Ready To Fight

Last weekend we went to the Domain for dinner with Karen and Ava. We sat outside and watched the kids play on the armadillo and dance to the band (Ava can teach Vivian - or almost anyone for that matter - a thing or two about dancing). Things went smoothly and it was a great evening.

Except in the beginning. Apparently there was a lout on the armadillo when they first got there. He complained that the girls were taking over the play ground with their paper airplanes. And he shoved Evan when he tried to scramble up the dillo. Evan wasn't going to stand for any of that. He called the boy down and put his fists up. That's when we interrupted and later Jo explained that it wasn't a good idea to pick a fight with someone twice your size.

Life's a Beach

We love beaches. Period.

On the way back from the beach the kids posed on the Narragansett commons. Vivian, Evan and the scarecrows.

A Self-Taught Man

Here's Evan practicing his taekwondo moves on Alu's lawn. He keeps asking us when he can start classes. So you'd think he wants to learn.

One very last leg of our journey back - from Austin airport to home, the conversation went back to taekwondo.

Evan: "When can I start going to taekwondo classes?"
Us: "You are not old enough, but soon"
Vivian: "Yes Evan - you are too little"
Evan: "Vivian - can I go to your class?"
Vivian: "No - I already have an orange belt"
Evan: "Can I get a white jacket like Vivian and white pants?"
Us: "Yes"
Evan: "And a nice black belt?"
Us: "No - you will have to learn taekwondo first"
Evan: "But I already know. I can punch and kick"
Me: "Evan - its like learning to read. First you need to learn taekwondo's letters and then you can string them together"
Evan: "I'm telling you I already know taekwondo"
Us: "Who taught you taekwondo?"
Evan: "I taught myself"

Since then we have realized that Evan thinks he has learned everything by "teaching myself".  Here's another example:

Me: "Evan - what words start with a H sound?"
Evan: "Hat and Halloween"
Me: "Very good. Where did you learn that?"
Evan: "I taught that to myself"
Me: "I think your teachers at Grace Garden taught you that"
Evan: "Daddy -I'm telling you. I taught myself"
Me: "So what do Ms. Jessica and Ms. Erin do at school?"
Evan: "Nothing"

Pumpkinville

Can you imagine what five thousand glowing carved pumpkins would look like? Head over to the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at Roger Williams Park zoo in Providence to see it. Hundreds of large pumpkins are intricately carved with images like the one below. There's Kenedy and Audrey Hepburn and iconic scenes from each state and region of the country and children's cartoon characters. And there is the Laughing Tree with hundreds of glowing pumpkins covering several large trees and spooky music and fog makers that pour fog slowly and sinisterly from enormous pumpkins that are over a thousand pounds and bigger than a volkswagen. Vivian called it the pumpkin bar.

Leaving Uncle Alu's

There are many more photos and stories from the trip and I'll soon post a few more. As we were getting ready to leave I took this photo of Uncle Alu and the kids. Aunt Michelle was unfortunately in Boston that morning hard at work.

I've remarked before about how much of a homebody Evan is. Along the way on this trip at several places he asked "And after this are we going back to our white wooden house?" And we'd say "no, next we are going to blah blah..."

So it was surprising that when it was time to leave Evan made a face and wanted to stay. We told him to get in the car. He asked in a small voice "When are we coming back to Uncle Alu's?"

Thanks for a great time, Michelle & Alu.

Duffle Bag Douche Bag

When we travel, Jo usually packs a huge duffle bag with her and the kids' stuff. I get to take my own luggage. At airports I pull the duffle bag which has rollers. Evan jumps on to it and sits astride deftly and with the agility of a jockey on a racehorse. Here is a photo at Tahiti airport of the same duffle bag back from 2012. Imagine it minus Vivian and the bag lifted up at about a 50 degree angle.

When we landed in Austin I left Jo and the kids to deal with luggage and went to find the car I had parked 11 days ago. Jo had to extract three heavy pieces of luggage from a very crowded luggage carousel surrounded by rude fellow travelers. She was in no mood for Evan to jump on the duffle bag. Apparently he didn't listen well. Because when I arrived with the car I was delivered an earful. I felt I needed to deal firmly with the situation.

Apparently before I arrived Jo had categorically told Evan that he couldn't jump on the duffle bag. He had enquired if he could when Daddy had it.

Me "Evan - you can't jump on the bag when Mommy or I tell you that you can't"
Evan "Okay. But when you tell me it's okay can I ride on the bag?"
Me "Yes. But ONLY when I tell you it's okay"

Ten seconds of silence. I mentally declare Mission Accomplished.

Evan "What about when you don't say anything? Can I ride on the bag then?"

If this kid ever gets into politics he's going to make to make today's douche bags look like saints.

Throw Her Under the Bus

As we walked down the jetway at BWI on Monday to board our Southwest flight to Austin, Jo and I discussed that before we knew it Evan would be older than 5 and we would no longer be able to avail the preferential "families traveling with small children" boarding group. I commented that we should be able to pass Evan off as five for a long time. Then Jo recounted the time when we tried to do the same with Vivian somewhere (I can't remember where) and Vivian blurted out "I'm six" much to our embarrassment. Jo said "Remember when Vivian threw us under the bus?"

I laughed.

Vivian, who like Evan listens to everything Jo and I say, said "I never threw you under the bus". We explained the idiom to her with an example of her and her friend and a situation at school.

Two days later we are driving in Austin late one evening.

Vivian "Today Alena threw me under the bus". Then she explained what had happened. She had used the idiom aptly. A few moments later we stop behind a city bus at a bus stop. I tell Jo that I am waiting behind the bus because I think we need to turn right after this.

Evan "Vivian - is this the bus Alena threw you under?"
Vivian "No Evan. There was no real bus".
Evan "Oh".

A few minutes later, Vivian asked if that was a school bus or a city bus we had passed.

Evan "It is a church bus. Is this the bus Alena threw you under?"
Us "No Evan - no one threw Vivian under a bus. It's just a way to say something else"
Evan "Oh".

Today we dropped Vivian off at drum class in the evening and Jo and Evan and I drove around. I recounted to Jo that Vivian had split her lip at school earlier today when Isabella accidentally hit her with a hula loop.

Evan "Did Isabella throw Vivian under a bus?"

The poor boy firmly believes that someone threw his sister under a bus. Dangers await, lurking in dark corners of idioms.

Farm Visit

On Saturday morning after a huge breakfast of pancakes and eggs and bacon cooked by Uncle Alu we packed up and left for a long journey across the State of Rhode Island to an apple orchard that Aunt Michelle had found. We arrived there a few minuted later.

Vivian had nearly lost if when we walked under a lone apple tree three days ago at the end of the parking lot at Bear Mountain Inn in the Hudson valley. She had gazed up longingly at the apples. A day later in Amherst she wanted to pick and eat the apples on the grounds of the Eric Carle museum. So we knew this would be a winner. And it was. Both Evan and Vivian loved running up to the trees hanging low with apples and selecting just one or two from each tree before running off to another tree.

Then came the corn maze. This one was much harder than the one from the day before and we had to stick together for fear of losing someone to the maze. After that the kids fooled around with the hay and the pumpkins and I clicked away. If you are wondering what Evan has on his head - it's a blue headband he found in the maze. He refused to part with it and there's probably a little girl still wandering around that maze looking for it.

Rhode Island

"How long is it going to take  to get to Uncle Alu's ?"

The kids napped for a part of the way from Amherst to Wakefield. And asked us how long it would take for the rest of the way. Over and over again till Jo and I refused to acknowledge them. A couple of hours felt like a lifetime. But all was forgotten when Uncle Alu took the kids for rides in his lawnmower. Incidentally, I learned that people are much more obsessive about mowing their grass in places where grass grows.

Aunt Michelle organized a scavenger hunt with clues and prizes in every corner. Vivian read each one of the clue cards better than she reads any book - and Jo and I readily counted that towards her reading assignments. The kids made out with glow in the dark t-shirts, flashlights, gummy bears, stickers, and glowing flashing toys. In the photo below, you can see them running back with loot from the mailbox where one of the clues led them to.

Then we went to farm with a maze. Vivian ran the whole way and Evan gamely followed though he was more interested in picking at the corn cobs, probably a genetic trait. So imagine his excitement when he comes up to a sandbox but it's full of corn instead of sand.

There was more fun to be had - including a hay ride (Uncle Alu's first ever) and a petting zoo where a pair of beautiful chocolate brown miniature donkeys stole the show - though by this time Evan had reached his paparazzi limit.

And all that was in the first twenty four hours in Rhode Island. Even Evan hasn't mentioned his white wooden house in a day.

Amherst

Next stop on the road trip was Amherst - to visit Holden and Soren and beautiful baby Willa and of course Cara and Eric. Evan and Soren played together. Vivian and Holden are old friends. We visited the Eric Carle Museum where the kids learned to draw Mo Willems' pigeons and had a time running outside under the apple trees.

Later we went to Atkins Farms next door for lunch. At one point there were five children arrayed around Cara and a nice old lady stopped by and congratulated her on her wonderful children and asked how she managed with so many of them. In the fourth photo if you look carefully you will find five shinny young faces and Cara. We laughed as she explained that they weren't all hers. A few minutes later as we were leaving Aktins, a man made the same mistake - except he thought all five were mine! I can only conclude that the residents of Amherst are fast and loose with parental assumptions....

Bear Mountain

We spent one night at Bear Mountain Inn in the Hudson Valley. The old stone and spruce building built in 1915 is monumental as was the lack of decent service. But the beauty of the surrounding countryside more than compensated for the latter. And our room was about 5 times the size of the hotel room in the upper West side from the night before. We woke up to a brilliant fall morning and took a leisurely walk around the lake before continuing on our road trip.

Family Portrait

We rarely have family photos. Because it is hard to herd four of us together. And to get Evan to cooperate. So we are pretty darn proud of our family selfie at Central Park.

Rocking Central Park

The kids loved running around Central Park. They did cartwheels on the lawns and collected acorns and threw them into the lake. But most of all they enjoyed climbing the rocks. Vivian threw a little fit and cried when she had to climb down from a rock. Because we had to rush off to find a restroom so Evan could pee. 

After finishing Evan's business we walked down to the Bethesda Terrace. Evan found a thin twig and sat down to play with it. When I tried to get him to stand up for a photo he sad "Wait Daddy - I'm taking Kerby for a walk". Kerby, as you can tell, is Grandma's wiener dog.

Scary Monsters

We stopped for about 24 hours in New York city earlier this week. Enough time to take the kids to the Natural History museum and Central Park. On our way to the museum we stopped for cheese fries and shakes. The kids decided to make scary faces. I thought Evan succeeded admirably. Then Vivian tried. So sweet.

I jumped back in feigned fear and said that I was so scared I may have pooped in my pants. She got the sarcasm and tried again. This time she looked like a freaky Japanese horror creature.

Kidpreneurs

Vicky arrived in Chestertown armed with these things called Rainbow Looms. Jo and I didn't know what they were. Very quickly we found out that they may as well be crack for 6-year old girls. Vivian and Lily buried their noses in sacks of rubber bands for hours. They made 23 bracelets of various colors and shapes and are ready to sell them for a buck or two each. Since 2012, over a million of the kits have been sold for about $15 a piece. The inventor is a Malaysian born Chinese immigrant from Michigan who used to be an engineer at Nissan. Little girls all over the country are making their parents buy the kits and then creating and selling the bracelets. New York Times called them "kidpreneurs".

Vivian also wanted to sell a picture she drew. She took it with her to the Chestertown farmers market. She didn't sell it but she did manage to hustle a lady selling flowers into giving her some flowers for free. Then she came back and got some more for Lily. While Anna and Evan launched themselves repeatedly into the fountain in the town square.

Girl Friends

Jo's friend was inducted into the Washington College athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Saturday night - the raison d'etre for the reunion in Chestertown. Everyone had a memorable weekend. The ladies, their partners, and the kids. Because we all basked in the warmth of their friendship that goes back more than a decade and a half.

Boys and men are simple. We have buddies. We hang out. Vivian's friendships are already more complicated than mine. I hope she finds loving life long friends like her mama did.

Fall Break

The most civilized thing about Vivian's school is that it has a Fall Break. On Friday morning we boarded the early morning flight to Baltimore. Jo and Evan snoozed while Vivian and I witnessed a brilliant sunrise. After lunch at the Annapolis Whole Foods, we spent the next hour waiting at the Bay Bridge toll plaza. East coasters have very low expectations in these matters. Then we drove through beautiful rain drenched farms of the Chesapeake eastern seashore to arrive at the farmhouse where we were to stay for the weekend.

After unpacking we drove to C-Town Liquors. I bought the most expensive bottle of wine for myself - a 1.5 liter bottle of Australian Syrah for $14.99. And I got a six pack of cider for Jo. Jo's college friends arrived that evening. Evan and Vivian met their old friends - Anna and Lily - and played into the wee hours while their parents created large quantities of recyclable bottles. Finally, exhausted or drunk, everyone stumbled into bed.

The kids woke us up at the crack of dawn and we went for a nature walk down through the fields to the boat house at the end of the property. You could hear the duck hunters popping their guns like fireworks.

Vicky: "That's the sounds of hunters shooting ducks."
Evan: "No - that's the garbage truck."

That's my sheltered city boy.

Lily and Vivian filled their journals with pictures of wondrous things they spotted. Snails and acorns and brilliant fall asters. Anna and Evan played with sticks. Little Owen gamely kept up.  And we soon forgot how tired and awful we felt. Yea for parenthood!

Pumpkin Palooza

The Grace Garden playground is converted into a pumpkin wonderland this time of the year. When we picked Evan up the other day he walked back in and posed amongst the pumpkins. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Brown Boy

I don't know if the teachers gave the kids their templates or if Evan selected it himself. But can you guess which one is Evan's self portrait?

Mira

It's that time of year again. Kids are asked what they want to grow up and be. So Vivian wants to be a cocinera because "my dad cooks dinner for us every evening and that's what I want to do", while her friends want to be doctors and astronauts and pilots.  This is what she took to school for her presentation. Because we were going to out of town, her teachers taped her presentation one day earlier and played it on the big screen TV in class the next day so she could be there in spirit with her mates.

This was incidentally also Vivian's first speaking experience in spanish. Here's a short two second segment. It's also on youtube here if you can't see it below http://youtu.be/BFftnj7UCTE

Homework

For a first grader Vivian has shit loads of homework. And she isn't alone. Eleanor, her neighbor across the street who goes to a different school seems to have even more. It surprises me. On the other hand, once Vivian got into the flow of things, it only takes her about half an hour each evening - which isn't too bad.

Evan used to get bored out of his gourd and bug the crap out of us while Vivian did her homework. But about a week ago I discovered a workbook that Jo had bought a few months ago and Evan and I sat and did his "homework". He loves to do his homework now. Yesterday Jo said "Evan - why don't you watch a cartoon?". "No, mommy - can I do my homework instead?"

Here they are - both doing their home works after dinner tonight.  And there's a puzzle we did on Saturday instead of doing homework. Thanks, Jeanne and Simran for dropping off a box full of puzzles.

Birthday

I celebrated my birthday afternoon on Sunday by taking Vivian to Pump It Up - a jumpy castle place - for a birthday party for Vivian's friend. Nine squealing girls. Two hours. Enclosed spaces. Happy birthday. They turned off the lights and turned on UV lights and really bad 80's disco music. Vivian had a blast.

Leak

Some time back we noticed a spot on the bathroom ceiling. As it doesn't rain here for months at a time, it wasn't until a few weeks ago that the spot turned into a crack with a tiny stream of brown water after a rare shower. Darn flat roof sprang a leak. Jo and I had liked the idea of an upstairs balcony and during the Big Remodel nine years ago we put one in over the bathroom - which necessitated said flat roof.

I called my insurance agent who sent a handyman to give me an estimate. Turned out to be a dud. So today Gunaraj and I started on it ourselves. We took down four huge epay beams and sawed the steel gazebo structure so we could remove the corner post that seems to be the source of the problem. Tomorrow the roofer comes to take a look. Looks like there's extensive internal damage. Big project ahead. But great weather to be outside.

Evan stayed home today because he had a slight fever yesterday. He deftly supervised our work.

Green Card

Yesterday we got two letters from US Citizenship and Immigration Services - one for me and one addressed to my dad. Jo opened mine and said that it sounded like my dad was getting close to his green card. I opened the other, and it said "...It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to permanent resident status to the United States of America...."

When my dad left Hyderabad for Austin last September, he had about two years left on his US visa but his Indian passport was due to expire in six months. After procrastinating till it finally did expire, I had to fill in prodigious amounts of paperwork and then with the aid of very helpful staff at the Indian consulate in Houston he got a new passport (normally temporary visitors from India are expected to renew their passports in India). Then with the help of a young Pakistani-born immigration attorney I started the process of applying for his green card. The attorney mentioned that the lack of a birth certificate (they didn't hand them out in India when my dad was born) would hamper the process. She suggested that I get an affidavit from an older relative who had witnessed or was knowledgeable about my dad's birth. I told her that wouldn't be possible as my dad was the oldest living person in his family. More paperwork and a trip back to the Indian consulate in Houston.

Looks like it all worked out even though it wasn't useful in the end. Oh - and that's a photo of my dad and mom on Alu's motorbike from the early 1980's.