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.

What a life :-)

Love this life.... would like to talk till I'm blue about the beauty of living in the moment and connecting so deeply with ourselves. We are back online after almost 2 weeks. This new house we were busy moving into.... is awesome. the space, light, hummingbirds outside and several mongoose and trees, flowers etc just make the whole place so worth the effort of moving.

Raghu and Zoya loved the house, our new front-room swing and the staircase so much that they pretty much stayed home until a day or so ago. Raghu has found a DS enthusiast downstairs who may become a friend. Zoya has yet to find someone she likes... but in the meantime she has begun to play with Raghu a lot more.

We are looking forward to our trip to the US... and a short one for Diwali to Indore.
Raghu has been counting down and Zoya keeps telling me we need to get to the airport or we'll miss the flight.

Moving!

We are moving into another apartment... meets some more needs.... and most importantly has an upstairs adn downstairs... a duplex. Raghu has been waiting for this a long time. He misses our home in the US where he stayed till he was 4 and still remembers vividly.

So not sure how connected we'll be and when our comps and other stuff will be up and easy to use. So i'm off to plan the move now. We have started clearing out junk and the various things that need to be given away. Its lovely to do a clean out.. allows old things to breathe again. Kids are being quite open to assessing which toys are truly broken and worthy of beign fixed or given away... and which clothes they still want to keep and which can be given away. Raghu is still holding onto a night-pajama that he has been wearing since he was 3!! Its soft, well-worn and is very comforting to him. I plan on keeping it in my memorabilia-box long after he looses interest in it.

My mom sweetly kept many things... books of mine, toys clothes etc... from my childhood... but she gave away my bear.... which i still feel very sad about. I had hoped i could add it to my children's soft toy collection. But still due to her ability to move house and still carry around a large box of childhood items... i felt thrilled when she passed on things to my children and my niece. Its fun to share stories about the things with the kids. My old Saucy-Jane book about a family's life in a house-boat and how i always wanted to live in one as a child etc... made it a very special book to Raghu... he dreams of living in an RV.