Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 6:32PM Everything is going at a snails pace... but things are alright!
The kids are growing taller.. daddy is growing balder.. all seems to be going as planned.
Sleep is daddy's new best friend!
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all part of life, kids, photoblog Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 9:56PM The last 8 days have been very interesting. First a bug that this body has never encountered so far that knocked me out the early part of last week and taught me dehydration was much more of a risk than a respiratory infection. So be thankful for H2O and drink it every chance you get!
Then an attempt to recover from the bug and act normal again only to realize that this one takes a lot of rest, sleep, water... and all for a long time planned flying visit to St. Louis, Missouri to visit my sister and her family.
We made it to St. Louis and back and really enjoyed it. Must have upset many St. Louis natives when I walked out of the airport wearing a scarf, a monkey cap and a jacket.
We had one great day for outdoor sight seeing and we covered the zoo, the Arch and the local Hindu temple. Then we spent one rainy day indoors in "The Magic House" aka the St. Louis children museum where the kids had a blast and the adults didn't have to do much except watch them smile and laugh the entire day. It was great to finally spend a few days with my sister and her family at their habitat! Think of it as the Chimps visiting Jane Goodall at her house..
Made it back today, to take a photograph with Daddy's new look.
Early last week, the doctor said my eyes were dehydrated and an eye exam was required. Turns out that I was in need of glasses for some time. The eye exam person just looked at me like "so, when exactly were you planning on getting your eyes checked?" when I told him my last eye exam to check for prescription was more than 10 years ago.
The glasses were waiting for me this evening and when I walked into the kids room wearing the glasses, the little one goes
"daddy, you don't look like a daddy anymore. You look more like a thatha (grandpa)"
and Jr. tells her "That is not a nice compliment, you know! you shouldn't say that to daddy".
Well, my five year old still has her innocence and the 8 year old already knows how not to offend my sensibilities!
They both told me they love my new look after they got used to it for a few hours...
Told them that maybe it is time to update the profile photo for the blog and they posed for me, knowing that smiling for my camera is one thing that will always make me happy.
Well, the reason for me having to be made happy?!
They are baaaaaack! We were gone for four days and the fish had to be fed a little extra and we came home to a tank full of ...
Tomorrow evening will be spent in cleaning them up, again!
Now that the respiratory thingy is gone and I am able to drive without getting headaches, should be able to visit blogger more often.
Until then....
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Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 8:21PM The whole weekend was a wash for me. Multiple packets of Theraflu on Friday, 19 hours of sleeping in a 26 hour period, a brief uptick and rush to form on Saturday night and early Sunday morning only to get down again this afternoon. . .
The body is simply lost in trying to find a safe zone. So it now up to some quality "thachi mummum" and more sleep before the week begins again.
In all of this sleeping, I missed a great birthday party the kids attended. They did makeovers for all the kids and dressed them up like "Rock Stars"..
Haven't seen them this happy to be dressed up. My daughter tried to give me a crash course on who Justin Bieber was and was upset with my IQ. She said "never mind. he sings songs and you are too old to listen to his songs anyways"
It is true that I know he is a singer because his name keeps popping up in the entertainment news and I am yet to hear him sing!
Too old?! When was I too old to hear a song?! Will listen today and see what all this hoopla is about.
Last week had put an old Scorpions CD in the Van (had been playing RIF's from Big City Nights on the guitar the previous week) and the kids were amused by me singing along. They could not understand the lyrics..
LO to Jr.: They are not singing in English jr. ! they are singing in Scorpion. That is why we are not able to understand..
Jr.: No. I think they are singing in some old English or something..
LO : Scorpion is a language by itself, right daddy?
Me : NO! they are singing in English. these are German guys singing in English with a German accent so it is slightly difficult to follow..also the guy who is singing had throat surgery.. but he sings well..
Jr.: this music is too noisy. switch it off! it is very confusing!
I was thinking "there goes my intro to rock music to the kids"..
Did take some photos of the kids after they came home today before catching some more beauty sleep.
A different generation, a different type of rock stars, with eclectic glitters instead of electric guitars!!!!
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Monday, January 3, 2011 at 12:10AM A street in downtown San Jose filled with rides and lights, two dozen mini Christmas trees decorated with everything from lights, ornaments to music CD's, twilight giving bright hues and saturated colors..
Here are a few photographs..
Did get to practice motion blur shots and pulled off one with San and the little one on a swing ride. All the ideas not tried this year or ideas that came to my head only after reviewing the photos at home will be tried at the next opportunity.
When you see a Ferris wheel after dark, one should at least take one shot with long exposure times with a high f number and a curtain flash. Try it.
Here are some HD videos..
If you live in the bay area, X-mas in the park is definitely worth an evenings visit!
Walking around is free. The rides cost you tickets. An arm band for 13 bucks gives a kid unlimited rides. However, the kid has to be at least 42 inches to ride alone. If shorter an adult has to accompany the kid.
That costs you a lot of tickets or a screaming kid... your choice!
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Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 10:36PM This is our fourth year at the annual IBM Christmas party for Children. Those of you who have been reading this blog long enough know that each year we put a caricature comparison of the kids done by the same Artist year after year..
This year is no exception!
Big Al actually remembered the kids this year! This year they have finally outgrown those same tee's they wore three years in a row. Both of them have mature faces now!
We also did the usual face painting, cookie decorating, getting balloons etc.
For the first time we attended the magic show and it was a ton of fun. Have never seen the kids this animated or happy in public in a long time. At Disney it was awe and wonder struck faces. Here is was pure glee!
Jr. gave me a nice pose. The little one erased part of her X-mas tree and was refusing to pose.. she is turning into a mini me. Cannot stay still in any place for more than a few seconds... she was just whizzing through the whole thing!
They do a really great job of decorating the place each year with a different type of tree (one year is green, one year is white, etc.) and the whole thing is extremely well organized!
We are all aware of the real Santa. Still the allure of sitting on Grandpa Claus and getting a picture is fun! The kids loved it.
If you do look at the youtube video link in this post, have tried to explain the issue on the video in the Youtube description. If you have any pointers towards the real problem or a fix, please let me know...
Another year has almost rolled by and is coming to a close. It has been a tough year that is coming to a close. Counting days at work, at home, over the phone with relatives..
Hope we count down the remaining days without any major issues!
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