Posted in Kids, tagged Birthday, Kids on March 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Annika just turned 11 and for her party, she went to Sky High which is a trampoline “park”. You have to see it to believe it – basically a large warehouse with hundreds of trampolines filled with lots of jumping kids!
Here are the girls before their jump fest.
And here they are jumping away!
Posted in Entertainment, Kids, tagged Birthday, Kids, Laser Tag, party on May 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »
We took the boys to Laser Quest in Fullerton for their birthday party. Here are some pictures from the afternoon. Each got to invite four friends. They had home made cake and In-N-Out for lunch.
Anjali also took them to Disneyland’s California Adventure which was offering a “free” day on your birthday promotion deal.
Posted in Kids, tagged Cotillion, dance, Kids on September 15, 2008| 3 Comments »
The boys attended their first Cotillion today. They got to wear a suit and tie and learn some basic etiquette. Anjali spent all day Sunday going from store to store to try to find some clothes that would fit these skinny dudes!
This is a six week program where they will learn every thing from table manners and speaking skills to basic dancing. They will thank us when they are all grown up.
Posted in Boy Scouts, tagged Boy Scouts, Half Dome, hiking, Kids, Vacation, Yosemite on August 22, 2008| 2 Comments »
This week, I took the boys with their Boy Scout troop up to Yosemite for 5 days. On one of the days, we hiked up to Half Dome. This was a difficult 18 mile round trip from our campsite at Upper Pines. It took us about twelve and a half hours to complete the hike.
We started promptly at 5:30 in the morning while it was still dark.
About an hour into the hike, the kids had a dry cereal breakfast.
Here they are on another break.
At about the 6 hour mark, we near the staircase and cables part of Half Dome.
Here is a picture up the staircase. It is some basic rock scrambling. At the top of this 1/2 mile section is the cable portion. Only four of the boys remained for this last section.
Here we are right before the cables. You can see the cable ascent to the top of Half Dome in the picture below. The cable portion is 400 feet and is rated as a Class 3 climb.
I did not get a picture of it, but to keep the kids safe, we had them all wear a harness and clip themselves to the cables. In case they slipped, the harness would keep them safe.
There were some people that should not have been up there. We saw people in flip flops, people with one or two bottles of water and other accidents just waiting to happen. One of the boys said, “if you don’t know what you are doing, you will die”. We saw so many people that fit this category! In fact, the Park Service reports that there were three fatal falls last year alone.
Finally, we made it to the top! The peak is at 8842 feet of elevation and rises about 4700 feet off the valley floor.
The descent down the cables was a bit easier but still quite challenging.
After the cables, we started back down the mountain. Even though it was all down hill, it was still strenuous with difficult terrain to navigate.
One last shot of the numerous waterfalls on the way back.
Vikram said he “found his guts” on this trip. I would also add that it totally impressed me that these 11-14 year olds were able to accomplish such a feat at such a young age. I am proud of them all.
Posted in Karate, tagged brown belt, Karate, Kids, Sports on July 25, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Nikhil got his Brown Belt in Karate this week. Here are some pictures from his test.
Here he is breaking a board.
And finally, here he is receiving his Brown Belt.
Posted in Soccer, tagged ayso, Kids, Soccer, Sports on July 25, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Vikram had his end of soccer season party this week.
Here he is with his team, the Volcanoes.
Here are some pictures from his last game. He played goalie in this game. He’s wearing the green jersey.
Posted in Kids, tagged Birthday, Dinner, Fondue, Kids, party on April 22, 2008| Leave a Comment »
The boys had their 11th birthday this past week and we celebrated by taking them out to Champagne Bakery (their choice). They ate strawberry crepes for dinner.
They also had a sleep over with their friends and had homemade chocolate fondue (again their choice). Are you sensing a French theme here?
They then stayed up and played video games until two in the morning!
Posted in Kids, tagged Boy Scouts, Kids, Softball on April 12, 2008| Leave a Comment »
So we are back to our daily routine. The boys had a campout this weekend for Boy Scouts and Annika had a softball game.
Anjali took the boys and I went with Annika.
I got a lucky picture of her hitting the ball!
Posted in School, tagged Kids, School, Writing on March 17, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Last week Annika received an award for her 1st grade class for creative writing.
Here are some pictures.
Posted in Kids, tagged Kids, Mountain High, School, Ski on January 19, 2008| 2 Comments »
This week Anjali took the kids to the Mountain High ski resort. It is about a 1 1/2 hour drive from our house and with all the precipitation we have had in the last few weeks, the ski resorts have the best snow in years. They had a beginner program for the kids and by the end of the day, all three were zipping down the mountain.
Here is Nikhil and Vikram at the beginning of the day at their lesson.
(click on the pic to see Vikram)
Here is Miss Annika at her lesson.
Annika’s first ski lift ride to the top of the mountain.
(click on the pic to see them all)
Aren’t they lucky to “cut” school and go skiing for the day!
Posted in Family, Kids, tagged Cactus, Hike, Kids, Peters Canyon on December 28, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Today I took the boys out for a longer hike through Peters Canyon. We started at the main entrance off Jamboree and worked our way thru Cactus point, up Big Red and eventually back home. A total of about 4-5 miles.
The field of catci were in full bloom. This is a picture of the Prickly Pear cactus that grows abundant in our hills. You will note that they have large fixed spines and smaller hairlike spines. It is the fine hairlike spines that hurt and take weeks to remove. I know from the experience of having fallen on one of these on a bike ride a couple of years ago. Believe it or not, the fruit is edible and is sold in Mexican markets here in the Southland as Nopal.
Here are Vikram, Jordan and Nikhil.
Here they are at the top of Big Red.
This is a strenuous uphill that climbs 175 feet at a 12.5% grade. Here is Rajeev at the top – working up a sweat!
Here they all are at the end, thoroughly exhausted. The facial expressions are genuine pain!
A job well done. The rest of the day is relatively peaceful, with the boundless energy left on the mountains.
Posted in Kids, tagged Hike, Kids, Peters Canyon on December 28, 2007| 1 Comment »
Yesterday Abhijit and family came down from San Francisco to visit for a few days. The kids were a bit raucous so I took them on a hike to wear them out a bit.
Here we are at the start of the trail.
Here are Annika and Emma running down the hills.
Here are the four boys way out in front.
Here are Vikram, Rajeev, Jordan and Nikhil
Finally, here is a picture of the ridge where the fire was just a couple of months ago. The last couple of rains have started to green up the hills already. Look at the burned out tree trunks on the bottom left of the picture.
Posted in Kids, tagged Kids, park on December 28, 2007| Leave a Comment »
It wasn’t a white Christmas or even close. It has been warm and sunny this whole week. We went to the park to enjoy the weather.
Posted in Kids, tagged Christmas, holidays, Kids, Santa, Sleigh on December 22, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Santa came to our neighborhood a little early to visit all the kids. His sleigh was pulled thru our street by the Tustin Police.
Here is Annika telling him all about her favorite Webkinz! You think he knows what a Webkinz is?
Here’s Nikhil and Garrett (I think).
And Vikram
Posted in School, tagged award, Kids, School, Vikram on December 18, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Vikram got a Student of the Month award for his class.
Here he is accepting his award!
Posted in School, tagged Kids, math, School on December 18, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Annika received a Math Achievement award for her first grade.
Here she is with her teacher Mrs. Shattles.
Posted in Kids, tagged Christmas, Family, Gifts, holidays, Kids, Random, wish list on December 15, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Annika wrote out her Christmas wish list for us. I thought some of the items were quite cute so I thought I’d share.
Here they are:
1. The Collie Webkinz or Penguin Little kinz or both
2. New petshops
3. A santa hat
4. A new DS game (only because her brothers want new DS games)
5. to see your reindeers and what are their names?
6. The Paws Off pet shop diary
7. The chiwawa [sic] webkinz
I left the spellings, grammar and punctuations as original!
These Webkinz continue to be a hot toy and all three of them have it on their lists. I have a pretty good feeling Santa has already bought some Webkinz for them!
Posted in Kids, Life, School, tagged Kids, Life, Reading on December 7, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Well, we’re back home and adjusting to the time zone shift.
The kids all of a sudden have picked up a voracious reading habit. Here is the three of them hanging out on the sofa in the evening reading. No coaxing or urging required – just genuine interest. It warms my heart!
Posted in Kids, School, tagged Kids, School, Walking on October 3, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Today was International Walk to School Day (IWALK)! I have the day off as I’m driving to Moab this afternoon so I walked the kids to school. It is about a mile each way.
Posted in Cross Country, Running, tagged Cross Country, Kids, Running on September 22, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday we went to practice at Foothill high school. The miles are getting easier. The kids did 1 mile of warm up laps and then we either go out running for an additional 3-4 or work on running techniques.
The coach timed all the kids on a straight flat dirt trail. Nikhil did a 3:14 half mile which is a huge improvement from when we started just 4 or so weeks ago! A few more weeks and he should be in the 2’s.
Here is the team – lots of younger kids! Nikhil is the third boy from the left. Coach Jerry is on the far right facing the kids.
Khare Family Adventures 