Traditionally south Indian brahmins do three things when the kid turns one.
1. Tonsure kids head
2. Pierce ears
3. A ceremony to pray for the kids long life that coincides with both.
When Jr. turned one, we had a cermony at home to pray for her long life. It was a quiet ceremony as it was done in the US with a priest and close relatives only.. on a weekday morning. Well, that last part explains everything else.
We were told by the local barber shop that "tonsuring" was not legal in the US for one year olds, so we did the tonsuring two months early in India. The ceremony happened on her birthday per the Tamil calendar and that left the ear piercing. It was again a muted affair at the local Claire's in Vallco mall at almost mall closing time. It wasn't all that muted because Jr. let out a scream that could have registered a 2.2 on the Richter scale. A few minutes later, she was her usual self..
It was not easy digging up those old pictures. They were in a Maxtor drive that could be opened with an "old PC".. Spent an hour just to get the pics with some bigtime help from Jr.
Today, 12 1/2 years later, we went to another Claire's at another mall to get her a second set of earrings. Given mommy has three in each ear, Jr. has been clamoring for another set since she was ten. We told her she can get it when she turns thirteen. That was many months ago, but we kept pushing it back for no big reason.
Unlike the first one, this was a two minute deal ! The collage says it all...
Apparently that bear is called the Claire-bear.. we don't remember having access to that thing 12 years ago!
The next stop on our 2015 year end trip was to Suresh mama's house. Let posterity note that we stayed with them for days and did not make a flying visit!
As soon as we reached Suresh Mama's (uncles) house, the first thing Jr. saw was the nice Veena sitting in their family room. His mom plays the Veena and she let Jr. try it and was giving her a quick lesson.
Jr. loved it so much that she asked to say there and play while we wanted to keep traveling. We had to pull her off the Veena.
By day 2, she got the hang of it and with more coaching from Amala paati she was able to play "Vara Veena"
Now she wants us to buy her a Veena.
Guess nothing beats a Tanjavoor Veenai, to get a kid hooked to Carnatic music!
- we did not have to chase after them or worry about them getting lost as they had cell phones with them
- they eat faster and by themselves
- they don't need to be accompanied to the rest rooms
- and they were bold enough to go on "single rider" passes to bypass the long lines.
Granted, going as single riders kind of defets the "family" aspect of it, but hey.. we stay in the same line till the ride point.. then we split up into differnt cars and we are usually within one or two cars in each ride. Once inside the ride, it is all dark and dingy for the most part and you are screaming your head off.. except for the little one, who missed squeezing daddy's hand during the rides we were okay.
We started off the day with the usual pictures at the entrance..
moved through the park and did as many rides as we could. We did stand in line for 40 minutes to go "as a family" in Space Mountain .. so we could buy the photograph they click at the end. We are so familiar now that we pose for the camera on Space Mountain.
We ran back and forths, got fast passes where we could, split up to do different things every now and then.. basically let the kids decide.
we watched two parades and parallel processed one parade while standing in line for "it's a small world"!
Then the kids decided to wait in line for 60 minutes in Toon town for a 60 second ride while San decided to stand in line for a little over an hour to get a picture with Mickey... for old times sake!
I was torn between the two and did neither. Just sat at the fountain and took pictures for passers by..
Selfie sticks are banned in Disney.. and it is so sad to watch 8 people try to fit into a selfie. Did my bit of social service while watching the kids inch their way to the top of the line for their ride. Lot of good karma in that one hour in Toon town!
The kids knew I was mad after their ride because the sun had set and daddy had told them that toontown looks amazing just before sunset as the colors come alive! after receiving a little lecture and promptly forgetting that lecture, we moved fast to exit the park.. at 6PM.. that was a first!
Good Karma sometimes doesn't come back right away. I took the picture above of the kids, then went stood there and asked this lady to take a picture.. we got this back. For some reason, she decided to do her own thing.. we are happy that the family was in the frame!
then came the best part. As part of the package ticket, my darling wife had got us this pass for "dining with characters" at Goofy's kitchen in the Disney resort. The kids took a short break to dress up and we went for dinner..
we had the time of our life watching them be so happy!
You can see from the video that the highlight was Goofy's kitchen..
We had shared iPhone photos from Disney on FB.. Had to come home to get this one from the Canon.. This one is going to be framed.
Next time, we should just skip the park and stay at the resort (we have never done that) and just have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the characters.. more fun.. more smiles!
One weird thing on this trip.. There were no desis in sight in the park. We were joking that someone must have sent a memo to all desis telling them that 30th was a no Disney day or something and we missed the memo! We saw maybe 3 or 4 desi families in the park all day.
This year Jr. got a visit from her "not so secret santa" and got a new Alto Saxophone to celebrate the holidays. Her old saxophone had a rod and screw drop off after her last school performance. The part is in back order till end of January. Given she has other performances coming and the fact that she has wanted to graduate from a student saxophone to a professional grade one.. we relented! We are also tired of doing the pickup and drop off from her school because she has to haul this large saxophone case to practice. From February she can leave the student version in school and practice on the pro instrument at home!
These instruments are expensive. So this is the last one we are buying her. They tell us this will last 10-15 years. We have nicely informed Jr. that she will be buying her next saxophone with her own paycheck!
So far she loves the sound of the Yamaha YAS 62-III. It is also lighter than her student version. Why a student version will be heavier is beyond me.
The Christmas holiday has started today.
The kids were practicing their music this morning and with a lot of censoring I am pleased to announce that this version has been approved for the blog..
Our entire family wishes you a very merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday!
Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 8:39PM ;)
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