As always, a ton of stuff going on here at the FFA.
First, let's catch up on the last few weeks of summer fun!
Baseball was great this year and Aidan really enjoyed playing with many of his school friends, including Mr. Jacob. Here's some shots zoomed in of our player.
Focused...
A swing...and a miss.
Lookin' good!
And funny little bro too!
Next up, Father's Day!
It was all pool, all the time!
IT'S A SSSSSSHARRRK!!!
Me and the Boyz....
Headed off to a great dinner at Bristol's!
The following weekend, we had a birthday party for our friend Tyler at Grant's Farm...
Off we go on the tram!
Mommy trying her hand at feeding the camels....
Gotcha!
Our guys and the birthday boy!
Oh Goats!
Ethan being very brave!
It was a scortcher of a day for sure!
So back to the pool we go.....
Smother Brother
We've made such great friends in the Haas'...our boys play great, and they are truly wonderful fun people and great parents. It's so refreshing to find people that you can relate with and people that love some of the same things that Emmy and I do. We had them over for a party day a few weeks back. The boys played and played and played.
Crazy Kids!
Now zoom to July...we went with them (no kids this time) to see our favorite band, Matchbox Twenty!
It was awesome!
The Goo Goo Dolls opened for MB20.
We had awesome seats....here's Emmy's favorite...Robby Thomas.
The set was amazing...great concert!!!
So the very next morning, Daddy embarked on another journey to the land far, far away....India Again.
This time it was so "seal the deal" with a new company that we are going to do business with. These were my favorite guys from last time and I was so excited to announce that they had won the competition.
So, off I went....this time going backwards, St. Louis to Chicago to Hong Kong to Bangalore, India.
Was very excited to fly on this plane, a Boeing 777-300ER...this thing took me all the way to Hong Kong, total flight time 15 and a half hours! Whoa!
We were in the sun almost the whole trip, but that pesky sun finally caught us over Southern Japan...and I caught the sunset :)
Down she goes...
Gone....coincidentally, all those lights on the ocean are shipping vessels...pretty congested right?
The view from my room of Bangalore... Not a bad part of town really. Actually I really liked this hotel and its location. There was a mall next store and the food was great.
Here we are on the celebratory night with the Indian folks. From Left to right, Srinivasan, Prahbat, Kellen (my Boeing guy), me and Rishab. All wonderful and smart people. Cannot say enough good about the entire team that made this happen.
Taco Bell is in India! I liked the balloon art on the building...cool huh?
Babies R Us...India-style (three stories of baby)
So I took a picture of this guy's rickshaw, but he kept trying to get my attention...so I took one last picture of him...hahahaha.
Parking Lot Rules: Please park your car on a numbered spot, Please park your cows on a numbered pasture. Really, well not really...but funny.
The lone highway in Bangalore (elevated)....can you imagine living in a city with 12M people with no highways or interstates?
I can and traffic looks like this everywhere you go.
Goin' for a ride! Kid's probably Aid's age...having fun for sure.
The rule of driving in India is that there are no rules. I was hoping that this wasn't going to be the last picture I had ever taken....fortunately...he stopped. :)
Driving through Bangalore...still love those trees, so cool.
Hey Goat!
Finally a not busy city street!
Saw lots of dogs this time (maybe its a summer thing)...but this chap was just laying out on the hot pavement for a little doggie siesta.
Yah know, if they decide to put in highways and better streets, really cool trees like this one will have to go :(
They love big billboards in India for some reason...
"Wear a Helmet and Be Safe"...OK! How about "Drive a Tank and be Safe"...Driving kinda got on my nerves this trip...all the speed bumps and honking and stopping and starting...yuck.
They took us to a place to get authentic Indian Silk Outfits...we didn't get them, but they were cool to model.
The whole team, Kellen, me and Mark (our engineering leader)
Coming up on the Karnataka Government Building....
The Courts....
Another of the Court Building....
And of their really cool Parliamentary Building
Couples Park...a cool looking place.
They call Bangalore the "Garden City"...I can see that..
Our hosts took us to this museum, which had artifacts from before the 1st century BC...They didn't allow pictures, so...sorry! But I saw old pottery, sculptures and weaponry. Neat stuff.
Mickey D's and Traffic on MG Road
A ton of traffic...count the rickshaws...at least 12 of them...They said that Bangalore has 1 Million total Rickshaws like that!
There was a car wreck here and I wanted to get a pic of the action...this is MG Road where there is tons of shopping.
How many people are on this motorbike? 2?
Nope..3.
During lunch one day, we took a break to play some "TT" with our Indian friends...was a blast!
Me and PKB...we didn't do so hot.
These jokers we played against were "ringers"...they let us win then pounded us. (I didn't hit that shot back BTW)
It was all fun though...great times.
If there is any wonder what I do...this is what I do...sit at a table with laptops out and talk...fun right?
and watch presentations on a projector...again..fun.
The real fun is this...signing a big contract :)
Done deal.
We don't drive ever in India, this was driver and his car....his name is Ganga...and he is a very safe and knowledgable driver and a great guy!
After lunch at a Italian place in a new Mall, we stopped out front and took a whirl at cricket. Of course, I held my bat way too high and they all laughed, but you know what, after getting the timing down, I hit every single ball. American Baseball still rules!
On the way back to the office I snapped a few more pics...here's a fruit stand. Fruit actually looks pretty good doesn't it?
Here's some school kids...cute little kids walking home from school....
Or crammed in a rickshaw (sorry for the glare)
Or riding home with Daddy on the motorcycle.
Check this place out...a hospital...all free care too. Owned by a wealthy Indian and staffed by volunteers. Neat looking place.
Here's my hotel this time...very nice place. Will stay there again for sure.
My connection was back through Hong Kong again. Had a crazy flight (turbulence) and barely made the connection, but did...and made it home OK! Yeah!!
And finally, one video from India and driving...:)
That's all...I think we're all caught up now!
Mommy's big b-day tomorrow! Happy Birthday Mommy!
Thanks for reading, have a great night!
Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan
