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We had a wonderful Christmas party at Srujana’s house on Dec 20th Saturday. We started to Little Rock early morning 8am and reached around 11ish. As we checked in late we did not get a seat for Suhani and the flight is overbooked. But luckily a good hearted person volunteered to stay back so we could be on flight together as scheduled. Then our luggage did not make it through. Chaitu’s and Sai’s new home house was beautiful. We rested all day that day talking, chating with them. Next day DP was busy at work and so rest went to Kohl’s shopping for the new house. After Sai came home we went to Vishala, an Indian chat restaurant. Then went to Fiesta, a mexican super bazaar and then to World Foods (Whole sale Indian/Pakistani/Mexican store). We then eat chapathi which we got it from Vishala.

Tuesday we visited Natural Science Museum and came home only to eat the best in the world - Chaitu’s Pani puri. On Wednesday which happened to be Christmas Eve visited Children’s museum and enjoyed all the extra activities, also ate out at a Mexican restaurant called Las Palmas that evening talking about Hari’s visit the next day. We made dosas that morning. Kids were waiting for Shiva Babai more than anything as he was their best playmate. Suhi went with DP to bring them home and was all excited about her Wii as a Christmas gift. Wii was immediately hooked up and was a big hit. We all then headed out to Bollywood six to watch Ghajini movie. More than the movie the whole experience was unforgettable for mainly Memphians. Brand new movie, first day release, ticket price was $5. Ghajini was being screened in 3 of those with an hour gap. And the real best thing was, they sell Mirchi Bajjiwith onions/Pakodi/samosa with small Mirchi/vegetable puffs/Desi chai. We bought almost everything and enjoyed eating in the theater.

Then Sai’s cousin Sai Pavan came from Florida that evening. We all 9 people (including Shivu and Suhi) together started a put a 500 piece puzzle which Hari got all the way from Chicago. That really was a fun challenge. While Chaitu made brownies and Dp made Fried rice we finally finished the puzzle after 4 hours. That was a great family fun time spent together helping each other with a strategy.

On Friday morning we made puris. Everyone went to different stores for Saturday’s House Warming cum Andaal Ghosti event. We then watched ‘A wednesday’ Hindi movie which was very different and nice. We all together then played literature for long time and decided to go to Panda Express after picking up chapathi from Vishala for next day. We came home and made all preparations for the next day. Sai’s cousin’s Uday and family came from Dallas that night. Shivani Suhani were excited seeing their 5 year old cousin Priyanka. I did not get to see Shivu and Suhi for next 2 days as they were glued to thier cousin.
I and Chaitu made Sambhar, Chakara Pongal, Curd rice and Raitha with out onion and garlic on event day morning. Chaitu ordered Potato bajji, Fried Rice, Vegetable Jal fry, Paneer tikka masala from Mayuri.

Andaal Ghosti - two hour event where Asta Lakshmi Temple (by chinna Jeyyar Swami) folks bring in Andaal and Ranganath Vustsava Vigrahams to different devotee’s homes everyday on all these 30 days of Dhanurmasam. Agenda includes chanting Thiruppavai, astotharams, explanation of that day’s pasuram (12th day of Masam), sing bhaja govindam.

During the event, Sai’s another cousin’s family came from Dallas and one came from Univ of Houston,totaling to a count of 17 relatives, after friends left, we all as a family watched a boring Telugu Movie ‘Victory’ eating left over food. But we compensated the boring movie with a great funny Indian-English movie named ‘outsourced’. Sunday after Sai Pavan and Uday’s family left we went to Ashta Lakshmi temple, then to planetarium and to Chaat house in Sugar Land.

Came home and watched Ten Commandments movie. This morning we made Pav bhaji as brunch and eat Pani puri as lunch. We gave send off to Hari and Shiva and went to Chaitu’s friends house for Andaal Ghosti. Surprisingly, I met my 10th class friend Hamsini. I never ever met any of my old frineds before. This was the first time and I was pretty excited about it. Then came home and here I am watching ‘Topical Thunder’ while kids watching ‘Fly me to the moon’ along with their Chaitu pinni.

I cannot believe we have only 2 more days before new year’s when we will fly back to Memphis……

Our unplanned Thanksgiving trip to Chicago 

Reached Chicago little after 10pm, Tues Nov 23rd. Hari made sure we reach them hungry to eat Chicken biriyani and Fish fry from Saffron.  Then we watched ‘Fashion’ movie until 2am.  DP was trying hard to put Suhani to bed but she was as active as it was 2pm. He said “Suhani you cannot wake up early tomorrow morning”, but she answered him saying “You cannot either”.

We researched little bit about Chula Vista indoor water park at Wisconsin Dells. We reserved a studio for a night at the resort for fri/sat. Next day we visited temples nearby - Arora temple, Sai baba temple, Swami Narayan Temple. We then went to ‘hot breads’ owned by telugu’s, Hari got mehendi, some paan and fresh Jilebi from Jai Hind along with Indian DVDS. On the way back home Siva ordered and picked Goat Biryani from Saffron. We watched Dasvidaniya while applying henna to kids.

Third day we went to Devon. Shopped at patel bros, eat tiffins at Udipi Palace and visited most of the Jewelry stores and ofcourse picked a nice necklace for Hari at Devi Jewelers. Spent some time with Damaraju’s, we stopped at different other shops and last eat chats/snacks/sweets at a snack corner.  We headed towards Padmakar & Malathi’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. Around 11:30pm we started back home, after which we watched Dostana movie.

Friday - Woke up leisurely, packed our bags for water park trip then went to Hari’s office, visited their sears sample store and bought few things. We then went to DP’s favorite authentic telugu restaurant ‘Cool Mirchi’. From there we headed towards Wisconsin Dells watching ‘Chirutha’. Checked into the resort and went to campfire where we met another family and shared scary stories with them. From there we went to the Chula Vista indoor water park and it was so very beautiful and great. As it was our first time indoor water park experience it was awsome. We left the place only when they completely closed it. We then ordered Pizza to hotel and then had a good night sleep. http://www.chulavistaresort.com/waterparks/Lost_Rios.htm

Saturday - We opted for buffet breakfast where we can make our own waffles from already made dough. We had stomach and hearts full and were eager to go back to the water park. There were total of 18 rides in the indoor park with a temp of 82 degrees. Kids had a ball, they loved and loved and loved water. They never wanted to come out of that place. I and Shiva went on each of those 18 rides. All others members in the family also covered most of the rides. We reached Chicago around 8pm and started cleaning the house and cooking for Damaraju’s. We spent time with them and realized that Pavan and Srini are related. We called it a day and went to bed ofcourse late.

Sunday - Last day, we headed back to Memphis reached by 7pm. Last but not least DP stopped at Baskin & Robbins (23 miles to Memphis) for brownie sundae. With that I put on a total of 3 pounds in 5 days. I HATE Chicago or may be vacations :)