Food, Fun, Frolic, Fast cars, Fresh air, Friendly times with friends and cousins, Free spaces to play etc

That title pretty much describes what we've been enjoying for the past few weeks.
Outside of the Unschooling festival in ABQ and the couple of days in Santa Fe......... We've hung out and lived with cousins and friends here in NJ. Raghu has tasted his fill of Dunkin Donuts... he looks starved when he speaks of Dunkin Donuts and then eats only one usually... and then gets a repeat craving in a couple of days. He has been enjoying some of the store-bought-hummous varieties and has been devouring Mozzarella, grilled chicken, mexican food, lots of cinnamonny things etc. Zoya has been on a steady run of M&Ms, Dark Chocolate, Wheat toast with butter, her usual milk-drink, small seedless oranges, grapes, tons of snap peas, rice and chapatis and bananas.

We've driven around thanks to the car i got from Ravi's cousin, who is in CA for the week for work. Today kids and i did shopping... silly things... ginger bread house kit, light sabers, DS kits, princess doll for Z and a kit with Disney music, ziplock bags, little gifts for folks back home, vanilla flavoured coffee for my sister, little toys for my 4 year old niece, and other things. Fabulous rainy day... so we spent it indoors and had a lovely day. Z got a hot-oink balloon, Raghu got lego kits and finally at the end when we all were beginning to get snappy... some lovely soup and chicken at home with the nephews and cousins.

Raghu has been figuring out things in a different way lately. And so have I. Seems to me i'm goign to do the best i can for us all in India... but sooner or later moving back here is what i think will happen.

A dear friend took us in for 2 days and gave us a lovely time. She made sour dough bread and soups and packed picnic lunches and took us to beautiful parks that she and her son and me and Raghu used to go to back when we lived here... and the kids were very young. It was a fab trip down memory lane for us and the kids enjoyed their time at playgrounds and in the new house too.

My cousins have been treating us to a lovely time. Helping us plan things, generous in sharing their home as home-base, their car too etc. The nephews and R and Z have been enjoying some Wii and other gaming stuff.

Raghu and Zoya have been to many playgrounds now and have been displaying cool skills.... i miss this in India. In India you need to be in school if you are young and want play-areas and open-space options.

more soon. please chk out Sandra's photo add-ons at: http://monkeyplatterfestival.blogspot.com/

Monkey Platter Festival Awesomeness

From Santa Fe, where we are visiting for a couple of days:

The Monkey Platter Festival, Albuquerque, ended on Thursday. We will be back at Sandra's home for some Rangoli and a few more activities tomorrow and then flyout to NJ on MOnday.

We are all so wired during the day and then so tired at night... hence no blog posts by me yet. But a ton will come poring out the second i get back to NJ... i hope. Meanwhile Sandra has updated the Monkey Platter Festival blog with TONS and TONS of photos. Please check it out here: http://monkeyplatterfestival.blogspot.com/

This has been the most awesome experience ever. Raghu and Zoya love Sandra's home. Sandra has made us so comfortable, has given so freely of her time. Her husband, Keith and her children, Marty and Holly have been sweet, generous with their things, time and home. They have all been such wonderful hosts. Our trip has given me a better perspective on unschooling, an unschooling home, the nature of things to come as our kids grow etc.

Some of the folks we got to meet besides Sandra and her family (minus her oldest Kirby... working in Austin) are Bethany and Ethan, Rachel, Zane, Caleb, Greta and Carmen, Beth and Emma, John, Robyn, Saja (pronounced Seyjaa) and Cade, Susan and Dan, Theresa, Sylvia and her boys... sorry did not get to meet them, Lee Stranahan and family, and a few more... i will post a full list and the chidlren's ages too soon.
More to come. Meanwhile enjoy the pics....

Some pics finally

This last photo is of Ravi and the kids sleeping at 6 in the evening (their bodies are still on India time which would be 11ish). Then they woke up had lovely pita pocket dinners (filled with grilled Haloumi cheese, Homous and Salad) created by Chef Rishi and promptly went back to bed. We have all been waking up at 5 am.

Because our health has improved we decided to move into the hotel in London this evening. Ravi is at work today and will meet us at the hotel. This morning the kids and I had a lovely 2 hour walk around the local Headington streets. We visited a playground attached to a park that was divine. I mean it was glorious, crystal clear air, clean, full of autumn leaves, had old but sturdy playground equipment.... just wonderful. Kids were off and running and had a good time. We got snacks from a Waitrose (a supermarket chain) that sells ready, easy to eat foods... lots of yum soups etc.

We still have coughs but the sunshine and clear air was nice after being cooped up inside hospitals, airports, planes and homes for the last few days.

Update on health and festival

We are better... still with colds and coughs... but Z, the one who was sickest, is better and eating and sleeping without coughing! At present we'll be lucky to make it into London at all this week. Ventured out with the family though today to pick up sock-slippers, heavy-duty lip-balm tubes and a non-hairy-doll (no soft toys for Z for a while if it can be helped said the Doc... so we thought a new doll might distract her) at the Cormarket Street here in Oxford. Made it a snappy, happy trip. Dh and Dd are still in siesta mode. We seem to be getting better as a family today :-) Yahooooooo

Here is a link to another page on Sandra's site that gives a break down of the 3 days festival: http://sandradodd.com/festival/

We made it to London!

We are all sick and down enough that packing involved throwing everything i thought we'd need into a few suitcases. Zoya was sick enough that to the last half hour before our 2 am flight... we did not know if we'd decide to get on board. She has a racking cough that has left her exhausted and very low on energy. She is now beginning to recoup.... we hope and think so. We start planning our week tomorrow after confirming that another trip to the Doc is not required.

Excited to have started the trip but worried that we are all in varying stages of illness. We are currently with Ravi's cousin, Priya, and her husband, Rishi, in their lovely little apartment in Headington, Oxford. Love seeing fall colors after so long. Raghu went and got a real mozzarella sandwich right away. Priya had read my blog this week and went and got feta, tomatoes etc in case Raghu was still in the mood. And Rishi brought cinnamon toast crunch, Raghu's fave cereal, and oranges and strawberries for Zoya. We have settled in and created a center piece with our giant collection of supplements and medicines on their coffee table. Just had a lovely dinner... a fab chicken dish created by Rishi. We are full of good food, enjoyed warm baths, time and stress-free space to relax, and are trying to get our energy back up.

Going to bed now and cuddling up with kids. Focusing on health and joy for tomorrow.

Surprise, Nana!

In the midst of a crazy evening... while caring for Zoya's ear-infection, packing, making lists and getting the kids dinner.... I decided to make myself a chopped tomato, ground pepper and feta cheese salad and pour myself a glass of red wine. I needed to sit and chill. So i did.

A while later when Z was napping (its night but she is in nap mode) Ravi came home from work looking tired. Raghu who until this point had been playing his DS for several hours jumped up and said he was making a surprise for Nana (Ravi). So Ravi went and changed and came back down and closed his eyes.

Raghu, with no help from me, had chopped a tomato, ground some pepper over the pieces and had crumbled feta into the mix. He then found the wine and poured Ravi a glass. He asked me to re-cork it. Ravi was, needless to say, thrilled and enjoyed the snack. He wanted me to write about it on the blog. So here it is.

My rough evening became smooth and I could see beyond the chaos. And I think Ravi felt less tired instantly :-)

Traveling and Festival

Ravi, kids and I are all off this Friday on our 5 week holiday (holiday for kids and me, mostly work for Ravi) to London and then NYC. We are so excited. Raghu and I want to eat freshly baked bagels soon as we can. Raghu wants to taste scones and have high tea. He thinks 'kippers' is a good name for a breakfast item. I've never tasted them... but he look geared to taste all kinds of new foods.

Please see here for the latest news on the Monkey Platter Festival. http://monkeyplatterfestival.blogspot.com/ Sandra plans on some sword-slashing-of-gallon-bottles filled with water besides talks, museum fun, cooking-demos etc!! We are so looking forward to this! We will also be meeting friends adn family who live in NJ/NYC after almost 2.5 years.

We had a lovely Diwali family gathering in Indore at Ravi's sister's home. Diwali here in India is lots of firecrackers, food, firecrackers, food.... you get the picture. Lots of presents exchanged. Raghu and cousins had gun fights, DS-multi-play and did lots of Rangoli designs. More on all this when i get around to loading photos from the road.