4th of July Fireworks in COVID times

We wrapped up the BIL's family visit with an entire day at Great America theme park which finally ended with some amazing fireworks..

Given all the walking San had done to that point, she was now on a cast and in a wheelchair. So that was interesting in itself. Great America is not designed to be friendly for people who have casts but the kids who manned the rides did their best to accomodate. They gave a list of rides that were safe for her and we took her only on those rides. San was actually smiling most of the time she was being wheeled around.. the irony of the situation was also making me laugh every now and then!

Great America is a poor mans Disney.. and you get to see that the poor man who visits this park is at least 3 sizes larger than the average person visiting Disney. 4 of 5 people you cross are walking with a struggle, are obese and in general show poor health just by looking at them. We saw many rides go down because the rides got stuck or people got stuck in the seats and had to be retrived. That apart, we went on a handful of rides which were in general safe and were not going to get stuck. BIL, me and Jr. spent one hour on a line when they shut it down and sent us back. We still put on a smile and went about the rest of the day.

The place is beautiful with all the fountains and floral arrangements.. 

The smile from the kids made up for all the standing in lines and josting for space with the wheelchair.

While Jr., the little one and BIL made it through some of the risky rides, the rest of us split up and did different things. My MIL and me went on the rotating tower and got a birds eye view of silicon valley. My old office is right behind this part and my new office was also visible. 

the day ended with fireworks. We got great shots on an iPhone with the right setting.. 

A few shots of the fireworks in a slide show.. Most of them were taken on an iPhone

 

and a video of the highlights of this day trip.

We had a great time the entire day, except for the exit out of the park. The design of the exit and the procedure leaves a sour taste.. Everyone was trying to exit the park after fireworks. There were no traffic cops to get any order. It was a free for all towards the exit after being in a gridlock for 1 hour. Finally we made it out and home closer to 11:30 PM when the fireworks had ended at 9PM and we had sat in our car at 9:15! It is a 15 minute ride back home on a normal night! If there is one thing they could fix immediately, it is the directing of vehicles out of the park.

Our hope is that we eventually make it to Disney with the kids(?! at heart) soon, once the delta variant makes its exit. Till then, we will always have memories of this Great America trip, when it comes to roller coasters, fireworks and parking lot exits! 

Moneys worth for a local day well spent!

When life gives you a rollercoaster, go for a ride!

Probably not the most original or thoughtful title for a post... but hey, it is one of those days!

The morning started off with dropping San's uncle at the airport. From there we went for a Christmas party at IBM. It was a copy of the party we attended last year. We had as much fun as last year if not more!

There were ballons, caricatures, photos with Santa, face painting, cookie decorating, nice music in the background, clown, did I say balloons?

There were many Caricature artists, but we found the same guy who did the drawings for the kids last year and waited for him in line. Now we get to see the kids face change, as seen by the eyes of the caricature dude, aka Big Al.

We came home and found missed calls from my brother and sister and a message to "call India when you get a chance". Today being my birthday based on the Tamizh Calendar, guessed that they had just tried to wish me on my birthday, saw that it was past midnight in India, hit the delete button on the machine and dozed off for a full two hours in the afternoon.

Woke up, worked, and was on the phone with a colleague when an India call announced that my dad had suffered a heart attack and was in ICU. How were we to know the sense of urgency with a "call back when you can?". Apparently things were hectic there and they did not know what to tell me and also did not want me to worry!!

Went through the quick cycle of anger, denial, feeling of general impotentence, guilt, anger ,denial.. etc. etc. The standard feeling which many a son/daughter settled in a different far away land has felt before me, something that many more sons and daughters will feel in the future, where they wish the Star Trek Transporter should be a household appliance.

We had advance booked tickets to go see the latest SRK movie, and after talking to my mom decided to actually go to the movie. In a weird way, the act of going to the movie kind of made me realize the pointlessness of being here and wishing for some magic wand to wave over time and space.

The latest is that my dad is weak after the angiogram and will need an angioplasty in the next few days. The angiogram itself has left him weakened is what we are told and he is now under medication. Funny thing is they did not detect a massive attack for 48 hours. They took X-Rays when he complained of back and knee pain and told him it was the strain of lifting objects! Only after he complains of pain in his chest does he get an ECG.

Jr. and the little one know daddy is worried, but cannot understand why. They are trying to cheer daddy up or worse case provide enough distraction. We are back to our laptops and life goes on.

My mother gave me a profound thought earlier today which was resonated by San's cousin. When my mom wished that I was also there in India and how my brother is going through a very difficult time juggling work, hospital, etc. etc., my immediate thought was "why dont you guys come here? I can take care of you if you come here"

The simple response was "You live abroad for 15 years and have difficulties everytime you come here for 15 days. I have lived here for 65 years!!! Not easy for me to come there and adapt at this age!".

Somthing to think about. Lots of questions, no answers.

At the end of the day, have to thank god for this day where

got to talk to family
got to see the kids smile
got to hear that my dad is getting better

so will leave you all with these pictures :

Clown!

Balloons..

Balloons galore

Posing for caricature with Big Al

Posing with Rosa..

The caricatures (compare them to last year).

The little one all focussed in decorating a cookie!

Finally, the photo op with Santa.

There we have it!

Some day this was...

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