Family, Friends, Fantasia, and 4 generations all together!

New to the Mickey Club

Arrival morning in LA- perfect weather AGAIN!

Sharing the ocean with great grandma

Ila and Eila

Great Grandma Ila, Kari (Mommy), Grandma (GiGi), and Eila

4 generations of women together

Eila and Malaika on the tram to Disney

At Disneyland with uncle Keyur

Eila and cousin Kiran

Cousin hug- Elise, Eila and Kiran

Minnie Mouse's Kitchen- amazing dishwasher!
Kiran, Malaika, and Eila

Malaika and Eila

Malaika, Eila and Elise taking a rest

Malaika and Eila in the teacup ride

Eila and Malaika - ready to feed the goats

Brushing baby goats

California swimming

We went to Los Angeles, California to see Grandma Ila and packed just about as much as anyone could possibly imagine into those 5 lovely (and very exhausting days). We spent half of the timea at Eila's great Grandmother's house and Grandma (Gigi) came from Montana so we had all four generations of the ladies together for the first time ever. It was very nice and a lot of fun. Eila and Grandma Ila experienced the ocean through seashells together, ate together, played together and just hung out. It was a very meaningful gathering. We also went down South of LA to see Rasha and her absolutely precious little daughter Malaika. The two hit it off immediately and Disneyland was just icing on the cake for them. We met Eila's cousins and aunt and uncle for the day at the Disney park and all the kids had a absolute blast. Eila was wide eyed for almost 12 hours of absolute mania! We also made a trip to a park to ride ponies, went swimming, rode a little train, went to a zoo, and met up with our dear friend Adam who got to meet Eila for the first time! The trip was a not restful, but very joyful! Eila was inducted into the Mousekateer club by Malaika and received her very own Mickey ears with her name embroidered on the back. Thanks Malaika!

TWO YEARS of TOGETHERNESS!

We celebrated 2 years of being together yesterday- August 28! We are so happy, says Eila! .(We agree!) We hope all the families that were with us on that day had a wonderful celebration also!

Lazy Days of Summer

We have decided to get musical in the near future and read about "perfect pitch" in the Washington Post. In the last week we have tuned up the piano and will start the Eguchi method soon. If you are interested in the article, it tells you about an "easy way" to teach kids perfect pitch where they learn notes just like they would learn their colors or numbers or anything else. Here is the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/26/AR2009072602350.html

We also just got new strings on our old guitar that has been gathering dust in the basement and Kushang is planning to learn to play. Maybe it about 5-10 years it we'll be jamming harmoniously...

The garden is producing lots of vegetables- we had a garden meal yesterday with zebra tomato cheesy parmesan pasta. The green and black zebra tomatoes are almost too pretty to eat. Our sunflowers brought some friends to us yesterday...goldfinches! They love the seeds.

Koi Koi! Crazy Koi!

Eila in the herb garden, feeling the herbs

Eila reading in the afternoon...I like the reflective light on her face off of the book

I have been yearning for a trip to the National Arboretum to let Eila feed the koi, so I just decided to go yesterday afternoon despite knowing I'd get stuck in traffic on the way home. It was worth it! The gardens are gorgeous and the experience was invigorating! Those crazy carp are ravenous! We had a blast...the koi would follow her up and down the long, long pool like puppies. She keeps asking to see the pictures over and over again...she says "I LOOOOVE those FISH!"

Auntie Lisa comes to town!

Eila in the National Botanical Gardens

Hanging out by the waters of the National Museum of the American Indian

Crazy ladies in front of the Capital

Lisa, Kari and Eila in front of the falls of the National Museum of the American Indian

Cousins- Keya, Eila, and Cimeren hanging out together at family dinner night

We enjoyed a great visit from aunt Lisa in DC. Eila had a great time touring the city with her very loving aunt. Lisa braved the DC sweltering heat and we made the rapid tour through Dupont Circle, several museums, and some nice gardens. We cannot wait for her return visit for Thanksgiving with the cousins too.

Summer Harvest

Yellow peaches!

Hanging out at the pig pen with Keya

Sweet goat!

Eating peaches with Cimeren

Harvesting box is on its way...

Riding out to the orchards

From our very own garden at home

We went to celebrate the Maryland Farms this past weekend with family. Eila loved the animals and loved being with her big cousin Keya and baby cousin Cimeren. We picked peaches off of the trees and probably ate as many as we put in our box. Its steamy hot here, but the summer produce makes it worth it. We also have a nice pick of some of first picks off of our very own garden vegetable plants at home. Eila never lets me forget to check for tomatoes and zucchini every day. She's a good little farmer.