What's a Bulkhead?

When we moved to our current house in CT I asked this question and the answer was:

Its a door for outside access to the basement for getting bulky/dirty things in/out of the basement without going through the formal first floor areas of the house

We had never used it and it had always been a Dark, Dirty, Spider-web-filled, ugly looking slant door in the backyard, that our kids would often use for jumping on or as a slide at-times.

But today, I discovered a NEW use for this un-explored door.

"For getting out of your basement when Neel locks you in the basement and cries nonstop for half hour and does not know how to unlock."

Tonight, when I was in the basement getting the folded Laundry upstairs, Gauri came downstairs and closed the basement door so Neel wouldn’t climb down too. Soon Neel started crying and I climbed up to open the door for him, only to find that it had been locked from outside. Holy Sh... - what am I going to do now? Cellphone - Damn I dont have any of my neighbours' numbers in it, I just got a new phone after losing one in trash (again thanks to Mr. Neel) so my contact list was - GONE. Half nervous and half frightened, with two screaming babies in the background I remembered “The BulkHead”.

After struggling hard with the darkness inside it, the cobwebs and the badly rusted door latch that became almost impossible to open, I was finally out. I rushed to the back door on the patio, again to find that it was locked from inside too. I immediately ran to the front door almost thinking that if that’s also locked I am going to break the window and JUST GET IN. Poor Neel had turned all red and blue from crying and being alone. Thanks to Krishna, the front door was unlocked.

We then had a BIG group hug - all three of us.

On another note - today wasn’t all that crappy after all; we actually had loads of fun in the afternoon in our new water pool. These pictures will speak for themselves.

                 

Neel and Gauri after the water play.

Thank You Bulkhead - you saved us today :)

A Strong guy with heart soft as butter - we call him Dad

Happy Father’s Day (Belated) to my dad, my husband and all other amazing dads we know. You are pillars of our family and no matter how many times we forget to acknowledge your kid deeds, your love for us and for our kids, you support and strength at times of hardships is much appreciated; we want you to know, your efforts do not go un-noticed.

I am missing you Papa, wish we were closer, to everyday learn from you - new things and to hear the unlimited wisdom about life and the how to appreciate every one and everything we have been given by God. We miss you lots.

The three of us are craving to spend yet another evening with you my Darling husband, how can I tell you how much we are missing you right now, every day and as we strike off the dates on our calendar in the evening, Gauri loves to count how many days left before we will pick you from the airport. Two weeks seems like FOREVER. Come home soon.

Hugs and Kisses

The Lonely Three

Summer Starts with Strawberry Picking

Call it Pick-your-own, PYO or you-pick, the idea of picking your own fruit and vegetables is absolutely fantastic, specially for young kids (and adults as well, when you are picking mouth-watering-red-oozing-with-juice strawberries). 

With the season fast approaching, I was having a craving to go strawberry picking for past few days. The store bought strawberries are “trash-able” compared to the local-grown; I, anyway hate the idea of cold-storage and transporting fruits across the country. Its the worst thing you can do to your fruits. I love local and therefore wait for the summer.

This morning Neel, Gauri and I headed off to Scott Yankee’s Farm near our place to explore the idea of PYO with kids. I wasn’t sure if Neel would like it since he doesn't seem very comfortable with grass etc. I think its just the feeling of greens on bare foot that doesn't appeal the young kids, Gauri was exactly the same way but soon converted into a gardner of er own kind :) I am sure Neel’s on the same path too.

Anyway, the kids had a blast at the farm, despite the scorching heat outside (89 F) both didn't want to leave the farm. After tasting several strawberries and finally discovering that the small red ones were the juiciest, my smarty-pants Ms. G was busy looking for perfect strawberries to put in her container, 

and Neel was just exploring the BIG open farm - with no worries of where Mom was, he would just walk away real far from us with his fuzzy friend Jojo (the monkey on his back), get down occasionally and squish some red temptation in his tiny mouth; I almost caught him red-handed several times.

(sorry Image too small, click on it to enlarge)

I had to drag them back to the farm stand to pay and head back home. By this time, our faces and clothes were somewhat red with sun and all the strawberries we “tasted”, we had lots of fruit to bring back home for us and friends to share with. 

Gauri said on our way back “mumma, why do we buy strawberries from Grocery store, we should always get our own”!! What a great experience and learning for kids.

Thanks to whoever came up with the idea of pick your own. We will surely be going back for more strawberries and Blueberries, Raspberries and Apples too when the season starts.