Adventures in the DMV - Part 1

We are spending the 2021-22 academic year in the DC metro area, and have been having a wonderful time seeing family and touring the area!

 Here are Milan and Kirin off to summer camp with their cousins

The metro has been an attraction in and of itself, especially for Milan who has all of the stations memorized and is tracking which ones he's visited on a map on our wall

Kirin has taken over our jacuzzi tub in the bathroom for nightly bubble baths

First day of 1st and 4th grade, riding a school bus for the first time to a new school!

One of our first days of being tourists involved visiting the Washington Monument and seeing the aerial view

We also hit up Union Station

We took a scenic bike ride to Gravelly Point to see the planes land at Reagan Airport

 

 

and painted the town red

Milan's new pastime is hanging on everything that supports his weight (and some things that don't..)

Excursion to Mt. Vernon

Day at the zoo

This is how they spend most waking hours at the grandparents'

Diwali party

Veteran's Day at Arlington Cemetary

Fall photos at Rock Creek Park

Check out a sampling of photos from my frequent walks around our temporary home and other sights around the nation's capital

Summer 2021 - Birthday Edition

 Within 6 weeks in the summer, we celebrate 3 birthdays in our household!

Milan had a 3-part birthday celebration with friends in San Diego, family in Tustin, and back at home at his favorite restaurant in the bay area.

Obligatory pics with Brownie (with some signs of starting to pack up in the background)

We celebrated Sunil's birthday with a fondue dinner

It was the first time we took the kids to a restaurant with a dress code (which we took to mean "don't wear jeans with holes in them")

Shortly after Sunil's birthday, we relocated to the DC area for the year, where Kirin turned 6 among extended family

New backdrop but the same stuffy and quilt!

No birthday interviews this year, though we are working on documenting our year's worth of adventures in DC through videos and writing!

Road trip to SoCal

 We had a real vacation as a last hurrah in California in LA and San Diego

Our airbnb had a chicken coop, a hammock, a hot tub, some swings, and...

 a trampoline, enjoyed by adults and kids alike

We had a blast returning to Legoland, where the highlights were the Technic roller coaster, splashing down Pirate Reef, and the Bionicle Blaster

After a day at the beach,

some people were ready to call it a week!

Springing open

We spent our spring post-vaccination cautiously venturing out and about...

 

Mother's Day brunch in San Francisco

followed by our annual photo shoot in front of our blooming roses (and wearing the same clothes as two years prior which fit better now)

the last day of school,

and some fountain hopping on campus.

I finally finished my pandemic project - a paint-by-numbers that you may see in my new zoom background one day soon.