Nice break from the routine

The long weekend was extra long with the one vacation day I was able to take on last Wednesday.The plan was to spend the day one-one with Nikhil - just mom and son! Dad had work. As we dropped the younger one to the baby sitter, I went through my guilt pangs - my babysitter consoled me and asked me to have a great day with the older one.

So, stop 1 was a restaurant for breakfast. I ordered a veggie omelet and Nikhil was excited to see an item called Chocolate Chip Pancakes in the menu. He ordered that and was already on top of the world - with the powdered sugar, maple syrup, butter and cream. The atmosphere is really homely there and the waitresses are middle-aged ladies who are really friendly. I sipped my coffee and called B to give an update of where we were.

Step 2 was to catch the new kids movie 'Bolt', but when we reached the theater, we were too early. The doors had not been opened yet. So we had about 1 hour to kill and I called B again. "What do you think, can we catch a quick game of bowling before the movie begins" and he said that sounds possible. We drove fast to the bowling lanes nearby and paid for exactly 1 game and played just that. Mr.Niks was all excited and I too was. We compete with each other on Nintendo Wii and I occasionally win a bowling game or two in that. But real bowling was not that easy.
Anyway, Nikhil managed to beat me and was happy yet again.

It was time for the movie. I had no idea about the story, except that there was a dog with super powers. I went there only for my son's sake, but I ended up enjoying the movie so much so that my eyes were filled with tears!

After the movie, we headed home. We were tired by then and felt like being at home for an hour before heading to Nikhil's swimming class. It was a nice day spent with my boy! Would love to do that again!

Rest of the weekend - we went for two thanks giving get togethers - one with friends and one with family. We also watched the James Bond movie in theatre - all 4 of us! It was an adventure which went quite smoothly as Nithin slept on my lap. Sunday went by in preparing Idli/Sambar for the Xmas Carols folks who came after church. Carols was over and we were chitchatting with friends who stayed back. It was a great weekend and here we roll again!

Yummy long weekend!

We enjoyed every bit of the trip to Pittsburgh. We stayed at S and R's place and they have a toddler same age as Nithin. This helped us all enjoy their mischief and also break our heads when they threw tantrums.

First day afternoon, B and I went to meet my old friend A- short and sweet visit.It was nice to see the kids play together while we caught up on how life is for each of us. Back home with S and R, we all set out to the S.V.Temple with his parents. This is a ritual every time we go to Pittsburgh. A trip to the temple and stop at the Udupi resturant on the way back.

Next day, July 4, we left to the zoo after a simple and satisfying home cooked meal. Kids were excited to see the animals. The weather was really gorgeous and it helped us enjoy the day without feeling exhausted. After the zoo, we went to watch the Regatta at the Erie Lake. So we officially took part in July 4 celebrations! The shore was filled with different kinds of people and it was nice to see families and couples savoring the moment.

Then we went to Mount Washington to get a nice view of the fireworks. The fireworks were enchanting and when we came back home, kids were asleep. We would sit down and talk till 1 AM in the night every day after the kids slept. It was fun.

The next day we went to Presue Isle State Park and the beach. The place itself was so beautiful with the many beaches. We went to 3 of them and it got better each time. Kids were super excited to get into water and would not want to come back. If this place was close by, we could have made weekend trips to it. It was not overcrowded and it is so spacious that you could find a private spot for your family somewhere for sure.

Back home, I feel refreshed from the nice break we had. Being away from home and the routine chores makes a difference. You feel inspired to begin a new chapter in life - get regular with gym and cook nice things from NOW ON. It is a different question whether I keep up with the resolutions I make when we drive back home, at least it inspired me to approach life as a new chapter! Only one and half week left to our India trip, my heart beat increases when I think about the suitcases we have not packed and things we are yet to purchase. Life is exciting!

India Trip Planning Woes

Finalizing dates and airlines and booking tickets is already done. Now starts the planning for internal details of the big trip. I am going NUTS with this exercise now. I am sure some of you can surely identify with this.

We have to cover 3 cities in India in 3 weeks.
When to leave from City A to City B? Which flight? Numerous flight options.
How many days will we stay in City B?
When do we leave to City C? Flight? Train?
When do we go back to City A?
Will we have enough time to pack before we depart back to US?

This is the simple logistics part of the trip planning.

Then comes the fun trips options that are enticing and attractive.

"Last time, we went on the HouseBoat stay in Kumarakom in Kerela, it was great."
"My parents went to this resort. It is economical, not expensive as houseboat etc. And very relaxing"
There are resorts in City A and City B and City C. Equally tempting. Which one to book?

And the list of people I want to meet and things I want to do is endless.
I am a sucker for nostalgia. I probably value reliving memories more than anything else.
I want to meet all my old friends and classmates. Then there are relatives whom we get to meet only when we go like this. I want to visit my old school and college to relive memories and to show my 7 year old where I stood and sang school prayers and bore him with my 'veeragaathaa' (adventure stories).

How could I forget shopping clothes to expand my wardrobe for US Indian gatherings?

Not only do we have to meet with folks who live in India, but also there are close friends/relatives from US/elsewhere who will be vacationing in India at that SAME TIME. How nice is that..to be able to catch them there and spend sometime with them there. Yumm..tempting again!

The temptations are enticing and overwhelming. There is always the concern of whether we will get disappointed with the choices or decisions we made. It could easily turn fun to stress if we try to cram everything into the schedule. But what to give up? How do I set priorities? How do I say 'No' to some things?

Hmm..am I not enjoying this exercise, while I am cribbing? Daydreaming of doing this and that in India and planning for it - there is some thrill in this!

Break The Rules

Looks like B and I are really enjoying this time. Mr.Nikhil seems to be enjoying all the way at his grandparents' home in Trivandrum. Seeing him smile and laugh and talk to us on the phone tells us he is not terribly missing us. That means that we do not have to worry about his being unhappy for a while.

Going back to life with 1 kid is an interesting experience. When I am cooking, now, I can focus on just one kid's interests. Smaller quantities suffice. It is quiet period at work for both of us and B does not have any classes to take. No driving around for any child activities. It seems like we have plenty of time at hand in the evenings. So, even though, we have not verbally declared it,we have been breaking some family rules and taking it easy.

1. If you don't feel like cooking, don't. Can split a veggie pizza and be done with it. Can explore a new place to eat out, because we wont be doing a lot of this when school reopens.
2. If you are in the mood to drive around, just get up and go. Can be impulsive now as it wont affect a school-goer's schedule. No planning needed.
3. Watch movies every week day night and sleep really late.
4. No forced bedtime. Nithin hangs out with us watching movies and we don't put him to bed right on time. He enjoys the time with us.

It is good to break the rules, once in a while. Helps us to go easy on ourselves, now that the schedule permits it. We are enjoying it.

Side-effects: Nithin says 'Amma, let us go downstairs and watch a movie'. When the car takes the turn towards home, he says 'more shop' meaning 'I don't want to go home'.

Positive side effects: Some improvement on Nithin's potty training since we now have the patience to entice him into 'flushing' the toilet. Also, I have been able to read books to him and he is all thrilled to listen to me. I am now reading a book myself. Ages since I have attempted this.

See you tomorrow!

Baseball game and me

I have little connection with sports. Ironically, this is my second consecutive year going to watch the Phillies game. Last year, we had a team outing to the game. A bunch of us walked to the train station nearby and took the train to go to Citizien's Bank park in Philly downtown. The first time I looked at the crowd and the stadium I was awed. It is an amazing feeling and a totally different experience. This year, when the whole company was going there for the summer outing and I signed up to be part of the event.

I carpooled with my colleague. She drove 3 of us to the stadium. The drive to the place was pretty smooth. The stadium did not look as crowded as last year. We were early there for our company lunch at McFadden's. The weather was good - not too hot. There were some others like me who did not care so much about the game and were interested in just talking. We ate lunch and chatted. The drink tickets were in high demand. I went in to our terrace deck and sat there for sometime. I got bored soon.

In the ballpark, it is all about drinking and eating. People were eating hot dogs, then icecream and carried glasses of beer all day. I walked out looking for some coffee and fries. Not that I was hungry, but you want to buy something when everyone else is doing that! I walked to a shop and bought some fries that looked good. And a bottle of water. I could not trust a coffee from that shop. I paid a ridiculous 10 dollars for this and tasted the fries. Hmm..No Good. I would have loved the McDonald's fries. Anyway, there were people in the group who liked the fries and finished it.

It was time to get out. Phillies won. We waited for a colleague and got out a little late only to get stuck in the traffic. We could not move the car for 15 minutes from the parking lot. Had a headache by the time we reached work. Since I knew what exactly to expect in the stadium, I should say I enjoyed the day. I reached home at the usual time and B and Nithin were not in yet.
I made some Puttu hoping to put a smile in both their faces when they walk in. It worked with Nithin, for sure!

P.S.
Check my review on Cassandra's Dream, the movie we finished watching yesterday night.

Time is valuable

This week has been so hectic and crazy not just for me, but for our whole work group. When I had to work for some days for about 12 hours, there were people around me who were putting in more. I could feel the stress creeping into me and killing me throughout the week. There was no time to eat lunch - to me, that evokes self-pity! Mornings were crazy, it was difficult to get up coz my body has not recovered from previous day's stress and dragging the kids to their respective places seemed painful and gave me guilt pangs too! Mr.Nithin has his own innovative reasons to cry for in the morning - refusing diaper change or dress change.

Yesterday evening, when my job was done and I was graciously allowed to go home, even though others were still at work, I told myself how precious the few hours in the evening are to me. To be able to spend that time with the family was a boon. B had promised N a family dinner outing and we were too tired to even move. But we always try to keep our promises to the kids, so we changed the location of the outing to something closer home and made it.

It was a nice two hours at Carabba's Italian Grill. Kids were happy and I saw B relaxed. We both had to put in additional effort to not scream/yell at the kids. As always, our hearts pounded when Nithin would not sit down and try to mess things on the table, but I have learnt to 'enjoy' the moments with the tension in the background.

Today, finally I got some time to type this up. So how have you all been? I am in a great mood to go on a trip somewhere, but work keeps me from moving out of town on weekends. I love to sit next to B when we explore new roads, making guesses on where we would end up going that route and get excited when my guesses usually turn right. I think of those on-the-way places/rest areas where we stopped to buy coffee/fries. The looks of places different from what we usually see on our daily drives - I am longing for those now!

Next month..I will have to wait for June!

And those of you who can get out and take a drive far away, please do it. It will freshen you up, I am sure! Happy Weekend!