July 2014

July started with a jolt. On the 4th our vehicle was broken into and my purse was stolen at Umstead Park while we were hiking with our friends. Valuables, lot of cash (I usually don't carry more than $$ but we had just returned from Bahamas and I had not put our cash that we carried on vacation back in the bank yet), several hundred $$$ in gift cards, credit cards, insurance cards, kids identity cards , cheque book, my iPhone and several other things were gone. But what was also lost- a sense of security and trust ! Hard to replace ! We filed the report, did our due diligence to control the situation, recovered nothing and have put the incident behind us.
July was mostly spent at the pool, a weekend at Charlotte celebrating independence day and enjoying fire-works, doing Apple-camp at South Point store where Avi and Neev had fun creating iBooks, having play-dates, a fun BBQ picnic and swim at Jordon Lake with Shakha friends on 27th, dance practices for Dream-Act's upcoming show and Durham Bulls opening act dance rehearsals.
Dream ACT Entertainment is Triangle based production house and is coming up with a Bollywood Musical, first of its kind in our area. They held auditions in March and I gave it a shot. Its a wonderful experience being part of great team that they have put together. The show is titled as 'Love- Connection- Confusion' and will be on October 4th and 5th at Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh. The team is also invited by Durham Bulls to perform before their big game on August 17th. Even though my weekends are packed with rehearsals, I am having a lot of fun reviving my old hobby of dancing.
July also saw Neev losing his first baby tooth  on 29th. He is so excited and even though I love his gap tooth smile, parting with all babyish things is not as much fun as I earlier thought. Avi has discovered that Mom is 'Bhagwan Ji' on Holi and Diwali, 'Santa' on Christmas and also the 'tooth fairy'. Tonight he told me that he has known since Holi when he found a 'printed letter from Bhagwan Ji' along with his Holi gift. He said there was no way Bhagwan Ji could use MS Word and it was Mommy who typed it on computer so he could not recognize my hand-writing. My children are growing up but I don't have to like everything about it, Do I ?
 

Cruise to Bahamas

We are back from our big vacation of this year, Cruise to Bahamas. I would like to reserve a week for vacation hangover but its amazing how life needs to be back on regular track as soon as it can. That meant docking at Charleston, SC in the morning,  driving 5 hours straight back to Raleigh and joining Taekwondo class right after. Nope, I am not a pushy mom but if the kids have energy to play video games, they sure can use some stretching and hi-yah. And its good for them.
Coming back to vacation, so I can relive the memories of warm, sparkly, crystal clear waters of Bahamas. This was our first foray into the cruise vacation and we went with a group of friends (I highly recommend it). After reading a book on cruises, Bahamas, watching a lot of YouTube videos and talking to a lot of cruise veterans, we deemed ourselves ready. As it turned out, we were ready to have fun and we sure did. Our first sight of the massive 'Carnival Fantasy' was OMG moment in an exciting way. Right from the moment we stepped in , the wonderful young crew (I did not spot anyone who looked like above 27 years of age) made our stay and experience sweet. I am in awe of the hard work and energy of these young men and women despite long shift hours.
As soon as I stepped in, I felt I was in Las Vegas. Brightly lit transparent elevators, beautiful staircases and music made the perfect ambience to set vacation mood. We were checked in and each of us were given a card which was our key to everything on ship including dining and shopping. I came to know that they have different colors for different guests. Returning guests are issues a red card, frequent guests have a different color card and first timers cruise vacationers like us had a blue card. Our room was at Deck 4, Riviera and turned out to be better and bigger than I expected.  We had lunch at Lido deck which was probably the most popular destination because of the pool, hot tubs, and 24 hours dining restaurants. We had a security briefing and a short drill to go to our assigned muster stations. The ship sailed at 4 PM sharp. It was a lovely view of the Atlantic, Fort Sumter in the middle of it and Arthur Ravanel Jr. bridge of Charleston City on the side.
It was time to explore the ship. We went to Guest Services and picked out the schedule for Camp carnival, a program for children where parents can drop off the kids for activities while they enjoy some time by themselves. Avi loved it, Neev not so much. He is a water baby and spent pretty much all his time between pool, hot tubs and slides on the ship. There was also mini golfing on the sports deck which was our family favorite activity after dinner. They had a lovely gym, I just never used it. But I did try table tennis with my kids :)
Our friend's teenaged son did baby sitting for all younger kids in the night so parents could go dancing in discotheque, listen to some great live music, watch comedy shows and do stargazing from the top deck of the ship.
The second day and the last day of our vacation were on sea and in between we docked at Freeport for a day and then at Nassau for a day. The beaches are breathtaking with its warm, transparent water. We went kayaking and I also tried the stand -up paddle board without falling off of it. I am pretty proud of it. Powdered sand, soft waves and refreshingly warm water - there is nothing much else needed for a relaxing day. Combine it with going to the steam room on the ship and you have what I would call perfect pleasure. The steam room was one of my most favorite part on the ship. Balmy and fragrant with peppermint aroma - you could forget the world for a few minutes.
In Nassau we went to the Paradise Island where the famous Atlantis is. Its huge and has lovely architecture inside. We did not go for the tour of the aquarium but some of our friends did and enjoyed it. Anurag and boys stayed on the beach while I explored the hotel from inside.
As you would hear from everyone who has done cruise vacation, food is another favorite part of it. We enjoyed dining formally every night in 'Celebrations' and Anurag tried their 'didja' menu each night (as in you always wanted to try it but have not). He tried Frog legs, Shark meat, smoked Duck, Alligator fritters and cured Salmon among other things. According to him he did not find much difference between them and chicken :)
I loved how you can pack so many experiences at one time being on cruise but next time I would like more excursions. I have heard that cruise to Alaska is pretty excursion intense where you are docking every day at some place to go out and explore. I wonder if that's our next vacation spot. May be in 5 years time :)


 

Sweet start of Summer

A short account of 'school'z out' so far -
Last Friday was the first day of school vacation and we started with a play-date for Avi and Neev and later in the day a doctor's visit to see how well Avi is growing. At 9 he is 57 and a half inches tall, just a couple inches short to reach my height. We also got the boys typhoid vaccine capsules, a recommendation for travel to Bahamas (our upcoming vacation spot).
Saturday started with a Skype video call with parents in India. The day was spent at Taekwondo Academy making sandwiches for Raleigh Rescue Mission, a picnic at the park in the afternoon to meet RadheShyam Dwivedi Ji, a retired Cellular Biologist and very senior karyakarta of HSS who was visiting Sangh's Raleigh chapter from Washington. Evening was spent at a friend's place playing badminton , catching fireflies and having delicious dinner. We celebrated Father's day at midnight by cutting home-baked cake by a friend.
Sunday morning was spent calling home and wishing Dads a great day. Avi and Neev made 'My Dad rocks' and 'World' #1 Dad' cups for their Daddy and also gave him  couple of Polo T-shirts taking his advice for  gifting 'functional presents'. In the afternoon Avi had his summer recital for Piano and did a wonderful job playing 'finale from Scottish fantasy'. In the evening we also had the pleasure of hosting RadheShyam Ji at our home and that night turned out to be such a special one when Anurag and I got reminded of my Baba as we talked and listened to him. I was thinking of my grandfather so much on Father's day and here we were, having the pleasure of the company of this gentleman who seemed just like a shadow of him - accomplished , active and admirable on so many levels !
Monday was swim lesson for Neev followed by a trip to the library to attend a program on 'paying it forward' for children. Even after so many years I am still in awe of everything that the public libraries offer in this country - thank you Sir Benjamin Frankin !!
Tuesday was on the go again, starting with an early show of 'Lego movie' at Park West 14, a swim date with friends, library program on 'science magic tricks ' and music lesson.
Phew !
Did I mention that I was really looking forward to sleep in during summer :)

Neev turns seven!

The youngest one in our family turned seven on May 27th. Thank God he is still thrilled about going to treasure box (in his classroom) on his birthday and picking out a toy of his choice. A birthday crown, cupcakes and favorite sugar cookies with blue icing was the celebration in the classroom. Mommy fixed Mexican Pizza and mashed potatoes (with extra butter) for lunch as requested.  Later that day his music class friends and teacher played and sang 'Happy Birthday' to him. We went out to dinner at Perkins and enjoyed the weekday quieted ambience of the restaurant, ordered fried jumbo shrimp, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, quesadillas, seasoned rice and chicken. Neev ordered lemon meringue pie for his dessert. Anurag, Avi and I had coconut cream pie and apple pie while singing happy birthday to our goofy drama prince :)
The party was on the weekend where our friends joined for dinner and brought yum food and thoughtful presents. The menu was potato wada, dahi wada, dosa, sambhar, chole, gobhi-aalu , naan and kheer. I made triple layered strawberry shortcake for Neev which is his favorite. We played Pictionary, Taboo  and Passing the parcel. Neev drew the door and Mommy guessed it right. Vedantha, a 4 year old friend drew a triangle and his Mommy guessed it right too. Sameer, a 5 year old friend drew a sun and his Mommy also figured it out right. Avi drew something and it was guessed by another mom as an elbow. Moms and kids have great partnership !! Great birthday celebration made possible with great friends is the only way to feel happy about our baby growing up.
Happy birthday Neev !!
 

Wake up call

A few of us may have experienced this world or a similar one plagued by various root problems by either living in it or feeling the heat of it.  A few of us may take a long look at life and feel grateful and blessed. A few of us may make significant contributions and others small ones. A few of us may shed a tear and move on. A few of us may only know it through videos like this. Whatever category of few we fall into, we can make a difference by making a small change, to our lives and theirs. Start with either. Start today.

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