. Firstly, thanks to the kind soul who sat next to my mom in the flight to Dubai from Zurich 2 weeks back. As if sitting quietly next to my mom was nt a punishment by itself, you confessed to her that you read my blog as well. I understand how much my mom would ve talked if you asked her if she was "boosbabytalks mother" in less than two minutes! My sympathies. And thank you for letting her use your phone to call me from Dubai. Now I can tell Hd confidently that my bog is at least worth an international phone call! :) And please email me when you can. I don't think I can trust my moms memory and write to the email id she gave me because the last time I did something like that, some stranger got to read about my churidar kurta measurements!!!
. Ashu is leading a busy life with weekend ski lessons, play dates, parties, etc... and school of course! ;) Its her ski break this week and her father promptly signed her up for ice skating classes almost every day of this week.
At this rate, he might also put her in a bicycle class to learn cycling! (No! That was nt a suggestion, Hd!) She is in the one hour group ski classes for kids on weekends. Go 15 minutes before the ski class, pay and learn! (kootathoda govinda dhaan!) Shes having fun and after 4 weekends, shes able to walk with her skis on! We sledge for a while after her ski class is over and thats my kinda fun. Though Antu is her grumpiest best in snow! (Thats Ashu with her friend in the picture.). Antu did nt look for my mom after she left like I thought she would. When asked where paati is, she answered that shes gone. ("paati oorukku!") Who asked her to grow up?
We went to a friends place for dinner a few days back. Their 5 year old son, as a rule, does nt like babies. Though he played well with Ashu, he was nt nice at all to Antu. Within an hour of being in their house, Antu came and told me, "anna naanaa. vaasalla ponum" (the boy no-no. wanna go out) and was all set to go wear her shoes and leave! Hd and I could nt believe our ears! That a nineteen month old could understand that she was nt wanted and could vocalize her feelings so well. Sigh! Wish I could too.. Out of the blue, I decided to do the C25K thingummy inspired by a friend. Did nt want to announce here and jinx it. But now that I am in my 5th week of the programme, I can safely say that I ll stick to it. Though my fitness level has been average, my running has always been pathetic. I could nt run for 2 mins straight. C25K seemed to be the right beginning to rectify that and I'm also enjoying it. Now I ve a plan when I hit the gym. Hope it improves my fitness because running down a slope trying to catch a wayward sledge in the snow is no joke, I tell ya. Especially when the resident 4 year old is sitting on the said sledge!
. I cant get over the song "Dil to bacha hai ji". I just cant. This song has been in repeat for the past one week in this household and its driving Hd crazy. I go to sleep listening to this song, I run on the treadmill to this song on repeat, I cook, play with the kids, read,... with this song in the background. Its playing right now too. Is nt it a fantastic song?
. Ashu and I have been doing lots of finger painting stuff thanks to Shruti of mindfull meanderings and her artsy craftsy contest. Since I dont ve a creative bone in my body, I show that page to Ashu and we do whatever work she chooses! So far, the caterpillar, the hand tree, the flowers and the thumb print cards are the most repeated projects.. Watched Three Idiots. It was on okay movie. Did nt understand all the hype though. Aamir Khan annoyed me for the first time.
. Read The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Was a good read. I dont know why but when a best seller(especially Indian writing in English) is about the poor people, it bothers me in so many levels. I ll leave it at that.
. Reading Thillana Mohanambal. Finished the thalahaani size part 1 and onto attack part 2 now. Amazing read. Too bad that I cant wipe out Sivaji and Padminis faces while reading though. Though no movie ever justifies the book and this one especially is such a long novel that no way they could squeeze everything in the movie, the book is a must read even if you ve watched the movie. Just for the Vaithi character. Its hilariously written and Nageshs Vaithi character in the movie is not even 10% of the book character.
tulips let alone buying them for me. Since the friend was also walking with us, I could nt even say some choice words to the man. But after spending a good half hour in the market and were about to leave, I took Hd aside and asked him, "does nt it occur to you to buy a big bunch when im not looking and surprise me with them? I would ve totally done something like that if your friend was nt here, you know?" And then just shook my head, rolled my eyes and walked away to another shop to look at some souvenirs. Two minutes passed and whaddayaknow! A dozen blood red Tulips were blocking my vision and the hand holding them was Hds. I let out a shriek and hugged him. The friend went, "awww. how romantic" and I did nt care to correct him! To this day, whenever I see Tulips, it brings a smile to my lips. I'm so glad I asked. And I'm very, very glad that he listened.
Three weeks in the US just flew by. Like always, social life there is more hectic than here thanks to my sisters huge circle of friends who are almost like family to us now. Not to mention the huge range of restaurants, much to Hds delight. Since it was Antus first trip to the US, for the first time 
Now about Hawaii. Where do I begin? It was the best vacation ever. Just perfect in every way. Since Sis and Bil planned the whole thing, I did nt know anything except that "we are going to Hawaii" until I landed there. Add to that that only Sis and Bil were registered drivers for the rental car, so we were literally chauffeur driven everywhere! :D Now tell me, who gets this lucky? Only me, for sure! :) I also did nt hesitate to pull the SAHM card every time I could and left both the kids either with HD or my mom! So who got to do the Diamond Head Crater hike in Oahu and go on a submarine in Kona and go snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay? Me. Me. Me.
We landed in Honolulu with the usual Lei welcome. Stayed in the 25th floor of Aston with a fantastic view from our room. Checked out the Waikiki beach and the girls had a blast. Then lazed at the hotel pool some more. The next day, we went to the beach again and in the afternoon, leaving the girls with Hd, we 4 did the Diamond Head Crater hike. Though its supposed to be a moderate hike and takes 30 mins to reach the top, it was like climbing Mt Everest for me. My moms fitness level was better than mine and only the thought of my girls made me not fall from the cliff and kill myself! That night we caught a Hula dance performance at the beach. It was really beautiful though the men sure wished for some coconut shells instead of a top on the hula dancer! ;) The next day we took a plane to Big Island.
We landed in Kona mid morning. Picked up our rental car and drove to our condo. It was fantastic. The vast ocean was just out there from our balcony and we could nt wait to get out. Seeing Big Island, we sure felt we wasted our time in Honolulu. While Big Island still looks pure and untouched, Oahu is slowly becoming a concrete jungle. We got some lunch, looked at the gorgeous sunset from our balcony and called it a night. The next day after breakfast, mom, sis, Ashu and I went on the Atlantis submarine. While the whole experience of going in a submarine is very thrilling, we did nt see that many fish nor was the reef that beautiful. I got sea sick to boot. Ashu (and my mom!) enjoyed the whole thing though. We all went to Hapuna beach later. It was the most awesome beach ever. I ve not seen such soft sand before anywhere. Antu was covered from head to toe with sand. Ashu was like a little monkey hanging from her Perippa or Appa in the ocean. Sis and I nicely sunned at the beach. 
breathe through the mouth and not the nose, I was fine. It was a surreal experience to swim with the fish. The reef was beautiful and even a reef shark was kind enough to make a blink and miss appearance! After an hour, we got back to the raft, ate lunch which was included with the package and got back to the harbor with a heavy heart. It was pool and jacuzzi time once we got back to our condo! 
photographing them like crazy! I almost felt like one of them is going to look at us and go "duuuuude" like the turtle in Finding Nemo! We reached the Volcano park in the afternoon. Hd immediately started wheezing coz of his breathing problems! One can actually feel the difference in the air and the strong smell of sulphur. Thankfully, he had the inhaler handy. We went for a drive and checked out the steam vents, the view of the Kilauea Iki crater, the lava tubes,... We went only on the short hikes. Walking inside the lava tubes was scary to the say the least. Hd stayed back with Antu while we all checked out the sulphur bank trail. Later, we checked out the Kahuna and Rainbow waterfalls before leaving back for Kona.
ke crazy so that I don't have to buy a thing in this expensive Swiss for the rest of the year. If you saw a woman shrieking, "its so cheap" at Target,, "is this also one dollar" at the dollar store and "is this denim skirt really for 3 bucks" at Kohls, theres a good chance that it was me! Dragging Ashu who wanted to live in the US forever and Antu who was stuck to my Bil like a leech and me who hated to come back to the freezer
. She has seen him on TV, read a few books with him in it. She went to see Sami Claus (Swiss Santa) with her class last week. So that's about it. Since I have never believed that Santa is real when I was a kid, it was nt such a shocker to me. But later thinking about it, I wondered how she knew. So I asked her tonight just before bed. Here goes...
Antu is a very avid observer these days. I think she ll be doing all the above by the time shes two! God save me! Her sister is her everything and shes goes "akka akka akka" for everything. Oh, and Dora. She loves the dora figurines, stuffed toy, cushion, books,... "doya doya doya"...
We went to the transport museum in Lucerne the other weekend. The kids had an absolutely great time. Ashu watched her 2nd Imax movie. This time - African adventure. Her attention span is still short. Even for a 50 min movie! It was a 3D movie too and my mom and I were blown away by the documentary. Fantastic. The museum had both outdoors and indoors fun and the day was pleasant thankfully. Ashu and I raced with the scooters and rode bikes. Spent a good five hours there. The place is huge.
When we were in Geneva, we were walking across a bridge. Antu stopped to hold the rails and watch the lake. The gap was a little wide and I pulled Antu back. Ashu gasped and asked ,"what will happen if she falls down, amma?". "Well, she ll drown, thats what will happen. I cant swim so I ve shout for help", I told her and tried to change the topic. After a few seconds of silence, Ashu told me "I know a little bit of swimming, Amma. But I cant swim in this big lake" and held Antus hand very tight and walked the rest of the way. I guess, thats the good news.
