A Day out with Thomas the Tank Engine

July 2nd weekend. 

For the past few years, we’ve been visiting St. Thomas (small town) every summer. I remember the first time, when Tanush was still inutero J

You never get too old for the famous British train Thomas the Tank Engine J

They have beautiful indoor stadium where they had all sorts of fun things to do. While Megha couldn’t get enough of the bouncy castle, Tanush was happy playing with the trains. The boy loves his trains!

We have to persuade both the kids away as neither wanted to drop what they are doing. Kids had fun at the puppet show and Bob the Builder show (I was tired and yawning and hoping no one is noticing how much I yarn). They tried to keep it as lively as possible, though, if you are not under 10, you probably wont really enjoy puppet shows.

Kids had fun, that’s all matters.

We then proceeded for lunch (the usual Poutine and hotdogs) and headed out to board the train. Tanush immensely enjoyed the ride, waving at the traffic, at the toot-tooing Thomas. Megha, well, Megha I think is getting a bit old for Thomas J (though, I love Thomas anyday).

Tanush here cannot take his eyes off Thomas. Things like the twinkle in his eyes makes it all worth it (the long ride, the hot sun and the whole nine yards). 

Selfie time..

Bubbles have always been a favourite part of the trip for me. Here is Megha with her jumbo bubbles.

Here is Anand being a kid, as I said, you are never too old for this stuff J

Tanush enjoying his favourite strawberry ice cream; he only loves that. This was actually cherry ice cream but its pink and can easily pass as strawberry.

Megha enjoying her own favorite chocolate icecream. I remember last year we made a mental note not to buy more than 2 sccops as kids don’t finish at least half of theirs.

But then, mental notes are only helpful if you remember them; we forgot. Again. We bought 4 sccops and half of it melted as kids didn’t eat beyond their half (it’s a pretty big scoop).

We returned home and I made fish and chips...the real deep fried one's :)

Ice creams, lemonades, hot sun, Poutine, hotdogs, beer, splash-pads, family....what more can one ask for? A million dollar lottery right here. 

Fish Fillet

I am slowly starting to get Megha and Tanush interested in cooking. Since about 2 years, Megha (then 5) could fix for herself a small breakfast of cold milk and cereal. Her and Tanush both love cooking beside me. 2 nights ago, we made fish (Tilapia).

Since I have moved on to OPOS (One Pot One Shot) technique, developed by chef Rama Krishnan, I find myself spending less time in kitchen while being able to whip up more and more verities of food.

2L pressure cooker (my magic Pot):

Layer 1: 3 tbsp water + 3 tbsp oil

Layer 2: Tilapia fille sprinkled with salt, pepper and a little lemon juice.

On high for 2 whistles. Release pressure manually. Serve with broccoli and cheese.

2L cooker is standardised as per OPOS method, 1/4C water in the 2L cooker. You should get the first whistle within 2 mins. This is just for the first time to get the standardization right. After this, use the same heat setting for all dishes.

Tanush’s first sleepover:

1^st week in July

We went to visit our family in Atlanta. Kids had so much fun with their cousin. Megha even played cricket and is getting very good at it. Here are the kids playing while building jenga.

We also visited 6 flags. Here is Tanush right before Anand and I were leaving for the hotel. Tanush insisted that he wanted to spend the night at my sister in laws’ along with my nephew. He was too excited (and hence the bad picture as he was jumping) and I was too nervous.

June 2019 Father’s Day:

Every year, I look forward for Mother’s Day (because Anand makes me Mimosa’s all day starting at 8 AM!) and Father’s Day because I love cooking for Anand.

This Father’s day, we went to Troy’s Diner, our favorite family diner in Milton followed by a nice trek in Kelso Conservation park. Wow it was quite a work out going in that conservation park! It was very beautiful though.

Kids made some cute crafts. We were planning on making a little show for Anand from our favourite book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar but we didnt have enough time to plan and execute. Perhaps next year. 

I cooked some yum food that he liked. His lunch was chicken biryani, prawns curry, small fish curry, chicken dry, boondi raita, carrot halwa.

As it stands!

June 2019. I try to change the décor of the kids bathroom at least once every 18 months to 2 years; As it stands, ours is Monkey theme. Kids love their matching-everything and even buy mouth wash (apologies for the very bad lightning; there is no sunlight in this room and I cant seem to get the lighting properly here no matter what).

After Tanush was born and close to an year old, I made the life style shift to more natural alternatives to some of the common issues like cold/cough/fever/pains.

I love this new shelf that I bought for the Essential oils. Apart from looking good, it helps me keep everything in plain sight for easy access.

June 1st Weekend

June 2019:

It’s been a busy weekend at the Reddiar’s! Saturday started off with Tanush’s first soccer lesson. Oh he loved it! It’s hard to guess when he would suddenly get shy though, even if it’s while playing. He did take well to his coach. He even scored the last goal!

Makes me think we have to get him to play ball outside as often as possible. While he is surely competitive, it would help if he knows his way around football.

Sunday started off with lots of house work, cooking, cleaning, working on my cook-book videos etc. At 1, we went to get a picture taken for Megha for her dance (Jazz) recital. I messed up with the time and we went a little late. We still could get her individual picture taken though. I think she looks really sweet. She slowly is starting to get into makeup and all. She would ask me for my press powders/ bronzer. Her favourite part of the makeup ritual is the lipstick and the blush though. Megha is growing up so fast! I still recall 4 summers ago on her very ballet recital.

We went out for ice cream after. It’s a little mom and pop ice-cream shop on the main street; Jay’s. Tanush took a fancy Spiderman ice-cream and Megha was more comfortable with her usual chocolate. This girl cannot get enough of the chocolate!

We also went to get Tanush’s haircut done at Cookie-Cutters. He loves that place and the staff are really sweet with him. He loves the way his hair looks with gel on; I am planning on buying some gel for him sometime soon.

The day ended with a little bike/scooter ride on the sidewalk. This weather is so beautiful. I love it.

Junior Kindergarten orientation for Tanush

05/23/2019

Time goes by way too fast and Tanush is now ready to join JK in the same school Megha is. Whats more, Megha's  JK/SK teacher told us that she will request Tanush to be in her class! He made a little butterfly craft at daycare that day and he took it to give it to his teacher (Mrs M was delighted to have it).

In front of the school.

Inside the school

Inside his room. This may or may not be his actual room but all rooms look fairly similar to this room.

Tanush isnt as keen on joining JK. He fully doesnt articulate why. His mind was much at ease when we visited the classroom though. He did play a little. we went to the washrooms he will be using and he was delighted to find that the toilets were kid-sized and he has nothing to worry about. Here is where he washes his hands; water fountain is right beside this sink.

I think he is going to be OK after a few days of tears.

here is the Kindie-pen where he would be spending a lot of time. It is safe to say, he was a lot less relieved after his visit to school about school.