Four Years Old!!

 Sadie in her new birthday dress on her birthday morning. She really FELT four when she woke up. She had a little class party that day in school. Later that night we gave her the little suitcase. She has never been so in love with a present like the way she loves this suitcase. It even goes to bed with her. She wheeled it around and around the living room several times when she got it and practiced all the features. When she uses it at school it is evident that it makes her feel very grown up when she puts the little handle down and then uses the straps to carry it up the stairs. It's serious business having your own suitcase.

 Sadie's birthday party was rad. We had a birthday brunch with red chile breakfast burritos. The kids had their own table and got along amazingly. We sang happy birthday four times and blew out the candles four times to celebrate all the birthdays of the month. Of course the last time was for Sadie again because she felt the ownership of her party slipping and needed another go. There was a pretty awesome session of jumping on the bed, but our stinky camera couldn't capture the moment very well.

Winter Months

The winter is passing quickly. We've gone skiing a couple times but still haven't gotten Sadie on her skies. I went night skiing for the first time on Valentines Day. We fill our time with reading, face painting, crafts, play dates and Diego cartoons, Sadie's favorite. Yesterday we went to the Hawaii aqua park for the day, which was kind of hectic, but Sadie had fun.
She'll be turning four next week! She does seem so much older lately. Four years old is an awesome age.

Our hut in Palolem

After a week in our villa we headed south to Palolem to stay in a hut on the beach. It was a two hour drive and Sadie slept for a while. Goa is filled with trash. Our driver said that hoteliers and restaurant owners dump their trash in the middle of the night. The locals blame the tourists for the trash and the tourists blame the locals. No one wants to take responsibility, so it just piles up on the roadside.
We had heard that Palolem was a quieter beach, but when we got there it actually seemed crazier! I guess the holiday crowd is inescapable. Our hut was in a little courtyard, not right on the beach as promised, but very close. It was a nice little hut, but not worth the price we paid. Palolem is a beautiful beach though. We saw some wonderful sunsets. We passed the days on the beach just like we did in Anjuna, from restaurant to sand to water, back to restaurant and then sand and then restaurant and then hut. It was very relaxing. We went on an early morning boat ride one morning to see dolphins and then were dropped off at Patnem beach, which we discovered is the truly mellow beach. We had a wonderful, relaxing breakfast and Sadie made a puppy friend.

 Sadie gets SO tan, it's amazing. She just darkens up like a native and never burns. Its enviable skin.

 Our hut had a wonderful little bathtub for Sadie.

 One morning we took a boat out to see the dolphins. It was fun to be out on the water in the morning.

 Sadie loved the stray puppies on the beach, they kept her occupied while we had meals.

 "Holy Cow!"

On New Years eve our plan was to watch a movie or play cards on our porch and have a quiet evening. There was a nightclub right next door though and they blasted us out until 4am! We had an unexpectedly good time though. A local guy stumbled up to our porch and started talking to us. He was so drunk, but actually pretty fun and funny. Our neighbors ended up coming over to our porch and we hung out together until 12, then everyone scattered to watch the fireworks. After that we tried to sleep, but the nightclub had different plans. I went over to peek in and saw there were only 20 or so people! All that noise for so few people!