Christmas vacations-Day 6- GOA

We got up in the morning and went to our host's place for breakfast. Reshma had made Bhaji with a lot of sprouts for us with Pav and the breakfast again was yummilicious.
We went aginn to the Colva beach and today there were too many people there. It was crowded what with the water sports and all that happening there.
We sat in one of the shacks and then went to play in the sea. It was so much fun to be in the water with the sun giving us heated stares ;-). Came back home and freshened up and got ready to leave Viva Goa wonderland and go back to the bruhad Bengalooru concrete jungle. We bid adieu to Raghu who was a wonderful host, asked him to catch up when he is in BLR.
We dropped the others to the Sea bird bus stand and went on our way on the high way. We reached BLR at 5am after stopping on the way for dinner and 2 teas.
Such a fitting end to a week long hoilday in the sun, sand and surf!!!!! It will take me a little while to come out of day dreaming about one of the bestest trip I have had till now :-))))))

Christmas Vacations- Day5- GOA

We got up in the morning at 7.30am got ready to go to another beach in South Goa - Covallasem Beach on the same stretch. Our host provided us with good breakfast - Pav Bhaji. It was yumm! we loved it. we left the house by 11am. went to covallasem, which was a quite a long drive from where we were staying.
Sat in 1 of the shacks with a few drinks and lunch for the kids. The kids went to play in the sea. I had 3 vodka shots and was quite high on the drink. On the way back home we stopped at a Baskin Robins outlet and had icecreams. I rode the bike back home - and 3 of us on it. It was reaally awesome time riding wen u are a little high with the wind in your hair, salt on your lips.
Came back home, freshened up a bit and went to Majorda beach but the beach was not completely accessible by car. We had to park our vehicles and walk quite a bit to the beach. It was dark and with 3 small children we did not want to risk walking in the dark. So, we went back and went to Benaulim beach - which was awesome yet again with very little people.
I was so high that i remember the way I was laughing so loud that everyone sitting close to us was staring at me. We had a running race on the beach. I fell down so hard and was laughing so hard that my eyes were tearing up. We called it a night and went back home to crash at 11.30pm.

Christmas vacations - Day 4 - Karwar

After yesterday's activities, we had decided to just relax today as we were supposed to leave today and travel back to BLR. At about 12pm we were waiting for lunch to be served after a successful bout of fishing wen my husband came up with this crazy idea of going to Goa from here instead of to Bangalore and we were all like why not if we get accomodation and if all works fine we will. we started making calls and enquiring about a place to stay in Goa and my husband got in touch with a friend and got us free acco. in a friends place. Wow! we were almost there. we hired a cab from Karwar to Goa and we reached Madgaon at 7.30pm. That is where we were staying. I had never been to South Goa earlier and this was my first time here. After freshening up we went to Colva beach, stayed there for some time had dinner, came back and settled in for the night.
P.S: on the way to the main land from the Island in Karwar we saw 3 big brown dolphins. We had not seen any on the Dolphin ride only seen some from high up on the hill into the far below ocean. It was a good end to the Karwar trip.

Christmas Vacations- Day3- Karwar

We were 11 people alltogether. 7 adults, 1 boy and 3 children. They had water sports at the resort. snorkelling, banana boat ride, tube surfing etc. 4 of them wanted to do snorkelling. so, they went at 11am in the morning on 26th december. the remaining members went for a dolphin ride around the island and tried our hand at fishing but were not lucky. By the time the team returned from snorkelling it was time for lunch. we had lunch, waited for some time and then went to the beach again. Had a great time going on the banana boat ride (not me - once was too much for me when i did it 5 yrs ago in Goa). then we went tube surfing which was really good. Speed boat ride and by the time we finished all this it was so dark, the sun had set in the horiaon leaving behind a bright orange-pink sky. The kids were also tired for trek back up. So, we took a speed boat to the jetty as it was easier to climb a few steps. Had a lovely dinner and the kids went to sleep early as they were really tired after a full day and playing in the water. the adults got to sit and chat late into the night and we ended the day with a lot of fun & frolic.

Christmas Vacations- Day2- Karwar

We left Dandeli at 8am on 25th Dec to go to Karwar. We had our booking done in "The Great Outdoors" private Island resort. We had a group of friends whom we were joining there. They came by sleeper coach as the kids were too wired to travel by car. We had breakfast on the way and reached Karwar at 11am. We went to the jetty and the boat was waiting to take us to the island. Our friends who were with us in Dandeli had not got the booking in the island but someother resort. They dropped us to the boat and went on their way. The boat ride to the island was about 20 minutes. We reached the island and our friends had already settled there and gone to the beach. I just fell in love with the place at first sight. Wherever u turned, you just saw a vast expanse of clear blue water. It was so calm and peaceful there like the time had stilled completely. I never checked my phone for time for the 3 days we were there. We had sumptuous buffet lunch, rested for a while and went trekking to the beach. we had to walk across and down the island to go to our own private beach. It was simply out of this world. it was more like a small beach with huge rocks on both the sides and there are no huge waves and the water is not salty at all. We could just leave the kids also to play without any worries. We were there till about 6pm and then started the trek back up which was really tiring with 3 small kids in tow. We finally made it to our tents and took bath and changed. There was a camp fire and gud food. The kids were also on their own. It was very easy for all of us to feed the kids and be done with it. finally we settled in for the night with the sounds of the night which is difficult to find here in the middle of the concrete jungle :-)

Christmas Vacations - Day1- part 2

We got refreshed after the night journey and my hubby had to have a nap as he had driven the whole night. We had lunch and were resting there in the guest house till about 2pm in the noon. We did not do the white water rafting as we had small kids with us. We went to see the Synthery Rocks falls which was about 20kms from where we were staying and the drive was beautiful with narrow, winding roads. we had to go down for about 150 odd steps and the falls was simply breathtaking. Synthery rocks are huge rocks which are carved over time due to the water force. It was an awesome place. The climb up was very difficult. From here we went to Ganesh Gudi which is the place where people go to do the rafting. Some of the best resorts are there. We went in to the Bison River resort to check if we could atleast go for a coracle ride but they had just finished the last ride for the day.
We went back to our guest house and those people had organized a camp fire and the temperature was freezing cold. We had dinner and slept a little early as we had to go to Karwar next morning.

Christmas Vacations- Day 1- Part 1

In my earlier organization i used to have shut down during Christmas. Unfortunately after changing my job to a different company I dont have any holidays. So, earlier in the month i had decided I would take a few days off to coincide with my daughter's holidays. My friends told me in the beginning of December that they were planning a trip during the Christmas weekend and they were off to Karwar. So, I had a brilliant idea as usual and suggested my husband that we shud travel on friday night and go to Dandeli as we had never been there. So, the day finally arrived and we left on friday night at 11.30 from BLR to Dandeli. We made it to Dandeli by 7am in good time.

right now, my husband is taking rest as he drove all the way from BLR to Dandeli. so, we are also kind of resting now after the journey. Not planning to go rafting but we are going to check out a few places of interest after lunch. So, I will update the 2nd half later

Chao

My New Nikon D3100

2 weeks ago, on sunday - the day of my cousins wedding. The festvities were all over and we were sitting and chatting away. Earlier in the morning, was telling hubby dearest that if we had a SLR we could have clicked real good quality pictures. So, when we are all sitting & chatting he suddenly says -"come, lets go check out an SLR camera"! I should have known better after being with him for almost 8 years, the meaning of checking out -
1. The model has already been checked and researched on the vast internet
2. It is also checked out from various outlets
3. Not less than a week has been spent on this exercise
4. then the final verdict has been reached to buy the camera
5. That is why all this - "come lets go check out for a SLR" :-)
So, Off we went to the nearest Croma outlet. He goes to the camera section directly, looks at the Nikon D3100 nothing less and says we will buy this. Gets it packed in minutes, comes out and says - "here, this is your gift - advance valentine's gift!!" :-)))))
I am the proud owner of a Nikon D3100!!!! hurraayy!!!!
Now comes the most difficult part. I NEED A TUTORIAL!!! QUICK!!!!!!
Anyways, the wedding is over and there are no more photos to click so everything is left to practice. I see the manual which is like 200 pages. 200 pages??? are you kidding me? I cant possibly read all that.......I need a tutorial quick as I am off on a holiday - Christmas weekend! it is almsot around the corner now!

Mother-Daughter Dinner Out!

The other day, I came back home from work and on the way called hubby to ask what time he is back from work so we can go to the gym early? he tells he might need to go out of town right away on some urgent business. So, I was put off and decided my daughter and me would go out for dinner. Just the 2 of us. We decided on "Eurasia" - the veggie Italian Reatuarant closer to home. We took an auto as I was afraid that she would fall asleep on the bike, on the way back. But still she had her 10 minutes of zzzzzzzzz on the way to the restaurant :-)!
We went into the restaurant. I ask her what soup she wants and she comes back saying, "TOMATO SOUP" - same old, same old I say, just like her father - doesnt want to try anything new at all!!!! Then inbetween all this, she goes and stares at other's plates - I mean really!!! what should they think?? that I dont feed her and so she does that!!
I had to get up from my seat like thrice to bring her back to her seat in a span of 30 minutes.
For main course I ordered the 4-cheese Risotto on a friend's suggestion - and it was super yummy!!! both of us enjoyed it a lot and got a doggie bag home as i couldnt completely finish it on my own.
We went to Polar bear after for an ice-cream and then went back home - 2 hours well-spent.
Qualitywise!!! I am thinking we should do it often now that she is growing older!!!!