Back to our schedules

The move is over, we're more or less settled in except we have a bed in the middle of the room, we have nowhere else to put it and no buyers for it yet. I'll probably donate it. I have boxes and boxes of items to give away which are blocking our front entrance. The kids are back in school after an almost 10 day spring break. My parents left yesterday.  I have the house to myself after a long time.  It's the first time that the kids were off for a week and we stayed at home. Prasad thought the kids would be bored but every time, I suggested we go out for a couple of hours, they grumbled that they will have less playtime at the complex.  Most of the children are off for the summer except for mine. The activity schedules are a bit messed  up, there were only 4 of us at yoga class today.  I have mild tennis elbow so I stopped tennis lessons but I may play with Rushil from time to time.  The bus stop this morning was empty except for our kids. The pool is full of children all day long. Totapuris mango season is here, they are still too sour for most but Rushil and I fight for our share.  In the afternoons, the heat is unbearable, maybe I should start taking naps.  Summer is here.

Hot weather and summer showers

We're having record  temperatures in India. It's been so hot that people are dying from the heat and there is a drought. Bangalore has recorded the highest temperatures this month in years.  As soon as we got back from Kashmir, the heat has became unbearable. If the the stores were stocked with delicious fruits, maybe I could bear it but apparently due to the heat, there is 70% less yield of mangos this year, just great. The only silver lining, the rains started this week and at least the evenings are pleasant again, I can appreciate why Indians dance in the rain in the movies after a long hot summer. 

This week I was at S & R's school for the science fair and I swear I thought I would die from heat stroke. I asked S & R if they are in misery all day long and they both told me the heat doesn't bother them. It took me a couple of hours to  recover and they were off playing as soon as we got home.  And this is Bangalore, just imagine if we lived pretty much anywhere else in India.

Summer's Over Blues

Today is the last day of their summer break. I'm not sure who is more nervous me or them. The end of the summer means getting back to a strict schedule, no more eating, playing and sleeping whenever they want to. Sindhu is nervous because she doesn't know who is in her class and the few friends that she has spoken to are in different classes. Rushil is also nervous but somewhat less, he said it would have been nice if he had 10 more days of vacation. Somehow I managed to get them to bed at a decent hour, now the struggle will be to get them up tomorrow morning.

This was probably the most relaxing summer they had, no camps, just hanging out with their grandparents and relatives. Sindhu attended one part-time art camp early on but that was as organized as her summer got. Visits from friends, relatives, my parents and sister were the highlights of the summer along with our short trip to Goa and Pune with Teju. The rest of this month will be hectic since my parents are here for a few more weeks, we're heading to Hyderabad next weekend for my cousin's engagment, possibly a trip to Tirupati and Sri and family will be visiting towards the end of the month.

In the meantime, I have to break in a new caregiver since we moved to a new place, and plan their extra curricular activities. Since they get back from school somewhat late, most of the classes they can attend will have to be on weekends.

Summer Holidays

Rushil has graduated from Kindergarten and will attend first grade in August. I think it's a bit ridiculous to have a graduation ceremony for kindergarten but the cap and gown are too cute! School is over, the summer holidays have officially started. I have so many activities planned. My mother and aunt who are visiting find it quite amusing when I list out all the activities that I would like the kids to be engaged in over the holidays. I hope they are well rested and enjoy the summer but if we can fit in some math, writing, piano, tennis, karate, Hindi and maybe some Telugu lessons, it will be a fruitful summer! I have one part-time art summer camp planned for Sindhu and she's pretty much free for the rest of the summer. Rushil is not too keen on attending any camps, I had one planned but it fell through. This is the first summer that the kids will be just hanging out, Sindhu usually attends summer camps throughout the summer but this time around, my mother and later my father will be coming so S&R willl be spend a couple of months of quality time with their grandparents. Hopefully, it'll be fun for my parents too :-) My sister and her children will be coming towards the tail-end of the summer and we'll have lots of other visitors in July and August.