Basketball at Lifetime Fitness

 

Christmas Don’t Be Late

We can hardly wait for Christmas this year. It's not even Thanksgiving and we are preparing for Christmas. The tree is out, ginger bread man is gracing our dish drying mats and holly patterned kitchen towels are hanging right next to the pumpkin patch ones. 

Diya has been up since 5am making presents wish-list and spent the whole day cooking and shopping. Dinner includes mussels cooked in mushroom broth, pasta and Alfredo sauce, roasted peppers soup with artisan bread served with Norah Jones's new holiday album setting the mood in the background. 

Aadi - the one who does not eat fish - demanded and ate all of his squid ink fettuccine to the point of licking his bowl. The mussels were discarded … well because, don't we know, he does not eat fish!

I enjoyed a chilled glass of my favorite Chardonnay and played Ludo with Aadi while Diya and Suvo bustled about in the kitchen. 

And just like that, we are ready for the holidays. 

(Diya is passed out with exhaustion at the end of the day. She has totally earned a hand massage today - another favorite bedtime routine.)

What a delicious evening!

Panic email from Aadi when school bus was canceled

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Ganguli, Aditya <ganguliad@northvilleschools.net>
Date: Mon, Nov 1, 2021 at 9:54 AM
Subject: hi
To: <ankurganguli2006@gmail.com>, Suvo Ganguli <subhabrata.ganguli@gmail.com>

guys you gotta pick me up after school

they cancelled busses for the week, so you gotta pick me up

to make it even simpler
NO BUS.
PICK ME UP AT 3:03

Home Coming 2021 (finally w/ pics!)

Yesterday was a perfect "home coming" after months of struggle. This year was tough with the impacts of pandemic wearing us out to the bones. That was compounded by the debacle of (yet another) flooded bathroom and garage, cars colliding into each other, kids losing traction in school and general disarray at home. And did I mention the missing passports! 

Last few days a lot of stuff came around and came together- house is fixed, new passports arrived, kids are enjoying in-person school, grades are skyrocketing up, we had a marathon celebration for Diya's 16th Birthday- and, finally finally finally, smiles are back on the faces!! 

Aadi's donation of his mane was almost ceremonial and very symbolic, shedding his coat of last season. And so was Diya going to the school dance with her friends - ditching her worn out sweatpants and converses for a fitting dress, bold makeup and yes, those Doc Martens!

Suvo cooked a ton of food and invited couple of friends from work for a reunion- who interestingly enough interacted with us and with Aadi with same ease - discussions mostly centered around emerging technologies, of which Aadi seemed to have acquired a surprising depth and breadth. (It seems he has been reading the IEEE Spectrum and Wired magazines we get, as much as we do!). There is something to be said about Geek-dom crossing generational boundaries. It was a new and refreshing experience and one to look forward to in years to come - continuing to share and build common interests- from Disney Pixar & Marvel to food & travel to music and now technology!

Feels like we are well on our way to coming back home after a long painful detour of the pandemic trail. I can smell the cinnamon pine cones, taste the pumpkin spice muffins and feel the warmth of elaichi-chai!

(Had to submit multiple times before getting it correctly posted with pics! Maybe the ordeal is not over yet :/)

Diya’s 16th Surprise Birthday!

https://youtu.be/XRXPE7XTfm0

Chicken Fajita

Home made chicken fajita while Mamma is backpacking in the Smokies!

Rakhi 2021