Heaven Part-2

I've already introduced to SeaWorld - the first Heaven I visited in US. Today my parents took me to the second place I've termed as Heaven - Disneyland!

Frankly, I had no clue what Disney really meant. Mom had been chanting the name for a few weeks now, everytime we found Dad working on the weekend, Mom would prompt me to go to him and say 'Disney chalo'!

So today we reached Anaheim - the magical suburb of LA that houses all the cool theme parks on the west coast. Reaching the entrance of Disney took a long time, but once we got there, it was non-stop fun.

We went on a few rides, I got to meet three of Disney Princesses in person, ran around Tom Sawyer's iland, saw the Pirates of the Carribean show (which was my first ride ever!)... met a few other Disney characters including Goofey, Mickey and Tigger, saw the Parade on Main St. twice, and headed back home just when the Park closes at 11pm.

"Happy to you" Papa

Today we celebrated Papa's Happy to you... Mom made a wonderful pumpkin cake (with the halloween not far!), and after Dad returned from work, we went down to a nice little Italian restaurant called Villa Nova at Newport Beach. Mom had planned ahead and got us nice oceanside table. Harshita Mami was also with us, and we all surprised Dad with yet another souffle cake.

Well, Dad's B'day was only part of the fun. The real fun was - there was this really cute boy abt 8 mo. older than me sitting with his family on the next table. We started playing with each other, starting with hi-fi(s) and lots of peek-a-boo and laugther. His cheeks were so chubby, I kept pulling them!

Celebrating Diwali in a different fashion

As we were away from home, we celebrated Diwali differently.
We visited Temecula Valley – the only sweet spot in So.Cal. ideal for wineries. We visited three different wineries, and everywhere I was the only kid around.

We then drove to the Old Town of Temecula, which is still setup just the way western towns were hundreds of years back – it was very amusing!

Finally we drove back to Artesea where we went to two adjacent temples (I think one was North Indian and the other South Indian)… participated in the customary Diwali puja, and headed back home after Dinner.

Not the usual Diwali, but fun nonetheless!

Meeting Hollywood Superstars

Forget meeting, I couldn’t even see a single moviestar when we visited Hollywood today. We started by meeting one of Mom’s friends Laxmi-Priya in Torrence, then drove to Malibu where a major accident had blocked our way to the temple. We went on to Malibu beaches, and drove down on PCH to Santa Monica, before cutting across to Beverly Hills and Hollywood. After a little time on the strip and the new Kodak Theatre, we headed back to Irvine. Wish we had lesser time in the car and more outside! Well, at least we covered the usual touristy stuff!

Things I'm learning...

Today morning Dad decided to make a list of all the things I can say and do. So I put up my worst tantrums, and ignored everything he said and just ran around the house. Later in the evening he took us to B&N again and spent a lot of time with me playing and reading me stories... so I finally decided to give him what he was looking for.
I started by telling him all the parts of my body - hand, leg, fingers, thumb, toes, knee, elbow, head, nose, eyes, lips, cheek, neck, ears, teeth and hair. Then I said pointed out book, light, bhaiya, jiji.
Next I called out names of all my friends in school.
While driving I pointed out car, keys, car-seat, tree, grass, flowers, leaf, birdie, doggy, moon
Later at home I followed by pointing out all the household things - tv, chair, table, yummy, sofa, bed, shower, soap, eee (for tooth-brush), dress, shoes, sox, pant, jacket, wire.
I also made the right sounds for all the animals: bow-bow for dog, meow for cat, oink-oink for pig, tik-tik for horse, quak quak for duckie...

Now I just need to figure out everything my mom and dad talk about :-)

First week at School

School is slowly turning out to be fun. By Friday my crying time reduced to 15min after Mom left me. Everyday I first meet Ms Pinky (Mom tells me she's the Director, but I just like shouting 'Pinny'!), Ms Sam and Ms Bertha. I've made plenty friends - Tally, Ann, Logan, Sophie with whom I sit and have breakfast and snacks. I even have my own cot where I take a nap when I feel sleepy. I go out and ride the car and enjoy the slides.

First Day @ School !!!

Hola ! Today morning I was in for a big surprise when Mom and I also got ready with Dad and went down to the car with him. It was an excellent sunny day, and Dad put the top of the car down, and shot me with his camcorder while Mom brought me to the car and put me in my car seat. I didn't understand the reason behind all this fuss, till Dad stopped in front of KinderCare and took me inside. There I met a bunch of friends my age, and saw a lot of toys around. The sweet Ms. Bertha placed me on a table along with other kids and gave me some juice and yummy cheese biscuits for snacks. I just about started to enjoy my time when I noticed that Mom and Dad (who were waving at me a minute back) had vanished!

Yo! Then onwards I cried, made friends, played, slept, vomitted, cried some more - all within a couple of hours. And then suddenly out of nowhere Mom and Dad emerged from the door (again with a camcorder!)... Mom came and hugged me, and did not leave me till we reached home. Later Dad quitely told me that she missed me even more than I missed her ;-).
At home it was party time - I danced for the next half-hour while having lunch, and things look good again.

Now, if only tomorrow did not come.....

Ria finds her DreamWorld at SeaWorld!

Yesterday and todays have been extra-special for me... I've found the love of my life - Shamu! No, it's not the name of our neighbour's son (or servant - whatever!)... it's the name of the Killer Whale at Sea World at San Deigo, and I've had awesome fun seeing Shamu's amazing shows (so much so that even after the third time we watched the show, I was ready to return though Dad was thoroughly bugged by then!)

Anyways, here are a few pics from my new DreamWorld (click on the thumbnail below to view the album)

The second biggest highlight was touching and playing with dolphins... oohhh, they're so rubbery!

Rest - the penguins, seals, sea-lions, polar bears, white whales, pet show were also interesting... but I enjoyed more at the Kid's playhouse where Mom and I jumped on the army-net, ran around on bridges and came tumbling down together on slides.

I hope I'll be back at SeaWorld soon... to meet my friends and new-found love!