After a long time...

I have several posts in my draft.. Need to post them at some point..
I haven't organized it well enough to publish..but, i thought if i dont post something now, i will never get back to blogging..so doing a quick update now.

Summer break is here and as usual having a crazy schedule. But, not as much as previous years. I signed them up only in the camps near my house to avoid crazy amount of driving. So far, so good.
Only one week is going to be hectic...

We didnt go anywhere for the july 4th long weekend, since we travelled to Australia during spring break, we have pretty much used up most of our vacation days too :)

Australia trip was awesome. We went there to watch 2 quarter finals of the cricket world cup and it was an unforgettable experience for the kids. The boys also got to meet the South African team thanks to my cousin and were awestruck. Seeing ABD upclose was something they will never forget i think :)

When we went to meet my cousin, he came with Hashim Amla and received us. Amla was so down to earth and my cousin had promised to make the boys meet ABD Faf Miller and Steyn as well as they are their favorites, but we got to meet the entire team and we even saw the Srilanka players in the hotel at arm's length distance. We didnt dare talk to them though due to the tight security :)

All the SA players were super friendly and very down to earth. Both Miller and Steyn spent solid 10 minutes talking to us about us and US :) They were quite appreciative of the fact that we went all the way to Aus from US to watch world cup :)

AB was pulling Aj's legs as he was wearing CSK cap. He said next time he meets him he should be wearing RCB cap :0) Aj quietly said No and thankfully AB didnt hear him. Next Miller said the same thing..he wanted Aj to wear KXIP cap. While taking pics with them, Faf pulled aj towards him as he is CSK :) And Miller and Steyn talked quite well to Ashu. Ashu was dumbstruck when AB walked in. He froze and forgot all the questions he wanted to ask AB :)  It was quite funny.

We also went to Cairns and went on rainforest tour and it was mindblowing. I am not big into forests and stuff..i prefer beaches..but this was really an amazing experience. I was completely blown away by the depth of the forest and the different kinds of trees over there. It was like pandora in avatar :0) Only green all around....

The second day in Cairns we planned to go for the Great barrier reef tour which included scuba and snorkeling, but they cancelled it due to bad weather :( We were quite bummed, but we managed to get on a small plane and went around the reef. They took us quite low to get a good view of the reef. It was sooooo beautiful. We want to go there once again.  We next went to Sydney and visited Opera house and few other places in sydney. Sydney is where we met the SA team and then we also watched our first QF between SA and SL. We also did a group jetboat ride and it was super fun :)

Then we went to Melbourne and watched the next QF between Ind and Bangladesh. Kids were super excited. The only thing they could't do is get up close to the players and get their autographs like how they did in sydney. We were just 4 rows behind the SA dugout in sydney and Aj got autograph from many SA players again when they walked in and out :)  Miller even recognized him from the previous night and said hey i know you :)

In melbourne we didnt do a lot as we were exhausted the next day and we had just one day left and we couldnt' go to see the 12 apostles at the great ocean road. But we were really exhausted.
We went on our own by the local train to the outskirts and it was a relaxed day.
We went to a haze place. it was kinda lame for us but kids loved it :)

So that pretty much summarizes the australian trip. After the trip, aj keeps saying we should move to a cricket playing country :D

Math funny

AJ to Daddy : You test me in math. I know everything except algebra, calculus, fractions and long division.

Mom : What about Geometry?

AJ : Hahahaha!! Silly! They taught Geometry in PreK..I know all the shapes.

Ashu : ROFL :D

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Ashu : Aj, what is 100 divided by 25?

AJ : Hahaha..(Gives long laughter and calculates in mind) and then says 4...

Smart Alec! :D

Paatu class

Ashu and AJ both started their paatu class end of Sep. I though Ashu joined without any interest and just for the heck of it because i decided to enroll aj. AJ always shows interest in indian music and ashu has shown least bit interest in it. Suprisingly he sings very well. AJ sings well too for his age. They sang the new song that their teacher wrote for madhyasthayi to all 3 paatis and the paatis were all super impressed.

First two classes, ashu was really annoying me by just lipsyncing and not singing and then got into the groove. Aj is a different story! It's a 30 min drive to the paatu class and he falls asleep just before reaching the class and 50% of the class he is yawning or not paying attention, but when we come home, he sings everything right. So somewhere he does pay attention :)

Sheila...a terror :D

 

We went to a picnic arranged by the Sunday school and they played hindi hits and Sheila ki jawani was one of them. One big kid had told AJ that ' ' is a bad word. Thank God he didn't explain it any further :) I didnt know this and when i got in the car, the song was still playing in my head and i started singing it and when i started singing i am too..he screamed "STOP" that's a bad word. i was shocked and i asked him how he knew that and Ashu said some big kid told him. From that time, anytime he heard that song..he would go "OOOOHHHH Bad word"and cover his ears..Good thing he doesnt know the  meaning. LOL. My friend thought it was too cute and everytime she sees AJ she will start  My name is sheila and he would cover his ears and run away from her. She did that several times and i kept telling her that one day he's gonna call her Sheila Aunty. This happened long back..Last week, we were playing "find the song" game..where i hum a tamil song and they find it. I hummed "My name is billa"...Ashu sang the song properly and AJ sang "My name is Sheila..." in the tune of My name is Billa...ROFL!!

But Amma did it!!

I took the kids to the mall after having lunch with B for father's day. B couldn't come with us as he had some meeting regarding the new tamil school that is being started in our area. To start with, kids weren't too happy to goto the mall ..They've taken after their dad and hate shopping!! but, the purpose of the trip to the mall was to get them sandals. Right next to the shoe store was the Candy Craze!! All kinds of candies..Imagine AJ's eyes when he saw that!!

AJ: - "Mom, i am so hungry..since you didnt cook lunch can we have something to eat?"

Me and Ashu : " AJ you just had lunch at TOI"

AJ (with an ooops expression) : "Maybe you didnt give me breakfast and that's why i am hungry"

Me : AJ i gave you tamarind poha and Pasta and you raved about it

AJ : "Hmm..i am hungry, just get me something..maybe from that candy craze?"

LOL!! He tries..

 

So finally i got them a brownie from the coffee shop that was outside. He was kinda okay, still little unhappy that i didnt buy candies :) Had i taken him to the candy store that would've been like "Vengala kadaila yaanai". After coming home i told this to B and asked him to pretend he was upset  that AJ had junk food..So, B asks with a fake shock in his voice "You ate junk food?" and without missing a beat AJ says "But, amma got it for us". Epic jawdrop for me!! :P

Swimming, Camps..Summer

Kids are in different camps and have started their swimming as well. Less than 2 weeks to go for the india trip. So much to wrap up....

Kids are pretty excited about the trip. I will be working from there..first time, have to see how it goes. Mom's not doing well and i dont think she can travel anymore, so i am glad i get to go again this year....
The previous trip wasn't a fun one with Ashu falling sick the first week and mom the last week. I met more doctors and nurses than relatives/ friends i think!

My brother asked AJ if he wants to goto swimming pool at his apartment and AJ says, "Ofcourse, i know swimming now" This he said after taking just 1 class, where he was just floating with a noodle. Didnt even kick!!

Ashwin's not too happy about not being able to swim (after 2nd class!) I guess he expected to beat Phelps after 2 classes! Both their comments only remind me of the proverb that my dad used often about me and my brother :) "Rendum rendu aapai, rendum kazhanda aapai" LOL!

The first week of their holidays, they were at home with me and B working from home alternately and taking day offs. The next week they were in science center and loved their camp. It was robotics camp and AJ's first camp outside his preschool. He even got to make a mini robot and Ashu built a moving mouse and did few more projects.

Second week, ashu had a camp at his school which he loved and AJ went to his friend's sister's camp. He loved it too. Along with Akshi, he had Arthi and Nandu who he likes like his big sisters :)

Third week at Y and Ashu went for one day and AJ was sick from day 1 and hasn't been there yet! He seems to be better today and may go tomorrow. I think we owe Y some money from the previous jenmam :) This happens all the time..we pay and they dont go due to various reasons :D
Not just that..our membership money that we pay every month thinking that we will be come very responsible and goto the gym regularly... but overall mind says go, body says no!! :P We have gotten slightly better now and have started going...will get there..


Next week they will be back at the science center and this time Aj's friend kutty ashu will be there  as well :) 

Chess

I haven't posted anything in months now.But, i have lot of them in drafts..will need to post back dated. But wanted to give a quick update here..since i am planning to update this blog regularly. Once you are out of it, you are out of it. It's really difficult to get back to it. :P

Anyways, this month Ashu has been on a roll :)
1) He get outstanding certificate in tamil. We were surprised when we got the mail from his teacher. He can read and write at a very slow pace and speaks like settu payyan. But there not many kids in his class and only two kids are fluent in reading and writing, so they both got outstanding certificate. LOL! What was even funnier was when i called him to say we need to go to the temple in the evening for that, he said "Amma, stop kidding" LOL! But getting that certificate has certainly increased his interest in tamil for now :) and also AJ's :)

2) Ashu got on the window! There is this list that the maintain at his school called the window. The kids names go up in it if they make very good choices and are very well behaved. They get to have lunch with the principal and few of them even get some goodies from lucky draw. Ashu got selected this month. He obviously didnt bother to check with his teacher why he got selected. He ws just happy that he got selected and got to go for lunch with the principal. He got a t.shirt from the lucky draw too.

3) Ashu got bronze medal in school chess tournament. He didn't make it to semifinals last time and this time he beat the kids who beats him regularly and was extremely thrilled when he made it to semifinals. They gave him a very pretty looking medal that has some chess coins embossed in it, a king key chain and $5 cash prize.

4) All 4th graders wrote a book and they had the book display today for the parents. Most of them (even boys) did a great job. Loved Ashu's book and he got 100/100 on his book report :)


Ashu-ism : Today CSK lost and it is very highly unlikely for them to make it to the play offs. They now depend on other teams' performance. And Ashu came and said Tomorrow is a critical match for his soccer team and if they dont win they dont get to play on Saturday - Semis and finals. So, i said, Oh you are in a bad situation like CSK and he says..No, we are not. We dont have any teams who could help us move up. It's a true do or die situation for us :D

I will update about AJ later