We went to the tenth annual International Pillow Fight Day last Saturday, armed with pillows, and putting to use our expert pillow fighting skills. It was a lot of fun! You would think that in a place like New York City, where…
6 Reasons to Celebrate Thanksgiving At Disneyland
It’s been just about a year since I confessed to being quite ambivalent about the idea of celebrating Thanksgiving at Disneyland — sans Masala Turkey and the boisterous Charaipotra and Bhambri clans. This time last year, I was seven months…
Photo Friday: Gino and Carlo in San Francisco!
Ayyy, look who it is everyone, Gino and Carlo! One of our favorite neighborhoods in San Francisco is North Beach. Many people flock to this area enticed by its nightlife, with its bars and Italian restaurants – a natural fit…
Plotting Puerto Rico — And Tips for Planning a Family Vacation
Since the beginning of September, Kavya’s had the whole house practicing Spanish as she does her dual-language Pre-K program. She’s picked up a remarkable amount in a short month — and she’s definitely faster at it than her mama, who took Spanish for five years in school and still can barely get by. So we decided it was time for some immersion.
We had a few specific criteria: not too far away (read: cheap tickets!), not too expensive (read: cheap tickets), yummy food, warm weather, and a Spanish-speaking culture that’s fun to explore. A beach and old school architecture? Bonus! With that wish list in place, it quickly became clear that we had one really solid option: Puerto Rico. And we wouldn’t even need our passports!
Papa in the City: Slinging it to Coney Island!
August. First day of my classes. Kavya still has three days before her summer ends. It’s ten in the morning. Kavya welcomes me home dressed in her bathing suit. “Papa, the bulb in the corridor is confused,” she says, a…
Sona and Shaiyar Survive (and Thrive!) On Their Solo Trip Cross Country
It’s funny how different things go the second time around. When we first flew with Kavya, who was all of three-months-old at the time, I fretted for days. Planes are death boxes. They’re filled with germs. People get annoyed with…
Baby Moon in Atlantic City . . . With Our Baby, Of Course. . .
When I drove down to our flat in Jersey City to rescue Sona from the clutches of the winter storm, she came wobbling outside towards the car. In one hand, she was holding her laptop case. Clutched in her right hand was a swimming costume, large enough to cover her belly. Outside, the snow was starting to quickly fall, making the swimming costume seem as ridiculous as bringing along a surfboard, or a bottle of sunscreen. But winter storm or no winter storm, with just a month to go before baby#2 is born, we were determined to go on our babymoon in Atlantic City. With our baby in tow.
Kiboshing Greece: How Having Kids Changes Travel
In 2009, about two years after our big India adventure, Navdeep and I had settled into a groove. We were both busy with work — him teaching English and creative writing at local universities, and I freelancing for places like…
Jet Lag is Stupid And Other Helpful Advice When Traveling With A Little Human
We took Kavya on her first visit to California when she was a little over three months old, to Hawaii when she was under 2, and she’s always adapted to the local time pretty quickly. She sees sunlight and is down…
Denying Disney: Why I Resisted Our Turkey Day Trip
I don’t mean to be Scrooge. Really, I don’t. But the timing was never right for me on Disney. Not then. Not now. When Meena, Tarun and I were young, we’d beg to go. Dopey the Dwarf was my favorite…
Foto Friday: Lucy, the Elephant’s Bum Everyone!
Over the summer, we were driving up to Atlantic City one weekend to go hang out at the beach and eat some epic Pho when Kavya started talking about bottoms. I don’t know what they’re teaching her at this daycare…
Cocoa Loco, Or: The Hunt for Hot Chocolate at Revel in Atlantic City
“Mama, can I have some hot cocoa?” Bleary-eyed but happy, Kavya spoke those words to me just as I was about to sneak out to grab some coffee. It was 8 a.m., and we were on holiday. We’d taken Kavya down…
