Beach Holidays Anyone??

As Kapu Chittis post with pictures of Surya and Uthras holiday has been deleted I decided to post some of our pictures. We had a fantastic holiday with amma and appa and since its summer here, its beach time!! :))

We first went to Sydney and then Cairns. And everyone voted hands down for Cairns as the best place of their trip. The coral ref was fantastic and we all tried snorkelling although Prashanth was the only one who managed to go diving.

Harbour bridge in the back ground

Walking over the bridge

Darling harbour and lots of Santas

In Cairns - walking through a rainforest

 Barron Gorge falls a spectacular waterfall in Cairns

 Esplanade in Cairns. As you can see the beach is just muddy water. We needed to travel out for about 1 and 1/2 hours to actually get to the reef

 Posing near the boats

 Sindhu and Rakesh posing for a romantic photograph and Amma doing the preliminaries :))

 Grandfather and grandson on the boat

 Everyone is ready to snorkel!!!

 Blue blue sea

canadians

so the canadians have come and gone with lots of family drama, lots of fun and laughter, and lots of get togethers. it was good meeting and having them and trying to co ordinate this mad , over enthusiastic family .a few snaps of their trip

oor kavalkaran, with ayyanar.

their govt bus experience on the way to pondy. it got crowded as we went along and all used surya as a stand for bags and baggage. 

at the tea kadai stop ,

pondy beach at night 

wayside picnic with the inevitable puliodharai , potatoe ,eggs and curd rice , and a cow thrown in for company 

under the banyan tree with jagadish and haru at auroville 

the assorted group at edanthangal bird sanctuary 

 and lastly the mad dash to tirupathi for the motaii.

Happy New Year

Can we hear it from everyone what they are doing for Xmas and New Year celebrations. There seem to be some family get togethers going on so lets hear about them.

Kapu's bday seems to have been celebrated at Pondy with NRIs and Is in attendance.

Christmas is at Adelaide for us with the house strewn packed with boxes all around. DArshini and Prashanth are shifting on the 27th, the same day Sindhu and Rakesh are going back home.
So New Year will be unpacking and setting up.

We had a great holiday in Cairns which is the place one takes off to see the Great Barrier reef. Lovely small town with broad roads, little traffic and a lovely esplanade beside the sea. We tried snorkelling, cycling swimming and just lazing. great place for family holiday.
snaps when things get sorted out.

More Adelaide!

The famous Adelaide Oval. Lawn outside is being readied for Christmas Carols

In front of the Adelaide Entertainment Center 

Happy Mother-Son moment

 By the river Torrent. Those paper boat looking things are part of an Art  thing -  communicating we go!

Black swans! They are pretty tame and come up immediately looking for food

The ultimate .. cutting the grass with a remote mower

No wonder it all looks great

 bridge across the river Torrent , near the University of Adelaide

 Lots of locks o the hand rails and what are they locking?

Love!!!!

marathon snaps.

sajit and his friends before marathon.

babu -- your gift t -shirt was worn for the marathon

his marathon bib and

post marathon status.

MARATHON MUM

Unaware of the consequences I was happy to know that SAJIT  was participating in the marathon. From afar, while he was in hostel ,I encouraged him -’ How did u train today ? You ran 10 km today . Excellent !’. 

And then he landed home 5 days before the marathon. I was transformed into Marathon Mum. He said “ I need to stock up on carbohydrates”. So there i was at 6.00am in the morning making idlies and chutney for breakfast, rice, sambar, kirai kootu , and poriyal for the afternoon, before rushing off to work at 8.30 am. Evening at 7. Pm it was to be a protein rich diet -so back to kitchen to make chicken and rice again . U cant leave out the carbos !!!. Meanwhile SANJAY hates rice , and for two meals a day------Yuck !!!!. So something else for him.

Oh ! Dont forget the daily milk shakes ---- u need calcium and milk for the muscles and bones .  A concotion of milk[calcium], sugar[ instant energy] dates[iron] cashews [essential oils] and a few badams with a different fruit was the mid morning energy drink --made at 6.00 am and left in the fridge. 

da before the run he was joined by 2 friends who were running the marathon-si it was triple the carbohydrates and proteins .

While i was busy in the kitchen you must be wondering what Mr. Marathon was upto. Intense Training ? No not at all. He was lolling around in the hall watching TV , cursing when there was nothing interesting, and shifting to the bedroom with a book when i tried to get him out running , apart from reading on the internet what diet to follow for a marathon. He called it conserving energy for the run. His parting short as i closed the front door rushing late to work ------ ‘ Ma, Dont forget to get a dozen Banannas .’ I cursed , and thought - he will only manage to run to the bathroom and not the marathon if he consumes so many bannanas !!!!!.

Gritting my teeth I bore it, “ Just you wait ! Until the marathon is over !.”   The day dawned, he ran the run, 

completed 21 km and came back with a sprained foot. So now its back to TV watching  with a bandaged foot 

 stretched on a footstool and rest for him , while poor me is back to waiting hand and foot.‘ ma , can u get me some water, Can You just hand me the remote please,’ and ‘it says on the net that muscle sprain needs rest, lots of protein and ...............’.

i am organising a run against the internet .any takers !!!!!!!!!!!!

i will upload photos later 

kapu

Sunshine and beaches

HI Babu hope this answers your question about the weather.here.

Ruth, an Austrian, colleague of Prashanth's took us to the beach one day for a picnic. The waters were all shades of blue. But shallow near the beach so Advaith had a great time. So did we.

This was trekking on a nearby mountain.one Sunday afternoon. Advaith was sleepy so Prashanth had to carry him.

 Sand art at another beach.They use special  sand  and compress it. for some days before carving it.

The neighbourhood near the house where we go for walks and jogs (prashanth). Jacandara trees are very common here.