Road Trip!!!

I have always wanted to do a road trip, ekdum US style - RV, camping, small towns and big roads. Usual trips just take us to from point A to B and after spending a few days checking out place B we return, not ever stepping away from the main highways. This summer we decided it was finally time to test the waters.

We headed in our van (Yes I know, next time the big RV) on a 10 day road trip - which ended up being a 11 day trip (change plans on the road, check). Out paths took us along the Calfifornia coastline up to Oregon.

We started early in the morning and headed to Florence Oregon. The beautiful landscape of trees and blue skies along the highway made way to coastline and sanddunes by evening.  As we settled into our small town B&B, the typical Oregon weather assaulted us with rains and dark skies. Our hopes of a grand road trip looked bleaker as we thought about Kochunni's asthma and other troubles. We decided to grab a bite and head to safe corners of our room and see how things turn out the next day.

On our buggy ride over the sand dunes

Mornings always seems more hopeful and joyous than the dark nights and with the rains slowing down a bit we decided we need to first get some reinforcements. We hit the local store and bought raincoats for everyone and drove up to the sanddunes to ride the RTVs. As Goddess Luck turned to shine on us, we basked in its glory as they let us go on the smaller buggies than the bigger ones that we were supposed to go on. Smaller buggy meant double the fun as the driver took nose dives and turned around pushing sand everywhere. We experienced the awesome windswept dunes and rode along the beach while the boys screamed to their little hearts delight. The rains kept away through the morning and late afternoon for us to linger and enjoy the small town.

The next day we headed to Sea Lion caves that is a wonder and a delight in itself. As we took the elevator down to the caves the temperature dropped and we stepped into a cavern filled with sounds of the sea lions, ocean waves and sea birds hooting. On our way back we stopped by our first lighthouse of our trip at the Heceta Head Lighthouse. The little overlook reminded the boys of pirate ships and wondrous journeys that old seafarers took back in the day.

From Florence, we headed to town of cheese - Tillamook.

Kids on the airplane at the air museum

Post a tour of the cheese factory and bountiful helpings of ice cream we headed to call it a night. Of course, not before a swim for the boys at the hotel pool. As we let go of our need for appointments and seeing everything in the alotted vacation days we adjusted well to late nights and sleep-ins - this  another check for our road adventure.

The next day we treated the boys to little bit of time travel as we took them to the days of world war 2. We took them to Tillamook Air Museum which is actually a former hanger built for blimps. Today it holds around 30 airplanes that the boys checked out in great detail. Their fascination piqued we had to entertain them with toy air crafts from the gift shops as we exited. We then traveled to our second light house.

After the couple of small towns we headed to the bustle of Portland. There we visited the Multnomah Falls, a 611 foot drop of icy waterfall display. The boys and I took to only the first tier of the water fall display, while hubby decided to trail all the way to the top of the waterfall- to see the vantage point over the second tier's whopping 69-foot drop. Kochu, Kunju and I headed back to the nearby restaurant to have our lunch. It was possibly our first time at a real sit down "nice" restaurant with just me and the boys and for a change they behaved. There was no cringe worthy display of tantrums or talk backs and we enjoyed our meals while we waited for a call from husband about his trek.

Suspension Bridge

Post ice creams and some more time at the falls we headed back. The next day we headed to the to Washington to see Mt. Helens - an active stratovolcano. Unfortunately, we lost our way and ended up in south side that though gave us the view of the mountain did not get us near the Lava Dome of the mountain. But what is a road trip without its share of adventure. Plus this gave us a rare and unexpected opportunity to hike up the Canyon trail that led us the springy suspension bridge over the Muddy river.

The thrill of hike was not only the views and the bridge but also getting Kochu to be my little helper - holding Amma's hand to help her cross and climb down steep and slippery rocks. He was (as expected) extremely proud of his little achievement. The next day we headed to the Enchanted Forest theme park and the Wildlife Safari as we headed back to California. In the evening we headed to a river cruise that one big thrill ride. Along the Hood river the ride was both exhilarating and breathtaking. This was a great way to finish off our Oregon trip or so we thought.

Kunju looking out from our van at the animals

Our friends suggested we head back via Crater Lake and I am glad we took their suggestion as this breathtaking beauty is not to be missed. The deep blue clear waters and surrounding mountains are so serene and unadulterated that it reminds us of what the earth might have been  thousands of years ago.

Crater lake

The extra day was indeed well spent and we headed home happy.


The road trip was adventures and a great way to start the summer. It was probably not the ultimate  road trip but as our first family road trip it will go down as a memorable one.


Until the next one, Bon Voyage!!!

Saying the wrong things

At Kochunni’s pre-school the teachers started a reading challenge some months ago. Every time the kids read a book they got a little magnet to take home and put on the poster. The idea is to encourage kids and give them the magnet as motivation to get through the 15 or so books. As you can imagine these are just simple books about a few pages long that help kids start to blend, rhyme and read.

A while back, Kochunni finished all the 15 books and gladly posted all the magnets on the fridge (he insisted that he wanted to get all of them before he put up anything) and that’s when we noticed that he had received two same magnets and was missing one. I told him that we take one of the similar ones to school tomorrow and exchange it for the one he was missing.

The next day when I went to pick him up I took the additional magnet and took it to the teacher. Now I might add, the teachers are usually still with other kids and the policy of the school is that if you want to chat with teachers you set up an appointment. So usually we just smile and say our goodbyes unless something has occurred like a child fell and bruised himself/herself or did not take nap or something.

So I went up to the teacher and mentioned the issue with the magnets and she started to check her cupboard to see if she had the missing magnet to give it to me. Kochunni was eagerly waiting alongside to get the same. Unfortunately she did not seem to have the one that we were missing so she asked that we check back later. Kochunni said ok and started to walk towards the door; and I was about to do the same, when the teacher said –I have to say something, today he said to a girl “I will ask my mom to kill your mom” and girl started to cry. We talked to him about it, but wondering were he got these ideas. Does he watch much television?

To say I was shocked would be like saying it rained today. I was blown over!

I told her, “no not really we only let him watch some TV over weekends which is still the kids stuff on PBS. She continued, “Its ok, he is just becoming mischievous these days, if you could also talk to him about it.” I said I sure will and looked up at Kochunni who was standing a few feet away near the door.

As I stepped out of the class, I asked him, what exactly did you do today to hear his side of the story. He immediately pouted and said he said what his teacher said he did. I asked him why that was the case and isn’t it a bad thing to say? We continued the discussion on the car ride back home. All the while he would cry at times or pout or at times try to defend himself by saying how she (the girl) would not play with him. I would try to counter each his arguments from pointing out his mistakes and telling him how “not playing” at a certain time did not warrant such a remark from him.

In my head, I had thousands of questions and not many answers.

As I was reaching home I decided that he needed to at least acknowledge his mistake clearly so I told him that he will need to write an “I am sorry” note and take it back to his teacher the next day. When he was afraid he couldn’t do it all by himself, I told him I would help him with the spelling and that it important for forgiveness to happen. I told him that I still loved him but that I am a little sad by what he did and expect him to do better next time.

As we turned to our lane, he cried once again that now even his Ammamma will be angry with him so I promised that I will not bring this up with his grandma, as long as he promises to never do or say something like this ever again. He nodded his head solemnly at me. Upon reaching home he rushed to have his snack and when I asked him about the note he was ready to write without a whine. He asked me again on how to give the letter and if that he could paint on the other side of the letter. I told him that I would bring it to school and it’s ok if there is no picture as this is note and not a birthday card. The next day I shared the note with his teacher. She mentioned that it was totally not necessary and smiled at me. She confirmed that there were no episodes that day.

The incident is over and a few weeks have passed. But I still question myself not only on my actions but also if this would be the last of its nature. Kochunni definitely has a temper but he is a good kid too. He possibly could have meant to say something completely different and went on to say the wrong thing or could be testing the boundaries, but I guess only time will tell if these digressions will occur again. All I can hope for is to continuing to teaching him good from bad and have the sense of mind to say/do the right thing at the appropriate time. Its at times like these that I realize the being a parent is a very hard responsibility, there are no magic answers and only time will tell if I handled the situation appropriately or not.

Day trips

With toddlers, day trips are easier, rather fun and relaxing. Last weekend we made a trip to the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad for a picnic lunch, train & carousel ride. Three families, three kids and a nice warm day - a fun day for picnic.

Now even though I am pretty decent at organization at work and get things done in a timely manner, at home there are a lot of times where I seem to be playing 'catch up'. First off, I decided to make some moong dal + potato cutlets but forgot to pack bread to make the sandwich and had to borrow from our friends, who we picked up on the way. Our friends forgot plates for the rice they had made, though luckily I had remembered to carry some. I got Kochunni his favorite waffles but he wouldn’t eat any and I seemed to have no backup, but luckily our friends had got some muffins which he ate with delight. So somehow we managed. After a potpourri of lunch we hit the Railroad – a mini train ride around Vasona and Oak Meadow park. The kids enjoyed the ride and later Kochunni kept talking about the railway crossings, & the ‘paugha’ (smoke). We went to the play area along Oak Meadow Park and spent the next few hours watching the kids tumble and play. Of course, we had a fighting Kochunni on our hands when finally we decided to turn back, and I had to use my creative power to ask him to play catch to at least get him to leave the playgrounds and move towards the exit.

This weekend, the same friends called us over for another train ride, knowingly well that both our boys had enjoyed the mini-train ride last week. And so we found ourselves at Niles Canyon Railway, another non-profit weekend getaway that provides a 30 minutes train ride from Niles Station to Sunol Station. On aboard the steam train, there is a good hillside and nature to peek at transporting us to past, though the occasional view of the roads brought us right back into the present. The ride itself was pleasant though on the other end at Sunol there are just a couple of restaurants and a very small park (no play area) for folks to relax before boarding the next train back. Since we were now experts at picnic we managed to find a shady spot and relax for a while before letting the kids play around in the park. Since there was no play area we had to be innovative and played the choo-choo train, catch, I spy etc & kept the boys busy. With all the running around we were soon tired enough to call it a day. We headed back to the station, and the heat wave started to burn our skins. Kochunni hated being so hot and kept asking us to find him some shade though none was available. The little guy cried his heart out, and I felt so bad for him. But we soon headed back and once the train moved, Kochunni relaxed enough to enjoy the journey back. When we reached home, we headed straight to the bed wanting to curl up and nap. Of course, Kochunni hates taking naps these days and just kept bouncing off in the bed, though for a change husband and I relaxed enough to get a couple of winks.

In the evening I headed out to OSH (a local nursery cum hardware store) to get myself a little plant for the kitchen windowsill. As it happens I don’t really have a green thumb, unlike my mother-in law who is an ace at such things. Anyway, I picked up an African violet not even knowing much about Violets or any indoor plants for that matter, I was actually looking to buy a money plant (the only indoor plant name that I know of, (see how bad I am) but none was available so I picked out these pretty violets that were just too beautiful to pass off. After purchasing a green pot (Kochunni’s shopping influence) I came home happy. After a nice dinner, we were off to la-la land, as the hot day wore off into to warm night.

A break

With a couple of PTOs that both of us needed to take we decided to take some time off work and of course being parents holiday have to be decided with kids enjoyment in mind, we decided to drive down to Lego land.

The first big car ride alone with the fella, to say we were apprehensive would be a minor statement. I packed along a few books, a little coloring notepad and some of his cars. Of course being two lazy people in the world, all packing was done on the day of travel and we started out after lunch. Realizing that we had left a few things like the camera, some slippers for the beach, we had to come back to house a couple of times before we officially started the trip at 2.30.

With no sleep in sight for the little fella (with all the running around that we did probably), we set off watching the cars and trucks driving by. After a couple of hours, he did some coloring and realizing that there is nothing to do at all, he fell off to sleep. By the time he woke up, it was time for dinner and then in an hour we were at our destination.

The next day was a nice sunny day and with a little backpack full of goodies we arrived at Legoland. Having been to Disney and Universal a while ago we were expecting long lines, throngs of kids and tired parents but were sorely disappointed. This time around, we were able to get on most rides that Kochunni loved multiple times. His favorite was the pirate ship that held a big squirt water gun that could spout water at other ships that passed us, his second favorite the car ride along lego jungle. He also did his first (mini) roller-coaster ride where he was laughing hysterically when the cart dipped a few meters downs. We finished most of the rides and areas by 4 and then went around his favorite rides some more, realizing that we had the time. All in all a great day indeed.

As it turns out Legoland is a great place for toddlers, especially boys (2+ to maybe around 3 1/2 ) where they could mostly ride all the rides except for a couple like the big dragon roller coaster and a joy car ride. Of course the next age group that would probably enjoy would be the 6-7 year olds who play a lot with lego and understand the intricately created pieces.The Miniland USA is really great place to walk around.

The next day we were to come back, but we decided to stop at the beach in the morning and spend some time playing in the water and sand. This time around, Kochunni was more relaxed in the waters and enjoyed standing knee deep in it. He also loved to play in the sand with his little bucket and pail. The ride back was much tougher than the one in, with after a good nap, for the last 2 hours of the ride, he kept asking us to stop the car and pick him up. Yes, he is pretty demanding that way!

Anyway, a nice short much needed vacation.