New pictures of Fauna

Florida has enough native plant and animal vegetation to fill albums..

We got a glimpse of some local and imported animals thanks to the Disney conservation effort at the Animal Kingdom.

Even got to go on a safari through their jungles and plains. It was amazing!

Here are some pictures. 

and my favorite so far..

 

More to come..

Dr. Seuss

The best area in Universal Studios was the Dr. Seuss circle. 

It was thoroughly enjoyed by the kids and adults. Even my parents who have never read any of the Dr. Seuss books became big fans after seeing the amazing world of creatures he created!

Started working on photos mainly because the rest of the family has got a gun to my head to get some samples out!

Will be creating a different folder in the picture gallery for this trip. . . 

Here are the early "samples". 

 

Unlike a Jackie Chan movie trailer where the trailer has the best shots, there are a lot of photographs which are much better than these ones.. 

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A long trip..

The traveling Narayanan's visited Florida between 4th and 10th July. It was a bold and risky move taking three older people with health conditions and two little kids with only two able folks handling the other five through air travel, theme parks and adventures!

The good news is that we had our ups and downs but overall we had a great time and made it back in one piece. It has taken a few days to get back to the old routine and get settled...

There are 1600+ pictures out of which at least 250 hold promise and that means a lot of photo and video editing over the next few weeks whenever time and Sangeetha permit the process!

On tuesday we had got up at 6AM Florida time and reached here at 1 in the morning, which was 4AM florida time. That was one 22 hour day for everyone. So we came in, threw the suitcases in the living room floor and hit the bed and it was lights out for everyone in a few minutes. The next day Sangeetha had told me that she had a very important meeting and had to leave at 8 AM.

I was still getting visions of going in various rides and was a little dizzy and tired. So at 3AM, in the middle of a dream, I wake up thinking we are in a boat and the ride has ended and we have to get out.

The fact that the home exercise machine that used to be at our bedside was sold a day before we left on the trip and yours truly has not yet got used to the empty space and the green light from the smoke alarm on one side and the red light from the TV monitor on the other side made the dream realistic..

Frantically shook Sangeetha and said "we are the only ones left on the ride.. everyone has left. get down"

Sangeetha :We are in our bed. Go back to sleep

Me : We are on a boat. look, it is floating. we have to get out. I can't get out on this side. you have to step down from that side.

Sangeetha : (fully awake and totally pissed off by now) Ok. That's it. This is our bedroom, you are on our bed, that is our bathroom and I am go there right now. So wake up, go to the bathroom and let me sleep!

After following her out of the boat (er.. bed) and realizing that she was indeed right, apologized and went back to sleep.

When driving to work it was so weird. I kept looking to the passenger side and behind the van so frequently to check on non existant passengers! Six days of going everywhere on a 7 seater van loaded with 7 people and suddenly driving an empty van gave me a lonely feeling.

Now the dreams of the rides are not recurring but there are tons of happy memories from the six day trip.

That was just a sample of how wild things were..

More to come!

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Birds and bunnies

Was in Austin again this week. So that explains the little ones usual rant on my business trips. She asked me "You have so many people working for you. Why can't someone else go to Austin instead of you?"

She has all the makings of a fine manager in the future!

This time I went only once to the Austin Downtown Yoga place. These guys crack me up everytime I visit. Last time it was the "Happy hump day" .. 

This time we are about to do the Standing bow pulling pose and when there are new students in the class the teacher usually goes over the grip by saying

Take your right hand and put your palm out and imagine you have money on the hand. Say "Mama give me money" and then without bending your hand move your leg up and grab your ankle with the outstretched hand!

Austin is a republican stronghold. Guess what the teacher asked the class to repeat at the beginning of the pose?

Obama give me money! 

I thought it was hilarious. 

Made it back thursday and so far no sickness. My previous two Austin trips ended up with me getting sick on my way back. Not this time. 

Was back in the hot room this morning in San Jose. It is a beautiful day outside and to pass some quiet time in the afternoon, sat in the van with the windows open in our driveway to try and capture this one hummingbird that was consistantly seen drinking from the Jacaranda tree in our front yard. 

After sitting in the van and enjoying the breeze for an hour caught the bird on camera. 

As an added bonus, out jumped a bunny from the bushes and posed for me up close! Now we really have a bunny invasion in Cupertino. Going to call animal control today!

It is still great out there and we plan to spend the rest of the evening outdoors..

Love summer!

Cherry picking

We spent the afternoon at Brentwood, approximately 15 miles from Livermore picking cherries off the trees. The kids had a blast as we went with their classmates.

It was difficult to find a place that was open and it was more difficult to find parking and we got stuck in the return home traffic on 580 and 680 to San Jose... but, there is always a but..

It was great watching the kids go crazy with the picking, sampling, becoming instant experts on fruit ripeness metrology and watching them compare notes on cherry softness, color etc. It was hilarious!

The weekend has now come to a close and it is back to work and school tomorrow with two of six folks in the house still sniffling with a cold. In retrospect, it was a wise move not traveling far this weekend.

The parents who have extreme diet restrictions as well as movement restrictions have successfully made it from Cupertino to Great Mall and back and have topped the record with the Brentwood trip.

Next step, 2 hour trip somewhere.. fast.. so we can get ready for 4th of July!

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