Disneyland 2015

Stop 5 on the road trip was Disneyland.. Well, it was supposed to be stop 1, but we moved things a bit last minute to travel early!

We have stopped counting how many times we have visited "the happiest place on earth"..

When you are that happy, you shouldn't count!

The highlight of this trip was that our kids

- were not in strollers 

- 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. 

All four of us had a great time, yet again!

The Mission at Bonaventura

Third stop on year end trip.. which happened on day 2 morning was the Mission at Bonaventura. It is the number one tourist destination in Ventura. 

We also like to go see the Missions. Someday I will finish Photobloging all the Missions. We were talking about how 200 plus years ago Juniperro Serra managed to walk along the coast and set up a mission practically every 75 miles or so.. and he set up 20+ Missions along the coast.  

Then I reminded my kids of Adi Sankara.. who was born in Kaladi (they have been there) and went all the way to Kashmir by foot, establishing a Mission wherever he went,  around 1300 years ago!

A persons conviction and calling can make them do wonderful things! If you have never been to these missions, you should try to go see them. There is a lot of history in them, but more importantly, they are simple and elegant as places of worship. Not much of gold and dazzle.. mostly wood but there is a peace and serenity in these places that seeps in when you sit there and close your eyes. 

This mission is beautiful. 

 They have a little gift shop and there is a nominal fee to enter like all the other missions.

There is a museum with some of Juniperro Serra's artifacts. 

The wooden bells were intersting!

These beads reminded me of the Rudraksham, which is interesting. Most other rosaries I have seen are just smooth wood beads. This one was different.

There is a matching fountain inside the compound as well as three trees that were planted when the mission was started. They are still flourishing. 

Next year when we revisit San Diego, we will to go the one in Oceanside.. 

There are a lot of boards that explain how life was in this mission and the aquaduct that brought stable agriculture to this region starting from this mission. It was very interesting.

There was a baptism going on inside. We did not know if the bagpipe was part of that function or not, but we enjoyed it all the same!

He played for a good 10 minutes to entertain the crowd in the courtyard! 

The main sanctum was quiet. We sat there quietly for a good 20 minutes and I got a chance to meditate.

The priest showed the kids that one of the important relics in this Church was a piece of the Cross of Jesus. The little one was confused as the wood was not obviously visible but inside the metal. Think priests everywhere have a tough challenge when it comes to explaining things to kids! 

This is how it looks inside. The inside was dark, so placed the camera on the floor and did a 15 second exposure. Jr. was very impressed with my "skills" after seeing this photograph!

If you have a few hours to spare and happen to go by Ventura, strongly recommend the Bonaventura Mission. 

Hathayoga Mathayoga…

2015 is almost done. Today I updated the excel spreadsheet again to review how this year went compared to previous years, as far as Yoga goes..

This year it was 209 so far. That is the best in the last three years! This year also saw 87 travel days. Very happy with this years push to do more Yoga personally and with the way my family pushed me to keep going. 

 

4 days a week should count as "regular" attendance..

and finally the weight tracking... something seems to be off.. I still track my weight after class every day but the weight is now stabilzing around 148 instead of 142. Either I have a new normal or the weighing machine that is ten plus years old has an issue and we need to buy a new one. The wife and kids are thrilled at the prospect of the new machine theory.  

Well, Jr. was supposed to take videos of me doing standing bow and toe stand.. which are two of my favorite poses, but she took pictures instead of videos.

Chin to dimple in shoulder contact works magic compared to cheek in dimple of shoulder, but when you take pictures, the truth always shows! 

The leg seems to be up a lot more now. Calling that as a response to "get your body parallel to the ground" is an insult to my 8th Grade geometry teacher! 

This one though, I like. Can lift off 3 to 4 inches off the heel now and have also managed to have the thighs parallel to the ground and the spine straight. Working on doing this on the right side to match the left.

The one thing that no graph will tell? Kicked out my leg (only left leg) to go from step 1 to step 2 in the "standing head to knee" pose a total of three times this year. Locked the knee for a full 60 seconds only ten or so times.

2016 resolution is to "Lock the knee" for a full 60 seconds and kick that leg out! 

Have become a true believer in the concept of "eventually"!

There are a lot of things that happen in the hot room that were really "not me" five years ago. Based on that, have realized that things happen if one keeps making incremental progress. So there is confidence on locking that knee... even if it doesn't happen in 2016, it will happen...

eventually!

ps. Jr. and the little one would actually like to see me do a standing split. Even that can happen.. eventually!