12 The Hoot
Around the World
(with CDS)!
Anjney Kumar (Preschool 101)
Northern and Western India
This fall, we visited Mumbai and Lucknow in India. Anjney saw The Gateway of India and walked on the Juhu Beach in Mumbai, where he loved making sand castles and spending time with his grandmother and his maternal aunts. From Mumbai, Anjney went to celebrate Diwali, the biggest festival of India, with his grandparents and aunts in Lucknow in the north of India. He celebrated by lighting candles and making Rangoli, an art form originating in India in which patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials like colored rice, flour, sand or flower petals. Anjney also loved visiting a monument in Lucknow known as bhul-bhulaiya (the labyrinth). He had fun finding his way out of the maze.
Mrs. Kruger (Preschool 101)
Iceland
In November, Mr. Kruger and I (and Chester) traveled to Iceland. While we were there we saw many waterfalls, such as Selfoss and Seljalandsfoss, explored sights along the Golden Circle including Kerið, a volcanic crater lake, the Gulfoss waterfall, along with the geysers Geysir and Strokkur, and traveled to Reykjavik.
We also traveled to the village of Vík. The beach at Vík is made of black basalt sand and is one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen. We also hiked to see an abandoned United States Navy Douglas Super DC-3 airplane. This plane was forced to land on Sólheimasandur's black sand beach over forty years ago! While we were in Iceland, we swam in a hot spring, explored museums, and Mr. Kruger went scuba diving at the Silfra fissure-- which is the only place you can dive between the North American and Eurasian continental plates!
One of my favorite parts of the trip was witnessing the Northern Lights--a truly amazing experience.