Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Disneyland Summer 07












We went to Disneyland on June 18 on the first day of kids summer break. This summer since Amaey is doing well we decided to hit the jackpot and take all the vacations and family travels.
We drove to LA and spent 1 day at Disneyland and the other at California Adventures. I usually am a snob about going to Disney but this time we planned it such that no one felt burnt out and the kids were so well behaved that it was a wonderful family vacation.

The 3rd day we went to Camarillo. Our family loves the sand and sea and what better place than Camarillo. Seriously... the entire beach was to ourselves, we had a picnic basket full of goodies and lots of sand toys. The boys went walking on the beach and collected a lot of shells and rocks. Arjun, Amaey and Apurva built a beautiful sandcastle, our family tradition.

While Amaey and Apurva took a nap Arjun and I walked the beach and looked for crabs and climbed some rocks. Before we realized we had spent the entire day at the beach and were really satisfied when we hit the road to drive back home.

The most amazing thing-- Amaey jumped the waves. He went all by himself to the water and stayed there. This is unlike him because he used to cry like crazy at the sound of waves crashing the shore and would run as far as possible when the waves would come in.

Update on Amaey


Amaey started the 2007 year really well. However, towards the 2nd week of January the school started calling us to inform about a strep outbreak or potential infection lurking. There were weeks where I would drop him and bring him right back beacuse of some infection or the other. Amaey kept getting colds that he could not shake and would extend into a bad cough.
Around Febuary Amaey got really sick we had to take him to ER. Apurva stayed with him the entire night. The hospital was worried about Pneumonia so they did a lot of tests.

Finally they let him come home around 5am. It was a boderline Pneumonia infection. This is when we decided to take him out of school. We felt that the entire school going experience was being dilluted with all the illnesses and irregular dropoffs.

I signed him up for soccer, mad science, art and music. This helped him meet other children without being in a confined environment for too long. This was definitely the best thing we did for him. He flourished with all the social interaction and became independant as well and is now looking forward to Kindergarten. Yup... Amaey starts KG in September.

He has made some wonderful friends this year. He met Gabrielle at art class and they had an instant connection. They ended up in the same science and soccer class so that was really fun. He also took music with his friend Dylan and has had playdates with Peter. He sure is blessed with a big smile and a warm heart.

Amaey has also become really close to Arjun. They spend every waking hour together and it is really special to see their bond. When Amaey has his 5 day challenge Arjun gets worried and if Amaey cries alot Arjun will start crying because he feels bad.
Amaey has found a new passion for Lego thanks to his brother and he wants us to take him to LegoLand for his birthday instead of a birthday party.

He is becoming an avid listener. If you read books to him he will stay there snuggled up with you for hours. He loves ears... maybe I should say he has a fetish for ears. When he is sleepy he will start playing with his ears however he prefers Apurva's ears the best. But recently their friend Sid took a runners-up place next to Apurva and it is really cute to watch them.

Camp Okizu 07

We went to Camp Okizu again this year. We decided to go early in April which was not perfect timing weather wise - regardless we had a great time. The minute we got there the boys ran off to play with the ball game. They were really comfortable and that was great. We played sorry and chat with other familes. The night was freezing cold. We did not have enough blankets to keep us all warm and next morning it started to rain just as we were making our way to the zipline.

As we stood in line it started pouring-cold rain and we decided... what's the worst that can happen? We all had such an amazing time. Amaey did the zipline all on his own and that was quite an accomplishment. Arjun moved on to being tarzan and climbed a tree and swayed off to other trees while Apurva decided he wanted to cross trees mid air.


We decided to leave that night because it was really pouring and did not seem like it would stop the following day.

We are already looking forward to our next year at camp okizu.

Team in Training

I joined TNT on Feb 07 and trained for the half Marathon. My event was on May 6 at the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt county. It was a wonderful experience. Both Apurv and I felt that we did not have a choice in inviting ALL into our life but now that it is an integral part we might as well learn more and do whatever we can. The pictures below are from (top to bottom) 15 miles, 12 miles which was our midway madness and Arjun and Amaey gave out medals to everyone. Amaey was also the honoree of the day, 10 miles and 6 miles respectively.
































When I started the training and completed 2 miles the first 2 weeks it felt like a lost cause to try for 13 miles. However, the training was really good and the coaches and mentors and team leaders were all genuinely vested in the event. I finished my event in 3hrs and 5 mins and felt really wonderful to have the 3 boys at the finish line.














I have signed up for the next season and am planning to walk-run the Nike half Marathon on October 14 and Santa Barbara half on Nov 3. Will keep everyone posted.