Living Life in the Fast Lane

This poor blog has gotten woefully out of date, and I feel like I owe my imaginary Internet friends an explanation. Most of my real friends know all of this already, so those of you can feel free to skip this section.

From March through June of 2012, we entered a period of Life in the Fast Lane. We traveled to the following locations during those four months:

• March 2012: 
• B - work trip to Tel Aviv, Israel 
• Family - personal trip to Austin, TX
• April 2012: 
• B - work trip to Tel Aviv, Israel
• Family - personal trip to Portland, ME
• Family - personal trip to Houston, TX
• May 2012: 
• B - work trip to San Francisco, CA
• B - personal trip to Los Angeles, CA
• Family - personal trip to Portland, ME
• June 2012: 
• B - work trip to Tel Aviv, Israel 
• Family - personal trip to Los Angeles, CA

We were expecting to do all of this travel but it was still quite tiring. My work trips were for a project that focused on an acquisition, with most of my new co-workers from the acquired company being located outside Tel Aviv. Our personal trips were for pre-wedding and wedding festivities on both sides of the family.

Obviously, this travel took up a lot of time and energy. I'm surprised our house is still standing after all of that! We tried to take it easy in July & August, with our only trips being focused in the New England area. And sometime in the midst of all that travel we also found out that we're pregnant! Our second baby is due to arrive in late January. And we just found out that we're having a boy. :)

Here are a few pictures of our various adventures in Israel, Texas, and California.

First, a beautiful sunset over the Meditarranean from my hotel room in Tel Aviv:

Delicious meal of Middle Eastern specialties accompanied by homemade pita bread in Israel:

Hanging out with the Husain grandparents (Nani and Nana) in Austin:

 

Hanging out with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ken in Portland:

Chatting on the phone while hanging out with Nani and Nana in Houston:

All dressed up for the wedding in Houston:

Enjoying my sister Chethana's bridal shower tea in Pasadena:

Celebrating at my sister Chethana's bachelorette party in Los Angeles:

Enjoying brunch with a new set of family members in Los Angeles:

Enjoying a cheese plate with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ken in Portland:

Playing soccer with Dada at the beautiful Inn by the Sea in Portland:

A dish of shakshuka (local specialty with eggs in tomato sauce) in Israel:

Hanging out with Mama at the rehearsal for Eric and Chethana's wedding in Los Angeles:

Maya performing her flower girl duties at the wedding:

Hugs between the flower girls:

Hugs for Ajji (the Kulkarni grandma):

Flower girl Maya, happy bride Chethana, and sister of the bride Bhuvana:

Phew! What a whirlwind that was.

New Clothes, New Shoes, New Bed!

As I've previously noted on this blog, Maya is a very lucky little girl to have so many generous people in her life. We get lots of hand-me-downs from our friends, which has the double benefits of being environmentally friendly and cost effective. And we get gifts from our friends as well, which is always nice too, though not necessary at all.

Maya recently received a new sweater from our friends Sidney and Andrew, who know that Maya loves stripes and Hyder loves yellow. Maya also recently received new shoes from our lovely neighbors Marilyn and Ken, who think of her as a princess who needs sparkly shoes. Maya wore her new clothes and new shoes with much joy the other night:

Maya also recently received a new bed from her friend Zach, who had finished using it. She LOVES this bed and doesn't want to get out of it in the mornings. And she's thrilled to have all her fuzzy friends join her in bed:

Our little girl is no longer a baby! Now if I could just get her to stop sucking her thumb...

Enjoying a Day Off

Maya and I had the day off for Presidents Day earlier this month, so we decided to enjoy ourselves by meeting up with our friends Kathryn and her daughters Erica & Audrey at a kids' gym nearby. This place is called The Klub House and, despite their poor spelling skills, is actually a pretty fun indoor spot for kids.

There are bounce houses, which Erica seemed to enjoy. She took Maya along with her and tried to help her up the steps of one bounce house:

Unfortunately, Maya got scared and didn't want to go up more than halfway:

After retrieving her from this predicament, she seemed to have more fun climbing the ramp onto the pirate ship:

And she & Erica took some time to ride dinosaurs:

After all that fun, we headed over to Kathryn's house for lunch and a special treat - hot chocolate! Our friend Amy joined us with her kids Aidan and Fiona; it was great to see them! Here all three kids are enjoying their hot chocolate:

In the afternoon, Maya woke up from her nap with lots of stories to tell. She took a break from eating grapes to chat with me. I didn't understand most of it, but she clearly has something important to say!

Celebrating at a Special Baby Shower

As mentioned in the previous post, I was super duper excited to celebrate with Sidney at her baby shower. I was so thrilled that she came down for my baby shower, so it was lovely to be with her on this special day. It's always nice to spend time with someone I've been friends with for almost 15 years!

Sidney's sister Shirley hosted the shower and did a fabulous job with decorations, activities, and food. I got a photo of the guest of honor in her stylish outfit under her celebratory banner:

As well as a picture of Andrew as a bellhop, delivering food for the shower:

Maya enjoyed playing with the balloons:

She also enjoyed painting a onesie:

And playing in the playroom next door:

The food at the shower was amazing! A combination of Chinese food and soul food, it was all delicious. And there was enough there to feed a small army. Sidney seemed to enjoy eating while painting:

And eating before gifts were opened:

The cupcakes were beautiful and delicious:

I was so happy to spend time with a good friend:

And Maya was thrilled to get so many balloons at the end of the party:

We had a lot of fun!

We Love New York

When I heard that our good friend Sidney would be in New York in mid February for her baby shower, I jumped at the chance to meet up with her. She and her husband Andrew drove down from Waterloo, ON and we drove down for the weekend too.

Before meeting up with Sidney & Andrew, we went to visit our friends Mohan & Rachel in Brooklyn. After a delicious brunch at one of their favorite restaurants, they took us down to Jane's Carousel in the DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) neighborhood. It's a really cool carousel from the 1920s that has been beautifully restored:

Maya was of course super excited to get on the carousel:

And she was all smiles once she got on her horse:

As usual, she was not as thrilled once the ride was over:

And it really is in a beautiful setting, right on the East River, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges:

After that, we stopped at a playground, also right near a bridge:

Later that night we met up with Sidney and Andrew for dinner out in the suburbs of Long Island. After some delicious Indian food, we headed over to a diner for some late-night dessert. Maya entertained herself by arranging and re-arranging sugar packets on the table and hanging out with Sidney:

After some gigantic slices of cheesecake, we were all smiles:

Celebrating a Monster Birthday

Maya's buddy Zach turned four earlier this month and his parents Joshua & Rachel threw him a monster-themed birthday party, which was tons of fun! This involved a crazy game of Stick-the-Eye-on-the-Monster, during which Uncle Josh helped Maya up to the poster:

There were some extra monster eyes, which Rachel decided to stick on herself:

Next up was a monster pinata:

After this, we had dirt cake, which was DELICIOUS:

And let's not forget the littlest guest at the party: Zach's baby sister Alisha. She snoozed through most of the fun, but woke up in time to watch him open presents: