Weekend at Rhode Island

Here we are, enjoying last few days of summer. We planned and planned and planned for the long weekend for months. There were many factors that were to be considered..my 7 months old was to be considered and also our choices and budget. Finally we decided on Block island. It is an actual island in Rhode Island. We started with just two families but slowly, we ended up with 6 families.

Here we are, before boarding the ferry. We took a ferry from New London, pretty close to Jaya and Ramky's house. Here are the ones who were eager to board and arrived before time.

My boys in red. We are on the ferry. Don't get deceived by their face, they actually had a good time on the ferry. They saw jellyfish and enjoyed the breeze and the splashing water. I guess the water splashed a second before the pic and hence

Here are we with Jaya Ramky and Prani.

And here are all of us, making the most noise on the ferry. Busy and happy in our own world - eating, playing and waiting to reach the coveted island for which we hadn't planned anything ;)

Jaya, our unofficial but enthusiastic photographer took me out for this pic. It was cold!!! I went there to see the milk ;) milk like foam and also to see how it felt.

This is us, ready with our hats and goggles coming out of the ferry- Watch out Block Islands - we are a bunch of noisy and carefree people.

 

This is right opposite the visitors centre. Look at the parking line. Cool na?

We went to .. I don't recall the name anymore. It is a small place just at the start of the ... It is a park. It was good. It was fun. It was scenic.

After this, we moved towards Mohegans bluff point.It had stairs. Many many stairs.We choose to skip it after a few stairs as going and coming with the baby meant a lot of trouble.

After some time, all friends who had gone down, came back up huffing.

Here is a pic clicked from the very top.

And here is the talented Prani's pic of the point. It was an awesome day to be to out. Not tooo cold and it was mostly bright. We were scared of meeting Hurricane Hermine but thankfully she didn't bother us.

We went to the light house after all this. The iced lemonade was recommended by the taxi driver. We tried it... And gelato. The light house has a history and we took a tour to find more about it. It was pretty. 

We relaxed outside the house and rested. Satu ate oranges. You know you have had a good summer when you get tanned. Look at my arm. Tanned!

We took a lot of group pics.

It was almost time to go home. We made a quick stop at the zoo. I had read that it is a must-see place. We saw many many animals.

We then ate ate and ate mexican food. It was delicious. I loved it and am going to try it again.

This is the last pic of the day. Even the camera is tired but if you zoom, you will find us.

We took the ferry back home. All were soooo tired. We tried to sleep but Satu was uncomfortable for the first few minutes and he told the whole ferry how tired he is. Thankfully, he was fine after a few minutes. We came home and slept.

The next day, we spent time at the Warwick mall shopping and then headed to the water fire. Jaya wasn't around us when we clicked this pic. :(

Anyway, the water fire was beautiful. I wish I could have gone back to it after dinner. I liked how the glow of fire brightened the whole place. Also, how lovely and warm it got. I so wish I could have spent more time there.

Anyway, we had fun! I don't know what to think of a trip from which I take a few days to recover. It was all worth it though. I know I have had a good weekend when I don't get time to watch Kapil Sharma. This time, I watched it today. Talk about a hangover! 

Picnic at Elizabeth Park

Well, I really want to finish posting.
Hence, one more post. One more happy event. One more great memory.

We picnicked at Elizabeth Park with Ramky and family. We decided to meet for brunch and have sandwiches.

I am getting close to having everything for a picnic. There are approx 3 weeks left of summer.

Here we are, enjoying the park. We had all just reached and settled.

We enjoyed the flowers ... so pretty. What a well-maintained garden! So green even in the summer. We truly enjoyed the picnic and the walk. I know, soon I will look at this pic with Jaya and miss this fantastic and comfy time with her but until then ... here we are.

This is Jaya Ramky's idea.. to be above a bed of roses. ;) Our life isn't a bed of roses but it isn't full of thorns either.

We found this pretty gazebo and rested. Looks like a cobweb. Cool and lovely. This was right in middle of the rose garden and the air would bring us the scent from the beautiful garden.

You can clearly see the fatigue on our face.

 Satu slept for sometime but got up just in time for quick snap.

We did some craziness while he slept. I love this snap. I can feel the pure joy we felt.

The picnic ended a little after lunch time. We had decided to try something different and went for Vietnamese food. We ate with chopsticks. It is easy and we loved it. I can still remember the taste

As most group pics are, this one is alive with the vibration of laughter and fun. I am feeling so grateful that I am getting chances to be out. I will revisit these memories when we hibernate during the winter. until then, we have plans to be out at least twice a month. It is so easy because of JayaRamky and fun. More to come soon. Please pray that all goes well.

Few days with Maasi

This post is going to be brief as my baby keeps me on my toes. He is very active now and.... I have very limited time to spend online. I am already late... :( but we are going out for the long weekend and I want to finish the posts before that.

Satu's maasi has been in his life before he came. She bought him gifts and clothes and what not. Even when she was in India and Satu in US, she sent regular messages and songs and voice notes. I wasn't surprised when Satu smiled at her the instant he saw her (He doesn't just smile at anyone)

Monday we went to meet Samuel Clemens and thankfully, I have already written about it. Nothing went as per plan but we made enough memories until our next meeting.

We went to the Gillette Castle State park on Tuesday. It is a beautiful place. Here is me admiring the castle.

Here are all of us. My little monkey is busy admiring the castle. :P

 We posed for pics on the bridge.

This is after we had our sandwiches and snacks. Yes, we had a lovely picnic. I am starting to love them. By the time the summer ends, I hope to have mastered it. I have already bought a plastic picnic cloth and am hoping to buy a basket soon.

After eating, we went trekking. With the baby! sigh! so difficult but so pretty. I like walking but I am really a girl when it comes to climbing or going down a slope. I feel scared that I will fall and... I was almost half way to the top when my sis clicked this for motivation.

This was it, we called it a day and came home for some kairi daal and rice. 

Wednesday is the day for group meditation. We went to have a very satisfying lunch at Mystic Pizza Most day was spent with friends and it was fun.

She had to go to Boston to be with her friends.. so we had a small trip to Mansfield hollow dam and park on thursday morning. She was busy going the long route...we chose the shorter one. This is the best snap of all. (In case it isn't clear, I was blowing bubbles.)

For this pic, I blame the photographer and also the bright and lovely day. but I also blame the photographer for coming to meet us and giving us so much of her love and memories.

I have been cribbing that she got us only a few items. No sweets, no papad, no clothes. I was soo bugged and kept cribbing but I am so glad that she came and gave us so much joy and this greedy heart is never satisfied and wants soo much more.

Hope to be with family soon.
 

Meeting Samuel Clemens...

You might or might not know of Samuel Clemens but you must have surely heard of his pen name - Mark Twain.
Even before we moved to the US, I tried to see the places around the place I was going to live. The Mark Twain house was on the top. The small writer in me or really really really wanted to go there once and... we finally got the chance.

A lego made Mark Twain greeted us at the entrance of the visitors centre.

It is amazing to see it all made of lego. Imagine the patience and skill and art and time that must have gone in making it. I was amazed to see it.

and there was a cut out of this. I had to get my picture taken. I don't make a good Mark Twain in picture or writing but there is hope. Please pray that I write the way I am supposed to write.

Though our guide called it Picturesque Gothic architecture. I found
The house to be beautiful inside and out. Here is a groupie of all of us with the house. Oh, did I mention that my sister is in town. She will be with us for a few days. Satu loves her and smiles at her often.

Photography isn't allowed inside the house but I can tell you that it is beautiful. There are over 25 rooms and the guide does a good job of taking you through it and explaining things. It is fascinating to know about Mark Twain. What is more fascinating is - Samuel Clemens. He was a simple, devoted and loving father, unlike the image he has as Mark Twain.

We enjoyed listening to stories of him, both as a father and writer. He was so disciplined. He would write after breakfast and till dinner. He wouldn't take lunch and would produce 4000 words a day. Isn't that something?

I was sad to know that the tour is only an hour long. I wanted more :(

After a satisfying lunch at Chipotle, we took a small walk in Glastonbury arcade and walked in Munsons and did this ;) My little monkey with this big one.

Our day ended with a brief visit to Elizabeth Park. Sadly, it was raining and we didn't go for a stroll as decided but I did see many pretty roses and huge sunflowers and ducks and so many pretty flowers (that I don't know the name to but that really doesn't affect their beauty)

Our day was good. Hope there are more like it.

Heartfulness Conference at NjPAC.

What a hibernation it has been! We ended up staying indoors the whole Spring and finally got out (for a very small time) to NJ for the Heartfulness Conference at NjPAC.

We left our house around 12 pm and Satyen slept till New Haven. It was going to be a good trip. Then we took a break and after he ate, he played a little and then... he kept telling us that he didn't like his car seat. Anyway, we reached the hotel. A lovely and familiar feeling welcomed us. Friends met us and the stress and tiredness of the trip was long forgotten.

The next day, 25th, Sou took care of the baby and I got to attend the group meditation. It was lovely. I felt calmer and more like what I should be. We met all the people we hadn't met in a long time and Satu met them and smiled and kept everyone charmed.

This was going to be a long day. We got together outside NJPAC and clicked a lovely heart shaped pic. I can't wait to upload it. It is in edit.

As we were leaving, one of our friends clicked this pic. Do you remember the cute girl standing on the right and lovely and thin lady in blue. We had gone to Niagara falls with them. The trip was sooo smooth because of them and few others. I wish I could click pics all the time of all the lovely people in my life.

Pranita, the sweet girl is so talented. She knows so much about raising children already. She made a lovely sign for Satyen. If you zoom, you can see it in the stroller. Sadly, it got dropped somewhere. Please let me know if you saw it anywhere.

The conference was lovely. What a crowd! You can see the live recording of the conference here

I am not a big music fan but loved the songs by Honor Finnegan. I liked the answer given by Daaji for heartfulness for busy people. (It is around 1.20 mins) I also loved his answer for dealing with children. (It is around 1.40 mins)

The jugalbandi in the end was awesome and did inspire me for personal but insightful blog post

After this and dinner, our day wasn't done. We met family and what a joy it is to meet. I am sad that I didn't click a single pic when ALL of us were together. There is a pic for old times though.

Next day wasn't really eventful.

Sou attended the morning group medi and I attended the mid morning one.
We left shortly after that with so many things to talk in the car. We learnt to take break at apt times and Satu didn't really trouble us.

The event left us with feeling so much peace and love. The next one is going to be on 23rd July. We don't know where yet. Hopefully we will attend it too.

My sister will be visiting us soon and we hope to make up for our hibernation and gather enough memories and posts for our next.