Our first flying experience

Earlier this week, Mehul suggested this place in Fremont called iFly that offers an indoor skydiving experience in a vertical wind tunnel. It looked interesting and so we decided to try it out. Mehul confirmed that we could take turns and hence it was doable with kids around.

We got the appointment for today at 7:30. We had to report 45 mins earlier to get some training and also get ready with the gears. We got a group package for 5 people which offers some discount as well as free DVD. However, Tejas-Ishaani had to drop out since Tapas was not well. So, we thought Kavya could give it a try if she wanted. She was already excited to see people fly and when we asked her if she would like to do it, she was even more excited and ready.

We reached there around 6:45 and filled up the paperwork and headed upstairs. Our coach was Chris. He took us to a room for some training video and showed us some hand signals to remember. Then we headed out and got the gears : astronaut like costume, goggles, helmet and ear plugs. Priya and I were going to stay with Ishaan and Ved while Mehul, Gaurav and Kavya would go and take their turns first.We had total of 10 flights (1 min each) between the 5 of us.

Mehul was the first to go for the first 1-min flight, followed by Gaurav and then Kavya. I was super excited to see Kavya. What was funny was that she was trying to swim in the air by kicking with her legs. She was confident and no sign of fear. That's my girl ! I was a bit skeptical if she would go for 2nd flight, but to my surprise, she was all ready :)



After they finished their 2 flights each, they came out of the chamber and then it was my and Priya's turn. Priya was quite skeptical and scared. Chris suggested that she go in first and there she went and did fine. Then it was my turn. I wasn't scared, but at the same time I wasn't sure what to expect. As I went in, I felt wind blowing really hard from below. The force of the wind was good enough to lift you. There was a controller in a cabin outside the tunnel who would keep an eye on what's happening in the tunnel and control the force of wind accordingly. Chris was good at helping us control our body position. I kept my mouth open to breathe - that was a mistake. There were a couple of seconds when I felt that I was not able to breath properly due to the wind, but all-in-all it was a good experience. My second flight was much better since my mouth was closed and then Chris also helped by making me fly higher and in circles, which was quite exciting.

Overall, it was a good experience. Would I do it again ? Probably not - I would rather go for the real skydiving.

Here are pictures from our camera and Mehul's camera.

Kavya attained sea-horse level in swimming

Kavya has been going for swimming lessons at AVAC for over 1.5 years now - she started before she turned 3 because I remember Gaurav going in the water with her. She loves swimming and eagerly waits for the day when she has swim lessons. Along with having fun, she is also learning an important skill that I believe everyone should have.

Today, she attained the sea-horse level. This level means that she can do the following:
-Explore water independently
-Have face in water with eyes open
-Knows cue words
-Supported prone float with face in - 10 count
-Supported back float with roll in tummy
-Stands up from prone position unassisted
-Assisted circle swim
-Assisted bobs - at least 5 times
-Climbs out of pool unassisted
-Retrieves object from the step
-Wall walk

She also got a ribbon for this accomplishment.

We didn't even know about these different levels before she got this :)

Kavya's Pre-K Graduation

Kavya has been going to Bright Horizons day care/school since Sept 2008. She started with Pre-K I and then jumped to Pre-K III in Aug 2009 since they merged Pre-K II and Pre-K III classes.

Today, they had Graduation ceremony for the Pre-K class. The kids had been preparing songs for this day for past few days. Kavya was excited about it and had been telling me (as well as her teacher) that she is going to wear a nice dress with stockings and black shoes that day :). The ceremony was from 11 to 1. So, Gaurav and I took couple of hours off to attend the ceremony. I have never been to any of my own graduation ceremony - did not have that concept in India and then for my Master's graduation, I had already started work - so chose not to go. (I now wish it would have been a good experience if I had gone :) ) And Kavya was going to have her Pre-K graduation :)

The graduation ceremony was outside and it was little windy. The parents had all slowly gathered and were waiting for the kids to come out. And just around 11:00 am, the kids lined up and started walking towards us. They all had the graduation cap on and a garland around their neck. They were so cute and especially Kavya - she looked so pretty in her dress with that graduation cap. They all sat down on their chairs and sang the graduation songs and then the teachers called their names and they came forward to collect their diplomas..

Binduben, Harshil and Nehal joined shortly after. We took some pictures and then went into the classroom where they had set up a potluck lunch. We all had something to eat and chatted with some parents/teachers and then came back home with Kavya, Harshil and Nehal. Kavya got rest of the day off from school :)

Kavya will most likely have another Pre-K graduation next year since she is born after the cut-off date and so will be repeating Pre-K at new school next year. But in any case, this first graduation was a nice experience.

Kavya's first dance performance on stage

Kavya has been learning bollywood dance for past 2 sessions now (since end of Jan) from Gurus of Dance company.

The first session was held at Blossom Hill location (KB fitness) and was taught by Miss Rani. There were 5 kids in the class (2 others did not continue). This session was not a performance quarter meaning the kids would not perform on the stage - just in the class. Kavya enjoyed this session - especially since her friend Keya was in the class too. They danced on the 'All izz Well' song from the '3 idiots' movie. Here is the link to the video.

After the first session, I was having double thoughts if I should continue with the 2nd session..but then since it was a performance quarter, I thought of giving it a try. Gurus of Dance did not have enough enrollment at the Blossom Hill location, so they canceled the classes at that location and asked us to move to Evergreen or Milpitas location. Since the class at Milpitas location was on weekend, it was more favorable, but the location was about 17 miles away. However, Leena (Keya's mom) convinced me to go for it. So, Kavya and Keya both ended up going to the Milpitas location. This time their teacher was Miss Tejal and they were dancing on 'Ek thi Ladki' song from the movie 'Pyar Impossible'. The kids (along with the teacher) worked hard for 8 sessions (including the Grand and Tech Rehearsals)

The final performance was at the Campbell Heritage Theatre on May 8th. The dance company provided the costumes and they were so cute. Kavya's group was the first class to perform and they all were so cute. Enjoy the video :


Kavya seems to be enjoying dance. Every time she listens to either 'All izz Well' or 'Ek thi Ladki' song, she starts dance. Also, these are the only 2 songs she wants to listen in the car now :). I have already enrolled her in the next session that starts in July.

Ishaan is off bottle

Ishaan had been showing signs of being ready for weaning from bottle for some days since he would try drinking out of Kavya's sippy cup. Besides, he had also learnt to drink with a straw. When I gave him a sippy cup few days back, he did not like it - probably because he was very sleepy and may be hungry too. But then this past weekend, Gaurav hid all the bottles and we just gave him sippy cup and he was fine.

So, I told masi (his nanny) on Monday to give him sippy cup only and it has been working out just fine. Yet another milestone achieved ! :)

Kavya gave up bottle around 18 months.. but Ishaan gave it up before he turned 16 months. I guess having an older sibling does speed up some learning.