Started AJ on the gym bus last week. It is a "Gym on wheels" program where they have the complete setup done in a bus for tumbling classes. Wanted to start him in the beginning of May, but i forgot..Better late than never. I wish i had a camera or atleast my mobile in my hand when AJ entered the bus. He was beaming with pride and was soooo happy.
Ashu is pretty excited these days because
1) No homework
2) They keep having all these fun stuff towards the end of school year - like the Water play, Mega party where they have inflatables and schedule time for each class to play, Fun day, kickball tournament etc. I have to say something about the kickball tournament here. Ashu said he wants one of us to come and watch the match as he was sooo excited about it, so i managed to go on time (actually a little late and the match was halfway thro) and i didnt understand a thing. The match was over and i didnt even know which team won because both teams were excited. I went to ashu and he said they lost!! :-O Anyways, he was still excited about the fun he had and that's what is important!
3) Couple of more days and he gets to be the full time AVK! :D
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Our trip to Singara Chennai :)
Every time i go to chennai, i get butterflies in the stomach now. Probably because i can never see my appa in the airport anymore :( I get this mixed feeling..it is exciting to visit chennai, but it is sad that appa is not part of the trip anymore for me :-( AJ talks so much now and he is reading and writing..and what not! Appa would've enjoyed him thouroughly and would've bragged about him to all his friends like how he used to about the other grandchildren.
Chennai rocks inspite of the heat. It was extremely cold in london..so the chennai heat was unbearable! It was a speed breaker for me. I had planned so much and i couldn't do 1/2 of it. I guess i was over ambitious too. Anyways, whatever i did, i enjoyed that and so did the kids and i think B too. B didnt go out much, thanks to IPL!! But, that was probably the best part of the trip for him. My bro, B and Ashu went to the stadium to watch one of the matches. Great experience for Ashu. He was raving about it. I saved the tickets for him as a souvenier, but i cant remember where i put it :( He got a flag and zhu zhu ( i dont know how to spell it) inflatable thingy too. He saved those as souveniers and thankfully radhika had packed them for him :)
The day we landed we had Janani's bday party. It was fun, inspite of the jetlag. Was glad Ashu and AJ mingled with Jan and Gau's friends and had fun. I thought they will be shy. What was i drinking?! The next day was Pondugal at appu mama's house. All my cousins from mom's side were there and ashu and aj were uncontrollable. They had lots of fun and did not even check whether i was there or not. Later that day i went to buy saree for Vinod's wedding with mom, UR mami and Manoj and due to traffic and all i came back only after 2.5 hours and as soon as i entered mama started scolding me saying that i took too much time and the kids were troubling..and i got so scared. He was only kidding and everyone started laughing. He said both of them didnt ask for me even once. What loving children!! :D Later in the night, around 12 AJ went to Vinod and asked him to take him to the park!! Konjam over-a illai?
Next day, after ashu and aj went with appu mama for few rounds in scooter, we went to inlaws place. I went by auto as i had to take a suitcase with me and mama came beside me in scooter with the kids. They loved it. The whole day AJ kept asking for appu mama and his scooter :) Reminded me of the times when appa would come every single day of my stay there just to take ashu for a round :-(
Next day Srinithi came and the kids were having fun. Sri was little shy at first but started talking to me after a while. :) The 'Tom and Jerry'-ness has reduced between AJ and Sri, i think :-) But, Gau and AJ are the new T&J i think!! Jan and AJ were ore konjals :) Ashu and Sri were as usual Guru sishyai type and Ashu and Jan were as usual book pals. After couple of days we went to the mandapam and had a great time with all the uncles, aunts, cousins etc. My dad's side uncles and aunts came too and couple of my cousins came too. It was so great to meet all of them. The only downside was the heat...but that didnt stop the fun. After the wedding, the trip got hectic as we had to meet several people, friends..family etc and then start and wrap up the shopping as soon as we could and pack!! Another cousin visited us with his family. I had a good time with them, especially the kids. They are all grown up now..Made me feel old (Did i say that?!) Ok, they made me feel older than before...
After the wedding, we managed to goto the beach twice. Once on Saturday, as soon as we left the mandapam we went to appu mama's house and then we went shopping and had dinner at a punjabi dhaba. After that we returned home (mom's place), but on the way we decided to go for a drive on the beach road, but once we hit the road me, my sil and the kids started nagging my brother and B to stop there and went to the beach, got wet and had tons of fun. We literally had to drag aj back home. He was screaming that he wants to go back!! We had icecream and left the beach. And we went again on the day before we left chennai. B didnt come this time as he was busy with packing and i was at mom's place. I went with brother's family and cousins. It was lot of fun. All uncles had come to send me off too, but they stayed athome and didnt join us. After we returned we had dinner and were all chatting till 2 in the night. Me and the kids left around 8.30 in the morning to inlaws place. wrapped up the packing and had lunch and we all left to the airport. amma joined us in the airport. This time we had booked tickets thro' delhi. non stop flight from delhi to chicago. Flight was quite convenient, but delhi airport sucked. Too much waiting and lots of inconveniences...Dont know if it was just our luck or if it is that way usually. Ashu started crying in the flight that he wants to stay in chennai for longer time :-( Me too Me too..didn't cry this time as mom came with me,but i miss chennai and everyone in chennai though :-( I asked AJ if he misses chennai and he said NO, but after couple of days he said, come let's go to mama's house and then to the beach. It is nice when you dont know the distance/time concept yet..
Sunday, May 2, 2010
London
This is Ashu's (and our) second visit to London and Aj's first. We didnt visit all the hot places this time as we visited most of them last time. Also, we were dead tired with all the hectic schedule before the trip and B still had to attend calls from there couple of days.
Day1 : We visited the london eye, westminister, big ben etc. There was a surprise for the kdis when we came out of london eye. Mickey and Pooh were there right outside the london eye. AJ screamed disney land and went running to them. Got some pictures and then there was a carousel too. We went in that too. It was like going to a mini magic kingdom :) Day 1 was not that cold..but from day 2...BRRRRR! That kinda dampened our spirits.
Day 2: We tried to goto windsor castle but by the time we reached there it was closed, so we were content with some winter shopping. they had nice stuff at very reasonable price (atleast that's what we thought! :)) next day was my birthday, and the previous evening, appu (my niece) gave me the gift as she couldn't hold till tuesday :D She gave me a beautiful touching card and a perfume. Loved it :) Sil was disappointed that she gave it earlier, but i told her it was my birthday already in india and we had a good laugh :)
Day 3 : We finally managed to goto windsor castle and it was beautiful. It was huge. B and kids got me a crown (show piece) as a gift. i guess to signify i;m the queen mom (my mii name in wii :)) I lost my D&G sunglasses inside the castle. i was bummed because of the senti value (plus it was quite expensive..GRR) Next time you go there, you might find it next to the sword of Sultan of Tipu ;-) I enjoyed seeing all the royal stuff inside the castle. We had tea nearby and returned home for a surprise. Myy bil and sil had got me a cake and sil made the yummiest carrot halwa and hot crispy vadas which was like heaven as it was sooo damn cold outside! BRR! The cake was absolutely yummy too. Creamy - just like the ones we get in india. Had a wonderful birthday this year and to make it more wonderful, I did lot of shopping in london before, on and after my birthday and i'm pretty sure that B has decided to celebrate all my future birthdays only in u.s. :D
Day 4: We didnt go anywhere. We just did some shopping. Bil took ashu and appu to a kids place called Snake and Ladder. AJ was so bored to be stuck with us in the mall. Ananya too. They both started fighting for a while to keep them busy and entertained. As usual, me and sil took the naatamai role and did some panchayathu. After all the shopping, we went to starbucks and had some hotchocolate and stuff. Ajay got sparkling water and did abhishekam on me!! It was my mistake i didnt see 'sparkling' in the bottle and got it for him thinking it was plain water. We returned home in double decker bus and i was quite happy about that.
Day 5: We went to the Tassaud's. It was fun. I dont think the kids enjoyed though. Me and my sil enjoyed the most, posing with tom cruise and brad pitt and even our Sallu :P The goof up of the day was B forgot the camera in the car..so i had to use the camcorder to take pics and the pics suck because of the poor lighting inside and no flash in the camcorder. I think just for this, i will make B take me to the one in NY so i can get a good pic with Brad pitt;-) Actually, i like George clooney better, but realized that i didnt take any pic with him after coming home. So, that's due too.
Day 6 : We left london and AJ was quite bummed that bil's family didnt come with us. I got new sunglasses in the airport as another birthday gift :) This year birthday was a riot for me :D
Kids had so much fun in london. AJ was stuck to Appu and kept fighting with ananya. Ashu and Appu got into arguments once in a while but all 3 of them were playing non stop. Poor ananya figured out she was too small to be included in that gang and decided to stay with us :)
After coming here, everyone kept saying that i should've gone to Picadilly Circus and did shopping in Oxfort street. I dont know why people dont suggest anything before the trip!! Maybe B tipped them to be quiet?! Next trip, my first stop will be Oxford street and if we have any money left with us, then we will goto Picadilly circus and the rest of the places :)
Next post will be about Singara chennai :)
Day1 : We visited the london eye, westminister, big ben etc. There was a surprise for the kdis when we came out of london eye. Mickey and Pooh were there right outside the london eye. AJ screamed disney land and went running to them. Got some pictures and then there was a carousel too. We went in that too. It was like going to a mini magic kingdom :) Day 1 was not that cold..but from day 2...BRRRRR! That kinda dampened our spirits.
Day 2: We tried to goto windsor castle but by the time we reached there it was closed, so we were content with some winter shopping. they had nice stuff at very reasonable price (atleast that's what we thought! :)) next day was my birthday, and the previous evening, appu (my niece) gave me the gift as she couldn't hold till tuesday :D She gave me a beautiful touching card and a perfume. Loved it :) Sil was disappointed that she gave it earlier, but i told her it was my birthday already in india and we had a good laugh :)
Day 3 : We finally managed to goto windsor castle and it was beautiful. It was huge. B and kids got me a crown (show piece) as a gift. i guess to signify i;m the queen mom (my mii name in wii :)) I lost my D&G sunglasses inside the castle. i was bummed because of the senti value (plus it was quite expensive..GRR) Next time you go there, you might find it next to the sword of Sultan of Tipu ;-) I enjoyed seeing all the royal stuff inside the castle. We had tea nearby and returned home for a surprise. Myy bil and sil had got me a cake and sil made the yummiest carrot halwa and hot crispy vadas which was like heaven as it was sooo damn cold outside! BRR! The cake was absolutely yummy too. Creamy - just like the ones we get in india. Had a wonderful birthday this year and to make it more wonderful, I did lot of shopping in london before, on and after my birthday and i'm pretty sure that B has decided to celebrate all my future birthdays only in u.s. :D
Day 4: We didnt go anywhere. We just did some shopping. Bil took ashu and appu to a kids place called Snake and Ladder. AJ was so bored to be stuck with us in the mall. Ananya too. They both started fighting for a while to keep them busy and entertained. As usual, me and sil took the naatamai role and did some panchayathu. After all the shopping, we went to starbucks and had some hotchocolate and stuff. Ajay got sparkling water and did abhishekam on me!! It was my mistake i didnt see 'sparkling' in the bottle and got it for him thinking it was plain water. We returned home in double decker bus and i was quite happy about that.
Day 5: We went to the Tassaud's. It was fun. I dont think the kids enjoyed though. Me and my sil enjoyed the most, posing with tom cruise and brad pitt and even our Sallu :P The goof up of the day was B forgot the camera in the car..so i had to use the camcorder to take pics and the pics suck because of the poor lighting inside and no flash in the camcorder. I think just for this, i will make B take me to the one in NY so i can get a good pic with Brad pitt;-) Actually, i like George clooney better, but realized that i didnt take any pic with him after coming home. So, that's due too.
Day 6 : We left london and AJ was quite bummed that bil's family didnt come with us. I got new sunglasses in the airport as another birthday gift :) This year birthday was a riot for me :D
Kids had so much fun in london. AJ was stuck to Appu and kept fighting with ananya. Ashu and Appu got into arguments once in a while but all 3 of them were playing non stop. Poor ananya figured out she was too small to be included in that gang and decided to stay with us :)
After coming here, everyone kept saying that i should've gone to Picadilly Circus and did shopping in Oxfort street. I dont know why people dont suggest anything before the trip!! Maybe B tipped them to be quiet?! Next trip, my first stop will be Oxford street and if we have any money left with us, then we will goto Picadilly circus and the rest of the places :)
Next post will be about Singara chennai :)
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