Cousin bonding

My 21 months old nephew is coming to our house since yesterday ... and its interesting to see how toddlers bond. My 2 year old who once could care less about her cousin's presence has suddenly started to bond with him. Their games / conversations are interesting.

She calls out "Hi S" the moment he steps into our house .... and the little fella responds with "P .. P.." calling out her name. My 6 year old then gives him a tight hug and he is only too pleased to be cuddled. Then starts their "Game" of running around the house scream some war zone cries at the top of their lungs.

The way this game is initiated is simple ... one of the toddlers screams out the high pitch cry and starts running ... turns back after 8-10 steps and looks at the other. Signal enough for the other to join the fun.

I as much as I see the little ones bond, I so wish my 6 year old had a similar play date as well :)

Bicycle

I learnt to bicycle when I was 10 ... the same year I started cycling to school. The school route went through some busy streets ... but I managed just fine. I rode my bike to every single class I attended be it music or dance. I event went to different corners of the city to participate in various competitions on my bike and thoroughly enjoyed the independence.

My daughter has been biking since she turned 3 (with training wheels) and 4, with out training wheels. That was quite an early start, we thought. (parents's pride)

But I don't see many kids biking to school or other classes here in the US. I understand there is a lot of traffic here and the speed of the automobiles is quite high ...

But is that the reasons for fewer kids biking to school or it is more parent's not approving biking for other reasons ???

My daughter is going to be 6 in 2 days, and I do not plan to send her biking to school atleast the next 2 years.

Card games

Ispit - as it is called in our household, is one family entertainer for the adults.

Kids under the age of 20 are not allowed to participate .... and most kids in the family seem to have mastered the skill even before they start playing, just by observing. (me included)

Cards is not played in our house for money ... its for fun .... "Nirmal Anand ke liye Khelte hain".

We play lots of games

* 250 points Rummy

* Best of 7 (limited to 7 games)

* 28

* Hearts

* Oh hell (*not sure about the origin of the name*) ... sometimes called Justice

* 26

* Donkey

* Set

Of these the last 3 days has seen us playing Oh hell, 26 , Best of 7 and Rummy .... It had been almost 2 years since I played cards ... I was pleasantly surprised to find out no degradation in my expertise :)

Candies

We celebrated our second daughter's birthday in May. The theme for the party was "Candies". We planned hard to have everything in alignment to the theme.

* Made candies in different / shapes and sizes for decoration

* Made a Candyland game (blocks) for the guests

* Made a Cookie house

* Made giant Lollypops and gumballs

* Made Giant Ice cream cones

* Made candy Table center pieces

* Return gifts to ladies - Raisin candies wrapped in glass bottle

* Return gifts to kids - Books (this could very well have been candies ... but the prize as part of Candyland game was candy)

The food was catered. Menu was Nav Ratan Korma, Baingan Bhartha, Naan, Veggie Biryani, Raitha, Veg Pakora, Curd rice. We had special items planned for the kids ... like pop corn, Peanut butter / Jelly Sandwich, Cone ice creams (3 flavors).

The only hitch was end was May still proved chilly and windy. Our efforts would have been fruitful had it been a warm sunny day ... but alas. But the birthday girl had a blast ... and to me that was the most satisfactory part.

Some of the candies we had mimicked were:

* Ferrero Rocher

* Ghirardelli

* Nestle

* Hershey's

* Lindt

* Eclair

* Crunch

* Rocky Mountain

* Skittle

* Chocolate Orange

* Mounds

* Almond Joy

The guests were asked to list down the candies they saw around and point out any spelling mistakes :) It was fun watching teenager / pre-teens out do their parents :)

Parents are here ....

Daddy and amma came to our house June 23rd ... wednesday. It has been such a relief for the past few days. My daughter's school closed for summer break on June 10th. Since then hubby and I took turns to stay home with the kids.

My parents landed around 1:00pm on 23rd and my girls instantly bonded with them. Even my otherwise shy younger one gelled quite well with them.

Its been two weeks since their arrival and we have already made a trip to LA ... looking forward to spending an exciting summer with them.

LA Trip

Recent trip to LA was a last minute decision... but turned out just great.We left early saturday morning to reach Hollywood around 1:30pm. Universal Studios was alive with people walking all around as expected :) Each ride came with a wait time ... the longer the wait time better the ride. Studio tour had the longest wait time of 60 minutes where we sweated ourselves in the hot sun despite the cooling fan arrangements made. Dad loved the tour... especially the KingKong / Dinosaur episode of the tour.

We took turns to take care of my little one ... and covered most of the rides. We wrapped up our visit by 9:15 and drove to our hotel. Reached there by around 10:00pm ... ate our packed food and called it a day.

Next morning woke up at ease and were ready to tackle the Disneyland by 10:00am. We enjoyed most of the rides there ... my dad who usually avoids rides, braved most rides much to my surprise. The kids were enthralled by atmosphere that they hardly noticed their hunger. (yes ... food ... especially vegetarian food is a big challenge) They loved Mickey, Minnie, Donald .. Princess and all the other disney characters. Small Wonder was the most favoured ride. We exit the park around 8:00pm and headed straight to Udupi. And boy... were we glad !! The food was delicious ... our daughters who require some eating requests, were more than eager to gobble the food :) Oh yes .. we watched the July 4th fireworks from the restaurant.

Next morning we bid bye to LA around 10:30am and headed straight to the Bay area. With some breaks in between for lunch and rest and with traffic we reached Bay area around 5:30pm.

Nice vacation indeed ! Much needed break from mundane life ..

Movies watches lately

Naanu Nanna Kanasu - 4 star

Wake up Sid - 3 star

3 Idiots - 3.5 star

Avatar - 2 star

Rajneeti - 2.5 star

Pyar Impossible - 1 star ( did not ... rather could not complete it)

Don (SRK) - 3 star

Singh is Kingg - 3 star

Athiti Kab Jaoge - 3 star

ps: Lately is past 6 months :) only Naanu Nanna Kanasu was watched in theatre :)