Disney or Bust

I never really knew what that saying meant - probably still don't. But, it seems appropriate after our day yesterday.

Rewind to Friday. Amiya had a pajama party for the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. It was a lot of fun and a lot of chaos. I may post some pictures so you can share in the merriment, but first I've got to see if the other parents are ok with their kids being chez cyber Gupta. Regardless, Amiya conned me into staying up to watch ALL of the ceremony on Friday night. Such a mistake on my part - we were up until midnight and it was, sadly, very anti-climactic. Don't get me wrong - I thought the opening ceremony itself was very, very nice. None of the grandeur of Beijing's - and it was perfectly Canadian. But I sort of felt like for it to match Amiya's level of excitement, the cauldron would have had to be in our living room with Wayne Gretzky standing on our rug. I digress. Suffice it to say, it was a very, very late night and a very, very short sleep.




Mere hours after falling asleep after the torch on Friday night, Vinay suggested in front of the kids that we go to Disney. Right then. At that very moment. Did I already say it was in front of the kids??? Guess who skipped right on by that section in parenting 101?



So, with an hour's notice, off we went to DisneyWorld.



I should give some back story, in an effort to be fair to Vinay:



1. He is brilliant and very crowd-savvy. He reasoned (probably correctly) that a great number of tourists from the Midwest and the East Coast would be snowed in, so numbers would be down. He also thought that since it is flippin' freezin' in Florida, a lot of the Florida residents wouldn't go, too. So, less people at Disney means a better day at Disney.



2. Three of the four Guptas have participated in the Give a Day, Get a Day program. Vinay read to kids at the Boys and Girls Club, Amiya and I made blankets for earthquake survivors in Haiti.

Therefore, 3 of 4 Guptas have a free ticket to a day at a Disney park. Being Florida residents, means we can upgrade that ticket to a 4 day pass for a very, very small amount. So, we were planning on buying a 4 day ticket for Kev, upping our to 4 day passes and spending 4 random days at Disney for a very, very, very small amount. The only catch is that the tickets have to be used by May. So, Vinay wasn't crazy to think we should go while the going is good.

Except that he was crazy because A. he asked in front of the kids and B. it is cold out. No kidding all the Florida residents stayed home. It is cold out. Lemme say it again. It is cold out.

On our way to Orlando, it became abundantly clear that Amiya's very, very late bedtime + incurable nasal congestion were going to make for a very sick chick if she spent the day out of doors. So, Mommy played the role of bad cop and said, "Ixnay on the isneyDay." Much unhappiness ensued, especially from Kev who repeated about 4 million times his desire to go ride on the tea cups.

So. Disney or bust?

Bust.

But we did hang out in Orlando for the afternoon - we had lunch at IHOP. Maybe the stickiest IHOP ever, but ah, do the kids love it. What's not to love about 4 flavors of pancake syrup, right?

And then we headed over to Downtown Disney which is nothing more than a lot of toys in various stores, coupled with statues of random Disney characters and a heavenly-smelling Ghirardelli shop. We walked around for a bit, ducking into stores when it was too cold or too windy. Window-shopping and explaining to Amiya (several times) that although the LEGO Taj Mahal kit is exciting and looks really cool and "yes, you're right, it would be appropriate since you're half-Indian," it's $379.00 price tag is a little more than we were going to spend. After much sulking, a ride on the merry-go-round seemed to buoy her spirits:

Kev was in heaven. Many times.

There was Buzz:

And an elephant:


And Mr. Potato Head:

The cool thing about one of the stores is that if you wander inside, there is a table full of Mr. Potato Head parts. The kids loved playing with it and now Mr. Potato Head at our house is enjoying a resurgence of popularity. It's quite a Valentine's gift to see your three year old bring the spud over with a wonky face and proclaim "It's YOU Mommy!" Gee, thanks Buddy.

Anyway, despite not making it to the park itself, we still had fun. So our bust wasn't all bust, I guess?

Home Makeover Gupta Edition

Since my loving husband had a brief trip out of town and I always tackle a redecorating project while he's out of town, I got out the paint and forced my parents to work. Poor parents. They just got done with a long two week stint with Habitat for Humanity and I make them put their work clothes on once again.


We painted a part of our master bath, redid the entire playroom and made it into more of a den (yeah for grown-up spaces) and my Mom revamped my kitchen cabinets - all was much needed and now that it's done, much appreciated! I'm lucky to have great parents. I am also aware that is not coincidental that they hit the road before I could line up more jobs.


This painting has been with Vinay and I for years - even longer - it has been with my guy longer than I have. And that's obvious because reds, oranges, yellow and tan have never been my preferred color palate. But, since it was something that he picked out all by himself, I felt it deserved to always be on display wherever we lived. So much of what we have is my choice - this has to stay. Before Home Makeover week at our house, it was a simple painting in a wood natural wood frame on a white wall. The colors I chose for the room come from this painting.

See, Vinay? See??? I let you have some input around here!

Anyway, two and a half walls were painted the color you see surrounding the monkey god above (he really is a god in India, don't think I'm being blasphemous. I save that for non-printed discourse.) and the remaining 1.5 walls were painted a barely there beige that I happen to love and that is not objectionable to my white-wall-lovin' husband. You can see the difference in the wall colors above, as well as the monkey god in his place above the door and the monkey son hamming it up.
I like to refer to this area as the kid area - blocks, animals, more blocks, toys (on shelves - Mommy can control the mayhem!), books, table, and the sit & spin. These walls were white, marked up and generally just a little too scruffy. So, painted they were and now they pop with the white trim. The shelves and brackets were white, too. My plan was to leave them that way, but my Mom was insistent that they should be painted. As always, Mother knows best. They look fantastic this way - and even though they are still filled with all sorts of odds and ends, they go with the room. Love it! And of course, Amiya's family portrait remains. It has to. No. matter. what.
Here's the "grown-up" corner of the room - even though it's being inhabited by two rugrats. The cabinet and table (with tulips on it) were formerly natural wood. We painted and painted and painted some more to make them go with the space. They look so much better being black and again, really tie the room together. They hide our (always messy) computer work space and provide a table top for writing needs. Somehow Vinay has already stored something underneath the desk (not the garbage can, but on the other side of the chair) - but it won't be there long. A great purge is about to begin. (But that's for another post.) The red storage baskets above the computer have been with us for years and hold collections of K'Nex, play food stuff and random toys. The window valance is also older than old - notice that the colors tie in with the monkey god? That's right. I've had a plan for a loooooooong time. But my favorite part of this corner is the artwork on the walls. The red paintings on top are from early 2006 - Amiya painted them when she was 3. The one on the left is called 'Kevalin' and the one on the right 'Places.' She has always been very abstract. (I'm being completely facetious there.) Kev just painted the lower paintings - the one on the left is 'Elephant' and the right is 'Pear, Banana, Orange and Cheetoh.'

We got a new couch - not to worry about the state of our marriage Vinay did know about the couch ahead of time. We have company coming in a a few months and need a place to sleep, so we had this ordered prior to embarking on this entire project. It's a good couch - it's quite firm, which should make for interesting sleeping, but hopefully it also means it will hold up well to children.

In the above picture, you can see my favorite part of the whole room. Five simple pictures, printed in sepia, matted with red to pick up the colors in the room. Two pictures of the kids together, one each of them individually and Vinay and I right in the middle. It's perhaps a bit egocentric of me to put only our immediate family up there - I plan to rectify that in the coming months. Maybe. I love the simple way they all line up and I love each of the pictures individually for what they show and the moment they were taken.

Because the couch is right at the window, the sun hits the couch during the day. Amiya spent most of Wednesday afternoon on the couch like a cat taking a nap. And, full disclosure, I spent most of this afternoon in that very same spot. 's nice.

Oh yeah, and I love the little ones who are on the couch. Even if they crash the color scheme by dragging that lime green blanket into the room. I can look past that heinous offense, it's the kind of Mom I am.

And maybe the best part of all is that I didn't spend more than 100 smackaroos on the whole thing (not including the couch, obviously). A whole new room, looking much more tied together than the mishmash it used to be. Vinay has been chillin' with a movie tonight and the kids and I have been in here all night reading and playing. Perfect for a rainy night and the end of a very, very busy week. It's great to have a room where we can be together without the TV involved - a little bit grown-up, a little bit kid. Perfect.

Oh yeah, and we also did one other project. It's a game to see how long it takes Vinay to notice it. So far he's been home for 72+ hours. How long do you think it will take?

On Raising A Boy

Today, Kev was using the bathroom and whilst in the middle of emptying his thimble sized bladder, the bathroom door started to close.


Oh!


Hark!


Alas!


Let us begin again.

Today, Kev was using the bathroom and whilst in the middle of emptying his thimble sized bladder, the bathroom door started to close.

Therefore, I will be washing the bathroom rug (again) and mopping the bathroom floor (again, done once already, needs another pass) because it was more important to stop the door from closing mid-stream than it was to finish his business and then reopen the door.

I will spare you the pictures. You're welcome.