Back from vacation....

Me to Daughter: "What did you enjoy the most in UK?"
Daughter: "Spending time with family" :).

We returned last night from our UK trip. We have family based in London, and friends all over UK....and we had an amazing time out there. I am going to miss the superb London public transport system a lot. I fell in love with it.

The trip has changed all of us. The kids loved mimicking the British accent throughout their trip. We were fortunate enough to not experience any sort of racism out there. In fact, I found the people much better (polite, respectful, well dressed, well mannered) than the US. Whether it was traveling during peak hours on the tube, or taking long distance trains, we found ourselves taken care of very well. The kids were always offered a seat, and most people volunteered to move around (without being asked) to provide adjoining seats to us.

The weather was simply beautiful throughout the month of June. We got a few showers here and there, but frankly, coming from a dry, drought-ridden California, the rains were very welcome. I couldn't get enough of the green fields and parks and forests. Again, it was in stark contrast to the browns here in California.

We didn't dine out much, but I got to explore the local markets and made a lot of meals at home. Beans on toast has become a favorite of the kids. The cheese selection in UK is outstanding. Coffee was always good (much better than US), and I loved that we always got fresh milk and brown sugar (mostly fair trade) to add to our coffee or tea. Water is also served at room temperature. These are simple things, but water with ice and sugar laden drinks are a big turn off for me in the states.

We spent an entire week on the coast in Wales. Our friend A grew up there, and he hosted us during our stay in Pembrokeshire Coastal National Park. I am sure I will write a lot more posts about our time in Wales, but in a nutshell, that place is a wonderland. It has pristine beaches, lush green mountains, an amazing coastal walking path that would take several months to explore, tidepools, rock arches, wild life, dairy farms, lambs and cows, beaches to see the sunrise as well as sunset, and so much more. And when you have someone who grew up there to take you around, you see the place through their eyes, through their experience, through the local lens - and that is the BEST way to experience it! We also met A's family - his 76 year old mum (who is adorable), his sister and her family, and their pets. The kids couldn't get enough of the beach, and we came back with loads of sea shells and a heart full of happy memories from that trip.

Brexit happened while we were there, and we also attended a memorial of an MP who was shot down during our trip.

As and when I get a chance to upload pictures, I will write more.

As of now, we are jetlagged, but very happy to be home. The kids missed their bed, their toys, the garden, and that sense of belonging in this home and town that they've been since birth!

Still the same...

I read my post from April, and realized not much has changed in the last month or so....

We got a few offers for our home, but nothing worked out. We decided not to sell our current home. We will not be moving to a new house. Things have a way of working out for themselves....and this whole process has been very educational, as well as beneficial for us. Purging, cleaning, organizing the home has been the biggest benefit so far. My credit score had taken a beating due to some issues and those issues are resolved now. We've understood the local market criteria, how to stage a home, how to get ready for showings, do open houses, and have learnt a lot about the real estate selling process these past couple months. In a way, I'm relieved I don't have to move. We like this place, and the neighborhood. We are looking forward to enjoying the summer break here!

Things at work are still somewhat stressful. There is no clear direction for our group. The management has changed, even though our project and work has not. I've lived with ambiguity before, so I have not been negatively impacted so far. But you can sense the turmoil when you enter the campus each day. Lots of folks have cancelled vacations and sabbaticals, and in general, the mood is somber. Not an environment I would choose to be in, if I had that choice right now.

Kids have been falling sick quite a bit. It has been extremely difficult to manage these times. The son is napping next to me as I type this. He has high fever, and an ear infection. He vomited his dinner last night, leading to a ton of laundry and midnight bath, as well as a sleepless night for us. 

So yeah, that's life, but if you look, you can always find happiness and joy around :).... 

The daughter had a beautiful graduation ceremony for kindergarten yesterday. She has triumphed this year in a new school, made lots of new-diverse friends, and has grown so much. As parents, we did an average job. The morning routine was always stressful, the evening homework routine was also somewhat stressful, and we could have done a lot better in managing our emotions during this time. We have learnt from this experience and hope that the next year will be much better. 

We have a vacation coming up in June - YAY!!. Tickets have been booked and some trips have been planned. We will be meeting family and friends that we haven't connected with in a long time. Our travel and break from routine is very much anticipated! 

Kids have been learning canvas painting techniques with a friend who is an excellent artist. She lives on a 5-acre farm with chickens, dogs and tortoises. She plants a huge produce garden each year, and kids have helped her this year with planting. Our weekly visits to her place are always so much fun, as well as therapeutic!

Summer is here, and the kids have been having lots of play dates, park outings (including spray parks), and attending birthday parties. Weather has been gorgeous and they are also enjoying bike rides. They've been picking up germs and getting sick too, but I would gladly take these common illnesses in lieu of the awesome outdoor fun any day!!

Here's a graduation picture and a couple of our adventurous boy to end the post....such joy on the kids' faces - more than enough to evaporate all the stress!

Park outings are such huge stress busters....

The 12000 Intel Layoffs announcement has suddenly brought on SO MUCH STRESS at work. Every single team I work with is affected. Many small sites we work with are shutting down, affecting all our colleagues working there. We don't know yet what will happen to our team (we will find out next week), but there is nothing we can do except wait for the news.

It's been a crazy difficult week, to say the least.

However, the California spring warm weather has done it's best to keep things cheerful. This is quite possibly my favorite time of the year. Our garden has so many roses, camellias, orange and peach blossoms, other springs flowers blooming. We also have blueberries starting to grow. Thanks to the abundant rainfall this year, the lawn is lush green. The hills around us are lush green. And the parks are so inviting.

Our kids are young, and thanks to both of us working full time, go to all day private schools. We have made a choice to keep them out of ALL structured activities lately. Other than school, they have nothing planned going on. This has helped keep our evenings and weekends completely open. I have loved every single minute of this open time. We make it to the park almost every single evening, and most weekends. It is pure joy to watch them race down the slide, or make sand castles in the sand pit, or chant "higher higher" on the swings, or watch them make slow but steady progress on the monkey bars. It is also absolute delight to watch them make new friends - the son doing that more easily than the daughter, but both trying, nevertheless. After every park outing, we all come home relaxed, and rejuvenated.

Yesterday was one such lovely day, and our visit to a small park closest to our house was one to cherish. The kids made a friend, Sonia, who hit off really well with them. I played tag with them, and fed them evening snacks. The husband climbed slides and raced down with them. They played in the sandpit, climbed the structures, yelled and squeaked in delight, and we came back as the sun began to set, leaving us with a breathtaking sky in the background.

What's not to love?

Here are some more pictures of our park fun....

An afternoon of calm in between stormy days....

So much is happening. And so fast.

With the help of our good friends A and K, the husband and I pushed ourselves to declutter, purge, pack and clean our entire house over the kids' spring break. We decided to put it up for sale, and it's now doing open houses, waiting for a buyer to come and put in an offer :)!

This activity took a huge toll on us, but even if we didn't want to sell, it was very much needed. We had accumulated SO much stuff over the last 7+ years, and we never really found time to purge. Our house was always clean, but we could never get it organized to our satisfaction.

Since the beginning of the year, I wanted to follow the "Less is More" principle. I am SO happy we were able to pull this effort off. Our home feels and looks amazing right now. A lot of our stuff is boxed up in the garage, and we are living with only the basic essentials since 2+ weeks. It feels.....quite.....nice!

You must be wondering if we are selling our house, where are we moving? Well, we have put a holding deposit on a brand new house within our neighborhood itself. Our move is contingent upon us selling our current home, so I'm not yet ready to announce to the world that we are moving!

My pet peeves with our current home are a small kitchen, relatively smaller yard, and the layout of the kids' rooms (which until now were never used because we still co-sleep). If we were in India, we would keep the same property, and turn it around to suit our needs. But it's more expensive here to do that. The husband and I really enjoy gardening, and would love to have our little space to grow all we could. We would plant a bunch of fruit trees, just like we did in our current backyard, and would have have a large area for kids to play ball, climb, and slide. Let's see how it all pans out...

While we were in the midst of all this, I got into a hydroplane accident in our old car on the highway. I was extremely lucky to not hit anything, or lose control of my car, and I just swiveled to the shoulder which had loose dirt on which my tires stuck. But after that incident. I felt terribly unsafe to drive that 16 year old car. It lacked many safety features that are standard today, like side airbags.

So we sold that car, and bought a new one. Selling was effortless - I had a couple interested buyers, and one of them came through in a timely manner. Buying a new car took some haggling online, but my time at the dealership was short, and sweet. However, the sell/buy of the car weighed on my mind ever since my accident, and I'm relieved it's taken care of now.

I am now going through the loan paperwork for the new house. We need to get pre-approved and be ready, even if we may not end up applying for a new loan. I am also doing my taxes so buried deep into investments, deductions, credit scores, debts, etc.

In the midst of all this, yesterday was an oasis. We made an impromptu plan to visit a friend who lives on a 5 acre property, very close to Folsom Lake. She has pet tortoises, chickens, and 3 cute doggies. She has a huge organic garden and spring is planting season around here. The kids helped her plant squash, melon, watermelon, curry leaves, and few other things. They also fed the tortoises lettuce, bananas and tomatoes. They played to their heart's content with Archie and Roxie, the 2 hyperactive doggies. My friend is going to let us babysit the dogs on the weekends, so that we can see if we can manage a pet (that the kids have been begging for) in our new house.

There is always some work going on at our friends place. She had some workers digging and laying stones in the patio, and the son enjoyed some digging along with them.

The husband and I also managed to take a short hike to the lake with our son. He rarely gets undivided attention from BOTH of us, so it was lovely. He saw a toad, and a flying fish in the lake. He stood on the side and threw stones as far as he could for several minutes. The hills and trails were lush green, the California poppies were shining bright, the lake is full with the abundant rain this year, and the spring weather was simply gorgeous during our short walk.

We had planned for a 2 hour outing at my friends place, but ended up staying until after dinner. The kids were tired but super content, and passed out in their carseats on our way back home. Here are a few pictures of our amazing day....

Sorry for the long post but it feels better to have penned my thoughts down, all at once!!!!

SUPER cleaning week....

After a week of fever, we had a relatively good weekend. Thank goodness for that. Because we had no idea what was in store for the following week.

The daughter had been complaining about an itchy scalp for several days now. Blame it on my work travel and the bout of fever with both kids, I did not pay more attention to it until the weekend. I oiled her hair, washed it, but on Monday, she still complained. So Monday night, I checked her hair and found some nits. I thought she must have just caught it from school and spent some time removing them. But on Tuesday morning, I spotted a lice (yes, the dreaded SUPER lice) in her hair while combing, and that's when I realized the problem at hand is more severe than I was imagining.

I subsequently found nits in my hair, and my son's hair, and loads of time was spent on the internet trying to figure out how to best address the issue. I decided to get rid of it the same day, and called a local lice lady who uses all natural methods - yeast spray, essential oils, and a fine nit comb, to get rid of them in a 1-hour session. She comes to your house and does it, and she agreed to visit us on Tuesday evening. So for about 3.5 hours that day, all four of us took turns with her, and participated in "Operation Lice Removal". I am happy to report that the operation was a success :)!

Once our heads were clear, we turned to disinfecting our home. Thanks to our super awesome maid, we got the floors, bathrooms, carpet and tile, toys, sofas, etc done in one visit. We changed out the sheets in all rooms, vacuumed the dining chairs, carseats and rugs, threw the combs and hair ties in the freezer, and washed the jackets and clothes worn in the last couple days in hot water and dried them in high heat. It was a mammoth task, but it had to be done, and it is done now. Phew!!

The nit comb - I bought two of them by the way - is my new best friend now. All the way until children are in high school, I'll have to follow a prevention routine to ensure we don't have to tackle this kind of a mess again.

Lice love clean hair - they don't get onto heads that are not washed for several days, or on heads that have products on them. The husband dyes his hair and he came through clean. So, it's not really a taboo or a hygiene issue if you get lice. I reported the incident to both the kids schools without any shame.

This is also a month of finances. We have taxes to file, a home refinance to consider, and investments to look at. Add to that our summer travel plans and visa procedures, we are overwhelmed.

Sometimes I feel, I have very little time, outside of my daily routine, to devote to tasks that are really important. For example, investments. I keep procrastinating, and I would love to be a bit more savvy and proactive on that front. Exercise has been another thing that has always gotten the last priority. The only thing I do for myself without compromising on a regular basis is reading.

And then I also think: I have a good amount of savings. What if I quit my full time job and found something else, part time. Something that would keep me challenged, and left me more time to do things I really love to do? Like not having kids in school all day, and spending the late afternoon with them, exercising and going for runs, learning an instrument, have more time for parents and family, travel whenever kids are on break, have a less stressful routine life where I could enjoy the cooking, and play time, and can do the chores at a leisurely pace, be able to read when I'm fully awake, vs when eyelids are half closed, and so much more.

Something has to change. How, when, what? I need to figure it out.

A moment of McQueen happiness....

Whenever I travel for work, the kids ask me to bring them back something. It's usually something very small, sometimes just a chocolate chip cookie for both, but however small the gift, it's the thought that their mommy missed them, and brought something for them, that they care about.

Until last year, I would never discuss my travel plans with them. It upset them quite a bit, knowing I would not come home from work at night. But starting this year, I tell them way in advance where I'm going.

I traveled to Arizona this week, and the son kept asking me to bring him a McQueen T-shirt. He's been asking for it since days, and I decided to order a 3-pack from Amazon before I left so that it would arrive (hurray, 2-day prime shipping) by the time I returned from Arizona.

The day I got back, I got a call from his preschool right around lunch that he had a fever, so I picked him up and brought him home. Just as I was settling him in bed for a nap, the doorbell rang, and I told him his t-shirts would have arrived. He said did u bring them from Arizona? I said I ordered them from Arizona and they came in the brown truck. To say he was delighted and thrilled to see and wear them is an understatement. He must have said "thank you mamma" zillions of times, and so many other feel good statements. He was so excited that he could not sleep until 4pm, and was wearing a huge grin on his face all afternoon long.

He's home today with me, down with fever, but you can hardly tell he's sick. He LOVES spending time with me at home, especially when his sister is in school, coz then he gets undivided attention. He's sporting another one of his McQueen T-shirts today....and he is very, very happy.

Money can't buy everything, but if a cheap $5 t-shirt can bring my sick son several days of happiness, it sure is worth it.

It's been a fever filled week, so I'm ready for the tide to turn now. The daughter had fever since Saturday, and she missed school for 2 days while I was gone. Now the son is down, and our beloved nephew is down with fever as well. On one hand, these are routine common illnesses which go away soon, so I'm really grateful for that. On the other hand though, it takes a toll on us parents when both are full time professionals, and we don't have any family to help us during such times.

Hoping for a healthy weekend....

Conversations

The daughter and I happen to have our most intense conversations during the early morning drive to school everyday.

These days, she's always bringing up death. And God. These two topics always throw me off. Unlike Sriram, who quite enjoys talking about death, I don't :(.

One day, she asks me: "what if someone loses their daddy? how would they live? then they would only have mommy, and brother, in the house, and no daddy, ever". Thank goodness she stopped there and didn't talk about our Porry (that's what my kids call their beloved daddy).

The other day: "do people come back after they die? where do they go when they die?"

And then today: "mumma, have you been in a storm? like when the sky falls down, and lightning comes? how would you save yourself from dying?"

And then, I must have told her, maybe more than once, that God is everywhere, and that God is within you. That has struck a chord in her brain.

So I constantly get questions like...."Is God in tires? Is God in stores? Is God in trees? Is God in flowers? Is God in our body, where in our body?"

Both kids are often found arguing about God as well. The younger one is mostly following what his sister says. And he isn't shy relaying that information to his friends in school. I often get questions from his preschool friends at pickup time on whether God is in their montessori jobs, or backyard slides :).

So far, I've done quite a poor job in handling these questions. But as kids are growing up, I need to be prepared for meaningful conversations around these topics.

This post has been lying in the drafts folder since a couple of weeks now, so I'm not going to drag anymore...I'm publishing it as is. That's how it's been with blogging lately - so many thoughts come up, and being spread thin + scatter brained, those thoughts don't make it here as a coherent post.