India

This time I flew Emirates Airline. Their fleet of 777-300s and A380s is new.

Service was quite good.

16 hour flight flew close to the north pole.

Flew over Iran. My first time in the middle east.

Changed flights in Dubai, UAE.

Modern airport featured 11,000 square meters of "shopping therapy."

Breakfast, with watermelon juice. Also ordered a dosa. I keep forgetting to take a photo of the dosa.

Dessert was an east-west combo: Gulab Jam with ice cream. YUM!!

I ordered two, for research:

Vanilla is better than butterscotch.

My first street food was kulfi. Less sweet and more creamy rich than ice cream. Rose, pistachio, chocolate and milk flavor.


The response I got was, "Oh my GOD! Are you eating Kulfi on the roadside????? We have to start speaking to you in Marathi next!!!!"

Our office complex.

Caught the opening weekend of "London, Paris, New York," my first Hindi language movie. About 10% of the romantic comedy was in English. It was pretty funny.

Movie cost only $2.50 and seats are reserved. Had warm caramel popcorn and a chilled bottle of water.

Took a look at some small rugs. Thought Kit might like one. Awaiting approval from Tuk first.

Tuk says no. Maybe next time. Really nice rugs.

Went on a walk through the busy old town.

All of the streets started to look the same but I avoided getting lost.

Tuk arrived 20 years ago

On February 22nd we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Tuk's arrival in the USA. Kit was very curious about the history.

Science Experiments

Before we did some science experiments, we guest how many colors there are on the walls in our house.

Kit: 18
Tuk: 20
Me: 15

The total count was 22 !

It is easy to make science interesting to kids:

Today's first science experiment was to predict which items would sink or float in a tub of water. It was lots of fun. Kit was surprised that a heavy metal bowl floated, as did an orange. Then light things like paperclips sank.

The second science experiment was to fill a cup of water to the top such that it appears flat when viewed from the side. We each entered our guess on how many more drops could be added before the water spilled out.

Kit: 15
Tuk: 20
Me: 50

Well, it took hundreds. Kit was really amazed at how water tension works. Water is sticky!

Then I asked how many drops of water can go on top of a penny?

We could place 16 drops on the penny!

Kit grew a culture of spit versus snot to compare which has more germs.

Round 1: Spit wins

Wonder what we'll grow next...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kit woke up early to wish everyone a happy Valentine's day.

Hiking with Sophia

Last Saturday we went hiking at Rancho San Antonio with Sophia. Both girls are excellent hikers now. Photos coming in a bit...

Reading and Writing

Last night during dinner Kit copied the entire Ladybird keyword 1a book, creating her own edition. It was a lot of work. She then read the entire 1b book to Tuk. Usually Kit and I read books at bedtime so Tuk was surprised by how well Kit can read. Kit then completed several of the questions and puzzles in the 1c and 2c books. She loves her ladybird keyword books.

Swimming

Kit is doing very well in her swimming class. Here are the skills she must demonstrate to move to Intermediate level 2.

Skill Name	Skill Description	Date Completed
Swim the width of pool	Student is able to swim the width of the pool with comfortable breathing and good form. Head down push start required.
Swim on back the width of pool	Student is able to do back kicks across the width of the pool comfortably and with good form.
Perform dolphin the width of pool	Student is able to perform dolphin across the width of the pool without kicking and with comfortable breathing.	12 Jan 2012
Roll-overs full width	Student is able roll from front kicks to back kicks while maintaining proper form.	12 Jan 2012
swim 1/2 width, no goggles, face in water	Student is able to comfortably swim 1/2 the width of the pool without goggles and with their face in the water.	12 Jan 2012

US Figure Skating Championships in San Jose

Kit getting ready to go out with Brian, Maria and Megan.

We went to the ice dance portion of the US figure skating competition in San Jose.

Many references to the 1996 finals which were held here. Tuk and I saw Michelle Kwan win her first championship. Rudy Galindo won for the mens. Both were in attendance this weekend.

Today's dance winners.

Megan and Kit were on the big screen! Then they zoomed out to show us too.

At home I noticed we were also on national TV. They showed us entering the HP Pavilion. Fun!

Home School

Kit calls this Snuggle School.

We're growing a variety of beans.

And started a crystal growing tank for fun.

Kit and I went to Safeway. The cashier said, "There is a princess in my aisle."

Kit eating kale chips.

Cooking

Kit creating baked-potato-mice.

So cute!

Kit made her own shrimp dumplings.

And we made cherry-raspberry jigglers.