Costa Rica Land of Pura Vida: Winter 2014

A rugged land of mountainous beauty, towering volcanoes, long stretches of brunette sand, dense, damp, vibrant rainforests, exotic wilderness, birds of paradise, and a continental divide. That's Costa Rica land of PuraVida.

12/12/14 - Chicago to San Jose & Vara Blanca

The rain was pouring cats and dogs as we drove up the winding road, twisting and turning, slowly overcoming the altitude of 5,000 feet above sea level. As the evanescent sunlit sky gave way to the nebulous night, the pitter patter of the raindrops blended with the swish swash of the windshield wipers, creating a calm, soothing, peaceful atmosphere. Little did we know,that the calm rythm was preparing us for the wild, rip-roaring, spine-tingling, zestful, hair-raising adventures tucked deep into the recesses of Costa Rica's rainforests.   For people from the prairies, it was a hair raising drive. Kudos to my dad for being an awesome driver. We went to sleep dreaming about hummingbirds and the native Costa Rican critters that the preeminent La Paz Waterfall Garden would bring us.       

12/13/14 - Vara Blanca to Arenal

While we devoured our much needed breakfast for the upcoming day, a chirpy, gleeful humming bird zipped in to say its usual "Hello Good Morning !" to the lodge owner. A genial Costa Rican placed the chirpy bird in my cupped hands. The minuscule bird danced in my hands, eager to get out and soar to it's freedom.

We visited the grand La Paz garden in the central highland cloud forests of Costa Rica. A beautiful array of colorful butterflies fluttered  across the room as we entered. Dolefully, I seemed to be an insect repellant, for not one butterfly landed on me. As we were about to leave, a beautiful red and black butterfly settled on my leg as if to say good bye.
Chestnut mandible and keeled bill Toucan were everywhere, dominating the area as if it was their own land, snatching papaya out of peoples' bowls. Well..it wasn't really the toucan's fault ...people were feeding them.
A baby monkey was smashing watermelon on a branch. It tried and failed hopelessly to get a succulent piece of watermelon from the rind. An older monkey scampered past the baby with a bunch of bananas. The baby, suddenly disinterested with the watermelon, left its play and made for bananas..only to be shooed away. This childish act was a scene nobody could obliterate from their mind..
A giant boa constrictor laid in the man's hands as he handed it to me. It's scaly belly pulsed in my hands as the three of us held the gargantuan snake.
Pairs of blazing orange eyes stared at me from behind the glass partitions..A young puma, baby ocelots and leopards inhabited the cages.
An iota of colors whizzed by on to the nearest nectar field...Did you know that the iridescent gorgeous colors of humming birds are not because of the pigments but the refraction of light?
Pristine water tumbled down jagged rocks into a rushing stream of water, stretching far into the sunset.
After an animating and provocative day exploring LaPaz, we made our way to Arenal.

Night Hike: We set out to explore the nearby jungle to meet the amphibians of Costa Rica. Gawking in amazement we followed the guide through the canopy of trees, beams of light from our flashlights pierced through the pitch darkness. I strained my eyes to catch a glimpse of the many critters hidden from plain sight, snakes camouflaging to get it's prey, and exotic flowers and their fragrance. As we got accustomed to the dark, we began to see, "froggy with blue jeans" everywhere.
The exciting experience set my hopes high on what we would experience on this trip.

12/14/14 - Arenal

Arenal Suspension bridges Mistico: Thick foliage bloomed around the edges of the trails as we  hiked up the trail to the first suspension bridge. The park had installed 15 sturdy suspension bridges through the rain forest, giving tourists, a bird's eye view. We walked the bridges, taking pictures of the natural surroundings and waterfalls, listening to the rushing of streams gurgling below, and the continuous chipper of the birds up above. Halfway through our trek, we came across the Arenal Volcano, standing proud and regal with fluffy clouds topping it's high peak like a crown, and greenery surrounding it like a king's loyal subject. As we finished our walk, tall trees with thick bark and years of plants,vines, and moss snaking up its rough thick bark, flourished on either side.

The chocolate tour left me drooling for fresh Costa Rican chocolate. At the tour, they explained the evolution of chocolate, how it came to be and the process of turning it from raw cacao beans to the rich chocolate we savor today.  Breaking open the fruit of cacao, they took out the cacao beans cocooned by cacao butter that tasted faintly like watermelon rind. After taking out the beans, they dried the beans which after a few days, smelled rotten. Using beans that were pre-dried, we smashed them into smithereens. To get rid of the husks of the beans, we poured it back and forth in a bowl while blowing. When there were no more husks in the bowl, the guide ground it into a fresh powder, adding a few ingredients to make the chocolate smooth and soft. Man, the base chocolate was so bitter!  They even let us make our own soft chocolate with toppings of our choice. Since the ancient civilizations used the cacao beans as currency, they gave us a bag full of the beans either to "buy" chocolates or to keep. What a yummy experience!

We departed from the chocolate plantation and went to the breath-taking La Fortuna waterfall. La Fortuna sat at the base of Cerro Chato Volcano. Climbing down the grueling 400+ steps, we got to splash for a while in the pool around the waterfall before going back home.

12/15/14 - Arenal

We woke up very early to greet and meet the country's native birds. We started the day's adventure with a bird tour filled with turkey vultures, parrots, hummingbirds, robins, a laughing falcon and armies of leaf-cutter ants.

We went on a panoramic drive to the Arenal Volcano National Park where a hike captured the mountain's majesty. Along the way, we found metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks. A band of leaf-cutter ants crossed our trail. I found out that there are 4 ranks in an ant colony. The Queen, soldier ants, farmer ants, and weak farmer ants. The soldier's job is to spread pheromones for the farmers who were blind and smelled with their feet back to the hole. They have to re-spread the pheromones whenever the path is destructed by a human( example: using a stick, draw a line through the path and you will start to see the neat little row of ants scatter as panic erupts. Then the soldier ants come back to re-spread the pheromones.) The farmer's job is to bring leaves down to were the weak farmers would bring them back to the hole. Sometimes the ants will sit on the leaf. Many people consider the ants lazy and that they are just hitching a ride. They do this because sometimes parasites lay their eggs on the leafs and when they hatch inside an ant colony, they will eat all the ants' food and the colony will disappear. So the ants on the leaf will battle to death with the parasite so that the colony can stay alive. Since a colony is all female, the queen from each colony will come out on a special day and so will the lone males in the forest. They will mate, the queen will collect the fertilizer and the male will die.

After an interesting hike with our very knowledgeable guide, we drove to a hot springs near by and took a nice, warm dip and went for dinner. Afterwards we got ice cream, gum and other goodies and the whole city of Arenal went to sleep.

12/16/14 Arenal - Monteverde

Moving day. We moved from our place in Arenal to Monteverde to experience the cloud forests. Through our scenic drive of wonder, we spotted a farm filled with keel billed toucans happily demanding and devouring papaya and a Crested Guan standing proudly at the side of the road. As we drove through, we took panoramic pictures of the pulchritudinous scenery.

We stopped by a tea house for tea, but we were in for a pleasant surprise when hundreds of colorful hummingbirds buzzed gaily in the courtyard and whizzed past us.

After unloading at our resort, we headed off for our Monteverde adventure. It was beginning to get dark as we pulled to a stop at the designated start of the hike. The guide handed out flashlights before asking a few questions. Q&A  Q:How does a cricket hear?   A:With it's feet.   Q: What do bats eat?   A: Fruit, insects, mammals, fish, etc. As we walked into the deep, dense forest, the guide began to point out birds like the Swainsons Thrush and Wood Thrush. The forest held many creatures in  different sizes, shapes, and colors ranging from a frog as TINY as my thumbnail to a GIANT orange elbow tarantula, the size of my hand! As we neared glowing mushrooms the guide had us turn of our flashlights. After our eyes adjusted, a faint glow emitted from the group of fungi. As we walked through a narrow trail, a government of army ants crossed our trail. Their vicious stings were soon revealed as a huge portion of the group got bitten. As we made our way up, the guide introduced us to the darkness of the jungle. He had us make a human chain and switch of our flashlights. I was so scared I could hear my heart thumping in my chest. Suddenly, everything around me was pitch black. You could not even make out the faint outline of the person in front of you! Scared talk from the group came from behind the line. After what seemed like an eternity, lights began to flicker on. We continued the rest of the hike with an abundant supply of light ( it was not much but after a few minutes of pitch black, any light was fine.) On our way out we saw a couple of bats and a walking stick (the creature).

12/17/14 - Monteverde

I woke up bleary eyed to hear my mom say, " Wake up sleepy heads, you don't want to miss horseback riding do you?" Horseback riding!!??  We hurried and got ready.. in a few we were on the road that our tires had ran over the day before.  We mounted up on our beautiful horses as the guide introduced horses to us. The guide showed us how to use the reins but told us we would not need it because they would follow the lead horse( the guide's horse of course.) He gave us sticks to give the horse a light tap to get the horse moving. Soon we were riding in a line with our horses, stick in one hand, reins on the other, up and down the mountain. We trotted into a big, open, clearing where the horses stopped to feed and we got to race them around the field.  My horse kept stopping to eat and I found myself using the stick more than I thought. Such a nice outing.

Ziplining through the cloud forest... We snapped on our gear and headed off for the practice run. " What if I don't like it," I worried aloud. "Don't worry, you can take the stairs back down if you don't like it" my mom said. The practice was nauseating. As soon as my feet touched the platform, I asked my dad if I could go back down. "Sorry, once you go, you have to finish" he said. My hands began to feel clammy. "How many 'lines are there" I asked. "12." "You will be fine" he answered. " Anyway, there are some partner 'lines " he said. And so the countdown began as I zipped through the clouds, taking a bite for snack.
Hmmm... this experience was not so pleasant...

We picnicked by the continental divide and suddenly rain started pouring on us. I got so much used to the rain.. that I loved it very much ( I usually don't like to get wet in rain ) !

12/18/14 Monteverde - Manuel Antonio

We geared up to explore the Quepos region. The drive was long and boring and boy what a change in weather! Wet and moist to sunny and warm ! On our way we saw clumps of people clinging to the guard rail and looking down into the river. With something that got this much attraction, my mom dragged us to see the commotion. My eyes popped out as we looked down. The water had turned a light sienna color and the texture was bumpy. We were not looking at water, but a bed of at least 20 alligators. A nearby shopkeeper threw chunks of meat to get the beasts in action and amuse tourists. As we watched the sleeping logs open their massive jaws for a bite of food, we got a clear look at the reptiles. They were about 10 feet at the largest and the smallest, about 7 feet.

We decided to explore a transitional forest  ( between dry forests of Quepos  and rainforest of Arenal and Monteverde ) in  Carara. Our guide took us through not so visited trails that had small swamps, tall logs and a thick plantation. The guide had a huge telescope for viewing birds and the other creatures that took the forest as a home. We spotted a lot of colorful birds and heard their music drifting down from the tree tops breaking the thick silence of the jungle. We also saw a ton of monkeys, a baby was clinging to it's mom while the mom descended a tree to investigate us from a safe distance. The guide set his telescope to the right position and let us peer into the lenses to see them!

As the sun began to shine it's last rays of fading light, we checked in to our resort and raced towards the roaring waves of the beach. At the beach, we thew off our slippers and ran barefooted, the smooth, pearly, sand getting between my toes. Suddenly, I saw something red protruding from the sand. And wiggling! Startled we moved closer to get a better look and found ourself staring at a beached starfish that had washed up with the tide. My dad slid a stick under the starfish and carried back to the ocean where it belonged. After we washed, we settled into the pool to swim around and enjoy the rest of the day.

12/19/14 - Manuel Antonio

Dry forests of Costa Rica, what do you have in store for us? We first decided to take A SELF GUIDED TOUR! After days of being promised sloth viewing each tour we went on, my dad had had  enough. " I want sloth!" A lot of commotion drew us in and we saw sloths! Sloths on the day we had no guide! As we continued down, we spotted a sign saying " Beach". We took a turn and ran onto the pier where we settled down. Calm, shallow waves lapped on to the beach as farther in the distance, huge waves rolled into soft, calm waves that met the sand inches from our feet. We immediately splashed into the warm waves. The sun, instead of it's usually vigor, relaxed and shone brightly. My dad sat on a tree, not willing to come into the water. " Hey, who's the sloth eating all of our bars" my mom asked pointing at my dad? So even when the sun dissolved, our appetite for play wasn't. Eager to explore I rounded the corner and came face to face or should I say, page to page with a library! One of my third grade favorites was assuring me delight so I grabbed it and sunk in to a couple minutes of word time.  I was jolted out of my world of reading when my parents told us to grab our slippers so we could go walk on the beach.

12/20/14 Sanjose to Chicago

The dreadful last day was here... Today we were leaving Costa Rica. Sunny, Tropical, Cloudy, Rainy, Chilly, Beautiful Costa Rica. :(   . I surely will miss Casado's and fried bananas in sugar cane juice.

We quickly got ready and and hopped into the car for last minute souvenir shopping. We found some exquisite necklaces with butterfly pendents and toucan and butterfly earrings along with a free Costa Rica bracelet and 2 shirts that read "Costa Rica Pura Vida''.
We hurried to the airport to board our plane to Chicago. Back to blankets and blankets of fresh chilly snow. Bye bye sandy,warm beaches!

Viva Mexico - 2013

Saturday 12/14/2013

  "Wohoo! We are going to Mexico!" I was all over the place bouncing and dancing uncontrollably. That was all I was thinking about the entire week. It was a long and tiring journey to Mexico from Chicago. Finally, we arrived to our resort "Royal Haciendas" in Playa Del Carmen. I was so tired that I almost fell asleep in the lobby until my sister announced "I Hungry!" we settled down for 2 secs in our villa and headed towards Mexican restaurant "La Palapa Del Sol". The variety of food set out in front of me made me drool and gobble the food down. We were in for a melodious surprise when we found mariachi singers came to sing a happy melody for us. After our hearty meal we enjoyed the sand and warm waves of the Caribbean beach right outside of the resort. 

Sunday 12/15/2013

  "Psst", "Krupa, do you want to come see the sunrise with me?"
"uggh" I moaned.
"Last chance!"   My mom warned.
"Fine! I am coming." I mumbled.
What I didn't realize was that it wouldn't be some boring thing that usually my mom drags me into. While we were waiting for the sun to rise, w
e collected marvelous shells and our hands were filled with them. As if the clouds were curtains, they parted and revealed the glowing orinksh ( orange + pink ) bright sun. The sun's wonderful pink glow lined the clouds around it. Birds started chirping around. It was such a calm feeling!
We got back to the villa and dragged our dad to the pool. I tried to snorkel but it was a flop trial. I could not breathe right with the mask on.
My mom insisted on going to La Quinta Avida an outdoor market place to shop. Cobbled stone street lined with shops and street vendors reminded me streets of India. We bought a big conch, a brown star fish, Mexican sombreros, fans and some silver jewelry.  

Monday 12/16/2013

 "Up, Up, Up". "We need to hurry"! My parents rushed us. We were going to Chichen Itza and our tour started at 7:15 A.M. The bus ride was very boring and long. The guide told us about Mayan ruins and their sacred cenotes. "First stop Cenote IlKil" he announced.
 Wide open space to swim, variety of colorful fishes and salty water connecting to ocean is what I pictured the cenote would be. It was quite the contrary! IlKil is a semi open sink hole. I walked down the steps of the cool, moist, damp cave to swim in the cenote. The cave was dimly lit making a little scary to swim in. It was very deep about 130 ft deep! The water was crystal clear. I could make out every detail of cat fish and other tiny black fishes. I could not wait to take a dip in the cool, fresh water and swam to the center of the cenote where the sun rays met the water making it sparkle. I felt very relaxed and did want to get out....

 Next we went to Chichen Itza, a site with Mayan ruins. My favorite structures were El Castillo and the ball court.
El Castillo is like a pyramid except with no top. A special feature of the pyramid is that on every equinox, their serpent god would appear. Did you know that it took 70 yrs to make the side that serpent god would appear on ? Whereas it took 70 yrs to make all the other 3 sides of the pyramid combined.To keep faith on god among their people, The mayan architects planned the construction of the pyramid so that every equinox, it would look like their serpent god is slithering down.
El Castillo is also a Mayan calendar. The 91 steps on all 4 sides represented 364 days of a year. The last step was on the top of the main entrance.Mayan architects used stalagmites and limestone to build a good sound system for their community. Whenever you clap in front of El Castillo it makes the sound of an eagle.
After learning about the pyramid and having experienced the sound effect of Mayan structure, the guide led us to a ball court.
The ball court is a stadium for ball games played by priests. There are two walls parallel to each other with a hoop 7mtrs off the ground and exactly in the middle. The objective of the game is to get the rubber ball into the hoop only with the elbows. The Mayans believed in life after death and the captain of the winner's team had the privilege to get decapitated by the loser's captain.
Mayans had some unusual cultures for example, When a baby was born they would tape a piece wood to its forehead. Therefore structure of the skull would change and the baby would have flat head. Another gross example would be teeth piercing.
After the tour, we had a little more time left to explore the ruin. Me and my friends ran around freely just goofing around. We went around shopping for some souvenirs and bought a couple of masks, quartz dolphins and an owl whistle.

Tuesday 12/17/2013

 Green light! Red light! Pose for the picture. We were playing Red light and Green light on our way to the Tulum ruins. We entered a small tunnel and suddenly I was in a new world filled with small ruins. Butterflies fluttered around me, as if its going to lead us to something. I chuckled at my thought but followed it anyway, only to find huge iguanas basking in the sun everywhere. I ran after a small one, trying to catch it but its small feet carried it far away.
We strolled by the ruins, reading about the culture, religion and community. Suddenly something interesting caught our attention.
"Why are there metal bars in the window?" My dad questioned.
"Is it a jail?" I asked.
"Nope! The ruins are so fragile that they needed to put metal bars for support" he answered.
Tulum ruins are on the cliff next to the ocean. Albino white beach, Turquoise waves crashing against the rocks what beautiful scene!
"Can we go to the beach?" I asked.
"Thats our plan! My parents chirped in unison."
We headed down to jump waves. A huge wave came in, I tried to jump, but it whisked me under the water. After few more wave jumps we decided that I had gulped to much salt water and it was high time we head to Akumal bay.
Akumal bay was a small bay, unlike the ocean it had no rough waves. We went snorkling and saw many fishes and I even saw a Dori fish. Splat! A pelican dove down to catch its food, pointing out where we should go to see fishes. After a tiring swim we came home.

Wednesday 12/18/2013

 What are we going to do in Xcaret? I asked. Well I heard there is an underground river my mom replied. When are we going to do that? It sounds fun. I said.
Colorful macaws and pink flamingos greeted me at the entrance. I got to hold a soft green macaw! I was very excited but at the same time, nervous that it might bite me.
We were looking at a colorful array of fishes when it hit me. "Xcaret is more like a zoo than a park" I exclaimed. I saw many other sea creatures like jelly fish, coral, a conch shell, a sea urchin , a sand dollar, lemon sharks, giant sea turtles and sting rays.
"Will the underground river be scary?" I questioned. Beware of the alligator, it might eat you" the guide joked. We passed many dark caves and a mayan village. Fishes circled my feet. It took about 30 minutes to go around the whole river.
We also saw a Mexican cultural show and it was so rythemic, melodious and colorful.
After a tiring day we went to bed.

Thursday 12/19/2013 

Finally "My dream is about to come true" I cried happily. Tears of joy spilled out of my eyes. I was going to pet a dolphin! I got to go to the swim adventure which meant I would get to RIDE on the dolphin! Her name is Astreya and she is 22 yr old. My favorite activity was to hold a boogie board and swim to the far end of the pool, then she would push my feet and give me a ride to the other end. She also gave me a ride on her stomach. I gave her a kiss, hug and a belly rub. During free time, her sang for us. Did you know that a dolphin can make over 300 sounds with its blowhole? She liked playing "Dolphin see, Dolphin do" a lot! When I turned in the water with my hands up, she did the same. It was such an awesome experience!
I loved the cenote we had gone so much that I wanted to go again! We went to an open cenote called crystello. It had Mayan carvings on the rocks and platform. Black fishes swarmed around my dad's feet munching on dead skin. I had fun swimming in the crystal clear water among the fishes. "Splaaaash!!!" somebody jumped off the cliff into the water. "May be I will try that too" I thought. I climbed up the fossil steps leading to the top of the cliff. I looked down below and felt dizzy. The surface of the water seemed far down. Not wanting to show that I was scared, I jumped! What a terrible experience!

Friday 12/20/2013

Last day was our relaxing day at resort. We went free swimming in the pool and I finally learned to snorkel! After that there was no stopping me. Also, I played Astreya role for kruthi, towing her around the pool. We did a lot of fun things, got our face painted and went for a pinyata party too!!!
We headed back to Chicago the next day!

My Summer Vacation 2013

Summer
Bike rides through the green forests
Splashing in the cool river water
Touching icky sticky moss to
Climbing burning churning dunes...
Hello Summer!

Can you imagine walking on a beach filled with small, smooth gravel offering a free bad foot massage the whole time you were there? 

Small, big, and huge rocks, thrashing waves, a gravely beach and nature trails. That is Zion beach in Illinois. There were so many beautiful rocks all around, inviting us to collect them. Some of the rocks were so huge that we danced on them and jumped from one to another. "How do I skip a rock ?" was one little question that started the rock skipping contest amongst us and we spent a lot of time without realizing it. Skipping rocks isn't as easy as it looks. The rock has to be circular and light, it has to be thrown at a perfect angle, and  with good hand coordination, you could skip rocks. Next to collecting rocks, I loved making a sand castle with my family. Our castle had a parking lot with car and was decorated with black, shiny, polished rocks and gravel. At first I thought the nature walk would be boring, but to my surprise, it was wonderful. There were lots of birds to see but my favorite was the blue wood pecker pecking on a tree.

Hey Ho and Away we go to Mackinac Islands with friends.

It was a long road trip to Mackinac Islands. We took a break at Sleeping bear dunes. Me and my friends had a blast wading in water and collecting rocks with marvelous patterns. The water was cool, nice and clear. It was perfect for hot July day. After our dip, we decided to climb the dunes. Unfortunately,  the sand was so hot that it literally burnt my foot off but still I managed to climb with a few stops. Running down the dunes uncontrollably was the reward for my terrible hike up the dunes. 

Cherry picking was next on our list. Ripe, Red, juicy, delicious cherries were everywhere in the orchard. We picked up bucket loads of cherries and devoured them all.

Before exploring Mackinac island, we stopped at pictured rocks and took a ship wreck cruise to see the ship wrecks and rock formations. The boat had a glass bottom through which we could see the ship wrecks bit by bit.
 Finally, we got on the island by ferry.
Did you know that there are no cars allowed on the island? The only ways to get around is to walk, bike or ride on horse carriage. My favorite activity was to bike the circumference of Mackinac island which was 8 miles and horse carriage tour.
 Before saying goodbye to this beautiful island, we went zip lining and to my surprise it wasn't scary at all.


A rickety bridge, a steep canyon with water pouring off the sides, many waterfalls, huge green trees swaying in the wind and slippery paths. Oh what a great park! My favorite activity at the Mathessian state park was hiking up the canyon, sliding down the water slides. Jumping of a log and falling right into a mud puddle and being laughed at was the last thing I wanted to do. But, after a few more jumps, I started to like it. Getting wet under a waterfall was as fun as swimming in a pool filled with your favorite sea creatures.

My summer vacation wasn't just visiting places. It was also spending time with family and friends. I spent some good time with my grandma making crafts like lotuses made out of spoons and rangoli, celebrating festivals and eating yummy food.
My summer holidays was such a blast!!!!

Rainy day

Tap, Tap, Tap, Pitter-patter, Pitter-patter. The rain poured down like elephants and whales with immense speed that it could have literally drowned us if not for the drains. While the school announced closing and the rain filled the streets of Aurora,  the glum weather made changes to our plans for the day. Me, my mom, and my sister were busy making boats.

The rain and us made a great working team. I made the boats out of parchment paper and used my origami book as an instruction Manual. After making the boats, we were surprised to see that most of the water was drained. Gosh! But we found a large puddle and floated our boats. We had fun floating and making our boats.

I figured that what makes a storm day fun is making boats and floating them.

Spring Time In Holland,Michigan

It was a beautiful, sunny, spring day in Holland, Michigan. A magnificent windmill greeted us by saying,"greetings, greetings. Welcome one and all come to the great tulip fest."

The cool wind brushed my hair as I raced across the tulip garden. The farm's green grass tickled my bare feet. Chasing butterflies and watching them fly over the rows of endless colorful, buttery flowers was one of the best moments of the day. I even saw a blue swallow-tail butterfly but alas! I could not catch it. My sister also started chasing butterflies after me! Me and My friends became flower detectives and searched for types of tulips including the Russian Princess but alas we couldn't find that either. We later wandered off into a dandelion meadow and made fresh bouquets of dandelions.

Then we went to Tunnel park with a beach and had a beachtastic time throwing water at each other and making sand castles. It was a fun filled day. I highly recommend you all to go to Tulip festival next year.

Holi

How bad could it be getting messy? I asked myself as we drove to riverwalk. I was ready to celebrate Holi an Indian festival for welcoming spring and we celebrate by playing with colors. When we got there, the brown picnic benches were full of hungry colorful people gobbling food and I could hear the music playing in the background. I ran to the store at the pavilion to get colors. I chose the brightest colors to play with. They were as blue as the sky, as yellow as the sun, as orange as a ripe orange, as green as the meadows, as purple as a plum and as red as a heart. I couldn't wait to see the faces of my friends when I would literally splash them with colors and get splashed right back! There was lot of commotion from the playful colorful people on the brightly colored grass. There were adults, children, teenagers and even puppies enjoying throwing colors even at strangers and getting messy. There were a few surprise friends that I didn't know were coming. And that was my fun filled, messy Holi holiday!

Adventure in Yellowstone

It was a stagnant Saturday morning. I finally asked ” can we go to Yellowstone national park?” “of course” said my father. So we packed our car and off we went and reached our destination in two minutes straight. I was so happy to be out, breathing fresh air. Birds were fluttering and chirping, colorful fall trees swaying, and earthworms wiggling in the dirt. I could feel happiness rushing through me. The stench of moist dirt filled my nose. The cool breeze on my skin felt so good. It was pretty autumn if you ask me. So we decided what we were going to do. First we decided to go hiking then we would saunter through the woods. I saw a near by trail and we started to hike. We then, came to two staircases. I didn’t know which one to take. So I decided to investigate the stairs. The first one, the trodden one was the one I didn’t want to take because it would lead to no adventure unlike the rusty, murky, damp, trail. “The least trodden one it is” I said.

The Sudden Stop

I was taking a drive through Mount Rushmore when creek... the car stopped suddenly. "What was that" ? "It can't be the fuel running out I had just filled it" ! Suddenly, everything went pitch black. Every single sign of light was gone. I got out of my car and started to cough badly. "So dusty in here" I croaked. When all the smoke cleared away, the engine looked busted. I reached into my pocket to get my phone. "Yikes! Who stole my phone?" I wailed. At that moment, a black shape whizzed passed my eyes and I was in deep trance and I found myself in a rocky world when I woke up.

The Unexpected Hole

It was raining all morning. When the rain cleared away, I went out to play in my lush, green backyard. I saw a shiny, silver key on the dew covered grass. I picked it up, it looked like a key detector that would lead to more keys! I examined the key thoroughly but I couldn't find anything to start the detector ! I took my magnifying glass out and I found a teensy weensy slit for a very small CD, then  I found  a CD that was supposed to fit into the slit. When I inserted the CD something started to glow and a hole appeared. It started to get bigger and bigger then I went inside. Halfway through the tunnel a monster erupted from the ground, he smelled like a million pairs of unwashed socks! Eww! He said "Me Want to Eat Human"."Um sorry not today"I said feverishly! Then the most amazing thing happened, I camouflaged right into the dirt but the monster could smell me. I tried to get out but I was locked "the key " I thought. But I turned around to find nothing but a shovel. Then it hit me, I could dig my way out but when tried to reach for it...

Ganesha Festival

Ganesha festival is a custom we follow. This day is called "Ganesh Chaturthi" and we don't look at the moon because otherwise we will have bad fate coming ahead of us.

We ask lord Ganesha to bless us with the best education and good behavior. We pray for forgiveness from doing atrocious things. Ganesha destroys obstacles from people's lives. Ganesha's head is a little unusual because he has an elephant head and a snake tied to his belly as a belt and goes around on his mouse.

Here is a short story on how he got his elephant head

Ganesha was made by Parvathi, who made him out of clay. Parvathi then used her powers that could make clay come to life. She told her son (Ganesha) to guard the house while she took a bath and not to let any one in. So, While she was taking a bath, lord Shiva came. Ganesha didn't know that Shiva was his father neither did Shiva know that Ganesha was his son.

Shiva tried to get inside the house but Ganesha did not let him in and said "My Mother Parvathi is taking a bath and no one can enter."

"Well this is my house and Parvathi is my wife. So, Let me in." said Shiva.

"No!" said Ganesha.

"Okay fine ! either battle me or let me go inside." said Shiva.

"I want to battle." said Ganesh.

So, Shiva and Ganesha battled. In the battle, Shiva cut off Ganesha's head. At that moment, Parvathi came running out of the house and saw Ganesha's body without the head and Shiva with his bloody weapon.

Parvathi burst into tears and cried "Oh Shiva ! you have destroyed my creation . You have killed your own son."

Shiva tried to console Parvathi but he couldn't console her"

"Shiva I will talk to you if you find my son a head" said Parvathi.

"Okay whatever my dear" said Shiva.

Shiva ordered his crew to find a head of a baby animal that has eaten stomach full and napping without its mommy. So, Shiva's crew found a baby elephant's head and gave it to Shiva.

"Parvathi, Here is a head." said Shiva.

"Well, I was not expecting a elephant's head but atleast it is a head" said Parvathi

Parvathi used her magical powers to put the head on Ganesha and brought him back to life.

This is how Ganesha got an elephant head.

For the pooja, We made nature friendly clay model of Ganesha. Me and My friend with the help of our moms made it on a weekend. 3 days before Chaturthi day. It was really fun making the Ganesha together.

The clay Ganesha was placed in the pooja room on Chaturthi day. Me and Kruthi did pooja for Ganesha in the evening. I wore a traditional langa for the pooja. First, We did arishina and kumkuma pooja. Second, we did abhisheka and then we chanted all 101 names of Ganesha. Finally my dad told the story of "Why we celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi" and then we bid "Good Bye" to Ganesha.

My 2012 Summer Vacation

I did a lot of super cool fun things. But, I also did a lot of boring things. So, here is a scoop of it.

"83 days of summer vacation
Then school comes along to end it
So the annual problem for me and Kruthi
Is finding the best way to spend it."

- Adapted from Phineas and Ferb

I went for lot of classes during my summer vacation. My most least liked class was Kumon. It is a very bad class !!!. You know why ? They expect you to know how to do it, without teaching you.

I also learnt "Madhubani" art. It is a folk art from a place in India called Bihar.

Swimming was my most favorite class. I learned some styles like back stroke, side glide, ketchup style and free style.

Writers workshop is in the middle of my likings. I learned how to write limerick. Limericks are hilarious and follow a pattern. First,Second and Fifth lines rhyme and Third, Fourth lines rhyme.

A young man from Dublin
Caught a train to Rublin
The sign said "NO SPITTING ON THE FLOOR"
So he spit on the very yucky door
Then he said "YAY FOR DUBLIN"

- Krupa Atreyas Sudheendra

I love to read books. During my summer vacation, I read a lot of books. I finished "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series by Rick Riordan and started new "Pandora" series by Carolyn Hennesy. I also started this blog. I saw lot of movies like "Jumanji", "Brave", "Ice Age 1", "Ice Age Continental Drift" , "Harry Potter series", "King Tut" and "Finding Nemo".

Santa's Village was one of the outings with friends and family. We had a lot of fun going on rides, picking and petting cute and soft little birdies at the Aviary. We also went to Willmett beach to celebrate Father's day. We had a lot of fun collecting shells and rocks on the shore. We found a dollar bill. We had a nice picnic after playing in the water. Later we went to Bahai temple.

I also went to California to welcome my baby cousin to the world. My baby cousin's name is "Aahana Rao". She is so adorable. She was born on August 1st at Los Rebels hospital. Me and Kruthi both enjoyed playing with her.

I went to Point Mugu beach. Scenic route to the beach was very good. I collected a lot of big, round and nice rocks. We played in the water and sand. The tides were so high that they knocked me down and i drank salt water Ewwwwwww...I went up the very steep sand dune with my uncle and on the way back, I flipped, tumbled and rolled down. Sand went into my ears, in my hair and the yuckiest part into my mouth.
We also went to Santa Monica beach, This was really really crowded. I saw a man with the snake and asked if could hold it as well...he said yes and i had the snake around my neck. It was really reptylish. The funniest part was when my mom freaked out looking at the pictures of me with the snake. We went on Ferris wheel and saw the beach high up from the sky.

We ended our summer vacation with a magical time in Disney land. It was fun. We had a good time there. We met a few princesses and went on a few rides. My favorite was watching parade. Parade started with Mickey and Minnie followed by Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale. Then came Aladdin and Genie. They both said "Hi" to me and blew me a kiss. Funky Banana man was dancing like crazy. Princess Aeriel came next, Kruthi was very excited and started calling out for Aeriel. Next came Donald duck in a fiesta hat followed by Rapunzel, Aurora, Snow white, Bell and Cinderella...They all looked very very pretty !!!. Lion king and people on stilts followed the princesses. Princess Tiana, Tinker bell and Peter pan , Captain hook and Mr. Smee followed the parade. Finally came Mary Poppins with my favorite song.

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Even though the sound of it
Is something quite atrosicous!
If you say it loud enough you'll
always sound precocious"

-Disney

My "I Am" Poem

I am smart and chatty
I wonder what I will be when I grow up
I hear a dolphin squealing
I see Krishna playing on his flute
I want to see the great white shark
I am smart and chatty

I pretend to go all around the world
I feel butterflies fluttering in my stomach
I touch the rainbowinator
I worry about natural disasters
I cry when Kruthi takes my dolphins away
I am smart and chatty

I understand that a solar eclipse is coming in December
I say girls are the best
I dream about gifts
I try to be very healthy
I hope Kruthi would grow up soon
I am smart and chatty 

 "I Am" poem template!! Enjoy

KRUTHI - My Sister

Kayotic
Really annoying
Usually cries
Taunts me 
Have a good time with her
I love her my sister!

MOTHER's day

Makes awesome dinner
On bad days she soothes me
The best cook
Hugs me
Exhausted mom
Really nice