Balloooooons!

[I wrote this post a week ago, on October 9, but it's taken us a while to get the pictures ready.]

On Saturday (October 3), we all woke up at the eye-rubbingly early hour of 4a.m. to go to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. This is a big annual event in Albuquerque, and lasts about 10 days. On the weekend days, it is apparently attended by several hundred thousand people. We were going to take the shuttle from a Park and Ride location at a mall a few miles from our home. (The Balloon Fiesta Park itself is about 13 miles away.) Of course we had the added complication that there were more of us going than would fit in our little car. Hence the need to leave extra early, to get to the mall in two shifts. There, of course, we had to suffer long lines for the bus. We waited in line over an hour and a half after we were all there, before we were finally able to squeeze into a schoolbus that transported us to the park getting us there just shortly after 7a.m. when the mass ascension event started.





None of us had ever been to a balloon fiesta before, and it was quite an experience. We walked around and saw hot air balloons being inflated. We saw them take off at very close quarters. We saw the sky full of hot air balloons. We saw the sun rise over the Sandia mountains -- it looked not unlike a hot air balloon ascending! There were lots of colorful balloons in the traditional bulb shape, but there were also some unusual shapes like a beer mug, a pair of bees (attached for at least part of their flight), a fish, a jack-in-the-box, and believe it or not, a cow. The cow was the size of about three normal balloons, and had a lot of trouble getting up in the air, but when she finally did, she flew really high! It was a spectacular sight.








I was uncertain what Shreya would think of these strange goings-on, but she seemed to enjoy herself. She did not get vocally excited, but perhaps that was due to the earliness of the hour. She definitely watched the balloons, following them with her eyes while she snuggled comfortably in her carrier.

The only downside to this lovely morning was the line we had to wait in to get back home. There was total chaos in the mad rush to get on the bus, with several lines merging into one, and confusion about which line was for which destination. Once again it took nearly 90 minutes between when we got in line and when we boarded a bus. Still, we had an interesting fun time, and at least I am enthusiastic about going again... next year.

Visitors

Last weekend Shreya had some special visitors: her uncle, aunt and grandmother. Of these, her uncle and aunt stayed for four days, but her grandmother will be staying for a whole month! What fun for Shreya!

As in Atlanta, Shreya took to Pallavi very quickly. Obviously if she was around it was safe to fall asleep.


Here she is, playing with Aji.

She was deeply suspicious of Pramod all through his visit, smiling at him or playing with him only when she was safely clinging to someone else that she knew. But one afternoon she allowed him to walk her around the house. His theory is that she didn't know who was behind her. Look at her though. She looks totally comfortable!

Lost Keys!

Saturday dawned bright and fair. We had a full schedule, with lots of things to do, and in a lazy it's-a-long-weekend sort of way, we had even begun to do them. And then, trouble reared its ugly head. Setting out to run some errands, Tom discovered that he had lost his keys. We looked for them everywhere, on bookshelves, under furniture, in closets. We pulled out the couch cushions to see if they had fallen in there. We checked in the car. We even looked in the most unlikely places (the refrigerator, the oven, the washing machine). Then Tom went and checked in his office (borrowing my keys to drive and a colleague's to access the building.) No luck. Where could they be? Was it possible that he had left them in the door the last time he had used them and somebody had passed by and taken them? Surely they wouldn't do that? Was it possible that he had dropped them the previous evening when he took Shreya for a walk? Could they just possibly have evaporated? Hours later, we still hadn't found them, and Tom went to post signs on the neighbourhood trees asking if anyone had noticed them. And then, quite suddenly Shreya found them.

Can you spot the keys in this picture?


She could not understand why Mommy and Daddy were so upset and didn't want to play with her. Eventually however, it wasn't a matter of playing anymore. She was hungry and she wanted her milk. So we went into the bedroom and settled down to nurse her. And in doing so, we bumped her crib, (which adjoins our bed) and heard a jingling sound. The keys had fallen in the small slit between the crib and the bed and had gotten wedged between the mattresses in such a way that they could not only not be seen from above, but were also invisible if one lay on the ground and looked under the bed. When we bumped the crib, they were somewhat dislodged and gracefully slid lower and got caught on the bottom of the crib's railing.



Well, all's well that ends well.

Jemez

This past weekend was the last weekend of the summer (as defined by the UNM academic calendar.) To make the most of it, we went with some friends to the nearby town of Jemez Springs. Although it is only about an 80 minute drive away, and therefore possible to visit as a day trip, we nevertheless decided to stay over Saturday night so as to have more time.

On Saturday, we spent the morning getting there and coordinating with our friends. It took a little longer than expected, since we had decided to meet there, rather than in Albuquerque, and our friends don't have cell phones, and even if they did, we didn't have a signal on ours (Grrr, so much for Verizon having the best coverage -- that of course may still be true, but grrr anyway! ... and on a related note, I really wonder how people managed in the pre-mobile-phone days.) And to add to all the other hurdles, we had two babies' schedules to juggle. However we surmounted all the obstacles and eventually met up.

After lunch in Jemez Springs, we drove out to Jemez Falls, about 15 miles away. The town and falls are in the Jemez mountains, at an elevation of about 6200 ft. The scenery was gorgeous, with bright orange-red mountains dotted with tall evergreen trees, and occasional small bubbling hot springs just at the side of the road. From the parking lot at Jemez Falls to the actual falls was a very short hike, less than half a mile. However, even this proved to be quite challenging, because Jared and Julia's baby is about 15 months old, and having just learned a few weeks ago to walk unsupported, is very much into walking on his own instead of being carried. Of course, he doesn't always want to walk in the direction the adults want to go...


Oddly enough, we don't seem to have taken any pictures of the falls, as seen from downstream. We later walked a short distance upstream, and saw the river above the falls. It was pretty shallow, at least in some parts, and we had some fun wading in.


Here are Tom and Shreya just above the falls.



On Saturday night, after the other had gone to bed, Tom, Shreya and I drove a couple miles out of town, then pulled off the road to do some stargazing. We don't have a tripod, so no pictures, but the sky was quite breathtaking.

On Sunday, after breakfast, we decided to try something a little more strenuous, so we hiked a couple of miles uphill, to McCauley hot springs. These were really just lukewarm springs, but we still enjoyed them!


On the hike back to the car, we got a little nervous, as a bit of a wind blew up, and we could hear thunder from not far away. But fortunately, we didn't get any rain, and made it back safely. Here is Shreya, partaking of a little post-hike refreshment.


On the ride back to Albuquerque, the storm finally broke, and it has been raining (sort of) ever since.

Seattle

Last week, we took Shreya on her third major trip. This time we travelled to Seattle. Tom was visiting Microsoft Research for a week, to do some work with a collaborator. Shreya and I just went along for the ride, among other reasons because I'd never been to Seattle. Of course, in practical terms, I still haven't seen much of the region: during the week, Tom worked all day, and Shreya and I, somewhat transportless, hung out and played either in the hotel or in nearby playgrounds. In the evenings, in principle we could've seen some sights, if we had wanted to skip dinner for the purpose (since restaurants in Redmond seemed to close very early. I suppose this might not have been the case in the city, but in any case we did not find out.) That left Saturday to do touristy stuff, but of course the weather, which had been pretty nice if a bit chilly all week, decided not to cooperate. So, in the end, we skipped going to Mt. Rainier or any of the other attractions and just wandered around Pike Place Market (which Tom points out is an attraction) for some time and spent the day with Tom's collaborator and his wife. So in short, it was an enjoyable week, but uneventful. Here are some pictures.

On the flight out, Shreya attacks a packet of peanuts.


Playing at the hotel.


At Nikhil and Megha's Shreya was fascinated by the coffee table.


Mirrors, mirrors on the wall...

I Saw Her Standing There

(with apologies to the Beatles)

Well she was just seventeen

You know what I mean

(err... fortnights? months since conception?)

And the way she looked

Was way beyond compare

So how could I dance with another... oooh

When I saw her standing there?

(video is from July 16th)

July Jumble

The last few weeks have been sort of crazy around here...

First there was the fourth of July weekend, starting on July 3rd, which may have been a working day for some, but was a holiday for the pediatrician's office. That was the day that Shreya decided to wake up in the morning with a fever of 101F. She had no other symptoms, and was, for the most part even quite cheerful. We sent the pediatrician an email, gave her some Tylenol (the infant version) and decided not to worry about it. But when it was 103F the following day, still with no symptoms, we were advised by the 24-hour nurse line to take her in to the Pediatric Urgent Care, where

They examined her chest
For a rash
And the rest
Of her body for swellings and lumps.

No, wait. That was Christopher Robin. Shreya didn't have sneezles or wheezles. That was the whole point. She didn't have any symptoms, which is what made it So Very Alarming. However, what they did do was virtually nothing. They looked at her eyes and ears for infections, and listened to her lungs. Then they pronounced her to have a fever, told us to give her Tylenol and sent us home $50 poorer! Still, it was better than if she had had an ear infection or something bad. Saturday evening, we had an email back from the pediatrician that it was probably a virus, and not to worry, it would probably clear up in a few days, and if not, we could bring her in on Monday or Tuesday. In the end, it turned out to be a fairly textbook case of roseola, or "baby measles", a virus whose telltale pink rash appears after the three-day fever has subsided and the baby has ceased to be contagious. After all the excitement is over, in other words.

All in all, we had a not particularly holidayish long weekend. One of the nights (I think it was the 3rd) there were fireworks, probably at the state fairgrounds, which were visible from our street corner. So we took her out to see them, but she was rather frightened by the accompanying booming, so we brought her back indoors almost immediately.

In the midst of this excitement, she also got teeth. The first had already begun to appear on July 1st, but a second one started to cut through within a few days of that, so now she has two!

Here she is with her rosy rash and her two new teeth. Smiling in spite of it all!

Then on Friday the 11th, Shreya and I went to the playground in the cool early morning. Shreya enjoyed being strapped to my chest and going down the slides and swinging on the swings. On our way home, she fell asleep in the Bjorn. I walked along, minding my own business, enjoying the morning which was just starting to get hot. And then, as I looked at some gorgeous sunflowers in somebody's yard, instead of where I was going, I stepped on the edge of the pavement where it slanted steeply to a driveway, and twisted my ankle. The yelp I gave woke up Shreya, who started to howl in harmony. We had to sit ourselves down, right there on the sidewalk, and wait for Tom, whom I telephoned, to come with the car and drive us home. For three days, I couldn't walk at all, and even for the rest of the week I only hobbled from one room to another. I had been planning to take Shreya to the lavender festival on Sunday, and the Aquarium on Monday. It only takes one second for such plans to change...

You might think that with all that lying around with a game leg, I would have had plenty of time to do more frequent updates on the blog. Somehow though, it didn't work that way. In the last week, Shreya has become quite attached to Daddy. It did not take her long to figure out that at least for the moment, Mommy tries to get her to play in one spot, while Daddy is the one who carries her around and takes her outdoors. Sigh.