Annika just turned 10 and for her birthday, she went to the Melting Pot fondue restaurant with her friends.
Can you say Chocolate Fondue!
Annika ran in her first 5K this season and did awesome. She got a 23:09 on a difficult and hilly course. Here are some pics.
The first picture is near the beginning of the race.
Here she is near the end of the race – the littlest one around, beating the high school boys!
And enjoying the fruits of her labor after the race 🙂
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Nikhil broke his arm last week – both radius and ulna. He’ll be in a cast for the next 4 weeks. Fortunately, no surgery needed but the first few days are quite painful.
At the hospital, they now send you home with a CD of x-ray pictures. This is cool – no more films.
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Vikram has been playing water polo this season and has been in a couple of tournaments. Here’s some pics from his last two tournaments:
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Last weekend, Annika and Nikhil attended the annual club banquet. This is one of the few times in the year we get to see them dresssed up!
Here is Annika and her friend Christine.
Here is Nikhil with his running buddies.
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Annika played her first Lacrosse game today. This sport is pretty popular in our area with the young girls.
Believe it or not, her team won 20 to nothing!
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Today, we took Joey to the local dog park in Irvine. This is a big open, fenced in field where we can let Joey tire himself out.
Here is a picture of Joey and his new best friends.
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The boys just finished up a month of swimming at SoCal Swimming. Here is Vikram swimming the breaststroke.
Here is Nikhil climbing the ladder.
Here is one of Vikram also climbing the ladder. It was in the upper 40 degrees on a very cold night.
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A couple of days before Christmas, the boys were out selling mistletoe as part of a Boy Scout activity.
There were quite a number of generous individuals, with many donating additional amounts for the benefit of the troop.
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This is why it is sooo hard to keep Joey off the couch.
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Annika and I got back from the 2010 Junior Olympics. This year’s event was all the way in Alabama in the South Eastern part of the US. I have never been to Alabama before but it looked just like any other part of the mid-East.
Here are some pics from the event. First up is the girls’ team on the day before the race at the course walk.
Here are the girls on the morning of the race – in the high 40’s and threatening to snow.
Here is the starting line with the 250 or so girls lined up and starting the race.
Here is Annika mid way through the race.
And one near the finish line.
Here we are after the race awaiting the results.
Here is a picture of the girls team after winning the National Championship (for the 2nd year in a row).
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The kids have been busy with their cross country practice and races. I have been remiss in posting pics.. but we had a camera issue. Anyway, I am back online with a new camera.
Here are a couple from Mt. Sac.
Vikram has also been busy with swimming and water polo.
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We went up to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving to visit my parents, Madhu, Abhijit and family.
Here are some pictures with their cousins.
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Yesterday morning I came down the stairs to the sight of this!
Sleeping Collie
Is he laughing at me?
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On our last full day in Australia, we drove down to Phillip Island and visited the Koala Reserve and the Penguin Parade.
Here is one of about 20 we saw that day. Most of the time they are sleeping to conserve energy. All they eat are eucalyptus leaves. We were lucky enough to see one moving around.
We also saw the penguin parade, but no pictures were allowed. This attraction is well worth the drive to see the penguins swim to shore.
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The day after the Reef adventure, we went on a safari trip deep into the Australian Outback.
Our first stop was a lake and nature preserve.
Here is a picture of some emus standing by the side of the trail.
We stopped for lunch at an old mining town – mostly abandoned now.
The kids got to scavenge at an old marble quarry.
In the same area called Chillagoe, there was also an abandoned old ore and gold mine.
The highlight was the tour of an underground cavern filled with stalagmites (these grow from the floor – and might grow up) and stalactites (these drop from the roof – and have to hold on tight).
On the ride home, we stopped off at the world’s smallest train station in Petford.
We also stopped off at a coffee plantation and the kids got to play with a cockatoo.
The next stop was Port Douglas and the Sugar Cane factories.
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We took a two hour boat ride from the port in Cairns and arrived at the Great Barrier Reef. This has been labeled as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. It is composed of 2900 reefs across 1600 miles on the north eastern coast of Australia.
We all started with a snorkel dive. The reef is about 10-15 feet below and the visibility is excellent. We were at a reef called Norman Reef, one of the outermost reefs which is surrounded by deep water.
Here is a picture of Annika below. After a short 10 minute snorkeling lesson, she was off on her own.
Here is one of a maori wrasse fish I was able to capture that swam up along side us.
After the snorkeling, me, Nikhil and Vikram went for a couple of scuba dives.
The boys took to the water like fish! They scuba dived to 12-15m deep which took them to the bottom of the reef. We saw turtles, giant clams, clownfish, an eel, sea cucumber and lots of other fish.
We picked a perfect sunny day for our dive.
We returned after a full day of snorkeling and diving. The next day would take us on an adventure into the outback.
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I arrived in Melbourne and after a day, we flew up to Cairns which is on the northern coast of Australia and is the entry to the Great Barrier Reef.
Unfortunately, United Airlines lost my bag. It remained in San Francisco! I finally received it four days into my trip. I had to buy some new clothes but fortunately, the stores are very similar to the states – Target, Costco, etc.! Their allowance for lost baggage is a measly $50 US which doesn’t go too far in Melbourne.
Anyway, after spending a couple of hours buying some basic necessities, we went to Cardenia to check out the kangaroos and were not disappointed. Our plans for Philipps Island had to be postponed due to all the coats being in my bag.
The next day, we caught a Virgin Blue flight to Cairns and checked into our apartment on the beach. The weather in Yorkey’s Knob was at least 40 degrees warmer 80-90+ the whole time. Here is the view from our place – about 200M from the beach.
The water was warm – in the low 70’s.
During the summer months, the jelly fish are a problem and they have a first aid kit at the ready. Who knew!
The next day, we took a boat to the Reef. I’ll continue on the next post.
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We just got back from our trip down under. Anjali and the kids went out a week early and stayed at Madhura’s house.
Here are some pictures from Melbourne. This first one is a park within walking distance from Madhura’s house.
This is a picture from Mount Dandenong.
Here is a picture with Keya.
Here is one of a parakeet eating spicy potato chips from Nikhil’s hand!
Here is one in Cardenia with some kangaroos behind the gang.
The kids in front of the James Cook historic cottage.
Here is one at the Melbourne Aquarium.
I’ll continue on another post.
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It’s a small world. Joey’s littermate happens to live just a few miles from our house. Anjali and Annika went to the park to visit Kieran. Here they are resting after an hour of play time!
Posted in Dog | Tagged Rough Collie, smooth collie | Leave a Comment »
Khare Family Adventures 
