Trip to Universal Studios - October 2015

Completely missed recording one of the most awesome experiences of kids in Universal Studios, Orlando, FL last October.We stayed at Disney's flagship property 'Grand Floridian'- a  beautiful resort !! I was there for a client conference in Disney . My family also met up with my team and enjoyed the viewing of 'Fantasmic' in Hollywood Studios from private viewing area while having dinner and dessert.
I could not accompany hubby and kids to Universal but heard account of their visit and knew that they had a blast. They are huge fans of Harry Potter and could not stop talking about the wonderful times they had riding to Hogwart, having butter beer and feeling thrilled by their magical experience.

Busch Gardens and Water Country USA, Williamsburg, VA, July 9th weekend

3 days spent in these 2 parks turned out to be not the ideal way of having a vacation since we are not really roller-coaster (type) family ;) . It gave me headache and Avi nausea by just looking at the people hanging upside down and vertically dropping from slides like Mach Tower. BUT we were determined to try and make the most of it and we did! We all enjoy music shows and  'Oktoberfest' in Germany was really nice. Live band musical performance and another show called 'All for One and One for all' were nice too. Walking around in different countries, looking at the authentic setup of each one (our favorite country was Germany), beautiful landscaping and visiting different stores was my favorite part . Avi liked 'Auto Bahn' (bumper cars) , whirl wind, sky line tours, Rapids, Ruins of Pompei but his favorite was watching  'Pet shenanigans'. He made us catch the show twice to watch a 58 years old parrot 'Stevie' do math . It was impressive to watch a parrot answer addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems - all accurately! Neev's favorite ride was 'curse of the dark castle' and he went on it 3 times. Celtic Fyre live show in Ireland would have been awesome since hubby and I LOVE Celtic music but it was not scheduled that day so it was a big disappointment:( 
Water Park was all about....well water ! Wave riding, lazy river and small water slides were our favorites.
We brought kids' friends with us and of-course having buddy-company was their favorite part!

Mount Soma, Asheville downtown, Chimney Rock State Park on 4th July weekend

Woke up on Sunday at 11 AM and just decided to go to mountains because in our busy lives we almost never have a free weekend ! A quick packing , hotel reservation for a night and tons of enthusiasm was all that was needed for the road trip. We went to Mount Soma , Clyde, NC where Hanuman Temple is located. Drive is pretty, very much like when we go to Art of Living Ashram in Boone. A big Hanuman Ji statue and a temple atop a small hill along with a visitor's center that serves lunch and dinner on weekends, few very nice homes all sitting in the lap of hills. 

After visiting temple we strolled in the streets of beautiful Asheville downtown, abuzz with people, restaurants and music. The famous Indian restaurant 'Chai Paani' was full so they sent us over to another restaurant called MG Road which served their food.  We ordered Chicken and Paneer Tikka wraps and non vegetarian Thali. Wraps were great, couldn't say the same thing about Thali. 

Night was spent in the same hotel where we made reservations when my sister visited us six years ago - nostalgic!

Next day was 4th July- no better way to spend it other than logging 15000 steps to climb on top of Chimney Rock and going down to Hickory Nut Falls (This 404 foot waterfall at Chimney Rock Park is one of the highest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River ) while appreciating everything our 'Karm Bhoomi" has to offer.

In Chimney rock, we spotted a baby copper head where kids were just about to sit, also saw a water snake in the waterfalls. Great Save!

Sitting under the shadow of fluttering flag of USA, we thanked all those who fought for freedom and appreciated every opportunity that we have been provided with, by this amazing country. Happy Fourth!!

Spring Break 2016

Mountain Home rented for a weekend in Boone, right next to Art of Living Ashram. House not so impressive but surrounding made up for it! Great company of friends, great food and times !! Among other things my friends discovered  that I don't joke when I tell them about my poor reflexes of getting startled at the slightest of triggers and I can scream like no one else when presented with a scary situation. Ghost stories in the nights, few light pranks made for a hostel like fun break for me :)

Vacation in India in Dec 2015 and Jan 2016 and Avi's 11th birthday

In between meeting family and friends during our trip to India we celebrated new year's eve and  Avi's 11th birthday in Pune with lighting firecrackers, Chicken Biryani and Chocolate Cake! He is as tall as me and a book worm. Both brothers enjoyed the free time and company of their cousin Shaurya.

 Some of the highlights -

A trip to children's park followed by ice cream treat and visiting a pet shop.

Visiting Lavasa City- I tried Jet Ski. The drive was really winding but the city appeared to be planned. 

Trip to Bhigwan bird Sanctuary -It turned out to be a great day! Our family seemed to be the only visitors and we went in a row-boat. The entire lake was ours and we were the only spectators of the birds. After getting down on the shore, on our way back to the car, Neev was running like a free bird himself without a care when I heard a cry from him. He landed in a deep puddle covered  with algae so dense it did not look like a pond ,making it partly the reason that Neev did not notice it. It was scary but I pulled him out and he was covered with this slimy green stuff from head to toe. He was embarrassed but it was so funny that after the momentary scare, we could not stop laughing at the way he looked - color green and brown covered his whole face, hair and body. We dealt with it as best as we could and got another great story in our pocket about Neev :)

  Another first was to eat Lobsters of our own choosing. Ashwin took us to Nisarg which is a famed seafood restaurant in Pune. We were presented with live lobsters on our table to pick the size we wanted to order. I was grossed out but the rest of the family enjoyed the meal. India is heaven for sweets and we could not have enough of Dadu's sweets emporium. Lip smacking desserts presented beautifully!!

Trip to Badaun is another post.
 All in all - great family times to be thankful for!!