Father's Day

For the past seven years or so, it has been a family tradition to spend Father's Day at my parents' cottage on Nevins Lake near Stanton, MI. We made it up there a little later in the day because our morning was spent in Ada at the final day of opening ceremonies of the West Michigan Hindu Temple. The opening ceremonies at the temple were a three-day event, but we were only able to attend the final day. We sponsored one of the poojas and took part in the procession around the outside of the temple. It was quite an event, and now I wish I had brought my camera along for photos and video. I left it in the car out of respect for the deities, but everyone else was clicking away with cameras and cell phones, etc. The procession was beautiful, peaceful, and a once in a lifetime event. There was even a cow outside which Samedh loved. The best way I can describe the experience is that it was like a little bit of India had come home to us. The sights and sounds from Sunday are a regular occurence in India, and it was just nice having the experience closer to home.

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After we arrived up north, my sister Dena took a few photos of our family before we changed into our "cottage wear". After all, it's not everyday we dress in Indian formal attire while at the lake. The rest of the day was spent with family, including my brother Joe, cousin Steven, and Uncle Bernie. Samedh's favorite past time at the cottage is swinging on the swing. That's all he remembers doing last summer, and all he cared to do this time. As he gets older, we will be able to take him out in a row boat or paddle boat, just like the big kids do.

Lake Michigan Video

This video was taken last Saturday when we visited Tunnel Park/Lake Michigan. Samedh was having fun carrying water to his "construction site", but forgot to pour the water AWAY from himself. Thankfully, he was wearing swim trunks which dried quickly.

Hitting the Beach Once Again

Last Saturday we surprised Samedh with a trip to Tunnel Park on Lake Michigan. When he woke up from his nap, all we told him was that we had a "surprise" for him. He suggested that maybe the surprise was a treasure hunt, just like in one of his new books. That gave me an idea, and I quickly hid little notes around the house and in the car so we could follow the clues to the treasure/surprise. The first note was inside Samedh's toy mailbox. It said, "Take Daddy's car for the surprise." While Samedh and Pankaj were getting ready, I quickly added a couple notes to Pankaj's car and packed up the beach toys and other gear. Samedh had no clue where we were headed. We found another clue on the steering wheel which read, "Daddy, please drive west." So we did. If you drive west from our house, you have no choice but to dead end into Lake Michigan (which is only 15-20 minutes away). As we pulled in to Tunnel Park's parking lot, I conveniently pulled my sun visor down. And guess what? Another clue fell into my lap. It said, "Don't forget the toys in the back of the car." Samedh still didn't know where we were, except that we were at some sort of park with playground equipment. (You can't see the lake until you walk through the sand dune tunnel or over the top of the dunes.) We opened the back of Pankaj's Saturn Vue and Samedh was so excited to see his big basket of beach toys, including his beloved dune buggy. THEN he knew where we were. We had a wonderful time that evening, and stayed until the clouds rolled in over the lake.

New Video

Just testing out another video post here. This was taken during our Chicago wedding weekend around Memorial Day. The night before the wedding, they had a traditional garba dance. For some reason, the sound is not working on this video.

I hope to post some Lake Michigan beach video sometime later today...

Where did May go?

Celebrating 100 years of Holy Name School, Wyoming, Michigan.

Samedh and I posing outside the front of the elementary school I attended grades K-8.

Mother's Day

Indian wedding weekend in Chicago

May went very fast for our family. We've been busy and have been taking so many pictures, and a lot of them just didn't make it to this post. We spent the last day of May at Johnson Park for the India-Link Picnic. I tried to include a collage of picnic pics, but maybe I reached the maximum Picasa would allow in one post. I'll include those at a later time.

June is looking just as busy for us, if not busier. We have a graduation party next weekend, and the West Michigan Hindu Temple will be opening for the first time next weekend as well. It will be a three-day event, and we hope to make it to two. Later this month, a number of Bal Vikas adoptive families will be gathering in Chicago for a long-awaited reunion.