Just so that you know what kind of events you might see coming up in this blow, here is a variety of things that happenned in the last few months which we enjoyed with our son (at some of these events, we were accompanied by some of our friends, but as currently I do not have permission from any one of them to include references to their names, so I will better omit such information for now - but pls. leave me a comment if you are OK for me to include your/your kids names in this blog or later posts to this blog):
(Special month - Our anniversary + my brother's B'day)
5: Boating:
@Shoreline Park
Cost - $17 for 3 of us.
As we could not go out on the long weekend because of commitments at work, we decided to have day trips and make this long weekend still a memorable. So going to Shoreline park and boating was something we wanted to do since last year, but had been putting off - so we did it this weekend and Aakarsh enjoyed it very much. To make it more fun, we took his scooter alongwith, and after the boating he had fun time riding his scooter through the nice slightly hilly terrain of the shoreline park next to the bay.5: Bowling:
@AMF lines in Santa Clara
Cost - Free Games (I had found coupons for 1 free game per person) - we had to pay only for the shoe rentals - around $10 for me & my wife.
We went here after coming back from boating and resting at my bro (almost bro) Sid's place. Aakarsh enjoyed it much more than we had expected - and did he learn so quickly how to throw the heavy balls (even the lightest I could find him was still challenging his own body weight) - final score was: Me (119); Aakarsh (105); Bhavna (89) <<<.
6: Chuck-e-Cheese:
@Chuck-e-Cheese location (near Vallco Mall) in Cupertino
Aakarsh loves going to Chuck-e-Cheese, but recently (after his return from India in May), we had refrained from going there in consideration of swine flu threats. So, this was his first visit after a long time - and he did enjoy it quite a bit.6: Fireworks - Labor Day weekend Fireworks:
@Great America in Santa Clara
Cost - Free
Great America Park had special fireworks in consideration of the Labor Day Weekend - I discovered this just on Sep. 3 (just in time) - and needless to say, Aakarsh enjoyed it quite a bit.7: Surfing:
@Santa Cruz Beach, BoardWalk in Santa Cruz
Cost - Free surfing +$10 all day parking + 75c games at BoardWalk
It was the BEST WEATHER ever at the Santa Cruz beach since I came to US in 1997 - the water temperature was just perfect to get in till about 6 PM and the air temperature was above 80 till about same time - this gave us ample time to stay in water from around 3 PM all the way upto around 6 PM. As I had taken my boogy board alongwith, I decided to give Aakarsh some lessons in surfing - and he enjoyed sooooo much trying to balance on the boogy board - it was a great experience for him as he slipped into the water - full body - couple of times - first time that deep in ocean water. And Aakarsh's dad his field day doing "Devi-Darshan" with the temperatures soaring above 80 till late evening. This was followed by an open shower (must after surfing) and then hot crispy fish'n'chips at the Beach-Side Cafe (a must for me whenever I visit Santa Cruz). After that, Aakarsh enjoyed few kids rides at the BoardWalk before we headed home.12: Thomas Day @ Toys'R'Us:
@Any Toys'R'Us location - we personally went to the one on Winchester in Santa Clara
Cost - Free.
Aakarsh enjoyed playing with Thomas trains/etc. (which he usually does whenever he visits Toys'r'us - but on this special day, they had put some extra Thomas train pieces for kids to play with on the imaginarium tables) - they also had Thomas coloring papers and Thomas story books for reading out - Aakarsh did not indulge that much into them - he liked the Thomas paper hat and the Thomas trading cards set and trading cards holder which they were giving out for free.19 & 20: Santa Clara Art & Wine Festival:
Venue: Central Park, Santa Clara
Cost - Free admission & parking (pay for food and kids rides & other purchases)
Lot of things to enjoy - on day1 (19th), we reached around 4:30 PM and Aakarsh enjoyed couple of songs from the Band "Pop Fiction" playing live on the center stage, and then enjoyed few rides in the separate "Kids Kingdom" in the festival - BUT I have to remark - Prices for Kids rides were EXHORBITANT - each ride (except a jumper slide) was $3 to $4 per ride. The rides included the "Giant slide ($3)", "Chhoo-chooo train ($4)", "Jumper slide ($1), "Turtle Jumper ($2)", "Merry-go-round ($3)", plus couple of others. Further, on rides like the "Giant Slide", if a parent accompanies the kid, you have to pay full price for the parent too. Compare this with San Mateo county fair - you have to pay for parking ($8) + entrance ($10 per adult), but the kids rides were around $2 each PLUS, a parent accompanies their kid for free. Anyways, kids were enjoying a lot. On day2, Aakarsh enjoyed the Lime Snow-Cone, the live band, all the stalls (on day1 we were late and all the stalls had pretty much closed) - especially the South Bay Church stall who were giving away free stuff for getting onto their email list - Aakarsh got a balloon, a temporary tattoo, a water bottle and a fris-bee. Next I enjoyed spending around an hour with him in the kids play area - not the rides - but the normal kids obstacle area - we found this park has a very interesting kids obstacle play area which we have not seen in any other park in the bay area - check it out. Unfortunately we could not go to the Dandia this weekend - well next weekend for sure Dandia.25: Dandia - Stick-Dance:
Venue: Cubberley Auditorium, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA
Singers: Sharvari Dixit and Troupe
Time: 7.00 PM to 11.30 PM
Cost: This was the best part - we were able to get in for FREE:
(Normal admissions: $15 per person / Kids under 10 - Free)
Aakarsh was very excited in the beginning but soon became bored - but right then we spotted another of our very good friend's family there - after that - it was more than double the fun - Aakarsh and their son enjoyed dancing and frolicking together - my wife and my friend's wife got to dance too with the kids dancing on their own - this gave us more courage to take Aakarsh to the bigger Dandia event next week.26: Autumn Festival, Milpitas:
Venue: 279 S. Main St., Milpitas , CA 95035 (between Abel and Main Street)
Cost: Entrance FREE - Rides roughly $2.85 each
After the celebrations in the morning on the occassion of Ashtami Indian Festival, we decided to keep it low key on SAT - so decided against all other events including a wish to visit the beach again - as it was very hot - and went to this Autumn festival - but it turned out to be very good and we ended up staying there for almost couple of hours - they had some rides which very new to Aakarsh - including the mirror maze (concave/convex mirrors) - we also enjoyed a game of Bingo.27: KidsFaire in Pleasanton:
Venue: Alameda County Fairground, Pleasanton
Cost: Under 2 (Free); 2-12 ($5); 12 & up ($8) (I had $1 discount for kids entrance) + $8 parking
Already tired after the 4 1/2 hour cricket league game in the morning, I did not want to miss this and quickly got ready (after a quick) shower to take Aakarsh to a dreamland - had my lunch in the car while driving - munching on the parantha - AND this was SOOOO EXCITING for Aakarsh - as seen in the pictures here - he got to meet & greet all his favorite characters ('Xcuse me for my lack of knowledge about the kids character names) - ScoobyDoo, SpongeBob, Madagascar lion, Darth Vader's army, George monkey, penguins (?), etc. etc. - But now - as I write at night - I am T-O-T-A-L-L-Y EXASPERATED - running around in 104 degree trying to cover all the characters within 2.5 hours keft when we reached the fair - but it was thrilling - especially for Aakarsh.
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