A Growing Girl

Tish's sister, Shawn had flown to Michigan for some training, and Tish went there for a couple of days. Here are some pictures.

My baby is growing up

The Gundersons

The two sissies. I mean sisters.

Priya with Auntie Shawn

Priya with Great Grandma MJ

Priya with Grandma Kathie

Chocolate bandit; Biking; Water baby II

So now that Priya has found mobility on two feet, she is able to do all kinds of cool things. Like get to the fridge, open the right drawer, and pull out a huge slab of chocolate. Unrepentant little tyke!
We had a good time today riding our bikes. We both got Schwinns for Mothers Day and Fathers Day respectively.


Here is a classic example of a cheap fun thing that isn't all that cheap. We got this nice inflatable pool for a little over 20 bucks. Great deal! Priya loves it, as can be seen. But to get a decent air compressor to blow this baby up in less than a week was 50 bucks. So much for the great deal. Still, this promises to be hours of fun.

Anniversary, Zoo, Water baby

This past weekend was our anniversary. Six years. Wow - time flies. That's probably the most repeated thing ever said. Saturday evening we went for dinner at Cafe Borgia. For the morning, we decided to take a family trip to the zoo. Some pictures to now follow.

Tish was a beautiful bride

The groom wasn't bad looking either

It was blazing hot - but Priya refuses to wear a hat

Giraffes -Papa's favorite

Pachyderms

The most fun Priya had all day was playing in this stream

I'm ready to go home - it's still too hot

Homo erectus

Priya is starting to walk, but finds that since crawling still takes her to her desired destination faster, she dives for the ground after 5 or 6 steps. I was recently assured that a vast majority of the human population is indeed bipedal, so I shouldn't be too concerned.

Christy reading to Priya in German

We remember when Priya's head barely reached the top of the seat

Vlad versus Priory of Sion

These days I'm in the middle of reading "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova. It came around the same time as Da Vinci Code, but didn't get anywhere close to the same press or acclaim. The Historian is the story of Vlad the Impaler - also known as Dracula. The book is written in the form of historical fiction, where history is interwoven with fiction. So far, it's been a great read. I know I'm really getting into the book when I dream about it at night. Not very pleasant dreams, but nothing too scary. My own review of the Da Vinci code wasn't very good. The book is poorly written, and if it didn't have a shocker as a central premise, it would be no better than most pulp novels that hit the shelves this time of the year.

This reminds me of the granddaddy of all historical fiction. I don't know how many of you out there have read any of the books by Lloyd C. Douglas. His two most famous books were The Robe (made into the movie) and The Big Fisherman (on the life of Peter). I remember being very young when I read them, and they were fascinating. I would thoroughly recommend a stop by at the local library to pick up a copy.

No pictures of Priya here. Things have been so busy that we haven't clicked off any. She is coming along fine. An update soon.

Hindi - haan ya na?

There must be something about being a non-native that makes people ask if you're going to teach your kids your language. It's not just recently. I've gotten this question from the time I moved here.

I don't know if there is an easy answer to this one. To start out with, I don't have a natural knack of languages. Every Indian kid with a high school education knows two languages - English, and one other. That makes us a nation of talented linguists... Mmm... Maybe not. There are many households in India where the primary language of the house is English - complete with a funny accent, and bad pronunciation. I've had two years of formal Hindi, and 12+ years of English. Starting to get the picture?

So I'm not sure how it's gonna go with Priya. I'm sure she's going to pick things up along the way. But I haven't made a conscious decision yet to make sure I always talk to her in Hindi. Also I don't know how much difference it makes that I'm not with Priya all day.

Hey David, is Connor speaking Afrikaans yet? :-)

Nice to be back

It's nice to be back home. All-in-all it wasn't a bad trip. The days were so packed, that they went by quickly. Starting with breakfast at 7:30 in the morning, to finally getting back at 11:00 at night after dinner - it was non-stop. Saturday was a little laid back. I went to Wurzburg to do a little shopping. It was a cloudy and rainy day, but not too bad. One of the most ridiculous things I saw was shopping at a store equivalent of a Target, and seeing the prices of toddler shoes. The lowest price was €48, about $60. How ridiculous is that? The irony of the whole thing was that people who can drop that kind of money on kids shoes don't usually shop in stores with shoes laid out in racks. Unless the Europeans are a complete breed apart. Well... take a look at this picture. One can't even kill oneself without being reminded of it...

I'm happy for the long weekend coming up. Time to kick back and maybe start a new season of 24.

Guten Tag from Germany

Even though I should be in bed, I wanted to make at least one post while I was here. The trip is going pretty good. My jet lag wasn't bad at all. In fact, I think this was the best adjustment ever. The key was a reminder Tish gave me - take some ear plugs. Those were a life-saver on the airplane. I haven't slept that good while coming over.

My presentation went very well this morning. Lots of kudos. It was also nice to catch with people I haven't seen in a few years. Of course, I can't wait to get back home.

Ok. Now for some quick pictures.

Downtown Lohr. It has all the charm of a small town in Europe.

Tish and I stood on this exact spot three years ago.

Hiking through the Black Forest to get to dinner.

Dinner on Tuesday night.

A typical European hotel room - small and sparse.

Hmm... Why does an Aldi in Germany look exactly like the one in US?

Aaargh... more presentations to pay attention to...

A week separation

Priya's sitting here on my lap as I write this. She got a little bit early today which didn't help me too much. But at least we got to wish Tish a happy Mummy's Day before she left for work. I won't be seeing her again till I come back from my trip to Germany. I will be gone for a week. In the meantime, the girls are going to Michigan. This will be a tough week for me. I have never been away from Priya this long. And now that she's on the verge of walking, the Harry Chapin song comes to mind - she "learned to walk while I was away."

I'm not sure if my hotel has high-speed or not. If not, then I will be gone for a week. If it does, then I may post something during the week.

Birthday party number 3

One year old, and Priya had her third birthday party today. I don't think we can keep this pace every year. It was a nice and small gathering of friends. Here are some pictures from the day.