18 | August | 2009 | Between my littles and me

Sunday, we visited NY botanical garden along with our friend’s family. Adi had a good time all day with my friend’s two cute daughters Ila and Yash. Ila is of Adi’s age and they were classmates last year. Yash is 18 months old and she competed equally with her big sisters on everything. We packed lunch and snacks from home and had a very good time in spite of a sunny day. The big trees all around the garden were helping in a great way to evade the exposure to sun. The kids enjoyed adventure and family garden section where we spent most part of the day.

In Kids adventure section they were engaged in art work (they made a butterfly shaped paper fan) and clay work (made pink and blue flowers).They also planted a kidney bean seed and took it home to grow. Adi is watering it every day at home now.

In Family garden section we planted carrot, cucumber seeds, and watered plants. Also tasted some Chinese home made foods prepared freshly with the vegetables grown at that garden.

Overall it was a gratifying experience.

M took this chance to exhibit his recent interest (photographic skills) and here is the evidence. Hope you all like them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/aniworldblogpics/BotonicalGarden

Last Friday we had a small party at office to celebrate Independence Day. M and Adi were at home as it was holiday for her so he dropped Adi at my office in the evening.

Myself and Adi attended the party while M did weekend shopping at Shoprite. At the party we had quiz competition with 5 rounds all questions revolving around history of India. Though Adi did not know ABC’s of Quiz Competition I tried to explain her concept of Quiz and how it is held. I was not sure how much had reached her until she explained it to M. Here is the dialogue

M: So, pappa how was the party?
Adi: It was okay appa
M: What did you do?
Adi: I ate cake, chips and guess what mommy gave me some soda
M: Did you have fun? What were others doing?
Adi: They did something (she turned back to me as asked what you called that as?) yeah right they had Quiz)
M: oh nice what is Quiz? (Now I was thrilled to listen to her response)
Adi: One person will stand in front and ask questions that you won’t understand and there will be four groups. Each group has to answer one by one. If you answer correctly you will get chocolates. Mommy got me two chocolates.

Now, I can proudly pronounce that Adi learned what is QUIZ

After the party we had dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant. We tried Pad Kee Mow and Red Curry. I am a person who glues to the same known food at all times but M tries different dishes. Reluctantly I tasted the dishes and liked them. Adi had white rice with a spoon of red curry on it.

Following dinner we had a nice walk along the riverside boardwalk. On the way, Adi was forcing us to sit on a chair and for the first 5 minutes she silently watched the river and at an unexpected moment she said “It’s really nice to sit here and watch the river right mommy? Ennamo theriyuma (Eng: guess what?) I love this and I am so happy that we are sitting here as a family”

We were touched by her words and never thought she would enjoy it so much. We spent some more time there though the clock crossed 9 pm. The walk was very pleasant and the experience had triggered us think about such walks on following weekends.

What to say had a good start for the weekend.