leenaok

This weekend we went to Port St. Lucie to celebrate (Sam & Sonya’s daughter) Jasmine’s first birthday party. It was a good weekend to be out and about. The weather was perfect for outdoor water play, not a cloud in sight! Alisha was concerned that only babies would be at the party. Fortunately she had nothing to worry about; Alisha made friends with another 7 year old girl and they had lots of fun together. Jacob, the social butterfly, ran around, ate plenty, and slept well. What more could you ask from a 15 month old?

Jamilla & her family came over last night. They flew into Fort Myers and got to our house by 9pm. It was great to see them but I felt bad that Alisha couldn’t stay up late to play with the kids since she had to go to school this morning. If only Florida schools started after Labor Day! I just don’t get the reason for the August start date, but whatever it is, I don’t like it!


The Three Stooges: Arya, Alisha & Noah

By the time I woke up this morning, they had already left. Sanjay woke up early (around 5am) to see them off. When they said they wanted to get an early start on their drive to Orlando they weren’t kidding! I can’t imagine how the crowds will be, considering it’s Labor Day weekend.

Even though I’ve lived in Florida for 10 years now, I’ve only been to the Orlando tourist attractions a handful of times. Disney: 2x; Sea World: 1x and Universal/Islands of Adventure: 1x. The theme parks are SO expensive; I think a one-day Disney ticket costs more than 70 bucks per person. Sea World is the least expensive, but it’s by no means cheap. I’m just glad that the parks offer Florida resident discounts. Alisha has been talking about going to Disney, even though she just went there with her grandparents in June 2008. They just drove from Tampa (which is 1 1/2 hours away) for the day. In my opinion, the best way to visit Disney with a family is to stay at an on-site hotel. This way you can get an early start on your day and go back to your hotel room to eat lunch, relax and take a nap. Then, after you’ve showed/napped/rested, you return to the park around 5 and stay there until closing, which could be anywhere from midnight to 3am if you’re a resort guest. I wouldn't mind going back to Disney, but I don't see it happening until Jacob gets a little older. He's the kind of kid who would get lost in Disney without a leash!

We are BACK from our weekend in New York! Didn’t know we were going? That’s kind of the point. We flew up to celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday with a SURPRISE party at the Cotillion.

Was he surprised?

Well, he knew he was having a party on Saturday, he just thought it was going to be Saturday evening. Hey, I’ll take what I can get. Jim & Tami flew up on Wednesday night and we flew up on Friday night. Sanjay’s parents even flew up from Tampa, on Saturday morning, just for the party! Everything went well but I am glad it’s over. I am done with "surprise" parties! Fortunately we have 2 years to prepare for my mom’s big day, but thankfully she wants to go on a cruise, easy enough!

As part of this surprise, we had to rent a car from JFK and stay at a hotel on Friday night. We stayed at the Melville Marriott which was barely a Marriott by my standards. The WORST part was that the hotel was laid out in such a way that if you had a room at the end of the hallway (which we did, our dumb luck) you had to walk like, a half-mile to get there. I would even opt for a hotel with exterior corridors over that, at least you can get in and out of your room in one shot.

Guess what Jacob mastered while we were in New York? He learned how to crawl down the staircase. So now he’s sporting his newly acquired skills on our stairs at home!

Earlier this week we went to Orlando and stayed at the Florida Mall Hotel, a very average-ish hotel connected to the Florida Mall. The Kurian family could have stayed somewhere better (since we were tagging along with Sanjay for work) but the hotels in Orlando are not really walking distance to any attractions. In other words, I would have been bored staying anywhere else (outside of Disney).

While we were in Orlando I remembered why I never wanted to live there – the traffic!!

Highlight of the otherwise pretty uneventful Orlando trip – we had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Maggianos. It was my first time dining there and the food was really good!

We are BACK!!! All in all, it was some road trip. Was it worth all that driving for the convenience of having our own car?? I don’t really think so. But, at least we enjoyed some mini-vacations to break up all the driving.

So, where did I leave off...

Monday, July 6th: We drove to Nanuet and spent the night at Jamilla’s house. Kids had a great time. While Jamilla and I hung out (with Jacob), the dads took the remaining kids to watch a movie, which they thoroughly enjoyed.


June babies - Alisha & Arya - 7 years old! 

Tuesday: Next destination – Boston, Mass. On the way we stopped by to visit Jenna & Hannah (who is almost 15 months old). 

It was my first time being in their neck of the woods, since we usually meet up in New York. We had lunch at a Thai place and visited the West Hartford library (which has a FANTASTIC childrens’ section btw; you can even check out toys!!). From there it took 2 hours to get to Boston; it should have taken less time but there was traffic. It’s easy to forget about rush hour when you’re in vacation mode!

Tuesday night & Wednesday night: We stayed at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Boston. I don’t think I would have stayed there if we didn’t have our own set of wheels; access to mass transit was not close by (nor in the best of neighborhoods either, I don’t think). Space-wise, the hotel was great! Once again Sanjay’s points came in handy; he had enough Hilton Hhonors points for one free night so we only had to pay for the 2nd night. Hotel room was spacious enough for us not to have to share our bed with either Alisha or Jacob. Alisha and Jacob stayed in their own room; Alisha slept on the pull-out couch and Jacob slept in his Pack ‘n’ Play. It was really the ideal traveling scenario!

Here’s a summary of the sights we saw in Boston: Boston University, Boston Common, Fanueil Hall, Harvard Square.

Here's Alisha at the Boston Common Frog Pond.

The weather was actually pretty decent, so it was nice to walk around and enjoy the better-than-Florida-in-the-summer weather. Alisha's favorite things were the swan ride, the frog pond and (of course) the playground. On Wednesday night we got together with some of Sanjay’s friends from “back in the day” at Fire & Ice, a Mongolian BBQ-style restaurant. All you can eat dinner for $17 in Boston, not bad at all!

Thursday: We drove back to Commack, NY. It was quite a drive and we were stuck in some traffic along the way. Fortunately we weren’t in a hurry to get back, so we didn’t have to stress out about it.

Friday: Aside from packing for our return trip, our day was pretty open, which was nice. My parents went to the church retreat so we said our goodbyes when they left in the afternoon. We then met up with Sandy’s family for dinner at an Indian/Thai/Chinese restaurant. Guess what we all got – Thai! Food was good although the boys (Ethan and Jacob) were a little on the high maintenance side. I suppose we are getting to that age where it’s going to be difficult to go out with a toddler. I don’t remember Alisha ever being like that. Then again, Alisha was like the perfect baby. Or maybe she wasn’t and I’ve just blocked out all the not-so-perfect memories?

Saturday: We drove to Staten Island for Sanjay’s annual family reunion. If you remember, we flew up last November for the first reunion. Fortunately the “committee” agreed that summer would be a better time for family members to get together. So, what goes on during a family reunion?? Well, there was a lot of picture-taking, speeches, and various discussions about the future. When it came to voting for the 2010 reunion, it was pretty tight between Florida and Philly but ultimately Philly won. I have no problem with that because it means the Florida chapter of the family tree (which is basically us and Sanjay’s parents) gets to put off dealing with all the headaches of planning a reunion. We might get our chance in 2011 or 2012 though, but maybe the midwest family members will want their turn before we do. Hey, I’ve never been to Chicago, might be fun!

After the reunion we drove to NJ and spent the night at Joel & Namita’s house. Alisha & Joshua were so cute together.

The bookworms :) 

Joshua was especially sweet; he followed Alisha around the house and hung onto her every word. As for Jacob and Lily, we attempted the “Ultimate Bully” rematch and Jacob took the trophy. What can I say, Lily might look tough but she’s still a girl (and there’s nothing wrong with that!). Jacob may be small but the boy’s got SPEED! I don’t know how he makes every kid cry, maybe because he’s so loud and in-your-face??

Sunday: We went to church in Philly. Got there a little late but who’s complaining?? After service we went to Sanjay’s cousins’ house for lunch. We hadn’t been to their house since we got married (back in 2001) so I guess you could say we were overdue for a visit. By the time we’d all changed into our traveling clothes and stuffed ourselves with food, it was about 4 o’clock. Man, it was SLOW DRIVING down the interstate. I mean REALLY SLOW. So slow that the traffic caused a 2+ hour delay in getting to our destination. It was depressing watching the GPS add more minutes to our arrival time as we moved along at 20 mph. Ideally we wanted to get to Savannah but we barely made it into North Carolina before stopping in Rocky Mount for the night. We got rooms at the Best Western. Exterior corridor rooms but we literally needed a cheap place to lay our heads for like 7-8 hours, that was it. So, why be choosy?

1st note to self: NEVER DO INTERSTATE DRIVING IN THE NORTHEAST ON A SUNDAY! Either leave on Saturday or wait until Monday. It’s just not worth the aggravation.

To add insult to injury, Sanjay got a speeding ticket in Maryland! Everyone was speeding, but the cop waited until we passed him to pull us over. Why? Because he wanted to make sure he pulled over someone with an out-of-state license plate; it’s less likely the driver will show up in traffic court to plead his case. Cost of the ticket: $160. Add that to the gas we spent and the hotel stays and at the end of the day, flying instead of driving up north might have been the better deal. At least my in-laws saved $ because they drove back with us. If they hadn’t stayed with us, we might have left on Saturday (after the reunion) and made our return drive over 2 nights instead of one. Doing the drive to New York with just one overnight stop is just too much, especially with kids.

2nd note to self: Until all passengers are elementary school age, take 2 nights to drive up/down the Interstate between FL & NY!

Monday, July 13: Left the hotel at 7:30am, spent most of the day in the car. It was a L O N G day. Fortunately my in-laws didn’t mind me sitting in front during our travels. They sat on either side of Jacob (in the middle row) and Alisha enjoyed having (what we call) the “way back” to herself. If Jacob started crying, we’d put in a DVD, otherwise we tried to avoid it; since Jacob refused to wear the headset, we all had to listen to the audio on the DVD. I love the Cedarmont Kids, but how many times can you listen to their songs on a 20 hour drive?????

After dropping off my in-laws in Tampa, we finally arrived in Fort Myers at around 10pm. After 2 weeks of being on the road, being home felt FANTASTIC!!!! I just appreciate my home sweet home even more when I haven’t been there!

We’ve made it to New York! It has been quite the trip so far. Let’s see how well I can summarize our journey up to this point:

Monday, June 29: We spent the night at the Marriott, Coral Springs. Hotel itself was fine but we ate dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and experienced the SLOWEST SERVICE EVER. Only a few other tables were occupied but it looked like there was just one person working in the kitchen. S-L-O-W.

Tuesday: Jacob turned ONE! Sanjay had work so Alisha, Jacob & I spent the morning with my grad school friend Shara. She recently joined the parenthood bandwagon and has a 5 month old son. Jacob had fun walking all over the place and checking out all the toys (and non-toys). Alisha went into the pool and never wanted to leave! We started our drive up I-95 by 4pm and kept going until we reached St. Augustine, where we ate a late dinner at Sonny's BBQ. From there we drove until we got to the Savannah, GA exit, where we stayed at the SpringHill Suites.

Wednesday & Thursday: It felt like we spent most of the day in the car. We couldn’t wait to get to our first vacation spot – Virginia Beach! We got there in the late afternoon so we had plenty of time to start enjoying the beach.


Jacob is probably thinking, "Yay, I'm no longer stuck in that carseat!"

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites which was right on VA Beach. Hotel room was a little cozy, but then again we don’t pack light and Jacob’s Pack ‘n Play took up some space. The best part was that this hotel didn’t cost us a cent; we used Sanjay’s Marriott Rewards points to pay for the 2 night stay. Finally, those out of town trips did us some good! I think if we ever go back to VA Beach, we should stay at the SpringHill Suites, so we have extra space to spread out.

It was nice to relax and enjoy the beach with nothing to do and nowhere to go :). Alisha wanted to go for a ride on the surrey so we rented one for 2 hours. The beach has a bike path but it was hot and going uphill was no picnic.


Next time I think Alisha should do the pedaling!

Friday: Ate brunch at Pocahontas, the "Best Pancake House in Virginia Beach in 2002" by "The Food Network". It lived up to the hype; the pancakes were delicious!! We left Virginia Beach in the afternoon and started the drive to Nueva York. It was a LONG drive, but we got to Commack around 9:30pm.

Saturday (the 4th of July) & Sunday: Steve drove up from Jersey to hang out with us on Saturday. On Sunday we invited the family over for a low key lunch/BBQ to celebrate Jacob’s first birthday. My mom always insists on whipped cream as the cake topping, even though she never eats any cake. I think most people prefer butter cream topping. I actually prefer Carvel ice cream cake to all others, but for some reason Sanjay hates ice cream cake. I just don’t get it. 

On the picture-taking front, the birthday party indoor shots came out quite blurry...what a bummer! 

Tomorrow we begin our road trip 2009. Up the east coast, from Florida to Boston! With many stops in-between, of course. We have packed A LOT OF STUFF. I thought I had kept it to a minimum but the baby gear takes up quite a lot of space. Sanjay has to be in Ft. Lauderdale for work tomorrow so our drive will begin from there on Tuesday. Guess what else Tuesday is? Jacob’s 1st birthday!! So yes, we will be celebrating his birthday on the road as we drive up I-95. Fortunately he’s too young to care :)

It feels great to be back in the land of sunshine! Yesterday’s flight was rough because it didn’t take off until 5:30 or so (in other words, a 2 hour delay)! It wasn’t JetBlue’s fault; the runway was backed up due to the weather, so I blame New York! When we finally did take off, there were 60 planes on the runway waiting for their turn. If I’d been by myself I wouldn’t have minded the delay AS much, however with Jacob, who only slept until 6:30 (aka the time we were to have landed @ RSW), it was a pain. I even gave Jacob a higher dose of Benadryl but he still slept for only an hour! Jacob was challenging at times, but somehow we made it back AOK. After this trip, I definitely do not want to fly with Jacob all by myself any time in the near future.

BTW going through security was a surprisingly pleasant experience both in Fort Myers & New York. JetBlue has a family lane @ JFK, so I went through that and declared Jacob’s baby bottle of water (which I thought they would make me throw out but I didn’t have to). Thanks to my experienced mommy skills, I held Jacob and single-handedly put the car seat and stroller frame on the belt. Sometimes I impress myself :D

Well, I’m pretty much packed. I really hope Jacob behaves on the airplane. It’s a full flight and since I’m sitting in a window seat, there’s no escape! *sigh* At least it’s better than sitting in the middle. I'm definitely a little anxious about traveling with Jacob. First of all, I haven't traveled by myself with an infant in 6 years.  Secondly, aside from his cheerful disposition, he's nothing like his big sister!  Anyway,  I’m taking Benadryl for Jacob. I’ve heard it helps little ones fall asleep. It’s strange because I actually asked the pediatrician for Benadryl dosing information at Jacob’s 9 month check-up, even though I knew we wouldn’t be flying with him again until the summer. I guess that worked out. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

The weekend went by fast, but what else is new. Daytona was okay. The drive was fine; thankfully Jacob slept for about 2 hours. On Saturday morning I took Alisha & Jacob to the beach. Taking Jacob to the beach was quite a challenging experience. It was hard keeping him from eating the sand and away from the water and I was not 100% successful (big surprise). I made sure we were right next to the lifeguard’s chair so that I only had to keep a half-eye on Alisha, who was the only person around. Fortunately she’s smart enough to understand my rules, so she did not go into the water past her feet. She got wet anyway when she was knocked down by some big waves. It was hard to juggle an 8 month old, a digital camera and a camcorder, but I managed for a whole 25 minutes. Then it was time to go inside and get washed up.

Note to self: for our next trip to the beach we need 2 adults per Jacob! Thank God I have an independent Alisha. Now, if I could get her hooked up with swimming lessons this summer then I wouldn’t have to worry about her half as much.

In the latest Jacob news, a white speck has appeared on Jacob’s upper right central incisor. You know what that means…!

I'm getting ready for Jacob's longest road-trip EVER!  Sanjay has a speaking engagement in Daytona Beach tomorrow so we're making the 4 hour drive today and coming back home tomorrow.  Sound crazy? That it is, but what the heck.  We thought about spending another night there, but it's not worth paying for at our expense.  Maybe if it were Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Clearwater Beach I'd want to splurge, but not for Daytona. 

So, the plan is to pick up Alisha straight from school, change her clothes and begin our drive.  Hopefully Jacob will behave. Ideally he should sleep for an hour (or 3) :) This drive will give me an idea of how Jacob will be during our road trip to New York this summer.  Yes, we are actually going to drive all the way to New York.  Figured we'd make a "vacation" out of it (but we'll see how that goes). An ideal vacation would mean we'd get to sit back and relax, but we usually do anything but that when we visit New York. 

As we do every year, this weekend we drove up to Tampa to spend Sanjay’s birthday with his parents. One thing we've never done though, is go to Plant City's Strawberry Festival. It was only slightly out of our way, but we thought it would be fun for Alisha. Plant City is just a farm town and this is the only time of year it comes to life! The strawberry festival also hosts daily concerts featuring all sorts of singers. This year Kellie Pickler, Randy Travis, and Taylor Swift were on the agenda.

I thought the strawberry festival was going to be in a field and have like, pony rides and an area for strawberry picking but it was just like your typical carnival/fair environment: hot, crowded and expensive!  It was impossible to find shaded seating.  We hung out for a couple of hours during which time we ate a very blah lunch (mac & cheese & chicken tenders) and walked around.  We didn't even stay for the (oh-so-tempting) pig/hog racing. Nor did we buy any strawberries to take home, although Sanjay and Alisha shared a delicious strawberry shortcake.

Will we make a return trip in the future? Doubtful.

As for Sanjay's birthday, we celebrated with cake after church. Veg came over after church too.  Sanjay's mom even made beef fry for the special occasion (with coconut slices, my favorite), not knowing that Sanjay was observing Lent.  Oh well. 

This year all the siblings remembered Sanjay's birthday, except for one.   Hmph.

I’m back! The Celine Dion concert was great! I even bought a T-shirt (how could I not!?) although it was quite a rip-off…40 bucks! Between that and the 30 bucks for parking, it’s not cheap being a Celine fan! My favorite song of the night was “To Love You More”. Listening to it in person actually gave me chills!

I could have used an entire weekend of “me” time, maybe someday. But one night of freedom beats nothing at all! I didn’t know if we would have time to stop by Sawgrass Mills, but we did. There weren’t any super-fantastic sales going on in any of the outlet stores (my favorite being Gymboree, although The Children’s Place usually has the BEST deals) which I guess was a good thing, otherwise I would have been oh-so-tempted to spend money since baby clothes are one of my temptations! I DO have to admit, baby boy clothes don’t beckon to me nearly as much as girls'. I STILL spend all my time in the girls’ section; however, I DO take a quick walk through the boys’ section so I don’t feel like I’ve neglected Jacob. In general, for every 5 articles of clothing I buy for Alisha, I might buy 1 thing for Jacob. He’s a guy, I’m sure it doesn’t bother him.

Tomorrow night I’m going to Fort Lauderdale with my friend Sneha to watch Celine Dion in concert! I’ve wanted to see Celine for years and actually bought the tickets to this show in 2007. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to it. We’ll be spending the night in Fort Lauderdale so it truly will be a girls’ night out. I had to work it out with Sanjay so that he could take a half-day off from work. I want to be in Ft. Lauderdale by the late afternoon so we don’t have to rush. It would be nice to eat dinner before heading over to the BankAtlantic Center for the 8 o’clock concert.

Sanjay is glad he doesn’t have to go with me to the concert, which would have been worst-case scenario in case I couldn’t find someone. Fortunately it didn’t come to that. I don’t think taking him to see Celine would have been asking too much! My friend Sneha accompanied her husband to a Van Halen concert last year; I seriously doubt I would do that for Sanjay. I think going to these bowl games is favor enough. I still remember the “fun” we had in El Paso in 2007. We could have taken a really nice cruise with that money!

Oh, the things we do for our spouses…

Wish me FUN :)

It's March, I'm in New York, and it SNOWED!

It actually started snowing during our flight, which I guess worked out for us because if our flight time had been any later, I’m sure it would have been majorly delayed. Fortunately we got to Islip on time, and Alisha ooh’d and aah’d when she looked out of the window in the airplane and saw the snow. I was happy for her so I let her pick up some of the snow while we waited outside the airport. I was a bit cold since I’d forgotten to take my winter coat with me. However, I’ve lived in NY and can handle it (to a certain extent), so what mattered to me was Alisha’s warmth. Fortunately I had all her winter gear with me – she wore a shirt with a turtleneck and a fleece over it, her gloves, her hat with a hood over it, and her leg-warmers. She does have boots but we leave them in Commack. She’s actually due for a new pair – this kid is wearing size 10.5-11 shoes! According to what I’ve read, the average shoe size for a 3 year old is 9-10, so I guess Alisha has only slightly larger feet. At one point I had average-sized feet too, until my shoe size started correlating with my grade (5th grade = size 5, 6th grade = size 6, etc.). until it maxed out at size 9 ½, and depending on the brand and type of shoe, I wear in the 9-10 range. It’s sad because I’m only 5’2” 1/4 and I'd hoped my shoe size would correlate with my height, but I discovered that saying is not true.

Anyway, on our way home, we made a pit stop at White Castle :) I always have to go there when I’m in New York, even though their hamburgers are nothing really special. It’s just what I do since we don’t have any in Florida. Go figure.

We’re back from Daytona Beach! Although Sanjay & I had a good time, I think Alisha had the BEST time!

Here’s the trip in a nutshell:

Wednesday: We left Fort Myers around 4pm and it took 4 ½ hours to get to Daytona Beach. The Adam’s Mark Hotel is actually located on the intracoastal (between the intracoastal waterway and the Atlantic Ocean) and we were fortunate to get a room with a view of the water! After we settled into our room, we checked out the rest of our hotel and surroundings. Then we went back to the room, ordered room service and went to sleep shortly after! Even though we had a king-size bed I still felt like I was going to fall off the bed because Alisha kept on moving closer and closer to MY SIDE of the bed!

Thursday: I LOVED waking up in the morning to a view of the Atlantic Ocean - I can only imagine how much people must enjoy having houses on the water, where they can wake up to this kind of view every DAY! Anyway, Sanjay had work so Alisha & I stayed in the hotel for the most part – it’s exhausting taking her around just by myself (she's high maintenance like that). In the evening, after Sanjay came back from work, we took a stroll along the boardwalk, then went to the beach. Surprisingly the water was ICE COLD – definitely too cold for Alisha, so we only stayed there for a few minutes, then went back to the room.

Friday: Sanjay had work again but this time I dared to venture outdoors with Alisha. It wasn’t too bad since I kept her in the stroller the entire time, but she did get restless after 20 minutes. Sanjay returned from work early so we were able to go to the beach while it was still sunny outside – and the water was just perfect! We didn’t go in deep at all, and I took a lot of pictures. I loved watching Alisha’s reaction to the water and the sand and even to the rocks and shells along the beach! She simply fell in love with the ocean! Every time we tried to lead her back to shore, she would let go of our hand, turn around, and head back to the water - she didn’t want to leave! I know all 3 of us got a few shades darker (most noticeable on Alisha because she's the lightest, even though she had sunblock on). We also went into the pool but Alisha kept trying to drink the water (GROSS!) so we didn’t stay long. For dinner we went out to Carrabbas (good thing Sanjay can expense his meals).

Saturday: Left around 11am, drove in the rain, took 2 rest stops and reached Fort Myers around 3:30ish. We were really exhausted from the trip and no one more than Alisha! She has the best appetite and always manages to burn off those calories by being so active! So far she’s just walking but I know in no time she’ll be RUNNING!!!!

Anyway, Sanjay & I have decided to send Alisha for swimming lessons, sooner rather than later - maybe sometime between 18-24 months if there are lessons available for that age group!

That's all for now!

I booked my tickets to NY for Joel’s wedding. I actually booked it 2 days ago for $69 each way but when I checked it again today, the fare went DOWN 10 bucks each way, so I called JetBlue and got my $20 credit. They put the credit in my JetBlue account so I can use it next time I book a ticket. I love when I get a great deal on airfare, especially from Fort Myers, cuz it doesn't always happen!

Anyways I have to finish packing my stuff for our trip...I hadn’t even finished UNpacking from the Atlanta trip, so I guess it works out?!

Alisha is still sleeping – she was VERY cranky yesterday so I let her have a longer-than-usual nap (3 hours) and then she took another half hour nap at 8:30 and then went to sleep at 10:45. She is still trying to get back into her schedule (since this past weekend threw it off) which is why I am letting her sleep so much.