Center Street sidewalk. It was a sharp turn onto a steep little hill and since I have no biking experience I started to panic. As I turned onto the hill and started going up, my bike weighed down by the trailer and two 25 lb. children quickly came to a stop. As I was stopping I was desperately trying to change gears to the easier gear so I could keep riding while at the same time trying to kick my feet out of the pedals. I was a complete failure at both attempts. My bike stopped and I tipped over right onto my side and back. It wasn't a horrible injury, minor scrapes and cuts but my poor children were traumatized. Ella kept asking me why I fell over. I didn't quite know how to respond. I wasn't looking like the tough all-together mom she was used to. Anyway, I've nominated myself for the May Award. Are there any other nominations so far?

Kara, Keven, and Uncle Jonny visited this Buddhist Shrine in the middle of Sri Lanka. They make you take your shoes off out of respect--hot hot! This statue is of a dead Buddha; you can tell because his eyes are open a crack (unlike creepy Megan, normal people sleep with their eyes closed). It's much larger than the picture makes it appear. Don't worry, we made sure we threw our rupees in the donation box.

Favorite uncle????

I object to this "Favorite Uncle" competition. I thought that this contest would be put on hold until all competing parties could be with in spoiling distance of Ella. If this competition is going to continue I insist that I be given some sort of handicap since I am at an obvious disadvantage. I must warn you that if I begin to fall behind in this competition things could get ugly for my competitors. What can I say, desperate times calls for desperate measures. Watch out "Uncle Jon" or I may be cracking more than one coconut.

Favorite Uncle?

This is a close race. Jonny is so much fun and having Keven here is a blast. He plays so cute with Ella. Kevin, you are slowly pulling behind. Where are you?

Ma and Pa

what an adorable couple. cowgirl meets soldier. thanks for being so great.

picnic in the backyard

We love having Keven and Kara here! It has been so much fun. Kara even helped Josh and Amy decide to buy a house. Kara has taken over as the favorite aunt. She set up a zipline in the backyard and sent Ella sliding. Anytime they separate, Ella says, "I want MY Kara".

Easter Sunday

We missed those of you who weren't here in Orem for our Easter dinner party. Papa was at work supporting the family as usual, Meggie was playing in Moab, and Kevin and Ginger were too busy protecting our country to be here with us. We miss them so much. Well here are a few pictures from Ella's photo shoot. Enjoy.

Fresh air, what could be better

Always an adventure.

We went cross-country skiing at Aspen Grove. Mom, Ella, Preston, Cynthia Vaughn and I all came. We put the kids in the bike trailer with the ski attachments and I, Amy, attempted to pull them. (Todd would have probably done a better job.) It was gorgeous weather and we had a blast even though the snow was super slushy. We kept sinking down in the snow and the trailer only came close to tipping over once. The kids had a nap they were so cozy and warm and the rest of us got a pretty good workout. All I have to say is Mom is an animal on those skis. You can tell she has been skiing a few times before.