Priya Tickling the Ivories

Look for Priya on stage soon:

Houston in March: Rodeo and Warm Weather

We just got back from a week in Texas. Priya and Ami spent the whole week in Sugar Land with Ami's family while I snuck off to Austin for a few days for SXSW. It was Shrayen and Dhilan's spring break, so early in the week we all had a lot of fun outside. Here are some highlights:





Priya loves her cousins as if they were bhais (which means brothers) and that's what she calls them. She was giving them hugs all week long, whether they liked it or not. Dhilan did not like the hugs for the most part! She also loves holding their hands when walking. Priya also got to spend some time with her bhais and her friend Maria Elena at the Houston Rodeo:

We stood in line for this carnival ride at the rodeo only to find out that I could not ride it with her. She was supposed to be too small to ride alone but carnies are not the most strict workers out there. I was pretty nervous letting her ride by herself but I strapped her in pretty tight and motioned for her to keep her hands on the wheel the whole ride. Not surprisingly she loved the ride and had to go again before being forcefully led away upset that she could not go a third time!

Priya loves wagons, this we know. What we found out is that she really likes being in wagons with other people. Everytime she got in the wagon she would pat the other seat which meant - "hop in". Shrayen was the only taker. She even managed to pull Shrayen around in the wagon (I think mostly downhill)!

One of Shrayen and Dhilan's friends had a birthday party on a rare rainy day. The party quickly moved from the zoo to a ceramics painting place. We were not sure if Priya would have fun but she jumped right in and did a great job painting this elephant piggy bank pink and purple.

Priya really enjoyed the warm weather. The first day she kept rubbing her legs because she wasn't wearing pants for the first time in a long time. She especially liked her new skirt.

More pictures and videos are on the way...

San Diego Part 2: Friends and Fun

Sea World had Priya totally exhausted. Although, she was really really enjoying facing forward in her car seat.

After taking a quick rest in the Bumbo it was time to party with some friends.

Tobin and Priya were a handful for me. I guess I better get used to carrying two! Tobin was kind enough to show Priya around his play area:

On our last full day, we stopped by the Snyder house where we had a nice relaxing afternoon in their backyard watching the kids play. We really really need a backyard. We had a great time in San Diego. Might have to come back soon.

Fun and Sun in San Diego Part 1: Sea World

We managed to escape to San Diego last weekend for some warmth and sun (although it has actually been a fairly nice winter in Portland with many sunny days). We visited with some old friends and braved a couple of trips to Sea World. Sea World is super pricey but if you pay a full fare single day admission it is good for a year. Go figure. Priya had a blast at Sea World, especially in the Sesame Street area.

She loved crawling through tunnels. The bottom one moved and she needed a little encouragement from Mom.

I took her on Ernie's Rockin' Eel - basically the rocking pirate ship but it does spins and rocks sideways. These were Priya's first rides and we weren't sure how she would like them. As you can tell above, she was having a lot of fun. She held on tight but had a smile on her face the whole time. Mom took her on the Flying Fishes ride and she loved that one too.

Below is Priya on Sea World's version of the teacup ride. You should have seen Dad's face. It was much worse.

Priya really enjoyed checking out all of the animals as well. It was hard to get good pictures of her and the animals because she was always looking into the displays and the pictures are all of the back of her head. The walrus was one of her favorites. We had to pry her away from this big fella.

More San Diego fun soon....